Well, I arrived here in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, yesterday, Thursday, afternoon. I left from LAX about 10:30 pm on Wednesday night, with one stopover in Toronto.

Once here, my plan had been to assemble my Wheelie at the airport and walk the 4-5 miles to my first two nights lodging in Charlottetown, but because I had not slept more than a hour I was pretty beat and took a cab from the airport.

Flying over the island I could see the bright red soil that the island is known for. The weather was actually fairly warm, with not a cloud in the sky, and not what I expected with the almost everyday forecasted chance of some rain. Coming from dry and brown California it struck me as so beautiful and green as we headed into town.

I am staying at the Eden Inn, a beautiful old Victoria home that is now a bed and breakfast right in downtown, and of course like most of the island, near the beach and ocean. The host, who is originally from China, was very warm and friendly, which I understand is common to most islanders. My cab driver was from Syria, and Canada, like the USA, is a melting pot from all over the world. Interesting that both the host and cab drivers mentioned they were lucky and blessed to be here. That says a lot about the country, but then again, so are we blessed and lucky in the USA.

I was so exhausted that I felt overwhelmed even thinking about organizing my gear and starting my trek. A two hour nap (pass out) helped a bit and later I walked about a half mile into the business area for dinner. Wow, walking the streets was absolutely a pleasure, with all the beautiful large stately trees lining the street along with all the beautiful old homes.

It is the tourist time of year on PEI and the streets were crowded with people. There were lots of good, and interesting, restaurants just on the street I was walking, and I had to stick to the restaurant I had been recommended or I wouldn’t have made it past two blocks.

I went to Hunter’s Ale and sat outside and listened to a nice singer and guitar player, and had a potato burger. Yes, a potato burger, which I think is very common at restaurants because PEI is known as the potato capital of Canada. PEI is also know for its sea food and I look foreword to that!

On my way back I passed an ice cream store, Cows, with a line of people stretching out onto the sidewalk. How could I pass it by? It’s got to be good, right? Well, asking the last person in line got me a definite yes! So two scoops of cookie dough and gooey something, on a regular, not a crummy USA type cone, but hardy cone, $7.19 Canadian, $5.55 US. Can’t beat that for a great ice cream at a great price!

As is an issue for me on all my treks, when you walk through towns you see so many wonderful and interesting things you don’t see driving, or even on a bike, but you just can’t stop and see everything or you’d never get anywhere. I can already see that I need to come back to Charlottetown and spend more time here.

Today, Friday, I had a wonderful breakfast here at the Inn and met two couples that are bicycling various parts of the island. One couple is camping and the other staying in hotels. It’s always nice to met other adventurous people. Thankfully one of the couples is riding into town to get propane canisters for their stove, and they will pickup one for me. You are not allowed to bring propane canisters on the plane.

I had a chance to assembled the Wheelie and will start my trek tomorrow. I will have to play the first day by ear because the nearest campground is eighteen miles, and I really don’t like to start my treks with long distances. Fortunately, I have an option to camp on a large private property about 10-12 miles from here. I have been fortunate in getting helpful information and advise from Bryson Guptill, who is an ambassador for The Island Walk, and one of the founders of The Walk. He has thankfully given me information on people to contact for lodging, and answered lots of other questions I’ve had.

I will walk back into town tonight for dinner, and savor my last night on the comfortable bed in this wonderful house and prepare myself mentally for my tent and sleeping bag. Hopefully the weather will be favorable because as I mentioned, the forecast for rain seems a possibility every day for weeks. As of this writing it is raining and the wind is blowing fairly hard. Dang!

In my preparing for writing my blog on my phone, and while laying in my tent, please excuse the typos, spelling errors, and bad grammar, etc.

Best wishes,

Ted