Day Eighteen

Well this day started out with great promise, clear skies and lots of new adventures ahead but the day ended on an entirely different note.
A couple of things  I have been noticing that seemed unusual were piles and piles of neatly stacked firewood along the highways. Each stack had a piece of wood with a number on it nailed to the pile. What I learned was that most people heat their homes with wood and they go to the province and obtain a cutting  permit that allows them to cut firewood on crown land. The odd thing to me is that they leave the wood piled on the side of the road to be retrieved as needed in the winter for which they often use large sleds to tow the wood to their homes using snowmobiles or ATV's.

The other thing was the vegetable gardens that people cultivate along the road side because they don't have the space or good fertile soil where they live. What's really cool about this is that nobody steals the wood or veggies because people are just plain honest.

My mission today was to explore the area but my prime target was L'anse aux Meadows, the Viking settlement. I got there just in time to join a guided tour which was fascinating and educational.

Here's an amazing bronze sculpture that you pass through on the boardwalk down to the site .

Here is a nice shot looking back at the visitor centre at a picturesque spot on the path.






































The pictures of the area really show life as it must have been 1000 years ago when Lief Erickson landed on this barren shore. It was mainly men who where looking for timbers to repair boats and build their homes. The buildings were made with peat sod over a wooden framework which provided a strong well insulated structure.

I grabbed some lunch, did a little grocery shopping and drove about to several small fishing villages just to see the beautiful countryside and their unique lifestyle. Here's one of those fire fighting planes that must have outlived it's usefulness.

I decided mid afternoon to head back to camp and drop off my groceries and because it was still early and I had plenty of light I took off again for Cook's Harbour. This is a place that Captain James Cook
had sailed into many years after the Vikings.
Well, this is where my day took a sudden and dramatic turn. Without warning my bike just stopped running. It felt like I was running out of gas because it cut in and out a few times before dying completely. So, there I was miles from anywhere with a dead bike. I was able to flag down a local couple out for their traditional Sunday drive. They were wonderful people who wanted to help. The cell phone service doesn't   exist outside most towns so I couldn't even call a tow truck. They said that a friend was salmon fishing in a creek nearby and he had a  pickup truck. Perhaps we could get the bike into the truck and take it to St. Anthony, about a half hour away, where there was a Yamaha dealer.

Long story short, that's what we did. We had to just leave the bike with the key around the side of the building because it was Sunday and the shop was closed. They assured me that nobody would touch it and the husband of the nice couple who stopped drove me back to the camp ground. I can't say enough about these wonderful people. The camp was way outside of town so here I sit feeling  somewhat stranded. It was the cocktail hour and I needed a drink to think this mess through.
I will call the dealer in the morning. He deals mainly with ATV's and snowmobiles but for now he's my best chance for getting out of here. The closest Harley dealer is in St. John's, clear at the other side of the island, about an 8 hour trip from here.
It looks like my Maritimes Adventure is just starting.