Plan B, plus RDF

St John's, NL -- Our trip has taken a slight 
deviation; we are here at a hotel, and from our window we can see the RV parked at the 
Mercedes-Benz dealer where it will be checked tomorrow.

When we left Bonavista the other day, Val noticed the yellow 'check engine' light on the display. With the bor-rowed cell phone from our friends Nancy and Morley, we made some calls, eventually connecting with this dealer. They kindly offered to squeeze us in tomorrow, to see what the problem might be.

So, today we set our course for Newfoundland's capital city. It wasn’t really our plan, since we’ve both been here before and we only have a few more days before we sail, but flexibility is the name of the game.

It was already raining when we got out to the main road, Val in the RV and me in the car, on our way to Nancy and Morley's house to return the cell phone with our heart-felt thanks. That done, we hitched up and headed north up the Burin Peninsula.

A stiff wind buffeted the RV and Newfoundland’s sig-nature sideways rain splashed across the highway. Val said we probably wouldn’t see any of those elusive caribou today – they’d be too smart to come out in this weather! Still, I kept my eye on the sweeping flatlands, ever hopeful.

Wouldn’t you know, a few kilometers further on, I spied three magnificent caribou drinking at a pond a few dozen yards from the roadside! Each one had a full set of ant-lers and looked as handsome as any I’ve ever seen. We both stared in amazement, and then we were past them – no time for a photo and no place to pull over for a longer look! Still, we were thrilled to have had this flee-ting glimpse, especially on such an unlikely day.

When we reached the town of Goobies (don’t you love these names?), we turned on to the TransCanada High-way in the direction of St John’s. For a time, the wind seemed to have calmed down a bit, and then the ceiling descended on the hilltops, shrouding them in fog. Our friend Morley told us the term is “RDF”—rain-drizzle-fog! Another addition to our Newfie vocabulary!

Believe it or not, a few kilometers further along the way, the fog lifted, the sky cleared to a bright blue and we were bathed in sunshine – for a good five minutes! And, almost as quickly, fog rolled in again even thicker than ever. It was the strangest weather sequence I’d ever seen.

We made it to St John’s without incident, and now we play the waiting game. We consider ourselves lucky though; the hotel two doors down from the dealership had only one room left when we walked in, and we’re now comfortably settled in it! Perhaps our RV problem will be a minor thing. Let’s hope!