We were actually parked in a suburb of Quebec City called Sainte Nicholas, just across the river on Hwy 20 Ouest. An easy access to the freeways and to "old town" Quebec. Saturday a.m., we were up early, I got one load of laundry done and then we headed off to be tourists for the day. Of course our first stop was to a RV dealer downt the road from where we were parked as Dale has spotted a Prevost Royale in their lot and he wanted to check it out!
Nice bus, nice colours and a lovely interior. It was a 1996 XL 45, Series 60 with 89,000 miles on it and asking $155,000.00. My, how prices have dropped!!!Anyone interested in a Prevost, this looks like a good buy.
Leaving there we once again went on our way. For the first little bit we drove through a lot of the areas, stopping here and there to admire the views and/or take pictures. To try and walk from the Plains of Abraham to the Citadel and points in between was not feasible, so we drove where ever possible and then, eventually, parked the car to visit small by ways and alley ways. Toured quite a bit of the older areas which was still crammed with tourists. Went into the Notre Dam Basillica and wow, is that ever a beautiful site to behold. Magificent structure and so majestic. One of the cornerstones stated that construction on the basillica started in 1608! Impressive history lesson as is most of the Quebec City area (We wanted to take a buggy ride to see some of the sites but we couldn't find the address!!)
After watching some street entertainment and visiting a few shops along the way, we decided to find the car and find a restaurant for a late lunch; away from the tourist areas as their prices were prohibitive! Besides now it was starting to sprinkle a little and we both are so fragile when it comes to rain!!!!!
When we got back on the river route (Blvd Champagne); we couldn't find another (inexpensive..eg: less than $20.00) parking spot so decided to cross the river and go for a drive south for a bit to see what was there. Again, lots of small towns and old barns. We did come across one of many "smoked meats" signs and decided to check it out. Turns out they are essentially pizza places that also sell smoked meat sandwiches, fries and beer! So, decided to try tgheir smoked meat special. Well, I haven't seen corned beef piled that high ever before; that plus a sack of potatoes in the form of french fries, cole slaw to die for and a pitcher of cold Sleeman's beer! And was it ever good, plus we brought a doggie bag home (the meat, not the beer!). This was around 3:00 in the afternoon so made a very late lunch and an early supper. No cooking tonight. The entertainment for the evening was doing laundry!
Sunday dawned a beautiful sunny day. Quite hot..went up to 34, but very little humidity so more bearable. Once we got the day going, Dale did a couple of small jobs on the bus and also oiled the lock on the gate. We had had difficulty opening it as it was quite rusted so thought we would repay their hospitality by getting it working a little easier. My entertainment while he was doing this was wiping window sills and washing the floor (and believe me, it really needed it) and generally cleaning up finger marks on all the mirrors and making the bus presentable again.
In the early afternoon we went "outside the gates" to the dump station and water hose so once again the necessary tanks are emptied and the water tanks are full. We left Sainte Nicholas then and headed to Sainte Claire. I had put the address into the Microsoft Streets & Trips program so we were following those directions, which, it turns out, took us on all the back roads and side roads where the bus was not meant to be!!! Beautiful drive tho through the back countryside, good for me, Dale was not so happy.
We again missed one turn, so had to unhook the car and back up, turn the corner and re-hook etc. The road signs were quite often difficult to find or see so easy to miss; plus the roads every few miles it seemed, changed names. So had to be on top of the computer map. Then we got to a "T" intersection with no signs for the road or the town. Fortunately, a young man was at the other stop sign so flagged him down (I'm getting rather good at this) and once again, through sign language and laughter, he got us to follow him to the Prevost factory. We were in Sainte-Claire only we didn't know it!
Parked the bus and took a drive around Sainte-Claire. Populations 3100. Not much to see or do. Picked up some fresh fruit/veg at a stand; checked out the local SAQ store (liquor store) the local METRO (supermarket) drove through a few streets and back to the bus. The reason that Prevost is in such a small town is that the original founder/builder lived there and started building busses in 1927..his original building and house is still in Sainte-Claire and the facility where we were parked was built in 1984.
Monday a.m., we were given a tour of the facility and my goodness, what a fabulous tour. Couldn't take any pictures but we were walked through every step of the building process to the finishing process and paint job/decal application. The quality control steps they have on the "shell" as it passes from work station to work station is impressive. If you are every over that way, well worth the tour.
Around 1:00 p.m. we left Sainte-Claire and started our drive to New Brunswick. This time we were given directions that had us on a much better road and shorter drive to the main freeway east (Hwy 20). It was about a 6 hour drive with a few stops in between to stretch our legs. Not much to see, your typical freeway drive from stop A to stop B.
Entering New Brunswick just before Edmunston, there is a wonderful tourist information centre where we loaded up on maps and brochures and spent quite a bit of time talking to the tourist info offices on things to see and do and directions to get there. They also phoned a couple of RV parks to see if there were any vacancies for the night (yes) with 50 AMP (No). So we came over to the provincial park to spend the night. Lots of trees so some shelter from the hot sun.
This area is experiencing a heat wave which is supposed to last for at least the next four to five days. Temperatures are in the 30's so nice and toasty. Plus, here at least in the park, it is not cooling off. Don't want to run the generator to get the air conditioning on as it is now after 10:00 pm here (we're now on Atlantic Time) so will just have to keep the fans blowing all night.
Tomorrow, we're heading to St. Leonard, Campbellton and Bathurst,where we will probably spend the night. Can't believe tomorrow is the last day of September. Now it feels like we're rushing to see and do everything.
Till next time, keep well, travel safe and god bless
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