Dodging Hurricane Dorian!

Sept 7, 2019

The sun was shining and we had blue skies and no wind. Today we can go kayaking! I went for a shower and Debbie started breakfast.  As I was arranging a few things outside, the Park attendant drove up. After we greeted each other, he told us that we had to leave the campground as Parks Canada was shutting down all of the Gros Morne campsites. Hurricane Dorian was still quite a threat, and the forecast called for high winds and rain for the Western Shore of Newfoundland! Well so much for our idea to go kayaking!

We packed up our trailer, and stopped at the campground office to get a refund on the shortened registration.  We checked out the little amount of Internet available to us and made the decision to drive to Springdale, about 120 kms inland from us.  It was kind of eerie to drive out of the campground and to see only two campers still in their sites.  We gassed up the vehicle and along the way Debbie stocked up on a few more groceries as we drove inland.

When we arrived in Springdale, we did not feel secure as the sites were quite exposed.  We also drove to King’s Point.  This village is also tucked into a cove but the campground there is situated directly on the water, and all the sites are exposed.  

We then made the decision to go further inland, to Grand Falls-Windsor, another 120 kms east.  By the time we got to Grand Falls-Windsor, we were both hungry and needed a break. We stopped in at the local Tim Hortons’s and had a sandwich and a latte.  We spoke to a couple of local men, one a trucker, who suggested that we try a truck stop in Bishop’s Falls.  Our daughter Myra, who had worked in Puerto Rico after the hurricane in 2017, suggested that if we could tuck in with some large transports trucks we might be safe from high winds.  The truck stop that the men suggested turned out to be entirely vacant, no transports there! 

We did find a local campground, Brookdale Country RV, that did have some sites available.  It is located in a bit of a hollow. Phil the owner operator, showed us to a great site and we set up. Phil told me that there is several of us evacuated Gros Morne campers in the campground. He has a reasonably strong internet service which will allow me to post some blogs while we wait out this storm.  As I am typing this blog the winds are picking up, and light rain is starting to tap on the roof.  Debbie is hoping that our trailer is not going to be blown away to Kansas. It should make for an interesting night!