Eric's snoring woke me up early so instead of smothering my head with pillows like I've done the last few days I opted to tip toe out of the room, pick up a couple of English language newspapers in the lobby and head for a coffee shop that we walked by last night. I was their first customer of the day. The clerk behind the cash register was still half asleep. Between her fatigue and my broken French, it was a miracle that she returned with the cafe au lait that I ordered.
After consuming both papers and ordering another coffee, I flipped open my iPad and checked my email. There in my inbox was a late night missive from my cousin Matt who thoughtfully provided a couple of suggestions for the next stage of our trip. One of his suggestions sounded parwticularly appealing. It read in part; "...Closer to where you currently are is another interesting place - Tadoussac. This town is 130 miles up Route 138 on the north side of the St Lawrence River. Once you get beyond the Quebec City environs, the trip along the north shore of the St. Lawrence is pretty scenic (it's quite a bit hillier than the south shore of the river). There are two main things to do in Tadoussac - 1) catch a scenic boat tour of the Saguenay Fjord and 2) book a whale watching trip on the St. Lawrence river (you can get on a big boat to do this or they have Zodiacs that get up close and personal with the whales). There is also a grand hotel in Tadoussac that I believe served as the exterior of the hotel in the movie "the Hotel New Hampshire." From Tadoussac you could either backtrack to Saint Simeon or continue north to Les Escoumins to catch a ferry to the south side of the St. Lawrence. If you crossed the river from Saint Simeon you could get on Route 2 to get to Maine..."
Matt's email got my juices going. I texted Eric, woke him up and told him to come to the coffee shop stat. We needed to talk. We had planned to stay in Quebec City for another day but after reading Matt's email, I thought we should reconsider.
Eric ordered his egg and cheese sandwich and diet pepsi and we got down to business. We drafted a list of the pros and cons of heading to Tadoussac. The list looked something like this;
Pros;
- A Spectacular ride and destination
- A fun adventure to a place we may never get to again
Cons;
- The weather forecast called for rain, low temps, high winds and possibly icy roads
- We are weary and drained. We could use a break from the stressful riding conditions.
- Our clothes are soaking wet.
- Quebec City would be fun to explore
- It would add two days to our trip
- It would add 500 miles to the trip
- I would miss Friday's Huskies hockey season opener
- We would have to check out of this elegant four-star hotel
- We would miss the web stream of the iPhone 5 announcement
We mulled it over for a few minutes and then concluded that we should be responsible and do the right thing. So, we packed out bags and headed for Tadoussac.
The first 20 miles was rain free. The view consisted of industrial parks, run down hotels, trailer communities and car dealers. As we continued on rte. 138 things then shifted to a marvelous streak of brilliant colors, water falls, grass covered ski slopes and the choppy St. Lawrence Seaway. There were Moose fences and warning signs everywhere. We were mostly alone, the ride peaceful, the view breathtaking.
Of course this didn't last long. As we climbed in altitude, the temperature dived, the rain came out of nowhere and the wind gusts hit us like a brick wall. Accompanying this inclement weather was a dense fog, limiting visibility to about 50 feet. To make matters worse, there were logger and oil trucks bombing by us in both directions. If you are ever questioning your manhood, try riding in these conditions. You'll get your answer pretty quickly.
We stopped for lunch in Baie Saint-Paul, about halfway to Tadoussac. We tried to get the intercoms working but for the second day they have failed us. We think they were destroyed by the rain.
The next 50 miles were harrowing. The conditions felt like a monsoon with the rain blasting against our visors and the wind gusts rocking us from side to side. The only vehicles on the road by now were trucks. It felt like we were at the top of the world, with the only sign of civilization being the 18-wheelers coming and going, bringing supplies to the Inuit and returning with fallen trees, north sea crude and other resource indigenous to the Arctic Circle.
By now we were totally water logged. I could feel the ice forming around my toes as the temps dropped to the low 30's and my boots gave up trying to repel the water. Thankfully cold weather doesn't pain me much. I felt for Eric though,
as he was shivering when he got off the bike during one his final bathroom breaks of the day.
Tadoussac is located on the north-west shore of the Saint Lawrence River, at its confluence with the Saguenay River. The only way for us to reach it, other to than drive an additional 160 miles, was to take a short ferry from Bain Sainte-Catherine. It was spectacular as we crossed between the fjords
on both sides of the Saguenay. The ferry was free of charge, a nice change from the excessive charges we've experienced in this province.
We arrived at the Hotel Tadoussac too late to explore the area. It is a wonderful place with the best dinner buffet I've ever seen. We spent a couple of hours eating multiple courses of food and nursing our pints of local biere rouge and a glasses of vin rouge.
The Hotel Tadoussac brochure proclaims;
"As you look out from the hotel terrace, you will see an ocean of green; marsh hay; sails; boats; sea foam; and in the distance, whales." I intend to be first in the breakfast line so that I can secure the best seat in the house.
We wont have time tomorrow to take a whale watch or to tour the fjords. We need to be in Saint-Simeon by 1 p.m. to catch the ferry to the other side of the St. Lawrence and begin our way back to Maine. Winds are supposed to be around 40 kph for the next few days. Ouch.
At this point we expect to be back to Waterville Valley by Saturday evening.
It's time for bed. Let's hope that Eric keeps his snoring to a dull roar.
Goodnight family and friends...
g.
- Posted from George's AT&T
iPhone
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