Last Update: NFLD sans Bike

[LonestaRR]

I never could find a bike to rent while in Newfoundland so I ended up with a Charger to roam around in. I asked what the speed limit on the Trans Canada Highway was and I was told "100 Clicks". I thought that meant 100 mph. and thought "GREAT!" Then the rental agent said, "That's kilometers, not miles."

MOTORCYCLE CONTENT: I managed to keep a rider from being ticketed today. I saw a policewoman getting ready to write a parking ticket for a Honda CBR and I could see the guy trying to get back quickly, so I stepped up and started asking her directions to stall her from writing the ticket until he could get back to his bike. It worked! Actually, he was only parked there for a moment because a truck had blocked the area for the motorcycles.

This is a beautiful place. Maybe one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. I stayed around St. Johns the first day and hung out off the beaten path, sort of. I like the fishing villages best. They seem to be less of a tourist trap and more true to the culture.

Overlook in St.Johns, Newfoundland


Fishing village and a brewery on an inlet.







From Signal Hill, St.Johns



I always seemed to show up too late for dinner. Everything was always closing in the small towns. So far I've had one breakfast and finally tonight I found a fast food restaurant open all night and was able to get a sandwich. Otherwise, I found these mini scones and some milk will hold me over for a long time! Hopefully, I'll show up for breakfast somewhere on time tomorrow to get some really good fresh scones and fruit. Not exactly the type of food picture DJ would take for you, but eating is more of an afterthought for me and it takes too much time. So this worked for me.



This was the most unusual thing I've seen so far. I took the picture to show my kids when I get home. They have never seen a station that had full service, nor have they heard the "bell" ring in the station when a car pulled up. I thought they should know there were places where you don't have to pump your own gasoline.



I made it to Gambo, Newfoundland just before the sun slipped behind the mountains and darkness fell. This is a great place for trout fishing, but as far as I can tell, I cannot fish unless I am taken by a resident or a guide - even if I have a license. So, I'll have to work on that.



Tomorrow I am heading further west. I've already lost cell service and will be surprised if I can find internet at all for the next few days until I am back in St. Johns next week. So I thought I'd go ahead and send in some pics before I forget where I was.


More later........maybe.

[taosports]

Newfoundland looks beautiful...thanks for the photos Kristi. I've got to tell you, I just love this photo of yours :



Reminds me of a classic painting. Nice eye Kristi.

Enjoy your trip and keep those photos coming.

[MikeCam]

Please take at least one picture of the Charger! Is it a blue one?

Very nice! Thanks for sharing the beauty of a new place with us. I agree about the boat shot (even though my 'eye' for art is somewhat glaucomic).

M

[DSKYZD]

I got a kick out of seeing the Esso stations in Nova Scotia. I don't remember the ones we used to have, but I have seen the old signs and pumps. At one point on our trip I asked my grandfather when was the last time that he had seen an Esso station. He laughed and said, "It's been a while."

Those are very nice pictures, Kristi, honestly.


Keep'em coming!


DSKYZD

[wncbmw]

Nice photos. That is a nice part to the world. We need more pictures!

[DJ Downunder]

Thanks Kristi...great pictures...mmmmmmmm..nice looking mini scones....very nice.. ..how many of those did you eat?..be honest.

DJ

[dwayne]

Nice photos. That is a nice part to the world. We need more pictures!

Here are some from my hometown in NFLD:


These images are big, but until I resize them here is the link...


http://web.mac.com/cdhillier/iWeb/dildo.JPG
http://web.mac.com/cdhillier/iWeb/dildo1.JPG

[wncbmw]

dwayne - nice shot. Don't know about the town name though!

[LonestaRR]

UPDATE:

Yesterday buckets of rain fell from the sky and impeded most of my progress across the country. However, that just makes more time to mingle with locals. I stopped in a couple of fishing villages and talked and met a lot of people.

Dwayne: I saw signs for your town of Dildo but didn't make it there. However, my kids wanted me to bring them home a t-shirt with your town name on it for them!!! I refrained.

