In 2008 when we went to the Maritime Provinces, we didn’t have time to see Newfoundland and Labrador. This time we set out to see them. We also had a chance to meet our friends Gil and Maureen Hogg from England in Baddeck, Nova Scotia, so we planned the trip to time it when we could meet them. Two extras that we added to the trip were a visit to St. Pierre and a five-day ferry ride up the eastern coast of Labordor.
Sunday, July 26--We spent a couple of hours finishing packing this morning, but managed to leave the house by about 9:30--pretty good for us. I realized during the night that I had forgotten our passports, so I added them. We stopped in Starkville for gas and a few groceries before the "real" start. We stopped to eat lunch in the parking lot of vacant store in Reform, Alabama and then drove on to Fort Payne where we stayed in the Wills Creek RV Park--basic, but nice. ($26.98)
Monday, July 27--we did manage to leave the campground earlier than sometimes. We were on our way around 9:00. Tom went to take his shower when he woke up about 6:00. Unfortunately Zoe woke up too so I got up, made the bed, and took her out. Then I put her back in the kennel and finished my exercises. We made a slight effort to see Tom and Donna Faulks in Bristol, but the timing didn't work out. for our afternoon driving, we tried letting Zoe ride loose and she did well. She curled up between the two front seats for most of the time. We drove on to the Fort Chiswell Rv Park, which is very nice with. It has dog walks on either side. It was nearly full with more children than we often see--more like the campgrounds used to be when we went with our children. ($36.75)
Tuesday, July 28--We started at 8:30! Having Tom take his bath before breakfast is working well for the time. This morning Zoe stayed quiet in her kennel until I had made the bed and done my exercises. She likes the freedom of being out of her kennel while we drive and stays either in one of our laps, between the seats, or on one of the back sofas. She escaped at one of the rest stops, but luckily Tom caught her when she stopped to bark at a couple of truckers. The travel has been uneventful so far. We stopped for the night at Western Village RV Park near Carlisle, Pennsylvania. It's a nice campground with plenty of space for walking Zoe. ($38.00)
Wednesday, July 29--the roads are really bad! There are many rose repairs going on, but so many more need to be done. Unfortunately I think that many of the people living and traveling now don't remember how good the roads used to be. We made it all the way to Williston, Connecticut for the night and are camped at Moose Meadows Campground. We drove what the proprietor said was the back way to get here,but it's the way our new Garmin told us to come. Our adventure for the day was that Zoe escaped again when we arrived at the campground and only allowed herself to be caught when she stopped to smell something. Our first campsite wasn't level, so we asked to move to another one. They have a lovely big swimming pool here, and I went for a swim after supper while Tom walked Zoe. ($52)
Thursday, July 30--What a day! We emptied the tanks since we had had to pay for a sewer hookup in order to get a level site with as little hassle as possible, but still got away by 8:45. Connecticut had its rest areas closed. Massachusetts had open rest areas, but the buildings were locked. There was a sign at one telling people not to urinate on the wall and that there was a video camera. We stopped at a lovely Information/rest area in Maine for our lunch and drove on toward Bar Harbor. We ended up on I295 and in a terrific traffic jam--about four miles long. A semi had plowed into a highway patrol car and the patrolman and had then caught fire. They had both lanes closed for hours, and finally seemed to be sending traffic off on an exit. That cost us about an hour or maybe more. Then we turned off at the wrong exit in Augusta--wrong in that it took us through town--and lost about another hour. Then about 15 or 20 miles out of Augusta, we started smelling burning and smoke came from under the RV so we had to stop on the side of the road. It took AAA until almost 9:00 to get someone out with a truck big enough to pull us. Eric Fields came from an hour or more away. We decided to take the RV back to Augusta to the Ford dealer rather than to Ellsworth where there was an RV dealer. Eric left us at Quirk Ford in their parking lot and we slept in the RV.
Friday, July 31--Sleeping in the Ford parking lot worked well. We were second in line for the drop in service department, but #1 decided that he could fix his own problem. We were assured that they would do what they could, but of course they were busy. Around 10:00 they lent us a car and we found a day care facility for Zoe, K-nine Cabin Dog Care, where we were lucky and they decided to take her. Tom and I went to see the State House, then had lunch in Hallowell--a small town that is really part of Augusta, but not--and then went to the Museum. We were the only people in our "tour group" at the State House, and the guide took us on a two-hour tour with a lot of asides. We each had a turn at holding the gavel in the House, but no one is allowed to touch things in the Senate. Beside the State House is the Blaine House, which is the Governor's Mansion.
While we were in Hallowell, we visited the public library, which looks like a church, but never was, and which is the oldest public library still in its original building. After the Museum we went to get Zoe. The man watching the dogs said she was good and enjoyed herself. Most of the dogs were big, so she probably found some to play with. She was tired. We returned to the Ford place and learned that they could get after market parts tomorrow and get us on the road. We ate supper and spent the night in the RV. They had moved it to about the only shaded area on the lot. As we went to bed we heard two rounds of what sounded like someone firing a pistol.
Saturday, August 1--We didn't make it to Bar Harbor. Quirk Ford (Greg) had the RV ready to go right around noon and we were on our way. We stopped at Hannaford's grocery store to replenish our supplies. We were both tired and we needed to do laundry, so we stopped in Trenton at Timberland Acres RV Park, which is enormous. A very nice man gave us a ride to the laundromat when he saw us walking. I left Tom doing the laundry and went back to the RV to take Zoe out and fix supper and rest. There was ahard rainstorm, but luckily it quit before Tom finished the laundry and had to walk back to the RV. ($46.89)
Sunday, August 2--We slept a little later today--about six for Tom and seven for me--but were still away by about 8:45. We stopped at Walmart to shop and to get gas. We had to return to the service station for the receipt that Tom forgot to take and it was still there! Then we bought a bed, a fleecy throw, and some larger bowls for Zoe as well as food for us. Zoe seems to love her bed and throw. She slept all day on the bed with the throw over her, and when I put the throw in her kennel at night she followed it in voluntarily. We had lunch at a parking lot in Saint Stephens, the Chocolate town. Of course I had to buy some chocolate. Tom used an ATM to get some Canadian dollars. We decided to make Moncton tonight, but took a coast road as a route and ended up taking much longer to get there than we meant to take.
We did enjoy a quick visit to the Hopewell Rocks--although after we saw them we realized we had seen them last time we were here. With the time change and some truly awful roads--including construction--it was just after 9:00 when we reached the Camper City Campground. The office had closed, but a young man opened the door and gave us a site and a map. ($46)
Monday, August 3--this morning we found the water turn on lever that we hadn't seen last night. Tom went to the bathhouse to take a shower, but it was a pay one, and, of course, he didn't have any Canadian quarters. He took his shower in the RV and for the first time ever, the gray water tank got full and backed up into the shower. We decided to dump! The black water tank has not been really right since the new one was put in after our accident, but next time we're going to use the scrubber we have and try to clean it. We had lunch at a little park that was advertised from the highway with a picnic table on the road sign. It was a delightful place with a walk, which we didn't take far, around a lake. We drove on steadily to Baddeck. Luckily the roads were better today. We almost passed the campground because somehow the address I put in wasn't correct. The campground here is very nice. It's right on the lake, and we can walk down to the lake. Bras d'Or Campground. It was hilarious watching Zoe learn about the white caps in the lake! She enjoyed herself after she realized what they were. We spent some time during the evening trying to reach Gil and Maureen, and they were trying to reach us. ($46.75)
Tuesday, August 4 (birthday of Sydney Smith and Barack Obama)--I tried calling Gil and Maureen and finally called the right number for their hotel, Water's Edge, in Baddeck. They offered to come get us about 10:30 and we went to the Alexander Graham Bell Museum. I had no idea he was such a talented man! Not only did he invent the telephone, but he has very active in teaching the deaf. He also flew a multitude of kites and was active in the development of aviation. He developed a machine that was used to search for the bullet(s) in President Garfield. After the museum, we walked down the street to a sandwich shop and had lunch. Tom is having some trouble with his right knee. Then they drove us by a convenience store for milk and orange juice and then back to the RV (-about 3:30) so we could rest and relieve Zoe. I took Zoe for another frolic in the waves although they were not as big as yesterday. Gil and Maureen picked us up again at about 6:30 and we went to the Silver Dart for supper. I had lobster which came with some mussels. I remembered that I was sick on the Antarctica trip after eating mussels, so I had not really meant to get them and only ate three or four. That was enough! After we went to bed my stomach felt worse and worse until I was able to remove the supper around 1:00. No more mussels ever! After a nice and leisurely meal, Gil and Maureen took us back to the RV, and we said goodby. They are starting the Cabot Trail tomorrow and we are going on the ferry to Newfoundland.
