Monthly Archives: June 2022

June 28, 2022 – Old Quebec City, QC

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TUESDAY 28 June

Today we finally ventured into Quebec City proper, specifically the old/historic part of town that is enclosed by the original stone fortification walls.  This post will have a few more photos than usual, as we were both using on phone cameras, and around every corner was a new view.  The weather was perfect for a stroll around town.

The St. Louis Gate into the walled city

As luck would have it, that part of town was setting up for a major music festival that starts in mid-July and runs for 11 days.  As with our trip to Montreal, there was a lot of construction and setup taking place, along with some road closures and detours.  Like Michigan, Canada seems to only have two seasons; winter and road construction.  The roads were not a problem for us, however, as we found a nice parking lot on Rue Saint-Louis just outside the walled city next to the Parcs Canada Plains of Abraham Museum (Musee des Plaines d’ Abraham).  And it was only 9$ for 12 hours; a bargain based on what we had seen elsewhere and online.

Rue Saint-Louis

Rue Saint-Louise is one of the few streets that passes through a Gate (The St. Louis Gate) into the old/upper town. It also ran straight down to the Fairmont Hotel (Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac), the iconic building that anchors the entire area.  It’s a 5-star hotel, impressive both inside (lobby) and out.  Part of it’s historic significance stems from 1940s when it hosted high level conferences between the Allied powers.  Operation Overlord (the invasion of Normandy, France) was planned here.

Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac and boardwalk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A boardwalk starts by the plaza in front of the hotel and extends southwest along the top of high cliff.

Looking back at the Hotel Frontenac from the boardwalk

Underneath the boardwalk is an archeological site, preserved by Parcs Canada.  Admission was required, and our Parcs Canada pass would have been accepted, but we did not have it with us.  This also proved to be the case for the Fort (La Citadelle de Quebec) which is still an active fort by accessible to the public.  These would have to wait for another visit and we had lots of walking to do.

Old Quebec is a very walkable, charming place, with a distinct European look and feel.  The buildings are all well-maintained and very much in use, as hotels, restaurants, shops, or government functions.  Even the US Consulate is here.  But no “families” reside here as there are no grocery stores, pharmacies, or schools.  We also found that shop keepers were able and willing to communicate with us in English.

The Governors Promenade, 301 steps, mostly up in our direction of travel

An interesting sculpture shop

 

We were not sure what they were selling here, but appreciated the sense of humor

 

 

…

The “lower city”. Old Quebec is not level and some of the walks were steep.

I have still not figured out how to use What 3 Words to navigate, but it did confirm that we had, in fact, returned to where the car was parked.  When we got back to our travel trailer, I had a text message from Keith (our lawn care guy) with a photo of the site where the Bus Barn/Workshop will be built.  The pad and driveway approach had been cleared of grass and top soil.  This was the first evidence that site work had finally commenced on the project.

Our bus barn/workshop and driveway site prep has commenced

… la fin

June 27,  2022 – Quebec City, QC – Chutes-de-la-Chaudière-Falls

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MONDAY 27 June

First off, I forgot to include the What 3 Words location of our current campsite in my blog post for June 26 (it’s spacesuit.prestige.evens).

The rains that were predicted for last evening and overnight into the early afternoon today arrived, but not exactly as forecast.  I was first aware of the onset of rain at 03:24.  Once it started it continued, with a variable rate, until around mid-morning.  We waited a bit after that, just to be sure it was done, and then headed out to a nearby park.  We then went to a nearby Walmart for groceries and sundry items.

The Chaudière River (Riviere Chaudière) is on the other (south) side of the A-20/T-CH from the KOA.  There is a dam (barrage) just before the Chaudière Falls (Chutes-de-la-Chaudière) that was built to create a hydroelectric station.  Either side of the river, downstream of the falls, is “le parc des Chutes-de-la-Chaudière.”  Our destination was the part of the park on the south side of the river.  The park was not far from the KOA, as the crow flies, but a bit of a convoluted drive to get there by car.

