With a cheese title like that you know this blog is going to dominate all of its predecessors. Making up some lost ground, we rode 130km to Gander. About 20km into the ride I started to do some investigating and interrogating. The main culprit was Mr. Alex Gray, a tall slender brown haired wise guy who has been known to do some sneaky things knowing full well that Andrew Hopkins normally takes the blame. The issue at hand was who snuck a bag of spurs into my chamois. We had heard prior to leaving for this trip that saddle sores can make a cyclist self destruct. I must say that this is the sad truth. After the 100km mark I decided that there were no spurs in my chamois and let Alex off with a warning. The pain was deflected when we slowed down the pace, joked around and enjoyed the Newfoundland scenery. Before long we were met on the highway by Nelson of the Gander Fire Department and shortly thereafter by Chief Dave Brett, Randy, Todd, Addison, Donna Cannon, Wilson Chaulk, Dean from VOCM and anyone else I have since forgotten (my apologies if that’s the case). Upon our arrival to the hall we met the rest of the crew on shift as well as Mayor Elliot who kindly took the time to greet us. The Mayor presented us with a generous cheque from the Town of Gander, as did Chief Dave on behalf of the Gander Fire Department who ran a successful boot drive two weeks ago. Also, we learned from Mayor Elliot that Gander will be making a donation to the Daffodil Place of $10,000 from the Great Big Sea concert this August. It is tremendous to see the support that the people, towns, cities and organizations of Newfoundland are giving towards such a worthy cause. After the formalities, Chief Dave took us to the 101st Airborne Silent Witness Memorial that he responded to in 1985. It was a moving site to visit and greatly appreciated by the entire team.

 Upon our return to the hall we were officially welcomed as honourary Newfoundlanders…right after we ate, drank and spoke like a Newfoundlander. Thanks so much to everyone here at the Gander Fire Department for all your support and hospitality and to Mayor Elliot for a wonderful greeting. We hope to see some of you in St. John’s!