Day 8 - Canadian Maritimes - Tires and Ferry - Sainte-Sophie to Sorel-Tracy

Waking up in Sainte-Sophie, we were on a mission to get the new tires for the cargo trailer as soon as possible. The nearest Canadian Tire was about 15 miles away in Saint Jerome.  For some reason, our GPS wanted us to take back roads instead of the main highways. We weren't sure why? But we decided to do it anyhow. Later we'll figure out why... Lol!

We got to the Canadian Tire store and out of the eight clerks, only one spoke any English to really help us. Using our translator app on the phone we were able to connect and make ourselves understood. One cute young girl behind the counter is trying to learn English from a book. It was kind of fun trying to interact and figure out what we were doing and who to talk to and what to get. She finally came out of the back storeroom with the exact tires that we needed. With a big smile, I might add! 

We checked the date codes, and yes they were both fresh new tires. Then we went over to the service counter where the gentleman explained that they did not have the time to take our wheels and rims off our trailer to swap over the tires. But if Steve could take them off himself, they would have the time to actually remove our old tires from the rims, put on the new ones, and balance them too. Then Steve would have to put them back on the trailer again himself out in the parking lot. That sounded good to us, rather than having to wait sometime in the afternoon or the next day to get them swapped over!

We went out in the parking lot and Steve took off the remaining old tire, with just the spare and a jack holding the cargo trailer in the air for that short span of time.

He went back inside while I waited in the parking lot with Nick in the motorhome. Nothing happened to the cargo trailer while he was gone. We were in a pretty level flat area of the parking lot. 

It didn't take very long at all and he was wheeling his cart back with the two new tires on our own rims. Now he would put the spare back on the front hitch rack and we would be driving on two brand new matched tires.

Quick as a bunny, Steve handled the job of installing the new tires. He had been doing this type of work ever since he was a young teenager. He worked at a gas station in a small town in Door County, Wisconsin. He handled things like tire repairs and small engines, as well as pumping gas and automobile services. Jack of All Trades, I tell you!

The total of two trailer tires cost:

$240.28 CAN

$172.43 US

Then mounting, balancing and

 disposal of the old tires 

$57.49 CAN

$41.25 US

Now for the return trip to the Sainte-Sophie area where we started. OH MY GOSH! By now it was Noon Rush Hour and we tried taking the main roads and arteries to get back to where we started from. It was absolutely madhouse, complicated by construction and multiple detours. We were crawling along in bumper-to-bumper traffic and rerouting ourselves over and over again trying to find ways through city blocks of residential areas. Traffic was snarled up everywhere and now we see why. We should have just taken the backcountry roads behind the Canadian Tire back the way we had come. I think it took over an hour to go 15 miles!!!

Finally we got back to the area we needed to be, and headed further east along the St Lawrence River, trying to stay north of Montreal and bypass it completely. The more we stay out of the big cities, the better. Now if we could just get over the river without having to go up into the city of Quebec??? 

We found the perfect answer, a ferry crossing of the St Lawrence in a tiny town called St Ignace de Loyola to hop on the ferry and cross over to Sorel-Tracy.  It wasn't going to cost much but it was going to save us a lot of grief and traffic snarl up around Quebec. 

We stopped first at a little city park near St Ignace de Loyola and made a little lunch. Then we timed ourselves to hit the ferry mid-afternoon so we wouldn't be in Evening Rush Hour traffic waiting in line. We could see from Google Earth photos in the past of cars lined up waiting to load on. So I think we timed ourselves perfectly...

As we pulled up, they were just loading and we really didn't even have to wait. It didn't cost too much for the motorhome and the cargo trailer:

$31.65 CAN  $22.62 US

We had a choice to get out and walk around on the ferry before we set sail. But once the other vehicles were parked around us tight we wouldn't have been able to get back into the motorhome doors. With Nick on board, we decided to just stay inside of the motor home during the journey across the river.

We could lean forward and take pictures through the windshield, all around. While we were waiting for the boat to take off, it was nice to get settled in and refill our coffee cups for our "cruise". Lol

The ferry gently edged away from shore and we could suddenly feel a buoyancy and movement of the boat. Not a lot because the waters were calm. But we knew we were on our way. 

Here is Captain Steveio of the SS Winnebago View---

I guess that makes me KarenInTheWoods First Mate?

We also happened to find a little stowaway on board. Do you think we should make him walk the plank?

Nawwwww --- he's too stinkin' cute.

This ferry is operated by the Quebec Ferry Corporation. The fees are low because it's an important part of the transportation system. It helps alleviate the congestion in the larger cities by getting people to cross the St Lawrence in more remote areas of the province. 

The flags were fluttering in the wind as we were sailing across the river. This was a really nice way to get around, plus we aren't using any diesel fuel to do so.

Nick soon relaxed on the love seat and we cruised in peaceful comfort. It wasn't a very long cruise across the river, but it was fun.

Steve said it's the only type of cruises we like, not a lot of people and we aren't dipping and swaying out in the ocean.

We disembarked and found our way easily through of the town of Sorel-Tracy. Just east of the town a little bit was a beautiful little city park, in a suburb of the town. It was called Saint Anne de Sorel. Overnight stays were permitted. We found a really cozy spot tucked up next to some hedges near the playground. From here we could watch the big ships go up and down the St Lawrence Seaway.  We got settled in and Steve took out a couple lawn chairs. We took out the grill to make up some dinner because we were secluded between the motorhome and the hedge.

We were listening to four young boys on the other side of the hedge. They really couldn't see us, but we could kind of observe what they were doing. 

They appeared to be between the ages of 6 and 10. They were stretching out their shirts in front of them like a pouch and loading them up with wood chips from the playground surface. They were struggling up the steps of the spiral slide and dumping their loads at the top! The wood chips would then slide down to the bottom and another boy would try to catch them in the front of his shirt. Their shirts were all stretched out and filthy dirty in no time. We kept giggling at them. They were so cute. One young man finally took his shirt off completely. He was loading it full with the biggest loads of wood chips. It took two of them to struggle and haul it in cooperation with each other to the top of the slide. They dumped their load but it just wasn't sliding very well. So they had to sit down and slide. They pushed the pile from behind with their legs spread like a snow plow. Pushing all those wood chips back down to the other two boys who were waiting at the bottom!! It was hilarious, but it was also good to see four young kids having fun instead of sitting home on electronic devices. 

(The next morning, we saw two of them return on their way to the school bus stop. They each had to try and do one more load, even in their school clothes. I bet their mothers were impressed??)

We watched several large ships come up the river. We used our marinetraffic.com website to check on who they were and where they were going. This one was hauling concrete to Toronto.

It was quite nice, relaxing in the shade between the motorhome and the little hedge. It was our own little private patio/park area.  Sometimes, after a long day of tire changing and "cruising", you need to relax...

But one more thing had to be taken care of, Steve took out his Viair portable air compressor pump. The shop had only put in 30 lb of pressure. These tires really need to be at 40, according to the sidewall with the maximum of 60.

He had them both topped off and screwed our Tireminder TPMS sensors back on. Tire pressure monitoring system.  We use those vigilantly on all six tires of the motorhome as well as both tires of the cargo trailer. We can monitor our temperatures and pressures all on an app on my phone as we are driving down the road.

One more thing taken care of, 

 one less bump in the road.

90 miles traveled today 

1,017 miles traveled so far

Day 7 - Canadian Maritimes - Sainte-Sophie and Tire Trouble on Cargo Trailer

We are now one week into our Canadian adventure to the Maritime Provinces. It sure has been fun and we are excited to get further ahead to the East and see the ocean! 

The terrain was very agricultural, and we drove through a lot of pretty countryside. Neat little farm houses and small farms. No mega farms. 

It's funny, but to us this could look like any road in Wisconsin. We kind of laugh about that. But it's good to see how things are the same just as much as how things are different. That's part of expanding our horizons when we travel.

We looked for ways to skirt around the top of Ottawa city so we didn't have to go through the middle of town. We jig-jogged on little roads until we found our way around. If we can avoid the three big cities of Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec, then we will consider ourselves lucky. Our GPS programs always want to take us through the middle of the big cities.

The least big city driving we do, the better. We would rather look at things like this then at billboards and tail lights of other vehicles in front of us.

We made our way to a small community called Sainte-Sophie. They offer a cute little city park right in the middle of their downtown. There is a dump station, free potable water, nice bathrooms with heated hot water! It's a pretty little city park with benches and tables and a pergola and pretty street lights and beautiful flower plantings. They offer seven large RV pull through sights that are wide enough that you can extend your slides if you need to. We were the only ones there.

It was starting to rain so things were a little cloudy. So these pictures are kind of dark.

I cooked up a delicious pan of chicken alfredo, using up the rest of the grilled chicken Steve made that we had in our freezer. It was kind of damp and cool, so it was good to have something warm and home-cooked. Comfort food.

After dinner, Steve was doing our normal "walk around" checking the motor home and checking the cargo trailer. He suddenly noticed something very unusual with one of the cargo trailer tires! 

(They were just fine when we left home, but they are the original tires from when we bought the trailer 3 years ago) 

I'm trying to get out and walk short distances on my sore knee, using straight legs and putting some weight on it. I was just getting back from hobbling around with Nicholas, and Steve had the jack out and was already removing the tire off the cargo trailer.

In no time at all, he had the bad tire off and he had mounted our spare. We had picked up a new spare when we bought the trailer 3 years ago. So we knew that was in good shape.

I am so thankful that Steve has the tools and the ability to change a tire quickly in a parking lot. We do have roadside assistance on our insurance, but that would be a lot of hassle and rigmarole trying to get somebody to come and take care of this for us.

Yep, after closer examination it appears that a belt broke loose within the tire and made it oval shaped. It was wearing severely on some portions of the tread, and really could not be trusted even one more mile. I am so glad that he noticed this condition.

The tire is from 2019, so that's making it 7 years old. It should be replaced anyhow. So it's a good time to do it, and replace the other one as well. It's always best to do them in pairs.

I checked online and the nearest Canadian Tire was about 15 miles away. They actually had 20 of the tires in stock of the exact size of what we needed. So we knew that first thing in the morning, that is where we would be going...

The price of the tires at Canadian Tire, after the exchange rate, will actually be cheaper than if we had bought the ones we were originally looking at in Wisconsin before we left.

Just one more little bump in the road. But easily handled.

156 mi travel today 

927 miles traveled so far

Days 5 & 6 - Canadian Maritimes - Shawville Mill Dam Park and Steve's BEST Bakery

We are finally getting ready to leave the province of Ontario. It's time to go further east and cross into the province of Quebec. We aren't in any hurry, but we want to keep heading east and see things that we've never seen before. We've been through Ontario multiple times. It's time to open our eyes...

We left Deep River after having a really nice peaceful night. These types of places set aside for travelers are really appreciated. Because of the way we are geared up, with plenty of fresh water and holding tanks, our power station and lithium battery, we really don't need the amenities of a campground. Why pay for a site for $30 or $40 or $50 when we really don't need it. Just a safe spot to park that's out of the way is all that we ask.

Plus, we have our Starlink along. That rides up in the skylight as we drive. It works in motion or when parked. That is how I'm working on this blog is we are flying down the road at 80 km an hour. We have it wired up to run off our Bluetti power station.  It doesn't wear down the level of the new lithium battery that runs everything else in the motor home.

The terrain is getting even more beautiful. We're winding our way among rocky cliffs and high hills, deep valleys and rugged rivers. We are really enjoying the scenic changes as we cruise along to the east.

As we were cruising through one valley, following a riverbed, imagine our delight when we came around a corner to see this beautiful covered bridge. I had to quick whip out the cameras fast as I could, and take it from behind over my shoulder. There really wasn't any room to turn around and go back. How pretty is this?

We learned of a little campground sponsored by the small city of Shawville. We read that it had eight electrical/water sites, with a suggested donation of $20 a night. It also had a dump station and freshwater fill up. So we decided to check it out.

How cute is this? I don't think it produced an awful lot of milling, or generated any type of power. But it sure was sweet along the edges of the park. Nearby there were platforms for fishing and a nice little pergola for picnicking.

We pulled on in and it looked really nice level and well kept. It seems that five of the electric sights have been removed and there are only three remaining sites on the far end. It didn't matter though, we were the only ones there!

