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Art
08-28-2009, 10:44 PM
The final swing of our Atlantic Canada road trip involved a two week tour of Newfoundland. We returned to Nova Scotia via ferry and eventually made our way south to Yarmouth where we boarded yet another ferry to Bar Harbor, Maine. The last week of driving would see us travelling through parts of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York State, Niagara Falls (NY and Ont), Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and North Dakota before heading back north across the US/Cdn border and finally home to Alberta.

What a trip! We logged over 16,000 km and our gear laden XC performed flawlessly. I can't say enough about the wonderful people that we met along the way. [thumbup]

Note that here are roughly 80 or so pics contained in this thread. Depending on your connection, the DL times may vary.

The MV Joey and Clara Smallwood would be our ticket to the 'Rock'. It departed from North Sidney, NS and arrived in Argentia, NL 16 hours later.
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The Newfoundland coastline comes into view from the deck of the Smallwood.
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Parked at the visitor's center at Cape St. Mary's. The cape is also home to spectacular sea bird colonies. Earlier on, we had hooked up with a paddling buddy at the Argentia ferry terminal. Wagons Rule! :D
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The cape in its entire splendor.
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Thousands of gannets, murres, kittiwakes and razorbills all manage to find a place along the steep cliffs
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Killick Coast Trail. Stopover at Pouch Cove, Northeast Avalon Peninsula
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The colorful streets of Saint John's, NL.
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View from Signal Hill overlooking the city of St. John's
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The picturesque town of Trinity along the East Coast Trail.
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Entering the town of Elliston. It's most notable claim to fame is being the root cellar capital of the world. We came to see the puffins.
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…and were not disappointed.
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Evening paddle at Red Cove, Bonavista, NL
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Cape Bonavista Lighthouse and monument to John Cabot.
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We came upon this coverted school bus a couple of times along this stretch of coastal road. Turns out it was owned by a family from Dawson City, Yukon who took it upon themselves to travel cross country and advocate their 'Go Green' philosophy to life. The bus runs on WVO and is powered by solar cells.
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A twin-entrance sea cave near Cape Bonavista which was aptly named the Dungeon.
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It was a virtual paddlefest at a friend's cabin in Eastport, NL near Terra Nova National Park.
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A fellow kayaker from Quebec extolls the virtues of his compact Go-Camp trailer. At 450 lbs., it's light enough to tow behind his four banger Matrix.
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Conception Bay South. Prepping the boats for day paddle.
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The charming seaside town of Salvage.
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Twillingate, NL. Self-proclaimed ice berg capital of the world.
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A view of the Tablelands as we enter Gros Morne National Park.
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Arches Provincial Park
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Seal pelts on wood stretchers somewhere along the northern peninsula.
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View overlooking the town of St. Anthony
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Located at the northern most point in Newfoundland are the ancient Viking settlements of L'Anse Aux Meadows and Norstead.
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Any Canucks out there recognize the three costumed characters in the photo?
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Moose sitings on the rock were common and on this day we encountered our fair share.
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Western Brook Pond, Gros Morne National Park
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A scenic drive from the Port aux Basques ferry terminal brought us to the quaint community of Rose Blanche.
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Rose Blanche lighthouse
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The harbor at Port aux Basques was our final stop on the Rock in addition to being one of two ferry departure points for Nova Scotia.
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The MV Atlantic Vision seen steaming away from the terminal.
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The lighthouse at Peggy's Cove, NS
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Images from Lunenburg, NS
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Fort Point Lighthouse, Liverpool, NS
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Images taken of historic Shelburne, NS
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Cape Forchu Lighthouse near Yarmouth, NS
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A bow shot of the Fast Cat Ferry in Yarmouth that would take us to Bar Harbor, ME.
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Bar Harbor, Maine.
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Downtown Portsmouth, NH and the inner harbor
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Ludington, Wisconsin. The SS Badger and her sister ship, The Spartan, are converted coal-fired steam vessels that were once used to transport rail cars in the late 50’s. The Badger now ferries passengers and vehicles across Lake Michigan from Ludington to Manitowoc. A crack crew of valet drivers load and unload guests' vehicles which was a first for us. On this particular day, there was a collection of vintage tractors and corvettes.
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John@CdnRockies
08-31-2009, 08:56 AM
Wow - 16,000 kilometers in a single go. That's the equivalent of a full year's driving for the average Canadian. I'm envious!

These shots are awesome Art. I will have to get your itinerary in order to replicate it myself. Glad to see that the sun came out for the Newfoundland part of the trip given the East's poor summer weather. Seems ebery time I visited the rock it was overcast or foggy.

Sai must be happy to get back to her garden and house again!

