As June moved into July we knew that time was growing closer to head to the eastern coast of the island and to the largest city, St. Johns (with an S). The car was packed as much as it could be the night before we left. I had reviewed our route, found a possible eating stop, and felt both a sadness to be leaving this sweet spot and excitement about what was next. There was a part of me that wanted to stay, to find a little cottage, just right for me, at the water's edge. This was a part of the trip that had mostly remained unchanged due to the change in our arrival port.
What I knew before this trip, and what was reinforced was that there are long spaces of no gas, no restrooms, and no food. Plan wisely, stop when able.
The last night in Twillingate and the best sunset of the stay, Marcia and I kept wowing, and wooing and loving it all. Car packed, route planned, weather uncontrollable, sleep well. We woke early, ate a little, we were ready to go.
So off we went. It was a grey, cloudy, coolish. I have become automatic in converting KLM to MI, I could almost allow myself to just stay in an understanding of kilometers, but the conversion of F degrees to C degrees, oh my....I look like a deer in the headlights as someone provides their opinion on the coming days weather and then run for my phone to try to sort out what the temperature might be the coming day. What I knew when I got in the car was that it was a good driving temperature, the clouds were good for driving and that the best weather of the day was probably happening right now.
We were off. We had driving about an hour or so, we had gotten off the coast and moving more toward the center of the island, more cars, at least some of the time, new roads, and more rain. By the time we stopped at what I had thought would be a good place to eat, it was not that great and we were the only ones there, except for the waitstaff and a man playing a slot machine. The food was not bad, nothing to remember, the need to stop was absolute, and we took our time before heading back into the car. Next stop St. John's. The car had been gassed up, our bellies full. By this time the rain was really coming down, the fog was rolling in and the combination of more cars, many huge trucks and fewer and fewer passing lanes made the driving harrowing. I sang songs in my head, wiggled my fingers, rolled my shoulders, anything to help break the weight of very bad weather and road conditions that were the worst yet on the trip. The deep ruts on the road (remember this is the Trans Canada Highway) made hydroplaning an almost constant reality. Finding the right speed, the right place to drive to stay out of the ruts, and frustrating range of speed that the vehicles were moving at made this the worst driving day. Marcia was supportive but all we could really do was just keep going, this was a front that was staying for awhile so waiting it out did not seem to be an option, and given where we were there really were few options anyway. Have a said that there are no rest areas, way stops, oasis in Newfoundland, every information center employee we talked to said the same thing, "it is the #1 request (aka complaint) why are there no rest areas"? The good news is that we just kept on, heading towards St. Johns and the next part of our trip. Thankfully, there began to be moments where the rain let up some, where there were either smaller ruts, or I was more able to stay out of them, and we were getting closer and closer. We talked about supper, we were heading for a place that has a very international flavor, lots of cuisines, and taxi/uber service which meant that I did NOT have to drive. The closer we got, the more the rain let up, such a relief. The address was plugged into the gps and we were almost there.
As we pulled up, the rain had stopped, the instructions to get into the row house building worked and we were beyond relieved!
We were in St. John's so many new experiences were waiting for us. Rain or no rain. We hauled our stuff in, decided on bedrooms and collapsed on the couch. Imagining the what next and thinking about what we had left behind. Good bye Twillingate Island hello St. Johns.
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