Day 61 Home Sweet Home

420 miles and we are home. Got home around 4:30 today. Total trip was 8800 miles. Still have propane leak. Now a new normal.

Day 60 Concord, NH to Campbell, NY

The morning drive was foggy through the rest of NH and part of VT. The rest of the day it became sunny until we were 5 miles from the campground when the heavens open up and it poured. As we drove into the campground it began to clear and by the time we checked in the sun was out. Another good timing for us.

I should mention that last night it simply poured all evening. Thought we might wash into the lake.

Day 59 LL Bean

We made it to Freeport this morning and the first stop was the LL Bean Outlet store.then to the other Three stores. They actually call it the LL Bean Campus. Out good weather has run out. It has rained all day.

I now know why I don't like going east. The traffic today has been terrible. Hope tomorrow is a better day.

Day 58 Back in the USA!

400 miles latter we are back in the USA. Spent the night in Walmart in Bangor, ME. We had called ahead to get a slot to have the oil changed in the truck. Traffic on the highway came to a stop just as we came to an exit. As luck would have it the VIP Autoservice was right there. I think there must have been and accident. We could have missed our appointment if we had been a couple of minutes earlier of later.

Tomorrow is a stop at LLBean in Freeport.

Day 57 Smooth Ferry Ride

Well, we are finally on the ferry. This is a larger boat than the one we took over and it was really smooth sailing. You see yours truly taking full advantage of the time, thanks to Sue. Arrived in NS around 1:00 pm and made it mostly across NS to just past Truro, NS.

Photos

Day 56 Hospitality Day

Today we spent at the campground preparing for the ferry. Around midday there was a knock at the door. A couple from Ontario wanted to see the Airstream. about 2 hours latter we finally had lunch. As we were hitching up a Bambi parked right across from us. They were also from Ontario. Of course we had to exchange stories. By this time it was checkout time for the campground. We are now parked at the Visitor's center waiting until 11:00 pm when we can get in line down at the ferry terminal. While here we had another group from Ontario visit. They were riding motorcycles all the way but were interested in the Airstream. All of this has made the day go by very fast.

A good place to wait with great views and internet.!

Day 55 Codroy Valley

It was another easy day with a short drive to Codroy Valley. The campground here is very spacious, clean and with good WiFi. We took the day to explore the area out to the Cape Anguille Lighthouse. The valley has more farming than we have seen anywhere else in Newfoundland. A few signs against Fracking would lead me to believe there is some oil in the area.

After driving the loop we decided to make sure we had a plan for the ferry tomorrow. By exploring Port aux Basques, we found our way to the ferry dock and gained approval to stay at the visitor center until we can got the the ferry at 11:00 pm. There is a lovely sand beach right at the edge of town with a nice boardwalk.

Dinner at Tim Hortons and then it was off to listen to a local group performance. A small snippet has been provided in the album. 

Day 54 French Ancestors Route

It rained most of the night and was overcast and foggy this morning. The agenda for the day was to explore the French Ancestors Route. Maybe it was the fog or maybe we have seen so many wonderful sights, it turned out to be a pleasant drive but not super. Enjoy the pictures.

Day 53 Chores to be done

A short drive again today and arrived in Hippens. Took and exploratory trip to
Stephenville. This was and US Airforce Base until some time in the 60s. They have it all here, Walmart, Canadian Tire, Mary Browns, KFC, McDonalds, and Sue's favorite was Paddy's Pub for the lanudry. Can you believe this place.

So many things in one place!

Truck and trailer both got a bath.

Day 52 Southern Coast Corner Brook

I hope you will agree that today's trip along the southern cost of Corner Brook was much more scenic than the north was. We drove out through Corner Brook and the pulp and paper mill. Some of the stops included Halfway Point, Frenchman's Cove, York Harbor, Blow Me Down Provincial Park, Bottle Cove, and Little Port.

Blow Me Down has a campground but few of the sites would be easy to get into with the truck and trailer. The problem is the narrowness of the road and the inability to maneuver with out hitting trees, or posts. The sites were generous however.

Had a very nice hike round Bottle Cove.

