Monday, August 27, 2012

Gaspésian Travels


Link to the Actual Blog - Click Here!

Saturday 4th August (Cont.)
Neither of us have ever been to the Gaspé (Gaspésie as the natives call it) and since there is no trip to New Brunswick this year we decided to give it a try.

First stop, Wal-Mart in Rivière du Loup.


By nightfall all Quebec Wal-Marts seem to turn into campgrounds.

Sunday 5th August
Free Internet here from two sources, a mystery one and the one in McD’s in the Wal-Mart.
In the afternoon as it starts to warm up a little we set out again for Rimouski.


When we arrived in Rimouski around 4:30 the wind is blowing like crazy from the south but it’s HOT.  In the RV, even with a gale blowing through, it’s too hot, so we sat outside in the shade.  Someone said the ‘feels like’ temperature is in the low 40s – we would believe it.

Just salad for supper, no cooking in this.

It cooled down a little before bed-time and even rained a little.

Monday 6th August
In the morning it was much cooler but still clear skies.

Next stop was the Matane Wal-Mart.  Across the road was the river, though by now it’s becoming the gulf.
Again lots of RVs by nightfall.

Movie of the day: Wendy & Lucy – we’re going to start avoiding movies with Michelle Williams in.  She’s a good actress but …..

Tuesday 7th August
This Wal-Mart seems also to be a truck stop.  There must have been half a dozen trucks and they all set off early (very early) in the morning after idling their engines for a while.  Next time we’ll make sure we’re at the other end of the parking lot.

We left before lunch and set out following the 132 that snakes its way round the Gaspé coast.
We stopped at Cap Chat for lunch by the water.
.

Everywhere so far seems to have art at all stops big and small.



We were looking for somewhere just to stop for the night but we ended up in a municipal campground in Mont-Louis or to give it its full title: Ste- Maxime de Mont-Louis.


Wednesday 8th August
One night and we fell in love with the place.


So instead of just staying one more night we signed up for a week and got a better spot looking straight out on the sea – you can’t see the other side anymore.

The view from our ‘front window’.


Mont-Louis has a famous salmon smoking place (Atkins and Sons) so we had to go there.  So down the hill and across the bay on our bicycles.

Thursday 9th August
Up in night to take awning down, it’s windy here pretty much all the time.  Cap Chat has a huge wind farm.
Sunsets are something here.


Friday 10th August
Definitely much cooler days than we’re used to but that’s OK.

Wood carving seems to be a big deal here on the campground.


Not sure what that was.






 On our cycling trip to the Poissonnerie (fish shop) in the town/village centre I saw and liked this one.


The shrimps they have here are called Matane shrimps but we were told that since there are no more shrimps on this side of the St. Lawrence the shrimps come from Sept Iles on the other side.  Wherever they come from they are truly wonderful.

Saturday 11th August
The weather has really changed it’s now raining & cold.  Can’t complain, we were praying for this a week ago.

Grocery run day.

Sunday 12th August
The campground has a small restaurant which serves breakfasts and lunches.  We gave it a try for breakfast.



Rain and fog most of the day.

Monday 13th August
Heavy rain and a leak – I don’t believe it!

We had Jean-Pierre & Dianne, fellow RVers,  over for happy hour and got some good scoop on places to stay.  They’d been round the peninsula as far as Barrachois and then came back.

Tuesday 14th August
It’s a cloudy day but it’s stopped raining so we took a bike ride to the fish store.  We bought a seafood pie, a seafood pizza and some Baudroie which was quite cheap and turned out to be Monkfish.
We met our new neighbours, Phil & Barbara, from S. Carolina.  Prior to moving there they cruised on a sailboat for several years.

I took a look on the roof for what could have caused the leak and stuck some more Eternabond down.
We had the seafood pizza for supper – excellent.

Wednesday 15th August
While we were talking to Phil and Barbara before they left we saw an actual whale.  Too far away to take a picture or identify but most likely we figure it was a Minke.

After packing up and visiting the dump station we headed out too.

Somewhere on the way we stopped and ate smoked shrimps,  bought the day before – so good.
We arrived at the lighthouse at Cap des Rosiers by late afternoon but parked down near the beach until the crowds had left.  At 6:30 we moved to the lighthouse parking lot.  It has the distinction of being the tallest lighthouse in Canada and a big tourist attraction.


It was a wild night with endless squalls and heavy rain and a major leak.

Thursday 16th August
After giving the lighthouse a donation we went back to our beach parking with a lovely view of where we’d spent a restless night.


Along from the parking there was monument (and grave, if the inscription is to be believed) to drowned Irish Sailors in 1847.


The ships bell is also hung there, oddly found in Blanc Sablon many years later.



We drove on through the town of Gaspé, filling with propane while we were in a ‘metropolis’.
Our destination was another spot that Jean-Pierre and Dianne had told us about, a parking place between the ocean and Le Barrachois de Malbaie and big birding area.


 We took Buddy a walk down the pretty much deserted beach.


Friday 17th August
The rain and wind started in the night and didn’t let up until late morning.  The fog never really left at all.
We should have been able to clearly see Perce Rock and Bonaventure Island but this is the best it got.


It rained on and off most of the day.  Oh yes, did I mention we were right by the railroad track.


Fortunately there are only two trains a week and the Thursday one must have passed before we got there.

Saturday 18th August
More rain as we packed up to go.

Down the road a little ways to the town of Percé and some much needed grocery shopping.

We’d picked out a Passport America site – Camping du Phare – at Percé and we checked into a place that promised a panoramic view.

We didn’t have one from the RV itself but down lower on the campground there’s a fine view of Bonaventure Island and the famous Percé Rock.


Sunday 19th August
The clouds are gone and the sun is finally shining again.

Nobody visits Percé without taking a boat trip.  At $20 each it’s hard to resist.

They take you around the Rock itself up close and personal.


It’s possible to walk through the arch at low tide.

You get a fine view of the mainland and the road that brought us down into the town when we first arrived.


After the rock they take a tour around Bonaventure Island famous for its more than 50,000 nesting gannets and other seabirds that line the cliffs.



There were seals galore in large groups and small.


Apparently there is no water catchment on the island, as the people who lived there until 1971 must have had to contend with, however, there was water coming of the cliff tops.


The boat stops at a dock on the island


and you can get off and stay for a while and catch another boat back.  How could you resist a walk on the island?  Of course the island is now a park with entry fees but it was worth the stop over.

We had lunch in the picnic area with a million dollar view.



You can take a walk to the other side of the island but we didn’t have time (or maybe the energy) to do the whole thing, it takes an hour and a half of some strenuous uphill.

We did climb to the top though.


Looking back across the water we could just see our campsite on the mainland.


On the way back the boat’s captain pointed out the ‘horse drinking’ effect when viewed from a certain angle.


After getting some groceries we started the climb back – one of the reasons we didn’t do the whole island walk.  The campground is over a mile from the dock and (on the way back) it’s all uphill.

Monday 20th August
A day for just hanging out at the campground and doing laundry.  I did take a bike ride into town for supplies though and took a picture of the “Phare” that gives the campground its name.


Tuesday 21st August
Onwards we go and start traveling back west again to Paspébiac and our last camping ‘on the beach’ for some time I suspect.  Beautiful clear skies but not too hot.


Fridge playing up again - sigh!

Wednesday 22nd August
At Paspébiac we got our first view of ‘the other side’ – New Brunswick but as we drive west along the Bay of Chaleur coast the ‘other side’ gets closer and closer until you reach where the Restigouche River flows into the Bay of Chaleur at Matépedia.

We filled the gas tank with the cheapest gas we’ve seen in a while and headed to the Information place to see if we could park there for the night.  Turns out there is no-one actually there so we parked anyway.


Thankfully it wasn’t Saturday night or that tower full of quite large real bells would have given us a rude awakening we suspect.

Another spot with a view looking down the Matepédia River valley.


Thursday 23rd August
A foggy start to the day and some rain as we head north up the Matepédia Valley back to Rimouski to complete the ‘132’ loop.

Back in the Rimouski Wal-Mart parking lot we feel like old hands at this Gaspé thing.

Friday 24th August
Another beautiful cool clear day.

Before we started off we went across the road to the Animalerie Dyno (?) – a giant kind of Pet Smart thing but with more animals for sale.

Buddy was initially bought from such a place and when we saw this little fellow we could see why if Buddy looked half this cute, how could you resist.


He/she seemed to be quite happy having a high old time rolling round in its bedding.


Retracing our steps back to Quebec City, next stop the Wal-Mart in Rivière-du-Loup.

Saturday 25th August
A cloudy cool day that brightened up later as we spent a day in the Wal-Mart parking lot cleaning the inside of the RV and doing odd jobs.

Sunday 26th August
Back down the Autoroute 20 to St-Jean-Chrysostome to complete the Gaspé adventure.






















Monday, August 13, 2012

Back on land


Link to the Actual Blog - Click Here! 

Thursday 3rd May (cont.)
Installed the solar panel on the roof of the RV – required some of that magic Eternabond.

Friday 4th May 
After chlorinating the water tanks and one last waste disposal it’s off to the Good Year automotive service place for some new tires and after a check of the rear brakes, bad news, the rear axles are leaking and we’ll have to return for more expense.

