LET'S GO TO CANADA

Monday, September 16

Today was a travel day from Shelburne, Vermont to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, a distance of 113 miles.  Actually we are about 20 miles north of Montreal in St Mathieu-De-Beoeil, but that is too hard to pronounce so we'll stick with Montreal.  Our drive here this morning was very pleasant.  We left Shelburne around 9:30 and the temperature was a cool 48 degrees.  It rained overnight and there was a stiff wind from the north, so it was a little cold hitching up.

We could have followed on I-89 from Shelburne most of the way to the Canadian border, but Adventure Caravan planned a better way.  Just outside of Shelburne we got onto Highway 2 which is a scenic byway that runs alongside Lake Champlain.  

        

The drive was indeed scenic with quaint houses, towns and magnificent views of Lake Champlain lining the highway. 

        

       

       

       

         

          

         

The are lots of huge Weeping Willow trees in this part of the country and they are beautiful.  We are beginning to see a little more color, but not what I had expected.  

           

           

Hopefully this cooler weather - it's supposed to be in the 30's tonight - will bring on the color.  The clouds  started breaking up about half way here and we enjoyed beautiful sunshine for the latter part of the trip.  

We were prepared when we got to the border.

          

               Custom at Border crossing into Canada

         

                 Welcome Center in Quebec, Canada

 I pulled up to the Customs window prepared to answer questions and possibly be searched.  After all we are from Texas.  The young lady at the window did ask lots of questions, even asking if we had any weapons.  When I said "No," she asked if we had weapons at home in Texas.  When I again responded "No"she  said,  "Are you sure?  "Doesn't everyone in Texas have weapons?"  Again I said "No," and she waived us through.   We Texans carry quite a stereotype wherever we go.  

We arrived in St Mathieu-De-Beoeil a little early - can't come to the campground until 1:30 so we pulled into a Costco to wait 20 minutes.  We arrived and set up with no problems.  We had a social tonight at 5:30 to share stories about our travel.We have a social most days in the late afternoon. We grilled pork chops and pan fried potatos for dinner and have settled in for the night.  

          

         Night falls on the campground

Tomorrow we have a full day bus tour of Montreal.  We leave at 8:30 in the morning and don't return until 7:30 tomorrow evening.  There must be lots to see in Montreal.  If so, I'll report on it tomorrow night.  Until then, Happy Trails!