Updates from the Van - Leaving Ontario
Posted on October 19, 2009 • 3 minutes • 509 words
The music had been paused so we could listen to the engine. Ahead of us was a hill, but not just any hill. It was steep, the paving had some serious wear and tear in it, and worst of all, it was taunting us. “You’ll never make it up me, you sissies.” You’re dead hill, so dead. I took cruise control off, slammed my foot down on the gas pedal, and listened to the engine…Don’t blow up, don’t blow up, don’t blow up… The roaring sound of the engine began getting louder with every inch the van made. The van’s speed went from a rapid 114 kilometers per hour to 100, 95, 90, 80. We began rocking our bodies back and forth, laughing at how stupid we must look, all in an effort to help the big ugly van. Two Quebec vehicles slowed down on their way up to see us throwing our weight out of desperation. They laughed. I didn’t blame them. [caption id=“attachment_1015” align=“aligncenter” width=“300” caption=“Another Uphill Battle”]<img alt="Another Uphill Battle" src="http://ibackpackcanada.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/uphill_battle-300x198.jpg" title="uphill_battle"> [/caption] Ontario can be a pretty tough province to cross in an old vehicle. The cold alone can cause problems, add onto that the amount of hills you’ll be climbing, and you have a potential recipe for disaster. Thankfully, our van has remained disaster free. We’ve been through Thunder Bay, passed through Sault Ste Marie, and finally made it to Sudbury. It was here we had to make a major decision. Whether or not to head south to visit some friends in London and Toronto, or save 12 hours of driving, and potentially hundreds of dollars in repairs, and go straight to Ottawa. [caption id=“attachment_1016” align=“aligncenter” width=“300” caption=“Rockin’ the mitts”]<img alt="Rockin’ the mitts" src="http://ibackpackcanada.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/driving_with_mitts-300x199.jpg" title="driving_with_mitts"> [/caption] Ontario is a beautiful province, and under different circumstances I would love to stay longer and see more of what it has to offer. There are several travel bloggers from Ontario I would love to meet, Including Dave & Deb from The Planet D , and Scott & Dee from Dream a little Dream , I’m assuming they would have plenty of cool things to tell me about their home turf. We stopped for pictures in quite a few places. My personal favourite being Lake Superior. Every lake I had seen up until then I had been able to see the other side. The Great Lakes hold true to their name. However, after another freezing cold night in a campground, we decided it’s time to leave Ontario. We had heard it was warmer in Quebec. The lure of warmer weather, french accents, and a warm poutine was enough for us. [caption id=“attachment_1017” align=“aligncenter” width=“300” caption=“Lake Superior”]<img alt="Lake Superior" src="http://ibackpackcanada.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/lake_superior-300x197.jpg" title="lake_superior"> [/caption] The big ugly van pushed forward, and finally after what seemed like forever, we made it to the climax of the hill. The drowning noise of the engine faded into the whistling sound of the wind coming through the windows. Take that hill, who’s the sissy now? The van began it’s downhill decent. Goodbye Ontario, Bonjour Quebec.
