Planned time of departure – 7:30am
Actual time of departure - 9 freaking 30.
Yup. Once again I managed to snooze my alarm just enough to be really freaking late. But that’s OK.
What could go wrong?
We did all of the packing last night. There were only pillows and kids to put in the truck. And blankets, and backpacks, and laptops and camera’s and passports and money and purses and the coffee pot and the stuff we had to return at the library, and….. well that’s how it goes. We stopped at Tim’s for coffee and hit the highway by 9:30. We borrowed Yan’s GPS (thanks Yan) to make sure we didn’t have a repeat of last time. It did a great job. It said we would be at the campsite by 5:30.
What could go wrong?
Just outside of Montreal, we hit the traffic. Not too bad. It was just an accident. We lost maybe 15-20 minutes according to the GPS. The kids were starting to get hungry, so we thought we’d find a fry stand and get some genuine Quebec poutine. So we looked for a fry stand. And we looked, and looked, and before too long we pulled up to the US border. Who knew Quebec would be one of the hardest places to find poutine. We crossed the border and found a rest stop and had some sandwiches. I had planned to stop for 30 minutes, but we were out of there in record time and I said to Guylaine that we had made up the time we lost in Montreal.
What could go wrong?
I can’t Xavier for what followed, but he started a chain of events that would alter the entire course of our day.
He told me he had to shit.
Now, he didn’t come out and say that, but he made it quite clear that he needed a little rest stop, so I found the next rest area and pulled in. I asked him if he wanted to go in the trailer, or go for a walk. He chose the trailer. Then he decided he needed a little privacy, so he was playing around with the door for the bathroom. After a lot of stalling, it turned out, he wanted a new diaper and a little break from his car seat. I changed him and got him back into the truck. By this time, Sam, William and Guylaine decided they were going to take advantage of the facilities before we pulled away. But someone, who was screwing with the door, locked it. I had to dig the toolbox out and take the door handle off. We lost a good 20 minutes there. No problem. Back on the road.
What could go wrong?
We no sooner pull out of the rest area and the truck starts making noise. There really isn’t any place safe to pull over so I hop along for a few hundred yards and pull over. I thought maybe it was the tranny. We let it cool down and then through trial and error determine it’s the air conditioner. Overall, we lose 45 minutes with this thing. We proceed sans A/C. Wow it’s hot. Guess we’ll keep the windows down.
What could go wrong?
We keep going and start realising how far away we still are, and decide the best thing for everyone is to make one last stop at McDonalds and get supper out of the way. I’m all for it, despite the fact it means I’ll be setting up camp in the dark (again). We need to leave earlier or start camping closer.
We get to Boston, and some of the lanes are shut down for construction. Traffic is a little slow, but not too bad. We made the campsite by 9:30 (just as they’re closing the office) and make our way to our site.
I suck at backing up the trailer.
Guylaine sucks at directing me on where to back up the trailer.
We finally get it in place and go about setting up. Guylaine walks over to the store and takes the kids to the playground to get them out of my hair. Our black tank was pretty full so I thought I’d discreetly hook up the sewer hose and dump it under the cloak of darkness without my neighbours seeing. As I’m hooking up a wonderfully helpful park employee stops by on his golf cart to offer me some light,
I’m so happy.
We finally got everything and everyone settled in by midnight. I set up our awning (properly this time) complete with Guylaine’s new flamingo / cactus patio lights and we had a few beers while the kids went to sleep.
Bottom line, the kids were really great today considering we stuck them in the truck for yet another 12 hour day – this time with no A/C (Sammy had his shirt off most of the way, and I won’t even begin to describe Guylaine’s hair after 7 hours of an open window and sunroof). We’re happy to be here and looking forward to the adventure ahead (although not the drive home without A/C.)
After all, what could go wrong?
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