Ottawa eastbound to New Brunswick

May 11, 2007
Edmundston, NB

May 11th we headed for New Brunswick. The drive to Montreal was uneventful and we stayed on the Trans Canada through the city. Steve was not used to driving in large cities, particularly with Montreal drivers. The Trans Canada highway can be quite congested and winding in the East end of Montreal. We made it through safely and followed the north shore highway to Quebec City.

I led the way and as we crossed the bridge at Quebec City to Levis on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, Steve lost sight of my van. We took different exits. A few tense minutes later we managed to reconnect.

On the autoroute in Quebec we were pulled over by a patrol officer so he could check out the truck and trailer. Steve's old '88 Dodge pick-up hauling a homebuilt horse trailer looked like likely prey for a safety check. I stopped and talked to the officer about our mission.

He walked around the truck and trailer and noticed that a wheel lugnut was missing, one of 10 on the wheel. However, he did not immediately comment on the cracked windshield or the engine hood tied down with rope because the latch was broken, and he did not check the brakes. Fortunately, Steve had a spare lugnut in his tool box. The officer was mostly satisfied with the vehicle condition and released us, suggesting a few minor repairs before returning to Quebec, such as the crack in Steve's windshield. We could have been tied up for a day or two, but I think the nature of our mission was sufficient to cut us some slack. Whew!!! We would have a few days in Halifax before the launch to work on such details.

We proceeded to Ferme Bonchamps at St. Basile near Edmundston, NB where we were generously accommodated by dairy farmers Luc and Charlene Lavoie and family. Steve and I slept in their barn tack room and Christine chose the hayloft. The horses were delighted to be in an open paddock rather than confined to a trailer or stall.

Luc and Charlene

Steve, Luc & son-in-law Serge

Steve, Luc & daughter Mariam

Luc and his brother, Jean-Roch, jointly own and manage 110 head of dairy cattle, a 7 day/week job. They get 1 day off every 14 days. That takes dedication.

In the morning, Luc and Charlene treated us to a huge farm breakfast and we were on our way.