OK - we had a fantastic plan for today, and things went quite well after a disastrous experience last night at the KOA. Wrong site, next site didn't fit, very angsty/uncooperative person at the counter, tons of mosquitos, etc. Today, however, was a new day. Full Cousin Eddie (at the site - one bonus, full hookup), quick top off on the fresh water, and we were on the road by 8:10am. If you know the female contingent of this family, that is like leaving at 3am for most families.
Once on the road, we made great time, getting to Montreal at around 11:30am, with our admission to the Montreal Botanical Garden starting at 12:30pm. Plenty of time. We made it through a couple of tunnels (more on that later), and as we were about to take the final left turn onto Rue Viao, I noticed the Jeep appearing in my driver's side mirror. When we tow the Jeep, it is not visible in the mirrors, only via the backup camera. As I glanced down at the camera screen, I then saw the Jeep in the passenger side mirror. Not great, Bob.
After a moment of sheer panic, the realization set in. Something had gone very wrong with the towbar, and we needed to stop that moment. Halfway into the left turn lane, almost into the intersection. I jumped out, assessed the carnage, and ran around to the passenger side to grab the tools out of the storage compartment. Somehow the towbar had completely snapped in two, leaving only the safety cables and one arm holding the Jeep to the motorhome. I found myseld saying "stay calm" to no one in particular, I guess to myself.
Once we had the Jeep separated, it was time to quickly assess if any damage had occurred to either the Jeep or the Big Truck. Luckily the most damage appeared to be to the road, with some pretty deep gouges in pavement from the broken towbar. Kimberly then jumped into the Jeep and followed me to our destination. Jordan assumed shotgun duties, and had Kimberly on speakerphone. We didn't even discuss what had happened, just attempted to navigate the motorhome-width lane of the road to our destination.
What happened next, I'm actually quite proud of. While I went immediately into problem solving mode and spent the next half hour on the phone getting the run around in French from every RV dealer in the surrounding Montreal area, Kimberly and Jordan calmly navigated us to the entrance of the garden and put the entire situation behind us. I finally resigned myself to the fact that we weren't fixing anything until Monday, and realized that we were still completely self contained, we were just now traveling with 2 separate vehicles for the time being. Things could be worse.
Cue the botanical gardens to the rescue.
This place was huge. It is on the former Montreal Olympic grounds, so this thing is always looming in the background.
From there, it was on to the
Biodome. No, not the 4% on rotten tomatoes Pauly Shore vehicle (do yourself a favor and watch that trailer, so many incredible cameos), but an actual dome containing multiple different exhibits based on the St Lawrence River region. Super cool, and very educational. But more importantly, since we were sunburned, hot, sweaty, and exhausted - it had a hallway made of ice.
This led to the penguin exhibit, always a favorite. Then a real life
ROUS
From there, the place continued to amaze. It had a bit of a
Truman Show feel, but the exhibits were impressive and the architecture was incredible.
Before we headed back to the campsite for the evening, we decided to grab a bite to eat at a local brewery. It did not disappoint, although our distinct lack of a grasp of the French language made it a bit challenging. This place was great, and I can attest to the quality their beers. This blog post is brought to you by their Belgian Quad, which while incredible, is only slightly better than their Tripel.
And finally - an acknowledgement that although today started off pretty much as poorly as it could have, we were quite fortunate. About 2 minutes before the towbar unalived itself, we were driving through these two tunnels.
I hate to think of how it would have gone had the tow bar exploded in the tunnels, so all in all today was still a pretty good day.
Tomorrow - 2.5 hrs to Quebec City, thankfully Kimberly can drive a stick (support Save the Manuals) so we're good until we get this rig patched up on Monday.
Cheers!
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