Leaving Newfoundland

After consulting the ferry schedule, I’m going to skip the trip to the Viking site.
I don’t want to arrive in Labrador after dark and try to find a campsite. If I cross today at 3:30pm, I will have time to make camp and then rise early for the trip to Goose Bay.

Labrador has one main road, the Trans-Labrador Highway (TLH), that crosses west-east, and was completed in 2010. Much of its 775 miles is still gravel, and there are few facilities available as it crosses the wilderness. The longest stretch is about 250 miles between gas stations at Port Hope Simpson and Goose Bay. At each end of the TLH, travelers may borrow a satellite phone and return it when reaching the other end.

The 250-mile stretch shouldn't be a major hassle. My bike has a 7.5 gallon tank, and if I fill it to the brim, take it easy on the throttle, and coast down the hills, I shouldn’t have to push the bike more than 3-4 miles at the other end.
:-)

After the ferry crossing into Labrador, I will probably have very little internet or cell service except possibly in Goose Bay. It also appears that there are no campgrounds along the route, so I’ll try to find a motel in Goose Bay.

After completing the TLH, I’ll enter Quebec and no longer be able to speak. :-)
Fortunately, I took a class in French before the trip.
Unfortunately, it was 48 years ago.
But I still remember some of that French from 9th grade.

Actually, I have learned from my extensive travels into places like Zimbabwe and West Virginia, that you don’t need to master a language to communicate with the locals.
If you know a few common phrases, it will endear you to the locals, and they will go out of their way to make you feel at home.

So I’ll just fall back on some of the French I remember from my early days, and should have no trouble at all:

“Bonjour!” “Hi there! You must be French!”
“Bonsoir!” “Hi there! It’s dark and you must be French!”
“Gracias!” “Thank you!”
“Bon Appetit!” “Hope you enjoy your snails!”
“Mon ami!” “I need a huge favor!”
“Bete!” “Stupid-head!”  (I won’t be using this, but it was indispensable in 9th grade.)

I’m getting ready to check out of the nice motel in Plum Point and ride 20km up to Saint Barbe to buy a ticket for the 3:30 ferry to make sure I have a reserved slot.

I’m taking advantage of the slack in my schedule to use the motel laundromat now.
They didn’t have any detergent for sale, so I just dumped in a bottle of shampoo from the room.  It has conditioner as well, so my clothes should be soft and manageable with plenty of sheen.
I hope that doesn’t do something weird to the washing machine.
Oh, well.
I’m about 100 yards away now back in my room, so if there is an explosion I should be safe.

============

Status Report:
I lost the key to my top case (I have a spare).
I lost one of my best gloves (I have another pair).
My speedometer cable broke off somewhere and left me (I’ll use the speedometer on the GPS).
The fly zipper on my riding overpants came apart (no spares).

Health report: Excellent.
Fitness report: Old.
Spirits report: High.
Life report: Good.


Newfoundland trivia:
There are 125,000 moose here; In 1898 there were zero.
Moose are not native to Newfoundland. A few were brought here in 1898 and some more a couple years later. They sort of liked it here.