Wednesday, August 5--We needed to leave for the ferry by 8:45 and almost made it. Still, we were in plenty of time. We had forgotten that our propane had to be turned off for the trip so that the refrigerator would be off and are hoping that the food won't spoil. Zoe had to be left in the RV. We explored the ship briefly and then went to the cafe where we had a tremendous lunch of hot roast beef sandwiches, soup, and dessert.
Afterwards we went to our reserved reclining seats and rested--took a nap. the ride was shorter than we had expected since we docked at 6:00 pm Newfoundland (pronounced like understand) time which is 30 minutes later than Atlantic time. Zoe seemed to be fine with the trip. We got gas after leaving the ferry and then drove about 30 minutes to the campground in Doyles where we had reservations at Grand Codroy RV Camp ($34 C). We had a nice view, the people were very nice, but the wifi didn't work for us and there were a lot of bugs.
Thursday, August 6--we didn't have any deadlines and slept late. It was 10:00 before we got started. The campground manager said that the peninsula from Stephenville was a really nice drive. It was, but the weather was uncooperative in that it was cloudy with some rain most of the day. We saw the Alpacas at the Alpaca farm. They looked funny because they had been sheared. We drove out toward Cape St. George, but missed the turn off that would have taken us the last mile to actually see it. We saw Red Island, where the French first landed in the area. On the return part of the loop we did stop to see the Grotto at Lourdes and talked with a former school teacher who was one of the volunteers keeping it up. We then drove on about another hour and a half to Deer Lake where we stopped in the Gateway to the North RV Park. We called ahead and reserved the last spot, so we were lucky. ($32.55 C)
Friday, August 7--Our campground was right across from the Insectarium. We were able to get the Internet at the campground this morning, so we were a little late going across to the Insectarium,but we were there a little after nine and stayed a couple of hours. One of the staff members was a college student taking biology and business. He was particularly helpful. We saw a ho
rseshoe crab in the exhibit of insects and had to ask what was the relationship. He explained that the horseshoe crab was thought to be an ancestor of the modern insects. Tom bought mug, and I bought a mosquito to add to my animal collection.
We ate lunch in the parking lot. While we were eating a gray Lazy Daze pulled in. The owners were from Missouri and just stopped to eat. After we left we started for Rocky Harbor and the Gros Morne National Park--only we started on the wrong road and went about twenty miles before realizing our mistake. Once on the right road, we made terrible time. The road went up and down, and there was a lot of construction. We decided we needed to rethink our itinerary. We simply aren't going to have time to take a lot of coast roads, and we are going to be pressed to make Goose Bay for the ferry. Gros Morne National Park-Berry Hill Campground. ($39.53 C--$26 US). The scenery is beautiful, and there's a lot of it! The weather was better today with beautiful blue skies.
Saturday, August 8--We did our laundry yesterday as soon as we checked in and before going to our site, but we emptied the tanks this morning. We tried using the scrubber with our black water tank, but it still showed one-third full when we finished. I think that the repair people in Florida after our accident a few years ago did not put it in correctly. After all the housekeeping we started out of the park and stopped at the first Information Center where we saw an interesting film of the Gros Morne Park and got some excellent information about Labrador as well as a must-see destination of Red Bay there. We detoured to see the Discovery center and the Tablelands--mountains which were pushed up from the bottom of the sea when two plates collided. On one side are mountains (hills!) covered with greenery and on the other are almost completely bare rock mountains.
We then left the park and drove to Sanger there was a Memorial RV Park in Grand Falls-Windsor. ($36.16 C). I was a little tired of cooking so we bought a few groceries and ate supper at a Chinese restaurant, Tai Sun. The food was abundant and not bad.
Sunday, August 10--Tom suggested that we look for an Anglican Church and go to the services. The young lady at the campground helped me find a church and called the church to find out when the services were. Morning prayer was at 10:30. We arrived in the parking lot at 10:00 so there was a lot of time to talk with the few parishioners who were there. More came in before church started. They were all very nice. We wanted to go to the Salmonid, but there was a bridge to it that we didn't feel comfortable crossing, so we gave up. There was a railroad trestle in Bishop's Falls, only a few miles from Grand Falls-Windsor rear I thought sounded interesting. It was the longest over the Exploit River-- 927 feet long and built in 1901. We searched for it and had almost given up when a man pulled up beside us and gave us directions. Tom said it was really a bridge, not a trestle!
We pulled in at a large lot that used to be some kind of inspection station and ate lunch. Another RV pulled in while we were eating. We then drove on to Twillingate, an island at the tip of one of the "peninsulas" from Newfoundland. We missed the campground the first time through the town and drove all the way to the end of highway 340, where the guidebook. Said the campground was. There was no campground, but there was the Long Point Lighthouse. 
We viewed the museum, but the lighthouse was closed for the day. The attendants were young people, and they let us take Zoe into the museum and played with her. I bought some fudge at the store there, and we asked directions to the campground. We found it this time and spent the night in Peyton's Woods RV Park. (C $30) There was some wifi, but I had to go to the office to get it until morning when I was able to get it on site. We tried to go to a seafood restaurant, but the one that was suggested was one that fried everything, and we decided to eat in the RV.
Monday, August 10--It rained most of the night, and we decided to see the museum here and then move on. We had considered staying two nights, but since it was raining we didn't. We stopped at a grocery store, and Tom tried to get cash from an ATM in a ScotiaBank, but couldn't for some reason. We ate lunch in the grocery store parking lot with a view of the Twillingate harbor. (Tuilingaut--or something close to that in French originally). Tom drove us back to the main highway while I napped, and then I drove for about an hour until we stopped at The Lakeside at Thorburn. It is right on the side of the lake and doesn't even pretend to have wifi. It also had a pay shower so Tom used the RV shower again--twice in a row. The wind is really something, and it was good to stop driving even if it was a little early. (C$39)
Tuesday, August 11--Tom woke up early and had breakfast and walked Zoe before I got up about 6:30. It was a little after 8:30 when we left the campground. It's a beautiful day and we had less than an hour to drive to Bonavista. We saw a moose cross the road as we drove. Some of the roads were pretty rough, but they were mostly all right. We stopped at the Information Center for a map of the town, directions, and a restaurant recommendation. Tom tried to use his debit card at a Scotiabank and again it didn't work. He was talking to the bank when I saw an ATM in a convenience store and tried it. It worked perfectly! Our first stop was the Cape Bonavista Lighthouse, which we really enjoyed. Very near the lighthouse was a small island where the foghorn keeper once lived. At one time the two were connected only by a rope bridge. Now that island is a nesting ground for puffins of which there were hundreds. We saw the museum and went into the lighthouse.