However, right now we’re heading for West Palm Beach after dropping of this season’s canvas repair in Stuart and Buddy at kennels in Hobe Sound.

The transmission seems to be really acting up – something needs to be done.
We arrived at Ira and Ann’s in plenty time for supper and didn’t get to bed too early.

Saturday 5th May 
My memory upgrade for my Acer netbook had arrived at Ira and Inn’s, so time to install it.  Without the service manual (courtesy of manualowl.com) it would have been tougher involving removing the keyboard then 14 screws before taking the back off – not for the faint of heart.


But that was nothing compared to fixing Ira’s HP computer that appeared to be suffering from a desoldered Graphics Processor Unit chip.

This involved dismantling the entire computer.


Then, while I pointed a laser guided temperature gauge at his GPU, he heated it up to 250deg with a hand torch.  After several hours of work we had the whole thing back together and miraculously it worked.
They’d stored our Miata for us over the season, now it was time to start it, except it didn’t.  We tried bump starting it but after that didn’t work we boosted it with some borrowed jumper cables.  After driving it round for 1/2 hr it still didn’t start – sigh!.

Sunday 6th May 
Attempted to buy a new battery from Firestone – not helpful.

A Costco run – always good in West Palm if you’re hungry.  Also bought a new 1Tb drive – there’s never enough storage.

Back at the ranch Ira and I went for a swim in one of their several pools.

Monday 7th May
Tried to communicate with Exide the Miata battery maker(it’s special because it lives in the trunk).  Since the battery isn’t 2 years old and got nowhere.  So ended up buying a regular cheapo from Costco.

Tuesday 8th May 
Time to move on, this time retracing our steps to Indiantown to get the RV axle seals fixed and the now unacceptable transmission problem.

We left the RV at Good Year and went off in the Miata to pickup Buddy and get more wine in Stuart.
The RV not finished, transmission part next day delivery, so we went back to the marina and the RV park.

Wednesday 9th May 
Back to Good Year once more to get the transmission part installed and by noon we’re off.
Manatee Hammock in Titusville is becoming a favourite stop.  It has the tamest squirrels.


Thursday 10th May 
Away we go, out of Florida, Through Georgia and into South Carolina and the Wal-Mart at Waterboro.

Friday 11th May 
On to the north of North Carolina and Carolina Crossroads RV park another place we always seem to choose.



After chatting with someone in the swimming pool we made a decision to do something different and bypass the horror that is transiting Washington/Baltimore.

Movie of the day: How to Win Friends & Alienate People – One of those movies with lots of ‘names’ which usually means a bust but this one is definitely worth the time to watch.

Saturday 12th May 
Before leaving, I noticed this license plate which seriously impressed me.

Following our new plan we headed up to Richmond Virginia and then made a left towards the I-81 and the Shenandoah Valley.

When we stopped for lunch I climbed the nearby hill to get a better view.


After driving over some very bad freeway, the I-81 is in poor shape, we stopped for the night at a place we’d stopped for free the first time we went north, just  in southern Pennsylvania.

It looks like a pastoral scene but like most places we stay on our way north and south there’s the sound of the freeway all night long.

Sunday 13th May 
Through Pennsylvania and into New York State and a stop at Tall Pines campsite in Bainbridge just east of Binghamton.

A very pleasant spot by the river.

One of those places we could have got away without paying, nobody had a clue we were there.

Monday 14th May 
We were zipping along the freeway and suddenly there was a clattering sound coming from the RV.  On inspection it turned out the generator muffler had unbolted itself from the generator exhaust manifold and was held on just by the support strap.  I’d no sooner stopped than a state trooper stopped to see what the problem was.  I assured him a hacksaw would soon fix the problem.  In no time we had the muffler aboard and we were on our way.  Since my intent was to remove the generator anyway (we never use it) it was  one less job.

After the Tall Pines we stayed in Magic Pines which based on the number of tall pines deserved the name more than the previous night’s stop.

Movie of the day: The Onion Movie – Not a ‘real’ movie, just a string of sketches but entertaining just the same.

Tuesday 15th May 
We made it through Canadian customs without a single question about purchases – a first.  He seemed more concerned about whether we had visited any other countries than the US (?)

By early afternoon we were in Ken and Cheryl’s driveway in Cote St. Luc., Montreal.

Wednesday 16th May 
It’s supposed to be cold in Canada in May, but it it’s quite warm, July warm.
Ken had just returned from France where he’s been visiting the counterparts in France to his position at Dawson College.  Two of the people he had met there, Serge & Amelie from Lyons, came over for supper.

