Newfoundland

August 28th

The wind came up in the evening and howled all night long and was still going strong when we woke up. The weather called it gale force winds with gusts up to 50km/hr.

One of our neighbours knocked on our door around 7:00 this morning. "You just missed them," she shouted above the wind. Ben looked quizical. "The moose," she explained. "There were two of them and they came right up to my camper. They wandered around out here for quite a while."

Well, we're up now, might as well get going. And with that we sprung into action; coffee, smoothie, eggs, waffles and left over pasta. And that was just me.

Kidding. That's what Mel has for breakfast most days - riding days anyway.

The route took us along Highway 100 from Argentia heading towards the Trans Canada. Those gale force winds? Still blowing this morning and from behind. The riders would fly today. About 10km into the ride, I pulled over at a scenic look out to enjoy the view. A car pulled up and the driver stuck his head out the window. "What is this all about?" he asked. I explained. He said "I had a real problem a while back. It started with panic attacks. I actually had to take time off work. Then it became worse, depression. I was in real pain. Luckily my wife took me to the doctor." He's one of the lucky ones. "If I didn't get help when I did, I wouldn't be here." he told me.

We're among the lucky ones too. We have had help and support all along and at every stage of The Ride. Take tonight for instance. Tracey Shave arranged a BBQ at her inlaws in beautiful Holyrood. She invited friends and family and us. Tomorrow she will ride with us into Bowring Park in St. John's - our last day.

And don't think that because The Ride is ending that the Blog will come to an end too. It's never really been about the bike anyway.