Chloe, James and I hit the road yesterday to begin our long promised visit to Jamie, Wendy and Stephen. We drove west through Fredericton in New Brunswick, north to Riviere du Loup, Quebec and south past Quebec City to Sherbrooke. It was a bit hairy at the beginning when I got over the bridge onto the highway, got turned around and ended up ... back at the bridge. I felt like Halifax might be a place with a vortex from which you could never escape! My mental state is not that great at the moment and I had a fit of screaming heebes, but Neil managed to get me on the right road through the wonders of technology.
It took fourteen hours to make the journey. The kids were really, really good. We mostly went in 4 hour stretches and they didn't complain at all. I have never appreciated McDonalds so much. We were able to stop for about an hour in Fredericton and have lousy food, but they had a huge indoor playground and the kids got to run around and stretch.
As I passed the flat, barrren looking countryside through New Brunswick (most of the daylight part of the journey) it made me reflect on how people end up in such places. In Little House on the Prairie Pa wants to move because there are too many people around - other people move to see what's over the next hill, what treasures they might find in another land. I used to think I was a wanderer and had a heavy dose of wanderlust but now the more I'm travelling I am beginning to appreciate my little house and garden and web of friends in our little town so much more.
Some highlights of the road- the longest covered bridge in the world (I'm not sure where that was) and the Potato Museum, close to the French Fry Capital of the world (not sure where that was either). It was an unlikely capital for french fries- few people, buildings and possibility for frying french fries. However, it was the home of a very larger (possibly the only) McCain's french fry factory.
The benefit of the journey, though is the friends at the end. The joy of arriving at 2045 Rue Le Rouchfoucauld and seeing the neon lit sign for their house number was immense. We started on the road at about 8.30 am and tried to pull in their driveway at 10pm (ish) (11 pm NS time).
Stephen is making pancakes (our second day here and we're snowed in- more about that later) - I'm hungry.
xxooxx
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