Chutes-de-la-Chaudiere and tidal flats at low tide.  Power station behind trees to the right.

Chaudiere River tidal flats downstream of the dam with suspension bridge (passerelle)

Linda on the passerelle

 

The river beneath the falls is a tidal flat and we were clearly there at low tide.  There was a good set of trails with excellent staircases.  There is a suspension bridge (passerelle) over the tidal flats connecting the two halves of the park on opposite sides of the river.

 

 

 

I was familiar with the word “passerelle” from a Youtube channel (Aquaholic) where it is used to for a gang plank that can be extended and retracted from the stern of a boat for “stern to berthing,” such as in the Mediterranean Sea.  I did not know, however, that it means “bridge”, although this makes perfectly good sense.  We ae trying to pick up a few words of French so we can make sense of signs.

Deciphering signs in French.  “p” is the abbreviaion for “pied” which is foot.

We both needed to resupply our food.  The choice was IGA or Walmart, but we also needed a few non-food items, so Walmart got the nod.  We did not find all of the non-food items on our list.  There was a Home Depot in the same shopping plaza, but we wanted to get back to camp and get our food in the refrigerator/freezer.

 

S’Mores with homemade vegan marshmallows. Yum.

For dinner, Nancy made a green Thai curry with rice.  It was a great way to use up asparagus (Nan) and broccoli (Linda).  After dinner they made vegan marshmallows.  It took a couple of hours before they were ready, by which time we had a nice campfire.  Dessert was S’mores.

 

 

 

 

June 26, 2022 – Montreal to Quebec City KOA

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SATURDAY 25 June

Just a quick, retrospective note:  It was hot today with the afternoon high temperature near 90 F.  The same was forecast for tomorrow in Quebec City.  Linda called the Quebec KOA to see if we could change our reservation to a 50A site.  The had one, so we took it.  More on this later.

SUNDAY 26 June

Today was a travel day that took us on the Trans-Canada Highway (A-20), parallel to the southeast edge of the St. Lawrence River and deeper into the Province of Quebec all the way to Quebec City.  (We were too far from the river to see it.)  Breaking camp was a leisurely and smooth process and we pulled out as planned around 10:30 AM.  We had studied our route carefully, but the highways and signage did not match our maps and we missed our first exit from the A-15 Nord (North) to A-30 Est (East).  I find navigational mis-ques distressing when driving a vehicle combination that is 50 feet long.  Nonetheless, we were able to exit relatively soon, make a U-turn near an entrance ramp, get back on A-15 Sud (South this time) and then exit onto A-30 Est.  We were only on the A-30 for a little while before exiting onto the Trans-Canada Highway (A-20 Est).

The A-20/T-CH was very rough in any places, nice in few others, and had some ongoing construction work.  Traffic was also quite heavy; not like the 401 through Toronto, but there were lots of vehicles on the road in both directions, with many of the exceeding the posted maximum speed limit of 100 KPH (~61 MPH). We took special note of the number of RVs on the road.  Most of the ones that passed us traveling east had Quebec license plates, and we presumed that most of them in both directions were headed home after a weekend (or week) of camping.

Roads and traffic notwithstanding, we pulled into the Quebec (City) KOA around 1:45 PM, got checked in, and moved to our site close to the entrance.  By this time of the day, it was 90 F with no cloud cover and the upgrade to a 50A “Patio” site proved to be a good choice that was worth the few extra dollars.  (Patio sites include a concrete patio with furniture.  There are a small number of these site together as you come in, but most of the campground is around the corner and down a hill, and is rather large.  But mostly we were glad to have the 50A electrical hookup.)

Our 50A “3-way” patio site, Paul & Nancy’s rig behind ours

Once we were lined up in the site, I plugged in the power so we could turn on the heat-pumps in cooling mode and switch the refrigerator to electric.  We were still getting level and un-hitching when Paul and Nancy pulled into the site next to ours.  Side-by-side again, as we had been in Montreal and Ottawa (put not Kingston or Milton Heights).

