We were ready very very early in the morning for our drive west, Corner Brook . It was another long day of driving, and a big part of the drive it would be the second time that we were driving the Transcontinental Highway across the island and down the western coast. We were both amazed at the all the beautiful views and vistas that we did not see in the pouring rain as we drove on our trip to St. John's. We were now leaving St. John's we were heading to Corner Brook where we would stay overnight for the last time on this trip to Newfoundland. It was a good drive, we both spent a lot of time with our own thoughts, savoring what we had seen, what we were seeing, and feeling the pull of the last part of our time in this vast, beautiful, no rest stop island.
As we passed back around Gander, I lamented once again, being sorry that we had not been able to go to the last preview night of Come From Away. A few months before we were due to leave for Newfoundland, Marcia called and was so excited that she had been reading about Come From Away, the Broadway musical, and she had just figured out that there would be performances in Gander while we were in Newfoundland. She really wanted to go. I had weeks before looked at the maps and our destinations and the timing, we were going to be there during the opening previews and the first week of performances, there were only a few performances a week. I too had really really wanted to see Come From Away in the very place that inspired the musical, but couldn't see how we could make it happen. With Marcia's phone call, I went back to the drawing board, and we decided to spend one of the days and nights we had in Twillingate in Gander and we would go see Come From Away. If only we were younger, we could have driven down and back, all of our youthful energy taking us the 90+ minute drive, but that is not the case. We decided it was too good to not go, and I got us 2 tickets. Then our arrival and destination port changed, we drove much more than we had planned, all of the tips about how it was to drive across the island had turned out to be oh so true. It was a lot, and with much disappointment we both knew that we could not put this "extra leg" into our trip. Our leisurely first days in Newfoundland had changed, they were oh so very good, but they were a lot. Here we were, two 70+ (emphasis on the +) women and two oxygen concentrators (one portable, one for the inside) touring Newfoundland! We made the right decision, we did not go to Gander to see Come From Away.
As we drove around Gander, the disappointment landed for awhile. Then we drove on through town, the roads not so crowded, no rain in sight, not too sunny, headed west and the disappointment returned to the savoring of memories. Memories mixed with seeing another view, catching a beautiful little pond almost hidden from the road, and seeing the mountains in the distance. I don't even remember where we stopped for lunch and gas. We had a destination, Corner Brook, we had some ideas about what we could see while there, and we were headed that way.
Corner Brook was fun, we found our way to a bustling, art-centric main street. We ate thai food. We found the Boomstick Brewery. We went to the Captain Cook Historical Site. The views were spectacular, the trails inviting, and I had such a strong pull of my own little home of Patten in the northern part of the Katahdin Region. The vitality of this old lumber mill town, the revival and vibrancy, it made me feel the hopefulness for the future of my small town (very small town) in northern Maine. We enjoyed our afternoon and evening in Corner Brook, the pull of leaving had subsided, the contentment of being right where we were was welcomed and embraced. Tomorrow we would head to Port Aux Basques, with a few stops along the way.
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