HOWEVER, I did read an article about your hometown of Dildo in a local magazine. Here's an excerpt for everyone: "Curiosity and adolescent titillation over the name will make you want to visit this community at least once, but the place and the people will leave you wanting more." Enough of that.

I have to say without hesitation that this is one of the prettiest places I have ever been in my life. As much as I like fishing, it could not get better than this. There are rivers, lakes, and ocean everywhere you look. The mountains are beautiful and the colors of the foilage covering every square inch of this Province is remarkable. That coupled with fishing villages all along the coast make me want to buy a summer place here. I don't think I could handle the winters.

I met a lot of locals yesterday because of the weather impeding progress. At one place I stopped in Triton I was instantaneously part of a birthday party for two children. I stayed a while and visited with the owner of this place for a while and met everyone in the pub. The accent is so heavy here I have trouble understanding about 30% of what is being said. And being from Texas, I find they speak pretty fast. I do recognize the word, "right?" said with a lilt at the end of each sentence. So if they say "right?" I just agree. It hasn't gotten me in trouble yet.
I think they have trouble understanding me as well. I repeat myself often.

These are the kids who were having the party. I'm not sure if it was for the little girl or the little boy.



Pictures of fishing villages in the RAIN!!






I ate a real dinner finally last night (instead of the store bought scones. DJ, I ate all of the scones over a two day drive). The dinner was in a local home and we had salt beef, turkey, turnips, potatoes, gravy, carrots, dressing and blueberry pie (freshly picked blueberries). Since you guys like to eat here is a shot of the meal and the salt beef which I never have had before. The food was very good. The pie required seconds.





And then once away from the villages I found this old farm. I took a picture of the Charger by it so you can see the car. I'm less impressed with the Charger the more I drive it.





So far, I've found no place that rents bikes. I've found motorcycle shops/stores - but no rentals. They do however rent ATV's and I think I will do that and go back into the interior a bit to fish.

I was also able to find a pair of motorcycle riding pants here. I've been searching since January and can't believe I had to come all the way to NL to finally get a decent/stylish pair. These are one expensive pair of motorcycle riding pants!!!

Internet is sparse so this may be the end of the tale for a while. This is one incredible place, however and would/will come here again. It is the most uninhabitated place I have ever been in my life......so far.

[MikeCam]

You ate an entire pie in seconds!?!

That explains why it isn't in the photos.

Keep 'em coming, girl!

We homebound, heat defeated, biker gangs need the inspiration.







PS

This is so much better than a kill switch thread.

[dwayne]

UPDATE:


Dwayne: I saw signs for your town of Dildo but didn't make it there. However, my kids wanted me to bring them home a t-shirt with your town name on it for them!!! I refrained.

HOWEVER, I did read an article about your hometown of Dildo in a local magazine. Here's an excerpt for everyone: "Curiosity and adolescent titillation over the name will make you want to visit this community at least once, but the place and the people will leave you wanting more." As I read the article I was further surprised by the names of two of your community members who were quoted in the article about the 25th anniversary of DILDO DAYS. Their names were Daphne and ---- With. I just thought it was kind of humorous that a guy named ---- With lived in Dildo. Enough of that.

I have to say without hesitation that this is one of the prettiest places I have ever been in my life. As much as I like fishing, it could not get better than this. There are rivers, lakes, and ocean everywhere you look. The mountains are beautiful and the colors of the foilage covering every square inch of this Province is remarkable. That coupled with fishing villages all along the coast make me want to buy a summer place here. I don't think I could handle the winters.

I met a lot of locals yesterday because of the weather impeding progress. At one place I stopped in Triton I was instantaneously part of a birthday party for two children. I stayed a while and visited with the owner of this place for a while and met everyone in the pub. The accent is so heavy here I have trouble understanding about 30% of what is being said. And being from Texas, I find they speak pretty fast. I do recognize the word, "right?" said with a lilt at the end of each sentence. So if they say "right?" I just agree. It hasn't gotten me in trouble yet.
I think they have trouble understanding me as well. I repeat myself often.

