Showers and fog and wind, Oh My!

I guess we're not in Kansas anymore, or Florida either. The constant dreariness of the fog, wind, and rain is starting to get to me. On the TV, we get two channels in French, which is not acceptable. The good books that I brought to read have already been read because I never thought I'd get that much time to read. Helen hid all the sharp objects a couple of days ago and today she took away my belt and shoe laces. UGH.

All that talk about the north coast of Gaspe being French and the south coast being English is just that, all talk. If you check out the specs on Carleton, you will find that 3800+ people speak only French. 80 speak only English and 30 are bilingual. That's not a good score for us English speaking folks. In the local stores, they actually speak less English than they do on the north coast, but I have to admit that the people are a lot nicer and really try to understand what I'm saying.

When we arrived in Carleton today it was relatively calm and a lot brighter that we've seen in days, but we could see that the clouds hid the tops of the hills or mountains to the north. Later on, the wind picked up, the temperature dropped and the fog and rain moved in. Oh, joy!!! I really feel bad about complaining too much. We have a motorhome and we have heat. There are lots of people in these campgrounds in tents. Families in tents. Couples in tents. The other night Helen went to the laundry and found a number of tenters in there getting warm and dry.

The coolant tank that I ordered last week is not at the dealer's yet. The guy I talked with checked the order and found that although he placed the order with the parts depot in Toronto on the 26th, they didn't ship it until the 29th. It normally takes two days to make the trip, but tomorrow is Canada Day and everything shuts down. I may see it Thursday.

In the meantime, the weather we're having is supposed to continue for at least another week. Again, I complain, but the merchants in the area who depend on the three months of tourism are hurting badly. The campgrounds are only about 10 to 15 % filled. When we go into a restaurant there are so many empty tables, and this is the peak of their season. If you heard my thoughts about the bleakness of the Sonoran Dessert, forget it.

Still at Perce, Part Trois

Today dawned with the best visibility we've had in days. We can easily see Perce Rock as well as the village off to the left. It was going to be the day we took the boat over to Bonaventure Island to hike around and see the gannet rookery. Alas, it was not to be. The boats are not running today due to the weather. Northeast winds to 40 knots, gusting to 60. All the boats have been removed from the area and we found that they have been moved to a sheltered port a few miles down the coast.

From Perce

Helen and I chose to walk around the town, particularly the waterfront, meet some people and get some pics.

From Perce

Here was are at the end of the wharf with Perce Rock behind us. As we sat there, the waves were booming against the wharf sounding almost like thunder. We stopped at a dive shop and chatted with the guys running the operation. They claim to dive in 7 mm wet suits and are plenty warm enough. Odd, I think, as that's about what I need when the water temperature drops below 80 in Florida. One fellow was specially friendly and we swapped our stories of meetings with wildlife. He told of diving off Bonaventure Island with his girlfriend when along came a seal. Without thinking, he put his hand in the seal's mouth, as he does playing with his girlfriend's dog. The seal closed his mouth without cutting him or drawing blood, then quickly opened his mouth and let him go. Next, the seal stayed with them wanting to play. Amazing!

I told him about the time Helen and I were diving along the Gulf Stream and a 20 foot great white approached to get Helen. I swam over and kicked him two or three times in the gut and chased him away. Just a regular day diving in Florida.

From Perce

This is a picture sitting in one of the Gannet chairs along the boardwalk. They have the ones painted like two gannets and others painted like seal heads.

We have learned a lot about the relationship between the Quebecois and people from other areas. There is a great deal of strife in Quebec due to the contention between those who want Quebec to break with Canada and those who want to stay a part of Canada. What we hear is that 30% of the people want to secede, 30% wants to stay, and 40% doesn't care enough to vote on it. There seems to be a special area of hostility on the Quebec-Ontario border. In Quebec, they refuse to recognize anything but French and across the border the people in Ontario will not recognize anything but English. One of our dive friends told us how they treat him when he goes to Ontario, they keep asking him over and over to explain himself, even when he's positive they understand his meaning. Helen and I found his English to be easily understood.

Checking with the locals, we find that there is really nothing of note to see on the rest of the south coast of Gaspesie until we get to Carleton. Therefore, tomorrow we will drive the 118 miles to Carleton, stopping off in New Richmond on the way to pick up the coolant tank for the motorhome.

This last picture is of the break in the end of Perce Rock.

From Perce

Still at Perce

Yup, we're still at Perce and we're still all fogged up. This is our view of the Rock from our motorhome.

From June 28

Now this is what we are supposed to see. This picture was taken from a post card.

From June 28

For almost all of the last two days, visibility has been about 200 feet. At 6:45 this evening I went out of the motorhome and was startled, STARTLED to actually see the Rock off in the distance.

From June 28

It just makes it all worthwhile!

Trying to Catch up, but..........

