NL Caravan 2016

[Alf S.]

Originally Posted by honda03842

Alf,

We move on to Gros Morne in the morning. If we're lucky enough and Dave's well enough we'll see him there.

Today we visited one of Dave's suggested stops, Myers Minerals in Pasadena, NL.

Really an interesting place in an industrial park. A tour of the factory wsa very informative, not to mention the beautiful stones.

Norm

Hi: honda03842... I've had stones too!!! Painful but never beautiful.
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

[Ken C]

Love these stories. I read a hitchhiker account of NL and a stranger he met said borrow my car, return it when you see the island. The guy did, drove the loop and came back.

"...a lady invited us into her home for a cup of tea. We spent almost 2 hours just chatting

....the owner gave Bill a 6 inch level

.....They had gone to their mother's house to get more wood"

[honda03842]

I can do NL stories. We have spent about 15 months here, about 2 months a trip. Where ever we go they are nice to us. The Caravan members, all new to Newfoundland, are dazzled by NL and her people.

This is our first time in 16 years traveling with anyone other than family. They are all nice and dazzled by NL.

We took a walk out to the east coast's only granite lighthouse expecting it to be closed. A small crew of local citizens were cleaning it. They saw us and invited us in, letting us wander the entire building. When we were done, one sait wait up, let me take you down to our little museum. Another unnecessary for many kindness but necessary for her.

The lighthouse is located in Rose Blanche. Rose Blanche is a true end of the road community, houses surrounding a harbour, about 300 people strong. This community was not reachable by road until the 1960's. What is the effect of relative isolation on people? of knowing the same people, the same families, helping each other......

Yesterday we all visited Myers Minerals. The person that gave us the factory tour, also presently the only employee, is about 50. Myers about 50 miles from Gros Morne, a UN World Heritage site, until a couple of weeks ago she had not been to Gros Morne. The limit of her travels did not inhibit her 'stone skills'. I walked away with a lot of little stone working tips, we all did. She was so warm and friendly, so much a newfoundlander, actually a huggable newfoundlander with an embracing smile.

[honda03842]

Originally Posted by Ken C

....the owner gave Bill a 6 inch level

The level story was so amazing to me.

Bill and the store owner live 2,000 miles apart, in different countries, really in different worlds. More people probably live within 30 miles of Bill in central MI than live in all of Western Newfoundland.

He reaches down into his tool box and just gives the level to him like it was his brother or son.

I can be powered for days by that kind of action.

[honda03842]

Last night we went out to a country/gospel sing for two hours with four sets of performers. An excellent show enjoyed by all...it's neat because if you don't like ne group you have three more to hear.

This morning there was a rugged 3 hour hike up Gros Morne Mountain taken by three of the group, tomorrow a morning sea level hike off the town of Cowhead. Cowhead is the summer theater portion of Gros Morne with performances beginning next month. For those in the group interested they can catch them on the way home.

We're mostly focusing on Tales, Trails and Tunes events. After the Festival is over we'll focus more on the Gros Morne before heading further north on the Western Peninsula of NL.

Today at lunch a well traveled couple ask the Canadians in our group if they felt NL was different from visiting other parts of Canada. The answer "Certainly".

[honda03842]

Music night

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[honda03842]

The previous post is of a few performers at the CatStop in Norris Point. We were talking about how you can't explain NL to people. The following performers are a few more that played. The final picture is the view out the back door of the CatStop.

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[honda03842]

We returned to our trailer after the 4:30 t0 6:30 performance at the CatStop to find we have Newfoundland neighbors. They were outside so we introduced our selves. Within 5 minutes she offered to share her Cod dinner with us. Almost heaven....

Almost heaven is in my mind. At the performance Chris and Connie were commenting on how wonderful it is here

I ince took a business trip to New Zealand. SOmeone in our sales department asked me, "Do you I believed in heaven?"

I responded "Why?"

She said because you're going to heaven (NZ).

I loved the couple weeks there, it was beautiful but so is Newfoundland. The culture more so in NL.

This is no disrespect to anywhere else. NL is special.

8908

[honda03842]

Did anyone spot the dancing chicken?

[kapat]

A couple of photos from this morning's beautiful but cloudy and chilly hike. As Bill said, the challenge was keeping up with the 70 year old women hikers.

[honda03842]

I'm attempting to provide information for anyone else who would like to lead a small caravan. The people on the caravan are all wonderful, really it feels like a friendly team. Originally we had 23 rigs, some 40 people, sign up, now were down to 6 rigs, 12 people. In retrospect this is a appropriate size for a free, non-professional caravan, like a group of friends not customers.

Of course not everything is perfectly smooth on a caravan. We've had two small rig/vehicle problems. One rig needed tires and another had a brake line leak. While checking around in the area for tires, the delivery date for two tires was 10-13 days. By going up the road a little way two tires were found. Problem resolved.

No part could be found for the brake line issue, new or used. It's a small seep when the brakes are activated from some kind of small relief valve at the brake line distribution block. It seems manageable by occasionally adding fluid. Right now it seems the only choice.

