0551 Yellowstone Nat Park

29^th June 2016

Close encounters with lots of bison !

I had heard from a number of people that the crowds in the park were making it quite difficult to get around or even to park in a lot of places.  Additionally all the camp sites in the park are fully booked out, so I decided to try to see what I wanted to see in one day, starting early and leaving late.  As a result I woke up in my State Forest campsite just outside the northern entrance of the park at 5 am, and was on the road before 6 am.  It was 1 deg C - No wonder I had been a bit chilly during the night !!  The sun was just coming up, and after a few pics of Cooke City (the furthest east I had got in Elsie in 2012 because of snow blocking the road), I had only just entered the Park and there was a big old bull bison wandering along the road in front of me.  Just him and me – Everyone else was still asleep !

0550 Driving the Bear Tooth Pass - Twice !

28^th June 2016

How much fun can a man have by 10 am ?

I woke up at about 6 am having slept like a log out here in the wilds of the Bear Tooth Pass.  We were actually just back from the summit, at Little Bear Lake, but we were close to 10,000 ft asl, so it had been quite chilly last night – and still was as I got up to make tea this morning.  Before 8 am, Steve was up and ready, his dog Zoe was obviously ready to go, and we headed out of the camping area between the trees and down to the “main” road.  As soon as we hit the road, the WOW’s started ! 

0549 Buffalo to the Bear Tooth Pass

27^th June 2016

Across the plains of Wyoming to the exciting Bear Tooth Pass

I took my time packing up this morning, and also took the opportunity to refill my propane bottle, although I don’t think the guy did a very good job as it still seems very light – Only time will tell. The plan today was to drive across Wyoming, much of which I had seen on previous visits, partly because my ex employer has a big bentonite mill out here, and I have visited it aon a number of occasions, including on my Elise trip in 2012.  And last night I had finally realized that my rear tyres were not going to last as long as I had hoped, with one of them showing severe wear on the inside edge, to the point where I was somewhat concerned about how long it would last – I needed to look for tyres.

0548 Custer SP to Buffalo Wyoming

26^th June 2016

Wide open plains and lots of wildlife !

Bit of a black wine gum day today – Had to cover a lot of country that made the Nullarbor look exciting, but there was so much wildlife out there that I actually had a really great day, stopping and starting and doing U turns to check things out all the time !  And when you start the day off with a little prairie dog waving at you, how can the day be bad ?

0547 Badlands NP to Custer SP

25^th June 2016

The amazing Badlands, prairie dogs and buffalo

I had gone for a walk just before sunset last night and saw some amazing colours on the cliffs around the camp site that in the day time are kind of bleached out.  Some wonderful colours out here if you can catch them just right.  The next morning I backtracked the 5 or 6 miles to the beginning of the Park because last night I had been keen to find a camp site, especially in the heat, and had not stopped.  I find that now it is almost summer time here, and almost all America is on vacation, if you can stop by 3 pm or so you can often get a campsite – The hoards all seem to pull in at about 5-6 pm and if you can beat them, you are usually ok.

0546 Indianapolis across to the Badlands of S Dakota

22^nd, 23^rd, and 24^th June 2016

It’s a long way across this country !!

Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and South Dakota.  And until I arrived in the Badlands National Park this evening, basically nothing to see on the way – At least, not that was af much interest to me.  When you consider that Indianapolis is about 1/3^rd of the way across the country from Newfoundland, and The Badlands are about 2/3rds of the way across, I have just spent 3 full days crossing 1/3^rd of the country.  And I was not on twisty roads, but on straight (and boring) freeways !  It’s a long way across this country, even by Australian standards !

0545 Indianapolis Indiana

21^st June 2016

A day at the Brickyard

While I am not a big fan of Indy cars, the Indianapolis 500 is as much of a global motor racing icon as Brooklands, Bathurst, or the Nurburgring, and as such deserves ones attention. More particularly, Colin Chapman and Jim Clark came here in 1964 in a Lotus 34, the first rear engined car ever to race at Indianapolis, and won pole position, and very nearly the race (were it not for tyre failure).  They returned in 1965 and won the race, and since then, no front engine car has ever won the Indianapolis 500.   Its amazing where Lotus pops up, and wherever it does, it seems to have been a “first”.  I set off to “The Brickyard” (as it is known) really looking forward to my day.

