We continued another fifty miles south down Highway 101 to Bullards Beach State Park in Bandon, Oregon, where we enjoyed a fun day at the beach!

If there is a heaven, I imagine it looks something like Powell’s City of Books in Portland, Oregon. The world’s largest independent bookstore is a city block, with four stories. When we arrived we grabbed a map of the store … and then spent several hours exploring! The four of us each found something irresistible – and left with two shopping bags filled to the top with books.

The rest of the afternoon we spent wandering downtown, seeing the usual tourist spots … Pioneer Square, the waterfront, the beautiful library, the cultural area, etc., etc.

As far as cities go, Portland is great … but we are all ready to return to country life!

On May 18, 1980, when I was a few months shy of becoming a teenager, Mount Saint Helens in Washington erupted. Today we went to visit the still active volcano.

We drove up to the Johnston Ridge Observatory, where we had phenomenal views of the crater that was formed by the volcanic eruption. We explored the observatory’s exhibits, watched a film and attended two Park Ranger talks, where we saw great photos and heard the retelling of many first person accounts of May 18.

The impact and power of the volcano is overwhelming.

Another hilight of our Mount Saint Helens stop was a very, very friendly cat roaming around the campground. We did briefly discuss the possibility of adopting her … but decided that four people, a dog and a rabbit were probably enough mammals for our two-hundred square foot home!

We left Niagara Falls in New York and drove west. And drove. And drove.

We crossed the mighty Mississippi.

We saw corn. A lot of corn.

We made it to Colorado!!!

In the past four days we covered a lot of distance (@1600 km), enjoyed some beautiful scenery, and crossed through two time zones.

We began on the Labrador coast, which is beautiful, but, unfortunately, best appreciated from behind car windows, as the bugs are brutal. Every time we stepped outside, swarms of biting black flies would descend, leaving us with big itchy, bloody welts. And every time we opened the RV door, dozens would sneak inside.

We spent just one day along the coast, where we got to see one more iceberg ….

and picked up our free satellite phone. The Province provides the phones to travelers since the TransLabrador Highway goes thru pretty remote parts, with no services and no cell reception.

Our first driving day was a long one … we drove for nearly thirteen hours, with ten of those on unpaved roads. It was, as we used to say in Alaska, miles and miles of miles and miles.

The kids did an amazing job keeping themselves happy, while buckled up in the back of the RV and Andy and I took turns driving (and driving and driving ….). At nightfall we parked in a roadside pullout and settled in for the night.

Day two began with a paved road and a blissfully uneventful drive to Labrador City, where we returned the unused satellite phone. Shortly after leaving Lab City, and the end of the TransLabrador Highway …

we said “Bonjour” to Quebec and Route 389 … and “Au Revoir” to pavement. We slogged along a gravel, washboard road with an average speed of less than 20 mph.

We then found a nice roadside pullout and called it a day.

Our third day of driving started well. There were long sections which were paved and the gravel parts were not too bad.

All was going well …but then, fifty kilometers before reaching the St. Lawrence Seaway, and the terminus of Route 389 ……