Day 3

May 15 - 13km

I stayed at the Holyrood Tim Horton’s for quite a bit as I wanted to charge my things and rest up. The plan was to bike a little bit on the TCH and find a place to camp.

Things did not go according to plan.

After about 13km of biking, I hit a small rock speeding downhill and got a flat on my rear tire. I had to walk my bike to the Avondale Speedway, which was a racing track that people commuted from via bus. The sun was setting, the wind was ferocious and I was freezing as I tried to sort my situation out.

Andrew saw me struggling and asked if I needed help. My spare tube was a little longer than my frame, so Andrew offered to sort everything out at his house. Andrew’s dad, Roger, was a lifelong tinkerer and knew his way around a flat tire. After showing me some cool tips (like spraying Windex on the tube to see where the puncture was), he patched up the tube and Patty invited me inside for some tea. They fed me and we had a great conversation; Roger showed me Vernon Smith’s car collection on his laptop, which boasted an impressive array of unique antiques, and we chatted about the family of cats that lived outside their house. They offered me a place to stay for the night, and dropped me off back where I started in the morning with some food to go.

The kindness that the Flannigans showed me that night was genuinely overwhelming, and I promise to pass it on. Andrew, Roger and Patty: THANK YOU!!! Newfoundland has been so amazing because of people like you.