 

We relaxed for a few hours and then had cold salad leftovers for dinner, along with a Pelee Island Gewürztraminer.  Gewürztraminer is a distinctive wine that is very much to my taste.  After dinner we checked out the camp store and then strolled the main part of the campground.  Fantasy RV Tours began their 61-day tour of Atlantic Canada last Friday at the Montreal KOA South and moved today to Quebec City KOA.  The group consists of 23 RVs, a wagonmaster, a tailgunner, and 21 guest rigs.

The main part of Quebec City KOA

Quebec City KOA is a Holiday (middle tier) park, with cabins, playgrounds, and a water recreation area.  The later was particularly nice, so here are a few photos.

Quebec City KOA Swimming pool & water slide

The ladies playing in the splash fountain under Paul’s supervision

The hot tub area with part of the main campground behind

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All-in-all this was a pretty nice RV park close to Quebec City and good shopping.  It should be an excellent base of operations for exploring the area and reprovisioning before moving on to the Gaspe peninsula.

 

June 25, 2022 – Montreal Botanical Garden, QC

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SATURDAY 25 June

There was a lot of Montreal that we did not see yesterday, most of it, in fact.  And with only today left to check it out, there was a lot we were not going to see.  The group consensus for today’s visit was the Montreal Botanical Garden.  Not only did it sound like a fabulous place, but it was far enough away from Old Montreal and the World Triathlon Championship that access, traffic, and parking would be easy.

Olympic Biodome support tower. It’s huge!

On the way to the Garden we passed The Olympic Stadium and Biodome.  The Biodome is directly across the street from the Garden main parking lot.  It is a very impressive structure that is visible from miles away in many directions, and towers over the Garden.  Parking was, again, handled at a self-serve pay station, which we have learned to navigate reasonably well.  We bought our tickets, good for the day with in-&-out use, and went in.

 

We did not do a lot of research in advance and so did not know exactly what to expect.  It turned out that there are three main themed garden areas—Chinese, Japanese, and Native—an area of “flower beds”, and a large area of trails.

 

The Chinese Garden

We did the Chinese garden first.  The plants and trees were wonderful, but equally so the stone slab paths and buildings.  The whole area was rich with vibrant colors and designs, and a highlight was a display of Bonsai threes, most of which were 60 or more years old and one of which was 140 years old.  Nurturing something for seven generations says something about a culture

 

The Chinese Garden

The Japanese Garden

The Japanese garden was equally wonderful, but very different.  Carefully placed trees and bushes were pruned to provide framed views of cascading water features and other aspects of the garden.  More serene than the Chinese garden, and almost entirely in shades of green, it had subtlety that required a slower pace to examine and contemplate.

The Native Lands garden was different yet again, devoted to the plant life of the “north” including the tundra.  No formality here like in the Chinese and Japanese gardens; just a lovely walk in the woods and by larger ponds.  Like the Japanese garden, however, there was a large variety of plants that required us to look at what was actually in front of us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Flower Beds

Last, but not least, were the flower beds.  “Beds” belies the fact that there were different sizeable areas each with a focus; such as medicinal plants, poisonous plants, decorative plants, food plants, etc.  They were all arranged in planting beds, however; mostly straight rows but some decorative.

 

 

It was a warm day without any cloud cover so we rendezvoused at an ice cream stand we saw on the way in.  Lucky for us, they had vegan vanilla frozen cups.  It was surprisingly good.  We discussed what else we might see/do while on “the island” and decided we would just head back to the campground.  That took longer than expected due to multiple navigational mis-ques, but the details are not important.