The living quarters are built around the circular lighthouse and at times housed as many as twenty children in two families. After the lighthouse we walked over to the statue of John Cabot, who we learned was Italian sailing under the English flag. We then returned to the parking lot by an "almost" path along the top of the hill with beautiful views, moved to a more level part of the parking lot, and ate lunch.
After lunch we went out to the campground near town to claim a site. The owner, Shawn Eddie we learned later, had said he was in St. John's and would see us later in the evening. We returned to town and went to the Ye Matthew Legacy exhibit, which was about Cabot and contained a replica of his ship, the Matthew. The ship was inside, and was in a building that allowed it to be moved outside although it hasn't been outside in the water since 2010. We then made reservations in the Skipper restaurant and went to The Ryan Premises National Historic Site. A resorted 19th century salt fish complex with the owner's house. We left there, took Zoe out for a few minutes and then went to dinner, which was right by the Ryan complex. We had salt fish for appetizer, seafood chowder, a salad, and cod. Tom had cod tongues, and I had regular cod. Tom then had a partridgeberry tart with ice cream that was delicious.
We drove out to the RV campground and found that someone had taken our site and just ignored our Site Occupied sign. Luckily there was another site right next to the one we had chosen. Shawn came by about 9:00 to collect the fee. (C $25). He had worked in Alberta in the oilfields for 25 years and recently returned to Newfoundland.
Wednesday, August 12--After a really great day yesterday, we woke up ready to travel. Tom was able to use the campground shower although he said there was no heat--but it was a big shower! We were right on a lake, and there were a lot of bugs. We started about 9:00. And the road was really good until I suggested leaving 230 to take a slightly shorter road. Somehow we must have missed something because we ended up on a one lane ally for about a mile. We were greatly relieved when we reached a good road again. The rest of the way was on the TCH (Trans Canadian Highway), which is mostly fine except for going up and down a lot. We ate lunch in an Information Center parking lot where we picked up a map of St. John's and some recommendations for Doggy Day Care. After we reached the Pippy Park Campground the young man signing us in called Enterprise for us to rent a car and then called a Ford dealer where Tom made a reservation with them for 8:00 Friday morning to check our brakes, change the oil, change the transmission fluid and filter, and air the tires. After we picked up the car, we went to a Sobey's to buy groceries and returned to the campground where we put up the groceries and took Zoe for a walk. I called one of the Dog Day Care places to see if we could bring Zoe, and was told to bring her at 10:00 tomorrow. We ate supper, put Zoe in her kennel, and went over to the covered building where we'd been told we could get Internet. We did get it, but it was pretty slow and although Tom worked on his records in the bank, after I got my email, I moved to the car where I waited away from the bugs and wrote this until I needed the bathroom and drove back to the RV. It started raining, and I went back to pick up Tom, but he decided to return to the RV. (C $90.40) for three nights).
Thursday, August 13--Tom started to take his shower this morning and realized that he had left his travel kit at the last campground. We emptied the tanks. Then we dropped Zoe at the Markwin Doggy Daycare to play for the day. There were about 20 dogs, mostly very big, but she seemed eager to enter. He called the campground and the owner, Shawn Eddie, had found it and said he would send it to our amp site in St. John's. Then we went to Cape Spear.
The restrooms were closed so they let us in free. We walked around to the eastern most point in North America and then we climbed up to the Tower. We were able to walk all the way to the top where we had a great view of St. John's,the harbor, and the ocean. Tom bought a mug, but unfortunately dropped and broke it when he was paying at the bottom of the hill-- the restrooms were working by the time we left. We had lunch at a pub, ? Malloy's, that I had seen advertised on one of the brochures. I had a Jigg's lunch pie. Someone had described the Jigg's dinner as a Christmas dinner and that was about what it was. It was pretty good. After lunch we walked around St. John's for awhile and then went to get Zoe and returned to the campground to do our wash. We weren't very hungry after the heavy lunch so we didn't bother with supper.
Friday, August 14--Tom made it to the shower and back before the rain started, but the sky stayed gray and the rain was intermittent all day. We made it to Cabot Ford just at 8:00 and left the RV there for an oil change, transmission fluid change, brake check, and tires aired. After we left the RV we took Zoe back to Markwin Doggy Daycare for another day of play. We then drove to Signal Hill where there is Cabot Tower built to honor Queen Victoria on the 400th year of Cabot's landing. We were somewhat early and before the bathrooms opened, but we walked around to see the beautiful view of St. John's which would have been even more beautiful if the sun had been out. We were able to climb to the top of tower. We then went to the Johnson Geo Centre to see all about rocks, people, and space. It was very interesting, but a lot to see. We then decided to find something to eat. We were frustrated with downtown so we drove out to see if Cabot had finished with the RV. They had, but we left it there while we went to get sandwiches at Manna Bakery as suggested by the women at the service desks. The sandwiches were good, but very filling. After we ate, we took the RV back to the campground. Shawn Addie called from the last campground to see if Tom's toiletries kit had come so we went by the office to check. It had come! We then went to The Rooms. We found that we could have eaten lunch there as we had wanted to do, but nothing in the literature said that they had a tea room. Tom had coffee and I had hot chocolate as we sat by a window with the best view yet of St. John's. The sky even had some blue while we sat there. We really wished that we had gone to The Rooms one morning and eaten lunch there. There was too much to see in a couple of hours. We looked around until almost closing time at 5:00 and then went for Zoe. She apparently made a new best friend--this time it was a Boston bull and yesterday a beagle. We returned to the RV and Tom went to use the Internet while Zoe and I took a walk and went back to the RV to rest.
Saturday, August 15--We knew we were traveling today so we didn't loiter in getting ready, but we didn't really hurry either. We had planned to stop for propane, but we discovered that the propane place was closed on Saturday so Tom vacuumed the rental car to remove all traces of Zoe. Then we drove it to Enterprise and turned it in. Our next stop was Walmart for a few things, and then we set out for the campground at Frenchman's Cove Provincial Park. It took us about 41/2 hours to make the entire drive. The roads were pretty good the entire way. I am fascinated with all the little ponds that apparently were created by glaciers. They and the trees that have been bent by the winds are certainly distinguishing aspects of the environment. We had no trouble finding the campground. Although we don't have hookups, our campsite is beautiful, and we have only about 30 minutes to drive to the ferry tomorrow. ( C $30 about)
Sunday, August 16--We left our campground very easily since we weren't hooked up to anything and headed south to Fortune. On the way we kept a lookout for the Four Paws Kennel. We actually passed it the first time and had to turn around and come back. We weren't really happy about leaving Zoe because she will be in a kennel and only walked four times a day. There were about fifteen very noisy dogs. After leaving her we went on to Fortune. The ferry didn't leave until 2:45 so we had time to eat our lunch in the RV and to wait. At 1:00 we drove the RV to the loading zone. One of the workers led several vehicles to a parking lot on the north side of town. I drove it while Tom stayed with the luggage--we only had one duffel bag between us. We then went into the waiting room to wait. Once in the waiting room we weren't allowed to leave.
We sat near the front of the ferry and discovered why the middle seats were taken first. There was a lot of bouncing in the front and several people were sick--others looked as if they would be. Landing in St. Pierre was simple. We simply showed our passports and walked in since we had nothing to declare. It was very easy to find our bed and breakfast since it was only about three blocks from the ferry exit. We are staying in the Nuits St. Pierre.
