I'm On A Boat!

It is just after 5 am, and the sun is beginning to work its way across the Atlantic. The incessant rumble and squeak of the ferry is the only noise, aside from occasional snore from a nearby passenger. Jordan is sleeping awkwardly two chairs over, and the rest of the girls are on the floor. Apparently, this is strictly prohibited. But with the prohibitively priced sleeping cabins (literally a captive market here) all booked up, we’re left with reclining chairs that hardly recline or the floor. The fondly remembered bunks from our last ferry crossing to Newfoundland no longer exist. Perhaps I should have made that inquiry before booking overnight crossings!

On our first trip to Newfoundland, Leia and I stopped in at this Fromagerie.
We've stopped every trip since. They have fantastic cheese.

The girls appreciated their ice cream more!

Today will be day four of our trip already. The busy schedule we’ve kept so far is mostly responsible for the lack of entries – that, and the fact that I am not travelling alone. Just like dishes seem to be done faster when I’m home alone – after all, there is no use leaving them in the sink per chance someone else might decide to wash them first! – so too was I more deliberate when I travelled last year by myself. On last year’s road trip, I would clean the truck every night, even if that meant wearing my bug net. So far, I clean the truck right before the morning’s departure. Last year I was over prepared with colouring sheets, activities, and snacks. This year, I’ll likely run out of animal pictures, and I didn’t even both to check if our FM broadcaster was in operational condition (it wasn’t) after I thought it got broken earlier in the year (it did). Last year I tried to end the night with writing a blog post, although this was mostly to keep my absent co-pilot informed. Some things are just not as critical when your co-pilot is with you. Today, I suspect my co-pilot will mostly sleep. Some people just aren’t good at sleeping on the prohibited floors of boats!

Despite hours upon hours in the car together, the kids still get along.

Today we complete our marathon of driving to St. John’s. Initially, when we planned this trip, we wanted to go to Newfoundland for the last part of the trip, and St. John’s wasn’t necessarily on the agenda. However, that quickly changed when we learned that one of Leia’s friends had accepted a position at Memorial. To make schedules work, the plan was to head to St. John’s first, to spend time with Cathy for a few days, before heading to Gros Morne. It is not only am ambitious start to our trip for us, but also for Cathy. She and her husband just arrived themselves, and have had possession of their house for less than a week.

The Nova Scotia information centre had a bag piper … sadly, he wasn't that good.
When Leia and I were discussing his inability to hit all the notes later, the girls came t o his rescue.

We offered to stay in our trailer, making it simpler for Cathy, but she’s insisted we stay with her. This will ultimately mean that we won’t use the trailer for almost a week of our trip. The first night, in Quebec, we stopped at two campsites – one had blaring music and numerous kids raucously swinging in the playground at 10:45 pm so seemed less than ideal (and nobody manning the gate or clear instructions), the other had no vacancy – before deciding to just stop at a motel. The plan was to drive as far as possible, and getting past Quebec City was good enough for me. Day two we slept at Priscilla and Mark’s. Rather than spend time opening the trailer on arrival, we went and saw the house they were hoping to purchase. Day three we slept on a boat. I started to consider whether I should have left the trailer in Sydney, with Josh and Danielle, only to then remember that getting a tent and all the necessary camping items to fit in the Thule and truck would have been annoying. It’s just gas money! To conserve some fuel, and to be able to pick up the pace, the plan is to find somewhere to leave the trailer in Deer Lake for the duration of our time in St. John’s.

One of the highlights of this trip will be time with family.

Even if their BBQing skills are in question.

Speaking of fuel, with impeccable timing, we left just as the fictitious fear of oil supplies being affected by the Iraqi conflict was at its height. Literally within the first hour of driving east I heard a news story about the record prices of gasoline. Yay! I haven’t paid much attention to the prices so far – it really doesn’t make much difference. I did decide to fuel up in North Sydney at $1.42/l anticipating that Newfoundland would be more expensive. When Leia and I visited last (our only time, until now), I remember filling up the Yaris at $1.55/l. That trip deserved a few blog posts. Perhaps someday I’ll retroactively blog about it. We also drove to St. John’s and back, only that time we lived in Edmonton still. Leia, pregnant with Marley, and Jordan only drove for part of the trip, having flown into Toronto and then flying back out of Moncton. I put over 15,000 kms on the car in one month.

Evelyn started the trip cranky, but has improved day by day to her normal, goofy self.

It’s quite foggy, and the ship’s horn is constantly sounding. The captain recently announced we were an hour from port. I think I need to head out to a deck to fully appreciate this morning before getting back into the truck for another long day of driving.