May 29, 2006

May 29, 2006

Terra Nova National Park to Leading Tickles, Newfoundland

YEAR 2 DAY 346

 

Today was partially sunny, and cool.

This morning we prepared for departure from Terra Nova National Park, drove over to the dumping station and emptied the waste holding tanks, then drove over to the water fill station and refilled the fresh water tank. Only in a national park would the waste dumping station and water refill station be in 2 different locations !

We drove north, then east on the Trans Canada Hwy. 1, stopping in Gander to fill up with diesel. At Bishop's Falls we turned north onto Hwy. 350. We stopped for lunch, and photos, at a municipal picnic area in the village of Point Leamington, on the Mill River. We continued north on Hwy. 350, a narrow, winding, poor road. It took us quite awhile to reach the end of the road, at the village of Leading Tickles, on Notre Dame Bay.

We drove through the tiny village, and found the campground on the other side of town ... kind of where the road ends ... kind of at the end of the world, it seemed. The lovely municipal campground was deserted. We parked in a campsite with the beach and ocean right behind the trailer, surrounded by cliffs. We found the washroom / shower building was locked, and the hydro at our campsite wasn't working. Joanne phoned the number in the campground guide for this campground, and a lady came out from town to turn on the power and unlock the washrooms and showers for us. Guess they don't get many tourists up here at this time of the year.

We went for a walk on the beach. Bo drank salty sea water, then ate a sand dollar he found on the beach. Bad dog, Bo ! Guess that's going to screw up your digestive tract for a day or two, won't it, Bo ? ! ? We hiked up the very steep, lung and calf burning ascent to Bear Head Lookout, to see the view of the bay, the village nearby, lots of cliffs, and inlets, and far out into the ocean. Too early for whales, and, unfortunately, no icebergs visible today. We're hoping to see an iceberg.

We had a terrible scare with Teddy. We couldn't find him when we returned to the trailer. Joanne couldn't remember having him in her arms when she extended the slides, as is the procedure. We called and called for him, becoming more frantic, imagining that he might have been under the bed slide when it extended, and been crushed to death. We recently read a story in an RV magazine about exactly that happening. He was indeed under the bed slide, and we don't know if he climbed in there after Joanne extended the slides, or was he under there before she extended the slides ? ! ?

We had a cup of hot chocolate to warm up and calm down after the scare with Teddy. I did today's accounting, and Joanne took Bo for an off leash obedience session. He did well. Earlier when we walked along the beach, and then hiked up the cliff, we allowed him to be off leash. He was pretty wild, although he always stayed within sight of us, and returned when called. Now if I could just get him to stop eating crap off the beach !

While Joanne prepared supper, I attempted to repair the cutlery drawer. I removed the broken drawer slide hardware, and installed the new hardware I bought a few days ago in St. John's. It didn't fit / didn't work. < sigh > How discouraging. I removed the new hardware and reinstalled the old, broken hardware. Now I've got $20 worth of drawer slide hardware that's useless to me, and it can't be returned for a refund. We're many hundreds of miles from where we bought it. I guess the lesson to be learned from that is to install things that I buy in the parking lot of where I buy them, to ensure that they work, or if not, get a refund.

After supper we went for a walk on the beach, beach combing, and watching the sun set. We found mussels, spiny shelled and smooth shelled sand dollars, crab pieces, lobster pieces, lobster trap pieces, fishing net, and lots of interesting drift wood. The sun was shining brightly, the wind had died down, and it seemed warmer at sunset than it had this afternoon. The scenery was spectacular ! ! ! It would have to be to justify the journey on the bad roads to get here !

I spent the late part of the evening drinking tea while I downloaded and processed today's photos, sitting at the dinette table, looking out the rear window of the trailer at the dark bay, listening to the surf crash.

DSK