Epilogue, Take One

Here we are, nearly two months post expedition, digesting away.  Coming down off the largest trip of our lives has been an adventure entirely on its own.  We are still, after all this time adjusting to a life that is not so simple and definitely busier in many ways than our 87 days of trip.  Be that as it may, perhaps the largest obstacle we're up against to date is what to do with all our stories, photos and thoughts.  Trying to find a way to preserve this adventure is daunting.  We've never written books, made movies or photo journals.  What is a fitting posthumous memorial for something that has changed our lives?  How do we immortalize something in a way that is within our scope, yet satisfying for anyone, including ourselves to remember this  journey?  Time will tell....and for now, there is a new video up on our video page to enjoy.  Just click on the video titled "Trailer". Back to the drawing board.  

Relearning to Relax

Hard as we have tried to prepare ourselves for the inevitable shock of returning to "normal" life...it hits like a sack of bricks.  Every time.  It has been an  interesting week of feeling like our trip was a dream and never happened.  While visiting with friends and family, telling stories and catching up on the last few months of summer festivities we are left feeling a bit dazed, caught in the surreal sensation that we never actually went anywhere.  Everything here is the same as when we left.  Labrador already feels like a distant memory, getting fuzzier by the day.  Life is so easy!  There are no struggles, no serious decisions, we have sofas to sit on.  Our entire summer was dedicated to moving forward, inch by inch, moment by moment, living completely in the present joy. Predicament. Puzzle. Frustration.  Victory.  All of a sudden there's a lack of things to do.  Making breakfast and getting ready for the day takes a fraction of the time!  We eat lots of food, enjoying every bite but feel a bit sluggish and heavy because it isn't followed by extreme physical exertion.  We've gone biking, but felt very silly the whole time....it was so simple, no packs, no gravel, just a joy ride for no reason except "fresh air" and exercise.  There are more people and houses than we know what to do with and after being surrounded by nothing but space we're feeling a bit closed in.  There was more room to breathe at the cottage this weekend as we launched the rowboat back into Balsam Lake, just like we did 3 months ago.  It felt wonderful to sit in our old friend who waited patiently in the dark garage for us....dreaming up the next adventure.  Our muscles remember how to row, it is effortless travel for both of us.  We stand on the dock, looking the direction we rowed away towards on May 22nd....feeling that the lake, so large before looks tiny, almost insignificant compared to what we have now experienced.  Out in the wilderness, we feel small and humble...moving through the environment.  Back in a world of pavement we feel like giants, all struggles have been conquered.  The biggest challenge now is not being challenged.

An Interview With CBC!

Greetings everyone!   Here is an interview with the Labrador Morning show based out of Happy Valley Goose Bay.  It's quite funny to hear ourselves on a radio station that we listen to so much.  Enjoy :)

http://www.cbc.ca/labradormorning/episodes/2011/08/04/ontario-couples-great-labrador-adventure/

Homeward Bound

Somehow, after so many days, so many bug bites, granola bars, bumps, bruises, sun sets and breath taking views.....we're finished.  Just like that!  Yesterday we officially left Labrador behind as we crossed the Strait of Belle Isle to Newfoundland.  Unlike the Hollywood finish both of us had envisioned, we found a bench in the sun on the lee side of the ferry and wearily watched the white caps roll by.  At this point we're tired in a way we've never felt before.  It is a deep fatigue born of constant movement, effort and problem solving.  There are few pieces of our gear that haven't been repaired with duct tape, held together with a hope and a prayer.  Our stove is a miracle in that it still boils water.  Dave's thermarest has been flat for 2 months now, but we still blow it up every night knowing that he's tired enough to fall asleep before it deflates completely.  Our brand new tent 90 days ago is now a graveyard of countless bug bodies slayed in the night...and smells accordingly.  Socks are rotten.  We are down to one spoon.  But there is nothing that can even compare to the sense of satisfaction and pride we have in our accomplishments.  We have done exactly what we set out to do....see the people, cultures and environments along the path of our expedition.  A life-changing experience, one never to be forgotten and surely to be retold many times over.  Even if we own the world's only pair of biodegradable sneakers life couldn't be better.  Eating machines 1 and 2 are ready for take off. 

