Day 1: Highway High Jinks

Our landing in Montreal was on time and we took a cab over to the hotel. Jet lag didn't catch us too bad, so we were up at 8:00 a.m. to return to the airport to pick up our rental car. Wayne had reserved one in advance at Budget through West Jet (I love that airline!). We were an hour early, so they gave us a free upgrade to let us get on our way. We ended up with a Dodge Journey (SUV). It turned out to be the perfect vehicle for us. There's lots of room for our camping gear and the back seats fold down. We could sleep inside if the weather gets really rainy. In honour of his heritage and colour, I've dubbed him Monsieur Argent.


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The first day's drive took us through green countryside over mostly divided double-lane highways. Because it was going to be our longest (distance and time) travel day, we drove straight through. Our path took us east, then across the St. Lawrence River at Quebec City to Riviere-du-Loup. From there we followed Highway 2 southeast to a small town on the St. John River called St. Leonard. Most of the towns are either St, Ste, St. or Saint in this region. Must because of their French ties. Even though every local we met spoke French, they were friendly and accommodating with our English. That's a lot different than I remember from our last trip to Quebec by airplane.

We camped at a private facility called Grande Riviere just outside of town. We set up our tent next to a small river. I could imagine a French trapper paddling his canoe up such a stream to catch beaver. We had reservations, but wouldn't have needed them. We were the only tenters and there were hardly any RVs either. It was a nice park with lots of green grass, a few shaded sites, restrooms with showers, and a pool. Quite retro. I'm sure it looked just the same when my parents passed through years ago. After we set up our tent we went into town for dinner at the restaurant at the Daigle Motel. Good home cooking for a good price.

We had a bit of rain overnight, but today dawned sunny and warm. The mosquitoes were out last night, but I think the rain kept them to a minimum. Don't think I have any bites to show for my outdoor experience yet.

We stopped in Fredericton to find a hot spot. That's easy in this town because it has Fred-e-Zone or free citywide wireless service. We are sitting in Wilmot Park downtown under a tree to check e-mail and make this post. But I better get going, our destination of Halifax is still a long ways away. -- Margy

FREE HOTSPOT WATCH: Fred-e-Zone is Fredericton NB's free citywide wireless service. Excellent bandwidth, Wayne watching TV on Slingbox.