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1 to 15 July 2015 16 to 31 July 2015

Thursday July 16, 2015

We are continuing our search for caches in the Lavaltrie, Saint- Sulpice and Repentigny area.

This cache was a fun one. Patrice is un-tying the cache so it can be dropped in our hands.

Continuing our search.

We even took our lunch at the restaurant "La Belle Province".

Patrice is taking a break.

I am not even going to try this cache. A warning about Poison Ivy.

Three fools looking for something!

A very good day with 21 caches found. Michele and I hit the 1000 caches found today and Manon and Patrice hit 100 caches found.

Friday July 17, 2015

We are on the other side of the river, in Sorel, on the bike path and we will be looking for caches along the path.
We had to take the ferry to get here.

The bike path or trail.

A horse in training?

There are a lot of mosquitoes at this time of the year. Not good when looking for a cache in the woods.

After 30 km, we head back home. We have to take the ferry to get back home.

As I mentioned, we biked 30 km and found 30 caches. WOW!

A dip in the pool after all this biking.

The work of a cacher is not done until the paperwork is done.

And the rest of the team is relaxing!!!

We had a very good day biking and caching.

Saturday July 18, 2015

The forecast for today is rain and more rain.
A view from our kitchen.

The awning does not empty easily. I will have to make sure it is closed when the rain comes.

We start to get stuff ready for our departure Monday morning.

Sunday July 19, 2015

We woke up to rain again!
Patrice suggested we visit the museum of "Louis Cyr" in Saint-Jean-de-Matha.

Who was Louis Cyr?
Louis Cyr was the strongest man in Quebec if not the world at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century.

The museum.

This is a typical day of what Louis Cyr was eating in a day. Who is counting the calories?

The two strongest women in Quebec?

The museum took us about one hour to visit. We liked this small museum. Surprisingly all the information was in both official languages, French/English. If you happen to drive by, stop and visit this museum.

We had to look for some caches...

For health reasons, we had to stop for an ice-cream to keep hydrated and cool on this hot day!!!

A cute place for a cache.

After supper time it is still hot and humid. We decide to spend the evening in the motorhome where the AC is running.

We will be leaving tomorrow morning. We will be dropping off the motorhome for lots of warranty work.

Monday July 20, 2015

We are moving this morning.
Goodbye Manon, Patrice and Catherine.
Manon and Patrice, we will see each other this winter in Florida.

On our way!

As we leave Berthierville, we hit some fog.

Our first stop is at the dealership, Cité Caravane in Saint-Eustache for some warranty work on the motorhome. Some are big problems, even for a NEW motorhome.

We are leaving the motorhome for 5 days, let's see what happens!

With the motorhome at the dealership, we continue to Rolland and Suzie's place.
As usual, we have to wash the car after pulling it behind the motorhome.

We finally get rid of some winter clothing. Rolland is getting our old gore tex.

As with all our visit with family, it is a pleasure to see Rolland and Suzie.
We talked late into the night.

Tuesday July 21, 2015

Rolland has many caches he wants us to find or to give him a hand to find. This one he had not found.
It is at the Shawbridge bridge.

The North river.

With the cache found, we take a well-deserved break.

We continue our search for caches and sometimes we are "caught" by a mogul. She asks us what we are doing and we explained. She thinks it is super.

Back at home, we talk about our find to Suzie. This photo looks like a fishing story!

Later in the evening, uncle André dropped by for a visit.

Another good day with people we love.

Wednesday July 22, 2015

Today is a trip back in time.
Rolland and I are going to Shawinigan to visit the places our grand parents and parents lived in the 40s and 50s.
The red arrow indicates where our grand parents Ross lived. This is also where our mother grew up.
The people living there at this time were outside and looking strangely at us! We explained what we were doing and to our surprise, they invited us inside to view the old staircase and the backyard.

The couple and there 3 kids are listening to what Rolland as to say about our mother growing up in here. We must have spent 45 minutes with them.
The sign says, "Tired parents and happy children live here".

We stopped at the cemetery to check out a tomb. Rose Anne Labrie, wife of Frank Muzzey.
They are the parents of our grand parents. Our mother's grand parents.

The train station where grand papa Ross was the train station chief from 1945 to 1958.

And we have lunch at...

Grand parents Ross' second house. In the summer, grand papa Ross would catch a squirrel, put him in a cage and place the cage on the side of the house for people to come and watch.

