On the Road: Orange construction cones and all

Early on, we learned the importance of reading the directions in their entirety, as provided by Google Maps. That is not to say that we have improved. And speaking from the future in editing mode, you will see this as a common thread throughout our adventures. 😅

After the nail biting experience of leaving our 41’ foot “home” parked on our residential Montreal street in front of our actual brick and mortar home for a week, it was time to hit the road.

Tyrrell had a plan to get us out of town in a relatively painless fashion, but Google Maps had other plans. Assuming that Lady Google knows best, we scrapped Tyrrell’s plan and committed whole heartedly to her route, where we turned right on to Cote St Luc Rd, and sat there for an hour due to construction. A final “middle finger” from Montreal. Following that, our navigator had us driving through every possible burrough in the city. Definitely a few times I had to stick my hand out of the passenger window to get the people around us to stop, or go, or move. Tyrrell, as always, with ice water running through his veins, navigated all of this and only hit a few orange cones. Finally, we crossed the bridge and were on our way. Our 45 minute drive to Mont St. Hilaire took more like 2 hours. However, eventually, we made it to our first campsite!

Our first night was nice and easy, and we got to spend it with our friends for an official send off. They kindly cooked, provided wine, and even brought dishes so we wouldn't have to clean up. It was a welcome surprise and much appreciated. Olivia also got to show one of her besties her new loft, which she's been talking about for months and one big reason this was our first stop. Needless to say it was sad to say goodbye, but it was one of many moments we actually hope for on this journey as we make our way to spend time with as many of the people we love as we can.

From there it was off to Rimouski where we had a pretty good view (thank goodness for the 4-wheel drive pulling us up the gravel road to our site.) Having never been there, Rimouski was really only a stopover on our otherwise long drive to Percé. However, it was a lovely stop. We walked the steep hills a few times and stumbled upon a beautiful spot along the St. Lawrence where Barkley got to let loose in the water. This is where our (ongoing) search for cool rocks and beach glass began.

Next stop, Percé. And this is where we made our trademark mistake yet again. Instead of a lovely (and only slightly longer) coastal drive, we were faced a hair raising adventure on bad roads (apparently an epidemic in all of Quebec, not just Montreal), steep hills up, steep hills down, no breaks, no gas stations (or even people in other cars) and pot holes the size of our RV. One silver lining as that we really got to see what our big truck can do. And this drive was no problem for her. I, on the other hand, had sweaty palms the whole time.

At the end of our adventurous day we arrived in Percé, in the Gaspé Region. After a tricky parking situation was conquered by Tyrrell (and my moral support, of course 😂), Percé did not disappoint. We loved the Quebec-maritime feel. Once we adapted to the winds (which truly never stopped blowing the whole time we were there), we really enjoyed exploring, playing at the park, climbing the lookout point, some outdoor road schooling and wandering on the beach. It is amazing how much time flies when just scouring the beach for cool things. The weather was amazing and sunny. I am told Percé is a beautiful place to be for the fall foliage, which we were just ahead of. The region is also known for whale watching. Definitely one to add to your travel list.

Sadly, we had to alter our plans slightly to have work done on the rig (nothing major), and had to leave Percé a day early. However, in doing so, we happened upon a wonderful place called Carleton-sur-mer. We only stayed there one stormy night, but when we did get out to explore, it was beautiful. Apparently people come every year to this RV park, and book their spots for the following year as they leave. Busy spot. But wide open for us during the off-season, which was nice.

Carleton-sur-mer was our last stop in Quebec prior to arriving in New Brunswick, where we were going to spend over a month catching up with Tyrrell’s family… And we arrived just in time for mandatory covid-related registrations and declared states of emergency…

This being our first leg of the journey, we learned a few things, which I will keep short for now, knowing that we will probably do a whole blog post on the things we have been learning on this journey (it will be around 350 pages long, get your coffee and snacks ready!)

1. Google Maps offers the quickest route, not always the most comfortable route, and certainly not the most rig friendly route. Read the directions through prior to leaving. Or, in our case, make the same mistake over and over and take the truck and rig on all sorts of crazy roads.

2. These were some long drive days. We have always been into long road trips and adventures, and also used to driving a long way to see our families. Miss Olivia even went on her first road trip at 6 weeks old, as we drove from Mississauga, to the Florida Keys. HOWEVER, everything is longer, more challenging and more fatiguing pulling your house behind you.

3. The balance is tough. Mostly for Tyrrell. It is frustrating to be in these cool places, that you drove all this way to see, and then to be working all day. And the fall brings sunset so much earlier on, reducing how much can be done after the 9-5 grind. Olivia and I try to stay busy, but not to do too much sightseeing touristy stuff, as we want to do it as a family. But then we miss out on seeing things, because there just isn’t enough time in the day.

All just growing pains to go through as we get more established on this journey.

Thanks for checking in!

xo Laura, Tyrrell, Olivia and Barkley