Pointe-du-Chêne, Canada

I had seen pictures of Parlee Beach, but they didn’t do it justice, just like mine don’t. They get upwards of 16,000 daily visitors during the height of the summer season, and it boasts the warmest ocean waters north of Virginia. I walked for over an hour and still didn’t get from one of the beach to the other and back. As you can tell from my pics, it was overcast today and the odd drop of rain, but warm and pleasant for a walk.

Shediac, Canada

After the best sleep I’ve had on the road so far, I munched my breakfast sitting on a log on the Bay of Chaleur. It was overcast, but the sun broke through the clouds for a little while at least.

Reluctantly, I packed up and headed west on Hwy 132, and then south across the Interprovincial Bridge, which not surprisingly crosses over from Quebec to New Brunswick, arriving in Campbellton, New Brunswick.

Province number two on my trip.

I made my way down the east side of the province, mostly on secondary roads on a route recommended by the Tourism New Brunswick folks. Traveled through the Miramachi area, and city. And I finished tonight in Shediac, near Moncton in the south east corner of the province.

The highlights of today were:

1) Just south of Bathurst, almost immediately after a billboard sized sign warning about moose crossings, a cow moose (do you call it a cow if it’s a female moose?) and a calf ran across the road just far enough ahead of me that I didn’t have to slam on the breaks, but close enough to get a good look.

2) Kouchibouguac National Park – this park is gorgeous even on a cool, overcast day. Short and long hikes, long bicycle paths, hikes, a fabulous beach complete with sand dunes. Oh and really good hot dogs.

3) Making it to the gas station on fumes…….with only a range of 1 km showing on the odometer. Phew.

The lowlights of the today were:

1) Taking a route recommended by Tourism New Brunswick called the Acadia Coastal Route, where for 2 or more hours, I saw only glimpses of coast, only lots of trees and there were very few even basic services. (i.e. washrooms and gas stations)

It got better south of Kouchibouguac and the area around Bouctouche is awesome. The northern stretch from Miramachi to Kouchibouguac was dismal at best.

2) Almost running out of gas.

I may stay put here tomorrow. Not a great park aesthetically, but the facilities are well maintained, there is reportedly an awesome beach nearby, and I need to do some laundry.

Will sleep on it.

Escuminac, Canada

Today I awoke once again to beautiful blue skies and no wind. Cool, but just the way I like it.

I got assistance this morning from a lovely retired school teacher from Kincardine, ON. He helped direct me backing up to line the SUV up with the trailer hitch. Note to self, I have to get a back up camera. Although if I did I wouldn’t have had a chance to meet the lovely school teacher. He was full of great advice for a newbie camper.

The drive from the village of Gaspe to Perce was absolutely gorgeous. My first glimpse of Perce Rock was from the north and it was far across the bay. It disappeared from sight as I got closer and then, there is was, front and centre, as I came flying down a hill into town. Awesome view, unfortunately, not capturable by camera while driving! And no where safe to stop. I stopped for a short time in Perce to take some pics and wander along their boardwalk. Cool playground there. It was pretty empty except for a tour bus unloading and the passengers heading down to boats to be shuttled out to the rock. At low tide you can walk out there, but it was high tide and so boats is the only answer. It was bright, but really cool this morning and I was actually glad not to be going out and exposed to the elements. There are many, many shops and restaurants in Perce, but not really interesting at 9 am when you’ve already had breakie. So on I went.

The shoreline was quite different on the south drive. Not as rugged but beautiful still the same. Lovely red sand beaches. It is definitely more populated and there were more of the brightly coloured houses here too.

My target for today was Escuminac Flats, the home of my friend and former colleague, Daryl Gray. This is my second visit to Escuminac, and the first thing I said to Daryl was, “How the heck did I find this place the first time I was here?” And that was before GPS, Google Maps on my iPhone and texts from Daryl with directions! The last time we were here was for Daryl’s daughter Stacey, also a friend, to be married to another mutual friend, Jason Hatcher. One of those dynamo couples that I got to know through politics before they were married. It’s surprising how many two generation political friends I have. Sign I’m getting old I guess. Daryl is former Member of Parliament for this area, and more importantly today, the owner of an RV Park on the Bay of Chaleur which is the water between Quebec and New Brunswick, the discovery of which is attribute to Jacques Cartier. I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to spend some time with Daryl catching up on things. The last time I saw him was in Kiev on our mutual election observation mission to Ukraine for the spring Presidential Election. We had a great dinner of east coast seafood and great political talk.