I loath salt beef, and salt pork. Have they made you...rrrr.... offered you Cottage Roll?? Think of bland potatoes boiled in salt water...my stomach is turning just thinking of it.

[toner87]

Reminds me so much of Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick, where I spent most summers of my life... Hard to get there from San Francisco, but I always love it when I do get there.
T.

[1MPH]

Outstanding.

[Biff's R]

PS

This is so much better than a kill switch thread.

I enjoy the kill switch threads.

Nice Pictures Kristi.

[LonestaRR]

NEWFOUNDLAND KILL SWITCH REPORT:

I saw this motorcycle parked outside my hotel room. I took a closer look then the picture shows and noticed the kill switch was in the OFF position. I kept waiting to meet the owner of the bike to ask his opinion abouot using the kill switch, but he/she never showed up. The next time I came back to the room, the bike was gone. There. How about that for spicing up the thread?





And some more locals I met yesterday along one of the fishing villages - with some boats. Local Newfoundlanders introduced me to Toutons (sometimes they call them Damper Dogs). You eat them with butter and molasses or syrup. I'm tired from travelling but I think it is more from scenary overload and information overload and straining to understand the accents.

Some locals at one of the places I stopped:



Boats/Scenary along western coast:








This is a free water supply from an artesian well. People come here daily to fill bottles with this cold spring water. I filled up about 6 bottles here as well. A man has a well on his property and I was told it had too much pressure in it so he has diverted some of it to this place along the road so people can get free water. It was very good tasting water - if water has a taste. I suppose it was really water with the absence of taste!



Toutons or Damper Dogs. I only ate one.

[DSKYZD]

Can I have the rest of the Damper Dogs?

I, for one, really appreciate the effort it takes to post these photos. It's not an easy task from the comfort of your own home. I imagine it is even more of pain while travelling. I'm taking notes from your photo composition.

Thanks!


DSKYZD

[LonestaRR]

I spent the last couple of days on the west coast of Newfoundland exploring quaint fishing villages and finding wonderful warm hearted people who all had a story to share.

I think that above all the beauty of the land that I have uncovered here, the most astounding revelation has been the hearts of the people and their willingness to share their lives with a stranger. In the last couple of days I have been welcomed into a picnic by the sea, listened to incredible tales of fishing adventures from a french Newfoundlander, been shown family pictures of a man running a small (12' X 12') grocery store in a small community just because he saw my camera, invited in to someone's home just so I could see it, and been fed foods I've never even heard of by people I've never known before. The people I've met are fun loving, strong, friendly and proud people who have obviously never met a stanger. I know some of them sacrificed in order to share with me. Today I sat in the home of a woman who is dying and listened to her stories through her labored breathing. And although she was connected by a 25' hose to an oxygen tank, she still insisted on fixing me a cup o' tea with some sugar and cream. Her husband owns an '86 Suzuki Calvacade 1400 cc and has not been able to locate an "OK Monitor" for regulating the lights, battery, etc. He is counting on me now to find it for him when I get back to the states. How could I let him down? He has not been able to ride his bike for several months because he cannot find the part. So that is my new mission when I get home.

Here are some of the latest pics.

Scenary from the western coast of Newfoundland
















Some of the people I met yesterday:
This is where I was invited to a picnic. This guy pitching shoes also smoked some Caplins (a small fish about 6" long) on the fire and let me have one.





This frenchman fishes for a living and was working on his boat at Sheaves Cove when I talked with him and his two daughters.



The boat staging area at Sheaves Cove


Grocery store owner who had been drinking heavily and wanted his picture taken. He had to show me all the pictures of his family and his brother's SUV after being driven through mud and then cleaned up:



This guy is from North Dakota and has been traveling for about 10 days. He's gone 4800 miles and says he met some BMW riders on their way to the rally in Vermont. I asked him how long he would be on the road and he told me until he got tired of traveling. He said that he had intended to spend 3-4 days in Newfoundland, but since getting here he has decided that maybe three weeks would afford him the chance to take it all in. I think 3 months is needed.

