7/15/14 – Tuesday, cool this morning, and overcast, showers possible. We board the ferry for Port aux Basques, Newfoundland at 4 pm for a 6 pm departure, arriving in the wee hours of the morning. We will likely head slowly northwest about 10 km to a Provincial campground to get some sleep. Anyway, not sure when we will regain internet access.

Thought this would be a good time for a few comments and reflections. When we entered Canada, I migrated our Verizon plan to one with a $15/mo/1000min voice plan for here, on top of the U.S. plan rate. However, I turned off 4G data access on my phone, because that would run $50/100MB/mo, too expensive. Therefore, blogging, e-mail access, and route planning via the internet has been limited to available wifi. Most private campgrounds have it free, not always great, and many public venues. However, once out of a campground, or in a remote park, none. This means that most e-mails and blog comments I get on my phone, which does not lend itself to easily sending replies. We really do read, enjoy, and appreciate all of them, eventually, even if we don’t always respond. So, thanks!

Not having internet access on the road means no Google Maps, and suspecting this, I tried a few apps before leaving home. The one which has proved a real asset is OsmAnd. At this point, I only have the free version, which allowed me to download enough maps to the phone to cover the Canadian part of our trip. It works much like GM, but since it only needs GPS, it works everywhere we’ve been, with excellent detail and accuracy. It has even showed the trails we’ve walked, it allows searches, and routing. When home, I will download the full version, since you can’t always get internet on the road. Our Garmin has not been stellar in Canada for some reason, so we really haven’t used it here.

Almost all the campgrounds we have stayed in have been private, and expensive. Tax is added to EVERYTHING here, and at a high rate. The price, I guess, of free healthcare and generous retirement packages. Anyway, almost every night has cost $35 to $40, sometimes with no hookups, mostly with some. They all HAVE 3-way hookups, but the price would be even higher. Many of the sites in most campgrounds are for ‘seasonal’ use – folks travel there a few miles from home to spend a week or so at a time in the summer, and keep the rig on site. Still, we’ve never had to search for a camping spot, though we sometimes call ahead on short notice. The national parks – and sometimes the provincial ones – have a daily entrance fee, per person, in addition to camping. Camping rates on a par with the private campgrounds. HOWEVER, the general condition and facilities of all the campgrounds has been excellent, with obvious pride and care in their preparation and maintenance. Showers available everywhere, usually free, so we have taken NONE in the rig since entering Canada. Everybody has been VERY friendly and helpful here.

A comment on the roads – a mixed bag. Frost heave has played havoc with them, so when they are bad, they can be atrocious! You will often traverse a road that is silky smooth where it was repaved recently, bounce and slam along a bad section for miles, then hit more smooth areas. We will probably need new shocks when we return. The major freeways and tollways are usually in excellent condition, but most of our traveling is not on them.

We have had lots of advice on Newfoundland, and they universally say the residents there are VERY friendly. I guess that means they are VERY, VERY friendly! One other encouraging note – I called the provincial park we’ll be staying that first night and the rate for us (senior rate) will be $10.