by Whirlwind Tour
Ohio couple spend nearly a month trekking the northeastern U.S. and Canada in a Bus named Tortoise
By Don Capestrain
I assumed the July 2024 trip to the West Coast in our 1978 VW Westfalia Bus (known as the “Tortoise”) was going to be the only long road trip we would ever take in that vehicle (March/April 2025 Autoist).
So, you can imagine my surprise in early 2025 when my wife Sue asked me, “Where are we going this year?” Knowing of her desire to visit Nova Scotia, I began planning what would become a 24-day, 3,600-mile trip to the East Coast of the U.S. and the Canadian Maritimes. As before, we would try to avoid the interstate highways for the less-busy and more scenic federal and state/provincial highways.
Little did we know that a couple of misadventures awaited us.
The journey began on the afternoon of July 10, with a few hours of driving from our home in northeast Ohio to the small western Pennsylvania town of Tionesta, using U.S. routes 224 and 62 to reach our destination. This was a good “shakedown cruise” to build confidence that the Tortoise was ready for the road ahead.
After checking in at the Turtle Bay Inn B&B (the Tortoise at the Turtle!), we took the opportunity to visit the quirky but beautiful Peace Park on the Allegheny River, complete with a lighthouse and a replica of the Statue of Liberty.
The next morning we departed for Watkins Glen, New York, on the southern end of Seneca Lake. We made a stop at the scenic Kinzua Dam on the Allegheny River, then took advantage of lightly traveled Interstate 86 to reach our destination.
There, we met up with old college friends of Sue for dinner on the shore of the lake followed by a quick visit to Montour Falls. Next, we hiked the “gorge”ous Gorge Trail at Watkins Glen State Park and began our 230-mile drive to Bennington, Vermont, using U.S. 20 to Albany and State Route 7 from there.
U.S. 20 proved that New York is far from flat, with the Tortoise struggling in third and sometimes second gear to climb the steep grades we encountered. As we approached Bennington, the pavement was soaking wet from a storm that had just passed through.
We saw a beautiful church ahead and commented on the most unusual looking pinnacles on the building. These turned out to be living birds with their wings outstretched, apparently to dry them after the rainfall! In hindsight, those birds may have been a bad omen. More on that later.
After checking in at the quaint Harwood Hill Motel, we toured the campus of Bennington College, the Bennington Battle Monument and dined at the Madison Brewing Company downtown.
On Sunday, July 13, we continued east, traveling primarily on Vermont Route 9 and Massachusetts Route 2 to reach Lexington, Massachusetts, for a reunion brunch with friends whom we had not seen since our wedding in 1987. We then had no other reasonable route except Interstate 95 to reach Gloucester, Massachusetts, where we spent the next two days sightseeing and visiting with Sue’s aunt.
From Gloucester, we turned north to follow the coast to Freeport, Maine, with an inland jog to Durham, New Hampshire, for lunch with Sue’s cousin. Then, it was back to the coast for a stop at the Neddick “Nubble” lighthouse. As we cruised along the beach through Cape Neddick, we spotted the twin of Tortoise parked at the side of the road.
I pulled into the empty parking space in front of it, and we introduced ourselves to the owner Dave and his wife, who were enjoying a beautiful day at the beach. Dave and I were soon crawling all over each other’s vehicles, comparing notes and telling stories. After half an hour of this with no end in sight, Sue » finally tapped her watch to let me know my time was up and that we needed to get back on the road. It was a pleasure to meet such a truly kindred VW spirit!
In Freeport, we enjoyed the B&B experience at the Candlebay Inn, which allowed us to easily explore downtown on foot. Our next overnight stop was a visit to another of Sue’s cousins with a beautiful summer home on the water in Deer Isle, Maine.
Excitement was building on the morning of July 17 as our drive was an easy 56 miles to one of our favorite places: Acadia National Park. Our motel was southwest of busy Bar Harbor in Seawall, which is an area of Acadia we had not explored during past visits. We visited the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse and hiked the Wonderland Trail and Flying Mountain Trail on our way to the Seawall Motel. The foggy weather obscured some of the views but added an air of mystery to our photos.
July 18 dawned clear and sunny with a beautiful blue sky. We made the short drive to Echo Lake Beach and began our hike on the Beech Cliff Trail, which was more of a challenge than we expected, with rocky terrain, steep stone staircases and iron ladders to conquer. The view from the top was well worth the effort. We then used the Canada Cliffs trail for a more relaxed descent back to the beach.
