US/Canada Travels for 30 June 2010

Bonjour,
Newfoundland, Labrador, Quebec, Ontario

Not to get out of sync with my dialogue but at 54,486 miles, 6.22.2010, 1610 hrs, and 40 miles west of Churchill heading for Labrador City, the back window is trashed again. Black plastic trash bags are sealing off the window until I get into Labrador City for a piece of plastic. I'll be cleaning dust off my gear forever and of course everything that was exposed will have to get washed, ………Maybe!

If Mother Nature didn't have her hand in keeping me additional 2 days in Newfoundland. The weather was bad period, winds of 90-100 km/h and heavy rains kept the ferries in port. Managed passage on the 17th to Blanc-Sablan, Quebec and you could not have wished for better weather and flat seas. After getting off the boat on the Quebec side of the border, within 15 minutes you are crossing the border north into Labrador.
While still on the Newfoundland side waiting to board the ferry ran across an old retired US Navy Chief on a tri-motorcycle with wife and trailer in tow. They were from Texas and were heading back that way after visiting Red Bay, Labrador with further travel to St John's, Newfoundland.

It will be Pinware River Provincial Park for the next 4 days and of course it's Geocaching to the max.

This is the way the weather pattern has been these last 4 weeks, we get one good day along with black flies then rain, fog, wind for the next week. Christ on a crux spent another day along the Labrador coast chasing the funny little packages hidden in the some of the most difficult places. Getting bloody wet through the multiple layers of high tech clothes that promise the driest of dries. By the end of the day I was through chasing the forecasted rainbow. It was back to the park, 75 cents in the dryer with me clothes and standing naked in the laundry room…………bunions, knobby knees, 30-inch waist, (suck it in Wally) and enough scar tissue on the old bode to start another Atlas road map. If the dryer was big enough best believe that I would have been inside. And to make matters worse, some how the local radio station had the right frequency that my hip replacement was playing the chorus line to Mama Mia…!

Last day was spent catching the last cache then on to Old Fort Bay on the Quebec side. Sealed road all the way out except the last 6 kilometers. Jacque Cartier landed here back when and called the place Brest originally. Again all of the villages out to the end of the road depend on fishery to support themselves.

Next day we find ourselves heading for Cartwright for the ferry ride into Goose Bay. Well stopping for a cuppa at Mary's Harbor and I find out that Cartwright is locked solid with ice and it will be another week if not longer before a ferry can get in there. Not much that I can do here so up the road I go with my next stop at Port Hope Simpson where it is confirmed that Cartwright is out of the question. This leaves me with only one option; it's the new road they are putting in from Cartwright to Goose Bay. Its 280 kilometers long with 50 kilometers of road construction going on. For what part of the road that is finished you can cruise along from 70 -100 km/h. Now the 50 kilometers is a bloody another story all together. You are right in the middle of the road being put together and I mean your traffic is backhoes, bulldozers, dump trucks, and anything else they can throw at you. Your speed through this mess never and I mean never exceeds 20km/h
(10mph) or you risked serious problems or a ruptured tire. Did pass 2 campers with broken axles and the best part was the speed limit was 30 km/h and there was no passing. Believe me that did not even enter the equation.

The road should be finished by next year and it will solve so many problems for people living in Goose Bay by not depending on the ferry, ice and accessible to Costco in St John's. You would not believe how many people from Labrador make the trip to Costco's in St John's for groceries.

Getting back to the back window. Found a shop in Labrador City that replaced the back window and loaded me up with enough pens, pencils, note pads, address book, and decals to last me a lifetime. In and out of there within 2 hours and the benefit of getting a cuppa at Tim Horton's and food at Wal-Mart before heading south.

Baie-Comeau it is after 1300 kilometers on a gravel road. Rain it was for the last 300 kilometers and finding a place to stay and accessible to a laundry. Everything that even looked to have gravel dust was washed; I just love the commercial laundries. And to think that a Costco is only 5 hours away and conveniently in the direction that I am heading. One thing this room had was biting bugs, lots of bugs, it got to the point of stripping all of the linen off the bed and spraying everything with DEET. Of course trying to convey this bit of information to the clerk, who does not speak a word of English, is a waste of time. Anyone that thinks that English is the second language in Quebec has to be smoking the funny weed. And the more remote you get, the worst the language barrier gets. One of the benefits of this famous inn is a free breakfast in the morning at the local swill pit.

