Journal Day 28

Today we left late morning for Louisbourg along the Nova Scotia East coast, not far from Sidney.... this small fishing village has become a major tourist destination with the reconstruction of Fortress of Louisbourg which is a National Historic Site, the larger and most major undertaking in Canada and North America.... 25% of the original fort has been recreated and with a major historical center nearby and complete with reenactment... there are still archaeological digs going on around the fort... this was the major stronghold for the French from 1713, giving them access to the wealth of the Cod industry and trade for France... heavily fortified it allowed them to protect the village and this portion of the coast from the British.... The British eventually were able to take the fort and force the French out of the area.... One of the buildings served meals prepared and presented as they were in those times... we ate at the restaurant and had good conversation with other visitors that shared our table.... the discussion seemed to quickly move to the terrorist attacks on the US...

On the way back in the early evening, we drove into downtown Sidney to investigate a Casino we had read about.... we found in near downtown and had supper at the small restaurant there... Suzanne was able to talk the food service manager into finding us a good newspaper with up-to-date news on the terrorists which we read during our meal... later he gave us directions to the Chrysler/Jeep dealer in Sydney... we felt compelled to play some of the poker machines and leave our normal donations... (actually Suzanne came out ahead this time)....

We decided that I would get up early and run the car over to the Jeep dealer in Sidney to see if I could get it in, and Suzanne would pack for the road so we could leave as soon as I got back... that evening we smelled electrical smoke, and heard a loud "pop"... investigating it appeared I had obstructed the vent for the power converter and it had quit... it was very hot, and resetting the circuit breaker did not help... I suspect the converter is blown... all that means is that we will be running our 12 volt DC directly off of our battery for the rest of the trip... mainly the interior lights... with electrical hookups, everything else runs.... it will just not provide the 12 volt service... driving with the connection to the Jeep should keep the battery charged.... we will look into the problem when we get back...