June 5, 2006

June 5, 2006

Blanc Sablon, Quebec, ferry to St. Barbe, to Portland Creek Pond, Newfoundland

YEAR 2 DAY 353

 

Today was cloudy and mild, with a bit of light rain in the afternoon.

We're tired of, and frustrated with the daily cupboard chaos caused by Newfoundland's bad roads.

We got up at 5:30 A.M. to be ready for the opening of the ferry terminal office at 6:00 A.M., for the 8:00 A.M. ferry back to Newfoundland. I was really pissed off when the large bakery truck that got on the ferry behind us bumped into the back of the trailer. Lard Tunderin Jayzus, b'y, if ya can't drives da fookin ting, stays home ! We arrived back in St. Barbe, Newfoundland at 9:30 A.M.. First stop was the Ultramar service station to fill up with "cheap" fuel. For us and most of the other vehicles getting off the ferry < rolling eyes >.

While driving south along Hwy. 430, we saw two more moose, both female. As we approached the turnoff to Port Au Choix, Joanne had a brilliant idea. Since the only place we saw authentic Newfoundland Sou'Wester rain hats was at the L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site gift shop, she reasoned that maybe the Port au Choix National Historic Site might have a gift shop, and they might have Sou'Westers. She looked up the phone number in one of our Newfoundland tourist books, and phoned the Port au Choix National Historic Site. Yes, they had a gift shop. Yes, they had authentic Newfoundland Sou'Wester rain hats. WOO-HOO ! We turned onto Hwy. 430-28 and drove 15 km. to Port au Choix. The National Historic Site at Port au Choix honours the Basque whaling industry. Yeah, whatever ! The admissions clerk was puzzled when we walked in, didn't want admission tickets, just the gift shop. I bought myself a Sou'Wester ... and so did Joanne. HA HA HA ! As I was trying on different sizes, Joanne decided she might as well take advantage of the opportunity and get herself one, as well. Mine is authentic. Hers is a thin, yellow rubber "tourist" version, which she found to be more comfortable. My authentic version is made of canvas, coated with linseed oil, then in a nod to the modern, coated with a black liquid rubber compound, something like the rubber roof coating compound on the trailer. Go ahead, Rain Gods ... bring it on ! HA HA HA HA HA ! I feel like Lieutenant Dann in the movie Forrest Gump.

We stopped at Dot's Bakery in Port au Choix, and as luck would have it, she was taking fresh bread out of the oven. Another hot, fresh loaf of Newfoundland bread. MMMMM ! And ... we bought a half dozen decadent fresh pastries. We continued driving south, and stopped at Mountain Waters Resort at Portland Creek Pond in time to have a late lunch. After lunch, while Joanne dealt with cupboard chaos, I napped. We were both very tired from getting up at 5:30 A.M.. We are not morning people ! When I got up, I finished our arrival procedures ( extend slides, connect power, water, sewer, etc. ). Joanne discovered that the handle and shaft of the kitchen grey water waste holding tank drain valve had broken off. Darn ! I phoned the Dodge dealer in Corner Brook to set up a service appointment for Wednesday to have Lanoire's 24,000 km. service done. They are booked up for the rest of the week. DARN ! Maybe it will have to wait until I take the truck in for some minor cosmetic work to Belleville Dodge in 2 weeks, but by then Lanoire will be waaayyy beyond 24,000 km..

I downloaded the last few days worth of photos from the camera into the laptop. I hate having that large a batch of photos to have to deal with. I finished yesterday's journal entry. We haven't had power in 2 days, so that's why there was a large batch of photos in the camera unprocessed, and yesterday's journal wasn't finished. The laptop battery ran out of power last night. I took a shower. AHHHHH ! I feel so grubby if I don't have a chance to shower first thing every morning. I did yesterday's accounting. I did today's accounting. Joanne napped very briefly, then prepared supper. She's not as "professional" at napping as I am, so she rarely takes a nap. She has difficulty waking up after a nap.

I worked on today's journal entry. After supper I worked on processing the large batch of photos.

It took me most of the rest of the evening to finish the photos. I finished the day by printing and reconciling the May bank statements I had downloaded a few days ago.

DSK