Nelson, B.C.

Total Km = 256

We are home!

The grand total distance travelled on our NFLD adventure was 19499, our longest adventure so far. As you might expect the last few kilometres this morning were easy with another beautiful motorcycling day.

Random thoughts about our tour and don’t get us wrong. We did have a great unforgettable time and marvel at how quickly five weeks has gone by:

NFLD is a long way from Nelson! Would we do it again? Possibly not. We could have used a few more days in NFLD but a lot of the vacation was eaten up in the travel to get there. Perhaps it is time we stopped and smelled the roses while touring. Say pick an area (state, province or whatever) and spend enough time there to thoroughly appreciate the location, thus turning our goals from very long distance destinations to the travel being the important part (we do stop frequently and stick to minor roads but there is still more to be experienced). As experienced two-up riders we have no intention of stopping the touring part of our lives yet, we just want to adjust our methods a little.


Biggest disappointment? Not getting to Labrador because of the ferry SNAFU. In hindsight we could had had a plan B but didn’t think we would encounter the ferry break down. Second biggest? Having our credit card info stolen – hope they catch the gambling addict. Third biggest? Raindancer’s failed rear drive (but see below).

Best things about the trip? Too many to relate including Nick’s BMW shop in Wisconsin who had us back on the road in short order despite a MAJOR mechanical failure and the very nice manager at the Super 8 in Wausau, Wisconsin who let us park Raindancer in the entrance to protect from the VIOLENT weather. How about the looks on the NFLDer’s faces when they saw Raindancers plate? We did encounter many wonderful places and people (in some ways it is the people you encounter that makes the trip, although one tends to think of scenery, etc. first). On the whole mostly pretty good weather and we can now strike two more things off our bucket list – going to NFLD by motorcycle and experiencing the “Maid of the Mist” under Niagara Falls. And yet again we have weathered five weeks of close quarters and survived still loving each other!

Libby, Montana

Total Km = 821

Another 800 km day has put us within easy strike of home tomorrow morning. Today was almost perfect motorcycling weather: cloudless skies and temperatures in the 20’s although it was 32C when we stopped this afternoon.

The John Deer Auction at Wolf Point turned out to be a major event. There were vehicles from all over the states and a few from Alberta at our motel, several with flat deck trailers to collect their booty. Keep in mind this was 50 miles from the event (no room in Wolf Point) and our motel was full of excited auction goers. It was an estate auction from a collector with over 400 tractors and a big collection of John Deere toys on the auction block – a collection reaching as far back as 1917. On the way out this morning we saw more vehicles coming from the next town and it was over 100 miles away from Wolf Point. Literally no accommodation within 100 miles! We kept running into people last evening with John Deere shirts and hats all excited, making arrangements to meet in the morning and asking “are you going to the auction?”

A good portion of the ride was through the Montana prairie. An unidentified roadside plant was common in one area (see pic). The prairie today had a bit more character than yesterday with raised areas that once you were at the top of the “hill” you could see the road ahead for miles. One doesn’t realize until you start traveling across how broad the state of Montana is. The road side most of the way had been mown and baled by farmers to supplement their crops and in some cases to provide the only crop as the field behind appeared to be mostly sage brush. We had the surprise very close overhead flyby by a crop duster (he had to go up to miss the power lines) but again we weren’t sure what he was dusting as all there was in the field he was dusting was sage brush under his fog.

We watched with anticipation as the Rocky Mountains loomed closer and were rewarded with a nice ride over Marias Pass (see pic) skirting just south of Glacier National Park. About 5 minutes down the west side of the pass a wolf trotted across the road in front of us! What a great sighting! He was a tall, rangy black guy. We have seen a wide variety of critters on this trip. This area is very popular for river rafting the Flathead River and at some points in the river there were mini traffic jams between the number of rafts and kayaks. It was a great warm day for everyone to enjoy.

Had another seniors dinner but this time it was for over 55 so Doug thought they should have ID’d Norma this time. Will probably go out for our usual evening walk once it cools down a little.

Glasgow, Montana

Total Km= 826

Woke to clear blue skies and another early start. We don’t even know where we are??? Ran out of map an hour or so – guess we will have to look on Map quest or find a tourist bureau to get a map for the rest of our ride as it was not in our original plans to head back via Montana. Not that we had anything engraved in stone, mind you.