A Few Pictures From the River

The Final Chapter

What a time we've had.  A canoe trip of a lifetime that we will continue to digest over the remaining 10 days of our expedition and further.  Almost 2 weeks of bliss as we slid down to the sea, cashing in on the potential energy we stored up as we biked to the heights of land for 1400 kms previously.  As Dave said the other day after a particularly wonderful day on the water at an equally wonderful campsite "If I had to bike over all that gravel another time to have such a day like this again...I would do it in a heartbeat".  It is a special, wild and unbelievably gorgeous river.  Which makes for a very bittersweet adventure when in the back of your mind is the fact that it will all disappear.  Within 5 years the vibrant ecosystem that we were lucky enough to travel through will be drowned, never to return.  All the creatures, gorges, microclimates, fisheries will be blanketed in hundreds of metres of water, destroyed and unseen beneath two massive reservoirs.  One moment in the boat your head is spinning, trying to take in the beauty around you, the next your heart breaks open knowing that you will never see it again, nor will anyone else.  All for the sake of a few kilowatts of energy....none of which will stay in the province it's created.  That's an entirely different story, a high voltage one at that and it will undoubtedly give us food for thought while biking for the next few days.  On we go, the end in sight. Infinity miles per gallon. 

It's Canoe Trippin' Time!

At long last, after so many hundreds of kilometres we have made it to Churchill Falls.  This entire voyage has spawned from our wish to paddle the Churchill River before a second dam is built on it, destroying the natural course of the river forever.  For so long we've been saying "when we get to the river...."  or "when we go down the river"....and now, all of a sudden we're here.  After everything!  Our latest adventure has included 4 flat tires in the 3 days it took us to ride from Labrador City to Churchill Falls.  No flat tires for over 1300 Kms, and 4 in a row. Adrien's first blew out the sidewall on her tread and with much duct tape and cursing we reinforced the tread and put a new tube in...our last one.  The bike, sitting upside down with no weight on the tire whatsoever litterally exploded as the new tube blew up in front of everyone watching.  The mysteries of life!   With some amazing support from our new motorcycle friends and a kind couple in a pickup Dave courageously finished the ride to keep our "human powered" status on the go, while Adrien took her ruined bike and all the gear to set up camp in town.  Dave is the hero, he covered 59 Kms on the worst kind of gravel in less than 3.5 hours.  GO DAVE!  We will get the bikes all sorted out in Happy Valley where there's a bike shop and happily (and hopefully uneventfully!) finish our last 10 days of cycling on this trip. None of that matters as we eagerly await the Grand River Keeper's arival with our trusty old town canoe to kick off into the meat of the trip.  There is much food to be eaten and lots of sleep to be had....we couldn't be more excited!  Over and Out!     

One other note...

We have been able to update our photos on Facebook.  It`s proving difficult to get them up on the blog so far! If you can, follow ``Greener Adventures`` on Facebook and all the pictures are there.  The videos will be a project on their own, most likely at the end of this crazy adventure. Enjoy!

Out of the Bush for 24 hours!

Although we are long overdue for a post it is not due for a lack of things to say!  We have had a very difficult time finding much internet access and look forward to lots of time at the end of the trip to properly post a lot of our observations, photos and videos.  Many libraries are closed when we roll through and in the case of the past 10 days there has been nothing but trees, trout and trucks.  We have arrived safe and sound in Labrador City after a wild ride north 600 kms on the 389.  At times paved, at times not, always exciting.  We have met amazing people, seen incredible sights and are still digesting everything.  Including our 36 timbits and supersize french fries from McDonald`s!!!!  Today has been a glorious day of calorie loading and resting in the shade (bug free!!) while doing errands.  We were lucky enough to meet a lovely man, Tom Squire on the road a week ago who offered us orange crush, strawberries and a place to sleep here should we need it.  He and Amanda with their 3 beautiful children have welcomed, showered, fed, cheered us greatly all evening and we hope to stay in touch.  Tomorrow we begin our sprint to Churchill Falls covering 250 kms in 3.5 days before starting our long-awaited canoe trip on Wednesday.  2 months down, 1 to go and spirits are high.  Bugs, stinky clothes and broken gear aren`t dampening our enthusiasm or love of this trip. What an endeavor!  We are constantly thankful for the help and support we have had from our friends, families and strangers throughout this voyage, it would be next to impossible without it.  Here`s hoping we can get some photos up tonight, we have LOTS.  Love you all.