Photos

Day 51 North Coast Corner Brook

Today was a short drive down to /Corner Brook. We explored the North coast this morning and it provided a good overview of the main part of the town. Took the road to the end at Cox Bay. There we met a resident who gave us the low down about this area. He has lived here all of his life of 59 years. The told us about the local Mink farm just outside of town. You could see it from the road. He indicated the 5 or 6 barns housed around 20,000 minks.

Photos

Day 50 Gros Morne Revisited

We had to take the opportunity to revisit Gros Morne NP. The main target was to visit Trout River on the South side of the park. We had been there before but need to take more time to explore. Had a nice walk along their boardwalk. Also found a very secluded park campground at the end of the road. It would be a little tight for the Airstream but very nice. Also discovered another great NP campground in Lonond. It was right on the water with great views. Of course on this side of the park you go by the Tablelands. They are always special.

If you have not discovered we are on the final legs of the trip, and I'm becoming more abbreviated.

Photos

Day 49 Deer Lake

Set up camp at Gateway to the North RV park in Deer Lake. The lone activity was a hike along the shore of the Humber River.

Photos

Day 48 Fleur de Lys

This morning it is raining and we are being lazy. We waited till 11:30 to leave the campground. The destination was to be Subway in Baie Verte, mainly to get access to their free WiFi.

On the drive to Fleur de Lys we passed this hugh open pit mine. Later we found out it was and asbestos mine. It opened in 1983 and closed some time in the late 1990s. To us this seem very recent for asbestos to be actively mined.

Fleur de Lys was the target for the day. It turned out that it was a civic holiday and a funeral in town and it appeared that was where everyone was. The chief attraction is the Dorset Soapstoe Quarry Site and Museum. The Museum was closed but we could hike the trail out back. The quarry is the only known soapstone outcrop in the northern hemisphere that preserves evidence of Paloeskimo vessel-quarring. You can see in the photos the shapes where the carving had been done. The trail also went up to a good vantage point to view the area.

The rain relented in the afternoon, so everything worked out.

Photos

Day 47 La Scie

Sue insisted that we make one last attempt at seeing the Salmon in the Indian River Falls. As you will see she was right. We did see the salmon but at some distance and I only had my iPhone. Good luck viewing the video.

After a short drive we ended up at Flatwater Pond Park for two nights. We are then off to see  La Scie, another little fishing village with a beautiful setting. A hike up to the top of a hill outside of town gave us a view of town in 360 degrees. At this late date we were still able to see two icebergs off in the distance (you my have to look close).

Since we had the afternoon to explore we check out Shoe Cove, Tilt Cove, Brent's Cove, and Harbor Round. Tilt Cove was an old mining town and had lots of interesting rocks. Not much to say about the others however.

Last stop was to get pictures of Baie Verte waterfall over 200 feet tall.

Photos

Day 46 Springdale

Glander Aeronautical Museum was the first stop this morning. The museum portrays Glander's place in aviation history. It was originally supply stop for trans Atlantic flights. Later it became the refueling stop Russian flights to Cuba. Bacause of this stop it became a favorite place to defect from Russia. It modern claim to fame was on 911. When US airspace was closed it recieved 42 flights from all over the world. These planes carried 6700 passengers and crew which the town hosted for four days before the flights could resume. The display brought back memories of that day. All sorts of letters were on display that thanked the people of Glander.

Next stop was the Glassy beach in Springdale. The beach is littered with glass that has been tumbled by the sea and left on the beach.

The third stop was a craft shop which had some very nice wooden cutting boards. I had to take some pictures to give me some ideas for the future.

Last stop was the Indian River, right here in our campground.

Enjoy the pictures.

Day 45 Propane FiX?

It was a long drive today to Gander. We thought we would take in the 911 Museum here but got side tracked. There were no opening at the RV park. We did however run across an RV dealer and decided to see if we could do something about our propane leak. Bought a bottle of leak detector and actually found a small leak. We are no longer smelling propane outside the trailer. The leak was in one of the supply lines connections. Tighting the fitting appears to have fixed the problem. However the regulator is still not working correctly. All the appliances seem to work fine, so we will see how it goes from here.

Moose update, we have seen 13 of which one was dead along the road.

Staying at Walmart tonight and the Museum will be in the morning.

No photos.

