Hey Earl; I'm sending this to you this way and also e-mail. Tuesday afternoon I will be leaving for Billings Montana that is where Star Days is this year. I'll be there till Saturday the 25th than I want to ride up to Kalispell which is the end of the Ride to the Sun Highway about 55 miles along some glaciers in Glacier National Park (Northwest corner of Mt. back to Havre to see some friends I visited on my Alaska trip, down to Colorado Springs and up to Pikes Peak, west to the Four Corners down through the Grand Canyon and on to Phoenix by about Aug 5th, maybe go see my sister and son in Calif, but depends on how my daughter is doing next grandchild is due the 30th of Aug and she is having a tough time, plus she's got two under three running around now and husband is a policeman in Phoenix so can't take maternity leave to help her. Right now I look to be gone till the end of Sept. so blogs and e-mail will be like this only when I can get online. I know you are having a great adventure and I am happy for you and Collette. Take care will see you in fall.................Bob

Newfoundland

Typical coast line at NW Newfoundland

Went to a fish ladder. The Atlantic salmon get up and over the 362' falls by using this fish ladder. it is such a long way they have resting pools along the way. At mid-point they have an underground viewing window at one resting pool. Some are pretty large. They season is early and the cameras have counted 6,000 so far. they expect over 30,000 to pas thru and each will lay 6,000 eggs of which only 4 to 6 will reach full maturity.

This is the new (gravel) road that will open late this year . 250km and NO SERVICES I cant wait until next year to try it

We saw plenty of ice bergs large & small

No more gravel roads. Heavy toll on truck. Rotor broke and damaged distributor cap, front shocks gone-truck bounces like my old 56 chevy and the tops of the tires will hit the bottom of the inner fender, now alternator making noises, am sure its filled w/ dust. Even w/ windows closed dust is so bad have to clean glasses every 5min. When a tractor trailer comes by have to stop and wait for dust to clear to see road.

Now in Newfoundland. Very few people on the NW coast. Can drive off road to to cliffs, sea shore, where ever I want.

Lobster pots everywhere, everyone uses firewood and huge amounts cut & stacked along road.

Found this school bus converted to a pick-up for hauling lobster traps.

Went through Gros Morne national park. Very mountainous, some of the fiord's are 23km long. Am getting used to Celsius and kilometers, Collette & I are used to calling a nice day 23c--about 70. Cant get any Man cigars up here, only the little girly ones. They are $15 a pack of 8.

Gasoline is about the same as home when you consider the exchange rate. .82 cent Canadian to one USD. Although gas in Labrador was $5 per gal US.

There are no 1$ bills up here, they have loonies & toonies--$1 & $2 coins. UR pocket fills fast w/ change. Already wore a hole in my pants pockets. Now I have loonies in one shoe and toonies in the other. hmmmmmm

Last nite stayed in a cabin outside Gros Morne. The owner is from St. Johns and this is his summer job. During the Winter he is a lobster fisherman. Saw a boat like his for sale in a flyer for about $225K. We stopped in about 9:30pm and he lit a campfire for us and we talked by the fire w/beers til after midnite. He had a 67 camero rs parked on the grass, he was waiting to install a new yoke for the rear end as he broke it "showing off for the boys". He showed me the new chrome yoke, while we were having coffee in his kitchen. He also has 3 other cars at his home in St. Johns, 65 mustang fastback, 58 fairlane and more all w/big motors. He works on them during the winter in his 30x60 garage. Seems the weather is not always calm enough for fishing.

There is no property tax up here. One lady said she only pays $158 a year for garbage pick up. She said she bought her land from the Crown and then they said they didnt own it the railroad did, the Crown contacted the railroad which went out of business and they said they have no interest in the land so the Crown sent her money back w/ a clear title!

this looks like where John Gray may be headed someday!

There are Govt info centers along the way, and they will find you a place to stay, any attractions. I usually stop at one late in the day (they are open till 9pm) and ask them to find a room for me. They suggest some places I pick one and they call them and reserve it. One night they booked us a room and a show. Are room was waiting when we arrived 1-1/2 hrs later and we went to the dinner show--we had Atlantic salmon and they show was very good.

Nite before last there were moose outside my cabin, a bull & 5 females.

