Finally Off Fogo and Meeting a Lovely Family

 Aug 5, 2024

We woke and got ready, hoping we’d get on a ferry sometime today. The car in front of us has 4 large adults that spent the night in this small SUV. One laid down in the trunk area and the rest tried to sleep in their seats. The two tall teen boys in a family of five were resourceful and took their sleeping stuff down to the restroom building and slept on the floor. It was a miserable night for most as the mosquitoes were too thick to roll down the windows. Again, we were so very fortunate. 

We were told the first ferry would leave at 7, turns out that was when the crew arrived. Unfortunately, although we had told Derrick, the fisherman behind us, that if it came down to only one more vehicle being allowed on we would defer to him, the folks in the SUV in front of us had not made any agreements and took the last spot on the first ferry out. We didn’t make the first ferry, but we were the first car behind the semi at the start of the line for the next one. 

The large one was the non-functioning ferry, it was the little one beside it that was in use.

First one on the ferry!

Arrived back on the mainland 22.5 hours after first getting in line for the ferry. We decided to skip the next peninsula and instead head to Charlotte. I have been craving pizza so we stopped in Gander and had some decent pie. 

Drove through Terra Nova National Park

And out to Tim’s Point (also called Timmy’s point).

Tim is disabled and the community has come together to build a shelter where he likes to come and hang out, watching the boats and wildlife. 

As we made dinner we looked out on this view.

But then Matthew looked behind us. It came down hard for a while.

But the rain stopped and Matthew and I were playing cribbage in the shelter when an older man rode up on his old rusted bike. Harvey is 75 and he bought the bike when he was 27. He is Tim’s dad and, after chatting with us a bit, asked us to come up to his house to meet Tim and sign his guest book. Tim is nonverbal but uses an iPad to communicate. He’s a big sports fan (he was watching the Olympics when we arrived), especially of hockey, which his dad still played. His room was covered in sports memorabilia. We met his mom, Valerie, and his nephew. Valerie offered us tea (at 9 pm not my preference, but how could I say no), which turned into tea and coffee with cakes, cookies, cheese and crackers. After an hour, and after having signed Tim’s book and posed for pictures with him for the family album, we made our excuses and headed down to the van to sleep. They were a delightful family.