We've had no other rig issues. Our schedule has become a little distorted. Some of the places we want to visit are opening a little later than we had thought. We found opening dates different in different publications. Nothing that will really hurt but does cause some changes in order of events.

The loose nature of the caravan has worked well. Though we pretty much stay together, during the day and evening people feel free to do as they please even leaving for a day or two.

Ginny and I loved traveling alone over the years, however we are having a great time with our group of new friends.

A Casita 17, a Scamp 13, a Scamp 16, a Scamp 19, an Escape 19, and a Bigfoot 25... a nice spread of rigs. Two Scamp 16's would fit in the Bigfoot.

[honda03842]

Big hike this morning. Ginny has 154% of her step goal by lunch. Her reward.

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[cpaharley2008]

Originally Posted by honda03842

Did anyone spot the dancing chicken?

In the second picture.
I also not everyone has long sleeves, it must get cool there, not like the hot and humid weather in the lower 48s.

[honda03842]

The weather in NL has been pretty good. We've made it to the 60s a couple of days. Usually when we meet Newfoundlanders they are dressed much lighter than us.

Temperature is absolute but also relative. As long as the sun is out it feels good.

It hasn't been too hot to feel uncomfortable. I did take off the sweater before I was halfway and must of the hike was thru sweet spruce.

At the music festivals most mornings start with a 2 or 3 hour hike. We saw the following 'guy' on the way to the hike.

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[honda03842]

Hope your not getting tired of kindness. Yesterday our new neighbors, Paul and Paula offered us a cod dinner after a five minute conversation. Tonight they brought over fried scallops cooked in scrumptious, the scallops right off the boat. I love Newfoundlanders.

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[honda03842]

Everytime I come here I absolutely lose my mind. It's so wonderful. All the Caravan is off to a 2 hour boat ride down Western Pond, a former Fiord, a really great ride among steep cliffs.

Ginny and I went out for lunch at Java Jacks, it sounds like a place out of New England but I assure you it is not) a place where they serve wonderful food, serving it graciously and with a kindness.

We both had wonderful soups, and great Newfie desserts. I also had an Italian Strawberry soda, like the juice of ripe strawberries being squeezed on my tongue. I never figure out how Newfoundland pulls all these different foods and drinks together.

After lunch Ginny and I hustled off to the local radio studio for a Labrador Tea. Labrador tea is made from leaves from bog rhododendron, potentially toxic but very good. We arrived to end up with two seats beside the musicians, Ciog, a Celtic fiddle driven group from Cape Breton, NS. After a half hour of their vigorous foot tapping music one almost feels exhausted. This was balanced by Harry Martin, a signature, story telling musician from Labrador.

We had seen Ciog the night before but could not really see the fiddle players feet, just hear the result. Each fiddle player, both women, move their feet differently and even more amazingly within a pair each foot moves differently. Ginny and I are trying to figure that out.

Listen Newfoundland is a wonderful place. Originally 23 rigs and over 40 people signed up for the Caravan, 5 came. To those that didn't come you really missed out, we are having a wonderful time. Now I do know a group of 23 would be too many.

We are traveling at a Norm pace. So far we have only stayed at 3 places and covered about 200 miles. We all have met many wonderful people outside our little group, had our little adventures, and observed wonderful vistas. Everyone's wondering what to do after the Caravan is over, where to head and what to do. I suggest anywhere, but slowly, embracing the land, the culture and the people.

If you only have a 10 days come to the Norris Point Music Festival, it's breathe and variety will astound you. Every night we go to a two hour, four act show, we chat with the locals before the show, standing in line waiting in our seats, leaving joyously tapping our toes. We return to our little trailers close our eyes to the peace of Newfoundland.

It's all a wonder... I feel so good writing about it here because it may be as close to heaven as I can get on earth....

Feeling love for everything..

[honda03842]

A thought from Dr Suess

You have brains in your head and feet in your shoes you can steer yourself any direction you choose.

This was on the wall at Java Jack's.

Ginny at Java. The group Ciog.

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[honda03842]

We've been on the road for 3 weeks and in NL for two weeks. My T-mobile phone has worked great. There are a few places with no signal but very few. Generally I have a strong signal and am able to tether the rest of electronics, 2 computers, a AMazon Fire and Ginny's phone to the phone.

It seems to be a phone plan that works in both Canada and the USA.

Ginny's Verizon phone with the plan extension for Canada has not worked well. Verizon now telling us it will not work in NL. Another member of the caravan has the Verizon extension and it's worked and not worked.

[honda03842]

Green Point, NL
A couple of the group are parking at the Greenpoint Campground literally looking down on the Ocean. Ginny and I hiked out to the cliffs of Greenpoint where the end of the Cambrian Era is marked in the cliff walls as defined by their fossil content.

You begin your hike by walking by a group of fish sheds used by the local fisherman following the beach to the world famous cliffs.

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[honda03842]

Picturrs

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