Today we leave Newfoundland. After a leisurely breakfast we head down to the shore and walk along one of the Island’s few sandy beaches. The waves pound the sand as we walk in the wet sand and get nudged into the dry as the waves push us up the beach. It’s a loose sand as we sink in with each step. It’s even looser as we dip into the wave territory. It’s sunny with the wind blowing in from the water. It’s such a delight.
After we finish our beach walk it’s off to Port aux Basques for food supplies for our crossing. We don’t have a sleeping berth so it is going to be a long night. With luck we will get some sleep. Time will tell
The campground is not busy so they allow us to stay at our site until we are ready to head into town and the ferry terminal. We break camp and head out after six pm to the terminal where we can jump through hoops to get into the correct lane waiting to board. First hoop is where we pull up to the Agriculture Inspection station. There is a potato blight on the Island so soil and potatoes are not permitted to leave. This includes potted plants. This has us both thinking about our last time heading to Newfoundland in the Summer of 2017. Before we crossed the border from Maine to New Brunswick Wells stopped at a rest area and left a small bag of potatoes to Marsha’s disappointment. It was made worse when at the border we were never asked about potatoes. On our way home from Newfoundland to Nova Scotia on the same ferry as tonight we passed the same inspection point and had a new bag of potatoes purchased in Newfoundland confiscated. This time we were prepared and had eaten the last of our potatoes a couple of days ago. We have mud on the truck so they wash our truck and camper and it was done for free! We are allowed to continue to the next check point, the ticket booth where our ID’s are checked and we get the actual tickets.
We have hours to wait before we can board the ferry and the ticket agent is chatty. She wants to know what we enjoyed about our trip to Newfoundland and Labrador. It was fine conversation, but after a quarter of an hour she let us pass, head to lane 19 and wait for further instructions.
We are second in line for lane 19 so we park and head into the camper for a few rounds of Cribbage. Sometime around 10 we are permitted to drive onto the ferry. We find seats up on deck 8. We settle in for a long night. Sleep looks promising with plenty of room and reclining seats. Let’s cut to the chase here. Sleep for each of us was elusive. The man to our right probably should be treated for Sleep Apnea snored very loudly. Two women near us chatted loudly much of the night. A ten year old bedded down on the floor behind Wells’ seat and listened to a music player much of the night. Ear plugs were used but he tended to sing along with the tunes. Needless to say we did not get more than two or three hours of sleep.
Seeing North America 