We started the day too early. Somehow the first day of travel is more tiring than it should be so we fell asleep too early and Gail was awake before 5 AM which meant I would be awakened not long after. That made it easy to get to the 6:30 breakfast. After a refuelling stop we were on Highway 20 by 7:15. Highway 20 does not have the same kind of service centres as on Ontario 401 but the services were regular and well advertised. Today we shared the driving whereas yesterday I did it all.
After we passed Montreal traffic eased and once passed Quebec City, or Levis, the scenery became more interesting. There were farms and forests and eventually we could see mountainous terrain across the St Lawrence which was occasionally in sight. Gail took her second shift in the driver’s seat as we approached Rivière-du-Loup and I navigated the transfer to Quebec highway 85. Almost as soon as we started south on 85 things became strange and we found ourselves navigating country roads which seemed to take us further from Highway 85. I had some awareness of a construction project on 85 but was unable to find any information about detours before we left home. While Gail drove I began consulting both Apple maps and Google maps only to discover that their detour routes were not identical. When we finally reached Highway 85 again both Apple and Google located us in the middle of nowhere since the newly constructed highway was not up to date for either system. My solution was simple, follow that truck. That seemed to work. At our last rest stop before Edmunston we found a Quebec Information Centre where the attendant was only too pleased to show me how to avoid all the construction. The secret, he said, was to aim for Pohénégamook, Quebec then take Highway 289 north to Highway 20. We shall try that on our return trip.
I’m adding a few more photos today which can be viewed in the sidebar or in the East Coast and Maritime Cruise 2024 Photo Gallery. We will undoubtedly find a few more photo opportunities in days to come.
Audrey Niffenegger, Her Fearful Symmetry
There are several ways toreact to being lost. One is to panic: this was usually Valentina’s first impulse. Another is to abandon yourself to lostness, to allow the fact that you’ve misplaced yourself to change the way you experience the world.