July 31, Aug 1 – To Cottage

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We did a crazy long drive yesterday and I was just too tired to post anything last night.

We did the 10 hour, 800 km move from Montreal to the cottage. I had originally planned to stop at the Walmart in North Bay but when we left in the morning the GPS said we would get there at about 2 pm and if we kept going we could get to the cottage at about 6 pm. We decided we would make our choice once we got to North Bay. It was a nice sunny day and there wasn’t very much traffic so we just continued. It was also much nicer to spend today at the cottage vs wasting yesterday afternoon sitting at the Walmart and then driving today.

We didn’t take many pictures as we have been on these roads before.

We left about 8:30. Four lane highway 417 to Ottawa cuts though farm country with huge flat fields.

We got to Ottawa about 10 so we had a very easy trip across the city. This place can be a real nightmare at rush hour.

I guess Cirque de Soliel was in town.

Then on to two lane highway 17 for the rest of the trip.

The road got a lot more hilly the farther north and west we went,

In North Bay we saw the Walmart as we went by and I am glad we decided not to stay. It was right next to the highway and a very busy intersection. The parking lot also looked very full. When you overnight in a Walmart you are expected to stay in the far reaches of the lot because you usually take up several spaces and mainly not to affect their regular customers.

Just before Sturgeon Falls there is a very long straight stretch. I think it is about 15 km. We were in a line up of cars because of a slow car (not me) but nobody would pass. It is so hard to judge distance and in that long a straight stretch you are almost always going to see some headlights coming at you even though they could be 5 km away.

I have driven the road from Sudbury to the cottage so many times that I can picture every curve in my head.

We arrived here at about 6:30 and are now safely tucked away for our 2 week stay.

We had a pretty good thunderstorm last night but it didn’t last long. Today we had a great sunny day but we could see some people were being pelted with rain off in the distance. We seem to be in a sweet spot and most of the time the localized storms miss us. 

I spent today working on my other baby, our boat. I had to practice my sewing as a piece of the cover had come loose. I only stabbed myself once. I cleaned it up a bit and then tried to start it. Nothing. The battery was completely dead. I put a charger on it but it did not help so I trouped into town and bought a new one.

I also bought some gas. It is not as bad as the RV. The tank is half the size of the RV’s at 20 gallons but it has a 5 liter Chrysler V8 inboard / outboard engine and it doesn’t exactly sip gas. I am not sure how you would measure gas consumption in a boat. It is way better than the outboard engines but it still hurts to fill it up.

On the other hand being out in the boat is one on my favourite things to do in life. Definitely one of my top “happy places”.

My brother arrived later this afternoon. Even though it had gotten quite rough with big breaking waves we went out for a quick bounce. It is like being on a roller coaster. It’s always a laugh and a bit of a scare sometimes. The kids love it and it brings out the kid in me so we do it a lot.

Just to have another picture this is one of my favourites of the family getting ready for an excursion in the boat from years ago. (It has a rated capacity of 11 people).

It was our 31st wedding anniversary today. In the years we have been out in the RV this is the first time we have been somewhere that we could go out for a nice dinner. My mom had offered to have us for dinner so we decided to have the meal(steak and corn and mashed potatoes) with my parents and brother and go out tomorrow.

During our stay here I probably won’t post as much. If we do something where I think the pictures might interest others then I will share.