Gander,NL to St. John’s, NL-Day 28, July 18

Yippee! The day I’ve been so excited about is finally here, we are heading to St. John’s! St. John’s is located on the eastern coast of Newfoundland. I don’t know if I said this before, but, Newfoundland has a nickname- The Rock. After arriving here and driving around it’s apparent why – it is all rock! Zoom Zoom and I have been wanting to come here since we watched the show “Republic of Doyle” on NetFlix. I had Zoom Zoom watch some of it just because of the scenery and he liked the show so much he watched all 6 seasons with me. Newfoundland is so beautiful. Zoom Zoom found this trip to the 4 provinces and here we are!

As we drove from Gander to St. John’s the topography changed so quickly. It was still beautiful, just different. Now the roads, let’s best honest, they are some of the worst roads we have ever traveled on. They are just a step above driving directly on the railroad tracks. There are HUGE bumps and there are a plethora of them! Zoom Zoom would warn me when he would know we would be hitting a doozy, my nose was always in my laptop editing photos or peeking through the camera lens. One bump was so big it actually bounced me right up and off my seat.

These are just a few photos from Gander to St. John’s.

How many moose did we see? I saw one ‘bottom’ far off in the distance. Zoom Zoom saw ZERO!
Don’t feed the animals!
Look how nice he passed us and got right over!
Left lanes are for passing only. No one hangs out there and drives.
Some of the blue icon signs are indiscernible! We have no clue what #3 is!

I was going to write an entire post about how polite the drivers are here. Actually, all the provinces have had very polite drivers. There is always that ONE! This guy decided to pass not only Wally, but also our friends, Dave and Anne, on a double yellow- while going uphill! Idiot! Zoom Zoom says it’s a self correcting problem. My only worry is that the person they correct this with coming in the other direction! I tell Zoom Zoom that that person must have diarrhea-probably explosive diarrhea! Why else put yourself and others in danger like that?

Yes, that’s a double yellow!
That’s Dave and Anne’s RV they are passing now. On a hill!
Idiot! (With explosive diarrhea)

I tried to capture some of the “bumps” in the road as we traveled. I wished I had a button where you could experience the rumbles and bangs! To prevent our drawers and closets from opening while we travel we use bungee cords through the handles. On our large drawer we have a baby lock – it kept flinging out there!

Some roads were so bad we tried to straddle the dotted line if there wasn’t oncoming traffic. These provinces don’t have a lot of money for their infrastructure. Winters are hard on these roads.

Bump in 100 meters.
It’s a BIG bump!
See all the skid marks from folks slamming on their brakes? Non believers. 🙂

These are just some signs I took photos of. Some are in French and English. I think it’s interesting how we are so different in our signage. Some of them we had a hard time deciphering. The images – we didn’t know what the “@” was for. Turns out it means they have public WIFI.

Letting us know a passing lane is coming. Move over.
Letting us know in 300 meters the passing lane ends – and it does. People in the right lane have the right-of-way to get back in the left lane.
We don’t know how?!?!
Don’t feed the wild animals.
Go 70km in the air as you hit the bumps!
Lookout point, ?
Kayaking, Tour boats, Dining, Shopping
On hills we move over so people can pass. There is a solid white line at the end of it. The other lane has to let us back over. They can’t pass when the white line is there.
Food, Hiking, ? Some kind of sight seeing
See the solid white line? the people passing have to stop! We get to move back over at the end of the line. Dave is doing it.
More bumps. I bet they spend most of their budget on these signs!
They “say” they have moose. We don’t believe them!
Scooping moose poop. 🙂
No police talking side-by-side
Not the minimum!
They are serious about their construction zones.
Man with a big lollypop for us ahead!
Big trucks crashing into the road ahead.
The beaver is the Canadian mascot. Most Americans see it as a beaver in utero.
Seriously – it ENDS
I try to decipher these icons – most I can figure out. Left-right Top row first-
Hotel with a restaurant, Historic Site, Baseball, Skiing
Theater?, Site seeing – whales, Lighthouse, Handmade crafts (Someone said if you die here they will ship your ashes back in a decorative urn)
Liars! Never saw a single moose! (I saw a butt)
I love the highway sign – Maple leaf with the Highway number.
More! And they mean it! And look! More bumps!
See?
Canadian Capital E or 1/2 a railroad track
Getting closer!!
Mile marker
No turns
Love…Love…Love
Almost there!
Yep, we know!
That means the ‘Subway’ restaurant.
Here we go again!
Hotel with a restaurant, camping, ? …Zoom Zoom thinks Information panel – I thought video games, Birders
Whale watching, view point, fishing, golf
Ha!
We are in a passing zone.
They have ‘Adopt a Highway’ like we do. I don’t know why – it’s so clean here.
Remember that’s 100 km not 100 mph
32 km to St. John’s
That’s 5.0 meters tall.
Let’s go!
Hmm…maybe it’s up in the sky?
I guess there are thugs in every country and province.
Mmm…Love me some pea soup!
Who wouldn’t like to learn in Paradise?
Cape Spear is the most Eastern part of North America – the sun rises here first and sets here last!
They won the Gold Medal in Curling one year in the Olympics!
That’s where we are heading – Pippy Park
Home of the Jellybean Houses!

Lastly, the scenery was simply amazing. We were in piney trees for a long time and passed SEVERAL “ponds”(we would call them lakes (the huge bodies of water)or ponds (the small bodies of water)back home.) Some of their “ponds” are huge. If it is inclosed by land, it’s a pond.