JUNE 29

This morning we toured Fredericton. The old part of town is on the south side of the river, It was the original settlement and is clearly the poor cousin, The downtown area has many vacant buildings and the street and parks are poorly kept. However there does appear to be a renaissance beginning with some building now being restored.
The north side of town is clearly the wealthy section and many of the older homes are well kept and nicely preserved. Most of the development in the last 2-3 decades have been on the north side.
We left Fredericton and followed the Saint John river south to the city of Saint John, about 100 km or 60 miles it is a vibrant, exciting place with a rich heritage.The city was settled in the 1770 with Americans who were loyal to the King of England and decided to leave the US. They build their settlement to last with many buildings being beautifully built of brick and stone. Today the outside remains as they were build and the inside are modernised and in use.We visited the reversing falls where the Saint John river empties into the Bay of Fundy were the ocean tide is the highest is the world. At that point the tide is 28 1/2 feet and the river bed is 185 feet deep, the flow of water at high tide is more that all the rest of the rivers in the world combined.
To watch the rapids flow in one direction then go slack and still as the waters levels and then reverse to rapids the other direction is truly awesome. The effect of the tide is seen over 80 miles upstream. It is a unforgettable sight.

JUNE 28

Spend the day on the Saint John River Valley Senic Drive. travelled 165 km (100M) of postcard picture senery, dozens of small towns and villages, miles and miles of potatoe fields (if you have every had McCains frozen french fries they likely were grown and processed here) McCains processes 100 tons of fries per hour in the plant. We stopped to tour the plant but you need to request a tour by mail 30 days in advance. We don't think there do many tours.
spent a couple of hours at Grand Falls and Gorge, while walking along the path we had a young moose trot by about 30 feet ain front of us.
Visiede King's landing a rebuilt poineer village, when you seen one you've seen them all. Days end finds us at Fredricton, the capital on New Brunswick. Have lots of pictures, if I can figure out how to post them I'll get you a few.

JUNE 27

The day has arrived, up by 0600, breakfast, couple of of last minute items to take care of and out the door by 0730. Driving east on HWY 417 there was little traffic and made great time to the Quebec border. Traffic picked up as we approched Montreal but no major slowdowns.
HWY 20 in Quebec follows the St. Lawerence River east toward the Gaspe Pennisula and crosses miles and miles of forestland spotted with small villages and farming communities.
We Stopped for lunch at a nice waterside park in Levis QC across the river from the Chateau Frontenac hotel in Quebec City. By mid afternoon we turned south towards New Brunswick and arrived at Edmonston about 1730 Was surprised to find that almost all signage in town in French only although everyone we spoke with was bilingual.

The day has arrived

The RV is full of gas, the oil is new,the vehicle is washed, the fridge and cupboards are full of food and the wardrobe is packed with clothes. I wonger what we forgot, I'm sure that whatever it is we can find at wal-mart,but not tomorrow no wally-marts in Quebec.
We will plan on leaving about 0730h and hope to be into New Brunswick before dark, then to find a place to spend the night. We have no set plans except to see and visit all that we can of this great beautiful country of Canada.
We expect to be at Fundy Bay National park in a day or two, where you can canoe in the morning and walk on the ocean floor in the same spot later in the day.
But we don't want to get ahead of ourselves so will leave that for later.
Now a good night sleep, pleasant dreams and the adventure begins.
Blessings to all
Diane and Keith

Getting started.

For a number of years we have talked about traveling around Canada and America from the Atlantic to the Pacific and the Artic to the Gulf of Mexico. The time has come to stop talking and start doing.

Many of you will know that we bought a Roadtrek (see picture) this past winter in Mississippi, got her home and have been out 3 different times to figure out what we need and what we don't need and are ready for our first major trip.

We are leaving on June 27, 2010 for a 5 week tour of eastern Canada, hoping to see all we can in that time, visit some old friends, stand on Signal Hill (easternmost point in North America) Then head home across the Trans-Labrador Hwy. through Quebec and home in early August.

We plan on keeping you up to date every day depending on internet coverage. However just keep checking we'll keep posting whenever we can.