The Day The World Came To Town - 9/11/2001 - Jim Defede

When thirty-eight jetliners bound for the United States were forced to land in Gander, Newfoundland, on September 11, 2001, due to the closing of United States airspace, the citizens of this small community were called upon to come to the aid of more than six thousand displaced travelers.

“For the better part of a week, nearly every man, woman, and child in Gander and the surrounding smaller towns stopped what they were doing so they could help. They placed their lives on hold for a group of strangers and asked for nothing in return. They affirmed the basic goodness of man at a time when it was easy to doubt such humanity still existed.”

This book is available at many locations, including, Amazon.Com

Our Expedition Unimog completes its maiden voyage. A few changes are in store.

Every new expedition vehicle needs to start somewhere. No matter what you do there is always the first trip. Working out the kinks as they say. Most times I have found you come home with a number of changes that need to be made before the next adventure. Sometimes there are minor things, occasionally they are major.

Our last update on our expedition vehicle project showed a shiny new completed vehicle ready for her first such journey. Although I know that I owe everyone several articles accounting for some of our unique creations and modifications on the truck, I am going to skip forward for one post and cover the failures and the shortcomings of our project. Specifically, one major problem that nearly ended our trip only several days in.

Most importantly, I would like to begin by thanking the many people that jumped in to aid us in our time of need- and I mean need. As often is the case, we broke down at precisely the worst possible location- in the middle of nowhere, on a Sunday and with really no idea who to call for help. We were greeted by many people who pulled to the side of the road to offer a hand (in fact nearly everone driving by offered to assist). A big Thank You to all of you (you know who you are), and an extra special HUGE THANKS to Eugene and Connie Joy who simply were passing by. They stayed for hours, helped right the rear body, assisted in phoning the local authorities and checked in with us the following day to make sure that we got a “BIG LAND” welcome to Labrador. 

So just what did happen? Well, after hours of bumping about on the rough gravel and pot holed road from Baie Comeau Quebec on the way to Labrador City my concentration toward the road ahead was broken by the CB radio. Dennis, with an urgency in his voice said, “Mike, you are loosing your back- pull over!”  “Huh”, I thought. I looked in the rear view mirror and saw the rear body of the truck looking like a dump truck in full tilt mode. Uh, oh- I don’t have a dump truck!

Long story real short. I will take some negative credit for a bit of a design flaw. With the spare tire, weighing in at nearly 260 pounds, and a very overloaded truck there was too much weight- specifically too much weight too far toward the rear of the truck. The welds holding the rear body to the frame had let go. Later we found that none of the welds were related to any of the work we had done on the vehicle, in fact they were all factory welds and two of them were defective from new.

One of my revelations from the incident was this: In the States if I had a million dollars and 2 weeks I probably could not have gotten the truck fixed in time. In Labrador we managed to  (with the help of many, and special thanks to GSC Crane Operation) get a tractor trailer tow back to the weld shop. Get a crane to lift the back body off. A welder to fix all of the weld points and strengthen the supports. Repair the wiring and exhaust damaged in the incident and lift the body back on. All of this in six hours- yes, six hours. Oh, and did I mention, on a Monday morning after getting towed in at 3am. Oh, and one more thing- without any electric power in the shop- in fact without any electric power in the whole town! Amazing.

An experience certainly, but one that we won’t forget because of all the great people that we met.

Thank you all from Mike, Karen, Dennis and Maura!  - And now the photos. (Click To Enlarge)

How about a flat bottom boat to take you to Europe? We met them in Cartwright Labrador too.

I began to think if we stayed in Cartwright Labrador for a month we might have met 20 more world explorers- go figure.  We also might have been carried away by the bugs- or at least we would have needed blood transfusions.

Ralph and Robert Brown set out from warm Tampa Florida in June and hope to reach Europe (Landstuhl Base) by way of Greenland, Iceland and London. In case you are confused, a flat bottom boat is one that does not have a cabin (for warmth) or a keel, thus it can operate in about 2 inches of water. Yes, not exactly the boat for the North Atlantic.

