Friday, July 27, 2018 (Travel to Montreal South KOA, Montreal, Quebec)

We weren't in any huge hurry to get on the road today...it was about 2 1/2 hours to the Montreal South KOA. We would not normally choose a KOA because they are so expensive but what we found was that most RV parks in the area were expensive and at least with KOA, you generally know what you can expect. There is also a shuttle from the park that takes you into the city...so, that was also a deciding factor.

It was around 10:00 when we were ready to hit the road. After big hugs, we said "see ya down the road" and pulled out. Thank you again, Sherry and Andrew for your hospitality. We really enjoyed our stay and re-connecting with you!
 We made our way southeast towards highway 401. The Rideau River...
 The fireweed is beautiful...
 We crossed the border into Quebec! Ah..no Canadian flag I see...
So we noticed while driving east the provinces of Manitoba and Ontario had bilingual signs along the highways...how considerate. As soon as we got into Quebec it was French only. Even the highway construction signs, how inconsiderate and possibly dangerous! Any federally funded roadway that our taxes helped pay for should have bilingual signs...period...this is Canada! Talk about feeling like a foreigner in your own country! That's my rant. (Steve)
We took highway 30 which skirts to the south of Montreal...a toll highway but well worth the $8.40 we paid to avoid having to drive through the city.
Crossing over the St. Lawrence River...
 We took the Madeleine Parent Bridge over Beauharnois Canal, part of the St. Lawrence Seaway...


 A few hours later, we pulled into Montreal South KOA..
We were greeted by a nice young lady who spoke English. She registered us, and after giving us directions to site E11, we made our way to the long pull-through site. We got levelled and unhitched and then went through the usual chore of setting up...
 This is a view down our street...lots of empty sites!
After we were all done, I walked up to the office to find out about the shuttle that goes into the city. They actually sell the tour packages there, so we got a two day hop on, hop off bus package. The bus will pick us up at the office at 9:30 in the morning. Looking forward to it!


4 comments:

  1. We love most of Canada. We've only been to Quebec once years ago with our pop up and have never returned. The people were so rude and uninterested in English speaking people. It is always easy to tell who the French Canadians are in the other provinces because they don't acknowledge you and refuse to share sidewalks or walkways. It's really ashame because we have found Canadians to be some the friendliest people we have met. Hope you have a different experience. But to start out without using the Canadian flag as you entered the Province is just not right.

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    1. We’ve heard the same stories, especially about rude French Canadians in Florida, so that was our biggest fear coming here. To our surprise so far we have experienced the opposite. Everywhere we’ve been so far everyone has been pleasant and will converse in English if they can. Our only negative experience has been trying to book a campsite in Perce in which the wife barely speaks english so hung up on us. Calling back her husband who speaks English hung up on us when we asked about Passport America. Their website said PA was available after the 15th and we wanted to book the 17th.
      A 2016 survey showed 82% of Quebecers agreed that Quebec should stay in Canada and by language 73% of francophones agreed they should stay in Canada. So it appears things are changing slowly but it may still take a few more generations. 😊

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  2. We head to Montreal tomorrow (Friday) and will be taking that same highway and toll bridge. I was wondering what it would cost and I assume it may be a bit less than you as we're shorter. I certainly didn't want to try taking some of those city roads with the trailer.
    Hope we meet up at some point this Fall!

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    1. Wow...you guys are moving! At your speed you may just pass us. Cost us $8.40 at the toll.
      Safe travels!

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