One of the great things about politics is the number of friends I have across the country. I hope to visit Stacey and Jason later this summer in Calgary.

I have no clue where I’m going tomorrow. Maybe I’ll have time to walk on a beach. Stay tuned!

I can’t figure out how to integrate the pics into this blog using the iPad app but check them out below.

Gaspe, Canada

Day 4, today, was from Matane to the village of Gaspe out near the tip of the peninsula.

The sun allowed the opportunity for many kodak moments, although sadly, many of the great sights could not be captured by my photo lens, as there just weren’t safe places to pull over, especially with an extra 15 ft. tagging along. Around every corner there was another feast for the eyes.

Small towns nestled into the bays along the St. Lawrence which by now is so wide you can’t see across it. The highway heads up inland from time to time only to return to the coast to find yet another town trying to impress with it’s boardwalk, or picnic areas along the water, or Casse Croutes with the most outstanding frites, not that I’ve tried any of those, just to be clear.

I worried the first time I travelled in the Gaspe region about my lack of French, but either I’ve learned some more French or am less afraid to use it, or the locals are speaking more English. So no anglos should be put off because of language challenges. I even had someone deal with a hitch issue I was having in an RV store and there was only one person who spoke English but I ended up with about 5 guys standing around solving my problem for me back and forth from French to English. If you try your best French they’ll almost immediately switch to English for you. Or at least they did for me. Guess it speaks to my French ability.

Tomorrow I’ll head for Perce to once again visit the famous rock, but I’m not knocking myself out getting up early enough to get the best lighting, so will have to do with whatever I get. Not sure where I’ll end up, but that’s the best part of wandering.

Take a look at the album below.

Matane, Canada

Day 3 was Levis to Matane along secondary road 132 along the Saint Lawrence River into the Gaspe region. As you can see from this pic, it was grey and rained most of the day.

Although grey, the drive along 132 still provided non-stop interest from small town to village to rural settings. It meanders along the mighty St. Lawrence, and hops over Highway 20 from time to time. Many of the towns have interesting shops and bistros, and I’m always so intrigued by the architecture and obvious pride that shows through in the houses all along the way. Bright colors, old stone, varied roof lines, and gobs and gobs of curb appeal. Although my third time along this stretch it’s always a pleasure.

I overnighted in the busy town of Matane in a field with a whale at the entrance. Well, it was a campsite, but basically it was a field with services on posts in regularly spaced intervals. You could see the St. Lawrence, there, in the distance. But there wasn’t a lot of choice and I was tired so this was it. What I neglected to note was that there was a barn with horses also sharing this field. One of my two known allergens. Another of those pesky lessons learned (LL). I set up in the rain, but enjoyed the use of my own shower to get warmed up. Another thing ticked off my orientation list.

Just as the sun was setting it broke through the clouds and produced the most gorgeous sky and a rainbow. I was sure it would bode well for the next day. There were 2 bicyclists camping in pup tents among the big rigs, who I’m sure were pleased to see it was clearing after what must have been a miserable day was undoubtably a cold night.

Levis, Canada

Although I’m 4 days into my trip, I’m just finally catching up with my blog writing.  Today was the first day it felt like a tourist adventure.  Up until now it’s been learning how to do this RV camping thing.  An early start on Wednesday, Day 1, got me to Prolite in St. Jerome, QC, for the walk through of my new trailer.  Jean, Pierre and Stephan were great.  I’m sure they told me everything I need to know.  Whether it’s been retained is anyone’s guess.     The first few days provided more lessons learned that I’ll ever tell, and I’m sure I’ve many ahead.  But isn’t challenging yourself what it’s all about?     After Prolite sent me on my way, feeling like a new driver with my first licence, I tootled down the freeway to a perfect campground for a newbie, the KOA in Levis.  And by tootled, I mean made two wrong turns on the maze of freeways going through Montreal.  Oh joy, ended up in the parking lot of a lovely mall at Highway 15 and 440 in Laval at one point, hauling 15 feet behind me.  That was a new experience.   In any case, the KOA was the perfect choice.  It had huge pull through spots so I didn’t have to back into a spot.  (On day 4 and I’m in my third spot and have yet to back the thing up.  That’s a challenge for another day).    The KOA Quebec City (actually located across the river in Levi) is a great site.  It’s huge and clean and the staff were friendly.  They can arrange to have a shuttle pick you up to take you over to QC or you can drive yourself to the foot ferry terminal in Levis, just 10 min drive and it takes you right to lower town in QC.     I unfortunately stayed in the KOA literally trying out as much as I could and finding homes for whatever I could in this incredibly small space.  Stephan from Prolite was able to talk me through a water issue.  Just an airlock or something in the holding tank, which with his help I was able to resolve.   The number of big rigs rolling in on Thursday had me feeling like mighty small.  This is a video if you click on it, it should come up.

