Saturday August 6, 2016 St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada

It was windy all night but not as cold as past days.  We didn't have to turn on any heat.  We had our coffee and caught up on computer stuff.

No group activity was planned for today.  In the late morning Gerri fried eggs and bacon for breakfast.  Later we went to the Railroad Museum.  Between the GPS and odd angle streets we drove around more than necessary.  The museum was an impressive old stone building.  The building has been restored.  The first floor is the museum and the other two floors house the city archives and offices related to them.  These are a series of pictures of exhibits depicting life on a passenger train.

I found a cache across the street from the museum.

We drove around St. Johns for awhile looking for a couple of eateries that had been recommended.  One we never found and the other was very busy and had very little parking.  We decided to try Mary Brown's, despite Pat telling us it was mediocre, it was.  I thought it was a chain of regular restaurants.  It is really fast food akin to KFC with about the same quality of food.  OK, but nothing to write home about.  Whoops, I just wrote home about it.

I did locate a cache in a small park across the street from the restaurant.

It was still cold with a gusting wind.  We returned to the RV park.  I finally broke down and cleaned the front of the coach and the windshield.  I even cleaned the side windows that we look out of when parked.  Once back inside the coach I saw that my windshield cleaning hadn't been thorough, and that the inside of the side windows was now dirtier than the outside.  I didn't redo the windshield, the forecast is for rain tomorrow.  I did clean the inside of the other windows.  What a pain getting the screens off and back on.  But now our outlook is better.

There was an impromptu gathering of many of our group around a jam session by Valerie on the keyboard and Herb on his guitar.  Gerri has the beginnings of a cold and stayed in the coach watching the Olympic tennis match between Canada and the US.  I stayed out with the group until it was starting to get dark.  I heard the music and singing after we went to bed.

Nothing planned for Sunday until a pizza party at 5.  That may be iffy because of predicted rain.

Friday August 5, 2016, St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada

I got up this morning to the sound of rain on the roof  It rained just enough to make spots on the newly cleaned Jeep.  The wind was gusting last night and the awnings were flapping.

We were up in time to make coffee and head over to the wagon master's breakfast.  They served eggs and bacon along with a sweet roll and orange juice.  There was some talk about the things to do in St. Johns.  There was also some information about the drive to the ferry back to North Sydney.  We will get more details at a Pizza party on Sunday evening.

Typical downtown row houses

We went to see Signal Hill, a high point that looks out to see in one direction and over the harbor and it's entrance.  The signal tower is still there.  The French and English fought several battles over possession of St. Johns and the rich fishing grounds that make up the east coast of Newfoundland.  The last battles were during the 7 Years War.  In the USA you may have heard of it, we called it the French and Indian Wars.  We also visited the park visitor center and watched a movie about the development of the area and the conflicts between the French and English.  From Signal Hill we saw a lighthouse that marked the entrance to the harbor and the remains of Fort Amherst which protected the harbor.  It was far below us and a drive around the harbor, so we didn't go there.

Our park is just beyond this building

From Signal hill we drove to Point Spear.  Yes, there was another light house.  There were actually two light houses.  On the original lighthouse and light keepers cottage and a newer functioning light house.  Besides the lighthouses there was whale watching.  Granted they were far out to see but we did see some blowing and some breaching action.  The distance and random activity made it very hard to get a picture.  This area is also known for iceberg sightings.  We didn't see any.

Near the lighthouse I found a geocache that didn't take much walking.  There were many more in the area, but many are quite a distance on trails.











The wind had been blowing at both Signal Hill and the lighthouse and it was still blustery and cold back at the campground.  Gerri stayed in most of the rest of the afternoon.  I went out to try to find some caches.  I didn't have too much luck.  I DNFed, others were beyond my walking capacity.  I entered coordinates for a cache into the Jeep GPS, but made a mistake.  The GPS lead me to an area way beyond the radius of caches I had downloaded.  I stopped at a Canadian Tire store and picked up a couple of things I needed around the coach.  I then gave up caching for the day and returned to the RV park.

Gerri served the leftover spaghetti and meatballs for supper.  Even though we can't get DirecTV this far north, I was able to pickup 3 local channels off the air.  So along with reading we watched a little TV.

