Day 63 - South Brook to Gambo

South Brook to Gambo
243 km, 10h20mins
Sunny, winds: tail (for 50 km), cross/head for 100 km

(updated on Friday, at noon. another post will be uploaded in an hour. warning, that one will be long - feeling chatty, lots of things that i wrote, and even feeling sentimental. so, i wrote a friggen novel. pictures to be uploaded in the next few days).

So, here's Wednesday's post.

Day 3 on the Rock. South Brook was basically the peak North that I would hit on the Island. Now, it's South and East, to my final destination. The ride started out swell with the tailwind of 10 k/h for the first 50 k until Badger. The first song played was “Mercy Street”, by Peter Gabriel (So, 1986). Great tune, mellow, which set the tone for the ride today. The tune was quite captivating that I had to listen to the whole album right after that.

In Grand-Falls, I did some grocery shopping (lunch meat for sandwiches), checked out the falls and the associated Salmon Interpretation Centre (Five dollars to get in, dang). As the ticket gave me in/out privileges all day, I decided to give the ticket to someone on my way out. I hope they were able to use it. In town, I also went to the post office to mail a few things. It is where I tapped into someone's Internet, where I was able to upload the post people refer as Hockey Night In Canada, check email, and do some business. Emails are piling up – sorry, I'll be able to get to the bottom of them soon (thanks for your patience and understanding). As for Grand-Falls, the people are nice, but a bit slow for service wherever I went. Corner Brook and Deer Lake are much nicer places (so far).

I spent a fair amount of time there, so I had to boogie a bit. I figured I could stay in Gander that night, or, light (and winds) permitting, continue to the next campsite 40 km away.

Gander is a swell place, from what I saw. Big sign coming in: “Ranked top 10 best places to live”. With an airport AND a drive-thru Subway (really), why wouldn't it be? After shopping for my supper (lunch meat again, as I am trying to finish off all my bread and condiments), I decided to continue. The campsite in Gander was 10 km North (away from the TCH), so that made me not want to hike up there and back. Go on, even though it would be dark in an hour (thus up to an hour of biking in the dark). With the wide shoulders, light traffic, and good/nice/respecting drivers, I wasn't concerned a bit.

I picked up the pace, almost TT for a while until it got dark. Sunset behind me was pleasant to see in my rear-view-mirror, and up in the sky ahead of me was Venus. Such a pleasant sight to ride with. Darkness fell eventually, and things were still alright (traffic, temperature, safety, etc). At one point, I could see at the crest of the hill up ahead, the cars/transport putting on their brakes. Why? I would find out a few minutes later when I reached the top. Fog, fairly thick too. That was cool in a way (no pun intended), as the traffic would slow down a bit, and the riding would be a tiny bit tricky (but quite fun). So, I too slowed down a bit. Yes, red flashing light was on, and I was using the light I won at Solstice this year. Good little thing that light. Better prize than I thought, and much better than the Camel-back I won for 2nd place the last time. Side note, what would I do with another Camel-back when I have 2-3 already? Shitty.

After finding the signs for the camping, and hiking a bit off the highway to the other side of Gambo, I found my spot (around 11 pm then). Twelve bucks again (showers included). The dude there was quite nice. Once I had my shower at the Office, I gave him my computer and mp3 to charge up in his office (as he didn't have a service site for me), and then lead me, on his bike with lights, to my campsite. I didn't know until we got there, but he brought a carpet to put underneath the tent for me. Luxury.

So, after eating a bit, I headed off to bed for a good night sleep.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Now, I understand that some of you don't know Sarah Jane, so I'll tell
you a little bit about her. She's a lesbian Eskimo midget albino. She
went to college and she started the Lesbian midget Eskimo Albino
Student Union, and four hundred people signed up. There they were,
hundreds of 'em, lesbian midget left-handed Eskimo albinos. Did I
mention the fact that she's left-handed? She's left-handed, alright.

Girl's got some strange hobbies. One of her hobbies is lowering children
into open manholes, which is kinda difficult 'cause a lot of the
children are taller than her, her being a midget and everything... or
her being a left-handed midget... or her being a left-handed lesbian
midget... or her being a left-handed lesbian albino midget... or her
being a lesbian left-handed albino midget Eskimo... life can be really
difficult on that young lady.

She bit me once, you know. Right here, ya see this? Left a mark. She was
lowerin' a friend of mine's kid into the sewer, I run up, and tried to
stop her. I said, "Listen there, you lesbian midget left-handed albino!
And you stop right there!" Then she bit me. I'm afraid I'm gonna... I'm
gonna turn into a lesbian left-handed midget albino when the moon is
full.

Oh my God, the moon is full tonight! I can feel myself shrinking! I can
feel myself getting left-handed! I can feel myself getting the urge to
build an igloo! I can feel my skin turning white and my eyes getting
red! I can feel... I can feel the urge... to buy a Suzanne Vega album!!

NOOO! NNNNNOOOO!!!!
NNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Oh, I'm okay; it was just gas.