After a proper cup of Tim Horton's coffee and another 50 dollar gas fill up its off to the next big adventure. At Costco the tyres are rotated and balanced along with a 100 dollars of juice, box of fine red wine and biscuits. After finding another obscure covered bridge I get myself pointed north to the next Geocache. Found an abandon campsite and it was the place of comfort for the night. I had bought a multiple packages of beef jerky to augment my wonderful diet. Some of this beef jerky is like chewing on a dead warthog after its been out in the African sun for 2 weeks. You wonder how I can even possible come up with this compassion? Well for one having eating numerous meals in the past 2 months at various households, believe me eating a warthog is being kind to those that thought their meals were………

Another case in point is where the Goatmobile was stored for the winter. I know for a fact that the wife would sneak out at night and get the next days meal from the compose pile.
Getting north in Quebec is not the most direct method but it does add a bit of flavor to your travels. Putting in a 500-kilometer/300 mile day definitely makes the backside wish for a better place to sit. Since I am in an area where there are numerous covered bridges life cannot get much better.

Getting to the one Geocache located near Rupert Bay (Hudson Bay or as the French call it Baie of James) took just about 3 days of steady driving. The Cree Indian Nation own just about all of the land along the east side of Hudson Bay. Of course Quebec Hydro Power has huge dams within this complex along with minerals deposits. Anyhow into the Cree township of Waskeganish we go chasing the cache. The cache site has me in the middle of a trash site and I am supposed to find a small container, me thinks not. What I did get was a cup of coffee at the lodge and being the only white man in town was stink-eye to the max.

Enough, we next head south along route 109 Geocaching and finding the cover bridge of choice and crossing over into Ontario. Well getting up this AM we have rain and of course my luck for caches as I travel south is 1/5, me thinks my GPS can not read French as well as I do. Stopped in Amos at a coffee shop with WI-FI and down loaded another cache sights in Ontario. Crossed into the lighter side of life (Ontario) on route 101 and I just might gain or lose another hour here shortly. A lay by it is for the night before we venture forth to the next cache.

Woke up this morn and the temperatures were close to freezing, bloody hell when does summer ever arrive in Canada? But bitch I want to, it keeps the bugs down to a minimum and more better for this lad.

Geocaching as I go and it was a very positive day with 5/5 and does Mother Roses Dry Red Wine with organic crackers from Costco look even better then I expected.
Tonight it's a Provincial Park with very, very hot water. Tomorrow its west again with a stop at the nearest Internet café, a cuppa, and another round of carrot cupcakes. I should be hitting the US border within the next 2-3 days and will continue forth with until I see British Columbia.

The Goatmobile will be getting another set of tyres before I cross over into BC though. The gravel roads have not be kind to tread wear but any time I can cross the Labrador Trans Am Highway both ways on one set of tyres is a plus. By tomorrow night I'll have covered just over 11,000 miles (17600 km) of sunshine and too many power bars.

Aloha

Norm
The Greynomad

enjoy

US/Canada Travels for 15 June 2010

Bell Island at one time had over 14,000 men working the iron mines; today you might find a population of 300 depending on tourist. When the mines closed down, the men were given $5.00 per month as retirement.

Another interesting note: The Government House in St John's is the capital and houses the majority of government offices. Now on with the story, it seems someone commissioned a survey of cigarette butts around the Government House. The butts were sent to a laboratory; the results were that 50% of the cigarette butts were from contraband cigarettes, other words they did not pay the taxes for the cigarettes. Imagine if you did a survey in Washington D.C on the number of congressmen that were on the payroll for lobbyist and large corporation……….Me thinks the results would be very close if not worse.

After a morning spent at St John's Costco getting the Goatmobile tires rotated and balanced, heading west to the Fogo Island for 2 days chasing down Geocaching sights. As I have been complaining about how cold the weather has been, well Mr. Sun did make an appearance along with the increase in temperature. This in turns brings out the Black flies and majority of bugs that make a great impression on your windscreen as you drive down the road. My make shift bug screen for the Goatmobile is going to make a big difference this year.

Taking route 320 / 330 north was one of the nicest roads yet. They run along the coastline where you can pull off and spend any amount of time exploring. Not to be missed if you do travel to Newfoundland.

Fogo Island it is for the next couple of days and staying at a B&B while there. If I could afford a B&B on my travels, the Goatmobile would smell a lot better. The woman, 42 grandkids, that runs the B&B learned how to make a proper cup of coffee from me. Its Peg's B&B if you ever get there. Met a couple from south Quebec, just over the border from Vermont at a small bakeshop. Got talking about Geocaching and the next thing I know I am invited to visit them in my travels.

