Day 8 – Onwards to Happy Valley-Goose Bay

Woke up well rested and managed to pack up the tent and have breakfast and get on the road by 8. Best part about all that wind last night, there were no bugs then, or this morning to contend with.

The wind did continue, blustery and the terrain was pretty open (the highways tend to be elevated from the rest of the terrain) so there was a lot of buffeting. At my first stop, I put in the AirPods and they cut down the noise so much, I felt like I was riding in silence. This will go down as one of those Must Have’s for future trips.

My first stop was Churchill Falls, a company town owned and operated by Nalcor with a population of 600 employed to run the hydroelectric power plant or support those that do. Felt weird riding around in it but I needed gas (529km between Labrador City & Happy Valley-Goose Bay and there isn’t much else) and heard from the couple at the Station that they do tours of their underground facility.

Well, I found the gas station (Full service, I think because it lacked the technology to communicate the amount to the cashier) and filled up and asked about the tours. I was pointed to the Town Center and was greeted by a very nice employee who told me that since COVID they haven’t hired back a tour-guide but then proceeded to mark up a map of the town with all the places I could go on my own.

So I did, and took some pictures, below.

Onwards on the highway, eventually I pulled into HV-GB and my GPS promptly took me to CFB Borden. After resetting the directions again, I arrived at Emma’s Suites and checked in. HV-GB looks like a nice town and I wish I had had more time to explore. But I was hungry and was pointed to Trapper’s Cabin where I:

• Called to reserve a steak and a table
• Cooked said steak myself with the provided BBQ, condiments and tools
• Listened to a cover artist singing on the stage
• Talked to a guy from Montreal who happened to be the drummer for a band in town with the rest of his band to play at a music festival that weekend.
• Ended up meeting the whole band (Not including Beatrice Green who they would be performing with) and chatting about motorcycle trips, music and how to cook steak. One of them was a chef!

Walked the 3km back to Emma’s (On a sandy/rock curb) and was getting weird looks from people. I don’t know if this happens more often but after 6 hours on a motorcycle, I feel like I need to move my body, and getting on it to go for dinner (And forego beer!) doesn’t seem right.

Died, hence the delayed posting.