St Johns

Our last stop of the caravan. We arrived shortly after 1:00 on Friday and found that there is a Costco near the campground. Off we went with Chuck and Maggie! Larry had truly been going through withdrawal, so we just soaked it all in. This is one huge store!

Upon our return it was time for Happy Hour at Susan and Jamie's with Cam and Marcia. Our St. Pierre reunion, even though we just returned on Thursday. French wines, cheese, bread (olive from Costco, thanks to Shirley Williams who rationed it out) and bread we'd purched on St. Pierre. Susan said Jamie took a 2 hr. nap after we left. They'd been on the parking crew and it's very very windy.

Saturday we all hopped aboard a tour bus to see the area. It included Cape Spear, which is the most Eastern point of North America. Our guide said we could turn our backs and moon the continent from there, but it was way too cold and windy for that! I was thinking that if we'd had a small child along, I'd tie him or her to a large rock as an anchor. It was that windy!

Signal Hill was another stop. This is where Marconi sent and received signals, hence the name.

Upon our return, Larry and I headed for the Railroad Museum. We'd already learned that the "Newfie Bullet" was misnamed. It was actually extremely slow. Now there are no running trains in Newfoundland at all. And, another trip back to Costco.

Sunday we took off early for Canadian Tire to have our rear passenger tire looked after, as it was slowly losing air. Got there an hour early. Cleaned out the glove compartment, console and back seat of all excess garbage. They could find nothing wrong, so sent us on our way.

We drove around awhile and still the sensor on our pressure pro system showed low air in that tire. Back to Canadian Tire. By the way, I had a very nice visit with their service manager, Ed Harris. Politics, immigration, education, etc. Well, we were there a long time... this time they switched out the tire with our spare and again sent us on our way.

The Rooms was our sightseeing destination for the afternoon. It's a modern art gallery and museum, quite controversial in its architecture for the area, but we really loved it. After our visit (during which St. Johns was experiencing a horrific rain and windstorm) we made our way to the truck. Larry's Harvard umbrella turned inside out and I can't remember a heavier windstorm that I've experienced. Flat Tire!

Larry put on his yellow slicker and braved his way back to the museum so he could call a tow truck. Finally they arrived and it was back to Canadian Tire. Ed decided then to think outside the box and was able to diagnose the problem. Broken o ring on the pressure pro sensor. It was causing the valve stem to leak out air. Took it off and we've been full of air ever since.

Cam and Marcia had joined us by now in our turmoil and we all went off to the movie in Mount Pearl - Julie and Julia. Dinner was popcorn and soda. For us, that is. They'd eaten at The Rooms. Not exactly the best movie to see on a hungry stomach, but we thoroughly enjoyed it.