A Few Piculiar Things Happened Today... September 27, 2012

Life outside our trailer window this morning looked nippy, and looks were not deceiving!  For the first time this trip I woke to don my jeans, socks AND runners!  My peeps at BFM/BKM always know I have succumbed to fall when I arrive at work without my sandals.  Since I am not there to remind each of you today, I am here to advise Fall has definitely caught up with us!

I woke as usual, much earlier than Ken.  This gave me some time to work on Blogspot to try and rectify the technical difficulties we were experiencing yesterday.  With success at the door, I was please to post our exciting adventure from Wednesday.  What a rush that was!  We laughed so hard at times my cheeks hurt!  The whales were truly exciting, but the adventure on the tall ship definitely gave the whales a run for their money!  I also wanted to point out, for those of you who may wish to discredit the pictures I posted…its hard taking pictures of such unpredictable moments!  The Finbacks may be large, and may in deed be slow, but to the mind’s eye, capturing them on camera was HUGE – even though some of you may think the image was a floating tire in the middle of a rough lake!!  THAT was the real McCoy!!  If you don’t believe us, then come on out and see for yourself!

Look to the bottom of the gorge
for the white water line.

Grand Falls was pretty Grand the first time through.  Now more relaxed, with a bit of

time on our hands, Grand Falls was pretty spectacular even the second time viewing it!  We managed to capture the falls from a few different angles than the first visit back 3+ weeks ago.  When we popped into this visitor’s centre this morning, we learned the slowed water fall was not as much to blame on the folks working on the dam as much as the very dry summer they experienced.  The staff person at the office pointed out to us the rocks at the very bottom of the gorge displaying the white water marks was actually an interesting measuring tool to those familiar with the gorge.  Apparently these rocks were indicating a water level so low, the rock faces we were now observing have actually never been exposed to daylight in known history of this gorge.  How lucky for us…kind of!  To be honest, both Ken and I were hoping the dam workers would be gone, and Hurricane Lesley in addition to the torrential rains we experienced while in PEI would have had some effect on the waterfall so we could be more “wowed” the second time around.  We were still wowed, as it truly is an amazing site, but it would have been pretty awesome to see the “regular” falls most visitors are use to see here.  Next time I guess…

In our minds, two “reportable instances” happened to us before we left Grand Falls;

1)      Casper got a car wash.  Now this may not be the highlight we were looking for on the trip, but the strangest thing happened!  We paid and proceeded toward what looked like a “normal” car wash.  The bay looked a bit run down and perhaps a little on the small side, but the sign read, “touch-free” wash.  When we entered, this young man proceeded to scrub Caper down with a power washer and brush!!  After a thorough personalized scrub, only then the automated system kicked in.  Not sure why this personal wash occurred, but we were killing ourselves laughing as this poor guy who took such care in making Casper sparkle.  Regardless, Casper no longer has the PEI red sand on her, and pictures through the front window should present clearer picture possibilities as we drive through the valleys today.

2)      We went to the local Tim Horton’s to use their WiFi to post the blog of the night before.  We have chosen to post a picture of Myles again.  As you can see the surgery was not successful, but he has started to accept moose do loose their antlers.  He is asking for new antlers for Christmas though, if anyone is doing their shopping early! ANYWAYS, besides the connection being PAINFULLY slow, posting the article took about an hour longer than it should have, we really wanted to comment on this experience.  As you are aware, Ken and I have been trying to sign off on each blog post with some sort of saying the locals, wherever we may be at the time, would use themselves.  We thought it would be cool if we signed off to you in French, as Grand Falls is predominately French, although not as much so as where we are this evening - but still very French.  When I went to the counter to ask for someone to write down something that would resemble our usual “Chat again soon” sign off, the staff were very helpful and obliging, but even more so was the kind gentleman standing innocently in line behind me hoping for an afternoon java.  He not only offered his assistance, but left Tim Horton’s, then came back to help add a more local sense of flare – and he typed it directly into our message so I could be sure it was right!  After this, once we made it to our camping spot for the evening, we discovered an email through the blog wishing us safe travels.  To us, he is only known to us as “The French Guy at Tim Horton’s”, but we really wanted to thank him for his kindness and assistance.  He is a true example of the kind of folks we have been witness to along our journey.  He has our promise to make sure we pay his kindness forward numerous times in the immediate future.  Thank you French Guy!  We wish we had your name. Please know the remainder of references to you within our posts is intended as compliments!

