Montreal

Aug 13 - late at night:

I was a little late leaving Baie-Comeau this morning.
The motel offered a free breakfast, but it was served at another motel a block away.

I did find a spray-it-yourself carwash before leaving town and pulled right into the bay.
It was a bit awkward for a motorcycle, because the bays aren’t drive-through.
You drive in, wash your vehicle, and then back out.

I walked up to the control box, and wouldn't you know it… the controls were labeled in French:

I got out my phone, ran Google translate, and bingo - mystery solved.
It’s the coolest app in the galaxy.
Just point your camera at some text, and it automatically changes to another language.
In the same font, same color, etc. - it’s borderline magic.

(Photo below doesn't show "CIRE = WAX" like it did when I used it.)

As it turns out (I say that a lot. It sounds better than “I should have known this”), I wasn’t finished riding ferries.  There is a ferry at Tadoussac that crosses the Saguenay River.
Imagine my surprise!

One minute, I’m riding down the highway along the Quebec coast, when I start seeing strange markings on 2 of the lanes that look like ships. Why on earth would they paint ships on the road?

Then instead of riding, I find myself stopped in a long line waiting to board a vessel.

Have I taken a wrong turn that took me to a cruise line??
Are we all going to Zanzibar??
How much is this going to cost??
Will I ever see my family again?

The ferry was free, and it only took 10 minutes to cross the river.

I did ride through Quebec City a bit, but didn’t stop and look around. It was starting to get dark, and I had a long ways to go before camping.

I finally reached a campground called Lake La Fontaine, way out in the country. I didn’t get here until 10pm, and had to set up camp in the dark. (I have to remember to go grocery shopping - I've already eaten all the food I brought.)

I’m on the bank of a little private lake with RV’s all around it, packed in like sardines. The sites here look permanent; they have little fences, decks, porches, solar lights around their RV’s.

But the strange thing about this campground is… there are no black flies, and almost no mosquitos!  I sat out on the picnic table for 15 minutes typing this and didn’t see a single mosquito.

= = = = = =

Aug 14 - morning:

Last night I paid $41 for a tent site, and another $5 for the WiFi password. I logged on late, and kept trying to post the text above, but the connection just kept hanging and asking me to log in again. I fought with it until 12:30 and gave up. I packed up in the morning and rode to McDonald's for WiFi.

The forecast last night was for cloudy skies to day with sunshine breaking through. Of course, I woke up to rain falling on the tent. The weather forecasting here is pretty accurate, but only for about an hour. Now it's saying showers and scattered thunderstorms.

I knew that Quebec was a French-speaking province, so I wasn't completely oblivious on this trip.

What is surprising to me is that although I can hear a lot of people speaking French, very few of them can understand it. It's funny when I try to say something simple like "un" (1) in French and they just stare at me. Then I say "one", and they understand.  :-)

Maybe I shouldn't precede the "un" with "numero".

I'm in McDonald's now in Saint-Jerome, and ordered an egg McMuffin. That disappeared pretty quickly, so I decided to get a sausage McMuffin. She asked me a few questions in French, and I explained what I wanted.

I ended up with a sausage McMuffin and 2 breakfast burritos. 

A man I met on the tour boat ride on Western Brook pond was from Quebec, and told me that he had been to Chisasibi in his RV.  He said the people there speak English more than French! Great news.

After doing some Googling, I've found that it's a Cree village, and the first language is Cree.

Second is English, and then French.

Too bad I left my "Learn Cree in 30 Days" book at home...