 

June 24, 2022 – Old Montreal, QC

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FRIDAY 24 June

We made our first visit to Montreal today, specifically the area known as “Old Montreal.”  Getting there was easy enough as it was only 11 miles from our campground and mostly highway.  We had researched public parking options near the Notre-Dame Basilica and had one in the GPS.  The streets in this part of town are narrow, but generally one-way.  What we had not anticipated was the “Triathlon World Championship” that was taking place this weekend.  The running/biking course was laid out like a Monaco Formula One race course, with many streets blocked to vehicle traffic by a strong police presence.  Still, we found the parking lot, which had three spaces, one of which was open (W3W=guardian.rocket.approach).  As we had encountered in Ottawa (at the Whole Foods Market), payment was made via a pay station with the receipt displayed on the dashboard.

Old Montreal Street Signs (near where we parked)

 

 

Old Montreal was a very walkable, pedestrian friendly city, with many pedestrian malls lined with trees.  We headed first to the Basilica, but had no particular plan after that.  The weather was cloudy but nice initially, and near perfect later, and it was nice to just amble along and discover old buildings, cobblestone streets, plazas, shops, markets, and eateries.  We discovered “view” stations that featured a holder for a cell phone.  Set the timer on your phone and get in the group photo.

 

 

Notre-Dame Basilica & Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve statue

The statue facing the front façade of the Basilica is Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve, the French military leader who founded Montreal on May 17, 1642.  His outfit reminded me of The Three Musketeers.  The first European to set foot here, however, was Jacques-Cartier on October 2, 1535.  Their names appear on several versions (rue, place, etc.) of prominent streets.

Our walk took us to the port area where we could saw the large Ferris Wheel but did not ride it.  We could also see St. Helen’s Island and some of the remnants of the 1967 World’s Fair, which was later repurposed for the 1976 Summer Olympics.  It looked like an interesting place to visit, but that would have to wait for lunch.

Place Jacques-Cartier

The Montreal Ferris Wheel

Soon enough we were hungry and headed to LOV vegan restaurant at 464 Rue McGill St. in Old Montreal.  The setting was casual but nice.  Every table was set with wine glasses and real napkins, but we took a pass on the vin (as did most of the other patrons).  Our waiter was clearly a native French speaker but his English, which he willingly used, was more than good enough to interact with us.

Being a vegan establishment, everything on the menu was fair game, which is always a treat for us.  Paul and Nancy ordered smoked king oyster mushrooms with an orange puree and dumplings as appetizers.  Linda had fish and chips and I had a Caesar salad.  Paul and Nancy each had an oyster mushroom burger followed by Crème Brule and brownies with raspberry puree for dessert.  The restaurant was comfortable, and everyone liked the food.

Paul & Nan at LOV in Old Montreal

We found our way back to the car and put the Biosphere into the GPS.  Traffic was a bit more congested by this time, but we managed to extricate ourselves from Old Montreal and the Triathlon and get to the island.  It was essentially a big park and there were a lot of people walking and riding bicycles.  We just drove through to have a look and it felt strangely archeological, similar to our experience touring the old Kennedy Space Center launch pads at Cape Canaveral, with remnants of once great things that were clearly no longer in use.  From the island we were able to get directly on the 134 Jacques-Cartier Bridge and across the St. Lawrence River to Longueuil and work our way back to camp.

A typical Old Montreal alley

By the time we got back to the KOA, additional campers had arrived and more continued to come in and set up camp.  Although a crowed commercial campground full of families with dogs on a weekend would not usually be our preferred setting, we enjoyed the activity, especially the younger children who were obviously having a very exciting time.  Dinner was a simple affair of fresh strawberries and dumplings with homemade dipping sauce.  We rounded out the evening with a campfire.

