The Road Goes On…

Category: Trips

  • North West River and Happy Valley-Goose Bay

    Today we explored the area around Happy Valley-Goose Bay. Our first stop was North West River which is one of oldest communities in Labrador and is beautifully located at the head of Lake Melville and Grand Lake. Here we visited the Labrador Interpretive Center and the Hudson Bay Company store which is now a museum. The staff at both places were extremely friendly and took their time sharing details and stories of life in Labrador.

     

    Next we drove to the town of Happy Valley-Goose Bay in search of craft stores but unfortunately they were already closed for the day.

    Back at the campsite we cooked a nice meal and finally caught up with our blog.

      

     

  • Churchill Falls to Happy Valley-Goose Bay

    The night was very cold at 7 degrees Celsius so we tried to turn the furnace or heat pump going. There seems to be a loose connection somewhere as it will come on, but then never does again until you cycle power on the unit. Phoned Roadtrek to see what they suggest – wait until you get back to have the dealer look at it.

    Phoned town office at 8PM to try and reserve spots on the 9AM hydro plant tour. Tours are offered at 9AM, 1:30PM and 7PM but unfortunately at the moment there is only one guide so the 9AM tour was cancelled. We signed up for the 1:30PM tour so we had the morning to relax. We visited the library at the town centre and they had some books for sale for $1 each so we bought 3. We also discovered that we have one tank dripping water so that will also need to be looked at when we get back.

    The hydro generating station tour was amazing. The plant is 1000ft feet underground and solid granite. You take an elevator down and then visit the transformer room, power generating floor where the 11 generators are located and the emergency shelter underground.  There is a tunnel with a bus with a key in the ignition for a quick escape if needed.

       

    After the tour ended we drove to Happy Valley-Goose Bay with a stop at the Muskrat Falls which are scheduled to also be developed into a power station.  Work has already begun and brush has been cleared with heavy machinery. The hiking trail was very slick and difficult but all three of us managed to get to the falls and back just before dark. Unfortunately we neglected to take our camera so we were unable to document the falls before they are destroyed during development.

    Upon arrival in Happy Valley-Goose Bay we checked into the Goose River Lodge and RV Park.

  • Labrador City to Churchill Falls

    We started the day with an in-RV shower – works really well. After breakfast we emptied tanks and filled up with fresh water. We had to take the nozzle off the water hose to get it to fit into the water filling hole on the Roadtrek, but that left us with no way to turn the water on or off.  Lots of water and once the tank filled up it sprayed everywhere until we kinked the hose. Shower #2 done. The RV park owner asked whether we wanted to get rid of Pepsi.

    Next was a visit to the mall in Labrador City for some groceries and gas. A quick drive through town showed a functional but uninspired northern industry town.

    Once back on the Trans Labrador Highway we came across a porcupine sniffing the fresh yellow paint from the crew that was painting new lines on the highway. It took quite a bit of coaxing to get him off the road so we could pass.

    The first 165 kms were pristine pavement and we had a wonderful ride.

    Once the gravel returned things got bumpier again.

    We stopped at Churchill Falls for a hike and took some pictures of the massive canyon and the relatively small amount of water now flowing down the falls because of the hydro plant water diversion.

    All of a sudden there was a flapping of wings as a mother partridge and her young took off from the ground.

    The last 30 kms of highway to the town of Churchill Falls was nearly impassable for our RV. There is road construction here and it was raining so we had slick, deep mud and patches of rough gravel.

    The town of Churchill Falls a true example of a company town. Everything except for the gas station, a pub and two convenience stores is owned by Nalcor Energy. Workers at the company receive free electricity and subsidized housing but have to leave Churchill Falls upon retirement. The Town Complex houses the hotel (also owned by the company), a library, school, post office, supermarket, pool, spa, fitness club, etc. The concept was a bit foreign to us. The parking lot here is the only place can stay overnight for RVs, so that’s what we did. They do provide power.

  • Manic 5 to Labrador City

    Slept until 8:00 and had a nice breakfast and then set out on our way to Labrador on the gravel highway. Big trucks racing, clouds of dust, and winding and washboarded road.

    The first stop was at Relais Gabriel for gas and lunch.  Gas was $1.699 (vs $1.334) per litre but lunch was $15 for soup, macaroni with meat sauce, bread pudding dessert and coffee. At km 355-367 brand new asphalt.

    Next stop was the mining ghost town of Gagnon which shut down in 1985. All buildings were removed and only the streets and sidewalks and sewers remain.

    The road is paved until Fire Lake and then the gravel returns with a very winding road which crosses the same railway line 9 or 10 times. Here it starts to rain and gets a little slicker. We also see a guy on a bicycle who is doing the trip to Baie-Comeau on his bike.

    Along the way we saw the train that takes iron ore from Fermont south. Shortly before Fermont we see the mine – they are systematically disassembling a mountain to remove its iron and building a new hill from the tailings. This has been going on for 30 years already and there is no end in sight.

    At Fermont we visit the big mining truck and visited the 1km long building that houses some of the residents, shops, hotel and services.

    Shortly after crossing the Labrador border we stop at Duley Lake Family Campground where we will spend the night.

