Day 69 - Friday, August 8 On The Road to Ottawa

The rains kept us from having our campfire last night, but about 9 pm the neighbours lit a fire.  With the window open sitting on the couch reading I could smell the sweet scent of the smoke, almost as good as having our own fire.  Last night I made up the last of the epicure dip mix that I brought from home!  What will I do now for veggie dip?  I tried to buy some at the Farmers Market in Summerside, PEI but she was sold out.  

It is a nice morning for travel, not too much traffic, and Dan loves the fact that there is no wind.  Should  be a good day! 

First stop today Drummondville to Costco.  That's if we can find an exit on this side and we don't blow past it.  When we were here in June we stopped on our way to Quebec to stock up and now we need some meat.  I have found that Quebec is very economical for food, refreshments and eating out, but not for the price of camp sites.

Quebec should get their mowing program into high gear - the medians and the sides of the road have been almost overtaken with weeds at least three feet high.  But on the other hand we saw our first official rest area since we left the Maritimes, something we missed over there. 

Score!  We found Costco, as well as gas priced at $1.29 a litre and BudLight - 48 cans for $47!  How good is that.  We got our meat and paper towels as well and we are set for another month.  

We are taking a different route than we came in on as we are going north to Ottawa.  We crossed over a toll bridge called the A30 Express between Serge-Marcil Bridge and the Soulanges Tunnel and paid $6.00.  Mmm the smell of fresh cut hay greets us as we get closer to Ontario.  We finally left Quebec about 1:30 pm and entered Ontario.  Dan is very happy as he does not like all the signs being in just French and no English at all. 

There was an info centre so we stopped there to get a new map (ours was getting tattered and torn) and some info on Ottawa and campgrounds.  The students were very helpful and the site is big rig friendly.  They also have a pretty grassy area with picnic tables so we decided to have some lunch here.  A drink, chips and fresh shrimp we just bought at Costco.  Mmm, good.  Nice relax for Dan after the traffic through Montreal area.  

We met a young couple with a little fellow that was intrigued by my bright pink bag clip.  He wasn't at all interested in Gidget, just the clip.  He came toddling over, he has just learned to walk, headed straight for the clip.  He was not happy when mom took it away. The young father was raised in the Salmo Creston area and married a girl from Montreal and that is where they live.  He is homesick though for his small town.  He is a dog trainer and does some work for the CNIB.  Nice family.  

Here we are close to our destination of Wesley Clover Parks Campground and it is 3:30 and rush hour is hot and heavy on the 417!  The campground is only supposed to be 15 minutes west of Ottawa but with this traffic it feels like forever.  I think it took us 30 minutes to travel just a few Kms!  Here's what Dan was facing, 4 lanes of traffic plus a bus only lane.  You better know when your exit is or you might just miss it! 

This picture was taken before the bus lane veered in.  But all and all, the good driver he is, we made it safe and sound.  And the municipal campground is absolutely lovely.  You would never know it is just a few minutes to Ottawa.  Very private, wooded sites - just a little piece of heaven!  Breathe, just breathe.  Chicken noodle soup for supper - we really aren't hungry.  Internet doesn't work cuz of all the trees, but it will work at the office so I'll get this posted one way or other.