 

 

 

 

June 22-23, 2022 – Montreal, QC

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WEDNESDAY, 22 June 2022

Today was a travel day as we relocated from the Cardinal/Ottawa South KOA Holiday to the Montreal South KOA Journey (W3W=Shell.defeated.flicked), a distance of ~196 KM (~121 mi).  Most of the drive was again on the 401, paralleling the St. Lawrence River and eventually the St. Lawrence Seaway, with light to moderate traffic ad excellent weather.  At roughly the midpoint of our trip we crossed into Quebec for real.  (We were in Quebec briefly as part of our bus tour of Ottawa.)  We had numerous views of the water and crossed rivers and a canal as we approached the Montreal area.  Importantly (for us) the GPS in our F-150, as well as the Google Maps app on our phones, continued to work correctly and speak to us in English.

We ended up on a site next to Paul and Nancy, which was convenient.  “Making camp” went smoothly again, thanks to our arrival list.  Most of the sites here are “30A RV” electrical service, with only the outlet available at the site, with the circuit breakers are located elsewhere, a different arrangement than in the States or Ontario.  In a nod to their French heritage, the campground has a small Eiffel Tower.

Eiffel Tower at Montreal South KOA Journey

After a snack, we walked the campground, which we almost always do after making camp.  It’s nice but does not have as many amenities as the KOA Holiday we just left.  And that’s fine.  Most of those extra amenities are for families with children, or provide “luxury” appointments at the sites, such as a patio with furniture.  We will be staying at a KOA Resort for a few nights when we get to the Gaspe Peninsula, the top of the 3-tier KOA system, and the only one in all of Canada.  Ooh, fancy.

We did not have any specific plans for sight-seeing today but noticed on the campground map of the area that there was a shopping plaza nearby with a Walmart Supercenter, a Costco, and other businesses.  I wanted to get fuel while unhooked from the trailer and, being Costco members, we decided to check there first.

When I finally got to the pump, the initial screen was all in French.  We knew that was going to happen eventually.  There was an attendant, so I asked for assistance.  I had my Costco Membership Card, which is also a VISA card, but the signs (and the attendant) said they only took MasterCard (and a couple of other local cards), so it appeared that I was not going to be able to buy fuel here.  He suggested that I scan (tap) my membership card to get started.  I did, and not only was it accepted/approved, everything else on the screen after that was in English!  I filled the tank and we returned to the campground.

Nancy was the chef for tonight’s dinner, with Linda as Sous-chef. Together they prepared an absolutely delicious ramen noodle dish with vegetables, mushrooms, and miso.  Linda also managed to do two smaller loads of laundry in their rig, which has a residential washer and dryer.

Rain was forecast to begin later in the evening and then continue overnight and all the next day.  I took this as an opportunity to process photos and start created blog posts.  The only “ding” on this campground is the Wi-Fi, a “ding” I am likely to report for almost every place we stop forte rest of our time in Canada.  Someone in the office explained how to use it.  It’s an open system (no password, ugh) that you can use for free for 30 minutes at a time.  You can reconnect, but you have to pay attention to the time so it doesn’t cut you off in the middle of doing something.  On the plus side, it’s fast enough to be useful when not overloaded with users.

THURSDAY, 23 June 2022

As forecast, the rain came and the rain stayed.  All.  Day.  There was a chance of thunderstorms, but they did not materialize.  In the time we’ve had the Airstream, we have had very few weather days that made staying inside the preferred option, so we were pleased to find that we were quite comfortable doing so.  We both have a variety of games and puzzle we can play on our iPads to pass the time, as well as social media (me, should I so choose).  Linda is keeping up with our expenditures (charges, mostly) on a daily basis, made more interesting by the exchange rate adjustments.

By mid-afternoon the rain was just an intermittent drizzle and we decided to find a winery with a tasting room to visit.  We (Linda and Nancy) decided on Le Vignoble Du Domaine St-Jacques.  It turned out to be a good choice.

Winery & Tasting Room at Le Vignoble Du Domaine St-Jacques

The winery is modern (started in 2002) and the tasting room is contemporary but elegant.  All of their wines are made from grapes grown on the 23 acres adjacent to the winery and tasting room on 120,000 vines and yielding about 160,000 bottles per year.  I only mention this because it’s the first place we have been that gave us an understanding of the relationship between these parameters.

