Canada 150 Cross Country

[Leisure Lee]

Hi Ron: enjoy your trip report. We were at "gooch" exactly two years ago and couldn't believe the miles of deserted sand beach. There were also people digging for clams in the protected bays and inlets during low tide. All the talk of seafood makes me want to return.
I also recall a few mosquitos in the trees! Park staff recommended a hand held bug zapper that works pretty good!
What a great way to celebrate Canada's 150!

Jim

[rbryan4]

A beautiful country, and a beautiful trip. Have really enjoyed reading about your journey so far Ron.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[Jim Bennett]

Enjoying and learning from this thread, Ron. I will be doing a similar trip in the not too distant future.

[Ron in BC]

What a paradise, except for the mosquitoes , for hiking, biking and kayaking.

Love the miles of shallow water sheltered by the offshore sand dunes and the estuaries that go inland for miles and miles. Wish that I'd brought my sail for my kayak, nice breeze and flat water, perfect.

I still feel a tiny bit guilty using the power assist setting on my bike, but only a little bit because we are covering so much more area than we would without. I'm starting to trust that the range is as good as advertised. At first I was hesitant to use it on the "away" part of an outing figuring that it might go flat and then I'd have to pedal back further than I'd planned. But that's never happened and we're satisfied that while folding bikes are a bit of a compromise, these ones are perfect for our needs.

OK, that's the kayaking and biking done for the day. After dinner it's a hike out to an offshore sand dune via a boardwalk.

So far so good, the original goal was to be back in Ottawa for the July 1st celebrations. We're a bit undecided it we want to brave the crowds etc. and we did have a great visit there on the way here. We'll have to flip a coin.

Ron

[gbaglo]

Where exactly are you now?

[Patandlinda]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

What a paradise, except for the mosquitoes , for hiking, biking and kayaking.

Love the miles of shallow water sheltered by the offshore sand dunes and the estuaries that go inland for miles and miles. Wish that I'd brought my sail for my kayak, nice breeze and flat water, perfect.

I still feel a tiny bit guilty using the power assist setting on my bike, but only a little bit because we are covering so much more area than we would without. I'm starting to trust that the range is as good as advertised. At first I was hesitant to use it on the "away" part of an outing figuring that it might go flat and then I'd have to pedal back further than I'd planned. But that's never happened and we're satisfied that while folding bikes are a bit of a compromise, these ones are perfect for our needs.

OK, that's the kayaking and biking done for the day. After dinner it's a hike out to an offshore sand dune via a boardwalk.

So far so good, the original goal was to be back in Ottawa for the July 1st celebrations. We're a bit undecided it we want to brave the crowds etc. and we did have a great visit there on the way here. We'll have to flip a coin.

Ron

Hi Ron ! Sounds like a great trip ! Lots of pictures of Ottawa ! Be safe ! Pat

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

We're a bit undecided it we want to brave the crowds etc. and we did have a great visit there on the way here. We'll have to flip a coin.

Ron

Is you do, say hi to my brother and family who flew in on Friday.

[Ron in BC]

To badly paraphrase Myron's quote, "a few thousand miles here and a few thousand miles there, and before you know it it's time for an oil change" For the time in my life I actually went to Canadian Tire and got an oil change. Thought the better of doing it myself.

This is a good test of the Jefa tec wi-fi booster. In a Walmart tonight. Signals were very weak or non-existent. With the booster I have several to choose from, all usable, even the Canadian Tire on a couple of hundred yards away.

Glenn, the park was Kouchibouguac National Park, gotta use that free park pass.

Tonight we're in Cambellton, NB. Tomorrow we'll drive across the bridge and be on the Gaspe peninsula in Quebec.

Walmart isn't as scenic as the Gooch but no mosquitoes.

Ron

[Patandlinda]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

To badly paraphrase Myron's quote, "a few thousand miles here and a few thousand miles there, and before you know it it's time for an oil change" For the time in my life I actually went to Canadian Tire and got an oil change. Thought the better of doing it myself.

