Post-trip withdrawal starting to kick in this morning as we gathered up at the Laurier, pulled the Rav out of parking and made tracks for points due east. Loved our stay there… room, location and staff were spot on! Further, my sincerest apologies to the “not-so” gentleman to whose lane I infringed upon at an early 5:45 AM in Ottawa. Trying to correct a problem in an unknown driving environment is a recipe for disaster… always keep going and adjust after new plan is created. My bad! Anyway… onward!
Out of town on Highway 417 through Ontario with Montreal bound traffic. Great run! And the A-30!!! Such a long overdue piece of infrastructure… safe, time saving, and stress free (so worth the $3.50 toll). Took a little massaging with the GPS, as that bugger still wanted to run us through the heart of the city. All in, within a couple of hours highway time we had gone from Ottawa to east of Montreal during morning rush.
Luck ran out later in the morning / afternoon, as Quebec, Rivière-du-Loup, and Edmunston all brought rain 🌧️. It was a bit of a slog! Also tangled with a wayward bug deflector on the hood… zip tie solution may get us home 🤞 with some luck. A little trick we try… we will often set our iPhones / vehicle clock back or ahead the night before. In this case when we hit the NB Border we’d already been in AST for the day. Like no change at all. And, even better, Edmunston put us at the halfway mark to getting home from Ottawa!
It rained in some fashion until Salisbury, NB, where we gained clear skies and dry road. It was around this point that we both decided to make the final push home. Janie drove the last 3 hour leg while I caught up online / had a short nap and we were at the doorstep by 10:00 PM after a huge 14 hr driving day. Got some reflecting to do on this adventure 🤪!