Rode right through North Dakota on HWY 2 (a very nice highway – lots of oil drilling, which was a surprise to both of us) and continue on it into Montana. Mistake? Could be as the very first thing we saw was a sign proclaiming it being unsafe for motorcycles due to gravel! But what did we then see? An oncoming bike. We burned a U-turn and ran him down (it was a Harley so that was a piece of cake) and questioned him on road conditions. No gravel, only fresh pavement. Stupid sign. Later I made my displeasure known to the flag girl as we waited for the pilot car to guide us through the “unsafe conditions” (fresh pavement).

Next we came to Wolf Point, MT. after riding for miles seeing nothing but fields and the occasional cow. Temperature was reaching 37 degrees (the oil wells were catching fire – see pic) so the gel cooler vests were out and gratefully on (we initially activated them under some sprinklers in front of a business - Doug's idea but he made Norma do it! (see pic) and then needed to rewet them two more times as we went along). We thought we would have no trouble finding accommodation at one of the three motels in Wolf Point – wrong again. Who would have know there was a antique John Deere Auction going on and everything was fully booked – only in outback Montana. This meant we rode an additional hour longer than we had wanted to but here we are: both have had cold showers, cold drinks and sat in front of the air conditioner to feel very refreshed.

After cooling off we headed to the dining room for a nice dinner - took some convincing for Doug to order from the seniors menu (6o+ only) - he's a biker you know and they don't do that! But he did have to admit it was a very good dinner and plenty to fill us up, included salad bar and ice cream, but was disappointed they didn't ID him. Will have to work on him to take advantage of this type of bargain again.

PS. We did find a map.

Crookston, Minnesota

Total Km = 765

Decided if we want a hope of getting home on Sunday we needed to make an early start so were up and on the road by 7 am. It was a beautiful sunny day with only a few dark clouds near the end of the day but no rain – a pretty long day retracing our route nearly five weeks ago. The predicted 35 km/hr wind was in our face all day but the no rain part was great.

We rode along the bottom of Lake Superior and our only difficulty was negotiating all the continuous construction in Duluth. Doug remembers it being this exact same way 30 years ago so they haven’t made much progress. They are building flyovers over the port, etc. with so many off ramps, etc you could easily get lost on that section of road for weeks going over and around and over again! Took lots of concentration from both the pilot and copilot to get through and on the road again.

Last evening there was a pretty spectacular T-storm with lots of rain, as the weatherman had predicted. They kept flashing the weather warning on the TV every few minutes with it timed down to the minute as to when to expect it to hit and with a steady beeping to get your attention. Seeing evidence of the heavy rains everywhere today. One of the golf courses we passed had rivers/creeks where we don’t think they were supposed to be!

Doug was surprised to receive the US version of a loonie when he got change today. First one we have seen. The only quick way to tell them apart is the decaganal shape of the Canadian version. We have a loon on the back, of course, thus the “loonie”. They have the statue of liberty on the back as do some of their other coins and President Harrison on the front. How about we call it a “Harry”? Will see how well it is accepted by the “greenback” people on this side.

Wausau, Wisconsin

This blog entry is from July 14. Severe t-storms knocked out the internet last night.

Total Km = 512

What a day we have had. We discovered last evening while checking on our credit card use that someone had used our card/number for internet gambling to the total of over $1,200 so have had it stopped and it is being investigated by HSBC fraud department with a new card being sent to us along with hopefully a credit for the stolen funds. All we had been using this for was accommodation and do know of two places where they manually take your number. Luckily we both have another credit card with us.

Next we decided we really needed to do something about Raindancer’s bumping along the road so first thing Doug went up to the Marquette, MI Honda dealers who were very helpful diagnosing the ailing rear differential but not in a position to fix it. We did find a BMW dealer 4 hours south of there near Green Bay, Wisconsin (go PACKERS!) so off we went as we knew we shouldn’t attempt to ride home with the way it was.

Luckily they had a used rear differential that the mechanic was able to install and get us on our way. He had taken it from a similar bike when the owner decided to turn his LT into a trike. The staff at Nick’s BMW were very friendly (the dealership is named after the owner’s 3 year old grandson who passed away awhile ago). Norma bought a couple of chocolate bars there to support the pediatric brain trauma foundation so we are assuming that was the cause. They had several foundation fund raising items there.

