Waddya mean we're in Quebec! How did that happen?

 

Aug 24 Monday

Yay, we're on the road again, heading to Canada's Atlantic provinces! It was a grey rainy day a lot of the time. We started the trip by going north then east to visit my sister Beth and her hubby Sandy in Perth, parking in their driveway overnight.

By mid-afternoon we made it as far as the town of Marmora. Still damp but we had a walk around anyway.

A memorial to the area's mining heritage

A nice park at the town tourist info centre

Since we had a late breakfast about 10 am, we had a burger in town here for a late lunch. By about 5:30 we were at S&B's place, and had a good visit in the evening over a bottle of wine, before I had to call it a night.

Our overall route today. Once again we kept north of the 401 highway, but this time we stayed south of Lake Simcoe, so a pretty direct route alone Hwy 9 then Hwy 7 to Perth. 

 

 Here's a blowup of the middle part of the route:

 

 Aug 25 Tuesday

Today we set out to go through Quebec on our way to the Atlantic provinces. First we headed to Smiths Falls, and down to the 401 highway. The main highway is ok once on east from Toronto, as we were headed now.

This ship went through a canal lock as we went by in Smiths Falls

The lock gates

 

We decided to try a different route than our usual Hwy 30 back up to 20 etc,  by heading east on Hwy 10 towards Sherbrooke, then working out way northeast back up to Hwy 20 near Quebec City. First we had to cross the relatively new bridge to get to Hwy 30 on the east side of the St Lawrence river: 

We took the Hwy 30/40 turnoff

A lake freighter that would have transited the St Lawrence locks

The route worked out, but we soon tired of it. Early traffic was heavy, the later more rural drive was hilly and heavily treed, even next to the road. So few views of the area landscape. We soon headed up to Drummondville, back on the Trans Canada hwy 20. 

We knew we weren't going to make it into New Brunswick today, so managed to get past Quebec City before we stopped for the night at a park called Camping Transit. Just off Hwy 20 so some road noise, but not bad.

 

 

 

 

 

Serpent River camp to HOME via Chi-Cheemaun ferry

Loading on the ferry, from the back end here

Heading for home today! 

We enjoyed our stay at the Serpent River camp on our last night. A camping neighbour is building out his own travel van, so we gave him a tour of ours as a sample. I think his will be quite different from ours, but a lot of similarities too. In return he forced a couple of glasses of good Italian wine on us (well, mostly on Cathie):

A rail line ran right behind our sites. In fact we crossed the tracks in the campground to get to our sites. Luckily only one slow train went through, and nothing overnight:

A camping cabin with the train in the background

The ferry terminal is at South Baymouth on Manitoulin Island, a little over 2 hours drive from the Serpent River camp. To catch the 3:30 crossing we had to be there by 2:30 at the latest. We had made reservations but they won't wait for latecomers.

So we had a leisurely drive down through part of Manitoulin Island. Really just followed Hwy 6 right down from Hwy 17. Easy to navigate. We stopped here and there:

Of course a stop at a yarn shoppe

A pretty little waterfall, High Falls

We were lined up at the ferry way early, with time for lunch and a much-needed nap. We expected to see the ferry coming in from in front of the lineup, but when it came, it sneaked in from beside us, and backed in to the dock:

Boarding was painless, and we were soon underway. The day had been overcast and rainy at times, but cleared up nicely for the crossing, although still cool:

We're glad to be able to take this ferry at last. We've been meaning to do it for a long time, as it hasn't been far from home. 

Does it pay for itself with the shorter drive when heading west from southern Ontario or back home? Dollarwise probably not, but it was a nice alternative on this day. It's been a busy trip and we're both tired, so extra nap times were appreciated. 

It also got us home a day earlier than we had expected, since we would have stopped overnight around Parry Sound otherwise.

Right now we think this might be the last long driving trip we take. It's been a long haul, and while we've thoroughly enjoyed the trip and are glad to have been able to do it all, we were pretty tired by the end. We expected a slower trip  home than we did, but kept being pushed by weather windows. There were a number of storm systems across the prairies, some preceded us and more were coming east behind us. Lots of flooding and road closings that interfered with what plans we did make. However, never say never!  :))

     

The van made the trip trouble free as usual (other than the minor oil overfill). It's been a relatively economical way to see our great country over the years. 

