Arrived back in Ottawa

And today is the last day of the month. October the 1st, tomorrow, was when we were supposed to be starting our one month house sit out in Manotick (a small community just south of Ottawa). Our hosts had to cancel sort of last minute because the husband is having some health problems. 

We understand that kind of thing can happen, and we're flexible. It does present some issues, but nothing we can't deal with.

Last day in Alberta

Sunday morning in Cochrane, Alberta as I write this, and this afternoon we will be flying back to Ottawa to arrive back at Igor where he is waiting at the mechanical shop parking lot.

Unfortunately, he is not quite ready for us!

More views of the Canadian Rocky Mountains

Yes, we were out hiking again yesterday. Besides seeing my sister, this was the main reason for coming. And of course the cheap airfare deal from Ottawa to Calgary return helped as well! We paid only $188 CAD ($139 USD) return per person for the flights.

And that included free beer and wine! Hard to go wrong at that price.

Almost a slot canyon hike... and a cave!

My sister Alison is a zumba instructor, and teaches a class on Thursday before noon. Ruth went with her to the class, so we didn't set off on a hike until after lunch.

Of course there are a ton of different hikes in the mountains near Cochrane, the only drawback is the minimum 45 minute drive to get to them. And of course there are many more (some very spectacular) within a two hour drive.

Gorgeous day hike above Barrier Lake

Wednesday was an absolutely beautiful day here in central Alberta, although they were calling for some strong winds in the mountains. We had been planning a ridge hike, but with the strong winds we changed our plans and instead hiked up the Prairie View Lookoff Trail to Yates Mountain and up to the Barrier Lake Fire Lookout.

We arrived at the trailhead at 10:00am

If I had to do it all over again, I would become a helicopter pilot!

We had decided to put off the more strenuous hikes for a day and so my sister Alison had planned us an easy walking route around the town of Cochrane.

Cochrane is one of the fastest growing towns in Canada with a current population of around 37,000. For perspective, twenty years ago it was only 14,000.

Arrived in Calgary

We dropped off Igor at a mechanic shop yesterday after lunch. He runs well, but idles a little rough on start up. Also, there is an odd chugging sound in between some gear shifts (and it's intermittent, to make diagnosis all the more difficult) but two different mechanics have said they think it's a misfire.

I had a quick look at the spark plugs, and they honestly look like they've never been changed. 

Another great weekend away with the boys.

With near perfect weather in the books, I completed yet another weekend away with my guy friends. I think we figured out that was the 13th annual. I missed a few gatherings in the early years because Ruth and I were traveling, but I decided several years ago that I would not miss another one. Just too much fun with these guys, we all value our long friendship and the older we get, the faster that time seems to go by.

Two more of them are retiring next year, so we've pretty much decided that our next annual guys weekend away will be an international trip. Some of the discussion revolved around Mexico, so we'll see what happens.

A major change of plans.

At the end of our last update, we had overnighted at the Quebec/Ontario border just east of Hawkesbury. We crossed at Hawkesbury, headed to Ingleside to pick up our son's car, and then to Ottawa where we had a 2:00pm meeting with Gretchen and her three cats.

While I am at my annual guy's weekend away, Ruth will be housesitting for Gretchen.

Quebec City is very photogenic!

It's taken us two weeks to do this drive between Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley, and the city of Ottawa... and we still felt rushed. There is so much to see along the way, and one of those places is the historic city of Quebec City.

We had been to Quebec City before, but it was way back in 2008. At the time, we had our dog Whiskey with us and we had parked our motorhome Sherman across the river in Levis, and taken the ferry across to explore the city.

Arrived in Quebec City

The campground was quiet. There's a reason we normally choose the September/October time frame to return to Canada. The kids are back in school, the weather is perfect, and the bug season is generally over.

We did our laundry on Monday morning before leaving the campground, but we were still on the road by 10:15am or so, headed southwest along the north shore of the St. Lawrence River towards Quebec City.

Lots of nice scenery along this route, and the trees are starting to show some color.

Igor's first paid camping spot

We were in need of showers and laundry. Yes, Igor does have a shower, but it's a bit cramped. It works if you have to, but it's not ideal. So if there is somewhere else that is convenient, we prefer that.

And in the town of Tadoussac, there was a listing for showers ($1 for five minutes) and a laundry at a municipal park near the marina. Sounds good to us!

Last minute ferry ride!

We were up and on the road at 6:00am Saturday morning!

