Spoffords Travel

Day 31 August 23, 2026 Labrador City Newfoundland and Labrador to Churchill Falls Newfoundland and Labrador 151.5 miles

Today’s weather went between slightly cloudy to mostly cloudy all day. Thankfully it never rained. The wind was a gentle breeze.

This is a shorter drive day. Towns up here are few and far between so we have short days and then longer days. Hopefully no really long days. We did see a very few homes located on shorelines. Also a few RVs that may have been in a campground.

The road was paved the entire way except for the very small detour around some construction. No flagger on duty for this one. A pickup truck is parked at each end of the detour. They have a stop light with a visible timer. So we watch the timer count down to the green light. The system seems to work really well. Unlike most of the other construction sites no one was working. Perhaps they take Sunday as a day of rest more seriously here.

The terrain is much the same. Mostly forest with scattered lakes, ponds and rivers. The lakes and ponds are so still they look like mirrors. The mountains are rounded and covered densely with trees.

The power poles run along one side of the road. A wide area has been cleared to allow access to the poles and lines. Surprising how many large rocks are in that strip.

The traffic is quite light today. Very few big trucks. The major employer in Churchill Falls is the underground hydro-electric company. They aren’t running all over like the big mining companies we saw yesterday. The town itself is owned by the company.

We ate lunch at a pull out by a one lane bridge with a metal grate floor. Just happened to look at the odometer which read 80,000 miles. This one started at zero.

The town is located almost entirely in one mall like building. The school is on one side and everything else is on the other. That includes the hotel and grocery store. The grocery store is closed on Sundays.

We were told we can use the employee laundry for free after 5 pm today. Just bring our own soap. Guess we will be doing laundry this evening.

We can see the lake out our hotel window. The water is very still.

We ate dinner in the restaurant. This is quite the building. It has many levels and partial levels. We go down four steps to our hotel room and the elevator. To get the next floor requires either the elevator or a lot of stairs. The second floor has the hotel reception, library, post office and restaurant. It may have other things too but it is a maze to negotiate.

We took advantage of the laundry facilities. Another guest has a load going. That person isn’t good about checking on the laundry. There are two dryers and currently one of those has hotel sheets in it. They were still damp.

We heard some French spoken today but mostly English. The language changed abruptly when we left the Quebec Provence.

No problems with the woodie today. The weather was a touch warmer today so Connie did not have a spare blanket on all day.

Day 30 August 22, 2026 Relais-Gabriel Quebec to Labrador City Newfoundland and Labrador 174.9 miles

Starting out with partly cloudy once again. Thankfully no rain fell today. Sure makes traveling easier. Connie gets to see out her side of the windshield.

It appears that we were visited by a raccoon last night. There are lots of paw prints on the fenders and tool box. No obvious damage. Glad that they were not bear paw prints.

If we look out the window at the end of the hall we can see part of the Manicouagan Reservoir. This is a circular lake created when the Daniel-Johnson Dam was built. A large island sits in the middle of the lake so from the air it truly looks like a circle. Millions of years ago a meteor landed here. The reservoir is nicknamed the Eye of Quebec.

The road as we leave is once again asphalt. Much smoother than some parts. The young lady last night said she thought the road was worse than what we had just done. Not looking forward to that. She thought there were lots of frost heaves. There were some but not as many as we expected.

We still had lots of ups and downs but nothing extremely steep. Lots of forest. One area had burned several years ago because the new growth is well on its way.

Only one major construction stretch today. We had to follow a pilot car for maybe five miles. This is a Saturday and they were actively putting down new asphalt. Boy was that section smooth. The car got lots of looks, phones and thumbs up.

We came to what we thought was the huge iron mine located in the region. It may be part of it but not the main plant.

We ate lunch at one of the turnouts. A railroad crew was working on replacing some of the track. They were certainly loud. As we were stopped we could tell how many semis, tankers and corporate vehicles were on the road. More than we thought.

Then we came to the processing portion of the mine. Much more to this location. It’s also closer to the town of Fremont. The mining company built the town to encourage people to come live and work here. A long train of what was most likely ore cars was just leaving.

The first hotel we tried in Labrador City had one room left on the fourth floor and the elevator was broken. Back to another hotel which had a room on the first floor. Once again the car is a big hit. Rob has trouble getting away from all the people. He found out we could have been in another car show last week.