After leaving Grand Falls, it was a beautiful day for a drive.  Clear, sunny, with high clouds, and the ability to see for miles.  Driving on such a clear day, we could really witness the changing landscape as we motored along.  The Trans Canada to the Quebec boarder was predictably smooth sailing, although the high winds were a bit nerve racking, especially when the large transports passed us.  They kick up such tail winds which not only try to suck the truck and trailer in as it passes, but continues to do so until you are able to get out of its draft or wake.  The winds were fairly high again today and we were meeting them head on until we reached the Quebec Boarder and only then they eased a bit.

The landscape changed again as we approached the Appalaches Region nearing the Quebec area.  We travelled on the south shore across highway 20.  The drive was rather flat, with a spectacular view of the St. Lawrence between us and the Appalaches Mountains.  The colour only added to the already established eye candy we were experiencing.  Once again, I could never tire of this view.

Even with a very entertaining and eye appealing view, I began to get a little edgy and needed the drive to be over by about 4:00 pm.  With the time change of gaining the hour back we lost when we crossed the New Brunswick boarder several weeks ago, we had been travelling for about 5 hours. Even though I started the drive out, I sadly did not last long.  I have been really tired as of late, unable to sleep longer than a couple of hours at a time at night.  Seems I am up late and rising early in the morning.  I fear what the time change may do to me tomorrow morning!  As a result of my tiredness, Ken took the brunt of most of the drive again today.  We slowed for very little and drove until I insisted we pull off.  I had had enough driving for one day.  No offense intended “French Guy” from Tim Horton’s, but I am pretty sure Ken would have driven to Ontario if he could have, just avoid stopping anywhere French was the first language.  I completely understand, it’s really hard and a bit of a worry when you are illiterate to the signage and the general, every day need to speak the native tongue of wherever you are.  Having said this though, please do not misunderstand, because everyone we have met while travelling has been very accommodating to our language challenge.  But in the car at about 4:30, I was pretty much developing my own language for Ken!  Where were you “French Guy” from Tim Horton’s when we stopped for the night in Montmagny? 

“Serge” from the Montmagny Visitor’s Centre was AWESOME with us.  He apologized to US for his limited English vocabulary – what the heck??  We were in his backyard – he didn’t need to apologize to us!!  Meanwhile, I just wanted to leap over the counter and hug him for his effort – he was doing great and I understood him completely!  When we arrived at the Pointe-aux-Oies Camping, the front office ladies were also awesome, but let’s face it, it was past 5:00 and time for them to go home.  Deciphering English wasn’t really their problem.  After all, they knew where the washroom facilities were, how to link to the free Wi-Fi and which way we go to observe the sunset and mountains.  That experience was nothing in comparison to us standing in line to replenish a few grocery items!  I was in line first to tackle whatever might come our way.  My plan was to just watch the screen, nod at the appropriate times, then pay the amount the screen said.  I was prepared to say “Oui, un sac s’il vous plait” or the easiest escape ever, “Parle English s’il vous plait?”  But I was distracted by the guy behind Ken in the check out line who seemed to be having a conversation with Ken!  Ken was the deer in headlights, the guy was having a great conversation with himself.  The only thing is, I don’t think he quite knew it was a one sided conversation!  From this experience, what did we learn?  When we get home, we will be expressing our DEEPEST insistence to our nieces and nephews, if it’s not too late, to LEARN French and pay attention!!!  There won’t always be a “Tim Horton’s French Guy” in your travels!

The campground here is a real gem.  Yet another great view, with the St. Lawrence River and Appalaches Region view right down the path from us, with very clean facilities and well manicured grounds.  The down fall is the number of trains that seem to pass by in the distance and the grounds are VERY lit with street lights which pour into every window we have on the TC.  I doubt any of this will really matter (I hope), as I am once again quite tired tonight.  Bed is not far from the moment I finish this post. 

We still have 2 nights and 3 days left to travel.  From our current vantage point it leaves a bit of room to not feel as though we have to race back.  We can afford now to limit drives to 4-5 hours total, with leisurely stops to see sites along the way.  This is much better than the predicted 7-9 hour drive days which we were originally looking at.  We aren’t sure how our first 13 hour day of travel 25 days ago was handled quite as well.  I guess then it was adrenaline pushing us.  Now, we are far too relaxed to be motivated by this, especially when the memories are acting at humungous magnets, pulling us back to the tidal shores of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.  There are too many miles between us to go back, so we forge forward as best we can. We are homeward bound.

Merci, mon amie!

Until we chat again!

Cheers,

Ken & Tricia