Now here's where things got a little goofy... We always notify our American Express as well as our credit union that we are traveling out of the country. Then they are able to release our MasterCard brand credit cards and our MasterCard debit card to authorize for out of country travel. We did this on Wednesday when we left. Evidently, something got lost in the process and the gal at our credit union unlocked some of the other accounts we have there, and not our primary ones with the ATM debit card. 

We wanted to go to an ATM and get out some Canadian cash. So far we've been staying at free places, but we wanted to have Canadian currency on hand. It's perfectly fine to walk to any ATM with our debit card and pull out Canadian currency. Then it converts it over automatically to US currency. For example: if we took out $300, we get $300 of Canadian bills. But, it's actually $214.44 US that's removed from our account. 

Soooooo on a Sunday afternoon, we stopped at the ATM to get cash so we would have it for our $20 donation in the dropbox at the campground. No go! We tried three different ATMs and every one was declined. 

So we decided to drop in a US currency $20 bill into their donation slot, and leave it at that. There were no envelopes to fill out no information to leave. So we just dropped in the money and said "oh well". 

We figured we would unsnarl the mess on Monday with a call to our credit union. 

We set up two lawn chairs and relaxed in the park. There were a few children playing up in the playground area and we could hear their joyful shouts. There was even a little water park section, and it was warm enough for them to romp around a little bit. Then their moms wrapped them in towels and took them home.

Curled up for the night and really enjoyed our quiet spot.

On Monday we could unsnarl the stuff on the phone with the credit union. If not, we could take our US currency that we have in our possession and stop at the bank on the corner and see if they would convert it for us. But our first step was just trying to straighten out our own account for the rest of the trip.

The Packers played on Sunday night, and with our Starlink we were able to tune in and watch them. It was a miserable game, but of course we are still Packer fans nonetheless. They lost. But it's only the first game of the season. We have to keep up hope, don't we?

We know the power post was only a 20 amp for the site. We knew that wasn't going to be enough if we wanted to run our air fryer along with other things. So Steve moved our cord over to the next post which was a 30 amp. We always use a Progressive Industries EMS electrical management system on the post to prevent any disruptions or spikes or brownouts with park power.

Sure enough, even 30 amps was dropping down to 22 or 24. So we had to compromise and move some things over to propane and not fully enjoy the 30-amp service. 

Steve decided to take out his drone and fool around with it a little bit. I am hoping as he gets better at it that he will be able to give me footage to add to my YouTube videos.

Here is some of what he put together:

Later in the afternoon, we got company! (So he put away the drone)  First came a pickup truck camper from Colorado with Rick and Sue. Soon joining us on our other side were Bruce and Sheila, from Alberta Canada, in a Winnebago View like ours! 

Everyone was made to feel welcome, and we shared wonderful places to see and places that we've been. We marked a lot of interesting places on our maps. They helped us decide when we were going to reach Quebec City whether to go North along the North shore or head South along the Gapse Peninsula and the South side of the St Lawrence River. Bruce said been born out that way and gave us a lot of good ideas places to see.

The best advice that we got from both of them was about the most excellent above standard famous rated BAKERY in this little tiny town. It is called the Bolangerie Pontiac Home Bakery, 315 ch. Bristol, Shawville QC Their website is www.pontiachomebakery.com

Do you remember that I said Steve new hobby was going to be checking out bakeries in every area that we go to? Well that is precisely what he planned to do on Tuesday morning when they opened. That meant staying a second night in the campground. LOL 

At least, we got things straightened around with the credit union. We were able to walk up to the ATM machine on the corner and withdraw Canadian currency from both of our accounts! Now Steve would have cash to use at the bakery...

It was a wonderful morning, we said our goodbyes to our new found friends / neighbors. We stowed our gear and Steve was all fired up to get to the bakery---

It's just a tiny place on a side street, but we found it. The parking area was jammed with locals and we had to park across the street. Even the local construction workers were all lining up at the counter to get sandwiches made. And once we started looking around we know why! 

Fresh wonderful hamburger rolls, yeasty and soft inside with the crusty outer edge. Just perfect. 

A loaf of whole wheat bread that smells so good even through the plastic.  We were really going to enjoy these for lunch, or as toast for breakfast.

