This is primarily a travel blog in which I write about traveling in our motorhome. Our travels have

Nacogdoches, TX, United States
I began this blog as a vehicle for reporting on a 47-day trip made by my wife and me in our motorhome down to the Yucatan Peninsula and back. I continued writing about our post-Yucatan travels and gradually began including non-travel related topics. I often rant about things that piss me off, such as gun violence, fracking, healthcare, education, and anything else that pushes my button. I have a photography gallery on my Smugmug site (http://rbmartiniv.smugmug.com).

Monday, July 29, 2013

Alexander Graham Bell and Eddie Coffey

I rolled out of bed before noon. After all, today was a free day.  After dressing, eating a bowl of cereal, and checking my email I jumped in the car and took off for Baddeck, NS and the Alexander Graham Bell Museum.  Carol Ann wasn’t interested in going so she stayed at the motorhome and stayed busy cleaning and reading (mostly reading).  The drive to the museum was a little less than half an hour through a light fog and mist.  Baddeck is a neat little town with a harbor on the Bras D’Or (Arm of Gold) Lake.  Most of the town is located on the main drag that is about half a dozen blocks of specialty shops and restaurants.  A real touristy kind of place.  The Bell museum is located on the east end of the town overlooking the lake and is very well put together.  The grounds are beautifully landscaped with many different varieties of blooming things.  Inside, the first exhibit is a timeline of major world events and Bells’ inventions and experiments during his lifetime.  Then there are three separate areas of exhibits about his development of the telephone plus other sound inventions and experiments such as manned flight and kites and hydrofoil technology.  There were also two or three video theaters and an exhibition hall with replicas of his airplane, The Dart, and his hydrofoils.  I enjoyed taking my time and reading the descriptions of his inventions and experiments.

That was pretty much my day except for stopping and taking a few photos on the trip back to the RV park.  Tonight we are having our drivers’ meeting and a group dinner.  Tomorrow we are off towards Truro (remember the “Tidal Bore”?) and our second stay at the Elm River RV Park, a distance of about 185 miles.  There are only about six days left on the tour before we start for home. 

Just got in from our meeting and dinner where we were surprised with entertainment by Eddie Coffee on the accordian and Rhonda Stamp on guitar.  Eddie is a singer-songwriter of Newfoundland – Labrador music who got his start in 1974.  Eddie and his band spend six months each year in the USA touring and performing free concerts at US military bases and veteran’s hospitals.  The show was a lot of fun and the music was infectious (I had to buy a CD).

One of the jokes Eddie told was about a Newfie named Tom who won $12,000,000 in the lottery.  Tom’s wife reminded him that when they were married he promised to take her to Spain some day and now that they could afford it she was ready to go.  Tom didn’t know anything about international travel and wasn’t sure how they would get there so he went back to the lottery office and asked the manager how he could get to Spain and what would he do about not speaking Spanish.  The manager helped him make his airline reservations and then told him not to worry about speaking Spanish.  All he had to do was speak slowly and distinctly (Newfies tend to speak very fast and are difficult to understand).  So Tom and his wife fly to Spain and check into a five-star hotel where they are put in a very fancy suite. 

Tom goes down to the bar and says, very slowly and distinctly, to the bartender, “I – would – like – a – rum –and – coke – please – sir”. 

The bartender mixes it and says, “Here – is – your – rum – and – coke – sir”. 

Tom finishes it and goes back to the bar and says, “I – would – like – another – rum – and – coke – please – sir”. 

The bartender mixes it and says, “Here – is – your – rum – and – coke – sir”. 

Tom finishes it and goes back to the bar and says, “I – would – like – another – rum – and – coke – please – sir”. 

The bar tender says, “Where – are – you – from – sir?” 

Tom says, “New – found – land”. 

The bartender says, “I – am – from – New – found – land – also”. 


To which Tom replies “If – we – are – both – from – New – found – land – why – are – we – speaking – Spanish?”

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