WAY UP NORTH.
TRAVEL DAY
From: Armistice Town Park, Roddickton/Bide Arm, NL.
To:Pistolet Bay Provincial Park, Raleigh, NL.
Day 128 – The low temperature last night was 50 degrees. Today we are heading to a week near the northernmost part of Newfoundland. REALLY far up there! Pistolet Bay Provincial Park, where we’ll be staying for a week, is just 20 kilometers from the most northern point in Newfoundland.
Because we cannot check in at the Provincial Park until our reserved campsite has been vacated (by 2 p.m.), we did not hurry to leave Armistice Town Park this morning. Rob took a last walk around the campground to get bird pictures.
We slowly got packed and finally departed the Park. We had to make a side trip to Bide Arm to dump our tanks. By the time we left Bide Arm, it was 11:45 a.m., 62 degrees and sunny – a beautiful day.
We drove north from Bide Arm on Route 433, enduring that bumpy road one more time, and briefly stopped at the Post Office in Roddickton. Route 433 joined Route 432 and headed northeast, the road improving somewhat. At the end of Route 432, we hopped on Route 430 and immediately pulled off for a lunch break. There were more clouds now, those beautiful big, puffy, white clouds – and it remained partly sunny.
After lunch, we took Route 430 northeast to Route 436, where we only traveled a short distance north before getting on Route 437 heading north. There were very few turnoffs or villages throughout our journey. We went from the dense woods of Roddickton/Bide Arm to the stubbier trees and shrubbery of the far north. There were not as many hills, but the wildflowers were still in full bloom. The roadside gardens were more prominent and better tended. We did not see any Moose or Caribou, in spite of the warning signs that they were in the proximity. Wrong time of year.
We arrived at Pistolet Bay Provincial Park, off Route 437, at 2:15 p.m. It was 67 degrees and partly cloudy. We stopped first to fill our tanks with drinking water. A large 5th Wheel Trailer was already using the fill up, so we got in line. We waited 1 hour before his tanks were full. Rob struck up a conversation with the owner who was from Colorado, and this was their second visit to Newfoundland. This was a brand new RV, the maiden voyage, and the owner suspected there might be a problem with the hose or tank since it was taking so long to fill up. He had a 45-gallon tank. When he finally filled up and departed, we hooked up. It took us 15 minutes to fill a 75-gallon tank. Yeah, I guess he did have a problem with something! Meanwhile, we didn’t even get to our campsite until after 3:30 p.m. The girls were not happy.
We had reserved one of the few campsites available for 7 days straight, Site #16. Sight unseen in advance, we found it was rather oddly shaped, but we were still able to fit in by backing in, which allowed us some privacy from the campground road. By the time we had unpacked and set up camp, it was already close to 4:30 p.m. The clouds had disappeared and it was cooling fast. Soon we heated our dinner, fed the cats, and settled in. We have no hook-ups, but we don’t expect any problems since we have the solar panels on the roof of the RV. And even though it’s a Friday, the Park isn’t full yet for the weekend.