We observed that the signage is once again English and French with the French on the bottom and smaller. The province is called Newfoundland and Labrador. Newfoundland is an island and Labrador is on the mainland. They are the eastern most part of Canada. Newfoundland has their own unique English dialect. We can understand them much better that those who speak French.

Day 29 August 21, 2026 Baie-Comeau Quebec to Relais-Gabriel Quebec 195.6 miles

The day started out partly cloudy and stayed that way all day. Very thankful for that because part of today’s route will be on gravel road.

We started the day with a fuel stop which is usually not a big deal. Usually just people asking to take a photo. A father and small son did that. Then for some reason the gas pump didn’t seem to work so Rob went into the store. The clerk set the pump for $20 regular gas. Two problems wth that. We needed more than $20 and we wanted premium. So when Rob pushed the premium button the pump made an annoying sound. The clerk tried to solve the problem from inside but that didn’t work. Finally two women came out and eventually determined that Rob needed to push the regulator button. That worked but only gave us $20 worth of gas. Rob had to go back in and go through it again. Never had that much trouble before.

Then we made a stop at the big IGA store. Well that is really upscale. They had lots more choices of everything. The store is arranged quite differently too. The cold cases and frozen food go in a zigzag formation and separate the produce bakery and deli from the rest of the store. We also determined that finding the cookies is difficult when you don’t know the French word for it.

When we got back out to the car Connie reached for her phone in her pocket. It wasn’t there. She left it in the shopping cart. Both of us went back in the store looking for it. We finally went to the service counter and asked if they could announce about it. Thankfully someone had already turned it into lost and found. Oh what a relief.

Finally we are ready to head out of town. For many miles the road is in really great shape. The pavement has a pink tint to it. The cuts in the mountain for the road to go through are quite impressive. This project cost them a lot of time and money.

We came close to a huge hydro electric dam. The power lines headed out from there are numerous and tall. The trees under the lines have all been removed.

Something dead is laying on the opposite side of the road. Two crows and a vulture are working on the carcass. The vulture is smaller than some breeds, but the head is still ugly.

The route so far has had some steep up and down hill grades. Anywhere from 7% to 12% are common. Luckily most of them are not real long. Rob got lots of practice shifting.

The wind is blowing harder than it has for the last few days. That really affects the driving and gas mileage.

Once again lakes are everywhere. Some are more like ponds but some are much bigger. Still don’t see any water craft on them. Don’t see anyone fishing from the shore either.

Oh my gosh we came to an even bigger dam. It’s called the Daniel-Johnson Dam. It has 13 arches and is the world’s tallest multiple arch dam. It stands 702 feet tall and 4311 feet long. The road is very close to the base of the dam so it really looks massive. A hairpin turn is close to one end of the dam. That is immediately followed by a 17% uphill climb. Well we had to slow down so much for the turn the woodie didn’t have enough power to get up that incline. It was all Rob could do to hold the car in place and not roll back down. A heavy duty vehicle stopped but he was not allowed to pull us because of the insurance. He said he would turn around and talk to his boss. Connie then got out the tire chocks and put them behind the woodie’s four tires. Then we waited. During the wait a gentleman from Labrador City stopped and offered to pull us up the hill. Just before we pulled out the first man returned with a front loader to do the same. We went to a turn out at the top of the hill and disconnected. We also poured in one of jerrycans because we knew we didn’t have adequate fuel to reach the next fuel point.

The up and down hills continued but luckily none of the rest were as tall. We were able to make it up and down the remainder of the way without assistance. Sometimes it was very slowly. We were both glad to see Relais-Gabriel. That is not a town. It is a gas station and small restaurant with a few rooms for rent above the restaurant. We have one of those rooms reserved. It was small like a room in a cheap Japanese hotel.

Two ladies are in the area with their dogs. One is a young lady with a big dog who is in her camper for the night on the way for a vacation. The other turned out to be the mother of the men running everything. She had a very small dog. Connie thought about dog snatching but she knows how fast the woodie can go.

Our room has two twin beds, small sink and a small night stand with a lamp. The room feels cool and the heater doesn’t seem to do much. Don’t know what they do in the winter. The shared bathroom is down the hall.