Thursday 17th May 
Out to the movies – Dark Shadows.  Definitely split decisions on this one.   The ladies liked it a lot but the guys thought it uneven and with one of those ‘how was that character suddenly able to do that?’ moments

Friday 18th May 
Ken’s birthday, so we had a family outing to a local eatery.

Saturday 19th May 
Movie time again – The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.  Cheryl, Carol and I went to see that while Ken saw Battleship.  Split decision on the Hotel.  Cheryl and I liked it, Carol not so much.  Ken was slightly impressed with his movie.

Sunday 20th May 
Sunday, and rented some videos from Videotron, not as convenient as Blockbuster used to be but needs must.

Movie of the day:  Mission Impossible 4 – I think I enjoyed it, can’t remember a thing about it.

Monday 21st May
Victoria Day and time to move on.  Fortified with a great breakfast of Cheryl’s waffles with fruit and maple syrup we packed up, filled with water and headed west.
We parked in the compound opposite our storage unit in time for a thunderstorm and heavy rain to come through.

Tuesday 22nd May 
Clearing out the RV lockers of extraneous stuff and starting disconnection of generator.

More heavy rain and – argh! – another roof leak.

Removed the generator in the rain and moved it into storage.

Movie of the day: Page 8 – For Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy fans.

Carol seems to be suffering from a bad back so it’s an early night for her.

Wednesday 23rd May 
To our favourite (and only) Internet hot spot in Kemptville, Brewed Awakenings.
Up on the RV roof with Eternabond.  Although leaks always seem to manifest themselves by dripping from the antenna rotator handle up until now the problem has always been somewhere else.  However, this time it looks like it really was.

Thursday 24th May 
Time to move on again, after finalizing the storage and putting certain items on Kijiji at Brewed Awakenings, to Sandy Mountain Campsite for a night and a dump station.

Found out that my Fender bass is worth a whole lot more than I was about to put it on Kijiji for.

Friday 25th May 
On to Richard Hayward’s and all the mail that’s been piling up for 6 months.


Saturday 26th May 
Over to North Gower to take the Subaru out of storage and then drive over to the storage to fill it up with storage boxes that we’re giving to Richard Felicity who seem to have sold their house and are ‘downsizing’.
By the time we go back and pick up the Miata and drive back to Richard H’s, he has returned and also girlfriend Cheryl  has arrived from Trenton.  We all had supper and yakked until bedtime.

Sunday 27th May 
Richard’s daughter, husband Scot and grandson Connor came over for breakfast and we all had ‘omelets in a bag’.

What is an omelet in a bag you might ask?

Well the hosts prepare lots of fixins like shredded cheese and ham, chopped onion and peppers.  Each person is then given a large (must be large) Ziploc bag and two eggs.  The eggs are cracked and the contents dropped into the Ziploc bag and then you squish them.

After  choosing the fixins, dropping them into the bag, mushing them as much as possible it should sort of look like this.

Then you must remove all the air from the bag – a very necessary step.

All the bags are then dropped into a huge pan of boiling water where they are boiled vigorously for 13 mins with the lid nearly all the way on.

On removal from the boiling water it looks like so.

After removing from the bag it will appear larger than you expected and somewhat like this.

Now in this unflattering picture it may look like something the cat sicked up but the results are quite wonderful.  So much so it is now my preferred omelet preparation method.  Carol, however, is unwilling to give up that fried taste.

I think this crittur thought he was camouflaged against the RV door grab bar.


In the afternoon we headed over to Richard and Felicity’s with the boxes and to load up the Subaru with the guitars and treadmill that they have been storing in their basement since we sold the house.  It wasn’t just a working visit we stayed for supper and helped them use up some of their freezer and fridge stuff.

Monday 28th May 
Doctor’s visit for Carol and shopping for both of us.

More wild life wandering around.


Tuesday 29th May 
Lunch with Harry and Bob for me, old United Marine fellow shareholders.
Back at Richard’s he made us curried shrimp and then we had a slide show of pics from his daughter’s storybook wedding in the U.K.

Wednesday 30th May 
Carol has a colonoscopy tomorrow.  So guess what she does all day.

Thursday 31st May 
After she was up at 4 am to take her last ‘stuff’ we were up again at 7 and heading off for Carol to get the test which she passed with flying colours.

We celebrated with breakfast at Royal’s in Richmond with Richard before he headed off to Trenton to see his girlfriend Cheryl.  The big breakfast may not have been the wisest thing for Carol.
It’s now quite cold, hard to believe after the hot spell.

Friday 1st June 
Carol seems to be having some aftermath of the colonoscopy involving, shall we say, a bloated feeling.
I buzzed off and did some shopping.

