Friday 29 June 2012

August 25th, 2010


Clear skies and lots of sun; another great day for riding on the Trans Labrador Highway.  After a quick breakfast of the usual raw oats with peanut butter chips mixed in, we were on the road again.  It didn’t take long before the unexpected happened; Amanda’s bike ran out of fuel.  She usually gets around 450 km to a tank, but for some reason she was a bit thirstier than usual; could it be bad fuel?   It could be a while before someone comes along to rescue us.  



Not to worry!  Luckily we have our trusty siphon DeerslayR gave us back in New Jersey.  Besides the one time we had to use it to get DeerslayR out of a jam, this will be the first time we had to use it on our trip.  I’ve wondered whether or not we’ll use it at some point. 



With my IMS aftermarket fuel tank, I can average around 600 km to a tank; plenty to go around in times like these.  Only problem is in order to get the fuel running out through the siphon, we needed a container placed lower than my fuel tank.  Hopefully this Zip-Lock bag does the trick.



Not sure how much fuel to transfer in, we poured only a little at a time.  As a result, Amanda ran empty 3 times and we repeated the whole process.  We even did the ol’ tipping of the bike on its left side to salvage whatever fuel that was remaining in the tank.  It was a tedious process since our Zip-Lock bag could only carry so much fuel at one time; what I didn’t want to end up happening was having the both of us stranded without any fuel.  Slowly, but surely we made it to Port Hope Simpson and refueled. 


We were interested in taking the ferry to Battle Harbour, but the price was not in our budget.



If I were to pick the sketchiest section of the TLH, my vote would have to be the section right before Red Bay.  Construction crews probably laid fresh gravel over the road because it felt almost like riding in sand.  Amanda remembers having a holy $#*! moment when she nearly hit an oncoming truck head on.  The soft gravel had her slipping and sliding to the other side of the road until instinct and experience told her to add a little more throttle to correct the bike’s position.  The driver of the truck also helped when he noticed Amanda swerving and decided to slow down almost to a complete stop.  Phew; another close call. 



We stopped at the visitor’s centre in Red Bay to get information on the ferry in Blanc Sablon to Newfoundland.  A reservation is necessary if travelling by car, but not so much on a motorcycle.



We stopped at a convenience store to top off on fuel and started chatting with the lady working there.  She had mini pizzas on sale for cheap and we decided to have dinner there.  One thing led to the next and before we knew it, she gave us directions to the perfect spot to pitch our tent…



…next to Point Amour Lighthouse



It was quite windy along the coast so we set up our tent next to an abandoned warehouse close by to shelter us from the wind



It was my turn to start feeling a little under the weather so Amanda went out to pick blue berries for much needed vitamin C.  What a gal!



Hopefully this will help my body to recover…we shall see. 


259 km

No fuel in the boons.

Almost run over by truck.

A lot in one day.


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