Stayed at "The Wall" in Fermont, QE. The gal we met 2 days ago that towed our car was the receptionist. She was very glad to see us. We got a good room. Very Large w/a couch & matching chair. She said he husband and Sam the tow driver were looking for us at the WALL on Tuesday as they thought we would be there. Wish i could speak french. The Wall was very unique inside. Besides many Apartments indoors there are restaurants, & stores a medium size mall. Olympic pool, school, gym, places for kids to hang out , kinda like boys & girls club and teen centers. An enclosed parking garage for the residents.
I hope to stay here again, and meet w/ Sam, the owner of the tow company and his very nice wife. They have 4 children, close to pre teens. Very nice to us.

Back to Baie Comeau

This am am leaving Church Hill Falls / Fremont and going back to Baie Comeau. Will go to Cartwright the long way. Taking 2 hr ferry across St Lawrence. Dont have ferry reservations but manage to get on anyway. Ride through New Brunswick, into Nova Scotia. Stay at hotel that has a tidal torrent river behind property. Lady at hotel says the tide comes in at 2:32am. Get up at 2am and walk out to river. Its about a football feild wide and the flood lights come on to watch. In the dark you can here a wave somewhere around the bend. Then all of a sudden a wave of water comes racing thru, heading upstream. It is all across the river and brings a torrent with it. The river is filled wide with a unbeleiveable current (torrent) upstream and out of sight. Sorry, night pics did not turn out.

We have to take another ferry to get to Nova Scotia. This ferry is a 5 hour crossing.

The next day we are into Nova Scotia, and make it to Cornners Crossing. A fairly big city. We find a Hotel built for the visiting paper baron owners from England in 1904. It is a national Heritage site. It has its own ponds and gardens all fed by a natural salmon river w/ its own fush ladders.

Again no reservations. We get to the ferry 4 hours early and wait for the ticket office to open. This crossing is restricted to 12 people. This crossing is listed as a hazardous shipment crossing. That 12 people including the driver(s). We get on. There are 11 passengers and one truck driver. The ferry normally takes over 100 cars and 362 passengers. We asked what the hazard goods are. An entire truck load of DYNAMITE. We have the entire ship to ourselves

NO FERRY

Woke at 3:23 am, already first light. Wife sleeping, yet. Not ready togo.

Went outside, frost on the 5 hotel guests cars. One BMW GS1200 in the lot.

Talked w/ hotel mgr. he says all of hwy 500 will be paved in 2 years. He said many bikes w/side cars are attracted here. He said the new stretch of hwy between Goose-Bay and Cartwright wont be paved for years, and he thinks all the bikers will go there.

NO FEERY! The purpose of this trip was to take the ferry from Goose-Bay to Cartright. This is the last year for the ferry, as they new road will be open this OCT.

Wanted to go to Goose Bay to view the museum from the cold war days, and the WWII days. Lots of Merchants ships went out of here.

The ferry goes thru a long inland passage that German U-Boats used to wait for merchant ships for the allied war effort. They ferry is usually only 1/2 full, but due to the unscheduled mine holiday every one wants out. Next ferry end of month.

This town of Church Hill Falls is owned by the Province of Labrador. As is the power plant, all homes, everything. If you don't work for the power company you don't live here. There are about 250 people working the plant.

Sorry about pic of town. need to enlarge. (hmmm lost the pic)

The town center is a large building that houses: school K-thru 12, indoor curling, Olympic size swim pool, library, post office, bank, grocery store. The homes are free rent. During your probation period, or apprenticeship you stay in the 2, 12unit apartments. Then go on a wait list for a home. you have no choice which one.

There are other jobs working for the company, such as postmaster, waitress, grocery store, gas station. These are filled by the spouses. If you don't get one of these jobs you just get bored.

Just some pic's of the cables across the Church Hill River gorge. Pics of river and discharge of power plant 1-1/4 mi away.

Built by Bechtel in 1971

Below are some more pics of the Church Hill River. I found a path off the Trans Labrador Highway and walked in about a mile & a half. I new the canyon would be here from some aerial photos I saw. A short way into the woods there was a beautiful wolf on the trail in front of me about 60 feet. Very large, larger than I expected. He was watching me approach, I didn't notice him right away. Much prettier than the stuffed wolf at the visitor center. As I kept walking the trail he stayed ahead at about the same pace. Good thing Collette did not come along.