We then got caught in a bad storm - had been told there were T-storm and tornado warnings - so held up beside a vacant warehouse for quite some time until it slowed enough to get to accommodation and just in time before another bad storm hit. While riding we saw a news crew setting up cameras (from FOX TV) trying to film the storm. We suspect they were a tornado tracker team. There is evidence of some trees down and lots of huge puddles/flooded areas. We are sitting here wondering if/when we are going to loose power as if this were happening at home you can be sure the power would be out by now. The last big strike was so close and loud it rattled the eves on the motel outside our window. The puddle (pond?) on the lawn behind the motel has tripled in size in the last ½ hour.

With all these set backs we are a bit behind schedule but hope to be home in time for our return to work on Monday morning. The weather man says it should be sunny and warm tomorrow so we will see what time we can make.

Marquette, MI

Total Km = 597

Marquette is primarily a University town – home of the Golden Eagles basketball – is situated on the south shore of Lake Superior. Appears to be a nice place.

The day started out with a straight 4 hour run from Sudbury to Sault St. Marie through the forests of N. Ontario. Norma has now adopted the new title of “gull whisperer” as she became friends with a roadside gull. Doesn’t take too much to amuse you know. Besides the poor guy was hungry.

Saw a beautiful big black bear watching the traffic go by. Mentioned it to the lady in the convenience store so when the next customer came out and got into the car beside us he told us about the many bears at the First Nations reserve. Not sure if that was an invite to view or just being friendly.

Had a bit of difficulty finding the bridge to the USA as it was located down a rather improbable road in “the Sault” – poor road condition and sort of like the bad side of town. By mistake we also almost went through a radiation detector on the way through the border.

Finished off the day’s ride with a scenic cruise along the shore of Lake Superior. Nice riding temperatures in the mid 20s today with only the briefest sprinkle of rain – almost didn’t even notice. Lots of people enjoying the beach, white sand and sunshine. Water looked a bit cold to us but they sure didn’t seem to mind.

We have a concern with Raindancer as he appears to have a tire imbalance developing. We will monitor the situation closely tomorrow.

Sudbury, Ont.

Total Km = 518

Can you spell “freeway”? How about “tollway”? We did 518 km in less than 6 hours including a ½ hour lunch break– and not a bad day of travel at all. We felt a few drops of rain and when we came out from lunch did put on rain gear as it had been raining while we were eating but really didn’t amount to much and ended up taking the gear off fairly soon afterwards.

We wanted to mention the streets of Niagara Falls were swarming with soccer fans when we went out for dinner last evening. As you can imagine, lots of horns, flags and cheering. We suspect it was just a reason to make noise as the Spanish flags looked very new. We are pretty sure that if the Dutch won the same revelers would have been celebrating their win. Doug was wishing he had an unlabeled map of Europe to get them to try and pick out Spain. Later we were entertained last evening by a very nice fire works display over the falls which we were able to view from our motel room. From things we read they do this a couple times a week during the summer. Overall it was a much quieter evening with it being Sunday.

With prior arrangements made we stopped at Niagara College so Doug could connect with their International Education Department. After a warm greeting we were shown around the campus (see pics) and had a meeting with a rep. from their Applied Research Program, all in all a very interesting morning. They even have a teaching winery on campus.

Got under way around 11:30 from the Niagara on the Lake campus and proceeded to take the quickest and most direct way to Sudbury while avoiding Toronto. That’s where the tollway came into play. They take a picture of your vehicle/license plate as you go by and apparently mail you a bill which is calculated depending on how far you travel on the toll road. Will be interesting to see when it comes how much this time saving travel has cost. We did see on the net it is approx. $0.20 per km depending on the time of day.

Niagara Falls, Ont.

Total Km = 10

The kms on the odometer are due to an early morning run to a grocery store for supplies. Being as touristy here as it is everything is very expensive – over $10 for two pop a yogurt and a water!

Last night was a warm summer Saturday night in Niagara Falls with Harleys and boom boxes cruising up and down the street until the wee hours of the morning although the motel room (which overlooks the street) was relatively quiet, which rather amazed us as the room leaves a lot to be desired otherwise. Doug was surprised not to see anyone passed out in the park on Sunday morning claiming that is a true test of a big city. Obviously Niagara Falls is a pretender, or they had all left or been chased off already.