Adventure Part Two!

After 5 days of resting and visiting with many friends we are finally feeling ready to begin the second phase of this journey. We are feeling stronger each day from our bad water experience and figure the further away from the polluted St. Lawrence we get, the healthier we will be. Many people ask us why on earth we are doing this. One man has even called our trip "very strange". Sometimes we agree, but after wandering around Quebec City and sleeping in the same place more than once...we are antsy. Even with all the challenges we have faced, our desire to continue on and keep discovering is no smaller than it was over a month ago. Tomorrow we go, into the heart of Quebec leaving all english behind. All we can ask is for Canada Post to stop their strike so that our food boxes can be mailed to us. Eating is nice afterall! We have added more pictures to facebook and our Picasa account, just look for an album called the first 23 days. Over and out from Neuville, QC.

Quebec City at Last!

It's official, we've finished the rowboat portion of our trip! We are safe and sound enjoying a day of unpacking, organizing and cleaning before going to our friend Edith's house to rest. We are very proud of ourselves and underestimated the sense of satisfaction we would have from such an accomplishment. We've dealt with storms, huge waves, water poisoning for both of us, poison ivy, conjuntivitis, crazy locals and constant mental stress about moving forward. No expedition wouls be complete without all of these things! We owe our finishing on schedule to our good friend Dan Rinard who drove up from maine to row with us when dave was sick from the bad water. Thank you Danno! Life is good, we are happy to be finished for a few days to rest and recharge before saddling up the bikes. Looks like it's back to being sore in different muscles we never knew we had! Look for more photos and videos soon once we get to a computer in the city. Thank you all for following and supporting us so far, it means the world. Over and out for now. Dave and adrien.

C`est la vie sur la bon piste!

And here we are....MONTREAL!!  Taking our first rest day of the whole trip, and it sure feels good.  We are at our good friend Noe`s home enjoying a BBQ, a washing machine and going out for breakfast.  Bacon is king.  Our dreams of rowing our way through downtown Montreal to the old port were dashed at 9 AM yesterday when the Lachine canal operator informed us we would not be allowed to use the canal. 
   The reason.....too much rain the night before overloaded Montreal`s septic system and they pumped the excess raw sewage into the canal.  Wonderful! This means no non-motorized boats for 72 hours.  Motorboats, being the main money producers are fine for some reason.  AKA, the city wouldn`t want them to know their dirty little secret!  We waited 2 hours for them to call every person they could think of to finally say no.  Permission for this, permission for that, blah blah blah.  So, finally, we portage, one more time, 14 kms along side a perfectly good canal to the dock where the boat is waiting patiently for tomorrow.
   The irony of the ordeal being the banners all along the bike path, now portage trail exclaiming ``30 ans sur la bon piste verte!``  Surely a 30 year old environmentally friendly bike path offsets the raw sewage that goes into the canal with every rain storm. However, Noe met us halfway and kept our spirits up, getting a real glimpse of the silly people and things we deal with every day, all day long.  Cèst la vie!  We are happy, enjoying the sun and looking forward to good weather tomorrow when we shove off into the last 10 days of this section of the trip.  Next stop, Quebec City!

Technology Goes Bunk.

Contrary to public belief, libraries are not always up to date on tech matters.  We pulled into Morrisburg, Ontario today at 1:30 to pick up food and upload some photos/videos.  Unfortunately the computer doesn't recognize our camera software and can't handle HD videos from the camcorder.  Bummer!  We promise we're taking lots of pictures and will make a video as soon as we can to show you all what we're seeing.  Life is good, the sun is out and the St. Lawrence finally has current!  Signing out for now.  Adrien and Dave

