Day 2: Cornwall, ON - Edmundston, NB

Destination: Edmundston, NB
KM Driven: 748.8
Location: Happy Club Motel

I'm beat. I'm plum exhausted. I had a pretty late departure from Cornwall. After breakfast and a fill up I didn't get on the road until 10am. My day started with me, due to unforeseen circumstances, missing the required on ramp twice. Not once, twice. Twice. On route it started to rain almost immediately. The only times it stopped were when I was on foot, it was quite miraculous really. It was a different drive for me because everything was new. Yesterday I drove past several locations I had already visited, some of them multiple times, but this time everything was fresh. Even the aforementioned Gananoque was just about the starting point of my infamous drive home in first gear. I don't know how I managed that and still maintained my sanity. I'm just lucky King's Rd 2 extends the length of the 401. I digress.

Trois Rivieres was a really cute town, with the back areas having a very European feel to them. I took a stroll along the shore of the St. Lawrence (at least I think it was), and then through some of the back streets and took some pictures. There was a typical old styled Quebec church, with an interesting statue outside. I'll have to look into who the statue was for, I didn't recognize the name. Then I went back to the main street, Boulevard des Forges, and sat at pub called Le P'tit Pub and had a pint and read A Dirty Job. At first I asked if they had half pints but I guess they haven't heard of half pints in QC. Then I pointed to a sign on the taps that said "Le P'tit Pub" and said, "I'll have a pint of your house brew." And the girl was like, "Uhh,
that's the name of the pub." So Keiths Red it was. At about 2:30 I packed it in and got back on the hwy, Autoroute 40.

Just past Quebec City is a small city called Beauport, and just outside the city limits is Parc de la Chute-Montmorency, which hosts a waterfall higher than Niagara. Not as grand in scale as Niagara but magnificent none the less. After another embarassing detour due to confusing notes and no map in hand, I arrived at the falls at 5:00pm. I thought the woman said $19.50 to enter, which I thought was highway robbery, but it turns out it was just $9.50. I only had an hour left so I didn't get to attempt the stairs, which in the end was probably a good thing. I had found out that there was a gondola ride that takes you up and down the mountain. It was $7.50 one way, or $9.50 return, so I took the deal and got a return trip. Of course getting the ticket was not achieve without utter and complete difficulty. I asked for return and the guy goes, "Deux", and I thought he meant 2 ways and I was like, "Oui, deux". So he's like, $22 please. I'm like, "What?" He's like, "Plus tax." I'm like, "So tax is $13??" He came out of the booth and taped and the price and said, "Plus tax." I suppose after he was out of the booth, and showing me how to get to the stairs he realized I was alone and
was like, "For you, $11." At first I thought I was getting a deal because it was end of day and he felt sorry for me. Turns out my communication skills are just sub-par and I paid full price. Quickly as I could I walked over to the falls to take some photos, and take in the beauty of it. With the park closing at 6 I needed to make sure I had enough time to get back to the top so I could walk across the suspension bridge and leave the park before closing time. I got back into my car at 5:56, and was back on the road.

The thing I learned about driving in Quebec is that you never really need to know the names of the exits as long as you have the exit number. I've never really paid attention to the exit numbers in Ontario because I navigate my road. Learned something. Heading South to Quebec City to cross the bridge was a breeze, and I even took the right side of the fork when the Autoroute 40/73 split. I was counting down my exits diligently. 135, 134, where am I?, 133, where's the bridge?, 132, BRIDGE, success. Once I crossed the bridge I knew I was going in the right direction. Of course it took about 100km before there was any signage for Edmundston, or Nouvelle Brunswick at all. I thought once I reached the top of hwy 20 I would be there but I foolishly forgot to consider the last 100km of the trip when you get the top of Maine and you have to cut across. I had a pretty good idea of where I was, but I figured if I got lost I would just set up shop, sleep in the car, and get back on track tomorrow. Luckily I did not have to do that.

As I neared Edmundston I had this vision in my head that I'd find a motel, and hop across the street to some local chain and have a real meal and a beer as I unwound. 1) I lost an hour passing into NB and only got into the city at 11pm local time. 2) Everything in NB closes at 6pm. I'm clearly exaggerating, but there wasn't a thing open when I drove in. I didn't want to risk not finding dinner so I stopped at a Subway. Tims, McDs, Subway, and I'm officially sick of fast food. Anyways, I pulled up to a motel not too far into town, Happy Club Motel. Clean Rooms, Vacancy. I always hesitate when someone has to declare their rooms as being clean. The woman at the front desk did not let me down, as she was one of the most pleasant people I have ever come across. I asked her how much for the night and she said, "Normally it's $65, but because it's so late and I want to rent the room $50." Bonus for me. I brought my stuff up, checked my emails, checked my work emails, and that brings it up to now. It was funny going down to my car and seeing the sign had changed to No Vacancy. At least the Clear Rooms is still there. I'm deadly tired, but I needed to do this. I haven't even planned tomorrow but after I check out I'll find a coffee shop and figure out what there even is do to in this province. Sheesh.

My second lesson of the day is that not all motels provide shampoo. Right now it's 0/2. Eventually I will have to either buy some or stay somewhere fancy enough to give me shampoo. And note to self: I need to learn French.

Bon soir.