0544 Allegheny NF to Indianapolis

20^th June 2016

A boring day on the freeway all day – But lots of miles !

There really is no other way to get miles under your belt in this part of the world except on the freeway.   I am not even going to pretend that it was fun, but it did achieve its purpose, which was to get me to Indianapolis.  If you look at a map, there really is no other way to get through this part of the world, mainly because there are so many big cities around here – Cleveland, Akron, Toledo, Columbus, Pittsburgh – You either take the freeways that link the cities or you are doomed to wander on the byways for ever, a bit like that Kingston Trio song

about the man who rode for ever on the subway – “The man who never returned “ !!  Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and do the freeway – I did, and I have virtually no photos either, so today is a “day off” blog wise !  I did have some kind of truck fire ahead of me on the freeway this afternoon, but was too far back to see much, so even that wasn’t very exciting !  But at least I am now in Indianapolis, and looking forward to not only going to see the Speedway / Brickworks Museum, but also with catching up with good friends from Houston Ron and Caroline Bolen,  who I have just found out will also be in Indianapolis for the next couple of days.  Should be a fun day or two.  

Other pics here :-  https://picasaweb.google.com/110185357936043625130/6299208315860845889?authkey=Gv1sRgCMbn3MuOzvvosgE

0543 Back to the Canadian Niagara Falls, and to the Allegheny Nat Forest

19^th June 2016

I catch up with my fellow MG Wanderers from Queensland – Again !

I slept SO soundly last night that when I finally woke up, it took me 5 or 10 minutes to work out where I was, get my eyes open, and start the day !  I had been exhausted last night and the Portuguese digestivo before bed had pretty much finished me off !  But after a quick breakfast with Dave, checking on some of the photos on his big TV screen, and topping off my water tank with some good Canadian water, I set off back to Niagara.

0542 Up to Ontario and Lake Huron

18^th June 2016

A day back in a Lotus Elise !

I left the camp site at about 8.30 am and headed over the bridge into Canada – No delays at all, and after a cursory check of the car, I was through the border and away.  Dave lives in Mississauga, a sizeable city just south of Toronto, and there was no point in trying to follow a scenic route – this is a busy part of the world – so I stayed on the freeway, doing the posted 100 kmh while EVERY single car, truck, and motorcycle passed me doing 120 – 130 kmh !  I found out later from Dave that the cops won’t stop you if you are “only” doing 20 – 30 kmh over the speed limit !!   Heaven forbid any of these guys ever come to Australia, or even more so, Perth, because they will get a real surprise when they are stopped for doing 2 or 3 kmh over the limit !

0541 A day at the USA Niagara Falls

17^th June 2016

Lots of water !

I drove into the Gorge Discovery Centre and parked there since it was the closest free parking.  There is a shuttle bus tat runs all day around the whole complex, so I bought my $3 ticket for that, but then decided that it would be more interesting to kind of “creep up” on the Falls !  On the US side you can see nothing from a distance except a lot of spray in the air, so I thought I would just let the view “develop” as I walked along a cliff top path.

0540 Cranberry Lake SP to Niagara Falls

16^th June 2016

Driving round the shore of Lake Ontario

Today was not one of the most exciting drives of the trip !  Cranberry Lakes up in the Adirondacks is beautiful, but from there down to Niagara was basically a day spent driving through suburbia and small towns along the southern coast of Lake Ontario. 

0539 Granville Vermont to Cranberry Lake SP, New York

15^th June 2016

Beautiful scenery in the Adirondack Mountains

No bears or mountain men attacked me during the night, tucked away in the forest near Granville, and I woke up to a clear blue sky, and a temperature at 8 am (14 deg C) that was higher than the maximum I saw just a couple of days ago !  It was definitely getting warmer after such a long time in the cold. 

0538 Moose River to Granville Vermont

14^th June 2016

Beautiful countryside and cheap fuel !