Grand papa Matte second house.

Lucien and Rita, our parents, first apartment.

The second apartment of our parents.

On our way back from Shawinigan, we stopped in Maskinongé at the restaurant "La Caillette".

This has been a great day with Rolland. He was a book on the family history in Shawinigan.
Thanks you Rolland!

Thursday July 23, 2015

One more day of extreme heat.
Here, we are washing the awning before we put it back over the patio.

Rolland busy cutting the long grass.

Me, coming out of the man cave with some firewood to start a fire.

The men!

A very nice snack.

A more laid-back day today.

Friday July 24, 2015

A week or so ago, Rolland has asked us if we wanted to go karting with him.
There are 3 of us, Rolland, uncle André and I.
We have to wait for a little over an hour for the rain to stop and the track to dry out.
While the track is drying out, they adjust the kart to each driver.
Denis, number 2.

André, number 15.

And Rolland, number 5.

The drivers are ready for the track.
From L to R, Rolland, Denis and André.

Some last minute instructions about the karts.

We took the 30 laps for about $114.00.
We do 10 laps and take a break, 10 more, another break, finally the last 10 laps.
André and Rolland on the left and Denis on the right.

The first 10 laps are to get used to the kart and realize you are not "Mario Andretti".
Back at the pit after 10 laps, Philipe shows us how to take the turns in a better fashion and gain time.

We sure had a lot of fun today. The smile says it all!

Thank you Michele for the photos.
I will only post my lap time.
My first 10 laps, best time, 1:13.934 minute.
My second 10 laps, best time, 1:09.368 minute.
My third 10 laps, best time, 1:07.856 minute.
I can tell you that it is rough in the karts. They have no suspension.

We have lunch at the local snack bar.

Back at home, we tell all our stories to Suzie.

A treat tonight, we have diner at the Bâton Rouge. It was a very good meal.

I almost forgot, after the karting, we stopped at the RV dealership for an update on the repairs on our motorhome.
We are assured everything is repaired except the generator!!! We will have to stop in Thunder Bay to get it fixed.
We can pick up the motorhome tomorrow morning at 9 am.

Saturday July 25, 2015

We are at the dealership at 9:15 this morning.
I take a walk around to make sure everything is done before we leave.
They have not tightened the bolts under the slide!!!

Parts not installed on the roof of the motorhome!!!

The rear AC cover was good and the front was scratched, now the back is scratched and the front is not?????
How do you spell incompetence? Our RV dealer is Cité Caravane in Saint-Eustache, Québec...

And the slide is still rubbing...

The RV dealership owner is there. Let me tell you he got and ear full about the incompetence of his employee.
He called in a mechanic to fix what had not been fixed during the week they had the motorhome. He was not a happy owner.

I take the time to drop the tire pressure to 90 psi.

The mechanic found another thing broken and fixed it.

We finally leave 2 hours later and still mad about the whole thing. I think the owner is just as mad as we are.

Rolland rides up front of the motorhome while we drive to his place.

At Rolland's home, we set up the motorhome for the next 3 nights.

Tonight we are invited at Karole and Mauro's place to celebrate Rolland 65th anniversary. Rolland does not know about it.
We drive by the metro in Laval to pick up Benoit

Rolland is very surprised.

There are a lot of family member present.

A view of the backyard.

A toast to Rolland.

The required speech.

Have to have cards and cake...

Rolland and Suzie.

Mauro and Karole, our host.

Coralie making faces.

Benoit with Michele.

Mauro the cook.

Michèle having fun with the camera...

After a good meal, cake, it is time for a backyard fire.

After everyone left except Mauro, Karole, Rolland, Suzie, Michele and I, the rain finally started.
We had a very nice afternoon, a good meal, a cake and a fire with the people we love, WOW!
Thank you Karole, Mauro and all the other who helped making this birthday party a success.

Sunday July 26, 2015

Sunday! Our last full day here with family.
We dropped by Estelle's place to pick up some curd cheese.
Once we are back at Rolland's place, we hit the flea market.

We spend some time getting ready for our departure.
Filling up the fresh water tank. Placing the two bikes inside the car. We walk around the house twice to make sure we forgot nothing.

Part of the afternoon is spent under the trees where it is cooler.

In early August there will be the first ever Matte family reunion in North America. Rolland got some coffee cups, pens, shopping bags and stickers for cars made for the occasion.
We bought a few cups and pens. we also got two stickers, one for the car and one for the motorhome. Her is the web site Mattefamily.org.

