just a four-province drive

At the end of September, I started considering whether I could do a road trip to Ontario on my own to take care of the business of the storage unit. A week later, I committed to the idea and two weeks after that I was driving west.  My main worry was needing roadside assistance for my 13-year old car.  I shut that worry down by joining CAA.  I contacted family and friends in Ottawa and Mississauga to arrange visits.  I requested phone numbers just in case from family in New Brunswick and a friend in Montreal.  By breaking down the 1300 km (800 mi) drive into segments with proximity to family-hotel-friend-family, it seemed less daunting.  I also planned to stop frequently, drive only in daylight, and take the newer toll highways to avoid the worst of Montreal and Toronto traffic.

Highlights and notes:

• The little car did great. The odometer rolled over to 200k km on the drive home.
• Most of the drive followed the route MAC, Greta, and I took last year on our road trip from Seattle and it felt bittersweet driving by a few familiar places.
• I liked the challenge of finding the local organic coffee shops. I enjoyed healthy lunches at vegetarian restaurants in Fredericton (NB), Drummondville (QC), and Kingston (ON).  I relied on my phone’s map app for recommendations and the places I liked on the drive west, I visited again on the drive east.  I drove around a few small towns expecting to find a coffee shop but the app was correct—there were, in fact, no coffee shops!
• After 12 years, I emptied the storage unit!
• I stayed in three homes with kind and generous family in Ottawa and Mississauga. I also visited two friends (and former colleagues).  The older I get the more I appreciate these opportunities—and I’m grateful folk made time to catch up.  They all heard my cautionary tale of the storage unit.
• After getting stuck in a bus and taxi-only/cars-will-be-fined lane in downtown Ottawa, I relied more on the map app’s voice navigation.
• I visited the street in Ottawa where my family lived in 1972-1973 when the dad did a graduate degree at Carleton University.
• While emptying the storage unit, I frequented a mall near where I worked from 2002-2006. I remembered how, during those years, I would often sit at the food court plotting, over pen and paper, how to get my life back on track.
• There was no warm left in October. The weather was mostly overcast and cool, making work in the cement storage facility chilly.  It was rainy for the return drive and there was snow at the side of the road through most of Quebec and New Brunswick.  The autumn coloUr that remained in the trees on my drive west seemed faded on my return home.

The solo road trip was a great experience. It felt a little strange arriving home—I simply drove back into the yard after being away 11 days.  I may go back next year, but in better weather and without visiting the storage facility.

References and related links:

• My drive started in Nova Scotia (NS) and took the Trans-Canada Highway northwest through New Brunswick (NB), then west through Quebec (QC) to Ontario (ON). I didn’t want to cross the US border on this trip but another option for the drive to Ottawa is to cut across Maine (ME).  On the return trip, I got off the Trans-Canada Highway in Quebec to travel the more scenic route along the Saint Lawrence River.
• CAA: Canadian Automobile Association.
• MAC: mon amie Caroline.
• the unit (post #103)
• the road trip (post #74)