Planning Is Paramount

I've read Steve Anderson's tales "To Labrador and Back" and "The Maritime Provinces," both very informative and fair better penned that I could ever do. Putting my writing skill aside, here is a tale of four riders -- Dick Klehm, Nick Mammarella, Kevin Parker and Ivan Sproano.

As the title says, planning is paramount. You can certainly do the run from the U.S. to Labrador (Goose Bay) Canada without much planning, but don't expect to find a place to sleep each night or a ferry to move you on your way. In our group of four solid riders, we had one great planner. He pulled the four of us together and made every hotel and ferry reservation we needed.

I must tell you that we all have owned, own now, or would like to own a BMW in the future, but for this trip we elected to ride the Kawasaki KLR 650. The bike met our off-road need for this trip, about 800 miles of good gravel road. It also did a respectable job on the hard surface and had good long gas mileage legs.

To all you hard-core riders, I have to tell you we trucked our bikes to Maine. We did cover 2400 miles on two wheels, but it wasn't a door-to-door bike ride. Our little group came together in Waterville, Maine, and spent our first day getting to Baie Comeau, Quebec, Canada. Baie Comeau turned out to be nice midsize town with all the amenities one could ask for, including some fine dining. After a great meal and a good night's rest, we started our odyssey to Goose Bay, Canada. Just outside Baie Comeau, we hit the dirt.

It was great fun, major league sliding, and dodging trucks. We took advantage of every gas station we passed, as we had some concern about gas availability. It turns out it's not really a problem, but some stations are 150 miles apart. It's a good idea to fill up wherever and whenever you could.

After Baie Comeau, we made one overnight stop in Labrador City. On our way out of Lab City, we passed through a cool company town (Churchill Falls) supported by a hydroelectric power plant. Everything was owned by the one power plant company, just like in the old Pennsylvania coal mining company towns.

Once in Goose Bay, it was time to get the once a week (only on Thursday) ferry out of town. This is one of those coordination events I spoke of; if you miss this boat trip, you wait a week or head back the way you came. That's a lot more dirt.

Our plan was to see Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, and we needed the Goose Bay ferry to do that. After a good night's sleep on the ferry (departs Goose at 5:00 PM), we arrived in Cartwright at 6:00 am. A little more gravel road in Newfoundland and then great scenery, good roads, gas stations everywhere, and more good food (lobster, cod tongues (yes tongues), and caribou burgers).

Once off the ferry in Cartwright, we headed to Blanc Sablon. One of our KLRs was limping badly, and we were very happy to get it across the border and on a trailer. Our 10 day trip was over, and I'm ready to do it again. On our way to the finish line, we saw some great places and wonderful culture, like the folks dancing as the sun set in Port aux Basques.

As all good trips to Newfoundland require, we had to see the Bay of Fundy, a place that is easy to find, even without GPS, and worth the stop. There is a nice park I recommend which has a good museum and provides you with some equally nice vantage points.

Instead of recounting our group's little road trip, I've provided our Nick's Trans-Lab trip plan. As you see below, it lays out our trip, including places to stay and contact phone numbers. With the exception of a few pictures and some fun details, our trip is as you see it below.

DATE	FROM	TO	PLACE	PHONE
7/18/08	Stafford, Virginia	Waterville, Maine	Comfort Inn & Suites	207-873-2777
7/19/08	Waterville, Mane	Baie Comeau, Quebec	Comfort Inn	418-589-8252
7/20/08	Baie Comeau, Quebec	Labrador City, Newfoundland & Labrador	Two Seasons Inn	800-670-7667
7/21/08	Labrador City, Newfoundland & Labrador	Goose Bay, Newfoundland & Labrador	Hotel North	709-896-9301
7/22/08	Goose Bay, Newfoundland & Labrador	Overnight Ferry (depart 5 pm)	Labrador Marine	800-563-6353
7/23/08	Cartwright (arrive 6am), Newfoundland & Labrador	Blanc Sablon Ferry	Labrador Marine	800-563-6353
7/23/08	Blanc Sablon Ferry depart 6pm)	St Barbe, Newfoundland & Labrador	Dockside Motel	877-677-2444
7/24/08	St Barbe, Newfoundland & Labrador	Port aux Basque, Newfoundland & Labrador	St Christopher's Hotel	800-563-4779
7/25/08	Port aux Basques, Newfoundland & Labrador	North Sydney, Nova Scotia	Marine Atlantic (depart 9am)	800-341-7981
7/25/08	North Sydney, Nova Scotia	Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia	Home Again B&B	902-625-3076
7/26/08	Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia	St John, New Brunswick	Country Inn & Suites	800-456-4000
7/27/08	St John, New Brunswick	Waterville, Maine	Comfort Inn & Suites	207-873-2777
7/28/08	Waterville, Maine	Stafford, Virginia	HOME!	ooo