The 23 acre vineyard

We tasted 6 of the 9 wines on offer, a mix of whites, rose’ and reds.  All of them were delicate, done to a dry finish, and distinctive.  I was intrigued by this refrigerated wine dispenser, a first in our experience.

Refrigerated wine dispenser

We bought a bottle of Pinot Rose’.  We use our American Express credit card wherever possible as they do not charge an exchange fee.  It’s been hit or miss, and the winery was a miss.  Ditto for Discover.  Quebec likes MasterCard (apparently) but it turned out the VISA was also accepted here.  Whew.  We had enough Canadian currency to cover the bill, but decided we should carry a bit more of it going forward.

Linda was this evening’s dinner chef, with Nancy as sous chef.  She made black bean and butternut squash burritos.  Just like at home, our meals are tasty and healthy when we travel.  I think wine and/or cider was also involved in this meal.

June 19 – 21, 2022 – Cardinal / Ottawa, ON

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SUNDAY, June 19, 2022

As much as we would have liked to spend a bit more time in the area, especially to visit the city of Kingston, the Kingston KOA was just a planned overnight stop for us.  (We learned later, while visiting Ottawa, that Kingston was originally planned to be the National Capitol.)

So today was another relocation day.  Our next destination was only 75 miles away, again mostly driving on the 401.  Check-out time was 11 AM and check-in time was 1 PM.  A phone call determined that we could arrive early, so we arranged our morning to pull out just before 11 AM.  Paul and Nancy determined that they could delay their departure, and planned to leave around noon.

We arrived at the Cardinal/Ottawa South KOA around noon to a small traffic jam.  The sites here do not have a sewer hookup, so there is a dump station at the exit.  A number of rigs were lined up to dump and the campground was using their “honey wagon” to speed up the process.  Unfortunately, the honey wagon was parked in the entrance lane.  I pulled to the side to park while Linda checked us in, but then RVers who did not need to dump wanted to get out through the entrance.  I was able to pull in and get out they way, just allow traffic to flow.

We had a nice site (W3W=bristled.likes.taxman) near the front of the campground, far enough from the office and activity area to not be noisy but close enough to make the bathroom/shower facilities convenient.  We used our newly crafted setup list and the process went much more smoothly.  About the time we were done, Paul and Nancy pulled in and their site was right next to ours.  By mid-afternoon the park was essentially empty and the mostly of the rigs that were still here were unattended and appeared to be seasonal or annual.  Almost all of them were in good shape, however, as was the campground generally.  There seems to be a lot staff here, especially younger folks, and all of them were pleasant and helpful.  Here are two pictures of our sites/rigs.

Paul & Nancy’s American Eagle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Airstream Flying Cloud 27 FBT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MONDAY, 2022 June 20

Today was a big day for the four us, with a planned visit to Ottawa.  We decided that, as first-time visitors, we would book a 10 AM hop-on/hop-off bus tour with Lady Dive Tours.  We had an hour’s drive, plus needed time to find parking, and left the campground at 8:30 AM.

The weather was absolutely perfect, so we sat on the upper/open deck of the bus.  It was a great choice.  We stayed onboard for the entire loop, which took about 2 hours.  The bus driver and tour guide were both fabulous, with the tour guide perfectly fluent in both English and French.  She used both languages to explain everything we were seeing, and we saw a lot.  We especially liked the contrast between the old/stately architecture and the very new/modern architecture, and how well they coexisted.

On the double decker open top bus tour, Parliament building behind

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just the two of us

 

 

 

Being a Monday, most of the museums along the route were closed, but we hadn’t planned to do museums on this visit anyway.  As nice as the hop-on/hop-off idea is, we decided not to take advantage of it on this visit.  Besides, it was lunch time.  Linda had found a vegan restaurant online that was not far from the bus stop and parking garage, and we set off on foot to find the Copper Branch.