We walked around town and looked at the various restaurants. There are only about five. While we were out, we stopped at the Information Centre and signed up for a city tour in a van tomorrow at 9:30. The driver will pick us up at the b& b. When we came back, I called l'Alelier Gourmand because it was the only one serving as early as 6:00 and had looked good to us. We were lucky in that they said we could come in ten minutes--which we just about made. I had lobster éclair and steak tartare (which had been cooked a little on the outside). It was good, but I couldn't eat it all. I did still have a baked apple sorbet. Tom had goat cheese mousse and cod, salmon, and lobster in a chowder. He finished with tiramasu with red berries. It was the best meal we'd had on the trip, but since I don't think we've had but a couple of meals out that's faint praise. We went back to the bead and breakfast. This was Zoe's second birthday.
Monday, August 17--We slept relatively late, but it was very warm during the night. The bed is quite soft. Air conditioning apparently does not exist here. We learned that they make their own power burning diesel. This was one of the facts we learned on the tour. There are about 6,000 people living here and about 600 on Miquelon. Homes are scattered throughout the part of the island that we saw, and we saw the west coast and the southern coast.
There are about 100 horses on the island and all are saddle horses. Utilities are buried and homes scattered throughout the island have utilities. There was one lake in particular, the largest one, where people took part in water activities including swimming. We saw the airport, which is relatively new, and the location of the old airport. They can land planes in any kind of weather supposedly. The roads are kept clear during the winter, but they don't salt them. They do put some form of calcium on them. There were two other couples on the tour. They were from Nova Scotia. We passed the cemetery, which looked interesting, but we didn't stop to look at it there are monuments, but everyone is buried below ground. Some of the monuments had portholes. We also learned that cremation is expensive because the body is sent to St. John's. We stopped to watch men filleting cod.
The tour took about an hour and a half and our guide was Jacques. When we returned from the tour we walked to the Arche Museum. There was a large mural of life on the island in the past.
The fishing is mostly gone now. It was 11:30 and they were supposed to close at 12:00 for a couple of hours. They let us stay till around 12:30 when we were finished and didn't say a word about closing. After that we searched for the Hotel Robert to eat lunch there. It's the largest hotel on the island with about 40 rooms but we had a lot of trouble finding it and walked in circles. We did find it and had a very good lunch. Tom had a smoked salmon sandwich and I had a Niçoise salad. They were good. So far the food here has been excellent.
After lunch we took a shuttle to the Isle aux Marins. This is a tiny island only five minutes from St. Pierre which is essentially a ghost town, but has a very interesting museum--which used to be the school before the island was finally deserted in the '60's. it had several other interesting buildings including a church, a workshop, and a garage for the fire equipment. We stayed on the island for an hour and a half and then returned on the shuttle.
On the way back we had a good view of the ship that comes once a week from Halifax with supplies and whatever is needed for the island.
We rested and then went to hear some French songs in the tea shop adjacent to our B & B for about an hour. We rested again prepare for supper at the Revolution restaurant. The owner/manager of the B & B made a reservation for us this morning. We were a little disappointed in the Revolution. There was only one server for eight to ten tables and she was very slow. She didn't take our orders for at least 30 minutes. The only fish they had was some kind of white fish and she didn't know anything about it except that it was from Canada. Tom had a steak, and I had a ground lamb dish. It was good, but definitely not as good as other food we've had here. Afterwards we followed our usual procedure and returned to the room and bed, but it was late for us. We didn't finish eating until about nine o'clock. Luckily it was only a few blocks to our B & B.
Tuesday, August 18--Today we have to leave St. Pierre! We were up about 7:00. I'm doing my exercises, but without the weights. We were the first at the breakfast, but were soon joined by Yvonne and Albert Bridger from Newfoundland and Clem and Darlene from Skaswatchiwan. After breakfast we walked to the cathedral and looked around. It is a very large church with stained glass windows, but rather plain overall. Clem showed us a picture of the inside of the church on Isle aux Marins, which was locked when we were there without a tour guide, and it was much more ornate.
Tom and I then walked up to the highest point in town that we could find admiring the houses such as the ones shown here and then to Re-Creations to pick up his hand painted mug. Along the way we passed the row of little sheds that were once used by fishermen and are now storage sheds, and then the lighthouse.
At Re-Creations I decided to buy a butter dish and a tea pot elephant. The butter dish is to be hand painted and mailed to me. We returned to Delicies de Josephine, next to our B & B and owned by the same woman, where we had lunch. Tom and I both had a quiche, goat cheese for Tom and leeks for me, and a pastry before going to catch the ferry back to Newfoundland. As we left the tea room and walked to the ferry we heard someone calling and running behind us. The young man who worked in the tea room was chasing us to return Tom's debit card which Tom had forgotten to pick up. The crossing back was much smoother, and customs not a problem. I went to get the RV, but I had not paid attention to where it was parked and went to the wrong lot first. I picked Tom up and we headed out of Fortune for Zoe. We were afraid we would miss the sign for the kennel, but we didn't. She was really happy to see us. When we walked into the kennel all the other dogs started barking, but I saw Zoe simply looking out the door of her kennel with her paw out and looking at us. She was very happy to see us. The weather was foggy early, but the fog burned off about the time we arrived in Fortune. We were able to drive all the way to Thurburn Lake and to the resort at which we'd stayed before. Unfortunately they had only a site with water, no electricity, and not particularly flat. (C $31)
Wednesday, August 19--Since we only had water, it was a little quicker to unhook. Tom took his shower in the RV rather than the washroom in a pay shower. We were on the road a little after 8:00. Our biggest worry today was propane. Strangely, when we stopped for gas in Gandor, we ran into Clem and Darlene from St. Pierre. They had a list of the places that had RV propane. We tried to find one in Gandor and stopped at an Information Centre there to ask about it only to find that there wasn't one. However they gave us a copy of their list of places. We set the GPS for one in Grand Falls-Windsor and had no trouble finding it and then, with directions from the people there, getting to a grocery store. We ate lunch in the Sobey's parking. Lot. As we ate, a blue and white Lazy Daze pulled by U.S. And into the Walmart next door. We drove on toward Deer Lake, which should be another two or three hours. I called ahead to the campground in Deer Lake and was told they only had a site with water. When we arrived at the same Deer Lake campground in which we had stayed before, they had three-way sites--water, electricity, and sewer--and it seems that I had called the wrong campground. I tried to call to cancel, but wasn't sure I reached the right place. We arrived with plenty of time to do our laundry before supper. (C $?)
As we drove by the trees, we could see how they had been bent by the wind over time.
Thursday, August 20--When we woke up we could see several large RV's across the road at the Insectarium with about 20 people standing around them. One of them seemed to be a blue and white Lazy Daze. We emptied the tanks and as soon as we could we left for St. Barbe. The drive took us through Gros Morne again, and I think we enjoyed its beauty more this time. We reached St. Barbe about 1:00 to find that we had a place at the campground, but no hookups in spite of a reservation. A caravan had come. We had wanted to see the Viking museum and landing place, but thought we weren't going to be able to do so. However, the campground manager told us it was an hour and a half drive, but that we should be sure to be back before dark at about 8:00 because of moose. We were in l'Anse aux Meadows by 4:00 and stayed until 5:30 and we're back at the campground a little after 7:00. We did see one moose. There was a nice museum with a very interesting introductory documentary film and then a walk to a reconstructed Viking camp and past the actual mounds left from the Viking landings. The documentary pointed out that the meeting between the Vikings and the aborigines completed the circle of people migrating from Africa to Europe and Asia and then to the Americas and meeting on the eastern coast of North America with the Norsemen from Europe.