We mobilized early to be on the first run of The Maid of the Mist (the dock is walkable from the motel) and enjoyed our ½ hour sailing to American Falls and Horseshoe Falls. We were surprised to learn that this has been a tourist attraction since 1846. To get down to the bottom of the falls they have a great system of ushering you down and up in a very long elevator. Prior to boarding they supplied us with these very fashionable blue plastic ponchos and we soon found out why. As you got closer to the falls the “mist” turned into “rain” and big falls (water accumulated from the “mist”) came from the top of the boat. It is very warm though so that wasn’t a concern. The mist from the falls made a beautiful rainbow as well. Even with all the hype it still is spectacular and a must do for all. Now we too can cross it off the bucket list.

This are all sorts of attractions here. From wax museums to Ripley's , etc. Norma sure doesn’t remember it like this from a previous visit. Anyways with it being Sunday we expect it to be a bit quieter tonight. It certainly is quieter on the street, but the FIFA World Cup final is on in combination with weekend holidayers heading home.

Niagara Falls, Ont.

Total Km = 538

What began rainy (warm/humid) ended in sunshine and 30 C. It included a very pleasant ride through the farmlands along NY HWY 20. Before Rochester we switched to a more northerly route along NY HWY 104 and braved the section through the city before returning to a more rural ride. It was very well sign-posted and basically skirted the city.

At one point we decided to take a short detour to ride NY’s Lake Ontario Parkway and get some picturesque views of the lake. The ride along the parkway lasted about 5 minutes as the road was the roughest we had encountered to date on this trip. It was essentially unrideable due to the concrete slab construction and the undulations and breaks between the slabs. We thought it was unusual there were NO vehicles on this four lane highway but soon knew why as we bounced our way along until we could find a way off. Now we know why two different fellows told us to take 104. To top it off the land bordering the lake is private with posted signs threatening dismemberment and death to any unfortunate soul who tries to get a glimpse of Lake Ontario. See the contraband picture we took, but don’t tell anyone!

Arrived in Niagara Falls, ONT via Niagara Falls, NY around 4 pm into what I surmise is a pretty much a constant traffic jam in the area. Very busy with tourists. Lots of shops and tourist things to do. We have not ventured out yet but do have all day tomorrow (a nonmotorcycling day) to see what we can see. We think we are in a pretty good location to be able to walk to everything we wish to see.

Latham, New York

Total Km = 428

Raindancer was stolen last evening!!! But we were able to apprehend the perpetrator. Why is it that little boys know at such a young age how to make the Brrrrmm sound?

We had a great evening visiting with Bruce, Holly and Ciaran. Went for a nice walk to the seashore then out for a seafood dinner. Ciaran fell asleep in the car on the way back to the motel and was out for the night so we were able to have a nice visit. Said our goodbyes this morning but will see them in Bermuda in a month or so.

We have now seen the extremes of weather from the 3 degrees in St Anthony’s NFLD to almost 35 degrees (34.5) in NY. We have been able to make use of all the gear now, the long underwear and electric heated vests and now today the cooling gel vests. Wouldn’t have wanted to bring anything along and not use it.

Had a great ride through the Vermont Green Mountains. It was marked on the map as a scenic route and proved to be a really nice motorcycle road, lots of curves, etc. Even managed to find another covered bridge. The only minor problem we had was that in New England they use black rubber melted with a blow torch to fill the cracks and it gets pretty slippery when hot!

Very hectic traffic for the last half hour of our ride as we got closer to Albany. Had looked at a tourist accommodation discount booklet we picked up at a visitor center (it has saved us some money) so had a bit of an idea where there was accommodation but certainly weren’t prepared for the heat, the traffic and construction mess we encountered. We were both happy to get out of it at the earliest opportunity and will probably make an early start in the morning to hopefully avoid a repeat.

Freeport, Maine

Total Km = 278

We started out with a short side trip to the Bangor area to visit the Harley dealership (Doug wanted to show off his power center stand again) and after chatting with the friendly staff there (not sure they knew where BC was) we continued our meandering along the Maine coast. Can’t seem to make a single trip without our compulsory Harley visit.

While traveling through Thomaston, ME a wooden motorcycle in a store window caught our eye. It turned out to be one of the most amazing places we have ever seen. It is the woodcraft sales outlet for the State of Maine prison. Yes, you read that right: prison. The motorcycle was a full size wooden reproduction of Dave Mann’s paintings (see pic). It had taken them over 1500 hours to carve and used some phenomenal amount of Maine native wood – can’t remember how many board feet but they did tell us that. This was for display, not for sale. That was OK, but the woodwork on sale there was not to be believed. Beautiful handmade furniture for amazing prices. We talked with one of the guards (prison – remember) and he explained the program: they have 150 inmates involved in the program. They have a large shop and the proceeds go to support the program, which is not funded by the state. They pay a small wage to the inmates who take part. We weren’t able to take any pictures in the shop due to Department of Corrections rules – wouldn’t want to get a picture of one of the working inmates or guards. Some of the prices were – and remember this was all exceptional workmanship – dresser $450, hand carved moose standing about 8 “ $12.00, etc. If we had the truck we would have been taking something home!