 

 

The Copper Branch was a small place with a couple of tables, mostly doing carryout and delivery, but we were able to snag a table and enjoyed really good meals.  The portions were generous, and we ended up taking the left-overs home for dinner.

Ottawa architecture is a fascinating mix of old and new

Our main reason for visiting Ottawa was sight-seeing, but a secondary reason was to visit a Whole Foods Market to stock up on things we could not find at the Real Canadian Superstore in Milton.  The WFM was small compared to the RCS, but it had the organic and specialty items we wanted.  It was also next door to an LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) location, which was fortuitous as Paul wanted to buy a bottle of Single Malt Scotch and the WFM did not sell wine.  Suitably stocked, we headed back to camp to relax, have our left-overs for dinner, and enjoy a little wine around a campfire.

 

 

Canada’s Parliament building (under renovation)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TUESDAY, 2022 June 21

Today was the Summer Solstice, but the sun did smile upon us.  Into every camping expedition some rain will fall, and today was our day.  It was overcast all day, with rain off and on and heavy at times.  Not a problem.  While we are on an epic adventure (for us), we intend to pace ourselves and make time to relax, do research, and take care of housekeeping chores, like shopping and laundry.  Today was a great day for Bruce to start working this blog again, as was suggested to him at the recent GLAMAAMA rally by fellow GLCC/CCO busnut Vicky.  The plan going forward is do a blog post for each place we overnight, with a few pictures and not too much text.

June 18, 2022 – Kingston KOA, ON

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Saturday, June 18, 2022

Today was a relocation day.  That meant breaking camp, towing the tailer, and then making camp at our destination.  Linda had this down pat for the inside of the trailer and truck, but we were lacking a set, well-practiced routine for the hitching, unhitching, and leveling steps.  It was clear by the end of the day that we needed to write down the process and have it on our phones to refer to when making/breaking camp.

Paul and Nancy left at 8:30 AM to get a jump on traffic and build in time for a fuel stop.  We left around 9:30 AM.  The 401 was a bit busier than we expected for a Saturday morning, be we had no problem navigating the traffic and construction zones.  The construction that is underway was quite impressive, matched by the ability to mostly keep traffic moving well.  In spite of the usual jerks, we found that most drivers handled merges caused by lane closures better than in the States.

We eventually cleared the east end of the greater Toronto metro area and found ourselves in rolling hills of green with occasional views of Lake Ontario and then the St. Lawrence River as we entered the “1000 Islands” area.  We passed two signs for bridges to the USA, but our destination was the 1000 Islands KOA just north of the city of Kingston, ON (W3W=sleeps.fussed.hello).  All told the construction-related traffic on the 401 only added 30 – 45 minutes to our travel time.

Paul and Nancy were already there when we arrived.  After making camp we went to their rig to hang out, have dinner, and enjoy a camp fire.  Here are pictures of our site and three of us on their patio.

Bu Nancy & Paul;s coach

Our only “ding” for this campground was the Wi-Fi.  Not the signal, but the policy.  We were given a small slip of paper with a very long numeric code but no further information.  It turned out to be a one-time use for one device code which we used on one of our cell phones, where we didn’t need it.  The office was unable/unwilling to transfer it to a different device but we could buy additional codes for $6 each for 72 hours of service.  KOA’s are not inexpensive, but we are using them on this trip because the reservation system works very well, the cancellation policy is very user friendly, and they generally have lots of amenities, including Wi-Fi.  When paying for all of that, we do not like being nickel and dimed, especially for Internet access.

Our rig in or spot for the night

The campground was nice enough, with plenty of trees and lots of facilities in reasonably good condition.  It was essentially full, this being Father’s Day weekend, but it had a nice vibe.  There were lots of families with children and the weather was very nice, if still a bit breezy.  We had a sewer connection at our site, but arrived with empty waste tanks.  We were close to the bathrooms/showers that we minimized the use of our waste tanks so as not to have to dump in the morning on the way out.

