Reflections on a rainy day...

Plomosa Road, Quartzsite Arizona - 11-18 to 11-23

Over the last year or so, a lot of our conversations start like this. "Where do you want to go next?" " I don't know, how about you?" "I don't know either, I pretty comfortable right here." "Me too."

We've been doing the RV thing pretty consistently since 2010. Our initial forays lasting 6 to 9 months a year and now we are fulltiming.   Before that we camped in tents, had several VW campers and even a Roadtrek Class B.

Back when I was working for the city of Jacksonville, I would save up my vacation so EJ and I could spend 3 weeks in the Florida Keys at Christmas time. We used to go to Gieger Key Marina when it was still a fish camp.

While in the Keys we would visit Key West. Back then Mallory's Dock was a wooden dock (now it's a giant concrete stucture) and cruise ships were not allowed to remain at the dock. They had to sail off so all us poor folk could watch the sun set and maybe see the green flash.

We've been to Yosemite, Yellowstone, Cedar Breaks, Zion, Bryce, Capital Reef, Rocky Mountain, Smokey Mountain and many more National Parks.  We've visited 9 Canadian Provinces and have been to Alaska 3 times (Chartered a yacht once and drove twice).

We have visited most of the United States and seen the highlights of most of those states including our nation's capitol.

Having said all that, we are thankful we were able to visit so many wonderful places when we did. These places have now been "discovered" and are overrun with tourists. You want to take a hike at Zion? Stand in line. Want to see Old Faithful erupt? Join the masses. Want to visit Arches NP? Buy an entry ticket.

When we visited these places, none of this was necessary. Heck, you didn't even need a reservation to camp. Now, we no longer have any desire to visit any of these locations listed above (except maybe Alaska, leaving the door open on that one) because of the crowds. They have become so popular that there is no longer any peace and serenity to be had. Everywhere you go, you have to contend with all the tourists.

So our focus has changed. We try to find the 'off the beaten path' places. 

The common theme in the above pictures? Not another soul in sight. This is what we look for. Peace, quiet and God's nature. No crowds.

To continue on with the thought in the original paragraph, we have seen so much of our country (and Canada too), that it doesn't leave us with any place we feel we really must go. So we pick an area of the country and just go exploring. You never know what you may find. We find we go back to quite a few of the places we have already visited, because they are comforting to us. 

At this stage in our lives tranquility, a good view and few close friends are all we need.

Obligatory cat picture follows...

Newfoundland to FnEJ's Hideaway

North Sydney, Nova Scotia to Branford, FL-Sept 2, 2024 to Sept 22, 2024

Our trip to Newfoundland ended all to soon (because we were enjoying our stay so much), but health issues compelled us to depart as quickly as possible. Escaping Newfoundland was complicated by the fact that for a 36 foot motorhome, the only way off the island is by ferry.  And at this time of year available space on the ferry was virtually nonexistent.  

We were having such a good time that we originally extended our stay by two weeks. Then after the health issues arose, we attempted to get a reservation on the ferry so we could depart as soon as possible. Well, that wasn't gonna happen. So, from August 16 to Sept 1, we were stuck on the island.

But, not accept defeat and just hole up somewhere, we decided to avail ourselves of the Canadian Health System. That was a real experience. The Canadians have no concept of private insurance or self pay. If you don't have a Canadian Health Card, you are out of luck. No clinic (their version of our Doc in the Box) or doctor will even talk to you. We finally discovered that if you go to the Emergency Room at the hospital instead of trying to see the appropriate doctor, you can get treated. They will accept cash payment.

Once we got that all squared away, we still had to wait for September 1 to arrive so we could get back to the USA and begin our journey back to Florida to see our doctor.

Poor EJ experienced rapid onset vitritis, which is inflammation of the vitreous jelly in the eyeball.  This causes pain, blurry vision and extreme sensitivity to light. Doctors have no idea what causes it, or more accurately, it could caused by hundreds of different things of which they have no way of pinpointing the actual source. But they do know how to fix it. Prednisone eye drops reduces the inflammation and eventually stops it. And it could come back in the future. But now we know how to treat it.

So suffice it to stay, the last month of our Great 2024 Adventure was not a lot of fun for EJ.

For the folks who were wondering at our rapid pace (for us) to get back to Florida, that's why.

Obligatory cat picture follows:

Let's Just Call It Atmospheric Mist?

