We’re off again. This time the plan is to get to California and then head North into the Sierra Nevada mountains before turning West to the Pacific coast and continuing North into Canada. The final leg will bring us back across the continent through the Northern states before again returning to Canada at Sault-Ste-Marie.
The van is packed and we’re on the road shortly after 10am. The weather forecast was for rain turning into snow later in the day, we are hoping to arrive in Southern Ontario before the temperature gets cold enough for snow to form.
The drive along Highway 401 started dry but before long the rain began and intensified significantly. By the time we arrived in Toronto, it was difficult to see more than a few vehicles ahead. Road spray did not help with visibility and driving slowed to a crawl.
We arrived at our destination by 5:00pm and settled in for the night. We are visiting family for the next few days and our plan is to cross into the US on Saturday, this will be our next post.
Looking forward to having everyone follow us again on our adventures via this blog.
It’s been a while since my last post in June. Since that time we enjoyed Summer at home while taking a couple of shorter trips with the van to local camping spots along the St. Lawrence River and Provincial Parks. We also headed to Southern Ontario on a roadtrip in September that included a week in Prince Edward County enjoying the beach and the local wineries and restaurants the county has to offer. We also visited the Kawartha region before heading to Georgian bay to visit family. Our three weeks ended with some driveway camping visiting family before we came home.
As you can see from the picture above, the van is now nicely tucked away for the impending Winter having had a service and all waterlines drained & winterized. This shelter has kept the van safe for the past two Winters and I hope that it will get us through another as the roof is starting to become quite worn from exposure to the sun. Fingers-crossed!
It’s been a great year of camping that started early in March and ran until late September. We are already making plans for 2024 so stop by again to see what we have planned and to catch-up with our travels.
It wasn’t supposed to be a long day but it turned out to be the longest of this trip. Here’s how it all came to be.
The day started with us enjoying a slow start to the day. We had a light breakfast and then went to the beach expecting to see the tide in but it was out again exposing a long stretch of beautiful beach sand. The pictures below are taken 15min apart and show the influx of elementary school children on the beach enjoying what we assume was an end-of-school outing.
New River Beach Provincial Park, NB
We left the campground at 10:30am and headed West towards St. Stephen where we turned North towards Fredericton. The pictures below show some of the backwoods beauty of this province.
After joining Hwy 2 and driving North for a few minutes, we decided to leave the highway and drive along the side of the Saint John River on the old highway. This led us to seeing a black bear cub as he climbed over the guardrail towards the road in front of us. Yikes! 😳 Brake hard, he sees us & returns to the safety of the trees. Phew. No pictures as it was all over in a second. We stopped in Meductic and ate lunch in the van overlooking the river.
Saint John River
Shortly after lunch we stopped in Hartland to look at the worlds longest covered wooden bridge. It was closed for construction and as no traffic was able to cross it gave me an excellent chance to view the inside of the bridge by standing in the roadway.
Hartland Covered Bridge, Hartland, NB
Just North of Hartland we passed a more modern crossing of the river and then we rejoined Hwy 2 towards Edmundston, NB.
Saint John River crossing, Perth-Andover, NB
We pulled into the Grey Rock Casino in Edmundston at about 3:30pm. We were supposed to end our day here and camp out in the parking lot for the night but decided that it was too early to stop and so just picked up a cup of coffee and rejoined the highway.
Our initial thought was to return to the campground in Rivière-du-Loup; however, as it was only 90min North and we were going to cross back into Eastern time, we would arrive at 4:00pm EDT so we looked towards Levis and found a Craft brewery near St. Pascal that welcomes campers. New destination entered into the GPS.
It was a short while later that I realized that rather than stop just to sleep and then continue, why not simply continue? Home was only 7hrs away. We stopped in Levis for fuel and then continued to Drummondville where we stopped at a rest stop and had a quick meal in the van. Still feeling awake and energetic, we continued onwards towards Montreal where we left autoroute 20 and joined autoroute 30 which would take us around the south shore of Montreal. Below are a few picture of the sunset that we saw shortly before Montreal.
By the time we get around Montreal and cross the St. Lawrence River we were just 90min from home. We turned West onto autoroute 20 towards Cornwall, ON. After Cornwall we continued to Hwy31 where we turned North towards Winchester. At this point we were almost home and would arrive by 11:30pm. It turned out to be a 12 hour day with time taken out for stops and eating. In all I figured we drove for about 10 hours in which time we left the Bay of Fundy and returned to Eastern Ontario. A distance of about 1100km.
This concludes our East Coast Tour for this year. We have places we want to go back to as well as places yet to visit, as such we will make the drive again, when? We’re not sure yet, maybe a year or so.
Today I celebrate the completion of 60 trips around the sun. I get to spend it near and on the ocean. This day will be epic.
We complete our morning routines and prepare the campervan for a day of travel and head out shortly after 10:00am. Our first stop is at the local fish market where Barb picks up a bag of frozen Digby scallops and haddock to take home. Then a short drive along Water St to the Admiral Digby Museum which is across the street from the Digby Baptist Church.
The baptist church sits on the site of a home once owned by one of Barb’s ancestors, William McDormand Jr. After his death in 1806, his 2nd wife opened their home to host baptist congregations. Eventually the hose was replaced by the church.
Digby Baptist Church
A guide within the museum showed us about their collection and then took to their genealogy archive where we spoke for a time with the archivist about the McDormand’s as they arrived in this area in 1761. There are now descendants across North America. We need to complete more research in Ontario in order to definitively link Barb’s ancestor, John Dorman to one of the McDormand family’s in Nova Scotia. Another reason to return to this area.
After getting a few groceries and filling the vans fuel tank we had time to take a short drive to Gulliver’s Bay (Hole). A small bay just a few miles West of Digby, it was here that the McDormand families first settled in Nova Scotia after coming North from New England.
Gulliver’s Bay, NS
After enjoying a quiet lunch in the van and doing a little reading, it was time to head toward our ferry. However, first a quick detour to Prim’s Point lighthouse that guards the entrance to the Annapolis Basin from the Bay of Fundy.
Prim’s Point, Digby, NS
After walking about Prim’s Point it was now time to head to the ferry that would take us across the Bay of Fundy to Saint John, NB.
Digby Ferry Terminal
We arrived at the terminal about 1 1/2hrs before departure (they asked for 1 hr) and boarding began at 3:00pm. The ferry departed at 3:55pm, 5min ahead of schedule. In just a few minutes the ferry had turned to face across the Bay of Fundy and we were out of the Annapolis Basin and on our way.
Views astern and of Prim’s Point lighthouse
We began by enjoying a little time on deck in the sunshine and took a few pictures (above and below).
As the ferry crossing would take about 2 1/2hrs, we decided to grab a light dinner onboard. Barb ordered fish & chips and I had a burger & fries. Whilst ordering I happened to mention to the staff serving us that it was my 60th birthday. This resulted in them singing “Happy Birthday” to me and then adding a piece of free mud pie dessert to my tray when they delivered it to our table!!!
After enjoying our meals we settled into one of the very comfortable lounges onboard and did some reading to wile away the time. Shortly after 6:00pm we pulled into Saint John harbour and drove ashore.
Saint John, NB
We headed West out of Saint John to our overnight destination, New River Beach Provincial Park. It was only about a 30min drive from the ferry and appears to be very quiet amongst the trees a short distance from the waters edge.
New River Beach Provincial Park
After setting up for the night, Barb wandered off to the beach while I wrote this post in the van. Here are the pictures Barb took before being chased from the beach by black flies.
Tomorrow we head North in New Brunswick, come back to see what we discover.