This is a good test of the Jefa tec wi-fi booster. In a Walmart tonight. Signals were very weak or non-existent. With the booster I have several to choose from, all usable, even the Canadian Tire on a couple of hundred yards away.

Glenn, the park was Kouchibouguac National Park, gotta use that free park pass.

Tonight we're in Cambellton, NB. Tomorrow we'll drive across the bridge and be on the Gaspe peninsula in Quebec.

Walmart isn't as scenic as the Gooch but no mosquitoes.

Ron

Hi Ron ! Pat

[Ron in BC]

Ah, some days on the road you just don't where you'll end up.

We went over the spine of the Gaspe to the St. Laurence River. I'd expected to climb up and over some sort of mountains. It was a nice surprise that the highway followed a river through a valley and it was a scenic, easy route. Along the way there were some great areas beside the river that we were tempted to stay at. But you'll never get anywhere doing that.

Came out to the St. Lawrence east of Rimouski and followed a secondary road right at the river's edge. Also very scenic. Found a great restaurant for lunch. 3 course lunch at a fixed price. Super deal and they must have a real chef, not a short order cook. Nice surprise, a cut above our usual fare.

Headed to a Quebec provincial park at Bic. Fairly easy day. Went to check in and they asked if we had a dog! Never been asked that before. So we said yes and they said dogs aren't allowed in Quebec parks! We decided not to make an issue of it and just move on. No dogs, really Cats, I could understand.

So on to Riviere-du-Loup Walmart. 2 Walmarts in 2 days and maybe #3 in Quebec City tomorrow. I can't believe how many RV's are here. I've only seen more RV's at a Walmart in Whitehorse. But it's all good, nice location and convenient to a local waterfall we want to see. So not what we planned but that's the way it is sometimes.

Ron

[Patandlinda]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

Ah, some days on the road you just don't where you'll end up.

We went over the spine of the Gaspe to the St. Laurence River. I'd expected to climb up and over some sort of mountains. It was a nice surprise that the highway followed a river through a valley and it was a scenic, easy route. Along the way there were some great areas beside the river that we were tempted to stay at. But you'll never get anywhere doing that.

Came out to the St. Lawrence east of Rimouski and followed a secondary road right at the river's edge. Also very scenic. Found a great restaurant for lunch. 3 course lunch at a fixed price. Super deal and they must have a real chef, not a short order cook. Nice surprise, a cut above our usual fare.

Headed to a Quebec provincial park at Bic. Fairly easy day. Went to check in and they asked if we had a dog! Never been asked that before. So we said yes and they said dogs aren't allowed in Quebec parks! We decided not to make an issue of it and just move on. No dogs, really Cats, I could understand.

So on to Riviere-du-Loup Walmart. 2 Walmarts in 2 days and maybe #3 in Quebec City tomorrow. I can't believe how many RV's are here. I've only seen more RV's at a Walmart in Whitehorse. But it's all good, nice location and convenient to a local waterfall we want to see. So not what we planned but that's the way it is sometimes.

Ron

Hi Ron . Wow what have they against dogs ? Sometimes better behaved then kids ! Pat

[float5]

Originally Posted by Patandlinda

Hi Ron . Wow what have they against dogs ? Sometimes better behaved then kids ! Pat

Nuisance owners who do not properly take care of their dogs.

I have sometimes noticed that families with well-behaved children are the ones with the well-behaved dogs.

[Patandlinda]

Originally Posted by float5

Nuisance owners who do not properly take care of their dogs.

I have sometimes noticed that families with well-behaved children are the ones with the well-behaved dogs.

I don't know Cathy , I could never recognize my kids , they were so pleasant and well behaved for everyone else, but at home , oh my Lord . Try having 5 girls . The dogs are far easier , especially the 2 boys . Hanna , well she thinks she is the boss . Pat

[Ron in BC]

OK, we've just set a personal record, 3 Walmarts in 3 nights. I think that I'm going to have to change my user name to Wally.

