At the Symposium (Day 1, Pt. 1)

Good morning!

After the ship–anything big enough to hold semis is not a ferry, IMO–docked in Port aux Basques, Newfoundland, on Sunday morning, RB and I disembarked and started our 809 km (555 miles according to my GPS–btw, those who have been trying to get me to buy one for years now have permission to say “I told you so”) drive to St. John’s.  As I learned driving through Maine, it’s not a good idea to let your vehicle gas gauge drop below 1/3 tank since the distance between stations can be substantial.  I also discovered that prices here are extraordinarily high.  Gas averages $1.30 Canadian per liter, so it cost me nearly $85.00 to fill the RB, and that was regular unleaded gas.

Discovered that Newfoundland is surprisingly mountainous.  I can see why there’s just one main road around the outer edge.  It makes for some great viewing along the way, both of the Atlantic Ocean and the untamed land.  Reminded me of the pictures of St. Andrews in Scotland.  Even the steady, rainy weather helped set that impression.  Only problem was I’d just driven over 900 miles the day before, so my appreciation was not terribly high.  In fact, the last 200 km pretty much whizzed by because I wanted to reach St. John’s before dark.

This is the route from North Sydney, Nova Scotia, to St. John’s:  http://mapq.st/oqcRmD

Oh, we are on Newfoundland Daylight Time here, a half hour earlier than Atlantic Time.  So, as I’m posting at 8:05 a.m. NDT, it’s 6:35 on the East Coast.  I’m still physically and mentally on Central Time, so this feels like it’s too damned early to be up.

Missed yesterday’s opening, so I’ve got to register and catch today’s sessions.  Will likely post later today.

I realized that I neglected a couple of critical parts of my journey. First, I need to acknowledge the musicians and their songs that helped me focus on my driving throughout my journey. So, I’m going back and posting links to a song that I recall most strongly from each day’s playlist.

This day’s song is Take Six’s “Mary.” Today was a deviation from the playlist with spirituals and gospel music the entire day. From Chanticleer to Donnie McClurkin, but I always have an obsession session on this Take Six song.

Most importantly, of course, I thank the Lord for granting me the stamina to make the trip, the damn good reflexes to steer the RB as she needed to be guided, and the ability to enjoy His handiwork as it whizzed by my windshield.