More Observations From the Field

Our last message consisted of interesting things we had noticed so far. It would be unfair to neglect one of the most prolific and entertaining creatures we encounter: the human being. Far from elusive he pops up at the most awkward times, when dave is peeing out of the boat, when we've just sat down to our first meal in hours or when we're so exhausted we can hardly hold our heads up. They all mean well, some are simply more intuitive to what we can handle at that moment. There are incredible behavioural patterns that the motor-boat driving human tends to exhibit. Firstly: driving way too fast for their proximity to us, as if we're slowing them down. They will cut us off, some do circles even! Secondly and slightly in contrast to the previous observation are the dear people who don't want to swamp us in their cruisers so they slow right down. They don't realize that they're putting more of their boat in the water when they come out of plane thus displacing more water giving us a giant roller to forge through. Many people have offered us goodies and places to charge our phone and camera and we are endlessly grateful. However what we are most grateful for is when we ask a questio the human honestly says "I don't know" instead of the customary head scratch, hemming/hawing, throat clearing, guessing, spouting random thoughts and finally calling someone on their phone to arrive at the conclusion of "gee, I don't know." It's always in the spirit of helping, so we can't fault anyone there. Our daily interactions with these creatures never fail to amuse us and give us things to chat about in the many hours a day we spend in the boat. For that we will always love human beings.

All Things Big and Small

In just the 9 days we have been out so far we have been fortunate to see many wonderful sights. It's amazing when you spend lots of time outside how many more
Encounters you have with creatures! It's easy to forget that all these critters are always outside moving around, we just have a hard time accepting that animals, plants and insects don't
Suddenly appear when we set foot outside the door. We've seen lots of species of fish and birds. Perhaps most striking are the great trumpeter swans. Since arriving onto the Bay of Quinte
Which is quite a large body of water the number of huge carp that we see has exponentially increased. There are many turtles, deer, and cycles of insect. We've seen clouds of shad flies live out their
Ephemoral lives and this yeats fresh crop of canadian goslings. This vast tract of canadian landsape that we will are crossing is unbelievably productive. One lake, in particular Rice Lake is said to be the most densely populated
By fish lake in all of Canada! Everywhere you look 8 lb bass are jumping out of the water and thousands of perch, pickerel and sunfish swarm under the boat. We've never seen so many herons in one place ever before, it's just stunning
How much life one lake can hold. Each and every day we see something, learn something, that we haven't experienced yet. Even in the small-scal ecosystem that has developed in the water in the boat there are developing mayflies, life stages of various critters and snails.
Even when we clean up, something moves in over night, it's a fact of life. This is why we choose to travel the way we do...it's a speed that allows us to keep up with the countless miracles great and small happening every day around us.

Day 4 and feelin' fine!

Greetings all! Here we are in our little tent as the rain is starting to fall feeling very good with our progress so far. We've seen some wicked weather, been windbound for 18 hours,have several new blisters and the locks have closed down because of high water. Yep! All this amazing infrastructure so you can go hundreds of kms without getting out of your boat and we have to portage around every single one! We did 10 kms straight today because it was faster than unloading/loading the boat 6 times. But we're still making our distances and having the time of our lives. Life is pretty simple and we're settling into the trip pretty quickly. Somehow tomorrow is day 5 already! Other than being a bit red in the neck, sore on our seats and stiff in our shoulders, we've never felt better. We love you all! Over and out.

Waiting...

You'd think we would try and sleep in as many beds as we could before leaving for a 3 month trip....We've slept in our new tent for the last 3 nights in the back yard and are in love with it!  It's so clean and not covered in a million squished bugs from years of pre-bed time slaughter.

We're off to the cottage tomorrow bright and early to work on the boat if the weather holds, also to take the bulk of our row boat gear up.  Really just to try and catch the massive pike that we've seen swimming under the dock.  We'll be back for one last visit with family and friends before the ultimate departure and we're just champing at the bit for it.  Our food boxes are mostly sorted for Quebec and Labrador, we're really just puttering on trivial details.

Sunday will come soon enough, but until then.....we dream of all the peanut butter and jellies on the horizon.

Homeless, but Happy!

Drizzle, rain, drizzle, drizzle, rain. We're hoping mother nature gets her beans out in the next 6 days so the skies will clear for at least our first day.  We know we're going to see lots of liquid sunshine over our 3 months out but at least one sunny day would be great to start on!

We're a little bit more homeless today than we'd bargained for.  We've officially moved off the Danforth (YAY!) and are houseless, bouncing between all of our kind family members doing laundry, sending emails, making phone calls.  Unfortunately we got word from the gear store in Peterborough that the Nemo tent we'd ordered a few weeks ago is so back ordered that it didn't get here for May 14th.  It's unlikely to show up even before July......it's looking like we're going to have to find a Canadian Tire special after all our shopping around and research.  It will be a heck of a lot cheaper though!

