Date: Wed, 20 Jun 2007 16:47:09 -0400
Reply-To: Benny boy <huotb@VIDEOTRON.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Benny boy <huotb@VIDEOTRON.CA>
Subject: Re: BusFusion Bound Trip Report #03
He he he, nice story... now, get the heck out of there and cross the
St-Laurent river, go around the Gaspe peninsula, chill out there for a few
days, go around and srive into NB, est of it, go into Shediac, have some
Lobsters, keep driving on the coast, nice free camping spot... and why not,
go into Nova Scotia, a fre list member that live in NS should show you around.
He din't tell you but i was the judge at Busfusion, he bribe me! :-)
Ben
On Wed, 20 Jun 2007 11:50:29 -0700, Phil W. Zimmerman
<philzimm1@OBERON.ARK.COM> wrote:
>Hi Folks,
>Day-26
>
>BusFusion was a blast, slice, cool, way-too cool... you get the picture.
>Hah! The piece of crap I call my Van (especially when it "acts-up") received
>Best Innovative Camper Award. Now I'm confused, which those whom know me
well will not at-all be surprised, who got the award...... me or the Van?
>Guess for now perhaps, I will call it a draw. I did my part the Van did hers.
>I'm deeply touched, in a good sort of way. The BusFusion judges bestowed
>this honor on her and I was the proud innovative father of her many
accoutrements.
>
>A great thank-you to the whole BusFusion Organizational crowd. Well Done.....
>closest one will see to darn near perfect; weather, place, surroundings and
>the great VW Folks in attendance. So good, a few of us hung for Sunday night
>before departing....
>
>Monday June 11th (day 17 of my trip) found Kim and me heading towards
Montreal to join with Joy & her friend P-N. I use brevity here to protect
our anonymity, autonomy or maybe our anatomy..... who cares, two Vanagons
were traveling the same road at the same time on the same day... a friggen
miracle!
>
>Benny-boy and Hans welcomed us to their great city of Montreal. The third
>Van of the infamous Labrador Caravan joined with us and we were now three
Vans and four souls. Next came Quebec (Quebec City to us
anglophone-silly-westerners). Two nights spent camped on the South Shore of
the mighty Saint Lawrence River in two of Canada's finest cities. Wow, saw
Skunk, Wood-Chucks and a pile of unidentifiable critters living within these
two cities on the river.
>
>Ok, serious Labrador travel about to happen.
>Sheeze, crossing over to the North Shore was fabulous.
>The Villages were like the picture post-cards one buys to
>send home... showing the folks back-home what the trip
>looked like. But no lie here, the villages really looked
>this picturesque. With names like 'Tadoussac' and camping
>at Domaine des Dunes for the night heck, I thought I was
>in France.... but nope, Quebec and the call to Labrador
>remained strong. We left the North Shore and headed
>towards Manic-5. Yikes, anything called "Manic" I avoid.
>Big lump of concrete blocking the river was the Manic-5 Dam.
>Off up the gravel now, to a place called Labrador. Camped
>with a bazillion bugs on a pretty lake. The following day at
>the first fuel-stop..... the Labrador Caravan was to be
>dealt a fatal-blow.
>
>Word passed down the road from Happy-Valley Goose Bay
>(who needs WiFi with a jungle telegraph like this)
>the Ferries were not running yet, due to late lingering
>Sea-Ice. Whadda-yah mean here: Sea-Ice in mid-June and this aint
>the Titanic Caravan it's the Labrador Caravan? Seems the Newfoundland
>Ferries have lost their courage to navigate at night with bergie-bits
>still in the region. Not to be overly tough on the Newfoundland Ferry
>System, they are probably just cautious cuz recall: BC Ferries
>(my home province) put one of our Ferries on the bottom in 1,200 feet
>of water a year ago with around a hundred cars onboard! Not any
>Sea-Ice in the area either... just stupid operators. So, who wouldda
>thunk the Labrador Caravan would be sunk by sea-ice? Well, not sunk
>but skunked by an indeterminate Ferry Schedule and determinate time
>schedules of the caravaners. No Labrador Caravan this year for this
>group of Vanaganauts! Sad, sad moment in time for all.
>
>Day 26 for me now (June 20th) finds us on the North
>Shore again, just allot further East than before. Slowly wandering
>from village to village. Some with fantastic free camping opportunities.
>Very few tourists (like us) around. Locals seem and act friendly, especially
>since two of our group speak fluent French. Soon, I the lone
anglophone-only, will be continuing solo to the end of the road. This will
be a hoot, I hope for the locals attempting to interpret my crazy attempts
at French.
>
>Weather near perfect, scenic sights galore, fridge (Dometic) still working
>so, life is beautiful..... wish you-all were here.
>
>regards from the road,
>
>Phil Z.
>Campbell River, BC
>--------------------------
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