We camped last night right on the bay in Cartwright. It rained overnight but was clear by the time we woke up, aside from a thick layer of fog that quickly burnt off.
We topped off on fuel in town and headed back south to rejoin 500N, the Trans Labrador Highway. One thing about this road, in most places there is no shortage of beautiful scenery. Lindy even commented once “It’s too easy”, while she was trying to take photos of the landscape. The road frequently crossed brooks, streams, and rivers, previously inaccessible to man.
Out on the road we made good time on our trek to Goose Bay/Happy Valley. The roads were smooth and we were able to carry a lot of speed. At one point about 100km from Goose Bay we came across a minivan at one of the pull-offs. It was a couple of, for lack of a better term, hippies from Montreal we’d seen on the ferry heading to Labrador two days before. They had a poorly-repaired flat and needed an air compressor, we were glad to be of service and enjoyed chatting for a while about our travels thus far. While we stood and talked, a gray-jay flew up, edging closer and closer as we joked about how bold they are and soon enough, he was in the hippies’ van. As they walked over to chase him away, he came flying out the door with a snack, a cookie he’d managed to extricate from the cupholder. We cracked up about it for a few minutes and then got back in the truck. As we headed off we came across a reminder of why you must not let your guard down on this road, a Chevy Blazer on it’s side, roof crushed in but no one should have been hurt if they had their belts on.
As we neared Goose Bay the tank got close to E, then the low fuel light came on, then the needle went past E. I knew from previous days we’d be close on mileage, and had a spare 2.5 gallon can with us, so I wasn’t worried. A few kilometers later, we came up on a road grader. We’d past several over the last 2 days so this was nothing new, but as the road narrowed and we moved over to straddle the row of debris he’d piled up on a previous pass, we heard a loud thud followed by a jolt that rocked the truck. Everything in the center console had found new homes. The change was in the floor, cups and bottles knocked out of the cupholders, and the gearshift knocked into neutral. I quickly looked out of the mirror and saw a giant rock bounce off the side of the road. “What the !@#$^????” I stopped and did a quick inspection, saw no fluids leaking, so we eased down the road a little further before finding a good pulloff for an inspection. This is roughly equivalent to what we hit at about 60mph:
And this is what it did:
Initial damage assessment showed denting and tearing in the front skid plates, a gouge and dent in the driveshaft, and some marks on the rear axle. When we got to town and found a lot to pull off in I crawled under and pulled the skid plate off. There was a hole torn through and an impact crater in the front diff, but no apparent damage aside from superficial. It nearly flattened part of the exhaust and nailed the cross member under the trans, but both look like they’ll be serviceable for the return trip home. All in all lucky I guess, but still pretty pissed that we hit it in the first place.
We explored the town(s) of Goose Bay/Happy Valley, which have grown together over the years, and kicked back at the local RV park for much needed showers and internet time.
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