When we returned from our trip the caravan had arrived. The blue and white Lazy Daze was part of the caravan. We found out that they were from Texas. We also discovered that we had Internet. I talked for a few minutes with a woman from Quebec who had a large dog. She insisted that Zoe could play with her dog, which they did for a few minutes, but I was scared to let Zoe off the leash to really play. She was more confident of her dog! We had supper and went to bed at St. Barbe RV Park. (C $20)
Friday, August 21--We learned yesterday that there was an 8:00 ferry on which the caravaners went, but luckily ours wasn't until 1:15 so we had all morning to fill up our water tank and play on the Internet. The manager had to come in and reset the Internet before it worked, but then it worked well. The weather here has been somewhat consistent--rain or really mist for much of the day and then burning off sometime in the afternoon. We've had only a handful of days that were clear. Last night it rained some, and this morning the mist is so thick we can just see the road-- not much else. We went to the ferry office to pick up our ticket a little after 11:00. We ate lunch in the RV at the campground, and then drove about a block to fill up with gas before driving to the dock to get in line for the ferry. The ferry loading and ride were uneventful, but when we arrived at Blanc Sablon (which we found out was in Quebec) the fog was so thick we could hardly see the road. There was a NAPA store just as we landed, so Tom bought a couple of cans of stuff to blow up flat tires and had the pressure in the tires checked.we drove on toward Red Bay. As we drove into town there was a convenience store and we noticed that they advertised RV hookups. It turned out that we were able to back in beside the store and had electricity. We could probably have maneuvered water if we had parked next to the building, but we opted for flatter. It rained a little during the night. Fog is almost a constant here. (C $20)
Saturday, August 22--The convenience store offered showers, but we were up before it opened and they cost $5.00 Canadian dollars. Tom chose to shower in the RV. We were up before everything opened, but there was a restaurant at the far edge of town so we went in planning to get something like a donut and coffee/tea. However they had corned fish with toast and partridgeberry jam. We decided we had to try it. Corned fish was salted and then boiled cod and was delicious--as was the jam and homemade bread. By the time we finished it was 9:00 and we went to the National Historic Site about the Basques whalers who had landed in the area in about 1540.
That was about the earliest that they have documentation, but according to their theories, the Basques were probably in the general area much earlier, and there is considerable feeling that Columbus and Cabot had Basque pilots when they sailed on their famous voyages. We next visited the Museum, which was next to the restaurant. Among other displays they had a 1/20 scale model of a Basque ship that had sunk in the bay and been partially recovered. We weren't very hungry after eating two breakfasts so we started out on the gravel road to Goose Bay. We planned to go the first 138 kilometers to Port Hope Simpson today and the next 400 kilometers tomorrow. One of the women who worked at the Historic Site called ahead for us and found that there were no satellite phones available, but she did find a place in Port Hope Simpson and one in Goose Bay where we might be able to hook up. The road to Port Hope Simpson was not good and there was a lot of construction so that the 138 kilometers took us about four hours. I saw a moose disappear beside the road, but Tom didn't see it. When we got there we filled up with gas at the last gas station before the final leg of the trip and asked about the hardware and building supply place where we had been told we could find hookups. We were told that the store had gone bankrupt and that there were no hookups, but it would probably be fine to spend the night so we went looking for the place. We passed it without recognizing it, but saw a grocery store. We bought. A few groceries and asked for directions again. This time we found the place. There were about ten defunct hookup poles, but plenty of space so we stopped for the night. We were too early for supper so we opened the vents,walked Zoe, and rested for awhile. It was really warm! Shades of Mississippi! It did begin to cool off later in the afternoon so we ate and went to bed early. We planned to get up and on the road by 7:00 in the morning. If the road is as bad as today, we'll be lucky to make it in twelve hours.
Sunday, August 23--As planned, we were on the road by 7:00. The road goes from awful to good for a gravel road. We stopped for lunch, to change drivers every one and one-half hours, and to use the bathroom and made it to happy valley/Goose Bay at around 4:00. We had been told that there was an RV campground about ten miles north of town and tried to find it, but couldn't. I called Roberta at Kritter Sitters and she again offered to let us stay in her neighbor's driveway. She had mentioned it when I called her to make the appointment for Zoe. We drove to their house, which was less than a mile from the ferry, and were horrified by the drive. It was very narrow. Her friend Jim, who used to drive big rigs, guided me in, but there was no place to turn around. He said he would back us out. I hope so. We introduced Zoe and then left to eat supper and stay in the RV. Roberta and Jim dropped by the RV to tell us that they were going for pizza and she offered to let us wash clothes in the morning.
Monday, August 24--When Tom started his shower we discovered that we were about out of water so he didn't try to take one. I washed a load of underwear and our night clothes and a few towels, but Roberta's washer only held half a load so it took two loads. Not all the towels were dry when we left, but she offered to finish drying them for us. She also invited us to a barbecue Friday night. We won't be getting back until 3:30 or 4:00 Friday afternoon so we wouldn't be able to get anywhere that night. Jim is going to back us out so that we can dump and get water and then we'll go to the barbecue. Roberta drove us and reached the ferry office about 11:30 but then had to wait to be issued our tickets. We found our cabin, which is amazingly nice. There are plenty of storage places, a large easy chair, and a bathroom with a tiny shower. We skipped lunch and ate granola bars and peaches that we had brought. We were very sorry that we hadn't realized that we would have a refrigerator and brought more food. We met Brad Howell from Florida, who drove all the way from Red Bay to Goose Hollow in one day, and Darlene and Carol, who flew in from Deer Lake. They are all doing the round trip as are we.
Most of the passengers seem to be First Nation people, and there are many children. As we were leaving the harbor we looked for Roberta's house along the coast but weren't sure we saw it. She said it had a red roof. We saw a ship loaded with equipment and heavy supplies that our ferry didn't carry. Ours was mostly people.
Supper was chicken, vegetables, mashed potatoes, and hot dogs in whatever combination one wanted except that Brad, who was in line right behind Tom and me, got the last piece of chicken. Tom only has $65 and supper was $35. When we made our first stop at Rigolet, we tried to get to an ATM, but the store that supposedly had one was closed. Because we were late, we had only 40 minutes in the port and couldn't really go looking for another one. We glanced at the craft shop, but saw nothing in which we were interested so we went back to the ship and got ready for bed. I took a shower and washed my hair. The shower was tiny with a shower curtain that got in the way, but there was plenty of hot water and I washed my hair.
Tuesday, August 25--Tom managed a shower, but he got water on the floor. The shower is so small that his body probably filled it completely. They announced that breakfast would start at 7:30, thirty minutes early, because our landing in Makkovik was thirty minutes late. That allowed us to eat breakfast before debarking to search for an ATM. We walked a good distance, but the building we thought was the store was locked so we had no luck. Brad, Darlene, Carol, and I saw a couple of very nice icebergs.
Tom had gone down to the cabin. Our next stop was Postville at 12:00. We almost docked on time. I walked up to a man waiting on the pier to ask about an ATM machine. He was there picking his brother and family up. He and his brother were twins. He said there wasn't an ATM, but there was a grocery store where they used a debit machine to let people get money. He was pointing it out to us when he offered to drive us up there. We went with him. When we reached the store it was closed until 1:00, and we realized that we could wait until 1:00 and still have time to walk to the boat. However, our rescuer asked if we would like to see the town. Of course we said "yes", and he showed us the town in which he said 180 people lived. He then took us to his house to show us his carvings. He carved out of a harder soapstone, serpentine just. It looked a little denser and darker than the soapstone ones I've see. He also used marble and had drawn a very nice scene of moose that was framed and hung on the wall. His name was Jason Jacque and he worked at the hydroplane that supplied energy for the town. Each of these towns has one. We thought they used water to produce electricity, but he said they used diesel as does the one in St. Pierre. Jason then took us back to the store, which had opened by then and helped Tom find the proper place to go to get money. There was no problem using the debit machine to get cash. Then we walked down a footpath shortcut to the boat in plenty of time.
