The Trans-Lab is Overdone. We want to Ride the Rock.

In the break room on ADV?

No need for a break room - I have it at my fingertips right here on my desk!

I was doing a little more research (also known as dreaming) last night. I'm becoming increasingly excited about the northern tip of the Great Northern Peninsula, particularly the "French Shore." It seems that we may get to see a culture up there that may disappear within our lifetimes.

I also found a number of novels about The Rock. I read Annie Proulx's The Shipping News some time ago, and enjoyed it. Ms. Proulx is a part-time local here in the Northeast Kingdom when she's not up north.

I also picked up one by Claire Mowat, Farley's wife, dealing with the five years they spent in Burgeo in the late '50s, and a couple by Wayne Johnston, which feature Joey Smallwood as an unlikely hero.

I also have O'Flaherty's Come Near at Your Peril on order. I bought 'em used for very short money. When I'm through reading them, I'll post up and see if anyone else would like to read them.

Wait a minute, you never said the Rock riders had to be able to READ!

How do you tell the difference between an ADV rider and a cod? Observe the subject while it is reading a newspaper. If its lips don't move, it's a cod.

The cod kisses better?


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You can eat a cod if you're hungry.

That's true. There are no cannibals left. We ate the last one this morning.


Sent using strings and tin cans and Tapatalk

My friend disagreed with me. I really shouldn't have used so much hot pepper when I roasted him.

No, really, cannibalism has been all but eliminated in Canada, and they're making inroads to the problem in the US.

If you are looking for novels with more of a Northern peninsula local flair you may wish to look up Earl B Pilgrim. He was a local wildlife officer that took up writing after retirement.
Cassie Brown wrote Death On the Ice regarding the great sealing disaster and Standing into Danger about two US navy ships that went aground on the Burin Peninsula during WW2. They are done as more factual/historical but fascinating all the same.

I read Standing into Danger about 20 years ago. Fantastic book. Re-read it a couple of years ago. I'll have to seek out that book about the sealing expedition.

A highly humourous read is The Boat the Wouldn't Float by Farley Mowat (or Varley Monfat as he's known in our house (see Never Cry Wolf)).

Other ripping good yarns are Mowat's Grey Seas Under and The Serpent's Coil, books about the Franklin company's deep-sea tugboats.

TBWWF contains one of the finest lines in all literature (in paraphrase here): "The Packard lurched down the hill like a hippopotamus run amok on hashish."

It's one of my favourite books. I've probably read it 20 times and I split my sides laughing every time!

If you haven't read No Birds Sang yet, you ought to, Steph. It's not Newfoundland related, but it explains some very interesting points about why the modern Canadian psyche is what it is. As usual for Mowat, it is both incredibly funny and starkly sad.

Read it a few months ago. I've read a lot of war memoirs (Spike Milligan is fabulous) and Mowat's is terrific.

I rode today for 30 minutes!

It was like taking away a week of winter for me!



The bike ran great but the front brakes were weak. My fork seals started leaking last fall and polluted the pads. A new rotor and pads from flea bay are coming.








Oh and one question:
Do you folks have any experience with your riding jacket shrinking during the off season? Wifey swears she didn't wash it and I have no other logical explaination for its different fit today.

You foul, jammy bastard. It's been spitting snow off and on here, although it was relatively warm today. The gravel roads are a quagmire.

My jacket has shrunk alarmingly over the winter, as have my pants. I think the fibers contract while not in use. That's my explanation, and I'm sticking to it.

That's inflation for you. I think it's around 5% these days so your jacket will feel tight for sure.

Got your cable yet?

I haven't been to the PO in a few days, Mike. I had to order a magnificently expensive fill of propane so I can eat hot food, and I'm grimly trying to avoid the bill. I spent quite a lot more on dental work than I wanted to this week.

I did get the RAM mount for the Garmin 78 via UPS today. There have been some negative reviews of the mount, but I think it will do. I need to pad the contact area in the back out slightly, but I think it's 80% as good as the Touratech mount at 1/10th the price. As old and feeble as I am, I don't anticipate doing too many maneuvers that would dislodge it. Touch wood.