We decided to eat here rather than use food in the trailer. We ordered two of their hamburgers with everything on them. The process was interesting to watch. The smashed burger must have been at least 8 ounces. The cook also toasted the buns. He added cheese pickles, tomatoes, onions, mustard, ketchup and lettuce. Then he topped it off with a gherkin pickle on a wooden stick stuck on top. It was so tall we could not bite into it. We each ate half and got a go box for the remainder. That will be a good lunch tomorrow. Two groups of other patrons were there for dinner. All were having a great time.

When we returned to the room it still felt cold so Rob asked for two more blankets. The extra cover made all the difference. We felt so warm and cozy all night.

Day 28 August 20, 2026 Sacre-Coeur Quebec to Baie-Comeau Quebec 125.6 miles

The day started out bright and sunny. It also ended that way but in the middle we had quite the down pour. Luckily we were parked at the time so we just waited it out.

The blueberries are ready to pick. Several small fruit stands are along the road. We also saw a lady that seemed to be picking some wild ones just off the road.

The drive today was very beautiful. We went up and down over forested mountains. Of course there were rivers and lakes scattered in between. Everything is so green. The foliage is very thick. The evergreen trees are tall but very thin. Even the logs on the logging trucks are small in diameter. They must be used to make paper because some of them would only make one 2×4.

There seem to be more homes along the water. Some are older but none are the big mansions. Most have large stacks of wood for a stove or fireplace.

We followed some ocean coast line for a short distance. The tide must have been out so the sea gulls were sitting on the rocks.

Today was a short driving day so we got to town within about two hours. This is a little larger town of about 20,000. It was founded by an officer of the Hudson Bay Company. They had a store here for many years but not any more. Too bad that might have been fun to explore. The town is located on the shores of the St Lawrence River.

Rob has determined that we are going to need an additional gas can for some of the next part of the journey. They have a large Walmart here so that is where we stopped to purchase one. We didn’t even bother to ask where they might be located since we didn’t get it translated into French. Most people don’t seem to be bilingual and we aren’t either.

We tried one of the motels. They appear to have lots of rooms but they indicated they were fully booked. They recommended one on the outskirts of town. We were able to get a room there. The rest of the day was just relaxing. This was the first half day off the road in about a month.

Day 27, August 19, 2026 St Felicien Quebec to Sacre-Coeur Quebec 153.3 miles

Today is very cloudy. It rained most of the afternoon. We started in flat farm land but ended in forested mountains. The clouds were laying low on the mountains. Needless to say that made site seeing and photo taking very difficult. The passenger side windshield is covered with raindrops such that you can’t see much.

We had to do laundry this morning. Finding the laundromat was the first difficulty. This was the smallest laundromat we have ever seen. It had two washing machines one of which was broken and one dryer. When the washer spun it rattled so much we thought it was going to break. The price wasn’t marked on the washer. We found the sign with the fee about the time we left. People here must all have their own washers and dryers.

While the clothes were drying Rob went down to the NAPA store to try to get another set of modern points. None in stock but they could be available tomorrow.

We encountered two major stretches of road construction. Both required a pilot car. We could recommend several other places for road replacement projects.

Throughout most of the country are signs to watch for snowmobiles. Obviously a big pastime here. In the winter. Haven’t noticed as many curling rinks of late. No ski resorts either. Lots of boats and four wheelers.

We have also noticed that most of the churches in Quebec have tall steeples. They have a much more cathedral look to them than the ones in the western part of the country.

We stopped for a twisted soft serve ice cream cone. The chocolate flavor wasn’t as intense as in the states. The vanilla portion also tasted different.

Our room tonight is a big change from last night. We are in what was once a bedroom in a house that has been converted into a motel room. They added a bathroom that isn’t much bigger than the ones in small campers. No towel rack so the towels are in the desk drawer. The air conditioner is a rotating fan. We turned that off and are looking for the heat. The room has one small window. That will be our fire escape if needed. By the way there is no smoke alarm in the room.

Day 26 August 18, 2026 Quevillon Ontario to St. Felicien Ontario 292.1 miles

Today is very cloudy but we never had any rain. That is a good thing. Some wind but not too bad. Some of the roads made up for the no rain and the wind.

The scenery for most of the day was roller coaster hills covered with forest surrounding lakes and rivers. Some of the rivers are quite wide. Certainly large enough to use a motor boat. Lots of houses have boats parked in the driveways. Many of the RV sites have boats ramps.

