July 22-25, Manotick, ON

Having dropped my daughter off at her own home, we headed to my brother’s beautiful new home to reconnect, in more ways than one.  We had run out of mobile data a few days earlier so I desperately needed to have reliable internet to create and complete my monthly newsletter.  We also had the delicate issue of de-mousing our condo on wheels.  Mickey had left a mess of droppings all over the camper and Leon even found his little indentation in the insulation which is precisely under where I sleep.  EEEKKKK!!!

With all the laundry done, the newsletter work tackled and the grey and black water emptied, we were free to enjoy my brother and his wife’s company and beautiful pool.  There was one rub, however.  She had been visiting with her sister who has recently been put into care.  Covid was detected and sure enough, she ended up testing positive by the time we left on Monday morning. 

We resolved to keep to ourselves, wear masks and tests, until we were sure we had no symptoms and no positive tests.

The positive side is that we will be visiting again in August.  We can only hope Covid will have left their building and their lives will have resumed a more enjoyable pace.

As it happens, my older brother and his wife are also in Ottawa during this time. Of course, we couldn’t think of visiting with them.  But I’m hoping for a hug and a cuppa later in our trip.

July 25 – Montreal, QC

After leaving Ottawa, we headed for Montreal, using the south shore roads.  The idea was to travel along the south as much as possible to avoid the crowds who would be trying to see the Pope on his travels to Quebec City. 

We stayed at 2 different KOA campgrounds – the first was located at the intersection of highway traffic and train noise, frequent train noise.  But the location allowed us to find the Parks Canada Historic site (Fort Coteau-du-Lac) and the old Soulanges canal.  We enjoyed a nice walk through the old fort ruins and learned about trade in the late 18^th century and early 19^th century.

The second campground, located in Montreal South, was well appointed. There was a caravan of vintage and antique cars travelling from NFL and Labrador to the west coast.  It was fun to have a chat with some of the owners and look at their vehicles.

While we were in the Montreal area, Leon needed to stop at the Canadian Forces Logistics Museum to see an army piece he is hoping to have transferred west.  That part of the trip took some planning as the museum contact had come down with Covid, so he was unable to meet us.  We managed fine, having taken our own Covid test that morning.

If you’ve had the pleasure of taking the quick self-test, you know how much fun it is sticking that long swab up your nose for 10 seconds (each side!).  We had a particularly fun time as our swabs had gotten bent and curved.  There was no unbending them, so we forged ahead.  I can’t tell you how many times I sneezed during and after that test!  The results were as we had hoped, so we continued to self-isolate but felt more comfortable as the days went on.  We had been feeling under the weather but perhaps the excellent wine my brother serves had something to do with it?

Coming out of Montreal was not so pretty with all the construction on the tunnels heading east.  We decided to head south at all costs and ended up in the backroads of the area where I grew up – St. Hilaire.  I made sure to find a great farm stand and I can assure you that the corn was so fresh you could eat it raw.  All the veggies were amazing and it brought me back to my childhood days.

I had promised myself I’d satisfy a craving for a Montreal-style smoked meat sandwich. The locals told us about La Belle Province restaurant where we got a sandwich each (hold the bread for me, I’ll add my own). Each meal must have had over 1 lb of meat! Yes, I ate it all in one sitting. Yum!