Day 44 France here we come

Today is the day we have been expecting the whole trip. We get to take the 1 hour ferry to France. Actually we are going the St Pierre and island that belongs to France. I can honestly say this is not like going to Canada. It is all french all day. The language barrier made it difficult for us. We elected to take a bus tour of the island which was narrated in a sort of English. Our tour was at 11:15 am and lasted 1 1/2 hours. This meant straight off the ferry onto the bus, no lunch. We learned that nearly everything closes from 12:00 to 2:00 here for lunch, (translates to a late lunch for us). Since this island does not seem to produce any product and everything is imported it is expensive. Additionally we were told that the major employer was France Government, it is essentially a welfare state of  France,(my opinion). We had a nice time but were a little disappointed at the same time.

Picture album

Day 43 Burin Peninsula Boot Drive

Arrives at Frenchman's Cove Provincial Park just afternoon. With the afternoon available we decided to drive around the Burin Peninsula Boot. The drive would take us to Fortune where we would catch the ferry to France in the morning. It was a good thing we made the stop an got all the details about the ferry, like parking, tickets, and customs proceedures. Turned out the ferry was full but we had made our reservations a couple of days ago. Next stop turned out to be a craft shop in St Lawrence. The shop offers employment for people with mental disabilities by teaching them to make jewelry. I also turned out to be a museum of the history of the area. Of Sue had to contribute by buying one of their necklaces.

The US ships ran aground here during the war years. Over a hundred men died but the towns people rescued around 200. One of the ships was carrying heavy oil and there for the men rescued were covered in oil. In particular one sailor was a black man. And because these people had never seen a black man before they kept trying to scrub him clean. This man has returned to the community many time as it change his life for ever. He even wrote a book about the incident and has done many lectures. He had never been treated so kindly by whites.

In the photo album I have include a clip and some pictures of the drive.

Day 42 A day for the Birds

Today we explore Cape St Mary's Ecological Reserve. The number of Northern Gannet pairs has increase to over 22,000.  They are literally  everywhere you look along the shore line. It a hike out to view bird point of around 3 km. The trail is up and down a tundra like landscape. When you get to the viewing point you are only around 60 feet from bird rock. I think this picture will give you an idea of how it got its name.

 The most notable birds are the Northern Gannet.

We could also identify Common Murre and Black-Legged Kittiwakes. Not being real birders the other here were just birds to us. There is a short video in the album that will give you some idea of the sights and sounds. What you will not get to enjoy is the Smell!

On our way back we toured one of the bunkers from when the Navy Base was here. There are quite a number of these around here and even one which was a hospital. Bob next door was stationed here when it was a base and has provided a lot of details.

Addition Pictures

Day 41 Argentia - Placentia

We are camped at Argentia Sunset RV park. This is an abandon US Navy base until 1994. Now only the roads a a few bunkers remain. Out spot has a great view of the Ferry dock and harbor. We will have to see what sunset there will be.

View from our campsite

Campsite

After lunch it was off the explore Palanecia. First stop is Castle Hill National Historic Site. This site is the remains of a 17th century French fortification. We arrived just in time to see a play reenactment of the French attacking the English in St Johns by going overland in the winter. 

After the play we hiked the trails to see the ruins.

Lastly we walked the boardwalk along the coast in Placentia.

Additional Photos

Day 40 Refueling

Today was a day to restock the food supply which was running low. We needed to take advantage of the real stores here in St Johns. It was also a day of R and R for the two of us. Tomorrow we begin the return  trip to the west coast. Just a short trip over to Argentia, that we will use a as base to explore Cape St Mary's Ecological Reserve on Tuesday. That is it  for today.

Day 39 Flowers and Music

We spent our morning touring the MUN Botanical Reserve. A local garden club was having a flower show. You will see the arrangements in the pictures. The grounds were also very nice. I took a bunch of photos but have little ideas of what all the flowers were except they were pretty.

The afternoon was spent at the George Street Festival. At the main stage they had children playing traditional Newfoundland music. It was a nice way to spend a warm sunny Saturday afternoon. I have include some clips of the performance to give you a sample (they are not real good quality).

Photos here

By the way comments and/or emails are always welcomed.

Day 38 Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve

Today we drove to the southern tip of the Avalon peninsula to explore Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve. This is the site of the oldest fossils that have been found in the world. Similar fossils have been found other places but were not nearly the 576 million years old at these are. It was just named a UNESCO World Heritage Site last year. By the way we had to take our shoes off and wear these beautiful blue booties while walking on the Fossils.

