A bushing that allows Doug to attach the front wheel to his bicycle was lost just before we entered Canada and we discovered the issue in Quebec City, which we planned to ride around. Rushing from bicycle shop to bicycle shop on a late Friday afternoon we ended up popping the sidewall of 7-day old (new) RV tire to boot. This left us without bikes and limping along in the RV in Quebec City, but our Harvest Host there saved the day, by allowing us to stay until we fixed the RV and loaning us his bike.
It was at this point that Doug started working with a bicycle shop in Corner Brook, Newfoundland to obtain the missing part. The Canadians searched high and low throughout Canada and had trouble locating the part! Importing / U.S. customs was also an issue and warning to those RVing in Canada, Amazon does not work there like it does in the U.S.! Forget getting your shampoo in 2 days delivered to an Amazon mailbox. It’s not likely to happen.
Fast forward, it had been over a month without the bike. We stopped into the Corner Brook bike shop and they didn’t have the part. They were still confident that they could get it and then send it to us (and in fairness they eventually do obtain it, but by then we’d not only left Newfoundland, but also Canada so they couldn’t ship it to us in the U.S. This is 8 weeks after we ordered it.) Clearly, supply chain issues continue to plague not just the U.S.
Probably coincidence, but every time we ventured into Corner Brook it was overcast and/or raining. This final trip was better than the other two times so we drove to an overlook dedicated to Captain James Cook. You may remember that name from its association with mapping the Pacific Islands, which he did after cutting his teeth on Newfoundland. In Newfoundland, he was the first to establish the precision of the land survey process, setting the standard for the time. A storyboard at the overlook compared his original maps to those from satellites today and it was remarkable.
Next stop…our final days in Newfoundland and recommendations for great walks to scenic coves.