Me thinks if my daughter and son would setup a trust fund of lets say $20,000.00 per year to cover my travel expenses it would be most appreciated. The weather was not in my favor while at Fogo but I did get in Geocaching (4 /5) along with some spectacular views and great people. Some great hiking on Fogo is not to be missed and Change Island another place to venture to while in the area.

Change Island for the day chasing Geocaches (6/8) and a grand day it was with the sun in full bloom. One road up the center of the island to the township of Change then a series of small communities in the surrounding areas. All dependent on fish and crabs for income. I sometimes wonder what people think when they see a stranger with a GPS in his hand running around in circles, crawling under bushes, flipping over rocks, me thinks it's a twit from the loony bin.

Its Dildo Run Provincial Park, I do not make these names up, for the next day or so checking out Geocaches in the area (3/4). Twillingatr for the day as the majority of the searches are in that area. Cruise ship in port with German tourist running around with their cruise ship red jackets on. Twillingate at this time of the year usually has icebergs in the surrounding area. This year not a one in sight. I am blaming all of this of course on the North Koreans and the midget that runs the country.

The next morning we are greeted with rain and I am chasing another cache 80 miles up the road which proves to be a no find. There has been days when it has been a 2400 mg (3x800) Motrin (Ibuprofen) day for me with the amount of walking it takes to reach some of these sights. I am just so glad I am not doing this on a motorcycle with the weather as it's been for the last 3 weeks.

Sunshine greets us this AM and with the rise in temperature, the rise in bugs but this is to be expected. Today we are going to Geocache GCJWYE, the Green Bay Island Tickle. Tickle in Newfoundland means a water strait between islands. This was 6 kilometers round trip via a ATV road, I would have paid big bucks for a ATV, up and down through some very beautiful country. The trail had loos and picnic tables throughout and bugs every step of the way but worth the trip in every sense of the word. I will pay for this trip dearly as the ankle and knees will make their discomfort evident by tonight. Met a fellow Newfie on the trail and we have decided at this time in our lives the word is not pain but discomfort.

It's to another Provincial campsite for the next 2 days as we slowly work our way north and eventually Labrador. Sir Richard Squires Provincial Park it is out in the middle of the bush. Some of the best salmon fishing in NFLD is here at the Great Falls. Another item of interest is the amount of Black Flies that is generated around this particular park. The flies might be bad here but when I get into the interior of Labrador, the number of flies here will pale in comparison to what I will have to put up with later on.

From the Provincial Park it was over to the west coast and up to Gros Morne National Park, a world Heritage site, for the day. Green Point for the night sitting on the cliff face facing the Gulf of St Lawrence with a strong enough sea breeze to keep the bugs down for the night. The site has toilets and water only but for want of scenery and access to the Gros Morne National Park, this has got to be one of the nicest spots yet.

Heading north to St Anthony early with another 2 days planned for Geocaching in the surrounding area. After that it is across the pond to Labrador and the Trans-Labrador Highway to Quebec. They have just put a new road in that cuts out the ferry from Cartwright to Goose bay. Let me give you an idea what that new road is like; consider that for 50 kilometers your speed never exceeds 20 kph or roughtly just about 10 mph. I could ride a bike faster then that….! So for all my plans on driving the new road, it will be the ferry again.

Working Geocaches around St Antony's for the day was a bit rough with heavy rain and winds and not having me Tim Horton's cuppa for a start. Did finish out with 4/6 for the day. All intensions for tomorrow are making the move to Labrador for the next segment of the trip weather permitting. Right now the weather across the Gulf of St Lawrence is not good with gusts up to 90 kilometers. But as Hawaii, just give it 10 minutes and it will change.

Aloha

Norm
The Greynomad

The light goes on

POOF, THE LIGHT GOES OFF An 80-year-old man goes for a physical... All of his tests come back with normal results. The doctor says, 'George, everything looks great. How are you doing mentally and emotionally? Are you at peace with God?' George replies, 'God and I are tight. He knows I have poor eyesight, so he's fixed it so when I get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, poof! The light goes on. When I'm done, poof! The light goes off.' 'Wow, that's incredible,' the doctor says. A little later in the day, the doctor calls George's wife. 'Ethel,' George is doing fine! But I had to call you because I'm in awe of his relationship with God. Is it true that he gets up during the night and poof! the light goes on in the bathroom, and when he's done, poof! The light goes off?' 'Oh my God!' Ethel exclaims. 'He's peeing in the fridge again!       The New Busy is not the too busy. Combine all your e-mail accounts with Hotmail. Get busy.   The New Busy is not the too busy. Combine all your e-mail accounts with Hotmail. Get busy.

