Trans Labrador

In mid-June we drove from Red Bay to Goose Bay (roughly 350 miles), then on to Labrador City (another 350 miles) south to the St. Lawrence (370 miles)-- roughly 1,000 miles, give or take a few. We were towing a 21 foot travel travel. We looked forward to this adventure, and it was indeed an adventure, but, frankly, I would not do it again (until the road is MUCH improved) or recommend the drive for anyone else towing a travel trailer. The gravel dust that got inside was awful (despite painters tape and other efforts to keep it out), and the horrible roads banged the trailer up pretty good -- nothing disabling, but the kitchen cabinets came loose from the wall, and we met another guy who lost all the water in his fresh water tank when a bracket or coupling of some kind snapped off. There were a few relatively smooth sections of gravel where we could manage maybe 40 mph, but also many rough and potholed sections where we had to creep along, but still could not avoid bouncing the trailer around pretty severely. We encountered minimal traffic, sometimes going for half an hour without encountering a vehicle in either direction, but when we did (usually a big semi hurtling over the gravel), both the TV and trailer would be encased in a blinding cloud of gravel dust. Some sections of the highway are infamous for large chunks of gravel that cause flat tires, and we were one of its victims. Fortunately we were able to pull into a potholed dirt clearing on the side of the narrow road before the tire had gone dead flat, so I could safely unhitch the trailer and change the tire. Then the rains came, just when what initially had been a reasonably smooth (if terribly dusty) section of gravel road had transitioned to mostly dirt, which the rain turned into slippery mud. We crawled for over an hour with white-knuckles in 4-wheel drive until we hit better gravel. After 300+ miles of the gravel, we hit good pavement 30 miles or so before Goose Bay, and the next day we found the 350 miles or so of pavement from Goose Bay to Labrador City to be new and excellent. But the guy who fixed our tire had warned me that the 350 miles after Labrador City through Quebec to the St. Lawrence is a terrible road. Also, like the road in Labrador, there is no cell coverage, but unlike in Labrador, Quebec has no system for borrowing a satellite phone for this road.

The next morning, as I checked out of our motel in Labrador City, the woman at the front desk asked if we were headed down the Quebec highway, and when I said yes, she shook her head and said, "Well, good luck to ya, my darlin'!" We crossed into Quebec, but had not gone many miles south towards the St. Lawrence before we found that the tire repair guy had actually understated the bad road conditions. We slogged over 100+ miles of rough washboard gravel, with semis once again throwing rocks and gravel dust all over us, then found that most of the remaining 250 miles of asphalt was full of potholes, bumps, dips, and crumbled pavement. Adding to the challenge, we encountered more tight curves and steep uphill and downhill grades than ever before -- on this or any other trip -- too many 10% grades to count and some as steep as 14%, with road conditions precluding any opportunity to build up speed for the uphill grades. On the other hand, the wilderness scenery was fabulous, with endless vistas of sky-blue lakes, deep green forests, beautiful hills and immense rock formations, along with cascading rapids visible from the bridges (often one lane with wood plank decks barely wide enough for the big semis). But there were very few pull outs or even shoulders wide enough to stop for longer looks at the greatest viewing spots, and I had to keep my eyes glued to the road surface to avoid the worst potholes as the trailer helplessly banged and bounced along behind us. Conclusion: Great adventure and fun to tell people about, but, as I said, I would not do it again and would not recommend it.