So's life.  We're still smiling and not worried in the slightest about what shelter we'll end up in for the trip.  We hear blue tarps are nice!  Surely all this rain will breed enough bugs to keep us company while we sleep.

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!

Thank you!

So many wonderful people have offered their advice, thoughts and encouragement through the planning of this trip.  We know the list will only get longer as we move through the expedtion.  Thank you everyone, we are incredibly lucky to have so many great people in our lives.

Schwaib at MEC- The first person we ever talked to about this trip...thanks for all the advice in biking!

Marla Black- For the hand-crafted, Canadian-made, travel-sized backgammon board.  We have no idea how to play the game, but we've got lots of time to learn :)

Ken Bouchard- The super awesome fellow Rossiter rower who has lent us 18 nautical charts that will take us from the cottage all the way to Quebec City!  THANKS KEN!!!!

Mum and Dad Rawley- Endless support, and never saying we were crazy. Really helping by mailing all the goodies we bought on ebay up from Maine.  One day, we'll have money to support local businesses. 

Mom and Dad Greene- SO much encouragement, lending us the Rossiter, brain storming, flares, VHF radios, a place to store our junk while we're gone, taking us to Costco...etc.  Thanks!

Joe Connoly- What a guy! We have you to thank for getting us addicted to Twitter. Also all sorts of incredible ideas.

The Grand River Keepers- Volunteering their time to shuttle our canoe for us in Labrador and lending us maps and a guide book for our canoe trip down the mighty Grand River.

Vena and Horace Goudie- For sending us Horace and Horace's mum's autobiographies of their lives in Labrador, what an inspiration!

Steve and Sandra- Two of our best friends who are driving our bikes and all our gear to Quebec City for the start of our cycling portion of the expedition.  We'd be toast without them!

Ryan Benson- For his canoe paddle and continuing the unofficial explorers book club with Dave, and also for keeping the dream alive.

Jacqueline- Thank you so much for helping us FINALLY find a tent that works for us.  What an adventure it's been just finding a tent! 6 months of research and testing and it all came down to 6 days before we leave for the expedition to find the right one.  Yay Jacqueline, good luck with school!

T-Minus 10 Days!

Soon we will be into the single digits for our countdown to shove off into the great unknown! We went for a second trial bike ride with our new gear set up and rocked it.  44 kms from Markham to Unionville, camped out and rode back 44 kms the next day.  Our food rations seem to be great and we're feeling much more confident about the whole bike-tripping thing. 

We bought a new tent!  We're super excited about a new company based out of New Hampshire, small and grassroots, Nemo Equipment is their name and simplicity of design is their game.  Just the way we like it! 

All 347 of our meals for the expedition are ready to go, weighed, sorted, rationed and packed.  The apartment is full of boxes all destined for the East.  All's left is to pack up the apartment and move, no biggie.  Rest assured, this will all get much more interesting once we've hit the proverbial road.

Happy Earth Day!

Well....time to see what this bike-tripping thing is all about.  We can't think of a better way to celebrate Earth Day then to head north for the weekend and have a trial run with our tuned up bikes,panniers and gear loaded up for the first time ever.  We'll be riding the gravel rail trail in Haliburton. We really have no clue what we're doing, but we figure we'll learn pretty fast.  We're hoping to cover as many kilometres as possible and test out our food rations and see what adjustments need to be made.  Oh, and it's supposed to rain.  A LOT.  We'll have to remember our water wings!  2 nights in the tent should tide us over on this last sprint to the finish line of city living.  Time to pack!

R.I.P little food dehydrator

Signs point to it being time to start packing the food and mailing it to Labrador......because the dehydrator simply can't make any more food.  The lid has melted and the trays are all breaking down.  Only 2 of the 5 original trays remain in almost passable condition.  We certainly got our $40.00 out of the little guy!!  We spent almost $300 at COSTCO this weekend buying kilos of instant potatoes, rice, pasta, instant soups, nuts, hundereds of granola bars, etc.  Our calculations put us at about 8 dollars a day to feed both of us.  Over 3 months, with no rent or bills....that's a pretty appealing cost of living!  There may be lots of cold fingers, ferocious bugs and sore behinds, but have 3 kilos of chocolate...will travel.

