After a most restful night in our suite at the Oceanside, Ann went for a walk down to the ocean while Ross did some computer work for his Dad.

The next goal would be to find a place that has Internet access to upload some files. It would turn into a week-long odyssey.

The first leg of the journey would be to the town of Stephenville, a beautiful rolling drive, if uneventful. The town itself is situated at the entrance to the Port au Port Peninsula, in a huge valley beyond description.

After driving around town a couple times looking for the library, it was time to ask directions. However, upon arriving at the long-sought-after institution of learning, we discovered that it wasn't open until the afternoon, prompting us to get some lunch and miscellaneous supplies instead.

Lunch would be at Mary Brown's Fried Chicken, the only other recognizable restaurants being KFC and McDonald's.

It seems that there's a Mary Brown's and a KFC in just about every community of any size, and with a population of 8,000, Stephenville is fairly large for Newfoundland. The locals must really love their fried chicken, because it's not only featured at those two ubiquitous chains, but almost every other little restaurant as well.

The next part of our voyage would take us to the interior of Newfoundland, and we knew that we might have to camp for the night whether we wanted to or not. All we had brought was a tent, mattress and a couple sleeping bags. Quck visits to Canadian Tire and Walmart allowed us to pick up all the other staples for camping - food, jacknife, matches, blanket, and of course, a chemical toilet so Ann doesn't have to squat.

By the time that was done, the Library was about to open, so we returned. After getting a library card, it turned out that 'Internet access' was really 'restricted web browsing only'. There was no way to hook up our own computer, much less use their locked-down machines to get email attachments or heaven forbid, send them. There would be no uploading of the travelogue today. Fortunately, we were at least able to get a list of BnBs for the area we would travel in next, along with all-important ferry schedules.

Having spent enough time in Stephenville, we were ready to head to Burgeo. Burgeo lies 150km south and east of the TCH on highway 480.

The road would initially follow a river valley eastward, and then turn south to cross the Annieopscotch Mountains, and later the Blue Hills. It offered the promise of a nice drive, and maybe a sighting of caribou.

Well, we didn't see any caribou on the way to Burgeo, but we did see our first moose, and we had a good time taking the Accord partially up a 4-wheel drive road near a mountain peak.

We walked the rest of the way up, and were treated to a magnificent view. Too bad it was only 12 degrees out, and well below zero with the wind chill given 70-80km/h winds. It was difficult to stand in the wind, but the sight was worth it. Being above the tree line, the only vegetation was sphagnum moss and low-lying junipers. Rather than branch out like at Go Home, the vegetation interlocked and hugged the ground smoothly to prevent snow and wind from penetrating any more than an absolute minimum. Besides the vegetation was a lot of rock, and thousands of little ponds, with the most incredible blue colour. Snow was prevalent in some places, and even in some of the ponds, making for a brilliant sight of green junipers, blue water, white snow, and black rock.

After the outlook, we continued on to Burgeo, searching for the elusive caribou, again with no success.

In time we finally reached the small town of Burgeo. It was an interesting town, as it functions as an outpost for other villages along the southern shore that are not accessible by roads. A car ferry leaves from Burgeo to the next village over, but the continuing ferries are only for pedestrians. We drove to the end of the main road and were treated to a very nice view of the ocean.

When we finished our tour, we turned around and drove back on highway 480. Ross decided that he was too tired to drive anymore, so Ann took over the driving while Ross napped. About five minutes after Ann started driving, Ross was jolted awake by Ann slamming on the breaks to avoid ... a pair of caribou. We stopped the car and pulled over to try to get a picture, but an oncoming car scared the Caribou away. Ann drove more slowly after the incident in case there were more of them lurking around. Sure enough, we spotted one in the field, so we pulled over again.

This time the Caribou cooperated and ran along the field towards us. After getting our fill of photos, we returned to the car and continued on our way.

Instead of backtracking all the way along 480, we took a logging road to Buchans (aka Red Indian Lake Road). The road was gravel, but in very good condition, and we saw four more moose as we travelled beside the river towards Red Indian Lake. After about 40km, the road started to deteriorate. Over the next 50km, the road got very bad in sections, and we had to take a few unmarked forks in the road. Since it took longer than expected to drive along the road, and the sun was setting soon, we were happy when we came out the other side, onto paved highway 370.

Since our cell phone had stopped working, we drove to Buchans to find a pay phone and book a BnB. Ross had been interested in camping along the logging road, but considering the cold weather, Ann convinced him that a BnB would be more suitable. We found The Woodland Kettle BnB in Badger and booked a room. The drive to Badger was quiet, and we didn't see any moose along the way. Once we checked in to our BnB, we headed out again to Kellie's Restaurant for dinner. After dinner, we worked on our travelogues, then went to bed.