The Olympics opening ceremony started at 8.  We watched some of it before giving up and calling it a night.  I made it to the rewriting the history of powered flight and turned it off.

Thursday August 4, 2016 St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada

Nancy asked us all to be out of the park before 9.  We got up at 7 and had our coffee.

I only had to unhook from water and power and hook up the Jeep.  Gerri got the inside ready to travel.

Along the road

Once on the road we didn't hurry.  With only 336 km to travel we will be there early in the afternoon.  After a short detour near the park we were on TCH-1 most of the way.  Good road except for a couple of delays for construction.  Gerri experimented with taking some videos through the windshield as we traveled.

The Confederation Building

We arrived in Pippy Park a little after 1.  Our site was a pull through with 50 amp electric service.  We may not need it, the weather is a little cool with the sun coming and going as the clouds move overhead. I mopped the floor inside before Gerri put out the carpets and she ran the sweeper on the rugs. I also spent some time cleaning the Jeep.. I may get ambitious in the morning and clean the coach.  The windshield is so dirty Gerri gave up trying to take videos through it.

In Pippy Park

Gerri made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner.  After dinner Moe and Pat came by and we visited with them for a while.  They had tried a geocache on a path in the park but didn't find it.

Wednesday August 3, 2016 Gander, Newfoundland, Canada

With no organized activities today, we slept in  We then had our coffee.

We had decided to drive to a community on the north coast named Twillingate.  It is a center for whale, bird and iceberg watching with a lot of tour boats.  It was a 75 KM drive.  The town sits on a bay and the ocean is in view.  We saw some other members of our group having lunch in town.  We spoke to them for awhile and I looked unsuccessfully for a nearby cache.







We then drove out to a nearby lighthouse.  We saw other members of our group there.







This was quite a large lighthouse and was made of concrete.


















There were viewing platforms along a cliff with striking views of the ocean.

We drove back into town and had lunch at the Addy's Seafood Cafe.  I had a moose burger and Gerri had lobster Chowder with a grilled cheese sandwich.  My moose burger wasn't as good as the one at the Back Cove Cafe in Gros Morne.

We went to a cache that Gerri found for me.  We then drove around to the other side of the bay to see if there was another view of the light house.  There was but it was too far away for a good picture.  I found a cache by the same hider as the one we couldn't find earlier and at a similar location.  We returned and found the other before heading back to Gander.


Back at the rv park I went out again to find some more caches.  I found 3 and DNFed 2 before I gave up.

There were five pipe sculptures of airplanes round Gander.  All had some significance in the history of Gander.  There was a cache listed at all 5, but I only found three




When we got back from Twillingate the air conditioner was running in the coach.  This morning I had turned on a heater before we got up and showered.  When the sun went down tonight it cooled rapidly.   I may have to have the heater again in the morning.

We want to leave by 9 in the morning it is a 336 km drive to St. John's, our last stop in Newfoundland.

Tuesday August 2, 2016 Gander, Newfoundland, Canada

It was cloudy this morning when we got up. I made coffee and was trying to get yesterday's blog posted.  It started raining, the first rain we have had this month.  It wasn't much more than a heavy mist, but everything was dripping.  It was much colder overnight and I had the heat on to warm up the coach.

We didn't hurry to get ready since our instructions were not to arrive at the campground in Gander until afternoon.  We left the campground with only about 3 units behind us.  As soon as we turned onto the on ramp for Trans Canada Highway-1 we were stopped by construction.  We finally got on the highway after about 1/2 hour wait.  It was't a long drive and we were in the Gander Country Inn RV park and set up by 2.

We went to the North American Aviation Museum today instead of waiting until tomorrow.  The museum had 4 airplanes on display outside and one inside.  The tail of a DC-3 is built into the front of the building with the nose protruding from the rear of the building.  They have several aircraft engines on display.  Most of the exhibits pay tribute to Gander's contributions to trans-Atlantic flight and the importance of Gander to both Canada and the United states during the 2nd World War.

Any Sky King fans out there?

Hudson bomber, 1st bombers ferried
 trans-Atlantic  to Europe

There are also displays showing Ganders contributions after the 9-11 attack on the US. Many flights were diverted here. On display showed letters sent from people who had received the Newfoundlander's hospitality.

