We awoke early, once again; packed up our wet tent caused by another night of rain, and headed out. As we were winding our way back to the main “highway” we realized that we had forgot to ask about the forest, and why every few metres there were “Danger signs” saying do not enter. We had thought for some time trying to figure out why these existed and none came to mind. Our only possible conclusion was that it had something to do with the Air Force, but then we decided that they would most likely fence the area where they do not want people to enter. So, after all of that was said and done, we still do not know what those Danger signs were for.
I was a happy camper as all I could see for a while was a paved road…that meant maybe I could sleep a bit more. It didn’t take long before I heard ca-thunk…and the continous rumble of our tires on gravel. That’s okay, but then came the pot holes…again.
Rain yesterday, today it was snowing. That = mess!!!!
Me?! I was freaking out yesterday…you should have seen how my face and body felt after watching the snow fall silently onto the car.
I was worried. I have been told I should think of it as an adventure. And I will. I will look back on it and be proud of the adventure’s we had in Labrador and I will ever ever criticize how bad the gravel road is from Innisfree to my farm ever again. I can now bare that 10min gravel road experience after having travelled probably close to 2000km on a slushy, pot-holed gravel “highway”
Today we were hoping to get to the middle of nowhere Quebec…and we did. It took some time because of the weather. We were gaining altitude and starting to crest over the mountains/hills that stretched through Labrador and Quebec. With this altitute the snow became thicker. We stopped for gas at a locale’ which we had been told in Labrador City had existed. The young man at the fuel station there had informed us of the road situation (windy he said, but no as bad as the goose-bay road and patches of pavement)---he was dead on. He also told us that the next fuel pump was 250km into Lab City and was in the middle of absolutely nowhere. He was also right on that one. That is where we got some gas.
Then we carried on. The snow was getting worse and we wanted to get to our destination before it started to freeze. We were headed for Gagnon, an old mining town which is now completely desolate for a night of wild camping. It was supposed to be at Kilometre 390 on Route 389, so when we found that junction we turned left. A few hunters, who were calling it quits for the day looked us with complete bewilderness. They were probably wondering why on Earth we were heading down that road. We travelled for about 5km and didn’t see anything…we didn’t see any signs that a mining town used to be there.
We did see old mining pits and some old “junk areas” but nothing too substantial. We figured we would go a bit further and then turn back. We had decided rather quickly that this, even if we found the old town or not, would be a poor choice to stay for tonight. The road winded down a hill and it was slushy and wet. If that froze over night we could be stuck there for a while.
With no sign of this wild camping we were looking for, we headed back to the highway. We kept travelling south towards Quebec, looking for a spot to pull off. We had joked that we might have to sleep in our car a few nights. Well folks, this was our night. With no towns/communities for 100’s of kilometers either way, we figured our best choice of action would be to get some shut eye in the car.
We found a pull of 30 or so km down the road, but after carefull inspection we decided it was too clay like and mucky for our liking,
Back onto the highway we kept going—we were now on the search for a 5-1-1 pull off—it was a phone booth supplied by Quebec, for travelers in case of an emergency. Those pull outs were gravel and less slushy from traffic, and they would be easy to get back onto the highway. Not soon after we found a sign that informed us one was 10km ahead—Perfect!
Continuing on our way we were hoping that pullout would come soon. The snow was even heavier and the driving conditions were definitely getting worse. We couldn’t see far out our window so it was such a relief when that phone booth pull out appeared.
We gathered up what we were going to snuggle into for the evening. (sleeping bag and extra socks, etc.) and after 14 hours of extreme driving conditions we called it a night.
Now I can saw, I have slept in my car, in Quebec, in the middle of nowhere! Have you?!?
With Jerusalem at a stand-still and my mind settled that I didn’t have to worry about another pot hole or wash board or grader lines or huge rocks for a few hours my eye lids closed and I drifted asleep…until….
I woke up FREEZING. Ah…snow=a lot colder temperatures, even when sleeping in the car.
This became quite a challenge and disrupted our sleep a lot, as every two hours we had to turn on the car to heat it up, so that we could fall asleep again.
Half way into the night a semi pulled in beside us, I imagine he had the same idea as us. Roads were terrible so you might as well get some sleep.
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