Waiting for Earl to go by.

2010.09.04

We went into Port aux Basques and their library's parking lot to collect our emails and cell phone messages. Sure enough, Maritime Atlantic, the ferry operator, told us in two email and a cell phone message that our crossing will be delayed 6 hours. The phone message had to be acknowledged. Can't fault them for not communicating.

Since it was gloomy and a bit windy, we headed back to Cheeseman Provincial Park where we hung out the rest of the day. I did get a chance to talk to a local camper as well as one from Ontario. These chats are always a fun part of camping. I brought them up to date on what I learned about Earl track which had shifted East a bit and closer to us.

Earl's passage itself was not at all worrisome. Some gusty wind and some rain in the evening, but really not that bad. It was now a tropical storm anyway. When Earl was closest, around 11;30 pm, the loudest noise was not the wind, but the waves hitting the shore some distance away.

Odometer reads 68,987.

Cape Anguille

2010.09.03

Today, we left our glorious free campsite and backtracked out of the Port au Port Peninsula.

We drove South on the TCH and then West to Cape Anguille where there is a fine lighthouse. Other than the name of the cape, the names of places here have an English, Scottish, or Irish ring to them. For a change, the soil is arable and even dark in color. There were green fields including those of corn.

Getting to the TCH again and heading South, and being within easy ride to the ferry terminal, we stopped by a commercial campground to check on their rates. The lady there gave the rates, but then said we really shouldn't stay there because Hurricane Earl is coming tomorrow. Also the local terrain is such that there are heavy winds even without a hurricane. She suggested we go on to Cheeseman Provincial Park which is in a valley. She even offered to call ahead to make a reservation. I declined the offer, but we did go ahead to Cheeseman and booked a site with power for two days. Cheeseman is close enough to anything we might want to see tomorrow. If it's a gloomy rainy day, power will be nice to have.

We then drove down to Port aux Basques and filled up our tank with gas. We were getting down close to a quarter tank which is where the generator gets cut off from the supply. Anyway, if there are power line failures, we'll have plenty of gas to run the generator. That does shoot my plan to get on the ferry with minimal gas because it costs about 10% more in Newfoundland than in Nova Scotia.

We also stopped by the Port aux Basques public library to get internet access and then to a "Chinese" restaurant for supper.

Online, we found out Earl's projected path which should be West of Newfoundland and hitting Eastern Quebec and Labrador. For the moment ignoring that hurricanes do have their own agenda, we should be on the periphery of the path.

Ferry service will be suspended for 12 hours on Saturday. We're not sure what that means to our Sunday reservation. We'll have to go into town to check on that tomorrow. Online, the ferry company says they'll email schedule change notices. We'll see.

Odometer reads 68,974.

Port au Port Peninsula

2010.09.02

From Berachois Pond Provincial Park, we headed West to the Port au Port peninsula.

In Stephenville, we stopped near the town hall. Along the road they have mounted a US Air Force fighter as if banking in flight. That deserved to be photographed. Looking around, one could easily spot buildings that look like military barracks. Indeed, there was a US Air Base here during the Cold War.

Nearby was a library where we could collect our email. I got to sell off a stock I've been disappointed with lately at a modest profit. Brenda bought and downloaded an eBook.

We drove on to Lourdes and then headed Northeast on what reminded us of NC's Outer Banks. However, after a mile or two of a washboard gravel road, we turned around. There would have been 8 more gravel miles to go!

This area was allowed to be colonized by France in 1881 which they did. But, in 1904 France gave up interest in the French Shore to the Brits in exchange for coffee plantations in the Los Islands of Africa.

We then drove Southeast to Cape St. George and its Parc - Boutte du Cap. It's a very scenic park and we camped in it just feet away from where a lighthouse once stood. The waves are beating on the rocks at the bottom of the cliffs we sit on. While some people drove by until sunset, we've been alone all night. And, the camping is free.

Odometer reads 68,880.

On to Berachois Pond Provincial Park

2010.09.01

This morning, we left the campground and drove out to Bottle Cove as well as look around Lark Harbour. While we ignored the bogus Viking ship they had in front of the town hall, we noted the public library. Fellow campers told us that even this small town's library had Wi-fi. So, even though the library was closed, the hot spot was up I could post to the blog.

All the library Wi-fi hot spots, if not the libraries themselves, are operated by the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The same user ID and password work at any library. Provincial money well spent, I say! :-)

Retracing our path back out to Corner Brook was trickier than getting in. Of the 3 construction zones, one was at a critical stage and caused us to wait for quite a while. They are rebuilding the road over culverts they are replacing at the same time. They had to unload steel plates from a trailer stopped in the single narrow temporary lane they had.

With the delay to get to the TCH, we decided to delay our visit to Port au Port peninsula till tomorrow and headed for Berachois Pond Provincial Park, one of the largest in the provincial park system.

For the third time in a row, we opted to stay "off the grid". Between the driving and the sun on our solar panels, our house batteries were fully charged. The $8 differential between electric and "no service" sites is excessive.

Odometer reads 68,711.

Traipsing on down the West coast

2010.08.31

The Trout River campground has Wi-fi and we made reservation for the ferry from Port aux Basques, NL to North Sydney, NS on the Atlantic Vision for noon on Sunday the 5th. The Atlantic Vision is the larger and faster ferry and that's good for the dog and the fridge that has to be denied propane on the voyage.

From Trout River, we re-traced out path through the Southern portion of Gros Morne National Park. This time we stopped at the Discovery Centre which is the major interpretive center for the park and took in all the exhibits. On the top floor observation deck, they have vistas of the mountains, the South Arm, and Bonnie Bay.