Why up so early? Well, we knew that we wanted to take the ferry from Matane that goes across to the north shore of the St. Lawrence River. We've done the south shore drive several times, but have never been on the north shore.

17 km (10.5 mile) hike in Gaspesie National Park

We drove about 30 kms (18 miles) north to get to the visitors center at Gaspesie National Park. 

Just an FYI... Quebec's "national" parks are actually provincial parks. They are NOT run by Parks Canada, and Canada's national parks passes do not work here. 

Waterfalls, and a view, and another great overnight spot!

 We got up at 6:00am, and went for a hike!

We had been parked overnight at the back entrance trailhead for the Mount Carleton hike above the town of Carleton Sur Mer. That's a fairly long hike, and I had some computer work to do yesterday morning, but we figured we had time for the shorter hike to Grand Sault Falls.

Views over Campbellton, then back into the province of Quebec

We said goodbye to Denis and Marjolaine just before 10:00am Wednesday morning. Really enjoyed our stay with them! Thanks, and hope to see you again someday!

It was looking like a really nice day, and we had a plan to climb Campbellton's Sugarloaf Mountain before heading across the border into Quebec.

Well that was a good day!

This area around Campbellton is really nice. We were really enjoying our time with Denis and Marjolaine, and they said we were welcome to stay another night so that they could take the time to properly show us around the area.

Denis has had a hobby of building hand made cedar strip canoes that are easier to navigate the shallow waters of the nearby Restigouche River. And he offered to take us for a boat ride on the river!

We met two sets of blog followers yesterday!

Ruth had been in touch with a lady from the FB group Senior Nomads. Cynthia and her husband Tom are from Arizona, and have been full time travelers for only four months. They've got a cottage rented for a month up here in Dalhousie, New Brunswick which was right along our route, so we made a plan to meet up.

Dalhousie is a town of 3,200 located very close to the border of Quebec, just below the Gaspe Peninsula.

Miramichi was okay, but unimpressed with Bathurst

The rain had stopped overnight and it was starting out to be a nice day. We hadn't had a walk around town the day before due to the rain, so we went for a walk before heading out of Miramichi.

Our new Lifesaver RV Water Filter System

Yesterday was a rain day! Before the heavy rain started, we drove about 92 kms (57 miles) from Cap Lumiere Beach to the Miramichi area where we found a library and a laundromat and just waited out the rain. 

We didn't do very much yesterday, so today I'm going to tell you about our new water filter... the Lifesaver Cube!

Canada's only bilingual province

We hung out using the winery WiFi until about 10:00am, then set off heading north along the east coast of New Brunswick.

Pretty slow going because the secondary roads aren't in great condition, but we're in no rush anyhow so quite happy to plod along.

Welcome to New Brunswick!

I had some internet work to do yesterday morning, so we got up and drove right away, at 6:30am. But we had a stop to make first! There was a nearby waterfall I wanted to see, so we got some exercise with an early morning hike to Drysdale Falls.

Another great day exploring, and another perfect overnight spot.

We slept great at our overnight spot at Tennecape Wharf. And no, we didn't float away at high tide!

I did get up to go to the bathroom at about 3:00am, an hour after high tide, and I looked out the window to see the water about 8 meters (30') away, so no problem!

But by the time we got up, it was back to low tide again, so we left Igor there and went for a morning walk along the shoreline.

Fantastic overnight spot for our first night back on the road!

We had originally tried to leave Lindsey's before lunch, but then she had to go out in the morning and wouldn't be back until 11:30am, so we hung around. And then when she did get back, we decided we might as well have lunch, and then go. 

And then, we decided I needed a haircut, so Ruth got that done as well using some of Lindsey's equipment.

We think we're ready to go!

It's been a fun and productive month here at our daughter's place in Nova Scotia. We spent a lot of time with the family, and got a lot done to Igor!

And we were sure lucky with the weather. Very little rain, and temperatures between 20C to 28C (68F to 82F). Couldn't have asked for much better.

Finished Igor's bed, and took Sadie out for some birthday treats!

There was some rain in the forecast so I didn't get the fourth and final window done in Igor the motorhome. Instead, it was time to complete the upper bed!

First, I had to install the mattress underlay which prevents condensation and potential mold growth under the mattress by providing air flow.

August Expenses

We were a little over budget for August, but only because the budget wasn't accurate to begin with. I had forgotten to include anticipated expenses to celebrate our grandchildren's birthdays. We normally aren't able to do that when the actual event occurs, so we do it at the next available time. Which was in August!

Anyhow, not a bad month, considering we're in a very expensive country.