Why in English? even if we are French Canadian, we spend most of tour time in an English environment.
Rolland is an expert in placing the stickers on cars.

Just a big cloud in the distance.

We have our last meal at the snack bar "Chez Jean".

What a week at Rolland and Suzie's place. The fatigue is catching up to us. We have been visiting family since June 27.
We have been spoiled by family.

Tomorrow starts our migration west to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.
We will be visiting our other son, Jeremy and grandson Gabriel.

Monday July 27, 2015

It is time to move on!

Suzie and Rolland wishing us a good trip.

We parked the motorhome across the street so we could hook up the car.

We are taking the autoroute 15 north.

The Laurentides, ski country!

We have wet roads and we have dry roads.

We only made it to Mont-Laurier today. We are still tired from all the good times we had with the family.
We have stopped here 5 years ago.

A good spot and it is very warm outside. It has hit +33°C today.

It is a good little camping for an overnight.
The "Lac des Barges" is interconnected with other lakes in the area.

The view from the kitchen table.

Of course, I talk to some of the local.

We left Rolland's place at 9 am this morning and were camped by noon. We were too tired to make it to the next campground.

Tuesday July 28, 2015

We are continuing our trip west.

More often than not, the roads are in bad shape. Let me explained, in a car you only feel the biggest defect on the roads. In a motorhome, you feel a lot more and hear a lot more of the defect on the road.

I first taught it was named comatose!!!

It is road construction season in Canada.

That is going to make a mess of the motorhome!

Our destination, Val d'Or.

We are at the cute little campground by the "Cité de l'Or".

Just cooking my breakfast sausages.

This was a hot day to travel, but now we have dash AC with the new motorhome. It makes traveling a lot more enjoyable.

We did a little geocaching. This one was at less than 200 meters from the motorhome.

From the cache...

We had a big rain during the evening.

We are moving along to our destination.

Wednesday July 29, 2015

One more hot day on the road.

For some reason we had to do a detour on this very narrow back road. Not fun when a transport comes barreling down the road.

We do a pit stop in Rouyn-Noranda.

We finally made it to Ontario.

Since we got the motorhome, we have tried to pinpoint the origin of some of the noise in the motorhome as we travel down the road.
The table is one BIG noisemaker when we are rolling down the highway. We tried lubricating, screws and even swearing at it, but no, the noise remained.
The final option was to tie it down on itself. It worked!!!

There are many lakes in the northern part of Quebec and Ontario.

We hit some rain just before we arrived in Kapuskasing.

We looked for a campground in Kapuskasing, but there is none. We cannot stay at Walmart because we still do not have a working generator.
We head back to Moonbeam.

Twin Lakes has some sites for us.

Somebody is missing the south!

As the name of the campground says, two small lakes are available to the campers.

One of the lakes as a nice promenade around it. It is very nice and well made.

Now, that is a swing set!

Our home with two services.

The weather is changing. It is turning cooler, which is nicer for traveling.

Thursday July 30, 2015

It sure has cooled off, yesterday was +34°C and today a maximum of +20°C, brrrr!
This one is for my mother Rita!

When we started driving in Ontario, the roads were terrible. Generally, the roads are in better shape in Ontario.
After Kapuskasing, they are improving a lot.

We are still a long way from the maximum temperature for today.

We believe it is a wolf and there were a few more on the other side of the road.

I always find it interesting to see where the water will flow from now on.

This is not fog, but light rain.

Nature at work taking its place after a fire.

We were supposed to stop here in Longlac for a few days, but our friends are not here at this time.
Next time!

Another pit stop.

Near Nipigon, a new, four lane bridge is being built.

I did not realize that all the goods traveling east to west and back must travel through here in Nipigon. Truck and trains go by here everyday. This explains the quantity of traffic going by the campground.

Nipigon, here we come!

We usually stop at this RV park when we drive by Nipigon.

We will be staying here until Monday. It is a long weekend in Ontario. RV parks in Thunder Bay are full until Monday"

Friday July 31, 2015

I am washing the motorhome this morning. What a surprise (and not) to see water inside the windshield. It is a new windshield installed a week ago!
I know one person at Cité Caravane who will not be happy to get an email from me...

Another view of the RV park.

As seen from the highway.

My new computer station!

The next few days here will do us some good.

Until next time.

Life is good...

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