SAFELY ASHORE

No, we haven't been floating around the ocean since I last wrote on Saturday night. We arrived in Port au Basque, New Foundland, or NewfnLAND as the Newfies say, at 12:15 NF time, which is one half an hour ahead of Atlantic time. We didn't get off the ship until an hour or so later, as we were just about the last to leave. We drove through the well lit parking lot into the black night of a strange country, praying we would find the Provincial Park campsite that I had been told was just around the curve and up the hill from the place where the trucks have to weigh themselves. So off we went into the night, looking for something resembling a weigh station along the highway. I spied the sign.....Trucks Weigh Ahead....and sure enough, just a bit beyond there was a flag waving into the cold foggy night, pointing out the park we were looking for. We turned in and drove, and drove, and drove, the road narrowing and turning to gravel. There it was ahead! A light! The empty contact station had a light on the outside of the little shack, and it showed that there were campsites ahead. We assumed that this place would probably be used to the ferry being late and to campers coming in after closing, so we just went ahead and found sites and would register and pay in the morning. The site we found was too short but we took it anyhow, backing right up to the weeds at the far end. I was wearing socks with my Teva sandals, and I got soaked wading through the huge puddle from the recent rain storm. It didn't take us long to wash up and crawl into bed, well after 1:30.

The next morning we rose early, eager to see where we were and to begin our journey north. We found a beautiful countryside, with much lush greenery covering the hills and the parts of the small mountains that were not rock. We also found the friendliest people I've ever met. Ernie and Richard were standing in the parking lot where we had pulled over for lunch, and were looking at a map, trying to figure our where we were to go. A young man pulled up and asked if he could help. The guys told him we were looking for a campsite and the man started giving directions, then paused and said just to wait a minute and he would lead us there. He quickly disappeared in his car, to drop his mother off somewhere, then came back and told us to follow him. For twenty minutes we followed him until we arrived at a campground right across the road from the water. We thanked him and Ernie offered to pay him for his time and gas, and the man was insulted. He said he worked for a beer company, delivering beer, and if the store would have been open he would have brought the guys some beer! This is only the beginning of the friendliness and kindness we would find in this beautiful province.