Heading South some, we were able to pick up the TCH and go on to Corner Brook, the largest city along the West coast of Newfoundland. We stopped by a Dominion grocery store and stocked up on some food, particularly fruit.

We then headed West along the South coast of the Humber Arm. We passed by a paper plant or possibly some other wood product in Corner Brook with many smoke stacks putting out what must be mostly steam. There was practically no odor. There was a line of trucks with logs on them.

We drove pretty much to the end of the shore to Blow Me Down Provincial Park. Being the first campers to show up, the attendant said we could have any site we wanted. If we wanted, we could also park along the beach, usually an overflow area. We chose the beach.

Before dinner, we walked up a trail, mostly wooden steps up almost 500 feet to an observation platform. Besides the park, one could see both York Harbour and Lark Harbour. While we huffed and puffed, our odometers registered no aerobic steps. Sometimes one just doesn't get credit! :-)

Odometer reads 68,629.

The Arches

2010.08.30

On our way South down the West coast highway (and there is no East coat highway) of the Northern Peninsula, we stopped by the Arches Provincial Park. It's more of a scenic view stop with picnic tables.

The unusual arches formation is the result of the usual multi hundred million geologic forces that erode mountains, but also recent glaciers that fractured and toppled chunks of a mountain. Since the last ice age and the relative dropping of the sea level, wave action has excavated the weaker rock from underneath. Very pretty site!

Continuing South we once again entered Gros Morne National Park.

We stopped by a coastal ship wreck. The SS (steam ship) Ethie ran aground and broke apart in a fierce storm in December of 1919. Fortunately, none of the 92 passengers and crew lost their lives in the icy waters. While the hull has corroded and been washed away, thicker chunks of steel are still strewn about. There is ballad about this wreck.

After being away for a week or so, we revisited the Gros Morne's visitor center. This time we watched the movie about the park which was quite good. Some of the aerial photography can't be matched by anything seen from the ground.

We drove all around Bonnie Bay to the South section of the park. The section of road on the high plateau is treeless and reminds one of a place like Arizona.

We stayed overnight "off the grid" at the park's Trout River campground.

Odometer reads 68,514.

Back to the big island.

2010.08.29

Red Bay being the North end of paved roads available to us, we decided to head back to the ferry to Newfoundland. We caught the 1:00 pm ferry to St. Barbe.

We drove down to River of Ponds, NL and the campground there. Their mention of internet turns out to be a dial up line you can plug into if you have a modem in your computer. How old is that? Brenda was ticked. No internet for us.

Odometer reads 68,372.

Labrador historic sites

2010.08.28

We drove along the coast to L'Anse Amour, current population less than 10. While literally the name means Cove of Love, before the PR spin it was known as Anse aux Morts, meaning Cove of the Dead because of all the shipwrecks along the coast here. This is along the Labrador Straits, also known as Iceberg Alley. The sea route through here for ships going to Europe around the North of Newfoundland have, despite some tricky currents, about 200 miles less to travel.

At Point Amour, just North of "town", is a lighthouse that's a National Historic Site and been in operation since 1858. I walked up to the top to see it in operation. While it now uses an incandescent light bulb, it still uses the original Fresnel lens. There are four light bulbs, one in use and the others as back-ups to be automatically positioned at the focal point if a bulb burned out. The light pattern of this lighthouse is 16 seconds on and four seconds off.

The museum had copies of old maps for the coastline including one used by German U-boats.

The wreck sites of HMS Raleigh and another British warship are just South of the lighthouse.

The other site of interest near L'Anse Amour is a Maritime Archaic Indian burial mound that goes back some 7,500 years. It is the earliest known funeral monument in North America.

After lunch, we went to the town of Red Bay and the National Historic Site there. From 1540, and for about 80 years, Basque fisherman had been coming to this area to hunt whales, primarily the Right whales. The name, we found out, comes from the fact they were not the "wrong" whales. The Right whale is not only docile and easy to kill, but is also so full of blubber it floats after being killed. The museum has many artifacts that go back to that time.

Underwater archeological work located in Red Bay harbor the remains of a 16th century galleon believed to be the "Saun Juan" that broke anchor and sank there in a storm in 1565. It had on board 800-1000 barrels of whale oil at the time. Only a 1/20 scale model of the ship is shown. However, they did have a fairly complete "chalupa" that was also recovered. The chalupa is a smaller hunting boat.

Overnight, we stayed "off the grid" at the somewhat buggy, but otherwise nice beachfront site, in Pinware Provincial Park. Interestingly, the name comes from the French "pied noir" for a black rock resembling a foot at the mouth of a local brook.

Odometer reads 68,274.

On to Labrador

2010.08.27

Gusty winds and rain buffeted our rig all night and kept us from sleeping well, so we were a bit slow in the morning.

We drove to St. Anthony to look around, buy some groceries, and gas up. We decided not to go to the Grenfell Historic Poperties museum because we had seen an extensive Grenfell exhibit at "the Rooms" provincial museum back in St. John's. We did drive over to the scenic fishing village of Goose Bay.

We then drove to St. Barbe which is the West terminus of the ferry to the mainland, in this case the province of Quebec. The ferry goes to Blanc Sablon which is just West of the Labrador border.

On the way over to St. Barbie, Brenda snapped a picture of what we have been seeing from day one on Newfoundland. It is a picture of a power or telephone pole surrounded at the base by a box full of rocks. We think we have figured out why this is so. When they augur holes for the power poles and hit a significant rock they quit and make up for it with rocks above ground. For sure, Newfies call this island "the Rock".

We booked a spot on the next available ferry which was at 6:00 pm. That meant we had a 3 hour wait. This ferry terminal is attached to a motel and restaurant. So, to get Wi-fi, we went to the restaurant for coffee and dessert. The food was fine, but the Wi-fi must have been connected to a cranky dial-up line. Not a good investment for us. Well, at least I got to read more of "Charleston" on Brenda's iPod Touch.

