Well - this forum seemed lonely, so I thought I'd post here about one of my adventures, though no serious breakdowns!

I had to go from Ontario to New Brunswick for my cousin's wedding. Well! I'm not going THAT far without making a TRIP of it! So off I went to Newfoundland in my 1986 Ford pick-up...

Here's a couple of silly happenings on this trip...

1) Had no sooner driven off the ferry at Port-aux-Basques, than I pulled over to review the map & rolled down the window. BIG MISTAKE! The truck was immediately filled with a swarm of BLACK FLIES! Welcome to Newfoundland...


2) Started up to Cornerbrook & Gros Morne National Park. Soon decided to detour off on a north/west road along the western shore because I "saw a whale" !!! Well, on this little dirt road I calmly travelled for miles & miles enjoying the scenery. After what seemed like hours of this (I'm not sure)& still coming to nowhere, I decided to do a U-turn.

There were grass fields along either side of the road. I was doing my "3-point turn", when the front right wheel came to close to the soft gravel edge. I could feel the truck starting to slide towards the grass field. Little did I know there was about a 1 foot drop to the ground below the grass.

Great! Now here I am stuck sort of sideways across the road, with my front right wheel off the road only slightly but enough that I couldn't get back on the gravel... In the Middle of Nowhere!

There had been absolutely NO traffic either way on this entire journey so far.

After about 5 minutes of staring at my predicament, I said aloud "Now what, Lord?".

About 2 minutes later I saw a pick-up truck coming southbound. He stopped. He immediately offered to tow me out. His truck had "stuff" on the front already that looked like a "working" truck. He said it was a tow line for his fishing boat. He said there was a fishing village at the end of this road if I'd kept going. Friendly fellow. Had me out in a jiffy. Didn't want anything for his efforts. Wished me well.


3) Somewhere along near Birchy Bay or Gandery Bay I believe, a couple locals suggested a "trail" to see a nice waterfall. They gave directions where to turn off & said it's "no problem at all" for my vehicle. It was a logging road or hydro access or something - I cannot remember - definitely not a "named road".

Found it. Just a path through the bushes. Started in. By the time I was about a 1/2 mile back (1/2 hour later), the trail had closed in so much that bramble bushes & small trees were SCRATCHING the entire both sides of my truck, top to bottom, every step of the way. There was no way out. Nowhere to turn around. Backing up would only make it worse. Had to keep going. Finally came to the waterfall where there was room to turn around. Saw it (nice 'nough), & had to go back the same way through the bushes.

Let's just say my friend at home was not thrilled when he saw all the paint scratches when I returned a few weeks later.

So - nonetheless, nothing serious, but still it sure lets you know it doesn't take much to vary the best laid plans "o' mice an' men".

Happy trails to all,
Sylvia