Saturday 2nd June 
‘Her indoors’ is feeling well enough to vacuum the cars out.

Charlie, one of Richard's menagerie cornered a squirrel on the deck trellis.  The squirrel was madder than hell and screamed and chattered.


Busy day with a trip to Bells Corners to get a sterling money order for my UK pension, Madras curry powder from the Indian store, the world’s best marmalade from the Scottish and Irish store, MBA to talk to Carol’s ‘financial advisor’, to the storage yet again to measure the diameter of our spinnaker/whisker pole (someone is interested in buying it) and pickup the Walker Bay sail kit (someone is interested in buying that too).

Sunday 3rd June 
It’s warmed up a little with some light rain.  Time to move on, so by early afternoon we’re at Lena and Peter’s near Smiths Falls.

Monday 4th June 
Off to Kemptville to do laundry and visit the storage.

Tuesday 5th June 
After moving the RV to what we hoped was a more shaded spot it was off to MacDonald’s for Internet and then Canadian Tire for non BPA water containers.  Damn Bob for scaring Carol about RV water tanks!!! 


Wednesday 6th June 
It’s all go.  Down to the Civic Hospital for an ear appointment then back to Smiths Falls.  After lunch it’s back to Bells Corners for another financial advisor visit.

Thursday 7th June 
An early morning visit to Richard Hayward’s place where our Walker Bay dinghy has been resting to sell it.
In the afternoon it was back to the storage in Kemptville to put the whisker pole on a truck headed to Toronto.

Back to Lena and Peter’s to pack-up the RV and drive the relatively short distance to Bob and Elaine Gauthier’s in Carleton Place and park in another driveway.

Grilled salmon on the bbq, Bob’s homemade wine and lots of talk but not too late for bed as Elaine gets up at 5 to go to work.

Friday 8th June 
After a morning talking RV’s with Bob, (he’s been doing it for years), we headed to Smiths Falls and a dump station and then down to Gananoque.

The intent had been to stay in the Gananoque Casino parking lot where Ira and Ann used to stay.  However, when we got there we found that the local campsites had pressured the casino into not permitting overnight stays.

So it was back down the 1000 Islands Parkway to find a campsite, which didn’t take long.

With RV installed in Landon Bay campsite we unhooked the Miata and headed down to the marina to see if we could meet anyone we know from our years there.
We found Larry and Carol on Coral Wave at the dock.  They told us we’d missed the other folks we know so we arranged to come back on Sunday when people usually return from anchoring out.

Saturday 9th June 
Landon Bay is a beautiful setting with lots of walking trails that we were keen to (but never did) explore.



Sunday 10th June 
Installed a new sewer outlet cap.  You’d think that would be really easy except that the eye for the lanyard that attaches it broke off so remedial measures were required.

In the afternoon we headed back to Coral Wave in the marina for happy hour with Larry and Carol, Rollie and Francine and Steve (the ‘Hedonist’ – yes that is his boat name).  

Back to the RV for a light supper and then back to the marina and a more wine and conviviality aboard ‘Home’ with Rick and Judy.

Everyone was of course interested in our adventures and misadventures down south.

Monday 11th June 
The temperature is up so we put the a.c. on only to trip the 15A breaker.  This forced us to move across the way for 30A service (at a price of course).


A day working on my UK pension with Carol doing the heavy lifting.

Tuesday 12th June 
Overcast, cool  and raining – now we have virtually unlimited power.
Finished the UK pension application so off to Fedex  - $77 for each of two documents – ouch!

Wednesday 13th June 
McD’s for Internet in the morning and then up the Parkway to Mallorytown where our other dockmates Don and Louise have a house that Don pretty much built himself (with some assistance).


It’s a beautiful post and beam construction I wish I’d taken some pictures of the interior.
They fed us very well indeed and there was much talk.

Thursday 14th June 
I did take a walk up one trail to what they call The Lookout for a spectacular view down to the St. Lawrence.


 We brought some boat canvas back with us that we wanted to have duplicated by the place in Kingston that made our enclosure.

No trip to Kingston for us would be complete without a trip to the Pilot House.


Everytime we came to Kingston in the boat we would head there for their fish and chips, thanks to the elderly lady who does the cooking that could only be learned in a place like St. Helens (Lancs).


Movie of the day: Australia – overwrought to say the least, Baz Luhrmann bas lost his mojo if he ever had one.

Friday 15th June 
Time to pack-up and move on.  This time to Harry and Barbara Keays’ place in Portland on the Big Rideau Lake.

We parked in the driveway and stayed the night.  We always play cards and we learnt a new fun game – name? – A______e.