Montreal, Canada

Saint Jerome, Canada

Ottawa, Canada

After weeks of preparation and planning, I am less than 2 weeks from starting my 9 province, 20 state camping adventure. It seems so much more real now.

This past week I paid for, registered and got the license plate for my new Prolite Plus S trailer. It’s waiting for me in St. Jerome, QC.

http://www.roulottesprolite.com/indexen glish.htm

I will be off to St. Jerome bright and early on June 3rd to be introduced to it. They will do a walk through with me to show me all the features and systems involved, hitch it up for me and then I’ll be heading down the road.

I’ve never had a travel trailer before, aside from using my family’s tent/trailer the year after college, so I’m a little apprehensive about the steep learning curve involved. But I’m excited to once again have just a key for my SUV (and for the trailer) on my key ring. My daughter Gill has a necklace that says, “He who wanders is not lost”. I have one that says, “I am no longer afraid of storms, for I am learning to sail my own ship”. Both are rather appropriate.

I am spending these last few weeks getting my apartment packed up and ready to go into storage and working with the great folks at Core Physiotherapy to get my SI joint back into shape after a couple of years of neglect. A huge thanks to Eli, Tanya and Isobel.

http://www.corephysiotherapy.ca/index.h tml

My first stop will be in Levis, QC – just a couple of hours down the road from St. Jerome, for my first couple of nights at the KOA there to figure out how to make everything work! And I will undoubtably hop across the bridge to have a visit with one of my favourite Canadian cities, Quebec City.

I will spend the next 6 weeks travelling through Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. Hopefully all their snow has melted by the time I get there! I’ll be back here in Ottawa for a couple of weeks at the end of July to put my possessions in storage, and then I’ll be westward bound. My return to Ottawa is currently planned to be in early spring 2016.

But maybe I’ll get on the road and decide I hate camping, driving, sight seeing, and photography, and that I miss everyone too much and will decide to head back. That’s why there are Interstates.

Ottawa, Canada

Today I did two things that have all of a sudden made this adventure seem more real and imminent.

One thing I did, was to make arrangements for the payment of my travel trailer. (More on the change of plans on this front later.)

And the second thing I did was to pop into the local CAA office to add the trailer to my CAA coverage and pick up maps for the 9 provinces and 20 states that I will be travelling through on my adventure.

“Maps”, you say, “when online maps, and GPS are so readily available?” While I am an early adopter of many digital tools, there are some things which I find the analog versions still work best. One of them is maps. Of course I’ll use all sorts of iPad apps and my GPS for finding RV Parks, specific routing, etc, but the maps will be along for the ride as well. Am I the only one that still likes to pour over maps on the dining room table while planning a trip? There are some great apps for finding RV parks that I’ve found: Allstars, and Book Your Site are two. If you have any favourites, let me know.

I’m also using a packing iPad app called Packing Pro to try to keep track of the millions of items to do and remember to take on my adventure. Well, maybe not millions, but I’m at 401 so far, and instead of the list shrinking as I accomplish things or acquire items, it’s often going up as I think of things I need to do or buy. Sigh.

http://www.quinnscape.com/PackingPro.as p

Anyway, as of May 13th I will be the proud owner of a Prolite Plus S. As you may recall, the original plan was to buy a 13′ Scamp trailer from a Minnesota company, but when I found this 15′ Prolite at a local RV show I decided that it better suited my needs and I am able to support a Canadian company which I’m happy to do.

If you’re really interested, here is the link to a video of the trailer. It’s pretty darn small, but how much room does one person need.

https://youtu.be/GXIYaL-vxPI