We stopped for gas in Quevillon. The pump appears to take a credit card but as it turned out you had to go inside to pay. When Rob tapped the card at the pump it put in $0.10 and quit. The clerk tried to tell him to come inside but she explained it all in French. Luckily the owner of the station who was her father was at one of the other pumps and spoke English. He explained the situation.

At the next fuel stop about an hour and a half later, the car caused quite a stir. Several First Nation folks were there. They speak better English than many of the French folks. They were so excited and madly taking pictures. One gentleman gave us a sticker to put on the car from the Cree First Nation. He made sure we put it on the car. So we have a 4 inch square sticker in the lower passenger side corner of the windshield. That may not be a “forever” sticker.

We got lucky and briefly saw a black bear run across the road and into the brush. It was too far away and moving too quickly to take a picture. Never try to outrun a bear.

The next stop for gas brought out lots of people again. News travels fast in these small communities. Seemed like a quarter of the town was out taking pictures. (20 people) Almost like being in another parade. We ate lunch at a small park on the edge of town and two more vehicles stopped to talk and take pictures.

The first construction project of the day was a longer one. We had to follow a pilot car. They are still in the process of getting the old asphalt up so what is left is grooved significantly. That makes driving the woodie more challenging. We encountered a couple of other smaller projects that didn’t require pilot cars. Twice now a road project had a traffic light with a count down timer. Helps to know if you should turn off the car or not.

We got into town later than we prefer so took some effort to find a room. But the room we got was a handicap room on the river view side of the hotel. The Ashuapmushuan River runs right past the hotel. It is certainly large enough for motor boats.

Day 25 August 17, 2026 Cochrane Ontario to Quevillon Quebec 282 miles

The weather is about 50% clouds. It did rain sometime last night because the hood of the car is quite wet. Not sure where the water goes however because the parking lot doesn’t look wet other than where it runs off the roof.

We spent about an hour in the grocery store this morning. We thought we hit the jackpot. Several things we wanted to buy had been reduced. We purchased several bakery items so we have dessert and breakfast items for a few days. Interestingly many of the produce items are sold by the pound. So you can compare Honey Crisp apples were $4.50 Canadian per pound. One of the produce displays had small baskets of carrots, beets and cucumbers. They had lots more beets for sale than we do.

Before long we encountered the largest construction project to date. They were completely redoing several miles of road. We had to wait about 10 minutes for the pilot car to get to us. When we got to the end there were eighteen vehicles waiting.

The next new to this trip thing was several signs warning for horse and buggies. Then we saw a horse drawn buckboard loaded with something in white bags. A lady was driving which is somewhat unusual. We also noticed several houses with washing hanging on the line. Not sure which religion they were but the province of Ontario has over 6,000 Amish.

Further down the road we saw a bird that looks very much like a small chicken. Google says it was most likely a ruffled grouse. It was just standing in the middle of the road. It never moved and we drove over the top of it. It did not move and we did not hit it. Maybe it had been eating some of the legal Canadian marijuana seeds.

Not long after that a small dark brown mammal ran into the brush along the side of the road. Best guess for that one is a weasel. Only saw the south end.

When we crossed into the province of Quebec the signs all became in French only. In the other provinces the signs are in English and French. This included road signs, building signs and billboards. By the way bill boards are almost always small and only present close to town.

The other thing we noticed was the hay here is stuffed into long plastic tubes much like sausage. Would like to see them stuffing them. Some farms have one very long tube and some farms have several shorter ones. They are usually along the edge of a field.

The cemeteries are another interesting thing. Most headstones are black. Only a few are grey. Sometimes only a white cross marks the grave. Many of the headstones have flowers that are mostly silk or plastic and they are placed on top of the headstone. Most cemeteries are surrounded by a fence.

Came to another section of construction but we got there just as the line was moving. This one wasn’t as long.

The prison looked very quiet. It sits right on the road. Lots of high fences and barbed wire. Not a large facility however.

Still lots of lakes and rivers. Less forest however and a few small farms. Towns are rather far apart and small for the most part. We had to pay attention for the gas stations. People in some of these places must have to go a long ways to get anything. Even in the farm country the houses are closer to town. The roads are like small roller coasters with lots of small ups and downs. Still lots of potholes and serious bumps.

Our room tonight has a small balcony with table and chairs. We ate our chicken salad out there which was really nice. No mosquitos.