Update 14 Quebec to New Brunswick

Update 14: Quebec to New Brunswick             July 13-15, 2010

We bumped and rattled along Highway 132 on the south side of the St.Lawrence River. Although the freeway may be in slightly better condition, we prefer the scenic route. The village, farmland, village, farmland pattern continued form Quebec City to where we turned off of Hwy. 132. 

We saw more of the river here than between Montreal and Quebec City.  Homes had large vegetable gardens and flowers gardens too.

Here small villages appear with a church in the center of town, and then for several miles we only see crop after crop growing in the fields.  Corn fills the majority of fields.

Large barns accompanied with several silos can be seen from far off since the land is most flat with a few hills.

The waterfront homes were less secluded than before Quebec City. Here the river peeks through between homes.  These homes come in a huge variety of sizes and styles, yet most look well taken care of. Many along this road had swimming pools, just like we saw on Ile d'Orleans. Many had porch swings and lawn gliders. In several towns the church-sized crucifix or cross stood by the roadside.

In the village of Kamouraska a row of majestic Victorian homes line each side of the highway. The entire village of Sainte Jean Port Joli became an Art Festival. Signs announcing painting, sculpture, pottery, weaving, glass art, wood working, and photographing invited people to stop and look.  Art for display and for sale could be found from the beginning of town to the end. Sometimes we saw it dip down a side street.

Most of the homes away from the village, and even some in the village caught our attention to the woodpiles: not just a woodpile.....a mammoth wood pile. Six or seven chords of woods, some neatly piled into 4x8x4 rows, others just thrown in pile, awaited winter. 

We shared the road with bicyclists.

A challenge on these tiny two lane village roads became finding a place to stop for lunch. Few stores of any size were seen. The largest patches of land with turning space were in some farmer's yard. We considered pulling in and saying "hi". 

However we did find a picnic spot on the river with enough space for the two of us. As we had lunch the clouds begin to gather and the smell of rain lingered in the air.




At Riviere du Loup we turn inland toward New Brunswick. Although it was a little after noon, the sky darkened as if late in the evening. Rain pattered against the windows. The closer we got to New Brunswick the larger the drops grew until they plopped with force and distorted our view. Soon the wipers could barely keep up.  The wind blew the rain sideways and blurred the road.  Lightening streaked down from the sky in bolts and sheets.  Thunder rumbled over the coach. Rivers began running along side the shoulders of the road.  Every time we considered pulling off, the storm teased us by easing up.  Then further down the road lash out with fury.  We stopped at the New Brunswick Information /Welcome Center to discover that the until just a few minutes before our arrival the highway had been closed most of the day. A semi truck and we don't know what else tied up the highway for the day. We were very glad it was open now. Our RV park was only a couple of exits down the road.

We pulled into the Edmundston RV resort to see the park flooding. Kids were out wading in the large wading pool size puddles. Some kids rode bikes through the water sending up rooster tails.  Fortunately we didn't need to proceed down any flooded roads. 

Our sites were soggy and the storm was still in full force.  The guys did outside chores as quickly as possible and we each hunkered down for the night. The thunder frightened the cats. Even while being held, Ashley's body continued to tremble.

The storm blew over by morning and the waters receded quickly.

We headed on our way toward Fredricton. Once on the highway travelers couldn't help but notice the gigantic Moose Warning Sign with the flashing lights on the right side of the road. Derrille's thought was that these people were serious about their moose.  This sign appeared bigger than a small car. Another sign was on the left side of the road. We had just heard that New Brunswick had just experienced their first moose/driver fatality for this season. The car hit the moose and both the moose and the driver were killed. Additional moose warning signs occur every 6-7 miles in this and other areas populated by the moose.

To keep the moose off the highway tall fences rim the forest. Should a moose find his/her way onto the road, one-way gates are installed at intervals to help them return to the forest. The black gate in the photo is like a multi tined turnstile. Four inward curved rubber spokes from each side allow the moose to move into the forest, but not out of it.

In some places large moose culverts go under the highway to help them move safely from one side to the other.

New Brunswick topographically looks like the Northwest. Trees line the highway on each side. Occasional outcroppings of bare rock show where hills were cut away to make room for the road. Crops fill the valley floors. This day was overcast.  After yesterday's storm, a light foggy mist tickled the tree tops.

I didn't make reservations at the stop over parks along the way until I knew more exact dates. However, when I tried to get reservations at the Fredericton resort of my choice, the park was full.  We chose a second place and went there. Although the park was on a beautiful lake, the sites were questionable. So we left and found spots at the  Mactaquac Provincial Park. The sites here weren't a great deal better, but we were on grass with plenty of room to maneuver.

We set up and headed in to look at Fredericton.  We stopped by several restaurants to check their menu and see "if they were nice people".  The "nice people" line is a story from a previous trip. Ask us about it some time. This was Jay's birthday. We decided on McGinnis Landing to celebrate.

While here we view a delightful sunset, twilight's end over the lake and ground fog rising from the golf course.

The next day we started a driving tour to see what Fredericton considered their "sights". The Governor General's Residence and offices held tour, but we declined and drove on. The residence and what is now a beautiful park at one time was all part of a royal manor. The drive showed us their arboretum and botanical gardens. As the drive passed Wal-Mart we decided to stop and do photos.

This is probably a good time to say that our Wal-Mart one hour photo developing usually takes at least 2 hours to just down load the photos and make our selections. We each order doubles so both families have all the memories.  Some machines work better than others and each Wal-Mart has something unique about their set up. The Fredricton machines took longer than usual.

We now need lunch. So trusting the flyers we take off for the village of Sheffield and Casey's great food. Casey advertises bake goods, over 250 artisans represented.  What we expected and what we saw were two entirely different things. 

We did not expect the small framed building about the size of a small house. Inside the door five rows, two picnic table lengths long, sat waiting for diners. A small counter was tucked into the left side beyond 3 rows of tables. Baked good sat on a side table the size of a night stand.Beyond the two rows of tables on the right to the back of the building were hand crafted articles. Every inch of wall space displayed wood work, quilts, Christmas items etc. Rack held clothes, Ceramics sat on tables and in bookshelves. Just enough room was left to walk around the items for sale. The home smelled musty and the bathrooms must be full of mold.  Regardless...the food was fantastic. This is one chalked up to experiences!

After lunch we stopped at a roadside fruit stand. I bought raspberries picked that morning. The array of fresh fruit, vegetable and baked goods looked very inviting....but we resisted, knowing our schedule.

Back in Fredericton we finished the driving tour, such as it was.  Their assembly  building was our last stop. We picked up the 800+ photos at Wal-Mart and went back to the RVs.

The next day we drove by more fields of corn, wheat and hay as we traveled through New Brunswick on our way to Prince Edward Island.




Next: PEI