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| Morgan’s grooming table. |
Today was another busy day getting ready for the next leg of our adventure. Karen is moving into the trailer for the next few weeks so I organized space for her to fit her necessities for the trip.
Much to Morgan’s disappointment, it was grooming day for her. Ears, paws, tail and her body. Funny, there were about half a dozen people who walked by with their dogs asking if I would
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| Historical Terminal Buildings, Collingwood, ON |
do theirs.
I drove into Thornbury to get propane, postcards, stamps and a couple other items. I also organized the back of the pickup for the ease of accessing the jerry cans to fill them and use them if necessary. Another task was emptying the water out of my paddle board cover.
Funny thing, water gets in and hangs heavy in the bag. I scratch my head at how it gets in but it doesn’t find its way out.
I booked our Harvest Host for Saturday night. Our destination - Perth, Ontario
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| Montmorency Falls,Quebec City |
It was very hot today. Twenty eight degrees Celcius. I dug out some summer clothes and I took Morgan for a much deserved swim. She had been favouring her left hind leg so I kept her quiet for a couple days and thought a swim would do her some good as well as cool her down.
Karen’s sister and brother-in-law were coming for a visit and to see Karen, me and Morgan off on our adventure. To our delight, they treated Karen and me to dinner at the Fig
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| Lilacs are everywhere in Ontario. |
and Feta Restaurant in Collingwood. It was delicious. We ended the evening with a glass of Newfoundland wine - Fifty Shades of Bay. :) The consensus was that it was not worth having a second glass. Hahahahaha.
Tomorrow is the big day - Karen, Morgan and I head east.
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| Devastation after the storm. |
May 21
Holy Cow! Today is the day we leave for Labrador and Newfoundland. Jeff and Cheryl brought Karen over to the trailer and we all said our goodbyes.
First order of business was to empty the holding tanks before hitting the road. The water tank was filled, Morgan was exercised, and everything was stowed. We were ready to GO.
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| 1850 Kirkstone Harvest Host |
Our first goal - Perth, Ontario.
We knew that Thunderstorms were forecast and we had been watching the weather for the previous couple of days. Karen, who is also a sailor, was a great co-pilot and continued to monitor the weather radar. We were doing great.
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| Terry and me on the no-concrete bridge. |
The first weather alert we received was 11:00. It was warning us of SEVERE thunderstorms. We viewed the sky around us and Karen kept monitoring the radar. Now we could see what they were talking about. The second alert came at 11:20.
As we neared Peterbrorough, we both had a sense that we needed to get off the road. I had started looking for a spot. Then it was said aloud “time to get off the road and wait it out”. Karen spotted a great place behind a service station. I had room to manoeuvre
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| Terry and Mary’s first house in Perth. |
the truck and trailer nose to the wind. There were no trees or power lines around us.
I got Morgan out for a quick walk and a piddle. The sky was getting blacker by the second. I put Morgan back into the truck and grabbed my camera to take a short video. I felt one, two, three, and then three thousand drops of rain. I had to scramble to get into the truck.
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| The crooked clock tower. What is the story? |
The storm hit with a vengeance. We could barely see out the windshield. The truck was rocking. We actually grabbed for the grab bars. Disbelief is a word that comes to mind. We were pelted with rain, leaves, and wind. We managed to take some video. Morgan slept through all of it.
I have never been in such a storm - the wind, sheets of rain, thunder,
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| So much history in the east. |
and lightening that was so intense. It was unbelievable. We felt fortunate our sailor instincts kicked in and we both believe that if we took the wind cross ways the trailer would have been blown over.
The adrenaline, the intensity, and the rocking and rolling was over in 15 minutes. We were left with rain, rain,
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| Morgan cooling off in the canal in Perth. |
and more rain. We sat for another 15 minutes while Karen tracked the storm. When it was well ahead of us we resumed our course for Perth.
As soon as we got on the road we were in shock at the devastation before us. Trees uprooted, trees twisted off their trunk, trees snapped off. Trees across side roads, trees across cars, trees on houses. Roofs lifted off buildings, roofs peeled off, and portions of roofs in hydro wires. Trampolines everywhere! As we inched our way through the small community of Norwood, people were walking around assessing the
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| Big Ben, a Canadian legend. |
damage. Many looked shell-shocked.
We could not believe what we were seeing. If I didn’t know any better I’d say a tornado ripped through this little hamlet. It didn’t stop there. Power was out for hundreds of thousands of people. Businesses were closing.
