What the Walrus said . . .

Good Morning and Happy Birthday to my oldest daughter Casey,

This is the start of Day Two for me in beautiful Newfoundland. I am, at present, sitting in my tent attempting to stay warm and dry. It is about 37 degrees outside, which is truthfully not that bad, except there is also a constant drizzle and slight breeze, both of which make outside very unpleasant for a southern boy! I wish I could send this to you today, however, the wi-fi for the RV Park only seems to extend 50 feet or so from the office . . . and naturally my car is set up about 55 feet from the office! I should stop here and catch you up on the drive, float, and drive to where I am now, starting off with the ferry.

Nova Scotia is a massive rock. It was hammered and clawed, scared and chiseled by the advance and withdrawal of an unknown number of glaciers over the millennia. The island has beautiful deep valleys, some with gorgeous deep lakes, fjords with small beaches at the lower ends that now support farming and fishing villages of all sizes.

Some of the places that I have driven to see are only miles apart as a crow fly, yet you need to drive the length of the fjord on one side, then travel the opposite direction again up the other side to get where you need to be. Elizabeth Town though has a secret . . . a car ferry that cuts out a great many miles and hours of circumnavigation of a huge bay that is overcome by a long causeway and a ferry ride of 800 yards! Truly a very smart idea, until the ferry breaks down (which I am told happens a lot and creates chaos!!)

The drive from ZzzzMoose was uneventful. The countryside is gorgeous, and I had to keep reminding myself to keep my eyes on the road and not on the scenery. North Sydney Is a bustling town, built around the waterfront and Ferry piers. It is such of a large town that even it supports a very nice shopping mall with a Walmart. I made use of the Walmart to stock up on some food supplies and two more flash cards for my cameras. I seem to be filling them fairly quickly.

I was kind of taken aback by the size of the car ferries. I have seen them in Europe and on the west coast of Canada, but never really considered their girth. I was more amazed to see mine, The MV HIGHLANDER, offload as many large semi-trucks and trailers as it did. For a time, I wondered if it would ever stop disgorging vehicles from its belly.

Note to self, Next time, when scheduling a ferry and the nice receptionist asks if I would like a berth toi sleep in during the crossing . . . SAY YES!!!I now need to call Atlantic Marine, operators of the ferry, and see if I can get a berth for my trip back from Newfoundland to Nova Scotia.

When I arrived at the Ferry Landing, it was my Subaru and three other cars in line to board the MV HIGHLANDER. 11 hours later, when we DID finally get to board the vessel, there were nearly 160 vehicles of all shapes and sizes, with and without trailers (and kids and dog and cats!) as wll as easily 40 – 50 semi-trucks with trailers and an additional 25 trailers sans tractors. It took about two hours to get everything onboard, secured and underway.

The lounge area for general traffic (ME!) was way beyond what I had envisioned. It was like I was walking into a movie theater with at least 20 television screens and multiple rows of very nice reclining bucket seats. I thought this was going to be wonderful . . . except the seats were designed by the same folks that design airline seats, they look great but are nearly impossible to relax and sleep in. I tried every position manageable (short of standing on my head) in an nearly futile attempt to rest. The crossing was slated to take seven hours and I had already had a full day of driving and sitting in my car.

As the Ferry exits the dock, there is a safety movie, almost exactly like the airline safety movie, that everyone is supposed to watch. This was my first crossing, I was very excited, so I was also very interested in the movie, certainly the section dealing with “If we need to abandon ship . . . “. LOL Most everyone onboard was, like me, attempting to find comfort where it did not exist, and suddenly, one long blast of the ship’s horn, and we were underway. Did I sleep? N Again, another lesson learned! The pre-sail movie stated the sleeping on the floor or on any benches, was forbidden!! Next crossing, I bring my pillow, and like most everyone else . . . I am going to nest between the damn seats on the floor . . . or like one couple with two small children, build a fort by throwing blankets over the seats THEN sleep on the floor! LOL

Port au Basques has to be one of the tiniest harbors I have ever sailed into, especially when you consider that there is a small island in the middle of the already tiny harbor . . . and the ferry needed to spin around 180 degrees to back into the berth to offload all the vehicles. My hat is off to the Ferry Captain, who masterfully maneuvered his vessel in these restricted waters and gently backed into the slip with nary a bump!!

Bad News! I was watching the weather on the Canadian Weather Service, and they showed a massively cold Arctic storm rotating its way across Canada, due to impact Newfoundland and Labrador on Friday, bringing rains and unseasonably low temps through the weekend. As I came off the ferry, the sky was a bright blue, the sun was blazing down . . . and the temp was 54 degrees!! I question the sanity of this trip sometimes, and as I have previously said, I probably should have waited two more weeks to get this started. Yet, here I am, and I am going to make the best of it!!