Our next stop was Hopedale at 6:30. We were about thirty minutes late again, but we still had an hour and a half. After watching some freight being unloaded, we decided just to walk since we no longer had to search for an ATM. Our first stop was a store that had crackers and cheese. We bought some for our lunch supplies.
Picture from Brad Howard of our boat.
We continued walking when a pickup truck stopped beside us and a man leaned over and asked if we would like to see the museum and church. He pointed out where they were, and just as we realized they were too far to walk in the time we had, he offered to take us and to bring us back. We accepted. When we reached the museum Brad was already there. He had walked. We mentioned to Harry, who had picked us up, that there were two other ladies at the store, he went back and picked up Darlene and Carol. The museum was really interesting with history and items from the area. Pictures of the museum and Mission House. David was there to give us much information although he said he was not really the curator. The church was a Moravian Church and we learned that it and many or most of the buildings in the town had been made in Germany, parts numbered, and then shipped over. Tom and I went up in the attic of the church with Harry and saw the enormous timbers used in the construction. All five of us piled into Harry's truck with Brad and Carol in the back and he drove us back to the boat. We easily made it back by the sailing time of 8:00 and went to bed.
Wednesday, August 26--The night was still cold, and the toilet quit functioning during the night again. We had breakfast with Darlene and Carol, and they and I sat and talked for about an hour after Tom returned to the room. We planned to meet to go searching for carvings in Nain when we dock at about 12:30. The skies are gray again. The natives claim this is unusual, but it's hard to believe! Brad is going to have a cocktail party for Carol's birthday today in his cabin at 4:00 so we have that and Nain to which to look forward. One of The stewards/workers, Brandon, asked if we wanted to go up to the brig. Of course we did, so we all went up with him.
We found that the boat was being steered by a twenty year old and the person in charge wasn't much older. While we were there something that sounded like an alarm went off and no one knew how to turn it off. After a few minutes the captain appeared and it took him several seconds to turn it off. They told us that it was the radio announcing that there was a message. Tom and I ate our lunch of cheese and crackers, granola bars, and peach before setting out in Nain. We started walking with a man who had lived here and was coming back with much of his family to put a headstone on the grave of his father who died a year or two ago. He was going to show us where to find the craft shop, which he did. I dithered between several carvings and finally bought a whale hunter I serpentine on a base of labradorite--rather large and heavy. Tom started out with us and then went back on his own.
While the rest of us were walking around we met the sister who had come on the headstone mission, Doris, and while we were talking with her, a cousin of hers drove up and offered to take us on a tour of the town. We accepted, and Steve showed us the entire town of 1400 people. We saw the reservoir--really a series of nine lakes eight of which were fresh water and could supply drinking water--the airport--which could handle a small prop airplane--the new houses being built, the old part of town, the garbage dump, and the clinic before he returned us to the boat just as the thirty minute siren rang. The others then went to see the Moravian church, but I returned to the boat which was leaving at 3:30. The boat is a little late docking at every port, but it seems to leave more or less on time. Our next stop is Natuashish, which is not Inuit and is not part of Nunatsiavut as are the rest of the ports. We are supposed to dock at 8:00 and leave again at 3:30 on the morning. This is the Inu town and we have been told various stories. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police search all baggage of arrivals for liquor. The town is supposed to be dry. We were told that some tourists were pelted with potatoes. There have been very badly behaved children on board who came from here. Before they disembarked today they were running around the ship creating havoc with no discipline at all. Brad invited Carol, Darlene, and us to a party in his room to celebrate Carol's birthday. He has a cabin with four bunks. It has a toilet and lavatory, but the shower is down the hall. The sky cleared somewhat toward sunset and we were all hoping for a view of the Northern Lights, but no luck. He has used his bunks creatively with one being the kitchen and bar, another his chart room, a third his guest couch, and the fourth his bed.
Thursday, August 27--Tom decided to take his shower in the community shower that Brad uses because it is larger than the one in our cabin. We debated whether to eat breakfast first or go into Hopedale. Both started at 7:30. Brad set out walking, but the rest of us ate breakfast. I had wanted to see the assembly building which is decorated with labradorite tiles. Just as Brad left, he returned to say that Harry was on the dock and he had some labradorite for me. I went out to look and he had a box with about ten pieces of labradorite. I took one, and Brad took one. I went back in for breakfast. Tom and I started walking after breakfast, but turned back when it started sprinkling. However, Carol and Darlene decided to brave the rain and I went back out with them. The rain had stopped, but the mosquitoes and black flies (no seeums) were so bad that we turned back. We get to Postville at 1:30. We sat outside and watched scenery for awhile this morning. Tom and I almost ate lunch in the cafeteria. We waited in line hoping for soup, but when the cafeteria was late opening, we decided to return to the room for our lunch of cheese and crackers, peach, and granola bars.
When we docked at 1:30, we all walked in town to find the post office for me to mail cards to the grandchildren and for Darlene to get money at the same store at which Tom had found it on the first time through.
Tom went back to the boat, but the rest of us walked up to a gazebo viewpoint overlooking the town and bay. On the way back we stopped at the store and then made it back to the boat about fifteen minutes before sailing time. The wind had started blowing in what seemed to us a way that indicated a storm coming, but an older man on the dock said that it meant good weather coming. We'll see! The old man was right. We're now in Makkovik and the weather is beautiful. Brad, Carol, and Darlene went walking to see sled dogs, supposedly a long walk. I started with them, but he bugs are bad so I turned back. I chatted with the chef and asked him to have the beef and barley soup tomorrow, which he said he'd do. Tom and I took our computer/iPad to the upper deck and sat out for awhile. He arrived here about 6:00 and will be leaving at 9:00. No one saw the Northern lights tonight. It was too bright with the moon almost full, but some did see them last night after all of us went to bed.
Friday, August 28--We were ready for breakfast at 7:30, but it was a little late. Still, we did have time to eat and then go ashore to the craft shop inn Rigolet, our last stop. Tom wanted to buy a mug, and I ended up buying a tiny salt grass woven basket. We also stopped at the museum before the craft shop opened. It was in a restored 1800's building that had been used by fishermen with a second room that was where the barrels for the fish were made. Upstairs was a fishing boat and large divisions on each side where each family kept its fishing equipment. The day is very misty, but not really rainy. When we came back on board we began talking with a family from Makkovik who were traveling to Goose Bay and then on to Montreal. They knew both Jason in Postville and Harry Jensen on Hopedale. Joan's mother was flying to Mississippi in October as the special guest of a woman Freedom Rider who is being recognized with some others. We arrived back in Goose Bay about 3:30, but it took a long time to unload cargo and then let passengers disembark. Brad had parked his truck and trailer in the ferry parking area so he just drove off. Carol and Darlene called a taxi. We were supposed to be picked up by Roberta, but her phone stayed busy the whole time I tried to call her so we rode with Carol and Darlene. They dropped us first and then went on. We were happy to see Zoe and she seemed happy to see us. There was a pug also staying in the house, and Roberta said that they had played well. She was amused that Zoe dug to the bottom of a toy basket to get the toy she wanted. We waited in the RV until almost 6:30 and then went in to join the barbecue. There were around 30 people. They were local people who got together every couple of months and others from as far as St. John's who were going on the ten day canoe trip with Roberta. The food was delicious. Roberta's friend, Jim Learning, cooked the barbecue, but he said that he really doesn't like barbecue.