The canyon is about 500 feet or more deep.

Below is the outfall from the dam underground for 1-1/4 . After that is the Church Hill River Canyon. Hiked in about 1 mile for these pics. I went alone, Collette stayed in the truck. A short way into the forested trail, I came upon a very large wolf. It was only 60 feet infront of me on the trail watching me. I kept walking toward it trying to get my camera on, as it slowly walked the trail in front of me. It didn't get the pic.

Church Hill Falls

ITS LABRADOR MANN!!!




















Wake at 4:30am get coffee and wait for garage to open.

There is snow on the hill tops about 200 feet up.

6:45 walk to garage and find service manager. He says they are very busy and might not get at it today. Mechanics arrive at 8am and truck is inside by 8:05. The rotor and distributor cap are broken. Should have done that tune-up before I left. Cap & Rotor=$225 Tow=$727.

Check out at 11am and goto Labrador visitor center. She is surprised we haven't made ferry reservations at Goose Bay, 533km away(all gravel). We call ferry. Yes we can get on July 26th! Seems the mines just started a 5 week lay-off due to the recession.

Well we will goto Church Hill Falls, (263km east) and head back to Baie Comeau to take ferry to Newfoundland. (a 7 hr ferry ride) It will take an entire day to get back to Baie Comeau.

Long ride to Churchill, 5hrs. So far North the trees are thinning out.

Look at the size of this highway truck next to the woman w/stop sign

Take a 7pm tour of the Hydro electric plant. The plant makes 5,500 mega-watts a day and supplies most of the East coast of US.

They said the amount of electricity they make in one day equals-------153,000 barrels of oil EACH DAY.

There is no dam. The facility is carved into the granite mountain. We get into the elevator and instead of counting off floors, it counts down feet. it starts at 1,700 feet above seal level. We get off at 434 feet. The guide says we are 81 STORIES under the surface and there are 9 more stories below.

The power plant is the worlds deepest and largest underground power plant.

There are 11 generators and 11 water supply tubes dropping 91 stories putting 450#'s per sq.in. on the turbines. The whole thing is like a giant cave. The walls are granite. They drive semis into here via a 75 foot wide 50 foot tall tunnel that is 1-1/2 miles long. There are 2 school buses parked down here ready to act as emergencyy evacuation vehicles.

The drawing above shows the inside passages of the facility. They have evacuation school buses stationed at various locations inside the passages. The ceilings are easily 60 feet tall and as wide as 4 school busses. The evacuation tunnel is 1-1/2 mile long.

The generator floor is 3-1/2 football fields long.

I called and asked for a 7pm tour and they picked us up in town w/ a van. We had 4 people on the tour. Try & tour a USA dam.

Sunday

Woke at 4:30 am. not too cold about 55 degrees. Got at motor. Nope not the vacuum hose! Now what? Dont know. Walked back 1/2 mile to S.O.S. satelite phone booth. Very lucky as these emergency phones are 10km to 22km apart. Phone is solar powered and can take upto 15min to connect. Good news phone eventually connects to RCMP in Baie Comeau, QE. 365 km away.

They will send tow from Fermont, about 250km away. The tow truck takes 3hrs to reach us.

The driver does not speak English. What a shame for me. About 5km into the ride he says he must stop at his cabin, it will only take 5min. Time for lunch he says. The tow truck is lurching on the gravel highway a bit, but then he veers off into the brush. I would not drive my car down this 2 track. The water in the pics are actually flowing streams.

After about a half mile we arrive at his cabin. A beatiful setting on a fast flowing trout stream about a 50yds wide. He is building a new cabin and the electrician was woring on the wiring.

Seems like his whole family was there. His wife made coffee for me and my wife was able to use the restroom. The place is powered by a small generator.

It is so beautifull here its hard to describe. You must visit. The sign at the Provicial boundry says "Labrador, The Frontier". It really is. We have crossed the 53rd paralell some time back and are aproaching the 54th paralell.

The tow takes 4 hrs. We arrive at the Chevy garage in Labrador City, NL. We get a room and will talk w/ the dealer when he opens Monday.