The ferry, on time and as scheduled, took an hour and a half to get us to Quebec. Their roads were terrible, but perhaps it's because it's a short distance and it leads to Labrador.

Given that the sun was setting, we stopped at the first available campground. It is run by the Northern Light Inn in L'Anse au Clair, Labrador. After all the rain, the campground was on the muddy side.

Odometer reads 68,196.

Historic Sites

2010.08.26

In the morning we went to the Port au Choix National Historic Site. The site has a museum as well as archeological sites where migrations of different cultures to the area can be seen.

The oldest were the Maritime Archaic Indians who came from Asia to North America over the Bering Strait over 12,000 years ago. They reached Labrador about 9,000 years ago and Newfoundland about 5,500 years ago. They disappeared about 3,200 years ago.

Next were the Groswater Palaeoeskimos, who were arctic-adapted and came across the Bering Strait 5,000 to 4,000 years ago. While some remained in Alaska, others reached Greenland 3,800 years ago and Newfoundland 2,800 years ago. They were replaced by the Dorset Palaeoeskimos, who lived in larger communities, 1,900 years ago. The Dorsets left about 1,200 years ago. The Port au Choix site has had the largest and richest Dorset archeological site.

Sometime between 2,000 and 800 years ago the Recent Indians appeared. They were different in that they lived in smaller family groups, were nomadic and harvested not only the sea and coastal areas as their predecessors had, but also went inland to harvest the wildlife there. These people were known as Beothuk by the Europeans who lastly showed up. Contact with the Europeans, in a variety of ways, wiped out the Beothuk.

Port au Choix is on the French Shore which by the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht allowed the French to fish and process the fish on shore but not to settle it. This treaty gave the British sovereignty over Newfoundland.

We drove North towards St. Anthony, NL and the L'Anse aux Meadows (the Meadows part of the name not being French) Historical Site. It is also a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is here that around the year 1000 AD the Vikings for a decade or two had a settlement. They came from a colony they had established in Greenland.

While the archaeologic site has been re-buried, there are nearby reconstructed sod buildings with period re-enactors to show how they lived. What surprised me most was they smelted local iron ore to make iron nails.

The Vikings, despite being much more advanced technically, were far outnumbered by the hostile stone age natives and had to abandon the settlement.

We stayed at the Viking RV Park in Quirpon, NL.

Odometer reads 68,079.

A down day

2010.08.25

We took advantage of the full hook-ups and took long showers and then dumped our holding tanks. Of the half dozen campers, we were the last to leave.

We then drove to the motel down the road which happens to have the only laundromat in town. The electric driers were quite slow. Anyway, we got some reading in and had our afternoon coffee before we left.

We then continued North on the coastal highway up to Port au Choix. There is National Historic Site here we'll be going to tomorrow.

There is a seaside campground run by the Lions Club where we'll stay overnight.

Odometer reads 67,922.

For a change, the post is done on the day it describes.

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Western Brook Pond Boat tour

2010.08.24

In the morning we went to Rocky Harbour to pick up our Western Brook Pond boat tour tickets. They only issue tickets on the day of the tour for fear of potential weather issues.

On the way to the parking lot for the boat tour, we stopped by the park's Green Point campground because they have Wi-fi. In retrospect we should have stayed there the night before. While it was a few miles further from Rocky Harbour, it was cheaper and closer to the shore.

We then drove on to the parking lot for the boat tour. It was chock full of vehicles, including folks on ours and the prior tour as well as those that hike out to the boat pier w/o taking the tour. Anyway we had to park on the periphery outside of parking slots, partially off the pavement. We put our levelers down to make sure the fridge would be happy and sealed off the front of the cab to make sure Tsing wouldn't make a nuisance of herself barking.

While it would have been nice if the boat tour was cheaper, it was very nice. The West Brook Pond is a fjord carved out by glaciers that has been cut off from the sea for some time. The water is unusual in that it has a very low concentration of minerals and is electrically almost an insulator. It is surrounded by cliffs of ancient insoluble rock. For that reason, it is very clear, but does not sustain a large variety of plant or animal life. Besides tourism, the main pollutant to the water is air borne.

We did get to see some moose on the shore of the pond (but a lake to me). It was a mother and a youngster moose. Moose is not native to Newfoundland, but was introduced by settlers in the early 1900's. Not having any natural enemies they have thrived and there are over 5,000 of them in Gros Morne alone. Snacking on saplings, they are gradually changing forest land to meadows. Periodically, there is an effort to thin them out.

Overnight, we stayed at the Sea Breeze B & B and RV Park in Cow Head, NL. Full hook-ups and Wi-fi were nice.

Odometer reads 67,846.

A trek to the Western side

2010.08.23

We decided to pick up the pace a bit and travel to the West side of Newfoundland and Gros Morne National Park.

In the Grand Falls-Windsor area we stopped by the public library to use their Wi-fi. We collected our emails and were amazed at how much of it piles up in a few days. Also, I posted a prepared post to the blog from days ago.

I have to blame Brenda's iPod Touch for being responsible for my tardiness in preparing files for blog posting. I had mentioned to her how when I was in 9th grade, I had read an assigned novel by Rudyard Kipling, a British author and poet, called "Captains Courageous". Much of the story takes place on a fishing schooner on the Grand Banks off Newfoundland. The copyright having been long expired, the book was available for download for free from the Apple iBooks store, which Brenda did. Well, I've finished that book and am now reading a book Brenda paid for. It's a historical novel called "Charleston". It turns out that we can both read the same book at the same time. Brenda is reading on her new Apple iPad which is synced with the iPoD Touch. In October, we have a get-together with other folks with Lazy Daze motorhomes near Charleston, SC.