[1MPH]

Kristi, Thanks for the fabulous travelogue. I sure am enjoying it. I appreciate the time you take to do this. Great pictures.

[wncbmw]

Excellant update. Good pictures and you sure seem to have a knack for meeting the locals, which always makes for a better trip!

[LonestaRR]

I spent the last couple of days traveling from the west coast of Newfoundland back to the east coast so I could fly out of St. John's.

While in Newfoundland I learned about the Newfie Bullet, which was a train that ran from St. John's, up the eastern coast, across the northern section and then back down the western side of Newfoundland all the way to Port Au Basque. I met several people who use to ride the Newfie Bullet. One man I visited with told me about standing on the side of the tracks in Gambo with his buddies and their fishing poles in the '50's. The conductor would slow the train down, the boys would jump on and then he would slow it down again when they got near their favorite fishing spot. The conductor would yell out the window, "I'll be back through at 5:00 sharp," and the boys knew to be at that site at 5:00 for a free ride home again.

MOTORCYCLE CONTENT: The train is no longer running and the rails have been removed. The path is cleared and is now called the T'Railway Provincial Park. It is for the use of snowmobiles and ATV's which includes dirt bikes and a GS I would suppose. The thought of being able to cross Newfoundland on a GS or ATV has now been planted in my mind and is something I need to attempt in the next few years. The trail runs through small towns and forests, over old rail bridges crossing lakes and rivers through the mountains. I am trying to find out if the trail is passable all through the province. I stopped in Badger, Newfoundland in the north to get a look at the trail. Here is a couple of pics of it's condition and one of the bridge crossings. How cool would it be to travel through Newfoundland like that???



from the bridge:



And this is a place where the trail crosses a road coming into Grand Falls, Newfoundland.



I ran out of time and never got to visit Gros Morne, one of the premier National Parks of the world. I thought it would require more than one day so I saved it and the northern penninsula up to Labrador for my next visit. I also plan to visit the south coast and interior on another visit.

I finished the trip with a visit to a provincial park near Deer Park that had wonderful rivers and waterfalls with a lot of trout and salmon. There are a lot of restrictions on fishing in Newfoundland. I could not fish any of the salmon rivers. But it was still great to be able to see salmon trying to get back up stream. I found other people flyfishing on some of the lakes in that park.

I ended my trip by spending time on the Buena Vista Penninsula and most of that time was spent on Random Island and in Trinity on Trinity Bay. The eastern coast is much more populated and more "touristy" so I preferred the western and northern coasts. I found the people to be friendlier in the north and west as well. But, even in the eastern villages the people are much more hospitable and friendly than any other place I've been.

Trinity and Random Island afforded great scenary and great food. The pan fried cod was probably the best tasting fish I've eaten. It also was the site of the filming of "The Shipping News" which was the movie that birthed my desire to see Newfoundland.

Random Island Fishing Village:






coastline on Random Island


TRINITY, Newfoundland:









There is no place to rent a motorcycle in Newfoundland (which seems like a good business venture for anyone already renting ATV's and snowmobiles). Therefore, if you plan to ride through Newfoundland on your bike, it will require a ferry ride.

One of the best rides on a bike would be the Cape St. George loop outside of Stephenville. There are a lot of roads (actually there are NOT a lot of roads in Newfoundland) that I did not have a chance to go on, but I imagine the interior roads (there are only two main interior roads that I saw on a map) would be beautiful as well. Watch for moose though.

After my 9 days in Newfoundland, I certainly would recommend it to anyone who had a desire to see it. The combination of mountains, forests, rivers and lakes (more bodies of water than I've ever seen in one place), mixed with the coastal views and fishing villages made Newfoundland a wonderful place to visit. And the fishing!!!! If you stay only on the Trans Canada Highway you will miss some of the greatest treasures of Newfoundland. If you don't stop to visit with the local people you will miss another great treasure. I was overwhelmed by their hospitality and kindness to me everywhere I went. I'll be back....... hopefully on a GS sometime.


NEXT STOP: Leaving for the Katmai Wilderness of ALASKA 8/16/06