Then it was time to look up on the pastry shelves and try to make a choice of what sweet thing will Steve like the best. 

He totally enjoys cinnamon and loves cinnamon rolls as long as they don't have raisins in them. Well, well, well this bakery makes huge pan fulls of cinnamon sticky buns! But they don't sell you just one... They sell you a pan FULL of a dozen! They're all stuck together and they flip them out and plop them into a big package. That's just what she did right in front of us. Yes, we bought a whole dozen. She assured us they would freeze well. What she doesn't know is that our freezer is crammed full and I know Steve would enjoy eating them every morning for breakfast with coffee for the next six mornings. And I don't mind eating one too, because they sure look good. 

We also grabbed a package of white chocolate macadamia nut cookies, my favorite. 

Then of course, we had to take a donut to go. These are deep fried donuts. Steve's was rolled in powdered sugar and mine was double chocolate. Why not? 

Those were "for the road"! 

Their prices were so reasonable. But I think Steve was so mesmerized he would have paid any amount of money to get that big hunk of sticky buns and that delicious powdered sugar donut.

I wish we could have bottled up the aroma of the bakery. That would be a really wonderful candle scent. 

We struggled our way back out to the motorhome across the road, under our multitude of packages from the bakery. We forgot to bring in a shopping bag. In Canada, you must always bring your own bags. We forgot. 

The next morning, 

with coffee, 

just look at that face....

(I think he likes his new "hobby")

85 miles traveled on Sunday 

771 miles so far

Day 4 - Canadian Maritimes - Waking Up to a T-rex, Autum Leaves and a Quilt Shop Stop

We woke up next to the golf course in the Department of Ministries parking lot in Verney.  There was a special golfing event going on, I think they call it a scramble? Must have been a benefit for some charity. People were walking around in these inflated T-Rex and raccoon costumes selling raffle tickets. They were going from golf cart to golf cart and it seemed like everybody was having a lot of fun.

We finished up a few little tasks and cooked some breakfast. It was time to start putting some things away and get ready to hit the road again. It was a wonderful stop overnight after our long stressful afternoon at the Mercedes dealership. I'm glad they made it as painless as possible. Except of course for the pocketbook. But we keep laughingly say that each day we stay at a free campsite, it's another $35 back in our budget.

Now it was time to move on down the highway. I had marked an extra special spot on the map and we were getting close. We were about 13 miles away from a small town called Sturgeon Falls, in the community of West Nipissing. 

We had stopped at this particular little shop 3 years ago. Steve had seen the sign from the highway and suggested going there. Now who am I to ever pass by the opportunity to stop at a quilt shop? 

When we had stopped there 3 years ago, I was able to procure all of these discontinued fabric prints, 20 of them and all, of the Stonehenge series from Northcott Fabrics by Moda. 

Originally, years before, I had made this same pattern as a quilted wall hanging. It's quite large. And I hung it up in my She Shed to admire and display. Every time my oldest daughter came over, she kept oogling it. They had just built their beautiful cabin up north and she insisted it would look perfect on the wall in her cabin. So the wall hanging went to the cabin, and I knew the fabrics were discontinued and I could never make it again. 

That is why I was so excited to see these fabrics when I walked into Buttons Quilt Shop 3 years ago!

Back then, I was so excited, that I accidentally went down the wrong column of the pattern instructions, which I had on my phone, and did not buy enough fabric at that time to complete a queen size quilt. After I got home and started washing up my newly cut fabric, I discovered my error. The kind owner, Nancy, via email, agreed to go back to the 20 different bolts and cut the remaining segments of yardage that I needed. I had made a mistake of also calculating between meters and yards. She cut all of the extra fabrics for me and mailed them from Canada down into the United States. Now I had enough to complete that quilt as well as the two throw pillows. I even made some matching hot pads and coasters for my daughter's cabin.

That made me very happy! 

I used them to create the beautiful queen size quilt and two throw pillows that now resides on the bed in our motorhome today. The pattern is called Winter Solstice by Patti Carey. 

As you can tell, I am quite proud of how this quilt turned out. If you look really close, you can see the detailed stitching I did to make the pine trees diagonal zigzags and the mountains jagged peaks. Then the sky parts are swirly stitches.

