We finished riding the Trans-Labrador Highway and Quebec Highway 389 yesterday.  The total distance from the ferry terminal in Blanc-Sablon, Quebec to Baie-Comeau, Quebec was 1,190 miles.  The first 50 miles along the coast are paved, but the pavement is in very poor shape.  People who live along the coastal section of the highway are currently protesting the condition of the highway by staging protests at the ferry to slow traffic arriving from and departing to Newfoundland.

The next 90 miles are hard packed dirt that is very rough.  In some parts of this section the road has rock or gravel, but it is in poor condition.  The next 200 miles is unpaved, but in better shape.  The rest of the Trans-Labrador Highway is paved, but the condition varies from good to poor.

Quebec Highway 389 is 355 miles long including over 100 miles of dirt road.  The dirt portion of the road is the worst road I have ever been on (including the roads in Southeast Asia where I once spent an eleven-month vacation).  Trucks servicing iron ore mining operations in Labrador City and Fermont, Quebec use the road.  The trucks have ground the dirt into a fine powder, and in many places, it is several inches thick.  When trucks passed us going in the opposite direction, they kicked up so much dust, that we could not see for several seconds.

The total length of the Trans-Labrador Highway and Quebec 389 is about 1,200 miles and approximately one-third is unpaved.  Although it was hard riding, we enjoyed it, and I recommend it to any motorcycle rider looking for an adventure.  I do not think there is a more remote road or a road in worse condition in North America.  However, an adventure bike is more appropriate than a Goldwing pulling a trailer.

We took the ferry from Newfoundland to Labrador Thursday, and we spent Thursday night in a hotel in Forteau, NL that was about two miles from the Ferry.  Friday, we rode to Port Hope Simpson and spent Friday night at the Alexis Hotel.  Saturday, we rode to Happy Valley—Goose Bay.

Most of the road we were on Friday and Saturday is unpaved.  Friday, 90 miles of the road was unpaved, and Saturday 202 miles of the road was unpaved.  For an unpaved road, it was in generally good shape.  However, there were several miles where it was full of potholes and several miles were the gravel was so deep, the motorcycle seemed to go where it wanted to.  It rained Saturday, which made the road very slick in places.  So far, my bike is the only Goldwing I have seen since being on the Trans-Labrador Highway. There are a lot of motorcycles on the Highway, but all the others I have seen are dual sports.

We are staying in Happy Valley—Goose Bay until tomorrow and we are heading on to Churchill Falls and Labrador City.  We still have about 100 miles of unpaved road in Quebec.

We spent one night in a private campground in Antigonish, NS.  We stayed at the same campground on July 3, 2001.  I woke up on July 4, 2001 with my right arm hurting so bad I did not think I could stand it, and it still has not stopped hurting.

After Antigonish, we spent three nights in Cape Breton Highlands National Park.  From there we took an overnight ferry from North Sydney, Nova Scotia to Port aux Basques, Newfoundland.  We spent last night in a provincial park.  We are currently in Stephenville, NL.

Stephenville was a small village prior to 1941 when the U.S. Army built an air base to use during World War II.  During construction of the base, Stephenville’s population grew seven-fold.  It is now a town of about 6,500 that services a population of about 25,000.  The people have fondness for the United States.  However, I could not find anyone that would trade us Justin Trudeau for Donald Trump.

We are going to St. Barbe, Newfoundland to take the ferry to Labrador.  I am not sure when we will get to Newfoundland, but we are getting into sparsely populated areas so we may not have Internet access for several days.

We arrived in Yarmouth, NS Thursday, July 6 about 11:30 PM.  We spent the night in Yarmouth in a wonderful little motor court.  On Friday, we rode the Lighthouse Route along the coast to Liverpool where we spent the night.  Yesterday, we rode on to Halifax, NS, the largest city in Nova Scotia.  We are staying in a dorm room at Dalhousie University.  I have an appointment to get tires on the motorcycle tomorrow, and then we are heading to Cape Breton and the Cabot Trail.

We left Weaverville Thursday, June 29, and we are currently in Hartford, Connecticut. We are staying in Hartford until tomorrow, July 5. Later this week, we plan to take a ferry from Portland, Maine to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. We have done much of our traveling on Interstates 81 and 84. We prefer to travel on back roads, but often the back roads in the northeast congested, and we do not want to take too long getting to Canada. Since this is the July 4th holiday period, the campgrounds have been mostly full; therefore, we have had to stay in motels four out of six nights. We hope that we will be able to camp most nights once we reach Canada.