Trip stats:

- Total mileage approx 8720 kms

- fuel avg $1.83 per litre

- mileage average 8.8 L/100Km, or 26.7 US mpg

 

 

 

Penn Lake to Serpent River camp, Spragge ON

Lake Superior view

A beautiful day for a great drive along Lake Superior, especially south from Wawa. We even had little wind today, makes an easier drive.

Cathie was hunting wildlife at our camp last night on Penn Lake. Most of the wildlife was mosquitoes, but she did track down this snowshoe hare, almost completely changed from winter white to summer brown:

skeeter protection

First we headed east to Wawa, for fuel. Once again the Petro Canada station in downtown Wawa was typical for Petro this trip - the cheapest diesel around. We topped up again in SSM (Sault Ste Marie) at a Petro station at the southeast end of town, right on the highway, for $1.80 /litre. Earlier at an Esso on the north end of town, again on the highway, they advertised diesel at $2.45 /litre. I kid you not. 65 cents cheaper per litre at opposite ends of the same small city. We've bought most of our fuel this trip at Petro Canada stations. Remember Canadian Tire also uses Petro Canada as a supplier now for their gas bars.

Anyway, back to the views. Just a sampling of what we saw:

And one of the many patches of lupins we saw along the hwy.

On the way south from Wawa we again stopped for a fresh baked apple fritter, same as we did heading north /west:

We cut just one in half of course

 

Our lunchtime view from one of their picnic tables

The Store

Of course some construction today:

Getting close to the end when paving starts

 

After dithering for a while about where and when to stay tonight, we ended up at a place new to us, Serpent River Campground, near to the town of Spragge. Here's the layout:

They have different camping areas. We're parked at the lower left in an unserviced area, where all the black squiggles are, under the P. Cabins K1-3 look good. Those curving parallel lines you see are train tracks, right through the campground.

We and the cabins are right along the Serpent River:

 

Several families of Canada Geese use the river

 

We're doing something different to finish off this trip. We've never been to Manitoulin Island, so have booked a ferry ride from there to Tobermory tomorrow afternoon. I requested a day like we've just had; the agent said he'd do his best. :)) 

All being well we should be home tomorrow (Thursday) evening, tired and bedraggled.

 

 

Dryden ON to Penn Lake Marathon ON. Back on EDT now.

Lake Superior

We left Walmart just after 7am today, trying to keep ahead of a large storm system that's over Winnipeg right now and moving east. A good quiet night here and a pleasant morning.

Mostly a driving day, so only a few pictures:

A nice pond gave us window-washing water. Lots of bugs on the roads.

And, of course, several construction delays. None serious.

Working to stabilize the rock cut walls

Lots of heavy equipment active

A few pictures at a rest stop at the Nipigon bridge:

The viewing platform. Nice climb after a long drive.

You'll have seen our pictures of this bridge before. Modern cable-stayed method. 

I got to look down on the van for a change

Looking out over Nipigon

A "Group of 7" piece on display here

A few views of Lake Superior. A really nice day for it:

 

A route note: a long time ago, we used to take the hwy 102 bypass around the north end of Thunder Bay to avoid taking Hwy 11/17 through town. Then the Hwy 11/17 route was improved over the years, and we've been using that the last few times.

On our way home from our previous route west (ie heading east) we missed an important left turn in town, and got ourselves mired in town back streets. Even the GPS couldn't figure out where to go. We did of course, eventual get straightened out.

Today we decided to try the 102 bypass from the west end  to the east of Thunder Bay. It was great. The bypass road has been improved immensely, like most of the highways around here.  No problems at all. The GPS said this route was 15 minutes shorter than the one through town, and it was likely at least that. No heavy traffic or traffic lights.

Easy access to the Petro Canada station as the bypass joined up with 11/17. Diesel at $1.65 in Ontario was a nice surprise. Way less than other stations.  

And finally, camped at Penn Lake. This has become a regular stopping point for us along here. A few mosquitoes tonight, but still very nice: