September 2, 2018

    The sky was mainly cloudy and cleared a bit during the journey east.  It was windy and the temperature was 12°C.  We had the usual wakeup call 30 minutes before the luggage needed to be placed in the hall to be gathered to put on the coach. Then departure 75 minutes later.  Today was the longest drive from Rocky Harbour to Gander about 373 km.  We managed a 25 minute walk before boarding the coach.

   The distance to Grand Falls-Windsor is 207 km, to Gander 301 km and to St. John’s 646 km. We have three more days until we arrive in St. John’s.

   The first hour, we retraced Highway 430 Viking Trail back to Deer Lake. For the first 20 minutes the route followed Bonne Bay’s shoreline, where we had cruised yesterday afternoon. The first rest stop was at Deer Lake, which we used for a 20 minute walk.  Steps 6873

   For the next two hours, traveling on the Trans-Canada Highway, the road cut through forest. It was like driving in northwestern Ontario. The forest is cleared back from the road at least five meters so that drivers have a chance of seeing a moose at the roadside, before it darts across the road. We listened to the CD from the Newfoundland band, “NewspaperFashionShow”, whose drummer is our driver Pete’s 23 year old son. Pete commented as we drove along Halls Bay that it is the only place on the Trans-Canada Highway where whales might be seen. 

    At Grand Falls-Windsor we stopped for a “Scatter” lunch.  The passengers could choose which of a variety of restaurants they wished to have lunch at –  KFC, Subway, a Chinese restaurant, McDonald’s, Jungle Jim Eatery, Tim Hortons and a pizza & donair restaurant. We worked in a 20 minute walk.   Steps  9631 

    It was a short 10 minute drive to the Salmonid Interpretation Centre, one of North America’s largest Atlantic salmon enhancement projects.

   The stop at the Salmonid Interpretation Centre was 90 minutes. It is located on the Exploits River, Newfoundland’s longest river which runs from the Long Range Mountains on the Northern Peninsula (where we had spent most of the past five days) to Notre Dame Bay  and it is 246 miles long.

    The center’s guide, JoAnne, explained the Atlantic Salmon migration and the Grand Falls Fishway. It is located beside the Grand Falls Dam. The fishway consists of 35 pools to allow the fish to “climb” above the falls and return to the Exploits River.  There is a tank that has a couple of one year old fish and another tank has just one two year old fish since the fish might eat each other.   The fish are released at three years to go to the ocean and they return to spawn at about seven years old.  Fish that are born in fresh water then migrate to ocean and return to fresh water to spawn are called anadromous fish.  Unlike Pacific salmon, Atlantic salmon do not die after they spawn. Other species in the Exploits River are Brook Trout, Sticklebacks and Live Eels.    Steps 11,962

    From there the drive to Gander was about 70 minutes. We detoured into the town of Appleton where there is a piece of steel girder from the New York Trade Center collapse on September 11, 2001.  It was a gift from peoples whose planes were diverted to Gander and who stayed in the homes Appleton residents for a few days after the disaster.

     As we entered Gander, we drove to the airport, which has one of the longest runways on the east coast, to view the tarmac where more than 40 trans-Atlantic planes were diverted on September 11, 2001. Gander airport was a refueling stop during World War II for new bombers and fighter airplanes that were on route to Britain.

     Around 4 p.m. we arrived at our hotel for tonight, Sinbad's Hotel & Suites.  The temperature was a nice 21°C so wewent for a walk before dinner.  The group gathered in the dining room for a served dinner. We have a group that likes to be on time – with a cushion of at least five minutes early. Dinner time was set for 6 p.m. and at two minutes to 6 p.m., 31 of the 39 travelers were already seated. We sat with Karen and Kathy, who live in the same part of the city as we do.  They ordered salad and prime rib roast beef which came with Yorkshire pudding, mashed potatoes, mashed rutabaga, which they praised.  We ordered salad and salmon fillet wrapped in thin bacon strips, which melted in your mouth. It came with mashed potatoes and mashed rutabaga.  The dessert was cheesecake with caramel sauce.

    After dinner we assisted Bob to send the group photo from his IPad to some of the other group members.        Total steps.   17,694