Day 62 St. Jerome to Gatineau, Quebec

Day 62,  I was back driving the pace vehicle motorhome, not too many bonjours  left as we are inching closer to Ottawa

A little cool this morning, but clear and sunny, the weather is been in our favor most of the time

The medal bearers gather outside the start of day meeting place in St. Jerome ( the CEGEP school, aka the college)

A section of the downtown core of St. Jerome, population about 65,000

Most of the action on the relay is happening behind me!

The rear camera  is my guide. Like a defenseman in hockey, I need to have my head on swivel,  there is so much going on at the same time.

I will miss the french culture, I now understand at least half of what this sign says!

After leaving St Jerome, we headed down the main street of Lachute a town of about 12,000 people

The school kids in Lachute came out to see what all the commotion was about

Luc, normally one of the pilots that mark the route, was on escort detail today

They had their own sign made up

This medal bearer is showing Jim our CEO a picture of her and Rick Hansen 25 years ago.

Lachute even bussed in some seniors for the event

Our endutance athlete Joey gets mobbed by the kids who all wanted to see the medal and ask questions about Rick, and Joey

Every once in awhile we get stuck in traffic, and not even our police escorts can do much about it.

Another lunch stop another treat, this time at the Fairmont Montabello, an extrodinary log style hotel on the Ottawa River. Montabello itself is only about 1000 people, I'm sure this hotel holds more

Spoiled rotten!

another beautiful fall day

Lunch break over everybody back to work! We all joked about just stopping the relay there for a couple of days it was so nice

Another of our endurance athletes, Herve, at a school in Papineauville

Now the high school

Michel trying to talk the officer out of giving me a ticket! Actually, just a meeting on our plan of attack for the afternoon

Herve with the medal, he lost his leg in a car accident

When he is not on the hand cycle, he can easily re-attach his artificial leg.

One more day, and the Bonjour will be turned into hello, as we cross into Ontario for the next 3 months

end of day celebration at the centre de sportif, Gatineau, Quebec

Incredible gymnasium facility. They had a lot of demonstrations on for handicapped sports

There was even this amazing orchestra playing for the crowd, just another day at the salt mine!

Day 61, Laval to St. Jerome, Quebec

Day 61, my last day on the great yellow beast (the supply truck)

One last look at the tent village, good luck with the protest

One last peak at the Bell Center

Headin west (slowly)

Surreal driving the supply truck by myself down the highway when I work with a crew of 40!

Near the end of the fall colors, getting colder now

Life has it's good moments, true enough tonight. After getting to the hotel in St. Jerome, and finishing my chores, (arranging parking for the fleet, finding an esso gas station, finding a car wash for the vehicles, and taking all the luggage into the hotel), it was time for dinner. Tonight the crew went to a sugar shack, one of the big traditions in Quebec. Thanks to our Quebec region co-ordinator Natalie for arranging this special evening.

The menu was high in calories, apparently for the boys who had to go out and work in the forest. A lot of the menu included the traditional maple syrup. There were about 7 courses tonight, and I was definately was on a sugar high!

The Cabane a sucre Bouvette had an incredible old time atmosphere, and the smell from the wood stove reminded me of camping and cabins in the woods in the Okanagan. This is off season and the owners opened up especially for us tonight.

the rules

There was a lot of memorabilia on the walls. Apparently beside the farm and forest there was a car race track and a hotel until the highway came through, this is the 64th anniversary of the sugar shack

There was a lot of antiques including this old fashioned gas pump

and these old signs

during the tourist season, this train takes people out into the forest

They had a small barn with farm animals. Here Josh is brave (or foolish enough) to place grain on his head for the goat to chew on. (I wonder if this is how he keeps his hair so short?)

Old fashioned weather vane

One of the hilights of the evening, we went into a sugar shack where they were boiling maple syrup (click to learn more)

The treat of the evening. They lay out the maple syrup on a bed of snow.

Dawn and Wendy show how it is done, roll it onto the stick before it cools too much.

Thanks for the memories, time to go to bed and have a sugar crash!