Saturday 16th June 
Had a swim in the lake, certainly warmer than the St. Lawrence at this time of year.

Before we left we played another game of A______e.

The original plan was to head over to the hull arena for free parking with nearby dump station and water.  However, the forecast for the following week promised abnormally hot weather so plans were modified to go to Sandy Mountain Campsite.

Movie of the day: TV Mini Series Hatfields & McCoys – very well done.

Sunday 17th June 
Internet at ‘ Brewed Awakenings’ and some food shopping.

Monday 18th June 
After 3 years our bike tyres are disintegrating so off to Canadian Tire for some new ones.
Time for the movies too and ‘Prometheus’ was playing at Barrhaven which has the nearest movie theatres and cheap too for old folks.

‘Prometheus’ – ‘Alien’ revisited complete with major plot holes and incomprehensibilities.  

Tuesday 19th June 
Heavy rain to start but clearing up and getting hot.  Thankfully (for me anyway) the pool opened up so cooling off was an option after shopping and installing bike tyres.

Wednesday 20th June 
Dental appointment for Carol downtown and then a trip to the very centre of Ottawa and the passport office only to find it’s moved to the suburbs.  Another very hot day.

Movie of the day: Haywire – Not bad thriller.

Thursday 21st June 
Eye appointment in Ottawa’s west end for C and then a hair appointment while I find wi-fi.

Friday 22nd June 
Laundry- in- Kemptville day.

Saturday 23rd June 
Packin up to move time again.
Drove to the Ottawa Municipal Campsite where we planned to stay for a whole month.
Movie of the day: An Awfully Big Adventure – disappointing. 

Sunday 24th June 
Drove over to Richard Hayward’s to pick up mail and chat.

Then over to Lena and Peter’s to pick up the Subaru – need something that can carry more than a Miata.
Picked up Carol’s sister Jean from the Ottawa airport for a week of card playing.

Monday 25th June 
Rented movies and got some Internet.

Tuesday 26th June 
Took a trip to Carleton Place to join the public library only to find it not open - second abortive attempt to join a library - and then dropped by Richard Hayward’s for lunch.

After lunch, we took a walk to the creek and I proceeded to fall in the mud and my camera went into a puddle.  I hated the damned thing anyway!!!

Movie night for us all.  Star City, Gatineau is close and cheap (on a Tuesday anyway) and saw ‘ Brave’,  another A1 Pixar movie.

Wednesday 27th June 
Over to the Wine Garden, a do it yourself wine place that basically seems to just sell wine – at a very good price. 

Thursday 28th June 
Shopping  day.

Friday 29th June 
Awning repairs and three hours on the phone with evil Bell Mobility getting a new plan.

Saturday 30th June 
After breakfast at McD’s 

it’s off to the airport with Jean and then back to Lena and Peter’s to divest ourselves of the Subaru.

Tried a second time to get our propane tank filled, seems the valve is kaput – sigh!

Sunday 1st July
Our toaster dies at breakfast so off we go to Xcess Cargo for a replacement.  Not only did we get a toaster but we got a neat little rice maker.

After some food shopping it’s back to the OMC.

Movie of the day: Was going to be ‘Trust’ but we abandoned it (don’t often do that) and watched ‘The Pallbearer’ instead – had its moments.

Monday 2nd July
Laundry day again and arranged to change sites the following Sunday.

Tuesday 3rd July
Got the bikes out finally and sampled the famous Ottawa bike trails.

Carol’s new passport had arrived at the ‘post office’ in Franktown so it was off to Richard’s.

While there I made use of his table saw to rip some wood for the RV interior and watch the robin feed her chicks (or is that the male).


.After picking up the passport and finally joining the Carleton Place Public Library it was back ‘home’.

Wednesday 4th July
Another bike ride, this time to Shirley's Bay.  Always wondered what it looked like.


The intrepid cyclists.


Thursday 5th July
Picked up our replacement Miata battery with a hefty surcharge even under warranty.

Lunch at Mr. Pho’s in Bells Corners with Richard Wormleighton – love those Vietnamese soups.  Richard and Felicity are staying with their daughter Amanda now their house is sold and they don’t move into their apartment until late August.

Buddy visited Brigitte who clipped off all that fur and made the incredible heat of this summer a bit more bearable for the little fella.

Friday 6th July
Started the day with a CAT scan, nothing quite like it.

Hanging round the campsite.

Saturday 7th July
Carol went for a driving lesson to drive a standard.  He taught her some very peculiar things.
Visited Ruth, Keith and family who live just down the road from the campsite to do our yearly catch-up.