Moe and I went geocaching and found 4 nearby caches in about an hour,  Dinner was at 6 by the wagon masters.  They served salad and spaghetti with meatballs along with garlic bread.  We ate in an open pavilion area.  It was getting bitter cold and some of the group put up lawn mats as curtains and Alec brought out his propane fire pit and made it comfortable.

Tomorrow we plan, as do several others, to go to a town named Twillingate.  It is on the coast north of Gander.  It bills itself as the place to see icebergs and whales.

Monday August 1, 2016 Botwood, Newfoundland, Canada

Well, it is the first of August and we haven’t had any rain this month.  There was no group activity until the afternoon, so we slept in.  There were a lot of clouds but the sun shone through a lot of the time.  We had our coffee.

I found this eagle picture on my phone
taken on Gros Morne boat tour

Being it was the first of the month I went on line and balanced out credit union accounts.  Montyne had sent me copies of our Clark County tax bills.  They are due August 15, so I paid them on line through the credit union.

A pretty cove on the way to Fortune Bay

The group activity today was a boat tour and dinner at the Gillespie House in Fortune Bay.  The drive was 60 km on really bad road. We left the park 2 hours before the set time and it took nearly the whole time to get there.  Just before arriving we saw an eagle fly across the water and road, it was gone before we were able to bring a camera into action.

The drive was 60 km on really bad road. We left the park 2 hours before the set time and it took nearly the whole time to get there.  The boat was a small pontoon boat and we went in groups of 12.  We were in the first group.  The tour took us around the bay.  The main attraction along the was the large Mussel farming operation. The mussels are raised in bags on ropes lowered into the water.  Their nutrients come from the water as the tide flows in and out.  From the time of planting it takes about 3 years for them to reach market size.

Our bay cruiser

Back at the Gillespie House we were the first served while others went on the tour.  The restaurant was closed for our party with the exception of guests at the house.  We were first served fish cakes and bread and jam.  We then were served with hot biscuits and molasses.  Then came the mussels.  The mussels kept coming and coming.  My main course was moose stew and Gerri had fish chowder.  While we ate we were entertained by a couple of local musicians and by Dale singing a rendition of Old Man River and Herb contributed a couple of songs.  Art joined in there too.

We visited a small church before leaving Fortune Bay.

The drive back didn’t seem as full of potholes, of course I slept most of the way.  Back at the RV park, I dropped off Gerri and then Moe and I went to find a few caches.  I took Moe to some that I had been to before.  We tried one near an old bridge close to the park, but didn’t find it.  We found one downtown that I hadn’t found before, as with several other caches in the area, I replaced logs and zip lock bags on some of the caches.

Part of the entertainment after the briefing

We had an 8 o’clock briefing on tomorrows drive, but Moe and I were 15 minutes late.  The briefing was pretty much over except the giving out of directions to those who wanted to pick wild blue berries before the drive to Gander.   The briefing was followed by some locals singing and telling stories.  After the briefing broke up some of the group headed down town to watch fireworks at 9.  We passed on the fireworks.

Our next stop is in Gander and it is only a 58-mile drive.  The wagon masters have asked us not to get there before noon.

Sunday July 31, 2016 Botwood, Newfoundland, Canada

The brook behind our site

It rained during the night but was clear when we got up.  Later in the morning there were scattered clouds.  After having our coffee, I cleaned up the outside of the Jeep. 

Our little bit of Botwood

Welcome to Botwood cache

In the afternoon we drove downtown.  On the way and in town Gerri drove me to five caches.  Including one with a good view of the town and bay.  We also picked and tried some wild blue berries growing in the area.  I was able to fix some problems with a couple of the caches, new logs and zip lock bags to help keep them dry.

Brad and Susan at a cache

We visited two museums.  The first had displays that told the heritage and some history of the area, the other was devoted to the trans-Atlantic flights that stopped here in the 30’s.  Botwood was quite the busy place during the 2^nd World War.

We had a dinner of the left over salmon and stir fry from last night and the remainder of the soup from a few days ago.  We passed on going downtown to see the boat parade at 9.  No one seemed to know exactly where to go, either for parking or viewing.

We called it a night after reading a while.  Tomorrow we have a boat tour in the afternoon and that will conclude our visit to Botwood.