A drive through downtown Bar Harbor led us to the start of the Great Head Trail. We expected this would be an easier hike than our morning adventure. At first, it was very easy — a flat, groomed gravel path. As we walked through a wooded area, we saw short connector trails leading out onto an open, rocky headland with amazing ocean views.
A twist in the adventure
Venturing out onto the headland, we slowly worked our way toward the edge. I was a short distance ahead of Sue and stopped to take some photos. Suddenly, I heard Sue call out. I turned around and saw nothing but her feet in the air! She had tried to step across the gap between two large, flat boulders and ended up wedging her left foot between them, falling, and severely twisting her ankle. She was in intense pain, but managed, with my help, to hobble the short distance back to the Bus.
Now there were questions: Do you want to go to the hospital emergency room or some sort of urgent care facility? No. Do you want to cut our trip short and begin heading for home? Definitely NOT. Well, OK.
We headed back to the motel (getting Sue up the steps to our second floor room was quite a challenge), wrapped her ankle with an ACE bandage, and put it on ice. We had dinner at the motel that evening, thanks to the lobster shack next door.
The next day we planned to enter Canada. Although the pain had subsided a bit, Sue could not put any weight on her left ankle. I asked the questions again. The answers remained the same. So, with my help and her use of hiking poles, we got her situated in the passenger seat for the 200-mile drive to St. John, New Brunswick, Canada. It was on that drive that our second unfortunate event occurred.
A final breakfast
It was a beautiful, sunny morning as we cruised north on U.S. 1 with light traffic. What is that I see up ahead? It was a large turkey vulture standing at the far right edge of the wide shoulder, facing right, and enjoying its breakfast of roadkill. I thought a wide berth was all we’d need to pass by safely, so with no oncoming traffic, I began drifting left.
At that same moment, the clueless bird did an about-face and headed toward the centerline of the road. As we quickly closed the distance, the bird decided to fly — unfortunately in the wrong direction. We heard a loud bang as the bird and Bus collided, and Sue felt the interior kick panel that her foot was resting on move backward.
I looked in the rearview mirror and saw the dead bird and the passenger-side bumper-mounted driving light tumbling down the shoulder. We pulled over to inspect the damage. There was, of course, a large dent in the front sheet metal, mostly caused by the driving light being pushed back into the panel, but surprisingly the paint was unbroken. The plastic driving light shell was still attached to the bumper, but the glass lens and reflector assembly was gone. We had been using the driving lights as daytime running lights. No longer. I pulled the driving light shell upright, put the plastic covers on both lights, and off we went. First a damaged Sue, and now a damaged Bus!
Although we knew Sue would probably not be doing any more hiking for the remainder of the trip, we still made nearly all the sightseeing stops we had planned.
The next one was the lighthouse at Quoddy Head State Park, the easternmost point of the contiguous U.S. From there, it was a scenic 55-mile drive to the border crossing at Calais, Maine/St. Stephen, New Brunswick. The Canadian border control station can see approaching vehicles for quite a long distance. We had a friendly conversation with the young woman at the station, along the lines of, “I saw you coming! You’re driving my dream car! Welcome to Canada!”
U.S. 1 now became New Brunswick Route 1. What a dreamy road! A four-lane divided highway with gently rolling hills and virtually no traffic. This is Fahrvergnugen! We arrived in St. John, where we had lost an hour by entering the Atlantic time zone. Holiday Inn Express Harbour Side was our stop for the night. The “Pub Down Under” was in the lower level of the parking garage next to the hotel, which allowed Sue a relatively easy hobble to dinner. Thank goodness for the hotel elevator!
The next day was one of the longer ones: 285 miles to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. We visited Dickson Falls in Fundy National Park along the way. I took a very short hike to view the falls » and lush vegetation while Sue worked on her knitting in the Bus. The Bay of Fundy has the highest tidal range on earth (change in the water level from high tide to low tide). We saw an example of this as we drove through Alma, New Brunswick, at low tide with docked boat hulls resting on supports as there was no water for them to float in!
Other than ferries, the only way to enter Prince Edward Island by car is the eight-mile long Confederation Bridge over the Northumberland Strait. Although it was raining steadily, the crossing was impressive and enjoyable. The high seating position of the Bus allowed a good view over the concrete barrier along the entire length of the bridge.
We spent three nights in Charlottetown as “home base” for two full days of driving tours. The first day was a 154-mile loop of the northeastern portion of the island and the second was a 100-mile loop covering a western portion.
Perhaps a bit simplistic, but our summary of Prince Edward Island is: numerous quaint, scenic lighthouses, soft red soil, beautiful but eroding beaches, potato field after potato field (partly due to that iron-rich red soil), historic downtown Charlottetown with a beautiful waterfront and numerous restaurants, and Green Gables Heritage Place, the 19th century farm that served as the setting for the “Anne of Green Gables” novels by Lucy Maud Montgomery.