US/Canada Travels for 5 June 2010

Barachois Pond Provincial Park was another cold night. It's bad when you are counting on the sun to defrost the windscreen. Had my cuppa and headed for Burgeo on route 480. Its 150 kilometers in and out, same road, no short cuts. Get there and the Provincial Park is closed. All of the travel brochures and visitor Centers have it open. The locals of Burgeo knew it's closed but for someone like myself, it's an unknown. Well it was a motel 6 for the night, hot shower (lengthy), email, watching the teley (125 channels) and writing a nasty email to the Provincial Manager of Parks.

Pancakes, coffee, juice, and being served with a smile. Knowing that I was returning to the previous Provincial Park, it was Geocaching back along Rt 480 and the following were found: GC1H19F, GC1TY41, GC1RYBD and GC1EKAH. Of course this doesn't count the one's I could not find in Burgeo. Tomorrow we head North-East then south again to another un-known, weather being unpredictable but anything is better then the mainland where Quebec and Ontario (41 degrees C) are suffering through a heat way.

Next morning it's out the door, wet and cold, going northeast to another Geocache. Rain and high winds follow me all day long and the forecast for the next few days does not look favorable. Down to a small town of Buchan, supported primarily by mining, where I found 1 out of 3 caches. The campsite for the night was open but trying to find the proprietor was another story. Finally just gave up and continued east to just outside Grand Falls –Windsor where a campsite was found. The kids are in school until the 24th of June and business that cater to families really don't open until then. Most of them would just as soon forget an old Greynomad who is good for $15-20.00 per night.

As I recover from drinking 2 cans of polish beer which is 10% per volume, you best find some place to sleep or as I would find out, me talking to the trees on a MT stomach.

Notes of little concern: some of the best classical music can be found in Maine on WBOCH radio station……..And for those that prefer the Rock on Rock, Newfoundland has a classical rock station that will put a smile on your face. Then we have Canada CBC radio, in Australia its ABC, England BBC, New Zealand unfortunately is Sheep Dip Radio and in America we have been blessed with Sara Palin and Fox News which keeps all happy with their un biased news.

Bad weather continues to dog me on my travels but with the Goatmobile smelling a bit better after getting my clothes washed at the motel 6. It is route 360 south to the Bay of Islands for 2-3 days running around looking for the elusive Geocaches. Today it was 4 out of 4: not bad considering that I must of just about ripped off the bloody fuel tank getting to one out there where even the bloody moose won't go.

Camping here on route 360 can be had at the jipujijkuei Kuesperm Nature Park, run by the Council of the Conne River Micmacs, site for $10.00 per night. The only thing missing here is showers but its secure, clean and a great access to the water. It has enough things to do to keep anyone busy. I consider showers the bare necessity but after 10 days even I have to bend to when the Goatmobile smells like rotten fish…………

We continue with our travels down the Burin Peninsula and its chasing Geocaches as we travel. Again I am blessed with rain, off shore winds of 40 knots, frost, and just freezing to the max. I look like a bloody twit crawling on the ground sticking my hand in holes looking for the elusive cache container. One of the caches was located at a manned lighthouse, after finding it, the lighthouse Stewart invited me in for a hot cuppa.

At the end of May we have covered just over 5000 (8000 kilometers) miles. Which we are still have the same bar of soap, washed clothes once, lost tooth bush but found pine nettles a better solution and overall have minimized my carbon footprint.

The Avalon Peninsula is on the horizon with St John's, the capital of Newfoundland, definitely a stop as the only Costco on island is there. The Avalon Peninsula has been one of the most enjoyable trips made yet. Besides the Geocaching , the scenery, weather all worked for this part of my travel.

Butter Pot (that's right) Provincial Park will be the home base during my travels to Bell Island and St John's.

Bell Island, foggy and wet it was for the first and last time , matter of fact it was wet all day any where in Newfoundland. Just where is summer.? And wasn't I the smart one with 6 pair of shorts and one pair of trousers for me journey. Went  to Wal-Mart and picked up a pair of 30 inch waist trousers. Thinking that I am still  thin as always, couldn't even get the first leg on. Needless to say it was back to Wal-Mart and I got size ………… 

I have finally made the turn north after exploring the south coast of Newfoundland. Matter of fact I start heading west tomorrow with Labrador on the horizon.
Stay safe all and aloha

Norm

The Greynomad