Labrador, Deer Lake and Louisbourgh

As I didn’t get to Labrador, this particular blog is from Claudia.

End of blog! (She refused to write it)

When we left St. Barbe, we headed for Deer Lake, a run of about 185 miles. We were a little worried about one rig that had the “check engine” light come on along with a loss of power. The rig started up and they took off with crossed fingers. We pulled out about a half hour behind them, hoping for the best. They wanted to get to the Caterpillar mechanic about 35 miles past Deer Lake. We ran across them at the Gros Morne Resort, about 112 miles into the trip. The rig had shut down again and they were on the phone to the mechanic. The short story is that they called a tow truck and were eventually towed to the repair facility. We continued to the RV park and settled in for the night.

The next morning, the entire group walked across the street to the Newfoundland Insectarium and Butterfly Pavillion. The building was a beautifully refurbished dairy barn.


The inside of the Insectarium (an old dairy barn)

We got a fabulous lecture on bees from the manager


Bee lecture at glass bee hive

(ask me anything about bees now and I can tell you!) and then toured the facility on our own. I started at the glass beehive and then wandered to the beetles, bugs,


A Walking Stick bug

butterflies and finally spiders. I really liked the Mexican Red Knee Tarantula and the Goliath Bird-eating Spider.

Mexican Red Knee tarantula

Giant Bird-eating spider

I then wandered downstairs to find Claudia in the gift shop but took a wrong turn and wound up in the ice cream snack bar. I had a single “Death by Chocolate”, my new most favorite flavor.
We then returned to the park and everyone fired up and left for Grand Codroy for a non-eventful overnight stay. We were joined enroute by the rig that had broken down. The problem was a faulty fuel sensor. The next day, we left in a convoy for the 26-mile trip to the Port aux Basque ferry terminal and out return trip to Nova Scotia. The trip was uneventful and we started loading around 4:00 pm. The ferry pulled out at 5:00 pm, right on schedule.

Our trip to North Sydney took just under six hours and we started offloading right about 11:00 pm. I happened to be the first one off the boat and took the convoy lead for the trip to the Arm of Gold RV park. Although the trip was in darkness, something the convoy was not used to, we had no problems at all. It was one nice straight line and no one got lost. OK, OK…so there was only one turn during the whole three-mile trip…and it was right at the park. When we arrived, there were three much appreciated traffic directors that led the convoy in and put us in our sites without so much as a hiccup. It went so smoothly, the entire caravan was parked in about ten minutes. We all just hooked up to power and went to bed. Screw the jacks, slides and all fanciness. The basics will do tonight!

We all got a good night’s sleep and again hit the road at 8:00 am, headed for Louisbourgh. As a point of interest (or not), the fuel prices are about 8-cents a liter cheaper in Nova Scotia than in Newfoundland so we were all playing the game of having our fuel tanks almost empty when we got to the ferry and were planning on fueling on the way to Louisbourgh. The key work here is “almost”. Some rigs “Low Fuel” warning lights were on as we left Arm of Gold. The first fuel was at the 26-mile mark. All rigs made it. I went by the first fuel stop (too many rigs already there) and pulled into the second at the 31-mile mark. We took 421.35 liters (about 112 gallons) of fuel at a cost of $585.26. After fueling, we continued the short distance to the park and settled in.

We immediately had a welcome briefing from the park manager and then carpooled to the Fortress of Louisbourgh, a Parks Canada Historic Site. We arrived at the fortress and went to the Visitor’s Center to view exhibits and then board a bus for the trip to the fortress. We found out there is a difference between a “fort” and a “fortress”, the later designed to protect a civilian population. We had another outstanding guide who took us on an hour-long tour of some of the fortress, leaving us later to explore on our own.

The Louisburgh Fortress

The guard at the gate

Fortress moat

Inside the fortress

The soldier's chapel


The bay entrance to the fortress

Claudia and I and Barry and Terry decided to explore the inside of one of their period restaurants. Claudia ordered baked cod, vegetables and pea soup. I had the same, but because I still have my lingering cough and chest congestion, I added a hot buttered rum for medicinal purposes. The tour of the fort was extremely interesting and we meandered through several buildings, including the Destouches Bakery where an apple and a cherry turnover somehow made it into a paper bag and out the door with us. I hate it when that happens! We also checked out a wooden horse standing in a small open area that was used as a muster area.

The punnishment "horse"

Any soldier found in violation of fortress rules, such as sleeping at his post, was taken to the “horse”. A punishment of time was set by the person in charge and the soldier was told to mount the horse. His hands were then bound behind him and large rocks were tied to his feet. This sufficed to lower the recidivism rate of such misdeeds.

We then left the fortress and drove slowly through the town, eventually ending up on the road to the lighthouse. The road weaved along the edge of the bay and we passed several homes and small businesses that were obviously used for fishing lobster and crab. Another super-picturesque spot!

Along the lighthouse road

More lighthouse road stuff

We got to the lighthouse (Canada’s oldest) and got out to check out the sights. The lighthouse was very pretty but the coastline was rough and spectacular.

Canada's oldest lighthouse


Coastline at the lighthouse

I burned up lots of “film”. We then returned to the rig where I am now writing my blog and Claudia is checking the darkness in the bedroom. Tonight is a Celtic show at the Louisbourgh Playhouse. Claudia just asked me what I was planning to wear tonight. My reply was, “shorts and a nice shirt”. Her reply was, “You might want to reconsider that!” I did!