Saturday, August 29--Our 51st anniversary! The day started and ended with an almost perfectly blue sky although there were a few clouds during the day. As we were getting ready to go get Jim to help us back out, Tom looked out the passenger window and saw a rabbit less than five feet from the RV calmly eating nearby leaves.
We watched him for several minutes before starting the RV to back off the leveling blocks and scaring him away. Jim guided Tom as he backed the RV out, and we went to the RV sanitary station that the town had to dump and to fill up with water. Then we liked for the World War ll museum and found it had been closed last week. We found a very good grocery store in the co-op after being directed by a young man at the Information Center.
We also stopped at a tire store and had air put in our tires. Tom is particularly concerned about one of the passenger side rear ones. We then stopped at Tim Horton's. Tom had coffee and donuts and I had a cheese croissant although I never tasted any cheese. I downloaded more than 400 emails that I hadn't been able to get during the last week. After that we didn't feel that we needed to stop for lunch so we drove on to Churchill Falls. It was about a four hour drive on a really good road although we still had to watch for moose. When we reached Churchill Falls we stopped to fill up with gas and asked about RV campgrounds. We were told that there were none, but that we could park just about anywhere. The young man attendant particularly suggested the arena, which was just down the road. We went to the arena and we're looking for a level spot when a security car pulled up. The security officer came over to the passenger side of the RV where I was sitting with Zoe in my lap, and as he petted Zoe told us that we could also park at the city center building and that we were welcome to use the electrical sockets that were evenly spaced at both the arena and the city center building for cars to plug in in the winter. We noticed that all the houses seemed to be uniform and that there were dormitory looking buildings so I asked if it were a bedroom town. He explained that it was a company town. There is a huge generating station here. He said that he had a four bedroom house and paid $90 a month for the house including utilities. He also mentioned that there was a restaurant in the city center building. Since it was our anniversary, we decided to try the restaurant. I had a very good pizza and Tom had the deluxe donair. He described it, "A donair is essentially a pizza of spiced beef and other meats on pita bread which is baked in an oven and then topped with lettuce, tomatoes, and a cheese sauce. It was about ten inches across." We had three glasses of milk (one and one-half each) and the cost of all was only about $23 Canadian. We thought it was probably so inexpensive because it was a company town with everything owned by the company. The building itself was interesting. It contained the restaurant and hotel, a library, a school, a grocery store, city offices , and maybe more. When we finished eating we returned to the RV, picked up Tom's computer and my iPad and went back to sit in the bar and use the Internet before going to bed.
Sunday, August 30--We took our time getting ready this morning. There were two other RV's parked near us at the city center. It was another blue sky day with only some clouds. We drove back to the gas station from yesterday to see if they could inflate our tire, but the hose to their compressor was broken so Tom did it (with a little help from the attendant) with our 12 volt portable compressor. Then we started for Labrador City, which is only 240 kilometers. We plan to spend the night there and then start early for the trip down through part of Quebec to civilization along the St. Lawrence. We stopped at a rest area as we crossed the Churchill River to tale pictures of the bridge, the river, and the RV showing the isolation of the rest area.
We drove on to Labrador City. We stopped at the Walmart where we bought me some cough drops and asked about spending the night in the parking lot and about the possibility of a campground. They told us about a Dooley Campground, but we drove out of town and didn't see it. We returned to town and stopped at a closed information center. While we were stopped a police car drove up. The policeman was trying to do some paperwork from a previous call, but he gave us clearer directions for the campground. We got gas and tried again. This time we found the campground, but it looked really rough and we decided to return to the Walmart parking lot. I fixed supper. The generator worked long enough for me to fix asparagus and corn, but then it quit. I cooked some chicken thighs on top of the stove in a sauce pan and it worked well. Since we didn't have the generator, I couldn't dry my hair after I washed it! It started raining during the evening and rained all night. After we moved Zoe's kennel to the front of the RV and put her bed on top of it as we did every night to help keep the light off her, she decided to jump up onto her bed.
Monday, August 30--The rain was harder this morning, but Tom was up early and had finished getting ready by the time Zoe woke up so he took her out to walk during a light spell. We've been concerned about one of he tires so we stopped at Canadian Tire and asked them to air all the tires, which they did at no cost. We then started down the road to Baie Comeau. When we reached Fermont we turned off. I had heard that it was a town where everyone lived in a big building. It must be another company town. There were two big buildings and a few others. I wanted to try my French, so I went in the commercial one looking for the information center. I asked a janitor where it was (in French) and was told. The young lady there spoke some English so we communicated in both. She had traveled the Baie Comeau road the day before and said it wasn't too bad. She did warn that the first gravel patch from Mont-Wright, where the iron mine is, to Fire Lake, 67 kilometers was very curvy and would take about one and one-half hours. She may not have taken the rain into account. The road around the mine was particularly bad and the rest of it went from awful to not too bad with a washboard surface and many potholes. The rain did mostly stop about halfway through the gravel. The scenery was pretty even with the rain and clouds and we could only imagine how much nicer it would be with sunshine. There are many even larger seeming lakes than Labrador and the hills seem higher in the distance. The trees are spindly conifers and some ground is covered with something that might be lichen or moss in a pale green. It took us a good four hours to get to Manic-Cinq and we decided to stop there rather than try to make Baie Comeau and arrive after dark. The last mile was hair raising. We didn't realize that Manic-Cinq was a hydro power station with a very large dam. As we approached the base of the dam and Manic-Cinq we realized that the traffic was stopped and that there was a truck in the lane coming toward us with two gas trailers apparently stuck in the turn at the bottom of the hill. It started back up after ten minutes or so and we went on. We were looking for a place to park around the Information center, which was closed. I stopped one truck as a man was leaving to ask if we could park there and he indicated we could. As we dithered about where, a security guard appeared and we talked with him. He wanted to practice his English and I wanted to practice my French so we had fun talking. He told us we could park in a place that was marked not to park, but was the most level place. Both men also mentioned a restaurant three kilometers on. We had enjoyed the last meal in a company town so we decided to drive up and try this one. The served a complete meal at a fixed price. Tom and I both chose cream of cabbage and broccoli soup and beef with mushrooms. He had a puff pastry filled with a cream and drizzled with caramel. I tried a very sweet pie. It was all very good. Unfortunately my sore throat has become a very tickly throat so I bought cough drops. We went back to the information center and camped for the night. The dam was lit up and pretty at night.
Tuesday, September 1--We were going to sleep late, but for once Zoe woke us up. She woke up about 6:30. We decided she must not have been aware of the time change when we went from Labrador to Quebec. We fixed breakfast, but our generator is not working well so I fried my eggs rather than cooking them in the microwave. We then went to see if the friendly guard was around to thank him for letting us stay. He was and we enjoyed chatting with him in French and English. We then got gas and went to the restaurant again and had a second breakfast.
