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.