Little traffic passed on the highway as we camped for the night. The squadron of mosquitoes were lapping at our windows but we are fully secured from attack. Our defense lines hold and we get a good sleep although we both show battle scars from previous attacks.
Our RV battery is not holding much of a charge. Just parking for the night drains it to the point of being almost useless. Thus we are using our small and mostly quiet Honda generator more than ever. Without a working battery we are unable to fill a cup of water from the faucet without using the generator. We plan to purchase a new battery in Cold Brook which is the “Big City” in the western side of Newfoundland. The real city in Newfoundland is Saint Johns home to close to half of the residents of the Province.
Stocked up, drained and loaded with fresh water we continue towards the coast. A few comments about this part of the journey. It’s 405 km to the next gas station which is the longest dry stretch we have every done pulling our trailer. Our mileage various due to many factors including wind direction, road surface and speed. On average we expect 11 miles to the gallon but it can be as low as 9.5 or as high as 14 mpg. We carry extra gas slated for the generator and if we run short on the road. To make it to the next gas station without dipping into our reserve we need to average above 12 mpg. We hope not to expose ourselves to the onslaught of mosquitos and now black flies while we refuel roadside. The road continues paved for the first 100 miles then its gravel for the next 200 miles.
At the Happy Valley Information Center we asked about road conditions and the answer we got was “it’s open again.” Open again? We had no clue it had been closed. Turns out there was a wash out that is now repaired. It did not boost our hopes thinking the road would be a repeat of the road from the Gulf of Saint Lawrence northward to Labrador City which is in spots terrible. We asked if the road ahead was similar to what we had experienced before and were assured that it is much much better than the road in Quebec. Music to our ears, but is it true?
The paved section was excellent and the unpaved section was mostly good to very good condition. The speed limit in the good parts is 70 km/hour (43 mph) so progress is slow. We hit a sign “Road Construction Next 80 km (50 miles)” and progress slows way down. Every few miles we arrived at the next section of one lane traffic where we wait maybe 5 minutes or so to be waved onward by the flagger donned head to foot with protective clothing. This included hard hat with mosquito netting and gloves. Protection designed to keep the insects at bay.
We slowly get past the construction areas and continue towards the coast. Then more construction signs but the crews have stopped working. Signs are still up but no stoppages. Then unexpectedly the gravel we’ve traveled on for so long changes to asphalt which was put down earlier in the day. This is many kilometers sooner than expected. We guessed it would only be a short stretch then back to gravel. This was not the case. The asphalt continued and we traveled on a perfectly smooth surface. It turns out there is no more gravel for the next two hundred miles to the ferry!
We pull over at a turn out and park for the night. We are soon joined by two tractor trailer trucks. Thankfully they pull in and turn off their engines. We sleep well.
Seeing North America 