We ran into some construction on the TCH (recall Trans-Canadian Highway) including lengthy stops. Brenda drove the rig when our direction started moving as I was "indisposed" in a little room in the back.

The ride in the Gros Bourne National Park is truly scenic. Going up and down on mountain roads without anything near by to block the view.

In Rocky Harbour, a town that's part of an occasional shoreline patch of land that's outside the park, we made arrangements for the boat tour of the park's Western Brook Pond for tomorrow. It was recommended to us more than once. There would be a 3 km walk to the tour boat dock from the parking lot. The posted picture was taken on the boat tour.

We camped at the national park's Berry Hill campground, off the grid which is the only choice. At $25.50 CDN, it was expensive especial on top of a park day pass of ~$9/head.

After we set up camp, we hiked around Berry Hill Pond. It was supposed to be only a 2 km trail, but did not apparently include the trail to the loop. The walk wore out the dog who had to be carried some of the way.

Odometer reads 67,811.

Leaving Fogo Island

2010.08.22

After breaking camp, we tried to get on the internet at the Fogo Island Library, but that did not work out. The library was closed on Sunday and while we could connect to the Wi-fi network, it was not connected to the internet.

We went on to the Irish fishing village of Tilting. It's hard to believe that there could be an Irish village these days, but we were told to expect a distinct brogue. This is not a big island!

On the way to the ferry terminal, we got to see a caribou that inhabits the island. But, no sign of Newfoundland ponies.

On the the ferry, we chatted with a couple from Ottawa who are in Newfoundland on a two week vacation. They flew in and are driving around in a rental and staying at B & B's. We got to compare travel notes as well as make suggestions to them. The lady had just finished a novel and gave it to Brenda.

We drove on to Notre Dame Provincial Park where we had stayed two weeks earlier. We were assigned a much nicer site this time.

Odometer reads 67,597.

Fogo

2010.08.21

In the morning, we drove over to the pretty village of Twillingate on Twillingate Island. One can simply drive there because of causeways and bridges.

In the afternoon, we took the ferry to Fogo Island.

While there are a lot of funny names here in Newfoundland for places, like the village of Seldom on Fogo Island or Random Island we had driven by the day before, Fogo has nothing to do with fog. It comes from the Portuguese "fuego" for "fire" because they had seen Beothuk (the natives) campfires there. In the 16th century, the Portuguese as well as others made seasonal trips to Newfoundland waters just for the fishing.

Fogo, the town, is a throwback in time. Not much new has been built in a while. The young adults go away to work somewhere else and come back to get married in town. This, being Saturday, just happened to be a wedding day for a guy who lives and works in Alberta. A local restaurant (and gas station) had a take-out Wedding Day special on Buffalo wings. The reception was at the Lions Club hall which happens to have a few camping sites near by for a money making project. We stayed there. We talked to a local lady walking her dog to get the scoop. When we told her where we were from, she said "Why would you come to Fogo?"

Up from the Lions Club property is a trail up to Brimstone Head, a huge rock overlooking the ocean. The Flat Earth Society believes it to be one of the corners of the Earth. A sign at the bottom of some wooden stairs in one of the steep sections of the trail reads "WARNING: You are nearing the edge of the flat Earth. One false step could be your last. Number of people lost to date "0".

Odometer reads 67,503.

Another travel day

2010.08.20

We traveled a long day today from near Cape Bonavista to Kittiwake Coast positioning ourselves for touring "the Isles" tomorrow.

We drove through Terra Nova National Park, deciding to skip it on this trip. It is intended to preserve the coastal beauty of this region in its pristine form. Other than being totally undeveloped, it is much like the coast we've been seeing in recent days.

Going by Gander, we stopped at the "Silent Witnesses Memorial" to the Arrow Air Disaster of December 11, 1985. Taking off from Gander, all 248 passengers and 8 crew perished in a crash. The passengers were all members of the 101st Airborne Division returning to Ft. Campbell, KY from a peacekeeping mission in the Sinai Desert.

Recall also that when US airspace was closed on 9/11/2001, it was the people of Gander who housed the 6,000 US bound airline passengers for days until flights could resume.

We also stocked up on some food and visited the local library to make use of their Wi-fi.

Once again, we are staying at a provincial park campground, off the grid.

Odometer reads 67,410.

Bonavista Peninsula

2010.08.19

We first visited the picturesque village of Trinity. The name originates with Portuguese explorer Carte-Real, who while circumnavigating Newfoundland, entered the bay on Trinity Sunday in 1501.

We then went up to Cape Bonavista where we got to see the old lighthouse there and near by the statue of John Cabot (or more accurately a native of Venice, Giovanni Caboto, in the service of Henry VII) is said to have first landed in 1497. Also on the Cape we stopped by "the Dungeon", which are actually a pair of natural tunnels in the shoreline cliffs leading to a pit created when a cave collapsed.

Finally, we went to the Ryan Premises National Historical Site (that was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1997). It commemorates some 5 centuries of fishing in the area and then explains the process of gutting, salting and dying fish. Part of the museum is the local Bonavista museum about living in a fishing community. We had a nice long chat with a local lady about what that's like.

We camped at the Elliston Municipal Park campground in view and sound of the ocean beach. Not that we went looking for any, but Elliston claims to be the "Root Cellar Capital of the World". :)

Odometer reads 67,199.

Leaving the Avalon Peninsula

2010.08.18

It was a longer but slower travel day.

We stopped by the Cable Station museum in Heart's Content again to see about picking up a souvenir specific to the place. Lots of generic NL stuff and local crafts, but not much choice other than XL T-shirts and a book about trans-Atlantic communication and Newfoundland. So, I got the book.

