Day 9, Sunday, Aug 28, top of Sunday Hill Park, Northwest River, Labrador, the end of the road in the northeast. (161 miles, 2203 miles so far)

Day 9, Aug 28, top of Sunday hill park, northwest river, Labrador, the end of the road in the northeast. (161 miles,  2203  miles  so far)

How sad it was today to leave that wonderful unnamed lake and its lone guardian, the lone loon, but the road beckoned, and it gave us a glorious morning to depart by.  The weather did not cooperate long, however, and the rains came at us several times along the trip.  Visibility was quite good, however, and the rain served the purpose of keeping the dust out of the Defender and the dirt and gravel more manageable.  130 miles down the road, the road magically transformed itself into pavement, and it was rather pleasant driving the remaining 70 miles or so to HVGB (Happy valley goose bay), enjoyable actually, although the challenges of the dirt and gravel were missed.

I only remained in HVGB for an hour to restock on things, including fresh fruit and vegetables, and get gas.  Gas stops are a major part of this trip and you need to really plan as the stops can be almost 200 miles apart.  My Defender only gets 225 miles to a tank on good roads, and up to 20 percent less on dirt roads, so I have to carry two five-gallons cans with me on some legs of the trip.

After restocking, we left for Northwest River, 30 miles northeast, the end of the road, literally, in the northeast.  As soon as you cross the river there, there is a old Hudson Bay Company post (now a museum, although I tried to buy some of the foodstuffs on display there, thinking they were for sale).  It was from that very site that Hubbard and Wallace set out from in 1903 for their fateful journey.

I had planned to camp on the town beach there, but a woman from the interpretation center suggested pitching my tent instead on Sunday Hill Park,a mile or so out of town.  After an hour's trip through a maze of unmarked back dirt roads (I couldnt find my way out and had to backtrack a dozen times), I found the park.  And what a site it was.  Just when I thought  I had seen the best of what I was going to see, this site was truly glorious - high up on a hill overlooking Melville Lake, Little Lake, and Grand Lake on three sides.  And watching the sun set, turning the sky into colors I didn't know existed, was a sight to remember.  This is what it is all about, I said to myself, remembering that  I had said that about a dozen things already.  The three hours of setting up camp, three hours of breaking camp, 8 hours of driving, and nine hours sleeping in a tent with rain, wind or cold, often all three,  right out the front door, are all worth it for those moments at the end of day like this, with my dogs sleeping nearby. (I still am baffled by what makes them so exhausted.)

Tomorrow it will rain, I understand. The tail end of the hurricane. No big deal.  We have a long drive ahead of us, 250 miles on dirt and gravel, to the next town.  I have no idea where we'm spend the  night, but we 'll  manage.  In fact, the three nights after that will be the same way, until we meet the cargo ship, Nordik Express, in Blanc Sablon Quebec on Friday for the two-day journey to Natasquan Quebec.

Ed

At some point in the next few days I will upload my photos to my iPad and then to photo bucket, and then link them to my blog, perhaps in one posting.

P.S. Since I don't have time to edit these postings much, forgive the mistakes the iPad included, thinking it knows better which word or spelling to use.