Advertisement
Planning a long trip is really fun. It provides a comforting sense of purpose and commitment. I study maps, design routes, and steep myself in the culture of the land. Potential disasters are foreseen, acts of God set aside, and contingency plans developed, which lead to the best part of the preparation process -- buying more equipment ! Canada, in its benevolent wisdom, provides travelers on this road with free satellite phones -- picked up at one end, and dropped off at the other, on the honor system. A key feature is convincing Beth that the project is indeed worthwhile. She has always been very supportive, no matter the destination. I think she understands how important these forays are to me. An issue with this trip has been: "where is it you say you are going ?" and the usual: "why?" My answers are easier this time - I just refer to Bill Carpenter and his trip to Labrador last year with his Dad, and say he recommended it highly. If you are from my church you probably know Bill, and you might like to read the account of his epic journey
here . Labrador is in NE Canada, North of
where the St Lawrence River empties into the Atlantic. Newfoundland is a huge island, and sits below Labrador filling the mouth of the St Lawrence estuary. Together they form Canada's most recent province (1949). The earliest European settlements on the North American Continent took place on the coast of this (joint) Province. Yes, the Vikings visited the coast between 1000 and 1340 CE and decided that it was such a tough environment they wouldn't go any further. Other Europeans (Basques, British, Portuguese, French) started to arrive in the early 1500's to fish and hunt whales and seals. They started to settle the coast late in the 16th century as these extractive activities thrived. As of the mid 20th century, whaling, seal hunting and fishing are no longer practiced commercially.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.074s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 11; qc: 31; dbt: 0.0392s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb
Steve
non-member comment
Not Why? but Why Not?
Sounds like fun. Hope you have good rain gear and dry bags. What's your route to Labrador City from Arlington?