Day 67 -A long day to reach Cornerbrook

Day 67 Wednesday, July 14, 2010 Distance 125. 33 km. Time 7 hr. 15 min. Total so far 4674. 68 km We woke up really early and decided to go. We were on the road at 6 :30 am and it was cool and overcast for the first while which was nice as we were doing hill after hill all day long. At about three hours, we came to a gas station and got cold drinks, cookies and an Eatmore bar. I changed into my bathing suit top, took off my socks, and sweat band as it had warmed up a lot. Parts of today were very frustrating as they made rumble strips on the side of the road with only about a foot of room beside and sometimes there was sand over it, truck tire garbage and pavement worn away from rainwater. Going downhill, we didn’t want to be on it. It wasn’t busy until Stephenville and then the traffic picked up and a truck came too close to me and gave me a panic attack. I had to stop for a few minutes to get my breathing back to normal. Then a few minutes later I had to stop again as a fly was biting my head under my helmet. I dragged him out of my hair. A normal day would have had us finish about 20 km. outside of Cornerbrook and it was supposed to rain so we decided to go the distance in one day. We stopped at a place to buy an ice cream cone for more energy for me and met Josianne and Andre from Quebec. Four years ago they went across Canada and this year they are doing Newfoundland and Nova Scotia in more detail. They are headed back to do the Cabot Trail counter clockwise and then to Halifax to fly home for work. Josianne lives in Holland during the year with her boyfriend and so we conversed in Dutch a little. They are in their 20’s and really enjoy bicycle touring. They were riding DeVinci Destination bicycles and had special locks from Holland for their bikes. Cornerbrook has 4 entrance ramps so we thought if we took the Industrial Park one that we wouldn’t land up having to ride down and up the bowl that this city is. Apparently every entrance to this city is under construction and I think we hit the worst of it . Trucks, dust and big sharp stones is what met us. How discouraging after a long day. I landed up walking as it was too rough for my small tires. Then we had to turn off it anyway and zoomed DOWN to downtown and then slowly climbed the STEEP hill back up to Atlantic Ave. where Judy came out to meet us. Darrell came home from work later and greeted us. Four summers ago our daughter, Melissa, competed in the World Duathalon championships here and talked me into accompanying her. We didn’t know anyone here but Melissa being a skier knew of the ski club here and emailed to see if anyone could put us up. Darrell and Judy volunteered and we spent a wonderful week with them. At that time, Judy had broken her ankle and just told us to make ourselves at home as she couldn‘t do much. Well, we arrived this time and poor Judy broke her wrist in a fall last week and only has one functional hand. No motorcycle riding for her for six weeks. In the evening, she and Darrell were headed back to the area where we started today for a birthday party and overnighter so she made us a beautiful supper of rice, vegetables and Atlantic salmon that Darrell caught in Labrador. Their son, Neal, 25, who is home for a while spent the evening with us. He is a cross country skier and runner. He has a university degree in business and has traveled a lot since graduation. It was a good, long day!