We drove around Trinity Bay and while on the TCH had to put up with light rain and fair amount of fog. While the locals are supposed to use running lights during the day, if the vehicle has them, some did not have lights in the fog.

We stopped at three different visitor centers, but none had Wi-fi. The last visitor center told us about a coffee shop that had free Wi-fi for its patrons and that was good for us. I got to post a few days of log entries.

Since it was getting late in the afternoon, we decided to head for the only provincial park in the Bonavista Peninsula and that's Lockston Path Provincial Park. Other than 3 miles dirt road that happens to be a numbered highway, it is a nice park. Once again, we stayed off the grid.

Odometer reads 67,137.

Dots and dashes

2010.08.17

We first drove over to a visitor center near Argentia, NL. (Argentia is the other ferry terminal, more distant, destination from Nova Scotia.) The goal was to use their Wi-fi and collect the emails we haven't had access to for a couple days.

At the visitor center we learned about the US Navy base built there well *before* US officially declared war on Germany in World War-II. It was ships from this base that escorted the convoys that carried materiel to Britain. The Rueben James, famous in song, sailed out of Argentia.

Then we went on to the town of Cupids. It is the town, first permanently settled by the British in 1610, that can be said to be the birthplace of British Canada. Take that Plymouth, Mass!

The people of Cupids have and continue to celebrate their 400th anniversary. They were making two way streets one way, blocking others, and running buses to transport people from outlying parking lots. Tonight they will have fireworks! We took a look around, but decided the hustle and bustle was too much for us and moved on. And, as we learned from the French Canadians the city of Quebec is celebrating their 400th as well.

Our last touring stop was the village of Heart's Content. It was funny how the Garmin GPS put the spoken accent on the first syllable of "content" and made it sound like the stuff inside the heart.

Anyway, it was at Heart's Content that the West end of the trans-Atlantic telegraph cable was laid in 1866. The harbor, besides being heart shaped, is deep enough to handle the large ship "Great Eastern" which laid a single cable all the way over to Valentia, Ireland.

From that time until 1965 the cable station here in Heart's Content was in operation. While equipment improved with time, received messages from Europe were relayed on another cable to Port aux Basques and then again to Nova Scotia, and so on. And of course the same in the other direction.

We are camping tonight at the commercial Outer Pond R.V. Park near Winterton, NL.

Odometer reads 66,983.

More BIRDS!

2010.08.16

Before breaking camp at Chance Cove PP, through binoculars, I got to see several seals feeding in the water. Too far away for pictures.

We stopped at the visitor center in Portugal Cove South. (No relation to the Portugal Cove that is North of St. John's.) There we learned about the Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve. It has the largest deposit of fossils in the world that date back 565 million years. The deposits are being weathered by the sea, rain, wind and sun and the paleontologists are trying hard to preserve it by making castings of the fossils. Charles Darwin tried in vain to find such fossils.

Mistaken Point got its name because mariners often mistook its identity and ran their ships aground in Trepassy Bay. Over the years, more than 2000 people have lost their lives over such navigational errors.

We then drove around St. Mary's Bay down to Cape St. Mary and the Ecological Reserve there. Cape St. Mary is one of few places where gannets, large sea birds, nest and breed. The wing span of the larger ones are about 6 feet. In flight, they are a most graceful bird. It was an incredible sight to see how they just covered the near by cliffs.

For overnight, we settled near the water used for the Regatta near Placentia, NL. Free camping is a good thing! :)

Thar she blows!

2010.08.15

This morning we backtracked to Bay Bulls to get O'Brien's Puffin and Whale boat tour. Expensive ($112.89 CDN for 2 seniors) but recommended as the best in the area. We got to see the Gull Island sea bird sanctuary and approached it fairly closely. Of particular interest to us were the puffins because of their distinct appearance. In flight they look like a flying potato. But, they are great swimmers.

There are some 80,000 nesting pairs on the island. They pair up for life, but while out at sea, they do not see each other for about 6 months. They re-use the old nest when they come back. There are also grouping of young adults, chased away from their childhood nests, hanging out on the cliffs trying to figure out how to get a mate and find a place to nest. The guide jokingly told us not to make eye contact with them.

Seeing a puffin on this island this time of year is a sure thing. Seeing a whale is chancy. But, we lucked out and got to see a pair - a mother and calf humpback whales. After seeing them at a distance we got close to where they were spotted and waited for them to come up and recharge their lungs with air. We saw them twice, once on each side of the boat, but not real close before we had to head for port.

We then went on to Ferryland, NL where they have an archeological dig for Lord Baltimore's Colony of Avalon settled in 1621. This settlement didn't take hold as the settlers moved on to warmer climes and finally settled in Maryland.

We also stopped by Renews, NL. We were told this is where the Pilgrims on the Mayflower stopped to take on fresh water and hunt for some meat before continuing to Plymouth.

We finally drove to a camping spot at Chance Cove Provincial Park. One long washboard road to what turned out a free dry camping area. The only facilities were trash bins and pit toilets for those who had nothing else. The rocky beach was not far away and the surf a lullaby.

We spoke with some (Canadian French) folks from Quebec camping in their VW Westfalias. We were touring in opposite directions and it was good to share our experiences.

Odometer reads 66,688.

Good bye, St John's!

2010.08.14

We had a late start from the Pippy Park's campground. With sewer hook-ups, we took those long showers instead of Navy showers, fully filled up our fresh water tank, and took advantage of the fast Wi-fi internet service near by. Fresh water has that rusty look in most other places.

We made a farewell visit to Costco for salad fixings and a supply of kippers which were judged to be pretty good. So far, price-wise, it's the only real deal in Canada.

