Here we are in a rock quarry, boondocking alongside the highway on the western side of Newfoundland. In front of Arcturus, just across the highway, are the waters of the Strait of Belle Isle. Just across this narrow strip of water, (20 kilometers on the map) is the coast of Labrador. I am just now watching a large cargo ship heading south through the strait. It looks insignificant beneath the mountains of Labrador.
Earlier today we stopped in Flower’s Cove, which is not far from where we are staying tonight. We were attracted by the prospect of seeing some rocks of a different type. These rocks are called “Thrombolites or Living Rocks.” What we saw were rocks that looked a lot like limestone, but shaped like rather large overstuffed foot stools. The tour book calls them “bun shaped.” They are the fossil remains of colonies of unicellular creatures that were thought to be the only living things around as recent as 650 million years ago.
The high point of our day was a visit to Leif Eriksson’s digs in L’Anse aux Meadows. Now what I haven’t figured out is if Leif was such a fierce Viking, why did he give his place a French name? But of course, it is not because the French named it first, but because Leif named it Vinland, but forgot to tell everyone where it was when he got home. It was only in 1960 that Dr. Helge Ingstad and his wife Anne Stine Ingstad were told of the mounds on the beach by a local fisherman, George Decker. Two major archaeological digs later and now at last some of the story can be told. A group of Norse explorers had an encampment at this location for about twelve years around 1,000 years ago. Even now, however, no one will do more than speculate about whether Leif was their leader or not.
The low point of our day was trying to get out of their parking lot. We managed to run Arcturus over a bolder guarding the exit of the parking lot and we bent up a couple of the basement doors pretty bad. I did get them hammered out enough that they are once again functional, but they are anything but pretty.
I therefore declare this the day of rocks.
We are still having the time of our life, and at least I don’t have to worry about scratching those two doors now. We send our love to everyone. Bye, Gary and Judy.