 St. Mary's First Falls Park - July 13 to 19, 2024

The foggiest place in Canada is Argentia. For the last week, well 6 days really, we have been located 32 miles from there as the crow flies. Why are we here? The reason is, so far this year, St. Vincent's Beach which is about 20 minutes from our camp site, has been the hot spot for whale watching. To give you a feel for our current location, below is a map of Newfoundland where the red icon (mark) shows our location.

This next picture is an enlargement of the Avalon Peninsula, which is the focus of this weeks exploration.

The first day we arrived we saw a little fog in the distance, behind Miss Mosey. It's nothing to worry about, right? Without the fog you can see houses on the other side of the inlet. That didn't happen very often.

So the next day, we pack our picnic lunch, wine, and beach chairs and head St. Vincent's Beach to go whale hunting. The day was overcast, but otherwise quite pleasant. What makes this location so special is that the water gets real deep just off shore, allowing the whales to get very close to you.

The whales were having a great time feeding on Capelin. Think of Capelin as sardines on steroids. The whales love them. And if the Capelin get close to shore the Newfoundlanders scoop them up by the bucketful as they consider them to be a great delicacy. 

We are so glad we got to see the whales playing that day because the weather gods had other plans. Over the next few days this is what we got to see.

And yeah, that's a big Class "C" we're following. You can almost see it!

In spite of the fog we continued to whale hunt. Ever hopeful the sun would conquer the fog, we would visit the beach. You could hear the eerie sounds of the the whales blowing as they surfaced, their nebulous forms like apparitions in the mist. No good for pictures but fun none the less. Using my 3 or 4 generations old Samsung phone I attempted to video Ganets (kinda like seagulls only bigger) diving headfirst into the water to catch those delicious Capelins. 

Obligatory cat picture follows....

Headed off to bed with her blanket.

Vikings

 Pistolet Bay Provincial Park - June 4 to June 14, 2024

I think most of us were taught in grade school that "In fourteen hundred and ninety two Columbus sailed the ocean blue" and discovered America. Since that time there have been plenty of archeological finds proving the Vikings were here long before Columbus. They just didn't stick around. One of the sites proving the Vikings were here first is L'Ance aux Meadows, which is about a 30 minute drive from where we are parked.

As part of our preparations to visit L'Ance aux Meadows we check cruisemapper.com. Yep, no cruise ships due at any of the local ports, we are good to go! I wish I could find a similar web site for tour busses. I don't begrudge any of the folks that choose to travel this way, it's just that they overwhelm whatever they visit. How can you enjoy a site when there are 50 to several hundred other people jockeying for position to see whatever there is to see. It's just best to avoid them if you can. That way you can stop and embrace the essence of the location. 

L'Ance aux Meadows is where the Vikings, or Norsemen, established a settlement in about 1000 AD. Archeologists say that this was not a permanent settlement but was sporadically occupied between a period of 20 and a 100 years. Remains of the village suggest that this was used as a boat repairing facility and a staging area for explorations that ranged further inland and further south.

Our excursion to the Viking settlement began with a slight diversion. We are always on the lookout for a good boondocking site. We found a gravel road that went around a corner hiding what lay beyond and piquing our interest. Hoping it might be a good site to camp, we went to investigate, and found our second fox. As usual, we were both so stunned by the appearance of a fox headed straight for us, that neither of us thought to take a picture until it was headed away.

We finally arrived at the Viking site where EJ is greeted by the inhabitants.

On the walkway to the Viking structures we passed through this. It is an artists vision representing the meeting of two worlds. Beats me how they get that out of it. If you squint really really hard the object on the left might represent a Viking sail. The object on the right, I got no clue! And in the middle, "Oh look, another iceberg!".

Eventually we arrive at the Viking village. There is a long house, a blacksmith shop and several others.

And it's not crowded. Just the way we like it.

Of course on the way out, we had to find a geocache and ended up here.

And to close out our adventure, the fog starts to roll in. That happens a lot up here.

Obligatory cat picture follows...

Bergs

 Pistolet Bay Provincial Park (CG) - June 4 to June 14, 2024

We are about as far north as you can get on the island of Newfoundland. Oh sure, there's the Quirpon Lighthouse Inn with it's lighthouse next door, which is even further north, but Miss Mosey doesn't float or fly and those are the only two ways to get there.

In spite of all the assurances we have gotten, we have discovered that boondocking spots for bigger RVs are very limited. We've searched and scouted and found some that were in beautiful locations, but access was by a big drop off, or skinny little 2 track paths. So the next best thing was this Provincial Park. No hookups, but there is water available and there is a dump station for taking care of business.

