Gander (Sunday, July 2nd)

Off to Gander we go.  About a 50min drive from our campsite today.  Both Justin and I are excited to go visit the Gander Aviation museum.  When we pass it on the highway we both look at each other and chuckle.  I am not sure why but we were both expecting this fancy looking museum.  As we drive past it, it looks like an old garage.  We want to drive by the dealership and have a look to see if they have many diesel vehicles on the lot.  It might give us insight as to whether someone can work on our truck here.  We drive by a towing and repair shop that advertised Gas & Diesel repair.  They also have a four door tow truck that could take the truck, trailer and all of us to Gander. We might give them a call and see if they have the software to work on the truck.  We decide to go to the grocery store and pick up and eat lunch there.  A nice couple stops us and asks about Bones.  Airedale lovers!  Bones is often been mistaken for a labra-doodle on this trip.  We've never really had that in the past but we think it's because of the growing popularity of that breed.  Rarely does someone know what an Airedale is.  Nice to meet fellow Airedale owners.  Justin gives that tow truck company a call.
I figured since they were a tow truck company they would answer on a Sunday and given our situation, I felt it was ok to try and set things up in advance and see if they could help us out with our truck.  The man is pretty confident that they have the capabilities so we might try and get towed there.  We head back to the museum.  We were wrong to judge a book by its cover.  We both really enjoyed the museum.  I feel like it only scratched the surface and could have gone into more detail but really well done.  Gander is known as an airport town.  It was chosen in 1935 for its location close to the northeast tip of North America.  During the war, the population grew to as many as 10000.  Following the wars, it was used as a refueling stop for transatlantic flights hence its nickname 'Cross-roads of the world'.   The museum didn't really cover how Gander recovered from the airline industry no longer needing refueling points but the city seems to be doing well.  One section of  the museum is dedicated to the people of Gander and their actions during 911.  42 flights were diverted here when the US closed their airspace and 6600 passengers were stranded here for 4 days.  One part that I really enjoyed was the section on ATC (air traffic control) and the volume they handled that day.  Oh how I miss my old job!

Just like my old work station! Strips for miles!

Our next destination was the Silent Witnesses Memorial.  It is a very beautiful homage to the horrific air accident of 1985 where 256 individuals lost their lives.  The plane was a charter returning peacekeepers from the 101st Air-born Division Screaming Eagles from the Sinai Peninsula.

On our way back through town, I suggested we check out the Gander campsite.  Worth the detour to assure ourselves that we definitely do not want to be stranded there.  We decide that it will be much better to park at Wal-Mart than to stay here.  Not a nice campground at all.  We head further north to Jonathan's pond campground and decide against this campground as well.  It is too far and there is no cell service which will make our difficult situation unmanageable.  Justin has a great idea to visit the MP section (military police) followed by maybe the RCMP.  He's hoping to be
greeted by a Bagotville type dispatcher (a dodoll, a M. Noel or a M. Turgeon).  These were some of his dispatchers in Bagotville and they would know their town and know where to send us for help.  Well, what do you know! Our luck just keeps getting better.  He is greeted by a young lad, just graduated from the academy, who has been here less than 3 months! And to top it off, the dispatcher is an older lady who has no clue but to suggest the dealership.  His second idea of the RCMP is also a flop - Sunday afternoon - offices are closed.  We have nothing left to do but to laugh at our luck and head back to the campsite.  Justin cooks us up some delicious ribs, accompanied by our left overs from lunch!

(did we call good sams today or last night?) looking for a sign like kelly and paul pic (mon oncle moe)