Drive to Caplan, Quebec - Jul 23, 2009

What a difference a day can make; dry and sunshiny today. It seems to be a prevalent weather pattern here……….rain for a few days and then sunny and dry for a few days. We weren’t in any particular hurry to get going since we planned to drive about 90 miles. The roads have been bumpy and slow-going but we figured we’d make the short trip in about 2 ½ hours.

It was a pretty drive and we’ve entered the area known as The Bay, the road runs along Chaleur Bay and we’re heading west again. We decided to fuel up since we’ve got a longer drive on tap for tomorrow and we lose an hour as we go into New Brunswick and Atlantic time. Diesel was C$0.939 / liter. We also got a little intermittent cell phone signal as we are close to New Brunswick across the bay and we roam on Rogers, their cell phone carrier; however, it didn’t last long and we are in a dead zone again. Fortunately, we have internet with the satellite dish.

Caplan is a tiny town, not much more than a church and small store. We took a ride to town, found a bank and got some Canadian dollars. They hesitated to make the exchange because we didn’t have an account; now, why would two Okies have an account in a local bank in Quebec? Anyway, they did exchange it for us…but, only after a thorough scrutiny of our crisp hundred-dollar bills.

Since we haven’t seen cell phone signal in a while, I thought I’d make some calls from the pay phone to my sister in Ireland. The instructions are totally in French and, as the saying goes, that’s Greek to me. However, I could make out enough to know the pay phone would take a calling card so we went off in search of a convenience store to buy one. Now, I explained as best I could that my cell phone was dead and I wanted to use the pay phone and could I buy a calling card. They seemed to understand and sold me something for $10….it turns out it is a top-up for a prepaid cell phone. Those are popular in Ireland and I guess they are here too. Now, I need to find a nice Canadian who might like to have this donation for their prepaid phone.

The campground is right on the bay and Foxy dragged Joe to the water. It is a little noisy and we’re glad we’re only in for the night. We walked to a little café close by for supper. Tomorrow, we hope to make Caraquet, NB.