Meandered along the Maine coast – very touristy the entire way – to Freeport, which seems to be the outlet capital of the state and this smiling face is what we found! Yes, we managed to hook up with Bruce, Holly and Ciaran as they are here on a short vacation from Bermuda.

Bucksport, Maine

Total Km = 444

Cloudless skies greeted us in St. Stephen this morning and we immediately gained an hour when we crossed the border. St. Stephen’s crossborder counterpart is Calais, Maine and they share a lot together including responding to each other fire alarms, medical services with all infants until recently being born in St Stephen, etc. The lady at the info center in Calais even told us about a joint celebration where the parade starts in one town and ends in the other with all people on the floats preapproved for the border crossing. Kind of makes one feel good. The picture is St. Stephen across the St. Croix River from Calais.

In spite of the TERRIBLE secondary roads in this state (we had been warned about one part of the road by the fellow at a state park but weren’t really prepared for some of it) we meandered along the coast, managing to get lost only once – we won’t elaborate – it was the fault of the map and possibly the aging eyes seeing a road connecting that was sort of a dot indicating the town. They really should build a bridge there! Anyway, we poked around into many little towns along the coast having a great day. We even managed to find Samuel De Champlain and have Norma’s picture taken with him.

Made our way to Bar Harbor planning to take in some of the things to see there – it was a really interesting looking little town - but it was so very congested with traffic we just continued on to Stonington where we had hoped to get accommodation for the night It is a very quaint little place but the one motel was full and no answer at the B&B so here we are in Bucksport. . We were amazed at all the art galleries on the back roads. It is really beautiful scenery here so could see why it would capture the interest of artists.

Maine is really into their lobster. We saw many places where they had the kettles boiling outside the restaurant ready to deal with your order. We have learned some really interesting lobster facts, like it used to be food for prisoners as it was considered garbage food as they are bottom feeders, the Acadians, being poor used it for their main food as the gentry wouldn’t eat it. They also spread the unedible parts in their gardens for feed.

Decided to include a photo of what Norma has viewed for the past 15,000 km! It’s not as bad as it seems, but might help you to understand why she falls asleep sometimes back there – no hope of that today though with the bumpy roads.

St. Stephen, N.B.

Total Km = 306

Woke up to the rain in Dieppe that the weatherman had promised. However it was predicted to clear by noon which would about coincide with Raindancer being ready with his new tires– perfect. Except the part where it didn’t clear until 3:30, so we rode mostly in a foggy drizzle until then. Yes, we have put on over 14,000 km since home so new shoes were required.

In spite of this we enjoyed the NB countryside and the views of the Bay of Fundy. Had a late lunch in the town of St. Martins at a restaurant/B&B run by a retired Denver homicide detective. He was very interested in Raindancer as about 15 years ago he had stumbled upon this small NB town while riding his Goldwing on vacation and ended up returning after retirement. Good Mexican food! A nice change from all the seafood we have been consuming.

We arrived in St. Stephen and decided to visit the Ganong chocolate factory, just across the street from the motel. Although the internet said they are open ‘til 7 the place was deserted although unlocked! We looked around a bit, but ended up buying a sample (supposedly the first chocolate bar every made) on the way back at a little gift shop that also sold gummy “lobsters”. We will try them later.

Doug finally found a lawn chair to fit him at the motel, well maybe a little big as he complained his feet couldn’t touch the ground! Now he knows how a lot of us feel.

We are really noticing the heat and humidity now so will see what the next few days bring as we plan to ride along the Maine coast.

Dieppe, N.B.

Total Km = 505

The ferry left the terminal only 25 minutes late so we were in N. Sydney and first off the ferry (we were first on) at 05:45 this morning. A few spits of rain but not enough to warrant rain gear and the temperatures were noticeably warmer than frigid NFLD.

We did get a bit of sleep though again it was pretty cool – when we asked re having the heat turned up we were told the air conditioner was on and that was how it was! You’d think you were in Florida or something not NFLD. There is something wrong when you have to suit up in full motorcycle regalia to sleep on a ferry (see pic).

