2024 Bigger Truck across Canada, days 12 & 13

Decided to combine days 12 & 13, as they were pretty much both travel days, and we really did nothing but drive. I will shout out a few spots to potentially avoid, and another that was an oasis for weary travelers.

Day 12 started with a reasonable start from the Montreal KOA, with a target of reaching somewhere close to the border by the end of the day. The initial drive was pretty uneventful, until we got within 100 kilometres (I know, now I'm abusing the French) of Toronto. That's when this started.

and continued, to well beyond Guelph. While we are on the subject of something as Canadian as the town Guelph, allow me to wish the great Geddy Lee a belated 71st birthday. Rush's songs shaped some of my college years, with one of the most meaningful lyrics being from The Spirit of Radio -

"Begin the day with a friendly voice, a companion unobtrusive... off on your way, hit the open road, there is magic at your fingers"

That and "If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice" have stuck with me for a long time. They are also great thoughts to distract you from the excruciating 100km/h speed limits that you can only hope to achieve while stuck in bumper to bumper traffic for 2+ hours even though you are at least a half hour outside of Toronto.

Once traffic seemed to open up, we chose a destination, Pinery Provincial Park just outside Grand Bend, ON.

Of course there was a detour, near a town that has to be a prank name. No way a group of people agreed to name a town Punkeydoodles Corners, but however successful this prank was, it successfully delayed our arrival. We drove for about an hour through canadian farmland, only to eventually arrive at Grand Bend to grab some dinner. There are very few places to park a rig like ours, so we ended up finding a public parking lot a few blocks away from some of the restaurants and improvising.

Once in town, we grabbed a quick bite at Big Kahuna Riverbar. In the interest of being constructive, they have a great location on the river.

Once we finished our dinner, it was off to Pinery Provincial Park. We had delusions of hitting the sunset here, but a lengthy check in process resulted in us just finding our site and burning what was left of our firewood so we wouldn't be bringing contraband across the border. It was a pretty shortlived fire, since it was 89% humidity and still almost 30deg C (trust me, that's warm).

We packed it in and resigned ourselves to leaving in the morning and putting a bow on this trip.

After a pretty quiet morning, we headed toward the border, somewhat excited to be home. Once we reached the Bluewater Bridge, we ran into pretty typical border traffic.

In a surprising twist, we snagged the RV only lane at customs, answered a few questions after presenting our passports, and were waved through. I've had plenty of border experiences that have involved searches, inspections, and lengthy delays, but on this trip they treated us like model citizens. I give all the credit to Kimberly for appearing responsible.

After clearing the border, there was nothing but a gas stop between us and home. It was refreshing to spend under $200 on a fillup for once, and also experience America's most significant technological advantage over our neighbors to the north - the gas pump hold open latch.

We also noticed that the Jeep was still proudly wearing the red PEI mud as a badge of honor.

Now that we have reached home base, it's time to be reunited with the zoo and collect all of the animals. Here is the time where we thank those that make trips like this possible. Thank you to the Takas family for watching big boy Cru, thank you to Hayley for watching Jordan's bird Rio, thank you both Cento Anni and Auxo for holding down the fort while we were away from work, and thank you to all of you who followed along with the blog and gave us messages of encouragement along the way.

A few quick stats before we sign off. Miles (km) traveled on this trip: 3270m (5232km) via the Bigger Truck, 478m (765km) via the Jeep. Petrol prices were ludicrous, with our total fuel expenses coming in at $1751, so $0.47 per mile. Probably not the most fuel efficient way to travel through Canada, but the experiences were well worth it.

We certainly encountered some challenges along the way (snapped towbar in downtown Montreal comes to mind), but we rolled with the situation and made the best of it. While Kimberly was chasing the motorhome until we could resolve the towbar issue, she captured an image that is the perfect signoff for this particular trip.

Cheers!