this year.

We blew across Newfoundland under veil of darkness and quiet of night. The ferry from NS took a little longer then scheduled due to fog and rain. We slept away much of the 9h crossing. Laying in my bunk, eyes closed, I could imagine what it was like to cross the ocean on a wooden ship. The roll of the ship, and the crash of the waves, and the creak of the wood was enough to allow me to slip in and out of sleep.

We rolled onto The Rock around 9:00pm. Having lost most sense of time, I have no idea what time zone that is reported in. We had about 576km to drive from Port aux Basque to Gander. We had talked about making the push straight to St. John’s — a trip of about 886km. It was my turn to drive White Lightning, and I was stoked.

Rolling off the ferry dropped us into rock. It is obvious where the island gets its nickname from. The air was thick with fog and rain, not ideal for night driving, but typical for the island. I was feeling right awake from napping all day, and didn’t want to have to make any pee stops. We were pushing though. Much of the drive across Newfoundland is 2 lane highway, with 3 lanes on hills to assist passing. The lines are faded, which makes it a challenge to stay clearly in your lane. With few cars on the road, it doesn’t pose much of a problem. The further east one travels the better the roads become. They have sectios of 4 lane divided highway around Corner Brook, a ski town. Because of dark and fog we didn’t get much of a view, just silhouetted mountain tops against a cloudy sky. We stopped in Gander and chatted it up with some local girls who happened to be hanging at our hotel.

The final 330km push to st.john’s was made in yet another cloudy/raining day. A few ice laden bays could be seen from the highway, but on the whole visibility was limited.

We had our first execution of the Labatt Blue Chip Poker Tour at ETOMIK on George St. The following are images of our setup in the bar, and of the bar itself. It was a pretty cool looking place.

It is at this point I had planned to write, “it is a shame to travel all the way to St. John’s — the oldest city in North America — and not stay and experience it.” Our original plan was to work, pack up, then try and make a 10h drive in a time span of 8h. Luckily smarter heads prevailed and we spent the night in St. John’s. I was extremely happy. I have heard so much about the hospitality of the Newfoundlanders, and after a night of socializing, I was not disappointed. They did more than anyone could ever ask, and more than any one group should deserve. My team and the bar staff of ETOMIK met up after the poker event at Greensleves. There is a series of pubs that are owned by the same individual. They had live music and great suds. I was overjoyed to toss down some Blue Star and Jockey Club — two fine beers from a great brewer. Being 1:30am when we arrived, we didn’t have much time till last call. In any normal town this would be a problem, but in Newfoundland they just open up another bar. So, off we went across the way to a 3rd pub owned by them. This pub was a more traditional George St. Pub — a bar, and a square room with a pool table. This tab was taken care of by the wonderful Labatt TM Jeremy. He even ordered us pizza. It was a wonderful night, and fun was had by all. I think St. John’s has one more roadblock then it had before we arrived.

Up and on the road at 9am after a 5am bedtime makes for a long drive back across 886km. Luckily it was the best weather we had seen thus far — sun with cloudy breaks. It truly is a beautiful province, and I thank the habitants for their hospitality and cheer.

Next stop Sydney, Halifax and the province of New Brunswick. St. John’s has set the bar high. I’d have it no other way.