Woke up with a couple of Canada Geese and their chicks running around outside – I understand the camp owner feeds them so they hand around for the summer.  It was still trying to rain, but not very hard, so I packed up quickly while stuff was mostly dry, and then headed out of Moose River.  A very pleasant little camp site.

0537 Les Escoumins Canada to Moose River Maine USA

13^th June 2016

Rain, ferries, and border crossings.

It did not stop raining for a second all day yesterday, ad when I woke up this morning, it was still raining !  Troopie is so much easier than it was when it rained when I was in Alaska in the Elise, but even so, it is still a small vehicle to sit inside all day !  Anyway, got everything done, and this morning managed to get everything packed up even though it was all wet, and by 9.30 I was headed out.  Or was it 8.30 ?  I think the clocks went back an hour yesterday !  Stopped in at the shop which luckily sold top ups for my pay as you go phone on which I had used up all the credit yesterday, and headed off down the road to Quebec city.

0536 Relais Gabriel to Les Escoumins

11^th & 12^th June 2016

Long dusty roads, a manic dam, and a wedding !

Today was another long hard drive crossing the forests and lakes of Labrador, and on into Quebec Province. I know I have said before that sometimes these long days have to just be ground out in order to get to the next place, and sometimes it is so difficult, but then, along the way, there are moments that just take your breathe away and make you realize that it is all worthwhile. And it is only by having days like this that you really get to understand how big some of these places in the world really are.  2000 kms in 4 days, and all you have seen is trees and lakes ?  Yup – But its those small moments, lakes relecting the sky, or the many different greens in the trees of the forest, often that have gone past into your rear view mirror before your mind even registers them, that make it all worthwhile.

0535 Churchill Falls to Relais Gabriel

10^th June 2016

A long hard day on the road……

Slept like a log last night, not stirring till 7 am.  Felt fantastic on waking up, and had breakfasted and was on the road by 8 am.  I knew I needed to make some serious miles today – This trip through Labrador is a long way – Am more than happy doing it, because I really wanted to see this area, but it is a grind.  You only want to ever do it once !!  As I have said before, the road is forest and water, and you only realize how much water there is around here when you look at a good map like the Maps.me app I use, and see that there is as much blue water as white land ! The road is really just weaving between lakes and rivers, wherever they have managed to find some firm ground on which to lay the road base.  And most of the lakes are stunning scenically – If the sun was out you can only imagine how picturesque it would look.  Trouble is, even picturesque starts to get boring after 1000 kms !!!  I have now done some 2000 kms in Labrador, and it has mostly been just driving non stop !

0534 Crooks Lake Rest Area to Churchill Falls Rest Area

9^th June 2016

 A long but interesting day on the road

It was 0 degrees when I woke up, and even more misty and miserable than it had been last night – Oh, well, may as well just suck it up and get on with it !  By the time I had had my breakfast and packed up the car, my hands were bloody freezing, and for 5 minutes I sat in the car trying to warm up.  The car was so filthy from the wet dirt roads yesterday that everything I touched left me with dirty hands or clothes – Not a lot of fun.  But at least I wasn’t on a motorcycle like two other Montreal guys who had camped here last night !  I must be thankful for small mercies !

0533 Pinware River to Crooks Lake Rest Area

8^th June 2016

Rabbits, Icebergs, moose, bear, caribou, rain and mud !

Kind of wet when I woke up, sp it was a quick breakfast and pack up, before moving down to the amenities block for a shower etc.  On the way, stopped by the trail for some views of icebergs, and while I was taking pics, bunnies were running all over the place around me, not seeming to be concerned by my presence at all.  Down at the amenities block there was a van with a couple from Montreal in it.  Originally Swiss, they now live over here and desperately would like to do what I am doing, so we spent some time chatting about aspects of

it.   Trouble was it was bloody freezing so after a while we called it quits and I told them to email me !!

