September 27-27 On the road to Fundy

The Longest Wooden Covered Bridge

Under the AXE

We left Quebec under threatening skies and headed east along Canada 20 which hugs the south bank of the Saint Laurence seaway. From Quebec east the Saint Laurence looks less of a river and more like a huge bay. On the south bank, the land is rolling with lots of farms, diaries, and corn fields. There are lots of trees too, and they are beginning to turn to brilliant reds and oranges. We have been seeing the trees beginning to turn for the last 10 days or so. Now they are verging on the spectacular. Unfortunately we have been having overcast skies and rain, but even in the flat light the colors are amazitng.


We stayed in the town of Rivier du Loup, a good sized town on the Saint Laurence. It had a charming town center, but also a huge shopping mall, just like any medium sized town. We went to the mall and it looked and felt like any other we have been to, but with one exception, no English spoken. Pats had her hair done in the salon, no English, I went to the equivalent of Home Depot, Canada Tire, no English. These folks are just like Americans, Monolingual! To think that they can live in their own town in North America and not speak a lick of English, amazing!! What is even more galling, is the town looks like it could be in South Dakota or Minnesota, it doesn’t have the European charm as old Quebec. The strength of the French culture is not to be underestimated.

Today we traveled south along the border of Maine and New Brunswick. Amazingly we have left the French influence and entered into the English world in only a few miles. The signs are in English, and the greetings are “Good Day” rather than “Bon Jour.” We visited the Potato museum and saw the longest wooden covered bridge in the world at 1222 ft. Tomorrow we hope to see the largest double headed axe in the world. We are headed to the Bay of Fundy where the tides are the largest at up to 45 ft from low to high.