     

  • Baie-Comeau to Manic 5

    Today we start the trip up to Labrador. We started the morning by emptying the tanks and filling up with fresh water. Ruth got her first black fly bite of the trip. We left the campground at around 9:30 and stopped for gas and some groceries. Next was a stop in Baie-Comeau itself. It is a beautiful little town with a paper mill, aluminum plant and a port where wheat is loaded onto ships for transport across the Atlantic. The town has number of nice shops and Ruth got a new pair of Keen shoes. As we were about to leave we stopped to talk to Pierre Philippe, a retired schoolteacher who now lives in Baie-Comeau.

    At around noon we started our trip up Hwy 138 towards Labrador. At km 2 on the highway our fridge door popped open and some of the fridge contents temporarily escaped although fortunately the blueberries stayed in their container. We stopped to shut it but it opened again as we started rolling again. We finally stuffed one of the cushions between the fridge and the bathroom door and it stayed shut for the remainder of the trip. At km 30 we saw a trailer that looked like it had rolled over while going around a curve. The road is paved but parts of it are pretty bumpy. That doesn’t stop the trucks from racing and Ruth had one chase her for several kms. Fortunately we were faster up the hills. At km 100 there is a large transformer station where the voltage is increased to 735 kV for transmission to minimize power loss over large distances. From here for about 50 kms the road is very smooth.

    We made it to the huge Manic 5 Hydro electric dam and generating station (km 212) at 3:30, just in time for the last tour.  The tour was wonderful and included visiting the powerhouse where the turbines are. The dam is 214 meters high. The tour guide told us about a road leading to Lake Louise from where one can get a great view of the dam and can camp over night. We spent the evening photographing the dam and talking to several of the other people that will be spending the night here.

  • Quebec City to Baie-Comeau

    Walmart in Beauport

    We started the morning talking to the couple with the Swiss RV. They brought their camper over from Switzerland and are going to be travelling across Canada and the United States for the next several months. We left the Walmart parking lot at 9:00AM and drove Hwy 138 passing through Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre where there is a huge shrine that attracts a million pilgrims each year. The first chapel was built in 1658. Right next to it is the Cyclorama of Jerusalem, which has nothing to do with bicycles, but which houses a panoramic painting 14 meters high and 110 meters in circumference. We continued on Hwy 138 to Baie-Saint-Paul where we turned onto Hwy 362 which follows the St. Lawrence river. The area is quite hilly and the Roadtrek had to downshift a lot, both up and down the hills. Some of the grades were 11% and extended for several kilometers. This area is stunningly beautiful and has lots of artist galleries.

    Lunch was at La Malbaie at a small picnic area overlooking the town and the St. Lawrence river. There was a couple with a white tablecloth each enjoying a glass of red wine – truly La Joie de Vivre.

    La Malbaie

    Very shortly after our healthy lunch we came across Fromagerie St-Fidele and stopped in for some of their cheese, a maple cranberry dressing for future healthy salads and a generous 2 scoop maple-walnut ice cream.

    Fromagerie St-Fidele

    The highway continues to Tadoussac where a ferry takes you across a river. This ferry is free and runs continuously.

    Waiting for the ferry
    On the Ferry

    We sweat and walked off all the ice cream calories when we visited Longue-Rive, the site of a former wood mill. The mill was in operation from 1860 to 1962 and there are still a few remains of the foundations of the large chutes where the logs were loaded onto ships. There is a waterfall at the site now and the St. Lawrence and the granite offered many great photographic opportunities.

    The highway from there to Baie-Comeau isn’t as spectacular and is much more even which allowed us to make good time to our campground for the evening at Pointe-Lebel, a peninsula just outside of Baie-Comeau. On the way we saw a huge hydroelectric plant and we expect to be touring one tomorrow.

  • Markham to Quebec City

    Departed Markham around 9:30AM stopping for gas and some last minute groceries. Followed Hwy 401 to Belleville for a stop at Walmart to get an inverter for the RV so we can charge laptops and batteries while driving. Had lunch at McDonalds while we where there and then headed off towards Montreal and Trois-Rivieres. I had programmed the GPS to take us to the intersection of Hwy 40/55 to keep us on the North Shore of the St. Lawrence and it ended up thinking it needed to have us do a U-Turn to get to that intersection. During that detour we discovered a Parks Canada site called des Forges-du-St-Maurice, the site of Canada’s first industrial community. It had unfortunately already closed for the day but it looked interesting so we might come back to it on the way back. Walmart has a policy of allowing one night camping at many of their stores, so once we once we got back on Hwy 40 we phoned the Walmart in Beauport to ask whether we could spend the night in their parking lot. No problem. We finally arrived at 8:40PM and had dinner. By 10:30PM, there were a total of 9 RVs in the parking lot, including one with Swiss license plates.

  • Hamilton to Markham

    Got home at 6PM and packed the last few things in the RV. Drove down to the studio for the Art Crawl put on by Todd Murray and Suzanne Kelly this month. Amazing exhibition of photographic sculptures based on slam poetry by local artists. Pepsi got lots of belly rubs from visitors to the studio.