From Manic 5 to WKW (who knows where…)
As we reach the higher grounds of the banks of the Manicouagan reservoir, we wave the pavement goodbye…
…And push into deep forest. Kinda puts you back in perspective, doesn’t it? Sure hope Mr. Toyoda did his job well the day he built this one…
Tonight we’re in luck and find a nice spot near one of the litterally thousands of lakes in the area. We even afford a hot shower! Good thing we brought that good old hunting blind, it’s coolish out there! But again, we’re in luck, there’s not that many mosquitoes. Great!
Back on the road the next morning, we hit the first of about half a dozen single lane bridges. Yep, I think I’ll wait.
The bridges allow us gorgeous views of the rivers we cross. I wish we had kayaks…
The scenery is seriously awesome all around us, really. You get a sens of vastness… And solitude. Man, northern Quebec is beautiful!
That’s until the road nears the mines of Fermont…
I guess we have to get that iron ore out of the ground some way, somewhere. Rather get it here and benefit from the local job creation but Geez, does it ever screw up the landscape… How sad…
Fermont.
We fill up, wait for what seems like half an hour in line at MacDonalds (Yes, they do have McDs up there! Whew! Impressed.) eat our burgers and get on our way for the final push to Labrador.
YESSSS!! ”Welcome to the big Land…Cruiser??” I think they were expecting us.
And then comes THE big town in Labrador… Guess what Lab city is famous for? You got it: The olympic flame came through here… 
Pfffff… Peanuts, What’s 294 kms when you’ve just completed over 1150 of which more than 370 were unpaved? Peanuts, I tell ya!
Fuel: Check!
Hey Hey! We’re almost there! 555 kms. Piece of cake!
Lab kinda looks like Quebec, doesn’t it?
Fact is, out here the road really becomes a highway. At least in regards to how wide it is as compared to route 369 in Qc. And they maintain it too… The road surface wasn’t so bad until someone thought it was a good idea to just dig dirt from the side of the road and spread it onto the road! Problem is, the said dirt is full of rocks sometimes as big as 6 inches in diameter! Holy cow! There’s no such thing as the appropriate speed to drive in this! I mean, just driving in loose dirt alone is pretty sporty, now if you sprinkle it with softball sized rocks, it becomes downright perilous ! And then the washboard it creates is just bone jarring!
First on the “to be improved” list for the truck: Suspension seats!
The looks we get from the construction workers as we drive by! We could be driving a Ferrari… Or a flying saucer, we would get the same.
It’s been a long day. And, for those of you who wonder what is Minnie doing all this time?
The sun is sinking quickly and we look to find a decent spot for the night. As it turns out, we end up having to use what we find and we set-up camp…
In a quarry! Welcome to the wonderful wonderland of Labrador!
Hey! No one said it was going to be all exotic, all the time…
It’s getting late, it’s bitterly cool and windy. Time to pitch the screen room/shelter we brought specifically for evenings like this one and then raise the roof and try to make our little nest a little cosier.
The system that lifts the pop-top on our camper consists in a 3 ft long air ram that extends to about 6 ft when the 12 volt compressor pushes air into it. The compressor sits under the hood of the truck and the previous owner routed an air hose to the back and through the floor to supply air pressure to the air ram. Fine.
So I fire up the compressor and… Just like magic, just as it did the previous evenings, the top begins its ascent… Until, “Bang!” And then in a fraction of a second the heavy roof falls right back down on the camper walls. “BOOOM“. Luckily, I dodge the falling mass of steel and aluminium (I’ll later find out the top weights roughly 250 pounds including the gear that is stored on shelves up there). Squatting on the camper floor, I hear a distinc “Hissss”. Something, somewhere couldn’t take the pressure… But what? Fortunately, it doesn’t seem to be the air ram itself. No, the hissing seems to be coming from underneath the truck.
So I crawl under but still can’t see anything as the air hose is routed… Through the frame of the truck. I stick my fingers in some of the holes in the boxed frame and realize the air hose is actually made of two sections that connect through an home made fitting held by small radiator hose clamps…
A home made connection on a critically important air hose can work if you can’t do otherwise (although, I would much rather have a one piece hose).
A criticical air hose routed through the frame to protect it from road and trail hazards is a great idea.
But, a connection in that critically important air hose strategically located in the frame, where it is impossible to get to if it should disconnect is… Well, lets just say it lacks some thinking…
There’s NO WAY I can reach that union in the frame and put it back together, nevermind tightening the hose clamps. I suppose I could disconnect the hose right at the compressor and at the other end, inside the truck, re-route it out of the frame and re-connect it but, it still cold, windy as hell and getting darker by the minute so I look for a quicker fix. The hose doesn’t have much slack but just enough for me to route one end of the connection out of the frame thru one of the holes and the other end out of another hole and still have barely enough lenght to put the two ends together again. I use all kinds of rags and wire ties to fabricate a protective cover for the section of hose that is now outside of the frame as it will be chafing heavily on the relatively sharp edges of the frame holes.
Excuse the blurr but you get the idea…
“Honey, could you turn the compressor on, please?” I pretty much have to yell as the wind covers my voice.
I’m still under the truck and watch my fix as the pressure builds up in the ram… and in the hose…
No Hisss… No booom… The top slowly goes up…. I think we’re good…
Roof up, propane heater on. Life’s good. We assess the situation and fully realize the implications of the fact that it’s impossible to sleep in the camper unless the top is up.
Next on the “To be improved” list: Somekind of a back-up system to raise the top should the air ram system fail.
Tonight we get to test our equipments ability to withstand high winds as it is just howling out there. The screen room is staked to the ground but the wind is so strong we fear it’ll just blow off. So, at 1:30 am, we get up and install all kinds of guy lines between the trucks and our brand new shelter in hopes of saving it. On the other hand, we’re impressed by how quiet and steady the canevas section of the camper is, considering how strong the winds are. Wind noise and general tent rattling and movement is a common problem with roof top tents as Dave will confirm us in the morning. But our camper worked great!
Camper toughness in high winds: Check!
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