There was no pandemonium, just shock, disbelief and amazement.
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| A touch of Europe at every corner. |
We texted our Harvest Hosts at Kirkstone in Perth to be aware. When we arrived at 18:00 they were safe and damage free. They were so kind, knowing what we went through, they offered us dinner and wine, and we happily accepted. It’s a small world. Their son lives and works in the Comox Valley.
After dinner, Terry gave us a walking tour of downtown Perth. It was
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| The sign says it all. |
delightful. He and Mary grew up there, were high school sweethearts there, got married there and raised their children there. Those two are an amazing team. They even organized the world’s largest Perth Kilt Run. It’s in the Guinness Book of World Records.
May 22 Perth to Trois-Rivière
Sunday morning was beautiful. I walked Morgan and played with her in the yard. If cooking us dinner last night wasn’t enough, Terry said he was making pancakes for breakfast and he was sure he was going to make too many and we should
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| Getting ready to do some planning. |
join him and Mary. What could we say? I made them each a Chai Tea Latte and Terry fed us pancakes.
We loved the walking tour so much, Karen and I decided to stay the morning and walk around again. This time we took our cameras to take some pictures. Did you know Big Ben the racehorse is from Perth and Perth also holds the world record for the largest cheese wheel since 1894. It is
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| How we plan. |
22,000 pounds!
We left Terry, Mary and Kirkstone at 1230 to make our way to Trois-Rivière. We knew it was going to rain so figured it would be a good time to drive. There was some wind but nothing to worry about.
Little did I ever think in my lifetime I would be driving through Montreal pulling a travel trailer. I held my ground, stayed in my lane and got through the crawling traffic. We could not understand why it was so busy on a Sunday but it was.
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| Lunch stop on the St. Lawrence River. |
Our campground of choice was Trois-Rivière Walmart.
We had a list of things we wanted to pick up and had planned to do our shopping when we arrived. At the top of my list was AFTER BITE! But guess what???? Walmart closed at 1700 hrs. Can you believe it??? We expected it to be open until at least 2100 hrs.
We had a stunning sunset. At one time we thought a couple truckers were
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| There is lots of traffic on the river. |
joining us but we soon realized they were only there for Tim Horton’s across the street - BAhhhhhhh. As you can see, not much happened this day. We walked Morgan and then settled in for the night. We felt safe but had to contend with some traffic noise from Highway 138 beside us.
May 23 - Trois-Rivière to Saint Simeon (on the St. Lawrence River)
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| Camp du Walmart. |
This morning we got up with our shopping list in hand. Walmart opened at 0800 and we were ready to go. After Walmart we were off to Costco for popcorn (our snack food while driving) and gas. I got in trouble for being in the “no truck” lane with my truck and trailer. The fella was really nice. He didn’t make me back up and move into the RV lane. He said today it would be OK for me to stay in my lane. Whew. He didn’t know it was the only day I would be in the wrong lane. Gas is creeping up in price. $2.07 is the highest we have paid so far.
The one thing we have had trouble finding is une carte du Quebec - a map
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| Morgan running on the beach of the St. Lawrence. |
of Quebec. Being sailors, we like our paper resources. Hahahaha. Another funny thing is that all the tourist information places are closed. WTF. Do they not expect tourists on a long weekend?
OK. Here is a funny story. We had been travelling along Highway 138 next to the St. Lawrence River. We came across a bit of a traffic jam. First we both thought it was an accident. Then we thought there was a special event because there was a fella directing traffic. What was really happening was people were trying to park and secure their place in line for what we are assuming was the BEST ICE CREAM in Quebec. We couldn’t believe what was happening. Sadly there was no parking for a truck and trailer.
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| Camping on the St. Lawrence. |
Driving along we decided it was time for another stop for Morgan. We tried to find a picnic place in Baie St. Paul. What happened instead is that we took a tour of this village with narrow streets and rubber signs in the middle of the road leaving barely enough room for me to squeeze by - but we did it!!!
During our little tour, Karen was working out how we were going to get out of there and back on the highway. While doing so, she discovered another highway we could take to follow the mighty St. Lawrence. OMG, it was such a beautiful drive and it brought us to our current campsite in the Municipality of Saint Simeon on the St. Lawrence. I cannot believe I am in Quebec and camping at the edge of the St. Lawrence. Pinch me.
Wishing you all adventures in this lifetime. Wishing you all the courage to face your fears. And wishing you all love, health, and peace.
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