Sunday 8th July
Our propane in the RV main tank was down so we had to take a trip to Merrivale Road to the nearest propane filling station.

On the return to the campground we moved a new spot where with the help of a rooftop antenna we could pickup wi-fi from the office – woo hoo!

Monday 9th July
A bike ride down to Moodie Drive and round the industrial park that used to be the exclusive location of the mighty and now fallen Nortel.

Tuesday 10th July
A shopping day and writing a stinky letter to Bell Mobility.
Movie of the day: Joueuse – Excellent French movie.

Wednesday 11th July
A few days ago I’d ordered a tire pressure monitoring system from the US to be delivered to the UPS store in Ogdensburg, New York State.

So off I went in the Miata, down the 416 to Prescott and the bridge to the USA.  Seems strange crossing into the US in the middle of summer – like going to a foreign country (?)

Picked up the system, installed it on the Miata and headed back to Ottawa.

Carol had a Miata driving lesson.  She did OK.

Movie of the day: Another Year – not one of Mike Leigh’s best.

Thursday 12th July
The fridge has been acting up so gave the guys who sold us a replacement cooling unit a call.  They had some suggestions to be tried.  First thing was to plug it in directly and bypass the controller.  Then try more insulation in the stack.

‘Borrowed’ some insulation from Keith and bypassed the controller.  Let’s see what happens.

Friday 13th July
Temporarily installed a fan on top of the fridge vent – maybe that will do something.

The fridge is holding @ 45degF which is not bad given the fact it’s like an oven outside.

Movie of the day: Blue Valentine – deeepressing!

Saturday 14th July
Got the fridge down to 35 – best yet.

Bought some box fans for a more permanent fan installation.

Richard Hayward and girlfriend Cheryl arrived for a leisurely lunch inside the RV – too hot outside.
Movie of the day: Wild Target – not as good as we thought it might be.  Bet the original French movie was better.

It’s so hot we go to bed with the a.c. on – first time.

Sunday 15th July
Installed the box fans over the fridge vent on the roof.

Cycled down to Acres road and back.

While up on the roof adjusting the fan locations I stepped on the skylight over the shower which is DEFINITELY not made to be stood on.


Picked up our replacement Miata battery with a hefty surcharge even under warranty.

Lunch at Mr. Pho’s in Bells Corners with Richard Wormleighton – love those Vietnamese soups.  Richard and Felicity are staying with their daughter Amanda now their house is sold and they don’t move into their apartment until late August.

Injuries were sustained but fortunately I missed the femoral artery so am still alive.

Monday 16th July
Called around for pricing and delivery on a new skylight.  The best price was from a place in New Brunswick but the delivery was three weeks – no good!  Found that Primo Trailer on Moodie Drive could get it in a couple of days so drove over there and ordered it.

Also drove to Kemptville to pickup C’s new glasses – it’s a miracle, she can see again.

Tuesday 17th July
Fridge down to 30 – too low now, time to reconnect the controller..

Thunderstorms and tornado touchdowns south of Ottawa – yipes!

Movie of the day: Never Let Me Go – weird!

Wednesday 18th July
To the Wine Garden for more wine supplies before we head east although Carol is not drinking currently.

Movie of the day: The Girlfriend Experience – dull.

Thursday 19th July
Over to the dump station before moving sites yet again.  


This time no Internet.

Over to Primo Trailers to pickup skylight and then off to the storage to drop off a few things we don’t want to drag around.   While in Kemptville C got her glasses better fitted so as not to gouge her nose.

Friday 20th July
Installed the tire pressure monitoring system on the RV tires only to find that the guy who last mounted the rear wheels (a mechanic not a tire jockey) had put the new ones on such that the valves for the inner wheels were pretty well inaccessible.

Removed the remnants of the old skylight and screwed down the new one.

Movie of the day: Animal Kingdom – very good Australian crime drama. 

Saturday 21st July
Made an appointment on Monday morning to have Frisby Tire fix the rear wheel problem.

Used Eternabond tape on the skylight to seal the edges.

Got a phone call from Bell Mobility refunding us $130.  I’m happy with them - for now. 

Sunday 22nd July
Tidying up and preparing the RV to travel.

Over to Richard Hayward’s to drop off the Miata and ‘bye for a while.  He gave us a ride back to the RV after supper.

Monday 23rd July
Up bright and early (?), over to the dump station and then to Kanata and Frisby Tire.  They charged us a startling low $22.60 to jack up the RV (twice), take the outer wheels off, put air in the tires and put the wheels back on properly.

We’re on the road again, heading for Ken and Cheryl’s driveway in Cote-St-Luc.

Daughter Jessica is there with new baby Hunter.


After supper it was out to see the first of our Just for Laughs comedians – Joey Elias.  He’s actually a local boy and funny.

Movie of the day: Watchmen – Too much angst (and blood) for a superhero movie.

Tuesday 24th July
Some IMAX screens are what Ken calls fake IMAX – like the one in the AMC, Kanata.  Montreal, however was the real thing, and the best place to see The Dark Knight Rises.  A long movie but very good for that kind of thing.  Though after the recent thing in Colorado I couldn’t help feeling a little strange during some of the more violent parts.

After supper it was downtown again, this time to see Dave Gorman.  He’s a Brit and does a thing with a projected computer screen.  Very funny.

Afterwards we walked around the Just for Laughs after and some good Indian snack food.

Wednesday 25th July
Comedian of the day:  Tom Brewer – he was on Saturday Night Live for a while (Goat Boy, if anyone remembers).  Very professional but I liked Dave Gorman better.  But Carol almost fell off her seat – laughing so hard.

Thursday 26th July
It’s a cooler day.  The heat hasn’t bothered us so much as we stay in the house when at Ken and Cheryl’s while the RV gets real hot.

Just for Laughs today’s choice was Paul F. Tompkins with three other performers, one of which is involved with 30 Rock, he was the funniest in what we all thought was a disappointment compared to the other shows we saw.

Friday 27th July
Our plans for cycling with Ira and Ann in the Laurentians got canned as Ira had been not well for a while and still wasn’t feeling 100%.  So we arranged with John and Rejeanne to be at their place on Monday.

A day hanging round the house while Ken and Cheryl babysat their grandson as his parents went to a Just for Laughs show together and a meal out.  They were belatedly celebrating their first wedding anniversary.  (The actual day was preempted by Mike’s  appendix suddenly playing up and he was rushed into hospital where the offending appendage was removed.)

Saturday 28th July
After Cheryl’s world famous waffles and maple syrup, we took a bus to visit Ira and Ann in their downtown Montreal apartment. They have a wonderful view from their 11th floor balcony overlooking the mountain and the apartment swimming pool.  There is a gourmet Asian food store on the ground floor and a Metro Supermarket in the basement.  In all the time I lived in Montreal I never went on a bus.  Given the hazards of driving and the parking there it makes a lot of sense.

We had a chat in their place and some munchies before taking the bus back. Got on the bus but then  had to get off ‘cos we didn’t have enough  change.  Fortunately the buses run every 10 mins, so no big whup.
Ken went off for a midnight show with son Jeff so we (and Cheryl) took the opportunity to watch a movie he probably wouldn’t: The Young Victoria – very good history lesson.

Sunday 29th July
After packing up we were on our way again to Camping Rouillard on Lake Tortue which is basically Shawinigan – didn’t see the little guy though.

A very big and busy campground with a band that STARTED playing at 10pm. 

Monday 30th July
On to St.-Jean-Chrysostome  and John and Rejeanne’s place south of Quebec City.

We learned a new game – Ballobong (spelling) – we weren’t  very good at it – from John and Rejeanne’s next door neighbours Sylvie and Michelle.

John loves his fires so we ended the evening around the campfire.

Tuesday 31st July
It’s not cooling down any here.  The fridge still needs the fans running and the temperature still gets up to 50 sometimes, then just like that it goes down to 34 - ???

Did a temporary repair (until we can buy a new one in the US) on the fridge shelf that’s slowly disintegrating by being bounced around with bottles on it.

A trip to Crevettes Plus has become a staple of our visits here and it never disappoints.

We had our post supper coffee (John makes a mean, I mean mean cappuccino) by the fire. 

Wednesday 1st August
John was working and Rejeanne was eager to take a bike ride with accompaniment.  We did a long ride to the Chaudiere Falls which are spectacular and if my cursed camera (it recovered from being dropped in the puddle – damn it) had worked – can’t really blame it for dead batteries – there would be pictures here.
Supper was Rejeanne’s fabulous veggie pie.  Don’t miss meat pies so much but the savoury pie is just such a part of northern English cuisine(?).

Coffee by the fire.

Thursday 2nd August
Temporarily the temperature has dropped but the forecast is even hotter.

Today Carol and I are providing the food and entertainment.  We made grilled salmon, roasted veggies and rice and since I finally resurrected (found in the storage) Local Hero with French subtitles that was the entertainment.  Local Hero?  In my top ten best ever.

Friday 3rd August
Rejeanne and I went swimming at the free local pool while Carol went to the hairdressers.
We each made our own suppers before John went off to do his night job.

Saturday 4th August
Time to move on again.  After packing up and saying our goodbyes we head off for fuel and one of the many free Quebec dump stations.