I have two items to discuss in today’s post, so let’s get started.
1. On Friday, we made it to Happy Valley Goose Bay in Labrador, Canada, after 418 miles of gravel road that was less than comfortable to ride on. This was sort of the pinnacle point of this trip for Matt at least, as driving this particular gravel highway was exactly why we took this trip. Even after doing it, I still don’t understand why we did it. It’s not like you even get a “been there done that” t-shirt when you have finished. Maybe that would have helped me wrap my brain around this unusual adventure. I have since asked Matt if he would recommend the Trans-Lab Highway for others (regular travelers who want to site see) to take in the same “scenic views” we were supposed to have seen (1100 miles of pine trees, rivers, and lakes that’s about it) he said he would not. For those that live a faster, harder, riskier lifestyle than yes, he would recommend this for them. To him, this was a “been there done that” bucket list trip that I just got roped into, which is exactly what happened. Well guess what, no one was waiting for us in Baie-Comeau with a medal, a sticker, to take our picture, or to give us a shirt like they do at the end of a marathon, but damn it, I deserve one for doing this, because I can promise you that I know of plenty of other one week adventures that do not involve gravel roads, tent camping like a homeless person, or life literally off the grid. We continued on to Churchill Falls, as Matt mentioned, only to be found sleeping in a tent outside of a church, due to no hotel rooms. Did I mention that I hate rain, oh and right, that’s all it has done here. Don’t think it stopped either folks, it just keeps on going. As of 9-7-14, it has rained consistently for the last 8 days in some way shape or form. Maybe a light shower all the way to pouring rain for hours. So yes, the night in Churchill Falls camping in the church yard, was again done in the rain. On Saturday we headed from Churchill Falls to Labrador City/Manic 5 to finish out this highway stretch and see the Manic 5 dam. There is one hotel at Manic 5 and guess what, we had then entered into French territory. My point for number 2.
2. Not only does Matt decide to take this vacation to the furthest road you can drive on the east side of North America, which happens to generally be off the grid (meaning no connection to the outside world, period end of story), but he likes to add the cherry on top, which includes traveling from Labrador City to Montreal, where it is absolutely hard to find anyone who speaks English, it is all French here. Matt said, “I thought you took/knew some French” (as if that had to be a prerequisite to this trip). Well Matt, sorry to inform you, but my french language training has consisted of one semester in 9th grade and the several episodes of the short stint Carrie Bradshaw had in Paris on Sex in the City, that’s it. I mean coming up from Maine through New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland everything was in both English and French, so I tried to learn a few terms while driving in the cold and wet conditions, but due to the low temperatures, I’m pretty sure my brain was frozen and was not accepting any learning actions that included French. Merci beaucoup Matt, merci beaucoup. What I was getting at was that at the Manic 5 dam there is one hotel, which we tried to call and make a reservation, but since I had not adequately prepared with a second language for this trip, making a reservation did not happen, but ended abruptly when the lady on the other end of the phone kept saying “no English” and hung up on us. Well great, ok, luckily by the time we arrived there a room available, and I had to try and finagle a room with very few words in French and without the assistance of google. We stayed the night and carried on towards Quebec City yesterday. The drive down the coast was absolutely beautiful and despite a small 30 minute rain shower in the morning before we left the Manic 5 hotel, the weather was absolutely gorgeous. We took one last ferry over to the mainland and arrived around 7:30 pm to Quebec City. We had dinner at this lovely little pizza place, where one of the waitresses spoke English! We plan on spending the day here seeing a few things and then heading into Montreal this evening.
This begins the final leg or Phase 3 of this three week vacation/I’m not sure what the hell to call it at this point. We are expected back home on Sunday, so we have a lot of places to go and of course so many things to see.
So for today, au revoir, we will catch up later!