0532 Quirpon Newfoundland to Pinware Labrador

7^th June 2016

Mist, icebergs, and a ferry to Labrador

Woke up this morning and it was damp, mosty from the thick mist, or perhaps I should call it fog.  Could hardly see my hand in front of my face.  Bit of a shame as for my last planned day in Newfoundland I thought I would explore the coast at the top end of the Northern Peninsula, and then spend one more night here before catching the ferry to Labrador the next morning.  After a great hot shower in brand new facilities, I headed down the road – And found that the fog was everywhere – Couldn’t see much of the coast at all.

0531 Port au Choix to Quirpon

6th June 2016

Whales, icebergs, Vikings, Icebergs, and Moose !

What a day !  While I was packing up, one of the campsite guys came over and said they had been some whales feeding out at the lighthouse on the point that may be worth a look, and he told me how to get there.  How nice is that ?  So once I was all done, I set off, but since it was more than half an hour since the guy had told me, I didn’t get too excited.

But I should have – When I got to Point Riche (as it is called), I could not only see a couple of whales but also hear more as they blew on surfacing – They were just off the rocky shore !  And I was the only one there to enjoy it !  What a way to start the day !

0530 South Brook to Port au Choix

4^th & 5^th June 2016

Hitchbikers !

I packed up, had a great hot shower, (hey, a “shower” may seem mundane to you homebodies, but a good hot shower when you are on the road is a vital part of daily life !), and then as I set off out of the camp site there were 3 young lads playing with a baseball who waved as I passed and seemed like nice young kids enjoying their camping holiday. So I called them over and we had a chat about the car, and the trip and where I was from, and where they were from, (locals, just out camping for the weekend with mum and dad), and I gave them some Aussie stick pins – And then a lady came over for a chat.  Forgotten her and her husband’s names because I didn’t write them down immediately (and she'll kill me because I know she will read this !), but a delightful couple, originally from S Africa, connection with SASOIL (a company we did a lot of business with), and now living in Calgary. Anyway, had a long and very pleasant chat with them before heading out onto the road to head for Deer Lake.

0529 St John's to South Brook

3^rd June 2016

Toyotas, Lakes, and more scallops !!

I was ready to leave as Ben and Marie went to work, and thanked them SO much for their kindness and hospitality to me not only over the past couple of days in St John’s, but also the previous week over in Norris Point.   They could not have given me a better time, and I only hope they can find a way to come out to Australia before too long so I can repay their kindness. 

0528 A Day in St John's

2^nd June 2016

Port, Forts, and Gibbets

After Ben had gone to work, and we had a quick breakfast, Marie and I set off to explore St John’s in her convertible Chrysler Crossfire, which only sees the light of day during the summer, and is in absolutely pristine condition.  It wasn’t warm enough to put the top down, but it was good fun driving around St John’s in something a lot sportier than Troopie ! We drove through part of downtown St John’s where the houses are traditionally painted in all sorts of different colours, and then headed south out of town to Cape Spear.

0527 Emerald Vale to St John's

1^st June 2016

Dildo, Icebergs, and a Loonie

Still not a soul in my campsite when I got up and left, so I said my grateful thanks to the trees and headed out.  It had been a very peaceful site !

Down the road I soon came upon my first surprise of the day – A sign pointing to a town called Dildo !  Just off the main road, it is a normal (for round here) sleepy little fishing town that is similar to places like Chicken Alaska in so fr as they make a business out of their unusual names.  So there is Dildo Store, Dildo Post Office, and lots of other Dildos in town – Including a statue of a certain Captain Dildo, of which the less said the better.   And no, I do not have a photo !

0526 La Manche Prov Park to Emerald Vale

31^st May 2016

Moose, Fog, cold – Then warm sunshine !!

I know I have mentioned the incredible changeability of the Newfoundland weather before, but today really takes the cake.  When I woke up it had been raining, but was now only drizzling, overcast, and misty over the water.  The park ranger had told me the forecast for today was bad, so I wasn’t surprised, nor was I upset.  Black wine gums and all that.   So I packed up, filled up my water tank, and had the best hot shower, with only one other couple in the campsite, and they were still fast asleep in their tent when I left, so I had everything to myself.  I decided that I would head south down the east coast of the Avalon peninsula, towards Trepassey, just to see if there was anything there.