Day 30 - Sutherland River

Meeting Matthew and his family.

Today I was up and ready by 8:30am. I wanted to make a few calls before I left. I reached Mary of the Guardian in Charlottetown. I had gotten her number from Kelly of the Charlottetown Humane Society. We spoke on the phone briefly and she would try to interview me once I reached Charlottetown in a few days. SHe was already working on an article on spay & neutering.

My next stop would be just before New Glasgow. It was still about 58km away. I went the first 10 miles and then stopped to stretch and ate an energy bar. I went another 10 miles and did the same thing. I went 6 more miles and started to look for a place to camp but there wasn't alot of good spots. 6 miles turned into 9 miles and by this time my feet were aching. Thats when I met Matthew and his family. I came up to a house with a big field for a yard and saw a boy playing outside. I was hoping they wouldn't mind if I put my tent up. I stood at the edge of the driveway and the dogs in the yard started to bark. A woman came outside to see what was going on. It was hard to hear anything so the boy was elected to go see what I wanted. He greeted me with a smile and I introduced myself and told him what I was doing. He relayed the message back to his Mom and Dad. He came back down and said it would be better to put up my tent across the street at their other house where it wouldn't upset the dogs as much. There was an older woman named June that lived there and she wouldn't mind. So Matthew showed me the way and I met June and her dog Rosie. We chatted for a bit and once she knew what I was doing she offered me her spare bed. Matthews Dad, Darryl, had come over and invited me for supper at their place. I met Matthews Mom Mary and sister Megan. I learnt how to eat lobster and had a great meal and conversation with all of them. They took some pictures and signed my flag. They were so kind and I thought what a great family they are. I said my good-byes and went back over to June's place. She was 80 years old and lived alone. She showed me her pet cemetary and shared stories about her pets with me. She took me for a tour of her home town called Thorburn. She told me about all the changes since she grew up there. She was a war vet and had lived in B.C. for sometime and moved back here to retire. Once we were inside it would be an early night for me.