Bishop's Falls to Gander
On the road by 7:50 with raingear at the ready. After 2 days of easy riding Newfoundland showed us some hills again. Combined with a strong 'headwind' of 30 km this made for some 'tough slogging'. We have been paying attention to the track of Hurricane Earl to see what effects, if any, it will have on us. It appears that we may miss the rain but the prediction is for some 'nasty' winds up to 60 km from the south...guess what direction we are now heading? So tomorrow we are staying put. It sounds like the west side is even worse off, particularly the Port Aux Basque and Wreckhouse areas.
As we were having lunch on the side of the road today a fellow touring cyclist stopped to chat. He is from Waterloo and is a 4th year philosophy major (real future there) at Memorial University. He is riding from Halifax to St. John's and has to move apartments and be in class on September 9. He will make it as yesterday he cycled a 'ridiculous' 200 km.
As we have cycled through Newfoundland we have realized that we have been 'honked' at more here than anywhere else in Canada. We are unsure if it is because they are trying to be friendly or if Newfoundlanders drive with one hand on their horns! Another thing we have experienced is that grocery store clerks use the term 'my love'. And trust me most of them would not be 'my love'!!!
We are camped out in the Comfort Inn in Gander. As we walked to the grocery store we realized just what an impact the American Air Force base must have had on this town. Large areas of old military housing is quite evident. We do not know what the economy here is based upon now after the Americans pulled out.
Daily Distance = 76.83 tough km. Time on the bikes = 5 hours. Average Speed = 15.37 km. Maximum Speed = 44.10 km. Wildlife Sightings = Still no moose..
Kevin = 3, Sue = 0.
