We had to say Good-Bye to Niagara Falls this morning. But I think we all leave feeling more relaxed having 2 days in the same place again. And having had a good time just really exploring. So we grabbed breaky on the go and set off.
Our day today was just driving. Time to get into the next province…almost. We took the 401 and drove over 5 and a half hours today to get to Cornwall, Ontario. This puts us 1 hour outside of Montreal!
As we left Niagara Falls we passed St. Catharines…for those of you who don’t know, Alexisonfire is Chris’s favourite band. Well, Alexisonfire was formed in St. Catharines. Chris has seen his favoutite band a couple of times in concert and City and Colour, aka Dallas Green, one of the singers of Alexis multiple times with me. He was very excited to fill us all in about the members of the band and where it all began.
S0, travelling Vancouver Island to Ontario. What’s the navigation trick? For us, we have used the navigation app Waze for our entire trip. It not only navigates your trip in real time, but other drivers can flag obstructions in the roadway: fog, construction, police, accidents and more. Waze saved Chris from driving into a pressure cooker on his solo trip in the Camaro, since he was alerted ahead and was watching for it!
OK guys…Toll Roads! We ended up on a toll road on our way out of Niagara Falls…BUT you can add that as a setting or choice in Waze to avoid those. Just an FYI should you need, just download the app to your phone and away you go.
One major red flag I noticed as a passenger in Ontario particularly, was veering Semi Trucks…not all, but a lot. And when I looked into the cabs as we drove past guess what I saw…cellphones. This subgroup of ‘professional’ drivers were messing with their phones while hauling on 2-4 lane highways. All the while causing other drivers to move out of their way onto shoulders. Where is your ‘due care and attention’…not on the road. Do better guys. Other guys, keep it up 🙂
Ontario by the way, has some of the best rest stops along the 400 and 401. You don’t have to pull into town, or some scary outhouse. They are called On Routes, which have gas stations for cars and semi trucks. But also; nice indoor washrooms, showers for truckers, a few restaurants, and a convenience store all in one. With indoor and outdoor seating for a nice break from driving. We utilized these a couple of times.
Our drive was happily uneventful. Chris drove while I watched the world go by. So many of the bridges we passed under have beautiful etchings into the concrete. Horses running across the bottom, in squares; turtles and dreamcatchers on another. Simple things that make the travel more enjoyable.
I watched license plates from Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick go by. But also Maryland, Vermont, Maine and New York. I watched the glowing, colourful trees and sudden flashes of purple from the thistles compliment the gorgeous farmland, all with ease. We even had rain…real rain for more than an hour of our drive. It was refreshing to see and hear, plus it made the colours really pop with the dark clouds above.
That is all the excitement today…
Cheers Mel xo
