Moving Day.
As I was packing up to leave for Canada, Deb stopped to invite me to go with her to the new quilt
shop, which I did. I am on this quest to collect fabric from each state and
province I visit on my travels in the hope of piecing together a memory
quilt. Surprisingly, I am finding it
more difficult to find unique/state specific fabric and quilt shops the farther
I go east; I would have thought that the people in the mid-west and east would do
more quilting than in the west; sadly that has not been the case. I am told that the people who had the shops
and did the quilting are older and retiring, and they are not being replaced by
a younger generation. It makes me wonder if quilting will become a lost
art. Anyway, I have not been successful
in locating fabric that is unique to each state; I have even tried the state
bird and flower (am always surprised that people don’t know their state bird
and flower) and in most cases I am not finding that fabric either.
Anyway, the trip to the fabric store was a nice break, but
by the time I was ready to leave the Essex Junction Fair Grounds, the line for
the dump was an hour long.
I finally got on the road about 1pm. I needed to buy gas
before the border, but couldn’t find DEF. There are no truck stops in Vermont. I
see there is a Flying J outside Quebec City, so hopefully they can fix me up.
The line at the border was only about ½ hour. The Border Guard didn’t ask me any of the
questions I was expecting (nothing about what food I was carrying) and didn’t
inspect inside my rig. I wonder if going
back will be as painless?
I was nervous about driving in Canada for the first time,
but did not have any problems and found the campground without incident. Some of the roads were a little rough and
narrow, but I had experienced some of that in the US as well. All of the traffic signs are in French, but
it wasn’t too difficult to understand what they meant.
I like this sign … If the lights are flashing on the sign
below, it means although the light ahead is green now, it will be red when you
get there. A very handy sign ….
Here are some of my favorite Canadian signs so far …..
 |
| Snowmobiles and Off-road vehicles entering the highway in 230 meters |
 |
| Canada is so Eco friendly, this is in lieu of seat covers |
 |
| This is actually 56 mph |
 |
| Open |
 |
| Exit |
Interestingly, when I crossed the border, the GPS in my
coach changed everything to the metric system, including the distance to the
next turn and the speed. Not as handy as
I would have liked.
However, the GPS in my Jeep kept everything in US measurement for the
distance to the next turn and the speed limits are in mph. Better.
Upon arriving at the campground things got a little more
challenging. No one in the office spoke
English and the campground rules and instructions are also in French. I found my site, but all the sites are so
narrow and close together, and my coach being the largest thing in the park and
my site having a tree at the opening, it was a little hairy backing in. Two gentlemen from other sites, neither one
spoke English, came out to direct me into the site. They did an excellent job …. I just hope I
can get back out on Saturday! It was nice to have the help. The family next
door is actually sitting under my closet slide …. That’s how close together we
are. Nice for them, my coach is blocking
all the afternoon sun – I got a thumbs-up for that!
While I was setting up camp, a boy about 7 years old, from
the camper on the other side of my site, came over on his bike to watch every
move I made. He did not speak English
and didn’t want to try to converse … just watch. He did call to my attention to water dripping
under the coach in the front (condensation from the A/C). I have not seen him since that time, so I
must not be doing anything interesting.
That evening I walked around the campground looking for
anyone who spoke English so they could help me with the rules I wasn’t able to
decipher. Everyone seemed reserved and not overly friendly; I finally found an
elderly couple that are seasonal for the summer and between the two of us we
worked it out. The gentleman turned out to be a retired police officer and his wife a retired school bus driver. They live in Montreal, but spend the winter in Florida. They rent a condo in Allentown, outside of Miami.
I could figure out most
of the rules, as they are pretty much the same from one campground to another
…. Animals, number of people per site, trash, noise, fires, etc. The rule that
posed the challenge was the one regarding the front entrance gate. If you are not in the park between 11pm and
8am, you’re sleeping somewhere else. No
gate keys or codes are given.
There are a couple of games being played by the adults ….
The horseshoe pits are at an incline; I have only seen them flat, so
that is different. They also play a game
with small metal balls. It resembles
bowling, except there are no pins. The
object is to get closer to the tiny red ball than any of the other players; you can
knock them out of your way if need be.
It causes quite a bit of excitement among the players and observers.
I am also noticing the women’s manner of dress. There doesn’t seem to be any
self-consciousness about covering up parts of the body better left to the
imagination. I’m not talking about
indecent exposure; I’m talking about very overweight people in bikinis, etc.
LOL I have seen this everywhere I go.
