We packed up and headed off to cloudy skies, that remained for much of the trip to North Sidney and the Ferry Terminal.    The sky did start to clear once so we stopped to along the road to enjoy the view.  We arrived about noon and went directly to the Ferry Terminal to confirm our reservations and pick up our tickets, only to find we were in the lane to get onto the ferry.  Evidently when you have a reservation, you just drive up to the gate and give them your number, your credit card, and go get in line.   They recognized that we were a day early and showed us where we could exit and park next to the Terminal Building.   We parked and went inside.  Nice waiting area with lots of seats and a small restaurant.   We asked about a special that we had heard about at the last campground, where if you took the long ferry across to Argentia, they would let you come back free on the short ferry.   It turned out that the special was limited to the price of the car, but did not include the trailer and passenger fees.   So we decided it was not worth disrupting our current plans.

We went back and checked into the campground.   Nice facility, very utilitarian and primarily a stopover for those coming and going on the Ferry.    Very clean rest rooms and laundry, and flat sites spread around a field on a high area along the road.   They took only cash and let us choose our own site from what is available.   We got settled in and then went to have lunch at one of the Tim Horton places we had been seeing all over Canada.   We figured it was fast food but it is actually a combination of a bagel and donut shop that also serves good soup and sandwiches.  The many types of donuts and muffins, include scones, oat cakes and other local specialties.    We bought an assortment to sustain us while on the road in Newfoundland.

Then we came back and did the laundry, greased the trailer again, put WD-40 on anything that looked like it might need it, and packed things up a bit more tightly.  Packed a couple of "carry-on" bags for the 7-hour ferry ride, got things organized for an early day, hoping to arrive at the ferry at 7:00 AM.

Suzanne wanted to find a post office to buy stamps, so we went into North Sidney.     After the getting stamps, we stopped at a  park along the harbor and had an ice cream with fresh strawberries while we watched a ferry load in the distance.  It was warming up with the sun out, and hot sitting outside along the harbor.   We are hoping that we will be seeing better weather in Newfoundland when we land tomorrow afternoon, but hear that the weather can be unpredictable up there. 

I think we are ready for the crossing... excited as we have heard more about great places to see and things to do while we are there..  We do not have a campground lined up for that first night stay, and hope that is not a problem.   We should be nearing the end of the busy season.  We will spend the 7 hours on the boat talking to others and looking at our options...