To: n0abe@sio.midco.net

X-Type: Email; Outmail

Subject: Dildo Island from Ed and Edith

X-Via: W1ON

X-Status: Sent

We went on the Dildo Island Trip with Gerald Smith today. We arrived early so we had dinner over-looking the bay. The rest on the trip were locals so learned more about NFLD and seen some bald eagles, whales and had a tour of the island and learned a lot of history about the area and had a NFL type supper and had interesting visits with the locals. They were all very nice. We had capelands which are a small fish, looked a lot like smelt, fried balony, tea, purline crackers made in Nova Scotia and were told we need to get some jam jam by the same company. We also had peppermints from the same company. They said we needed to get a NFLD JIG Dinner before we leave which are vegtables cooked with salted beef so we will check that out. It was $25 dollars each or $30 total for both of us USA $(tours are extremely reasonable here) so for a 5 hours excursion and a great meal, all you wanted to eat it was a great deal. We also had trout which had reddish meat and tasted great along with bread toasted on the fire. Gerald also told us a lot about the archlogical finds on the island in regards to the Dorset Eskimo 1000-1200 years ago and more recent Indian settlements 400-500 year old and the cod fish hatchery on the island.

July 23rd

Tuesday

We got up in good time and headed out to do laundry and I am going to hike up Butterpot Hill. We found out that there were no change machines to get coins at the laundry so Edith was going to have to run to a nearby town. We remembered Lynn and Lorraine Wallace always had a bunch of quarters so we are going to have to add that to our travel list. She dropped me off at the trail head. We each had the 440 handhelds so we could coordinate. The trail was well marked and had quite a bit of board walk through the low places and over the streams. It was pretty steep up the side of Butterpot which is a rounded mountain of rock. It was windy at the top but I had a good view and took some pictures. I was blessed because after I had taken the pictures and taken a good look around the fog started to roll in rather quickly. By the time I was ready to go back down you could not see the top of the mountain. I called Edith on the HT and found out she was just getting back from getting change and was just starting the laundry. It took me only about 35 minutes to hike to the top. I is supposedly just over 2 miles. I had not met or seen anyone but on the way down I met a fellow I had visited with at Norte Dame CG, at Signal Hill and now. He had vanity plates that made it look like he was from Hawaii but in fact he was from Ontario.

We then packed up and got about way to Fortune to an RV park called Kilmory near Swift Current south of TCH#1 about 20 km. All they had were full hooups so we took a long, long hot shower and wasted lots of water! I charged the 5th batteries and found out for sure that my cordless drill and DeWalt flashlight charger is shot from using it on the inverter and the batteries are down so I can't use them. I got a brain storm and decided to try and charge the batteries with my battery charger in the two amp position. I identified the positive and negative contacts with my volt meter as they are not marked and hooked it up. It charged pretty fast so probably not the best for the batteries but it will get me by until I get back to the USA as I can not find any DeWalt stuff at Wal-Mart or other places up here. We put out a clothes line as Edith had some wet clothes from this morning. She is putting away the dry ones and I am doing E-mail and the travelogue. It has turned into a nice, sunny afternoon about 65 degrees. One bad thing is the road appears to be real up and down so it is going to be slow going down to Fortune. When we get back from St. Pierre from Fortune to Channel-Port Aux Basque where we take the ferry back to Nova Scotia is going to be about 526 miles. and about 126 miles of this is from Fortune to TCH #1 which will be the rough part. On Thursday July 25th we will get things ready for the trip to St. Pierre and Miquelon. The next travelogue will very likey be a few days away after we get back from the French Islands.

[MID: 1439_W0SD Sent Via: W1ON Date: 2002/07/25 17:14:23]