I can see clearly now

We left a very foggy Edmunston this morning. The Republique Provincial Park was very nice; however, very damp. It is how I imagine camping in parts of Vancouver Island.

Within minutes of leaving Edmunston we were in Quèbec and immediately gained an hour. Zach commented, “see how early it is?” After crossing the provincial boundary we took the first exit because it had a Tim Horton’s, a gas station, and a Quèbec information centre, and I was ready for a coffee.

We didn’t need gas because, I took the advice of Tim who said fill up before you enter Quèbec as the prices are higher there. He was correct. I parked beside the big rigs and we all headed towards Timmy’s. Connie and Zach went ahead and I brought up the rear. It wasn’t long before I was distracted by something and before you know it, they had disappeared from site.

As I walked along, I must have appeared lost because a grey haired gentleman (I’m chuckling right now because how long before I’m referred to as one of these) spoke to me in French. I had no idea what he said but responded with “Tim Hortons?” Using his thumb, he pointed towards the door behind him. I said “thanks” and he asked me where I was from. I said “BC”. He looked at me as if to say “and where in BC?” So I said “Kelowna”. He smiled and said, “I lived there for 32 years. I had a beautiful house with a 360 degree view of the lake (I’m thinking the only place like that is Rattlesnake Island but anyway) and I lost it all in the divorce”. I responded “Ah that’s too bad” and asked him where he lived now. He responded, “here”. Now trust me here is Dèjelis not anything close to being of Okanagan quality. He then smiled and said “well the roof doesn’t leak and the fridge is full”. I gave him a great big grin and said, “I like that!” How true it is, having things doesn’t bring happiness. More often than not it brings headaches.

With our Timmy’s in hand, we got back on the road and headed towards Rivière du-Loup. You may recall this is the birthplace of Connie’s grandfather (on her mom’s side) Lindsay. We decided to drive through the downtown, so she could see the place. Well the downtown streets were extremely narrow and this week they were doing road work (oh yes, remember Bernie, he was full of it – there was all kinds of roadwork in Quèbec today). Anyway the most special part of the road work in Rivière du-Loup was the 1 metre mounds of gravel placed every 10 metres or so. These were used to cover the temporary water pipes. Now imagine towing a trailer through streets barely wide enough for one vehicle let alone two and then driving over these massive speed bumps, praying that the trailer wouldn’t bottom out. To add insult to injury, several of the streets in River du-Loup are about an 8 percent grade. Slowly but surely we were able to turn around and make our way back to the TransCanada.

The rest of the trip was uneventful. After stopping for gas east of Quèbec City, we noticed the temperature was significantly warmer. The sun was shining and after our many days of cool damp weather, we decided to make the best of it and turn off the a/c and open up the windows. Zach slid into the driver’s seat, which was a huge treat for me. I sat in the back seat and enjoyed being a passenger. I snapped a few photos with my camera, read a few on-line articles but I won’t admit to checking a few work emails.

Zach drove all the way into Montreal, so I had the pleasure of enjoying the bumpy roads from the back seat. Honestly, whoever paved these roads should (I won’t say what I want to say) be required to drive on them in a car with no shocks or springs – this would be mild punishment.

The campsite is about 30 minutes outside of the downtown core in Saint Philippe. After setting up camp, I headed out to get a few supplies from Canadian Tire and find a car wash. I was successful in the former but not the latter. After Google and Apple Maps steered me wrong, I thought I’d stop for gas and ask a local if there was a place to wash one’s car. She said “No. There is no place to wash a car”. I gave up and returned to the campsite.

Upon my return I decided to sit down and enjoy a PEI blueberry ale wheat beer. On a hot day it was most enjoyable. Now I wasn’t certain I wanted to share what happened next but in hindsight it is pretty funny.

Being a man in his mid fifties I am equipped with a personal hair trimmer. You know the kind that prevents one from having hair protruding from ones ears and nose. I just happened to purchase the deluxe model, which comes with an eye brow attachment. After being on the road for over two weeks I decided to give mine a trim. I normally do this in front of a mirror but today I thought I’ll just take it outside and give it a go.

All seemed to be going well. In fact a bit too well. I thought to myself wow these brows are bushier than I thought. I could hear the trimmer really digging in. For some reason I pulled it back and noticed the guard had fallen off. My response was to shout out oh shoot! Zach called out what’s wrong? I said I think I just shaved my eyebrows off. Needless to say he and Connie who had just arrived from the laundry room began to laugh hysterically…to the point of tears.

Fortunately, it isn’t too noticeable with my glasses on but I’m pretty certain I will never live this one down.

Tomorrow we are off to the Montreal Jazz Festival. Zach is meeting his friend David there for lunch and Connie and I will visit old Montreal.