Now, just this last year, I finished up a smaller version from some more of the scraps to make a lap throw quilt to ride on the love seat of our motorhome. It is also to prevent Little Nick's claws from damaging the imitation leather / vinyl of our love seat.

So that was my love affair with the Stonehenge Fabrics. And Buttons Quilt Shop played a big part in that. So of course, we needed to make another stop there today. 

I got out of the motorhome on the street in front of the shop, I noticed this beautiful little red leaf sitting all alone on the sidewalk. I even stopped to take a picture of it. Was it a hint of what I was going to find inside???

We were able to park right in front of the shop with the motorhome and trailer in tow. It's a little city street it's actually called Main Street, but it was not too busy. Steve stayed in the motorhome with the dog and I promised to not hurt my knee coming out dancing and frolicking like I did last month in Eagle River. Lol! 

I got inside, and asked permission if I was able to film throughout the shop. Yes, they granted it and I promised to give them a good positive segment on my blog as well as my YouTube channel: 

I wandered up and down the aisles and over into the new addition that they've recently added. Now they have a large classroom area as well as a full room of beautiful knitting yarns and a little rigid heddle loom and some other weaving equipment. The shop has grown and the previous owner Nancy, has now retired. 

One certain line of fabrics caught my eye, with the clue of the leaf that I saw outside on the sidewalk. I knew this was going to be my next quilt fabric obsession. Just look at that!

The "leaves and berries" fabric for Henry Glass & Co. featuring a leaf-and-berry design comes from the designer Stacy West (collection: The Fox Homestead)

I also grabbed enough yardage of the coordinating fabrics to go along with the main bolt that caught my eye. This time, let's hope I have enough to do a complete quilt?? 

This came out of my budget for souvenirs for the trip. Yep, this was MY souvenir! 

We consulted our favorite little app called "PARK4NIGHT" and found a listing for a sweet little park on the banks of the Ottawa River. It was in a town called Deep River. It was just enough driving distance for the day. 

We pulled in and made ourselves comfortable for the evening. What a beautiful little park!! There were two other camping vans and a couple other vehicles there. The vehicles were just people that were enjoying the beach. The two vans would stay overnight in the lot, along with us, parked far off to the side out of the way.

Not only do they offer free overnight stays, but they have a beautiful clean new bathroom with flush toilets and hot water. Outside they have a spigot and a water hose coiled up on a reel for anybody to use to fill their RV. How welcoming is that?

We took a stroll down by the beach. We couldn't bring Nick all the way down, as there are no dogs allowed. But we went as far as we could to look around a little bit. The tall beautiful pine trees surrounding the edges of the water gave a nice shady area for those who wanted to relax by the beach. 

There were a couple flower gardens that were creatively repurposing some old canoes. How cute is that? 

The last gasp of beautiful color before winter sets in. These were amazingly bright and beautiful. At first I thought they were some type of petunia. I'm not sure though. I would like to know. The leaves look a little different. Does anybody have any ideas?

We also noticed the long rubber track lined up to go from the parking area all the way down to the edge of the water. These are for people with mobility scooters or wheelchairs. What a great way to include them in the summary fun.

After dinner, we walked back down to the beach to enjoy a little bit of sunset. It was so pretty, and very quiet. We were going to have a peaceful night's sleep here for sure.

We left Nick behind in the camper because he wasn't allowed down there. But he didn't seem to mind...

And now for the "twist"... Remember how I tore my meniscus coming out of the quilt shop in Eagle River a month ago? Well here it was, another quilt shop day... And sure enough, all I was doing was reaching up to put some things away in the cabinet and kind of hyper extended my knee. You know when you lean so far forward and bend your knee backwards a bit? Just to gain stability I was pushing backwards and SNAP!!! It suddenly went out on me! 

Immediately, I was feeling the same way I was a month ago. My knees swelled up and I couldn't walk. Oh no! We didn't bring my crutches along, but I did have my knee brace. Steve had some really good cream to help with swelling of the joints. We put that on and I braced up for the night. This was distressing. Was I going to be spending the rest of our vacation trying to hobble around on crutches???

Here is the video that goes with today's blog: 

140 miles traveled today 

686 miles traveled so far