The Delay

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To Stephenville
Brad and Treena The amazing day of May 10 (my birthday) began with a ferry ride from Rencontre to Pool’s Cove. It was a much earlier start to a birthday than I would have wished for, but we had a big day ahead. From Pool’s Cove we had to bike 50 short kms to Hermitage where we were to catch another ferry in the afternoon. The biking was fantastic, for the first time on the trip the down-hills outweighed the up-hills and we flew down the road in brilliant sunlight and made it to Hermitage in record time and were able to stuff ourselves silly with food outside of a grocery store before hitting the ferry once again. Brad and I had a great time on the ferry, trying to discover the science behind the game “rock, paper, scissors” and he even surprised me with a birthday cake complete with candles. What a keeper.

The final stop of the day was Francois, one of the most amazing places we had stayed yet. It was an isolated town at the foot of cliffs, right by the ocean. The setting made Brad and I feel very small, compared to the walls of earth that stretched for days. Upon seeing a bridge and a trail way up up up high on the hill ledge, we took a nice evening hike and were able to take in some spectacular bird’s eye views of our new home for the night.

That night we stayed in our first REAL campsite since we began our journey (and by campsite I mean there was a picnic table and flat ground near the backyard of a church).

The next day was another early start and began with another ferry ride. With the sun rising up over the water and a mug of tea made by our new friends on the ferry (the people we have met have been so generous!) it was a great morning. From the ferry terminal we had 300kms to kill before hitting our last Newfoundland ferry to Nova Scotia, thus it would have taken us about 4 days of good biking to finish off province one.

We started out great, we were having great time biking and didn’t even stop for a snack until we did 32kms (usually we need a little Crystal Light at the 10km mark). All was very very well. Also, with the hills and tailwinds we were going pretty damn fast that day, cracking the 70km mark an hour going down hills.

The wonderful day changed when I came along to a curve in the road and a downhill. I leaned forward, start pedaling hard and got going pretty fast. Unfortunately the tail wind turned into a side wind as we rounded the corner and my bike started swaying back and forth. I didn’t even really have a chance to panic before I was in a stranger’s truck, with Brad's arms around me, with Brad trying to calm me down as I made “dying” sounds. So I guess I fell, and knocked myself out for that matter. Brad tells the story as: He took the downhill pretty fast, started going up the next hill, looked back expecting me to be on his heels, didn’t see me, looked harder, saw a "pink clump" on the side of the road, and turned around. I was awake when we came to me (though I don’t remember any of this) and I was bawling and a truck passed and he stopped it and I said "Nah, we don’t need help...um, is this the first day of our bike tip?? (it was day 11)" - so Brad concluded we should probably get some help. We went to the hospital; I have some awesome road rash and a fractured rib.

From this event came a few nice nights at the Holiday Inn, where we have stayed the last few days and have caught up on our TV, and Brad on his hockey. Brad has been a great nurse and friend and I’m sure with his support and help we will be back on the road in no time.

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Photos

Open Road
cool clouds

Me
Me conquering a hill.

Waterfall
A cool waterfall in Francois.

Francois
Crazy weird beautiful place.

Bruiser
Me, and my wounds, and sexy cheetah prints.

Ferry
Brad on the fishboat/ ferry.

Leaving Francois
Early in the morning on the way out of Francois.

Comments

[Ryan Lennerton]

BIG BEER DAY
Hey Brad and Lady companion, So I'm leaving Langley around July 26th. So you know what the means? Get your ass home soon so we can have big beer day! I figure if you get in about 300-375 km per day you should be home in plenty of time...and avoid tail winds that turn into side winds ;) Take care and I hope to see you at the end of the summer. It would be a shame for you to miss BIG BEER DAY (a day that you actually created!). Bye for now Lenny

[ashley]

oh treen!!
wow, that update changed from great to devastating in a few seconds! are you doing ok? thats a crazy story, being knocked out is so scary, you can barley tell up from down when you come to! I'm glad Brad is being so wonderful, the bday cake with the candles, and now being your nurse! Dont rush yourself to get back on the road before your ready, soak up the hot showers and nice hotel rroms as long as you need! feel better lovely!! nice cheeta's babe!!! talk to you soon!!

[Ya-ya Cindy]

Hope you are on the mend!
Hey Treena! Heard about your misfortune, I hope you are starting to feel better and will be able to get back on the road soon! The photos you have posted so far are AMAZING, what an awesome journey the 2 of you are taking on, you will have some very cool memories for sure! Looking forward to seeing more entries, hopefully with you sitting vertically on your bike! Have fun, see you in a few months! Cindy (ya-ya!!)

[Will From Teaneck, NJ, USA]

REminds me of ...
Wonderful posting. A beautiful gal and handsome guy heading across Canada together. Reminds me of my NYC to LA to Fairbanks, Alaska bicycle trip (Back before recorded history when the Alaskan Highway was gravel dirt, all 900 miles of it! Well, not counitng the 20 miles around Whithouse ). It was a solo trip WITHOUT a beautiful girl (dam!) Thanks for your posting and glad Treena didn't get too too banged up. Have a safe one! Keep the writing and pictures going, there are many that enjoy reading your story that don't post a comment I imagine. OH, one thought, in areas whre it might be dangerous, stick behind the weakest link (whoever that may be) so you come upon them as opposed to having to go back and search. .... Well, this is a comment section. Cheers!

[Johanne]

The Canadian traverlers
Hey guys what's up, Need some news and photos. I know you have better things to do than satisfing my curiousity but I* need to know how you are doing. By the way the comment that someone sugested was a good one ( the weaker link should be ahead!! Good idea! Not that there is one or both! You guys are being missed a lot ! Keep on going so you can be home!! Enjoy every leg of the journey and make unfortgetable memories! Love mom!