We stopped at a visitor center at Bay Bulls and picked up some brochures for sea bird and whale watching tours which we'll do tomorrow.

We went on to La Manche Provincial Park. This time we tried a site with "no services". At the provincial park here it means no electrical power. These sites cost $15/day. Water is available here and there in the park but not at individual camp sites. There is one holding tank dump station.

It is a nice park with a trail to a waterfall and a longer one to an abandoned fishing village. A mile to the waterfall was good enough for us.

Odometer reads 66,611.

Cape Spear, Maddox Cove and Petty Harbour

2010.08.13

When we came out of the Geo Centre, we discovered sunshine. That's something we hadn't seen in a while. After lunch in the parking lot, we trekked across town, not a fun thing in our rig, and went to Cape Spear National Park. As mentioned before, this is the Easternmost point of North America. This time we had a chance to hike around and go up to the lighthouse on the hill as well as the original lighthouse. From atop the hill one could easily see Cabot tower and cliffs of St. Francis.

We then drove down to Maddox Cove and Petty Harbour. These fishing villages are severely affected by the ban on certain forms of fishing. In the 1960's processing 1,250,000 pounds of cod in a year at Petty Harbour was typical.

Back at Pippy Park for the fifth and last night, the odometer reads 66,561.

Johnson Geo Centre

2010.08.13

In the morning, we visited the Johnson Geo Centre at the lower end of Signal Hill Road. It is a fine museum for Geology. They do a great job explaining the formation of rocks as well as plate tectonics and the changing shape of the contingents.

The museum exhibit area is actually below ground level up against a Signal Hill rock face. The rock here is over 500 million years old. Some of the rocks in Northern Labrador are among the oldest rocks on earth. Newfoundland and Labrador are one province.

It was interesting to find out the Appalachian chain of geologic features extend all the way up to the Eastern part of NL.

The museum also has a section on the Titanic disaster.

Signal Hill

2010.08.12

We went on to Signal Hill (a Canadian National Historic Site). It is a high hill overlooking the ocean and the narrows that lead to St. John's harbor. While it had various structures there in the more distant past, the Cabot Tower was built there just over a century ago. It was from this vantage point that lookouts would raise various flags to signal the type of approaching vessel.

It was from this hill that Marconi received the first trans-Atlantic signal. The accomplishment, while cheered by most at the time, was not met with favor by the trans-Atlantic telegraph cable folks and Marconi had to watch his back.

From the Cabot Tower area we saw the Signal Hill Tattoo down below near the visitor center. That's Redcoats with fife and drum marching about. :-)

Signal Hill, as St. John's itself, changed hands back and forth between the English and the French during their wars.

Odometer reads 66,525.

"The Rooms"

2010.08.12

Today we visited "the Rooms" which is the NL's provincial museum. The museum's name is a reference to the steep roofed buildings on the shore of fishing villages where families came together to process their catch.

While The Rooms has an art gallery and an archive section, we spent most of our time in the regular museum section learning about the land and people that settled it.

From the upper floors of the Rooms, one gets a great view of St. John's harbor.

More of the Killick Coast

2010.08.11

On a gray day, we went to visit some villages North of St. John's - Flatrock, Pouch (said "pooch") Cove, and Bauline. They are fishing villages. Flatrock had been visited by Pope John who blessed the fishing fleet from there. The rain had picked up in Pouch Cove so we had to just look from inside the rig. We chickened out going up to Cape St. Francis on a narrow gravel road. Bauline is a fishing village at the bottom of some cliffs and we had to make a 5 point turn on their pier to get out.

On the way back to the campground we stopped at the only Costco in NL. We got the usual kinds of stuff but noted some differences from the Costcos at home. First, they had 8 packs of canned Kipper Snacks which I've never seen at any other Costco. Having been smoked, kippers may not be very healthy to eat but, I like kippers for lunch at times. Second, for $75 they had various wine kits that make 60 Liters of wine. It would take years to drink it! Costco & other grocery stores do not sell wine itself as they do back home. In NL, they have standalone combination liquor/wine stores as well as ones distinct yet attached to large grocery stores such as Dominion.

Incidentally, milk is quite expensive here as well as in Nova Scotia. It's over $7 a gallon, although when you can find them, the big containers are 4 Liters and therefore just a bit larger. Most grocery stores seem to have 1 and 2 Liter containers of various kinds of milk.

Odometer reads 66,510.

Cooke's tour of St John's area

2010.08.10

Mike and Elizabeth came over to our site to get us oriented and then give us a quick look-see of the area.

Mike and I spent a fair amount of time reviewing maps and locations of scenic or historic significance all over NL and certainly more places to visit than we have time for on this trip.

Then Mike drove us all around St. John's and particularly into places that would be difficult to navigate in an RV. St. John's is an old city of 100,000 (1 out of 5 Newfies live here) with many narrow two way streets that are difficult enough for a single car to pass through. The cliff-side houses along the Battery and the village of Quidi Vidi have streets like that. Even the city map we were given at the campground lists a number of "crazy intersections".

Mike gave us a close look all around the harbor. Besides the small boats, container ships, and Canadian Coast Guard there were ships that service the offshore oil rigs on the Grand Banks.

We did go up Signal Hill to find that Cabot Tower was in the clouds and we could barely see the outline of its base. A revisit in the rig was definitely in order. Also, along the way up the hill, Mike pointed out the Johnson Geo Centre which could be interesting to visit.

Also, we drove to Cape Spear which is the Easternmost point of The North American continent. It is closer to Ireland than it is to Florida (and probably the Carolinas). As we did the night before at Portugal Cove, we got to see whales feeding offshore.