First however we had to go down to the shore where the Caplin were rolling in. These little fish wash up to lay the eggs and die. There were men on shore gathering them up for bait for fishing. They had a half dozen crate full.

Day 37 Puffins and Whales

What a day this was! The first stop was Cape Spear Light house but became distracted by the whales off shore. At one Point we could see four swimming side by side. We spent a lot of time just watching. The lighthouse was just another one with a spectacular view.

Next was our O'Brian boat tour to see birds and whales. I thought we had seen these before but this trip was exceptional. As we rounded the point in to Witless Bay you could see water spouts from the whales in nearly any direction and at anytime you looked. The captain however took use by Witless Island to see the birds first which was amazing. My favorites were the Puffins and Common Cormans.

Then we had the finale was the whale show. I don't have the words to describe the experience. Let's just say I took considerable time to edit the pictures down. Check this out.

Day 36 St Johns - Signal Hill

After a short drive we are parked in Pippy Campground in the middle of St Johns. The sites are very wooded and ours was a little difficult to get into because of the narrow road and cars parked in the way.

After lunch it was off to Signal hill. I must say without the GPS it would be a problem finding your way around. Crooked streets construction and sharp turns make it difficult to maintain your bearings. The lack of standard placement of French and English for many years. It is a great vantage point to watch for whales. There were probably a dozen in the area but too far off for pictures. If you look close you can see one tail flip of a humpback whale.

Cabot Tower

St Johns

Additional pictures

Day 35 Charleston to Bluefin Campground

Another driving day from Charleston to the Bluefin Campground outside St Johns about 40km. The excitement for the day was having to stand on the breaks for a bull moose to cross the road in front of us. We had no time for pictures. He just ran across 4 lanes of traffic unharmed. Thanks goodness traffic was lite. Laundry and showers again. Rain and fog this afternoon and evening. We will see what tomorrow brings.

Heres a late addition sunset photo after the fog lifted..

Day 34 Trinity

Today started with a 2 1/2 hour guided walking tour of the town. Our guide had been here all his life and knew all the history of the site. The town was a major trading center in the 17 and 18 centuries. After the cod moratorium in 1992, the town decided the only way it could survive was via tourism. Over the years they have been saving and restoring lots of the city. Only the elderly still live here full time. The school bus only picks up one child these days. The town has been the set for a couple of movies. The major attraction is the Rising Tide Theater. We had to go to the 8:00 pm shoe. The play was Salt Water Moon. It is the story of a young man returning home to win back his sweetheart. She was already to marry another. There were 2 actors on stage for 1 1/2 hours with no breaks. The play was good but I would not say great.

The brown brick are from the orginal 1700 building. the rest of the bricks came from the same factor in England as the originals.

Anglican Church

Catholic Chruch

Church cat

The after noon was spent watching whales on Fort Point. We could see as many as 8 but most were a too grate a distance for photos. This time however Sue made sure I remembered the long lens. What we could identify were humpback whales. Some were close enough to here them when they surfaced,

Additional Pictures

Day 33 Elliston - Bonavista

After our day of rest, we were up earily with a drive from Tera Nova to Charlestion. We arrived and set up in our site by 9:00. Now off to checkout Elliston. Their claim to fame is to be the root cellar capital of the world. I can say you would see them all over town.

Our real destination was to see the puffins. We were in luck they were on the island close by. I forgot my long lens and the pictures are marginal but large in number.

We were now off the Bonavista to view the historic sites. First on the list was the lighthouse because we didn't need directions. The light house tower is 18 feet in diameter and solid stone. Because of this they had cupboard built in to the side to use as a refrigerator. The province season pass we had got us a private tour of the inside and living quarters as you will see.

Kitchen

Bath tube

The unexpected was to find Puffins here also. The special treat was the foxes.

Dungeon Provincial Park was next on the list. Only historic because it was an under water cave that colapsed a long time ago. This made for some nice pictures.

The Mockbeggar Plantation was the nest stop. Another Historical Provincial site which was home to the first Prime Minister of the Province after confederation (when Newfoundland voted to join Canada instead of the US 49% to 51%). Another private tour, I don't know how we are so lucky.

Last we had to stop for dinner and I could not resist a few more Lupine pictures. They are just about gone for the season.

All the pictures here.