Day 13

May 25 - 95km (South Brook)

I woke up and Marie made some breakfast for me. At first my plan was to head for Badger, which was only 40km away. I was feeling pretty fatigued from the day before and after only hitting 60km yesterday, I didn’t want to overestimate myself once again. Marie, however, was adamant I make it to Springdale by the end of the day. I eventually agreed to go for Springdale, even though it was over 100km away and I hadn’t even hit 70km on my best day.

I left Terry and Marie and made it to Badger extremely quickly. I was in a rhythm and started to realize I could make it to Springdale. While I was biking, I made a song for myself. It goes:

Springdale, Springdale, Springdale,

I’m going to Springdale,

Springdale, Springdale, Springdale,

I’m coming to Springdale

(repeat x100)

This gave me extra energy and eventually I felt like I was in a groove. I knew it was going to start raining some time in the evening, so I wanted to reach a place to set up my tent before I got wet.

I was fast, but I wasn’t that fast. The rain started pouring, and coupled with the wind, I started to feel really cold. I started losing sensation in my hands but I had nowhere to go but forwards. I made it to a campground at Kona Beach, but there was no one there at the front. At this point, I was freezing and had difficulty taking my phone out of my pocket.

Onwards I went. I saw a restaurant and got extremely excited at the thought of running warm water on my hands. As I walked up to the restaurant, I saw that it was empty. Not good.

The wind was howling, the rain was pouring and I was nearing despair. As I was standing outside the restaurant debating my next steps, a pickup truck pulled up and a man rolled down his window. I think he pitied me and offered to start up his fireplace in his shed. I gladly took him up on his offer, and he drove off.

Two motorcyclists and a van also pulled up to the restaurant, hoping for some food and a break from the weather. I think they wanted to talk to me more to see what I was doing, but I couldn’t really stay around.

I headed to town (I almost missed the house, which would have been disastrous), where I met Gene waiting for me.

After regaining some sensation in my hands, I started to devour the food I had with me while Gene had gone into the house to make some food. After I finished the food I had, Gene invited me inside for dinner and I ate four more eggs and four pieces of toast with butter (and a cup of hot coffee!). I talked with Gene, and quickly realized that this guy was the funniest man in Newfoundland. He really should be a standup comedian.

I was really tired, so I headed back to the shed where there was a couch waiting for me. The fireplace heated up the shed (I kept forgetting to put the wood inside!) and I finally felt cozy. It was a really tough day, but I remember feeling very proud with the distance I accomplished. I felt like I was finally making progress.