Portugal Cove

2010.08.09

After setting up camp, we called our Lazy Daze friends Mike and Elizabeth C. We met them at a Southeast Lazy Daze get-together in Georgia last fall when they came by as "wannabes". They got their rig this spring. Mike and I have been communicating via email since. Mike has been coming to Newfoundland for over 25 years and even have a home overlooking Portugal Cove.

They came by the campsite and took us to dinner to place called "Pi", a fancy pizza place. They had all kinds of pizzas with science and mathematics related names as well as other food. We had a pizza with salmon which was quite good.

We got a tour of Portugal Cove, adjoining St. Phillip's as well as their home and rig. Their rig has the optional modern paint scheme and is a different floor plan. Mike showed me the collection of improvements that he has made to the rig. I'm sure he's got the only Lazy Daze with a bidet. :-)

On to St. John's

2010.08.09

We continued on the TCH to St. John's and it's Pippy Park campground where we'll stay for a few days. On the way, we drove by Gander, NL where on 9/11/2001 when US airspace was closed, cross-Atlantic flights with 6,000 passengers landed and had to be provided accommodations for days, many in private homes. We'll revisit that area later.

We also made a brief visit to the Terra Nova National Park visitor center on our lunch stop. Again we'll have a proper visit there later.

The Pippy Park campground does have Wi-fi but it's in another loop with pull-through sites and 50 Amp service. But, that loop is in an open field while we're in wooded back-in site. Given how the Wi-fi antenna is set up, we have to walk over there to pick it up. They also limit how many connections they allow at any time and that's a problem in the evening.

Odometer reads 66,463.

Trucking across half of Newfoundland

2010.08.08

We drove the TCH to Notre Dame PP covering over 300 miles. The TCH is the Trans Canadian Highway #1 (the only one Newfoundland has) which reminded me of the Alaska Highway. Mostly rocks and pine trees along the way with occasional groves of birches. Not especially scenic unless going near the coast or a lake. It is mostly a two lane road with an extra lanes on uphill stretches. It would be like a trucker lane except that it has priority over the "passing" lane. They have "YIELD" painted in the passing lane at the point the lanes merge. The road does zig-zag across Newfoundland and adds considerably to as the crow flies distance.

With the help of our GPS, we got off the TCH briefly to go into the town of Corner Brook to buy some groceries. On the way out of town we noticed a Walmart right near the TCH that would have been much more convenient. It was by no means a new store, so the GPS data is clearly not very complete.

At Notre Dame PP, the odometer read 66,230.

It's Ferry Day!

2010.08.07

We got the rig on the ferry, but had to leave it with Tsing-Tsing inside for the sailing while we had to go to the passenger deck. The LP gas tank has to be turned off, so our refrigerator became a cooler.

The 9:30 AM ferry, as often happens, did not leave on time. It was after 11:00 AM when it started moving. The ferry, Atlantic Vision, tried to make up some time and got to Port aux Basques in just 4 hours.

We had one happy dog when we were allowed to go down to our rig's parking deck. Being first in line payed off with an early exit.

We drove to the nearby J. T. Cheeseman Provincial Park (henceforth PP) and got an annual provincial pass for $20. The pass avoids future $5 day-use fees at the provincial fees. The camping fee was $23 for a site with electricity. Although they had some black flies about, it was good sleeping!

Odometer reads 65,909.

Hanging out in North Sydney

2010.08.06

We have not fallen off the earth. Wi-fi is not always available and in any case receiving emails and reading stuff trumps me chattering.

The only scheduled thing for the day was the oil change in the afternoon. The garage was an interesting experience. It's run by a mechanic/owner and I think a couple of his sons. He was doing all the work and they were basically standing around watching.I used our RVs levelers to raise the front of the rig so he could get underneath. His help did get him tools as he called out for them. He also went around greasing up the various grease fittings. It was amazing how much grease was used in some grease fittings given the 60 K service was done just 4 K miles ago. Half way through the work he stopped to sell a used car, one of the four that were sitting in his parking lot. My cost for the oil and lube was $50 w/o any paperwork. I know where that $50 bill is going.

We camped in a parking lot behind the town library. And, for the first time since leaving home, we went out to have dinner. It was at a Chinese restaurant that we had walked by earlier in the day.

We got up after 2:00 AM and drove over to the ferry terminal and got to be the first in the RV line. We slept there until morning.

North Sydney, Nova Scotia

Once again, I'm a day late posting. In this case I'm using free Wi-Fi access at the town library. The library issues temporary IDs and passwords. Unfortunately their wireless router has a weak signal and you pretty much have to be inside the library to use it.

We drove to North Sydney on Thursday to get the lay of the land, see where the ferry terminal was as well as check out some local scenery. We did run in to some folks that were going to use the ferry on Friday. One was a "Newfie" who gave us some information about the island itself. For example you can have a day trip to France or actually a short ferry to a French island. One was a couple from Ontario who are making their fourth trip to Newfoundland and consider it a unique place. Also ran into an Aussie who is traveling on a shoestring, didn't have a ferry reservation, and if things didn't improve would have to wait 6 days. He sleeps in a car. Today, we saw him at the library and found out he was going this afternoon because of a cancellation.

After some indirections we found a place that can do an oil change for us on Friday. Once we get to Newfoundland, we have to make a bee-line across to St John's which will take us a couple days and almost 600 miles. We'll take it slow on the way back to Port aux Basques, NL.

We stayed overnight at the North Sydney Mall at the recommendation of a local. It was not that restful as we were the only RV there and there were some teenager auto gatherings that were curious. It was also quite humid after all the rain.

Odometer read 65,889.

A "down" day.

It was rainy day and we stayed where we were inside our rig except for occasional brief walks with the dog. Some reading time was nice.