June 15 – 17, 2022 – Milton, ON

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Wednesday, June 15, 2022

Our long anticipated and well-planned trip to Atlantic Canada was finally underway.  We had an easy drive to the border with Canada and a relatively easy crossing, taking about 30 minutes to get across the Blue Water Bridge from Port Huron, Michigan to Sarnia, Ontario and clearing the checkpoint around noon.

Canadian Border in Sarnia, Ontario

 

We had our first “glitch” of the trip at this point.  In spite of having completed the ArriveCAN process, we were randomly selected for a COVID-19 self-test.  More on that later.

 

The TARDIS, a good omen for our travels (Bell Canada Phone Booth)

 

 

The remaining drive to Milton Heights Campground via the 403 and 401 was busy but uneventful.We found the campground easily and got set up in our site (W3W=begged.bench.eternal).

In a fitting beginning for our adventure, the campground had a TARDIS.

 

 

 

 

Our Busnut friends, Bill & Karen, live in this area

We selected this campground because it was a good driving distance from our house, it was convenient to the 401, and close to our fellow GLCC/CCO busnut friends, Bill and Karen.  They came over to visit and then we all went to dinner at The Works in Milton.  The Works is a burgers and brew chain, but they had vegan burgers, so it worked out well for all of us.

 

We spent the rest of the night making phone calls and trying to figure out how to correctly complete the COVID-19 self-test process.  We only had one test kit, and decided that Bruce would take it as the Border agent handed it to him.  The test had to be witnessed via a virtual (online) appointment, which we managed to schedule for the next morning at 10:40 AM.

Thursday, June 16, 2022

The virtual appointment had to be conducted via Microsoft Teams, which we did not have installed on any of OUR six devices.  Bruce installed it on his phone as we had a good cellular signal.  The appointment began right on time, the technology worked well, and the person on the other end was very professional and proficient.  It turned out that we could drop the kit off at any LifeLabs location, and we knew exactly where one was located in Milton, just a few kilometers away.  We went there directly and dropped it off before noon, completing the process in just under the required 24-hour time.  It was a relief to at least have this taken care of.

Paul and Nancy, who we are caravanning with until the end of July, arrived late morning.  The only surprise in the weather, up to this point, was the very strong winds.  Mid-afternoon we all drove over to Bill and Karen’s house to visit and eventually headed to Pizza Pizza in Georgetown for dinner. Pizza Pizza has vegan options, and our pizza was good.

FRIDAY, June 17, 2022

The results of Bruce’s COVID-19 test were posted at 05:36 this morning.  The test was NEGATIVE and we were free to travel.  It was a relief to have it done, but it made for a very stressful start to our trip.

Some quick research revealed that we were not far from the Conservation Halton Mountsberg Park and Raptor Center, so the four of us drove over there mid-morning.  The sign at the entrance indicated that we had to have a reservation to get in.  There was a website address, so Nancy used that to make the reservation for a few minutes later.  Payment was by credit card, and in we went.  There were a lot of school-age children at the park, but the park is very large and we were able to amble through the Raptor Center with only a few other adults present.  As expected, most of the birds are residents for life, having either been injured or habituated to humans before arriving at the center.  Still, they appeared to be well cared for, with large enclosures and we had the opportunity to see eagles, hawks, falcons, and owls up close.  Linda got this photo of a Great Horned Owl.

Great Horned Owl at Mountsberg Raptor Center

 

On the way back to camp we stopped at the Campbellville post office to buy stamps to mail postcards to our two youngest grand-daughters.  Bill and Karen came to the campground mid-afternoon and we all had our left-overs from the night before for dinner.  All-to-soon it was dusk, and our time in the Milton area was drawing to a close.  Tomorrow’s drive would almost entirely be on the 401 through and beyond Toronto.  We knew that would involve a lot of traffic, even on a Saturday, as well as numerous construction zones, so we opted for an earlier than usual bedtime to be well-rested by morning.