On July 23, Sue’s original wish was granted as we crossed the Northumberland Strait by ferry and arrived in the province of Nova Scotia. After disembarking in Caribou, we drove 135 miles to the town of Baddeck, on Cape Bretton Island, the location of Alexander Graham Bell’s summer home and laboratory, and the gateway to the Cabot Trail scenic drive.
We spent two nights at the Silver Dart Lodge, high on a hill overlooking Bras d’Or Lake. This gave us a full day to drive and explore the 185-mile Cabot Trail loop. Had Sue been able to hike, this would not have been enough time. The road itself and the scenic overlooks were stunningly beautiful! The Tortoise pulled off on the shoulder on a couple of occasions to clear the way for motorcycles and fast cars trying to challenge the tight curves and steep inclines. 
Next up was a 300-mile drive to Halifax, with a lunch stop at the Fundy Discovery Site. A tidal bore occurs there on the Salmon River near Truro twice daily, offering a demonstration of the extreme Fundy tides. Although not quite as impressive as we were led to believe, the incoming wave transforming the dry riverbed into a deep flowing river within a matter of minutes was fascinating. To add to the experience, we were entertained by a bagpipe player while awaiting the arrival of the tidal bore.
After checking into our hotel in Halifax, we ventured downtown to the hopping Beer Garden (no pun intended) at the Waterfront boardwalk area for dinner and refreshments.
The next morning, we departed for the historic town of Annapolis Royal, with scenic stops at Peggy’s Cove, Mahone Bay, Old Town Lunenburg and Kejimkujik National Park. Our lodging in Annapolis Royal was at the historic Garrison House Inn, owned by a very attentive and hard-working couple.
Whale watching on the bay
In addition to a delicious dinner on the evening of our arrival, they prepared packed lunches the next morning for our drive to Brier Island on the Bay of Fundy where we would board the boat “Chad and Sisters Two” for an unbelievable whale watching cruise.
After another great dinner and overnight stay at the Garrison House, we said goodbye to Nova Scotia on a long, foggy ferry ride across the Bay of Fundy followed by 240 miles of driving to Edmunston, New Brunswick, to spend the night. Little did we know that right next door to our motel was the amazing Chantal’s Steak House, which was the perfect way to end the day.
We continued northwest from Edmunston to the Saint Lawrence River, where we turned southwest and followed the banks of the river on beautifully scenic Quebec Route 132, leaving the parallel Trans-Canada Highway to those in a hurry. In Levis, we crossed the river by ferry to enter Quebec City, where we would spend two full days exploring Old Quebec on foot (slowly and carefully) and tour bus from our hotel in the heart of the historic district: Auberge Place d’Armes.
As we departed Quebec City on July 31, our thoughts turned to getting home, but there was still more to enjoy. Our motel in Burlington, Vermont, the Starlight Inn, provided free admission to the drive-in theater next door, so we took in the latest installment of the “Jurassic Park” series from the front seats of the Bus on a beautiful evening. We thought the movie was just OK, but the overall experience was great fun!
The next day was a sunny, green, hilly and curvy 290 miles to Geneva, New York, using numerous federal and state routes. We had an enjoyable evening at the Twisted Rail brewery in downtown Geneva. On Saturday, Aug. 2, we decided to complete the final 300-plus miles of the trip in the fastest way possible, which was Interstate 90. Despite Sue’s injury, we really did have an amazing trip and were so glad we decided to complete it as planned, despite the circumstances.
A dual fracture and successful surgery
On Monday, Aug. 4, Sue’s ankle was examined at an orthopedic clinic. It was broken in two places. They could not believe she had hobbled around on it for two weeks. She had a successful surgery four days later to repair the break with a plate and six screws. It’s now February 2026 and her healing journey is going well, but not yet complete.
Insurance paid for the repair to the dented nose of the Bus. Despite no break in the paint, no dentless repair shop wouldn’t touch it, so conventional bodywork was required. While the Bus was at the body shop, I decided to also have them address the bubbling paint areas that were beginning to blossom down the right side, at my expense.
That work was completed in early October, but the attempt to match the paint color on the rest of the Bus was not successful. The shop advised that the best thing to do would be to repaint the entire vehicle, at no cost for the repaint of the front and right side. That work began in early December and was proceeding at low priority due to the winter season.
At least the Tortoise ran flawlessly for the entire trip. What an adventure! 
Don Capestrain | don.capestrain@gmail.com
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