I am now in Codroy Valley. This area was first settled in the early 1800’s. Primarily the settlers came looking for land to build farms on, and if the land was forested with trees suitable for lumber, it was a bonus. The broad river that winds through the bottom of the valley has numerous islands, and the islands were made of rick soil washed down over the years and were perfect for growing hay for livestock. All in all, this region was and still is, a choice area for development and growth. Somehow though, I wonder what mark we have made here and just how beautiful this land was before we cut all the forests and plowed all the fields. I wonderful how amazing this place would have looked like 200 years ago with ancient and virgin stands of trees, before man whacked them all down. Codroy Valley is still a wondrously beautiful sight to see, and I can only hope that the development in years to come does not mar it for the worst.

(Insert photos here of valley and mountains and flora and fauna.)

My quest for the elusive moose continued. On Day One in Newfoundland, I hiked around ten miles in the search for just one of the little buggers. Again, NO LUCK! Obviously, they have been given stealth training or they have become nocturnal creepers. I have only found one furry beastie here. There are no dear, no coyotes, no wolves, not even any skunks or porcupines in Newfoundland . . . but there are nasty tempered squirrels!! I was cautiously stalking for moose along the edge of a bog (because we all know that is PERFECTY moose territory!!) when I disturbed this single squirrel’s snack time. IT WAS PISSED!! It was the first time I every thought a squirrel was going to come out of a tree in attack mode.

(Insert squirrel pictures here.)

Now we arrive at Day Two in Newfoundland. It started off with me being woken early in the AM by the sound of rain pelting the top of the tent. This was expected, I was warm and toasty under my blankets in my cocoon, and I feel back to sleep. Slumber however did not last long! I usually like having one arm or one leg extending out from under the blankets as kind of a heat sensor for the outside temperature. Today it was my arm, sticking out from below the pillow . . . and it was blue from the cold. Overnight the temperature had dropped into the mid 40’s (which is not bad if you are dressed for the condition) and my fingers were throbbing. A simple fix, pull my arm in, warm my hand up, check that I have no openings in the cocoon to let in cold air . . . and then back to sleep.

I was sleeping again very comfortable with me and warmth inside while the damp and cold were outside. All was working well until my stomach started to rumble and growl. Hunger was upon me. Plus, the sun was now up, the tent was flapping in the wind, and the rain was really popping against the skin of the tent. How in the world was I going to sleep in this noise?? So, knowing it was going to suck, I threw off the covers and quickly dove into my clothes (I was wearing thermals all night because I had planned on the weather change!)

Then came the debate on rain gear . . . do I put it on and get it wet, so I stay dry, and then figure out where to put the wet rain gear when I want to get back into the tent, or do I not wear the rain gear, get wet and must deal with wet clothes in the tent. Amazingly, while I was having this argument in my head, it finally dawned on me that the plinking sound of rain on the tent had stopped. I had a break!!! I I quickly donned the rain gear, climbed out of the tent, ran to the bathroom, and did the morning routine stuff, then ran back and made breakfast of oatmeal and tea.

While the water was heating up, I took a good look around the camp. A few of my fellow campers had bailed early for places probably north of here. This is the start of the influx of tourists to Labrador, and a lot of Canadians head this way versus going south. Right now, the exchange rate benefits American dollars with one U.S. dollar getting about 1.28 Canadian dollars, so Canadians do not lose money heading north. However, with the gas prices leaping up, even the Canadians are wondering if they can afford to keep traveling. I am having that debate in my mind as well . . . at what cost for gas will I cut my loses and head south again.

The rain continues sporadically along with the gusting winds. The temperature seems to go up and down based on weather I is raining or not. The mountains to the east that still have snow on their western slopes, are now shrouded in swirling for and clouds. It is just a tad bleak outside. Plus, I received an email late yesterday that two of the provincial camps I had planned to stay in, one in Labrador and one in the far north of Newfoundland, may be closing due to new snow. I now need to call 24 hours in advance of arriving to see what the conditions are, good or bad. Obviously, I am having a discussion in my mind of the insanity of camping in that kind of cold, but the other side of my head keeps talking about the chance for amazing photos (possibly moose in snow!). I guess I will just have to wait and see what tomorrow brings. Last I heard, and this was a wild Canadian rumor, was the rain tomorrow was supposed to exceed seven inches. If that is true, I may sit it out here versus packing up and moving north to Gros Morne Canadian National Park.

I hate that I cannot send this out today but I cannot seem to control this issue with the weak wi-fi. Hopefully I can get this out to you when and if I move in the morning!