We Oughta Be in Ottawa - And We Are

Today is another Two-Fer blog post, for today and yesterday.  Two pretty easy days of travel on the Trans-Canada Highway.  We learned this highway goes from Newfoundland to Vancouver, British Columbia. Yesterday was from Serpent River to Mattawa, Ontario.  We did not have the foresight to get a map for the RV that included Canadian provinces, so Neil drew Ontario on the side.  It won't last long as it is water soluble ink.

Ontario is The Red Blob Above the Great Lakes

Serpent River to Mattawa, Ontario

While Highway 17 may be the transcontinental highway, it is only two lanes until you are close to large cities. More importantly, we miss rest areas every 60-80 miles. Finding places to pull over for lunch or stretching our legs is more challenging. We are thankful for excellent cell reception and Google Maps so we can find places to pull off, get gas and find our campgrounds easily.

The Only Moose We Have Seen This Trip

We are getting closer and closer to Quebec and the evidence of French in the signs is increasing.  We decided that the English signs take up less space that the French.  No surprise, really.

It is also apparent that we are in "Tim Horton's territory".  Tim was a famous Canadian hockey player who opened a bunch of donut shops years ago.  The stores have increased to be in every town over 500 in size. They sell sandwiches in addition to donuts and coffee.  We have seen them in just about every town we have driven through. Neil has sampled both the sandwiches and cinnamon rolls.

Donuts Anyone?

The highways have been OK, but probably not as good as most of the US highways we have traveled.  The Trans Canada Highway has a 90 kph speed limit, which at 56 mph is just about our cruising speed.  We noticed that Canadian drivers are no better at following the speed limit than Americans.  Fortunately, there are enough passing lanes that we are not keeping drivers from speeding too much.

Mattawa to Ottawa a Ontario Map

Our route today was east and a bit south, to the Hither Hills Campground just south of Ottawa.  We will be here for three nights and plan to spend a couple of days downtown in museums, cathedrals, and other attractions.  Maybe our next blog posting with have more "culture"--but maybe not.

Thanks for listening,

Neil and Pamela