63.48 km

Biking time: 2 hours 55 minutes

165.2 km total

First night in the tent for all 3 of us and actually it wasn’t too cramped. Packing the tent and getting all of our gear together was fairly easy, which was good because we were all pretty tired. We got on the road pretty late today – 8:40am, but considering how short our day was going to be, it didn’t really matter. That first hill was a bit of a surprise, it wasn’t long, but it kicked up a bit more than I expected. However, it wasn’t that tough and the downhill was nice and steep.

We met another Newfie, Shannon, on the road today. He is going to spend a bit more time in some places along the way and doesn’t expect to be in St. John’s until the end of September. I got his email address and added him to my email list, which got it’s first bit of mail today. We used the computers in a small library in Hope. Although the town is really small, we ended up spending a lot of time there. We had to stop at the supermarket and get some food for dinner (beans), breakfast (bagels) and some granola bars for the road.

Then we saw a sign advertising free computer use, so we decided to email. Gogi’s knee was bothering him towards the end of the day yesterday and all day today, so he stopped in to the local clinic to get it checked out. I think it’s because maybe he wasn’t as used to biking while lugging all of this gear, but I’m not a doctor. Our hope is that a few more days on the bike will fix it. Thankfully, Gogi doesn’t seem too worried, which is really good news because I’ve heard nothing but bad things about this climb tomorrow. We were out of Hope, across the “Rambo” bridge and at our campsite by 2:40pm. We checked out the Othello tunnels. They’re old railway tunnels built through rock and over and along a pretty treacherous river. Then an early dinner. We didn’t bike that much today and it’s still early, but I’m tired and I want to lie down.

Rambo bridge

LOOKING BACK, 10 YEARS LATER: 3:10 and 2:40! Wow, life was grand! At this leisurely pace, I’m shocked we ever finished. And to have the arrogance to go for a walk through the Othello tunnels, when our legs had but a few hours of rest left? Sometimes I think my mind is spiteful towards my body. Or maybe it can see into the future… The ‘Rambo bridge’ was the bridge Rambo was walking across when he was arrested in First Blood. It was taken down in 2011. I don’t remember what I wrote on those old emails. They probably weren’t a whole lot different than what I wrote here.