Chop Chop Billy Goat

When we decided to leave Newfoundland via the Trans-Labrador highway I realized that our route would take us through the town in Quebec where my sister and her family spend time every summer. I wrote my sister, and sure enough it turned out that they would be arriving in La Malbaie exactly when we expected to get there.

When we got to La Malbaie Big Kid and Little Kid had a great time playing with their cousin Petey while the the grownups caught up. Little Kid, who really loves music, was fascinated by Uncle Austin’s guitar playing, and got to play some guitar himself. Big Kid and Petey spent a long time sword fighting with sticks, miraculously without any injuries!

The next day my sister suggested we go to a waterfall on the banks of the St. Lawrence River that had a natural waterslide. Big Kid went down the waterslide first, and loved it. Then Petey and Uncle Austin went together, then Little Kid went with his big sister. Little Kid was cackling with glee the whole way down, but when he hit the pool of ice water at the bottom he burst into tears. Despite that, he asked to go two more times, and each time he had a blast until he got to the bottom and burst into tears. The kids seemed to be having so much fun that both I and Ma took a few runs each. Big Kid and Petey rounded out the afternoon with a epic mud fight down on the tidal flats.

We had an awesome time at Les Bergeronnes, a beautiful spot along the St. Lawrence Seaway. Our campsite was on top of a hill, with a splendid view of the water. In the water we saw a ton of seals, which were really adorable even though they were far away. We also saw a whale so close we heard it breathe.

We had a great time on the rocks. The dramatic tides left huge tidepools filled with starfish, urchins, and tiny shrimp like things. I met some kids on the beach, and even though they only spoke french, we had a great time showing each other the things we had found. We gathered about twenty tiny shrimp together before they left, and we had a lot of fun even though we spoke different languages.

My eleventh birthday started at five thirty in the morning. I was so excited that I couldn’t sleep! We started my birthday with presents, because I was not able to wait any longer. I wasn’t surprised by the balls of yarn, because I had caught Ma carrying it in a few days before, but I was certainly surprised to get a boomerang and other great presents. After having donuts for breakfast, we headed to a sandy beach where I tried out my new boomerang. I wasn’t able to make it come back, but it did make a pretty big turn.

In the afternoon, we got our new tire put on the RV, and then we headed home for a delicious birthday dinner and a “surprise” cake. I had found Ma buying the cake when Pa had sent me to get fresh bread. Didn’t Pa know that you get cakes in the bakery section? Even if it wasn’t a surprise, it was still delicious. I think it was the best cake I ever had!

The day ended with a movie in the RV after Little Kid was asleep. Definitely got the maximum birthday hours!

Yep. We were driving down the highway when we heard a weird noise, and we pulled over to investigate. Pa checked the tires, and he discovered one of the four back tires was flat. Well, that is why it is nice to have a car with you. We drove in the Jetta to a campground, and started to ask the people there if there was a phone, but then we remembered that we were in Quebec: they didn’t speak word of English. Fortunately, there was one person who spoke English, and he got us a phone to call our roadside service. The roadside service sent a tow truck to us, but it was too short for the RV. The driver of the tow truck left, and said that he would come back with a bigger tow truck. But… he didn’t.

Not far from where the RV was parked was an overgrown pullout. So Pa and I got out the saw and started sawing down bushes. Pretty soon, we had a spot to park the RV, and we pulled right in. Ma and Pa called it a buggy hell, but I called it an awesome wilderness adventure. Okay, the bugs were a bit bad, but I still liked it.

Because our flat tire happened on a Saturday, we had to wait until Monday to look for a tire shop. The first place we went to said they could have the tire in five days, but we did not want to wait that long, so we moved on. The next tire shop didn’t have our tire and they sent us to another tire shop that didn’t have it either… after a long wild goose chase, we finally found a place that said they could have our tire the next day. They told us it was okay to drive very slowly on our remaining five good tires, so we drove the 37 miles into town with an average speed of 18 miles per hour. We spent the night at a Walmart, and the next day we got a new tire.

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 ……