John

Art
09-01-2009, 11:11 AM
I hear ya John. :) Although the experience of covering so much territory was exhilarating, after 45 days it sure was good to be back on home turf. I figure it will be a while before we do anymore long hauls. The XC never missed a beat and the only issue that we encountered on the entire trip was a slow leak on a front tire.

The trip involved 7 ferry sailings and four US/CAN border crossings. As for the weather, most of the really nasty stuff seemed to stay with us during our time in Nova Scotia.

Jules
09-13-2009, 03:04 PM
Art,

Fabulous pics of your XC XC Road Trip (Cross Canada in a Cross Country Road Trip.) Makes me a little home sick for my east coast roots. Thanks for sharing these with us.

1) I don't recognize the three characters (in character) but I did see a program on OLN last night where these follows hitch-hiked across Peru to Lake Titikaka. Who are they?

2) In an earlier post, someone mentioned the oversize wheels/tire filling the wheel wells. What are they and how did you compensate for the extra circumference?

3) I got a speeding ticket last week a few kms outside your fair city (Red Deer) on our way to Edmonchuck to pick up our new-to-us '05 XC70.

Thanks again for the pics.

Jules

Art
09-13-2009, 08:30 PM
Hey Jules,

Glad that you enjoyed the trip photos. We actually spent a total of 10 days in your beautiful home province and likely would have stayed longer if only the weather was a bit more cooperative. Lunenburg was exceptionally pretty as was historical Shelburne.

The three fellows in the pic are the Eagar Brothers (http://www.whichwayto.tv/index.html) who are originally from Cape Breton. The OLN tv show that you saw portrays a 12 year journey of their travel adventures through various global destinations. They were filming an episode for the upcoming season when we arrived at L'Anse aux Meadows.

The wheels are aftermarket 18" x 8" Heico Volutions and the tires are 235/50/18 Bridgestones. The overall diameter works out to 27.3" compared to the stock 27" and the difference in actual speed is about 1% faster.

You must have been going at a pretty good clip to get trapped on the QE II. One can discover that, on any given day, most people casually drive in excess of 20-30 kph over the speed limit without any fear of being stopped.

Forkster
09-13-2009, 09:58 PM
Art,

You must of caught Nfld on a great week, cause the way I remember it was rain, drizzle-n-fog for most of my young life spent there before heading West. Thought I didn't officially leave until 1995, I do miss the rugged coast lines and being near and on the water. The people are also wonderfully friendly compared to the buggers I live next to here in Cowtown. :D

It's strange, usually Nova Scotia has all the sun and on the rock we'd get all the crappy weather. Maine looks pretty too. How was your drive after you got off those old steamers? Hit anything interesting?

Art
09-14-2009, 09:37 AM
Ed,

I guess we must have really lucked out then. In fact, the two weeks that we spent on the rock, there were only a couple of days when it was either drizzly or foggy. I have the same opinion as you about the warmth and hospitality that we received from Newfoundlanders everywhere we stopped and we never felt hesitant about leaving our kayaks and gear out of sight.

A couple of other highlights on the return leg home were stopovers at the Herkimer Diamond Mines in NY State and also a side trip to Niagara Falls (a personal first for me). My wife is somewhat of a rock hound and she managed to find a few nice examples of naturally-formed clear quartz diamonds.

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There was really not much to report following the crossing of Lake Michigan into Wisconsin hence the absence of photos. At that point, we were quite spent. The prairies of Minnesota and North Dakota look pretty much the same as what we have back home. :)

Jules
09-14-2009, 07:46 PM
You must have been going at a pretty good clip to get trapped on the QE II. One can discover that, on any given day, most people casually drive in excess of 20-30 kph over the speed limit without any fear of being stopped.

Actually, I was on the David Thompson (Hwy 11) coming from Saskatchewan River Crossing. To quote the officer, he asked "Can you explain to me why you felt it was necessary to do 134 kph to pass a vehicle that was already doing 112 kph on a highway where the posted speed limit is 100 kph?" My reply: "Well, that's a good question, officer." "Yes, it is!" he responded. There were two other Crown Vics working the immediate area so I was bound to get caught by one of them. [mad2]

Love the look of your ride. My next Volvo will be an Ocean Race model.

Jules

Ocean Racer
04-21-2010, 11:35 PM
Nice photos [thumbup]
I love threads like these.

XCovlov70
04-22-2010, 11:08 PM
Hi Art,
What a fabulous trip you had and thanks for sharing those wonderful photos. It must have taken a bit of uploading and then sorting out?

My wife and I start our Arctic Circle Tour tomorrow, around Scandinavia, not quite as far as your 16,000km trip as we are expecting to cover around 11,000km but hoping like you to see some excellent scenery.

I think the XC is raring to go as she keeps 'growling" at me every time we go out! :D
So like you we are hoping for a problem free trip, as I think the XC likes the long trips as opposed to toddling around town.

Thanks again for sharing that was some awsome trip! [thumbup]