There were five bikers there who were just beginning the circle we made but in the other direction. We all looked out the window to see a squirrel on one of the bikes. We started for Baie Comeau again. The three hour drive took us four, but we did make it and we're happy to be in civilization again. It was quite abrupt. One minute we were fighting the road and the next minute we were in Baie Comeau. We saw a question mark indicating the information center and followed it through the town to very close to the ferry loading zone. The woman there was able to give us the name of a campground, Camping Boreal, a little out of town and to make a reservation for us. She also tried to help us find a place to have our filthy RV washed or to do it ourselves, but didn't have a lot of success. We went to the campground because we wanted to do our laundry and had a lot of it. The campground was nice and the personnel gave me a chance to try my French. Unfortunately, the laundry in the office and nearest our site had only one washer and dryer so Tom had to go to the next one also, which had two washers and two dryers, to do all our laundry. While he did the laundry. I experimented with cooking kale as I do turnip greens. It turned out well enough. We had supper after finishing the laundry and went to bed. (C $45 + 3.45 for a second Internet password)
Wednesday, September 2--We wanted to dump our tanks, but Tom couldn't get the cover off the drain. However as we left the site we saw a dump near the campground exit and used that one. We asked the campground manager about someone who might wash the RV. He suggested one of the RV dealers in town. We tried that one and they couldn't, but they suggested the other dealer and that one told us that they could do it at 1:00. Since it was only about 10:00, we went back to the information center to ask about taking the ferry over to the south side of the St. Lawrence. We were told that the south side was a better road and the ferry left at 5:00 so we asked the woman at the center to make a reservation for us and returned to the RV dealer to eat our lunch in their parking lot. Just before 1:00 the employees of the dealership began pouring into the parking lot after their lunch break. Promptly at 1:00 they were ready to wash the RV and took us to a waiting room at the next door Chrysler dealer--they may have been connected businesswise--and allowed Zoe to go with us. About 2:15 they came to say it was finished. We went downtown and walked down the street with Zoe. It was almost as warm as Mississippi! We stopped at a bar/brewery, sat in the shade of a big umbrella, and I had a lemonade that was very good. They brought Zoe some water. We returned to the RV and drove down to the ferry. There was some doubt about our being allowed on the ferry because the largest propane tank allowed was supposed to be 17 gallons and ours was 17.5 gallons, but could only be filled to a maximum of 14 gallons. Apparently that was little enough because they let us go. The ferry was apparently only put into service this year and is beautiful.
We went to the top deck and saw something blowing--some kind of whale. The trip is supposed to be two hours and twenty minutes and there's a campground near the town on the other side, Mantane. We stayed at Sirois la Baleine (C $30.50) we reached the other side and exited the ferry. The campground was only four kilometers down the highway toward Québec and Montréal, but it was almost dark and it was a little hard to see. The woman who managed the campground said that her daughter wanted a boxer and asked to meet Zoe. Zoe was thrilled!
Thursday, September 3--Tom looked at the shower in the campground and decided to take his shower in the RV. We drove less than an hour when Tom decided he wanted coffee so we stopped at a Tim Horton's hoping for Internet in addition to treats. We found the treats, but the Internet didn't work well. After we started driving again we saw a second Fromagerie (Fromagerie des Basques)--we had seen one and not stopped but there are a lot of dairy farms in this region and I thought the cheese might be good--and stopped. All the cheeses were made locally so we bought several. Then we drove on to the information center in St. Pascal where we had lunch in the parking lot. We had been having trouble with one of our tires. It wouldn't stay inflated all the way. We asked in the information center about a place that could fix the tire and were sent to a tire shop where they said that they could take care of it and did. There was a very small screw stuck in the tire. We're hoping that that takes care of our tire problems. The roads are much better than any we've seen in weeks and we even ended up on a four lane highway as we approached Québec. The traffic was terrible around Québec, but it was rush hour so that was understandable. The drive all day has been nice, and we had some very pretty views of the St. Lawrence and of beautiful farming country. We decided to take the first campground we found west of Québec and when we passed a KOA we got off at the next exit and returned to it. It's a very nice and clean campground. There are two different campers here from Pennsylvania. We have seen only a handful of USA campers since we entered Canada, but especially after we entered Newfoundland. (C $55.00)
Friday, September 4--Tom liked the bathhouse. It had seven clean shower stalls! Our objective today was the Botanical Gardens in Montréal where Ashleigh and Josiah had told us was a good bonsai display. We reached there in time to have lunch in the restaurant--cafeteria style and either a meal of chicken, rice and salad with soup or sandwiches, etc. We had the chicken. I found another really nice jigsaw puzzle and they held it in the gift shop until we finished our look at the garden and returned for it. We walked to the Japanese Garden (where there were Bonsai), the Chinese Garden, and through several others. Everywhere in the garden we could see the leaning tower built for the 1976 Olympics. It was a lot of walking and very little shade in places. We were tireder than we would have thought, but I did enjoy the bonsai in the Japanese Garden. There were some Chinese trees in the gift shop area that were also very nice.
We left the gardens and hit somewhat heavy traffic leaving Montréal. We were glad it was 4:30 rather than 5:30! We noticed that there was a KOA Ouest Montréal and were lucky enough to find it and to get a site for the night. (C $45?). After checking out our site we went back to the town nearby to get groceries. We had seen the groceries store on the way in, but for some reason we had trouble finding it.
Saturday, September 5--Tom took his shower in the campground shower again, but he didn't like it as well as the previous night's KOA. The campground had a fenced dog area so we took Zoe to throw her frisbee. She retrieved it a few times, but wasn't too interested so we quit and prepared to leave. We spent a little time searching for a pharmacies that our map showed in the nearby town and finally found it so that I could buy more cough drops. Back in the U.S. at 1::35! The border crossing was very simple. The young lady checking was more interested in Zoe than us. We started looking for a campground in about the right place, and I found one that seemed about right except that it was about ten miles off the Interstate. Those ten miles ended up being very much in the country with rather poor road so--Shades of Newfoundland! There were probably as many tents as RV's and our site tilted. We had water and 20 amp electricity. By the time we had parked, we were too tired to worry about it. There was a family in a tent next to us and their two little girls really liked Zoe. Highland Campground, Dalton, PA. ($25)
Sunday, September 6--Tom hiked up the hill to the office and showers. On the way he said he passed an area where there were many earthworms dead and alive on top of the ground. We had a relatively early start at 8:45. Thanks to the GPS we ended up on the Pennsylvania Turnpike and overpaid at the first toll booth. It was automated and somewhat complex. It also involved being on some extremely high bridges. We ate at Cracker Barrel in Staunton. Tom had been wanting meatloaf and ketchup for weeks and finally had it. Then we drove on to the Staunton-Walnut Hills KOA to spend the night. It was a large, very crowded campground with even live music and a large dog run. Zoe did seem to enjoy running around, but no one came to play with her. ($42)
Monday, September 7--The big deal was emptying our tanks. The dump was not in the best place, but we did empty before leaving the campground. We are planning to stop to visit with Dorman and Kathie, who has had a stroke. We spent the day driving and made it to the Volunteer Park or Knoxville North KOA by late afternoon in time to do a little laundry. ($34.28) it's a very nice park with level concrete pads.
Tuesday, September 8--We had a message from Dorman yesterday suggesting that we visit them at about 1:30 so there was no hurry getting up and we all slept until 7:30. Zoe didn't wake up until about 8:00. We spent the morning with our computers parked next to the barbecue outfit. We were too late yesterday for a share. When we left we drove to Dorman's. We tried to go to a Walmart close to his house for supplies first, but it was too much in the center of town and we ended up going out of the main part of town to a grocery store where we bought our supplies and ate in their parking lot. We enjoyed our visit with Dorman and Kathy and were pleased to see how well she is doing. We left them and then drove on to Chattanooga where we spent the night in the familiar campground where we've stayed when we went with Dorothy and Bill.
Wednesday, September 9--No excitement! We just drove home and reached it just after mid-afternoon.