| Atlantic Crossroads Newfoundland 2005 |
| The fog gathered around us, but out of the mist a cruise ship found its way up the Sydney River towards Sydney. Flat Stanley and I walked around the deck exploring. He wanted to know where the life rings were. The fog hadn�t hit our spot in the river yet and I had a clear view of the churning water when the ferry turned around to leave port. |
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| After I stayed on deck for 45 minutes or so to say goodbye to Cape Breton (past the Sydney Light), I retired for the morning to the dormitory sleeper. Blessed sleep overtook me as the boat rocked gently in the sea. I can ALWAYS sleep on boats, even in a storm. |
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| I woke up at noon and grabbed a hot dog for lunch. The stern deck was calling, so I took my lunch, book and journal out there with me. It was sunny but kind of cool out there and I wore my long sleeved shirt and my fleece with the hood. |
| On the benches on the stern deck I met Millard and Donna, both alumni of Bob Jones University. He works for the Red Cross disaster relief and she as a city manager in the hurricane-lashed Florida panhandle. They had been keeping an eye on the hurricane news, hoping they could take their whole vacation and not get called in. Last year they didn�t get a vacation because of Hurricane Ivan and its aftermath. SO far so good. It was their first trip to NFLD and they were doing the cross-the-island in 5 days trip. Having made the same trip 5 years ago, I can say you�d need to take that time twenty-fold to do the island justice. And then you�d still have places to see and music to hear and people to talk to. |
| As I sat on the deck in the sun, listening to the ferry�s engines and the waves, all I could think was, �He-e-e-e-e-y, somewhere, I threw my fear in the Sea of No Cares.�
Suppertime came and went and I finished reading Angels and Demons. Wow! I thought the DaVinci Code was good! I guess I am going to end up reading all his books now. I like the way he weaves reality and fiction. So good! After eating, I went back down to the dormitory sleeper because I was still soooo tired from not sleeping in the parking lot. The purser�s announcement that we would be docking in an hour woke me up, plus they turned on the lights in the dorm area. Excited, I hurried out to the deck to find�.fog! Argh! Couldn�t get a glimpse of Newfoundland yet! It seemed to take ages to dock and we were out of the ship in short order. I wasn�t sure of the route to the TCH but I figured there�d be signs, so I settled in behind a group of really slow cars. Impatiently, I passed them all and put myself in the front of the line only to realize that I�d now be the one to hit any stray moose. Hmmmm. Lucky for me I happened upon a tractor trailer truck and now had the perfect solution. He knew where he was going, I figured it�d be the TCH, and he�d hit the moose instead of me. SO I followed the nice trucker all the way to the TCH, where we parted ways. He drove off toward Clarenville and I to St. John�s. The ride into St. John�s was uneventful, to my surprise. Every other time I�d driven onto the isthmus, I had encountered terrible fog. Not a wisp tonight! My lucky evening! I just kept watch for moose on the side of the road and sent out �don�t hit me� vibes. |
| I hadn�t been able to speak to Jim earlier in the evening because I had not been able to program the stupid ham radio for the correct frequencies. I felt so technologically inept. After all, this was my radio and I hadn�t the foggiest notion how to do anything other than up the power and change the channel already in the memory. Shame on me! I took my chances and stopped by Erin�s Pub before heading off to his house. Lo and behold! Jim and Lillian were there! It was so good to see them after a year away. Even though we get to talk often via Ham Radio, there�s nothing like a hug from a real person. And I was greeted with a welcome bag containing a Festival T-shirt and a brand spankin' new Midnight Rover CD! Wahoo! We stayed for quite a while and I was very happy listening to Dave Panting entertain. OMG! Can that man play the mandola! Whew! I loved his switching instruments. Of course, most of my friends know about my fascination with multi-instrumentalists. Heh! |
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| Empty ferry! |