The drawback to the Park is that it is down about 9 kilometers (5.6 miles) of patch work road. Repairs on top of repairs along with the occasional whoop de do (sudden dip) that will surprise you if you're not paying attention. It appears that rather repave roads, they just patch over and over again. Don't get me wrong, we are thankful for what pavement there is. And so is Miss Mosey.

Back a couple of months ago we were debating on whether to go to the St. Johns area which is where in years past most of the iceberg activity seems to have taken place or to travel to Saint Anthony which is lesser known and not as well traveled. St. Johns is a very touristy spot with an international airport and lots of accommodations and attractions for those tourists. Saint Anthony, on the other hand, is harder to get to, requires a long drive, and has few accommodations and fewer restaurants.

To our readers who know our dislike for crowds, it should come as no surprise that we chose Saint Anthony. And it is a good thing we did. This year the winds and currents have conspired to give the greater northern peninsula area near Saint Anthony an abundance of icebergs while sending hardly any to the St. Johns area. Lady Luck was definitely smiling upon us. This is simply a sample of what we saw.

 It seemed as though almost everywhere we looked, there was an iceberg. And according to the latest iceberg map, there is another big batch headed our way. Excuse us while we pat ourselves on the back. Just joking, but since we don't really have a schedule we extended our stay here to catch all the bergs we can.

Obligatory cat picture follows...

 

What were we thinking?

 Pistolet Bay Provincial Park - June 4 to June 14, 2024

The end of the road in Saint Anthony is Fishing Point where the old lighthouse is located. This is another popular tour bus stop. We wonder where they come from because the nearest airport is at least 5 hours away. We don't recall any village along the way that could accommodate 40 or so passengers overnight. Oh well, according to cruisemapper.com no cruise ships are due in Saint Anthony today. But, during the 3 hours we were there, at least 5 tour busses showed up. Fortunately we only had to momentarily endure one, before embarking on our hike away from the swarm.

EJ had suggested we visit this area while the weather was reasonably nice. There was no rain in the forecast, which was nice. The temperatures were supposed to be near 50F. So we bundled up and headed of for a nice hike along the coastline.

It was pretty windy so we were waring our wind breakers. That 50F temperature feels pretty cold when it's blowing about 10 of 15 mph. Then sum fule (me) suggested we go find a geocache that is nearby. EJ said "I bet it's up there".

And she was right!

At the bottom we meet a local who is concerned about our physical capabilities and cautions us about the steps. Too narrow, sloping backwards, makes balancing hard, etc. We thank him for the information and he heads up the trail never to be seen again (at least by us).

We tighten our shoes, slurp down some water, suck on some Jolly Ranchers and mentally prepare ourselves for the ascent. And yup, the sign says 476 steps to go up 550 feet. 

After about 5 minutes of climbing, EJ asks me if I'm counting the steps???? I doing all I can huffing and puffing and she wants to know if I'm counting steps? So I tell her no, I'm not. Eventually we find a step that someone, obviously much younger and fitter than we, has marked with the number 100. We assume that means that this is the 100th step from the bottom, only 376 to go. Oh god! Taking many, many breaks we continue our ascent. We begin to wonder, where is step 200? Those younger, fitter folks didn't just number one step and then stop, did they? Maybe they aren't as fit as we gave them credit for! Onward and upward we trudge. We get passed by a slender athletic person almost running up the steps. 

Oh joy! What is this? A step with another number?

Hey, we're doing better than we though! 300, woohoo! Upward we continue our struggle. After another eternity we encounter the same slender fit person on her way down who informs us we are almost to step 399. We wonder is it too late to turn back? We are almost there! Will we make it? More slurps of water and another Jolly Rancher, we continue or climb.

Every time we turn a corner and look up, there are more steps. Finally, we make it.

They've even posted a sign up here showing us which way it is to Florida.

We find our cache, make our mark and return to begin our descent. This part goes much easier, but our leg muscles protest. They are quivering and protesting with every step. But, knowing we must prevail, we eventually reach the bottom.

Success! This is really gonna hurt tomorrow. But for now, a cold beer is just what we need.

A few days ago I met the owner of the Ragnarock Northern Brewery as he was delivering a case of beer to the Northern Delight Restaurant. I asked him about his dark beers and he confessed that he had none available right now, but he should have some ready to tap next week (which is now). He said he would have a stout and a red ready.

As it turns out, he had no dark beers available when he said he would, but he did have a new red that I tried. It was quite tasty. Our time here on the GNP (Great Northern Peninsula) is done. It is now time to head to Puffin and Whale territory.

Obligatory cat picture follows...