But this one, just across the St. Lawrence from Quebec City, positions us perfectly for tomorrows activities. We'll get to a campground north of the city, leave the trailer and then go in and visit the old city. We were there a few years ago for winter carnival but it was dark and snowy so it will be nice to see it in daylight.

Spent the day driving along the south shore, taking secondary roads and seeing historic sights. We've enjoyed seeing rural Quebec and know the density really increases from here on.

Ron

[Patandlinda]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

OK, we've just set a personal record, 3 Walmarts in 3 nights. I think that I'm going to have to change my user name to Wally.

But this one, just across the St. Lawrence from Quebec City, positions us perfectly for tomorrows activities. We'll get to a campground north of the city, leave the trailer and then go in and visit the old city. We were there a few years ago for winter carnival but it was dark and snowy so it will be nice to see it in daylight.

Spent the day driving along the south shore, taking secondary roads and seeing historic sights. We've enjoyed seeing rural Quebec and know the density really increases from here on.

Ron

Hi Ron ! Pat

[Ron in BC]

We changed our plans when we found there was RV parking near the old town at a marina. Went there, $50 for up to 6 hours. No thanks. Found and paid for 2 spots on the street right by the old city. Perfect visit to the old city. Nice to see it in a different season without the cold and snow.

Up the road aways and stopped at a historic site, oldest iron works in North America. Very interesting. There was a quote from "A tale of two cities", it was the best of times......" Little did I know before the day was out we were going to live that quote.

At the end of the day, having made quite a few miles, almost to Montreal, we stopped at an RV park and a terrible accident happened. Our little rescue chihuahua took a nasty fall. It was immediately obvious that her front leg was broken. Found a vet. "No appoinntment, too busy to look at her". This with the dog screaming in agony and her paw hanging down. They gave us 2 other names and addresses. Spent 45 minutes driving around looking for apparently non-existent vets. Went back. Language was an issue. We started to plead for them to look at her as it was near the end of the day and the thought of her having to spend the night in that condition was too horrible to think about. Other clients in the waiting room joined in in French and they relented.

French speaking only vet looked at her and his assistant said they would take xrays. She returned and had the xrays on an ipad. Her english wasn't good but she said words like "abnormal structure", "bone cancer" and to take her for radiology in Montreal. The vet never showed up again. We managed to get pain killers but the assistant said no splint, no cast because it wouldn't do any good, she wouldn't be able to walk on it again.

Spent a sleepless night figuring out how to a least splint it if we couldn't find a vet in the morning. Next morning we drove past Montreal into Ontario below Ottawa. Thought speaking english they might be more agreable to seeing her even if she didn't have an appointment. 3 vets said no. We'd almost given up as the next day was Canada Day and everything would be closed. Phoned one last vet and the receptionist said that he was out operating on a cow but would return if we could wait 20 minutes. He returned, looked at the xrays that I had gotten a copy of on a CD. His comments aren't printable about what the Quebec vet said. He could show us the area with much more clarity and explain the situation. Wham bamm, injection, cast on and we were on our way in less than an hour. Gertie is now able to hobble around and she's getting back to her what is her new normal for the next 6 weeks.

The Quebec vet is lucky that he doesn't live in BC, I'd go after his license with a vengeance.

To be continued

Ron

[MyronL]

Damn, Ron. Damn!! Happy for you and Gertie, after that awful trauma, that at the very least, there's some kind of "new normal" for Gertie.

[Brian B-P]

Ron, sorry to hear about your problems with vets. I would expect to find 24-hour emergency vet clinics in any major city, and there are some in the Montreal area; it can take a while to get treatment (just as in a hospital emergency department), but they are available either when regular vets are closed, or all the time (varies by clinic).

If anyone is in the Edmonton area and needs a vet, contact me by e-mail - I'll have recommendations, and there will be at least one available.

[escape artist]

Hi: Ron in BC... You must have run into some Quebecois on your trip through. They are why we travel through the US to the East coast. My late father used to say "The French can't remember their history and the English can't forget theirs".
Glad you finally got it sorted!!! Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[Jim Bennett]

Go Gertie!

Glad to hear you were persistent and got her all mended. Poor little.