Radio Tidbit on The Grand River, Labrador

CBC.ca The Story from Here April 13, 2011 Greetings All! For a preview of the political fire that surrounds the Grand River in Labrador, please listen to the powerful clip that starts off Part 1. Just click the link above and it will redirect you to the correct page. The Story from Here is a great Newfoundland/Labrador-based show on CBC radio that talks about all things in the "outskirts" of this wonderful country. Interestingly enough, this was aired today, 6 weeks before we begin the first leg of our trip. Much of our motivation to paddle the Grand River stems from this debate over the potential damming of Muskrat Falls. We know there will be many differing opinions along the way to, through and from Labrador about the hydroelectric project...this may be a good taste of what's to come. We have already spoken with Elizabeth and Roberta, both the women interviewed, months ago. Their passion and distress over this river is no less on the phone than on national air. It's difficult not to side with them, as you will hear for yourself.

How to find a canoe in Labrador.

Finding a canoe in Labrador can be likened to finding a canoe on Baffin Island or some other far fetched, difficult place to get to. A place where few people actually know where it is or a place that has very minimal infrastructure for tourism. The saving grace we had in our quest is the fact that English is the spoken language of Labrador, although that can be considered a stretch at times.

The obvious places to begin the search for a canoe are to locate the biggest town and then figure out if you know anybody in that area, and if anybody you know, knows somebody who might know. Next, contact all these people. When that fails try calling all the marinas and outfitters. If there are non of these, maybe a rent all place might have one. If still no, call the town hall and ask the lady on the other end if she knows somebody with a canoe. If still no luck (as was the case with us) find a local business phone number, any number and give it a call. The number I called was a video rental store and I believe the lady at the check out desk asked her only customer if he knew where we could find a canoe. As luck would finally have it, he did. This mans first cousin had canoes that could be rented/borrowed.

So, now that we have a 17 foot Old Town canoe waiting for us in a town 3000km away that we have never been too, and found a shuttle to deliver it 300km west to the down of Churchill Falls, we will in fact be paddling the mighty Grand River of Labrador. WaHOOOOOO!!!!!!

Make peas, not war!

Greetings from our shoebox of an apartment!

Sorry it's been a little while since we've updated the blog. We've been pretty busy with the oh so exciting task of dehydrating a pile of food. Right now the inventory stands at 5 lbs of peas, 5 lbs of carrots, 5 lbs of corn, a whole bunch of chicken, ground beef and pork too. The dried apples turned out amazingly....the dried bananas......they taste like farts. Maybe riper bananas next time? Or maybe we'll just stick to the apples. The test of self control is on as the bag of jerky fills up. Any recipes or ideas are greatly appreciated!

Our road maps for Labrador arrive tomorrow, yay! We have our first set of panniers, second set on it's way. Bike racks too along with brand new sporks! Lots of logistics, lots of phone calls and lots of number crunching. Not always fun or stimulating but it's always worth it when shoving off into a long trip.

Waiting for spring....the countdown is on...only 3 more weeks to go!
Adrien and Dave
P.S...it's 50% of the team's birthday tomorrow :)

Welcome!

Greetings to Everybody!

Welcome to our first official blog! This is our newest way to stay in touch with our loved ones and many acquaintances over the course of our latest adventure. As many of you have heard from our dreamings we're planning a 3,124 km human-powered trip from Coboconk, Ontario to Blanc Sablon, Quebec touring through Labrador the "unusual" way. We believe strongly in the experience that naturally occurs when travelling slower than standard motorized transport speed. We hope to gain an honest and grounded perspective of the cultures and environments along the way, documenting the stories we encounter and reporting them back to you. On this trip we'll be rowing, cycling and hopefully canoeing. We are currently in the planning and logistics phase of organizing our departure for May 23, 2011. If anyone has any thoughts, information, contacts or questions, we'll take it all. We're not looking for sponsorship, for what we lack in money and high tech gear we make up for in perseverence and the ability to dream big. Stay tuned for more updates and be sure to check out our Route Page to see what we'll be getting into. That's all for now.

Dave and Adrien