Distance travelled: 147km
Crackle-thump. Crackle-thump. “EH HEM!” *loud rustle of leaves*.
This time it was not Art that woke me, but a large presence edging closer and closer to my tent until I made just enough noise to frighten it away. I would assume it was a bear, but obviously being the middle of the night I didn’t see the need to confirm such suspicions.
Dampness, Bug and Slimey Slugs. That’s the title of this mornings happenings. Wet and misty, it was a difficult morning to tackle. What made things better was first thing I noticed when hopping on my bike was that I had a juicy flat tire, the first since BC! I guess with that in mind I should still consider myself mighty lucky.
Grand Falls-Windsor was a lot further than I had originally thought, and getting there on quite an empty stomach proved to be more trying that expected. By the time we arrived I was already exhausted and out of calories. Unfortunately when we arrived we were a bit disappointed with the lack of a bike shop (and more importantly for me, no pins!). Brad has been having some difficulties with his back tire which has caused it to rub against the frame of his bike. We stopped for some groceries and Brian did his best to fix it well enough for Brad to get to our next destination. We stopped for food and while ordering I met a man who, in his earlier days, cycled around Europe for 3 months, taking pictures which he then was later able to sell, it was quite an interesting story. Right after speaking to him, a woman came up to me and said she saw me in the paper! How cool is it to be able to say “Yeap, that was me”!! I was really encouraged by both her and the other gentleman’s response to what we’ve accomplished (now over 7500km and more than $11,000 raised). The woman even made a generous donation which really made my day.
But there was more that happened that made today special. At least 10x more people honked at us, cheering us on than any of the previous days in NL, and probably any other day of the trip! We could not determine whether the article in the Western Star had anything to do with it, or perhaps simply because we are edging closer to St. John’s and our packs give us away. Furthermore, while stopping at an Info Centre we saw the Motorcycle Ride for Dad truck drive by!!! That was pretty exciting; for those who don’t know, they escorted us out of Victoria on the 22nd of May over 2 months ago. 20minutes later we then had maybe or so riders motorcycle past us. As Brian will probably say, this trip is truly coming “full circle”.
The hills into Gander were many more than expected, enough to wear me down a bit and worsen my knee, but I did what I could and took my time doing it. Saw a beaver doing a few laps in a small lake right by the highway, though unfortunately by the time I came back with my camera it had vanished, so I took a picture of his dam.
We stopped 15km before Gander so that in the morning we will be able to go to their library and use the internet since we have been out of service for the majority of the time we’ve been here.
Scooby-dooby-dooooo!
Sam