It was light enough to make a start but were still on careful deer/moose alert. Did see a fox with it’s “breakfast” and one deer but no signs of anything else.

Again today we stayed off the main road as much as we could so got to see some more country side and little towns. Stopped at Pictou and Pugwash (where Seagull pewter items are made). Had lunch in a cute little road side café, did a bit more shopping and then headed across the street to the post office so another parcel is on it’s way home.

At one of our last NFLD stops we entered a shop to find the owner dancing around, playing the spoons and the oogly (ugly) stick to some wonderful NFLD tunes – we bought the CD and have listened to it a few times already. What is an “oogly stick” you ask? It is like a walking stick with five or six areas around the bottom where they have attached a pile of flattened bottle caps, then there is a tin can on the top and a knotted stick to hit or rub it or the tin can with to make the bottle caps rattle. I guess this is an example of their way of making a musical instrument with what little they had.

NFLD, in summary: beautiful but barren countryside speaks of the short, cool summers and long, cold winters; whitewashed buildings in picturesque seaside villages; friendly Newfies who love to chat in their wonderful accent and would do anything to help you out. Their flag speaks of the ice and snow, the ocean and the hardships the people have incurred but is punctuated by their love of life, music and their province.

We are in Dieppe again, this time to have new tires fitted on Raindancer AND to have a new low beam bulb installed (see previous blog entry).

Port aux Basques Ferry Terminal, NFLD

Total Km = 530

Update from last evening.
Met up with Bob again at 5 pm and went out in one of the research aluminum 20 ft. boats, the Icicle. He was a great host and took us to many areas where he takes his marine biology students. He explained the geography and glacial geomorphology: fjords, etc that we were able to see. Bob has made multiple dives in the Bonne Bay and was able to describe some of the many interesting things he has encountered, like mini volcanoes, underwater fresh water streams and rock faces sheared off by glacial action. We went out to a very small isolated island where the terns were nesting. We had to be careful not to disturb them as Bob says they will attack and draw blood if you get too close during nesting time. Had a very good view from the water of Gros Morne Mountain, a view not possible from the road.

Rode back to Rocky Harbor for dinner then back to Norris Point to the B&B.

This morning a fellow approached Doug and asked him if he would like some Osonegro coffee – only available in Nelson. Terry, the B&B owner had told him we were from Nelson. Doug called Norma out to speak with him and she recognized him – Chris Goodall, a ER physician who had worked in Nelson ER in 2005! Had a very nice chat filling him in on people he had met. He now works in ER in St Johns but comes to this B&B in Norris Point with his family every year. What a small world. Norma tried to entice him back to Nelson but no such luck at this time.

We made a bit later start this morning. Had the rain gear on and off a few times so did see intermittent clear skies. Rode around the Port au Port Peninsula. Beautiful scenery (check out the front yard we saw!), very sharp drops offs, etc. At one point we found ourselves climbing a very steep and high hill – signs kept warning of major drifts so must be pretty bad in the winter.

Eventually made our way to Port au Basque ferry terminal and were able to get on an earlier ferry so will hopefully sleep the night away and make an early start in the morning. The ferry appears to be on time – a bit of a miracle as for what we have been seeing with the system here.

Raindancer had a kilometer birthday today! It was not 17.5C! That was only when Raindancer's engine heated up the sensor when stopped!

Norris Point, NFLD

Total Km = 290

Moderately windy ride down the west coast of NFLD this morning, but the weather was mostly sunny.

While riding we stopped at an area where you could see an inland Fjord (see picture). Also have seen thousands of lobster traps piled along the highway. Apparently lobster season has just ended and lobster prices are so low ($1.50 a pound) that many fishermen are reluctant to continue.

We also keep seeing flags and mementos regarding people in the armed services and have surmised that due to the economic downturn in NFLD\lack of jobs young people are encouraged to follow a career in the forces versus trying to find employment on the island (alternatively they relocate to AB).

Arrived at Memorial University of NFLD’s Bonne Bay marine station where we met Bob Hooper after a 51 year hiatus (he was a junior high school mate of Doug’s back in Fruitvale and is now a professor at MUN and the head of the marine station). We will be going out on one of the research vessels with Bob later today so may not have a chance to submit further today as the internet access is pretty limited here. We are presently using access at the research center in one of the labs.

Another night at a B&B. Getting used to this idea.