The Plan
Debbie and I are setting out on Wednesday for the road trip of 2018. This will take us through Maine, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, Labrador, Nunatsiavut, and remote Eastern Quebec. This is more than road trip. There will be close to 4000 miles of driving but will include 5-6 boat trips involving about 6 days and 1500 miles on the water.
This trip will take us pretty far north to Nain, Labrador. This is part of the semi-autonomous region of Nunatsiavut which is home to the Labrador Inuit. Nain is the furthest north town in Labrador and is reached in the winter by snowmobile or plane and during the summer months by the ice breaking coastal ferry the MV Northern Ranger.
You get on the Northern Ranger in Happy Valley-Goose Bay and travel at least 500 miles of coastline before reaching Nain. There are stops along the way and the round trip takes 5 days. It is not a cruise ship but a working ship providing a vital sea link. We hope to see icebergs, whales, the northern lights, and other scenic views. We do have a cabin on the ship and expect to relax and take in the scenery and towns along the way.
There are extremes to this trip. The remote Trans-Labrador highway should be an interesting ride. Don’t worry we have a 4WD Subaru, and a full size spare tire. No run-flat tires on this trip! I’m still thinking about the extra gas and a sandwich. We will keep an eye out for caribou. Did I mention it is 700 miles and still a lot is gravel. Read more here: https://www.mensjournal.com/travel/the-loneliest-road-in-the-world-20140919/
We will have the extremes of tides in the Bay of Fundy. We will stay in nice B&B’s one day and at rustic Station Uapishka on another day. Several days we will be relaxing at historic and charming Battle Harbour on the edge of the continent. From there we can watch for floes in Iceberg Alley until we end up a day later in a cabin on the Northern Ranger traveling IN Iceberg Alley. We will have the bustle of Charlottetown Prince Edward Island and St. John’s NL and have remote Churchill Falls and sub-arctic Nain.
Nain is at latitude 56.5N and this is 13 degrees further north than Albany at 42.6N. If we went south the same amount from Albany we would end up close to Orlando. We will travel as far east as you can go North American. St. John’s takes you to about the most easterly point on the island of Newfoundland. In Battle Harbour we will be adjacent to Cape St. Charles, the most easterly point on the continent – we might do an excursion there just because we can. Debbie will want take in the spa.
The contrasts will exist in the sights. The spectacular wilderness of Labrador, the fjoirds and tablelands of Gros Morne National Park, and the power of the Tides of Fundy. There are the man-made wonders of the 5+ gigawatt underground generating station at Churchill Falls and the Daniel Johnson Dam in Quebec.
This promising to be an interesting adventure and I hope you enjoy following from your armchair at home.
Hi James, that was quite the loop trip! What an adventure! Thanks for the link on Quora.
I imagine the promise of adventure came true.
On my 2018 Dempster trip, we had two full sized spare tires for the camper, and new tires on the truck, and a spare for that. We did have a flat on the camper, luckily just before that automated fuel station at the head of the Dempster.
I’ve been dreaming of seeing Gros Morne National Park for years. Some day… now back to my arm chair.
The rain-out on the Gros Morne was disappointing and we couldn’t linger due to our ferry schedule. I would have liked to visit the fjord and that may yet happen. I would love to get back and really spend some time exploring Newfoundland. It’s relatively close to New York State.
We put gas in the car at that station while breathing the thick smokey air caused by fire a bit further south on the road to Whitehorse. For the Dempster we had one of our snow tires as a spare. I was still worried about having to drive a long time on the snow tire so found a used tire that was exactly the same as the normal summer tires. We carried that unmounted behind the passenger seat. It was a good place to put the recyclable cans. We didn’t need the tires.
A pain to have, a pain when you kick yourself for not having a spare. I took along my dad and uncle, two former truck drivers. Both had always wanted to go up that way. We’d all been to Whitehorse.
They changed our flat in under five minutes. Faster than I could fill the truck and slip tank.
We were aware both due to their experience and a consideration of the facts that a spare tire shipped to Eagle Plains might take a few days, and cost a pretty penny. We did encounter a tire truck at the Arctic Circle sign, and we were glad we weren’t paying that bill.
One thing I considered doing, which I never did was taking supplies for people. Even growing up in Northern Alberta, there was a custom of people coming back in to the north to bring something along from the southern cities. For example, we’d badger our teachers to bring us Big Macs from McDonald’s in Edmonton. But I didn’t actually know anyone up there, so what to bring?
When I do go back, I might do some adhoc cartage, something expensive but not perishable, like diapers or baby formula, and either arrange a buyer’s group, or work out a deal with one of the stores, my cost plus 20 bucks or whatever. Far cheaper for them, subsidize a bit of my fuel costs.
I was amused to see that the market in Inuvik had pork loins from my local Costco, and that they cost less. I guess stuff like that is subsidized. I snapped a photo of the bell peppers, 11 bucks each. What a different life up there.
I’m going back to reading, I’m only up to “The Rock” in your trip.