We decided staying in Canada is the best route to Nova Scotia
We made the decision last minute to not cross back into the US and instead head north to Nova Scotia through Toronto from Niagara. This route would give us the gift of seeing three prominent Canadian cities along the St. Lawrence river prior to crossing through New Brunswick to Prince Edward Island. So far we have been impressed with our choice and have enjoyed a whirlwind tour of Eastern Canada.
We booked it through Toronto unfortunately missing what the city had to offer in the pursuit of making it to Montreal. We experienced culture shock immediately after driving over the Quebec and Ontario border when we had to infer our english understanding of french road signs. Our Google navigation no longer lined up with anything close to what the signs read so we guessed and circled back a few missed exits as we made our way to a Wal-Mart parking lot to boondock near Montreal.
Unfortunately we found ourselves stranded the following day, which happened to be a Sunday, due to another rear flat tire on the RV. The same symptoms as our prior blowout appeared so I knew we were experiencing valve stem breakage on the two tires still in need of all metal valve stems. I had the two on the rear driverside replaced with metal valve stems in Minnesota so it was all in due time that we do this now on the passenger side.
We had to wait until Monday to get any tire shop service so we recieved permission from Wal-Mart to stay over one additional night and they were happy to help us. OK Tires sent two technicians to put our spare on Monday Morning for free through our roadside assistance insurance with Good Sam. We followed the men to their shop to do the work replacing the valve stems. All work totaled $55 Canadian so we were happy it was so cheap...and Boyd got his hair cut!
We made the most of our predicament and spent all day Sunday exploring downtown Montreal and Old Montreal. It's an incredibly old city with a focus on art and culture. We spent time touring a Barbie exposition for Blythe and then Boyd picked a museum filled with fossils and dinosaurs to tour on McGill University campus. Both activities were in city center so we walked to them. Both were worth the cost of admission...free. We ate at a vegan/vegetarian restaurant in the Mount Royal community before heading to Old Montreal for late evening.
Old Montreal offered a touristy yet romantic feel with cobblestone narrow streets between old european influenced architecture. We experienced it as the sun set.
Boyd was rewarded for eating his veggie burger at dinner with a balloon monkey from a vendor on the street. She told us her life story as a 27 year balloon artist there in Old Montreal. She also listened to our story of our travels and put some things in perspective for all of us. We told her the challenges we were facing with an old RV and the smallness we were all stressing to carve our own space in. She told us the importance of being patient with the situation and that in time each of us would figure out just what space we needed to be happy. She said that what is important is learning how to be seperate while staying together by respecting each others need for space. She had conviction when she spoke and the kids and both Erica and I were listening so intently to her words. To put things in perspective leading up to this encounter, adding the flat tire to our findings of black mold in the upper sleeping area above the cab had me and Erica in a rough spot. The kids were anxious that the RV was too old to continue the trip and Erica was stressed about it as well. They all were brainstorming of how and when we were going to upgrade and trade this piece of junk in. I on the other hand was consumed with trying to caulk the spots where I believed that water was entering the coach and also running a fan inside to dry out the area affected. All of this and the tire pressure issues had us all wanting to abandon the trip, the RV or both. I don't want to blow our budget on upgrading vehicles either. Since this encounter things have improved and the kids have stopped drilling us to get a new RV. You never know where wisdom will come from and I am eternally grateful for our encounter with this balloon clown.
We took a horse and carriage ride through town and watched video art projected on the walls of the old buildings in a display the city called "Cite Memoire". I've never seen anything like it.
The Quebec City suburb of Levis was our home for three days. We relaxed at our campsite rather than drive into the city. We biked the nine miles of trail along the St. Lawrence river to the ferry port that took you to Old Quebec but stayed put and let the kids run through the fountains. The kids did two full days of school and Erica taught them. She has begun to find a groove and has kept on task despite our travel days and field trips constantly pulling us in different directions. We are feeling the importance the school structure brings to the kids attitudes. Our kids need structure and while Erica and I really are striving for "being in the moment" and spontaneous with our days the kids need the opposite. We are making an effort to start planning more of our trip prior to arriving places and we are also making every attempt to make longer stays in one place. I worked on caulking the leaky roof and cleaning up the moldy area above the driver seat in the sleeping compartment. What a mess that has been. The kids are no longer sleeping up there for now which has created an inconvenience since we have to now fold the table into a bed every day. What else do we have to do.
Before heading out of town we found this river and waterfall in Levis to be a memory!
Peace and Love