The microwave has been acting up, going totally blank, and was uninstalled 3 times. The power to the microwave measures OK and the internal fuse measures OK so the intermittent black out is still a mystery. Nothing inside looks obviously wrong. It may be necessary to replace the microwave with another one that fits. We use it a lot.

A short trip today.

We drove a short distance today. We're within an easy drive to North Sydney where the ferry leaves so there's no hurry.

The town of Antigonish has large supermarket and we stocked up on fruit, including some yellow plums and peaches grown in Ontario, as well as other goodies. The plums were not very flavorful and the peaches, enclosed in a plastic 3-liter box so you couldn't handle them, were quite firm. The peaches will have to be given a chance to ripen up.

Tonight we are again at a commercial campground this one called Hyclass Ocean CG. It is on St. Georges Bay. The wi-fi works fairly well!

Odometer reads 65,767.

If it's Monday, it must be Canada.

Once again. I'm posting a day late. Wi-Fi in Canada is via the kindness of strangers or CG. Even in Calais, ME the cell towers being picked up were Canadian. One could tell because the cell phone time was Atlantic. We truly don't want to pay those roaming rates.

Entering Canada, for no good reason, has become a nervous thing. We don't seem to have gotten over the time in 2005 when the Tsing-Tsing's food was confiscated (for possible mad cow disease) and we paid some $15 import tariff on a 5 liter box of wine that cost $12. No problems at all this time.

We travelled across New Brunswick and into Nova Scotia. Our first tank of gasoline was not very pretty. $142.50 for 129.4 liters (34.2 gal). The Canadian dollar is 98 cents US, so it's close to par. That's about $4.08 /gal.

Our plans to stay at a provincial park in Nova Scotia did not pan out very well. We stopped at two near our route, but they had no camping and were both day-use only. Turns out that the POIs (points of interest) files that we loaded into our Garmin did not carry forward that information. So, we had to backtrack a bit and use the Harbor Light CG near Pictou, NS.

Odometer reads 65,692.

Yesterday, a shorter travel day.

The goal yesterday was the Calais, ME area which borders Canada. Called the Keenes Lake Family CG to see if they space for a Passport America customer and they said it's a Canadian holiday and the half off discount would not apply. We said thanks but no thanks. We stayed at the Calais, ME Wal-Mart for free instead. As parking places go, it was quite nice. The parking area is next to some woods and away from the main traffic pattern. The temperature was quite cool as well.

Odometer reads 65360.

Another day of trucking North.

It was long slow day of travel. Both I-495, the outer outer belt around Boston and I-95 North of there through New Hampshire and into the Southern part of Maine. It was stop and go over and over again. Everyone and his mother was on the road with us. We got off to get gas and thought we'd give US 1 a try. Big mistake. It goes through the seacoast resort towns and it took forever to make headway. Getting through the town of Ogunquit, ME was excruciatingly slow. We got back on the Interstates and I-295 was very decent.

Our goal for the day was the Augusta, ME area. At the end of the day we were at the Foggy Bottom Marina and Campground. It's a Passport America listed campground and the cost was $21.40 including tax. Not bad for a full hook-up, cable TV, and fast Wi-Fi. The campground has 12 sites with 11 of them occupied for the season. No wonder we were told we got the last site when we called in a reservation. It's a small beautiful park with the marina part on the Kennebec River.

The odometer reads 65184.

Making tracks

At the end of the second day of travel we find ourselves at Kettletown State Park near Southbury, CT. After we set up and took at close look at the rules we found out that pets are not allowed this time of year. So, we went down to the office to see what the next step should be. They'll make an exception for Tsing-Tsing. We're leaving in the morning and will keep her in the rig and for the most part quiet. $30 for out of state dry camping seems a bit steep.

Odometer reads 64881.

First day of travel towards NL

Getting away from the house seems to always take more time than expected and we didn't leave until about 10 AM. We fueled up at the Costco near I-77 and trucked on up. Charlotte traffic was busy as usual, but it did move. I-81 in Virginia was another story. Besides some construction, a trucker must have dozed and tried to take out an overpass abutment. Both the truck and the trailer fared very badly. Miles and miles of backed-up traffic. Anyway, we missed getting to our destination campground by about an hour after they closed. We did phone ahead and found out that we could "boondock" free across the road from their gate. Other than the noise from I-81, it's OK and the price is right.

So, first night is Greencastle, PA, barely across the MD/PA border and on the Mason-Dixon line.

Odometer is 64541.

Firing up our Verizon traveling Wi-Fi hotspot, we found out that our campground reservation for a few days at Pippy Park in St. John's, NL have come through. That and the ferry reservation made yesterday for a voyage from North Sydney, NS to Port aux Basques, NL on August 7 pins a few things down. Given that we couldn't get an earlier daylight departure time for a ferry, we'll have to do a bit of meandering in Nova Scotia.

Starting the travel blog.

We are getting ready to pull up stakes and head for Newfoundland. The rig's generator was serviced today with an oil change and new air filter and should be ready for another 150 hours of operation. We expect to do some "boondocking" (i.e. dry camping) so it will come in handy.

The rig is plugged into shore power and the fridge is cooling so it can be packed with food tomorrow. The outside temperature is in the 90's so it will take a while.

The rig has to be level for the fridge to work properly and getting level is a two step process. First pads of wood and plastic are placed under the front leveler feet and the rig raised as far as it will go. Then the wood ramps are placed under the front wheels and rig dropped down. Then more pads of wood and plastic are placed under the front leveler feet and the rig is raised again. This time the rig can get level. The front wheels, which are dangling, are now a foot off the ground. Getting going is easier since, once the rig is dropped down and all the pads are removed, it's possible to drive off the ramps and then pull them out of the way and go. The ramps stay home where the worst sloped site we stay in is. :-)

The odometer reads 64115 miles.