Ralph and Robert left Cartwright as we departed for points to the South along the Labrador coast. They had told us that they hoped to make the 600 mile crossing to Greenland in about 2 and a half days. We checked into their web site every opportunity that we could over the next several days as we continued on our trek.  In the end it took them 6 cold, wet, long days at sea, they made it with only one quart of fuel left!

Check out their web site (excellent satellite tracking and blog updates) and please donate to their cause. As I write this they are preparing for their big cross to Iceland. We are following along on their adventure and hope you do as well. Best of luck Ralph and Robert!

crosstheatlantic.com

We meet a fellow adventurer in Cartwright Labrador.

Most often the best highlights of any trip are the people that you meet along the way. Our recent trip to Labrador and Newfoundland was no exception. It also seems that the farther out and stranger the place the more people that you run into with incredible stories. One such man is Tommy Cook who we met in the tiny town of Cartwright Labrador. A town that we probably would have never seen except for the fact that it happens to be where the ferry from Happy Valley Goose Bay terminates.

Tommy and our paths happened to cross on two very different adventures. He is in the middle of a solo sailing adventure that began in Minnesota in April and has brought him through the Great Lakes, up the St Lawrence and along the coast of Labrador to the sleepy town of Cartwright. From there he plans on sailing around the “top of the world” to Alaska. Best of luck Tommy, we will be watching for you.

His website can be found at arcticsolosail.com

New Footage From Our Just Completed Labrador & Newfoundland Trip

This is a great opportunity to let those of you who may not be aware that we have our own YouTube video channel! That’s right, our Drive The Globe YouTube channel can be found at:

youtube.com/drivetheglobe

In fact, please subscribe to our channel and in the future you will be automatically notified when a new video is posted. It is that easy.  For now, enjoy the new footage as Dennis White searches for the perfect moose photo while Michael Ladden captures the attempt on video. This footage was shot during the 2009 Labrador & Newfoundland trip at Lomond Newfoundland.

We arrived back at home this afternoon after a final push of nearly 1000 miles the past two days. We are tired and glad to be home. Both Labrador and Newfoundland were fantastic and in the coming days we will be sharing the stories, photos and video as well as introducing you to some of the wonderful people and explorers that we met along the way. For now, it is the pillow. I share the final photo I took on the trip.

Dennis White preparing our last supper in the ferry line awaiting departure from Newfoundland.

I am writing this update from the ferry terminal. We will be boarding the ship for Nova Scotia shortly. Only 1000 miles and we will be home!

So far the vehicles are performing flawlessly (knock on wood). We spent the afternoon riding zip lines high above a waterfall in Corner Brook Newfoundland. Great adrenaline rush.

Last  night we got within 8 feet of a bull moose, Dennis White snuck from tree to tree getting photos and I have the video to prove it. Stay tuned to our YouTube page.

If all goes well we will be back Sunday evening and I will finally get around to loading photos/video and accounts of the trip. Stay tuned. Over and out from “The Rock”.

We arrive today for five days in Gros Morne National Park, sorry no more updates for a few days as we will be relaxing. Spent several days exploring L Anse aux Meadows, the site of the first Viking landing in North America- long before Columbus. Saw plenty of icebergs and moose- in fact had a few moose in our campsite.

We have completed our trek across Labrador. Today we board the ferry for Newfoundland. We will spend a few days exploring L Anse aux meadows- a Viking site on the North coast and then a week in Gros Morne National park- a world heritage site.

The past few days we toured the scenic coast of Labrador. The highlight was seeing several icebergs of the coast and visiting an archeological dig site of ancient Inuit homes.

The road continued to be challenging but all vehicles are performing well and the crew is ready to shed the persistent bugs of Labrador!

Hello from Labrador! Doing what we do best! Enjoying some frosty beverages and updating this blog from the Sir Robert Bond marine vessel on the way to Cartwright Labrador (overnight ferry). Modern technology is amazing- internet in the middle of no where.  We had to prove that we were indeed alive and well after the last few harrowing days and our drive down the Labrador Highway. (Left to right): Mike, Dennis, Maura, Karen.