There is a lot to add to the blog, but we have been beset by computer problems and very poor wifi connections. Today is an EXTREMELY foggy day here in Perce, Quebec and I thought I'd work on the blogs to bring the pictures and text up to date. However, the connection is so poor that I can't post pictures in a reasonable time. As I said, we're here at Perce, Quebec, home of Perce Rock, a massive limestone formation attached to the land at low tide. We are told that it is directly in front of our motorhome at a distance of half a mile or so. With visability at under 200 feet, we can't tell one way or another. I will return with more pictures when the wifi Gods allow.

Here comes the Sun!

What a change in weather! As we drove east from Matane, the fog burned off and the skies cleared. The drive to Ste-Anne-des-Monts was only 50 miles or so, but we found a delightful change. Settled in a campground, we took the dogs for a ride into the local mountains to try to find a nice stream for them to romp in. Away from the coast the temperature continued to climb until we were smiling in the low 80s. Unfortunately, when we found the stream there were signs posted "no dogs allowed". So it was back to the campground and the dogs had a dip in the ocean followed by a bath.

There is a small silver fish called the capelin that reproduces at the edge of the water. They are about 6 inches long and occur in great numbers. After they spawn, they die and the waterline is littered with the dead fish. Who would have thought that they would be a tasty treat for a Labrador Retriever? Coco and Jodie sprinted for the water in a mad rush, got wet, and started on the fish before I could get them away. Oh boy, wet dog with fish breath, what more could we want?

Yesterday Helen and I had a banner day, first visiting a windmill farm where 134 Danish wind generators produce 400 megawatts of electricity. We also saw the worlds tallest vertical axis wind mill, a research unit that has not operated in years. I was astounded to see the same instruments that are found on the massive breakers at the nuclear plant inCrystal River. Next it was off to Explor-a-mer, a small aquarium that centered around the bottom life of the St. Lawrence Seaway. Lots of ucky sea cucumbers and like animals, but also a lot of delicious looking lobsters.

Yesterday was the start of the annual Quebec Festival and I think we should have gone. Although we're some distance from the party, it was very loud with the constant drumbeat as from the natives of the jungle. I told Helen not to worry, the Quebecois don't eat the Anglos until the drums stop. The music and noise was going to well after midnight!

On the plus side, we find the folks here much friendlier than the Quebecois further west. If I understand correctly, it will get even better as we head around the peninsula where English actually becomes dominant. Voila.......oops........ I mean whoopie!

Once upon a midnight dreary

and a morning dreary, a noontime dreary, and an afternoon dreary. Alas folks, Helen and I have brought the wrath of the weather Gods with us to Gaspesie. Another day with no sun, constant fog and mist and maximum temperature of 56 degrees. Here at the campground we see no one. There are people from Texas in the very little camper next door and they hide in the warmth of their trailer. Other than the Texans and us, every other camper is from Quebec. This are is apparently like Cape Cod to the Bostonians, a weekend getaway. They drove out here for this?????

Tomorrow we'll head further east, to Sainte Anne des Monts. This will put us at the gateway to a Quebec Provincial Park that is very mountainous and has a multitude of wildlife. They claim to have the only Caribou south of the St. Lawrence Seaway and that may be true. I know that Newfoundland has Caribou but I'm pretty sure that we had to cross the seaway a few years ago to get there.

We have no TV, well, no acceptible TV as there ae only two French stations, but we have a number of great books. Helen is working on "Angels and Demons" from which a current movie has been made. I re-read it last week and it's still a good book.

That's about all for now.
Paul

A Better Day in Gaspe!

We were on the road early on our way to the Gaspersie area of the Gaspe peninsula and we had a better day than before. We had no more mechanical problems for one thing, but for another we started to run into nicer people. Closer to the center of Quebec very little English is spoken and the people make no effort to communicate with the tourist. A young cashier at Wal-Mart took particular pleasure in speaking extremely fast, knowing I couldn't follow what she was saying. A few moments later I got some cash out of the ATM and approached the service desk to get change. This was an older woman who tried her best to understand what I wanted and she succeeded. She didn't speak any English, but I got my point across and got the change I wanted. When I was done, I said "Merci!" and she was delighted that I at least made that small gesture. People in the information stations are not much better. If you are going to be in central Quebec, you will need to speak French.

Further from Quebec City it wasn't as much of a problem. The people in the information booths speak English very well and are extremely courteous and helpful. The only problem I had after that was when I tried to sign into a campground. The owner was running an errand and the assistant spoke only French. However, she was not snooty or condescending. We got the vital information out of the way, name, address, and license plate number. I was ready to move to a campsite when the owner returned. She was able to finalize everything, but most of the work had already been done. It must have been funny to have the assistant and me trying to make the other understand what we meant.

After we got the camper settled, we took the dogs for a ride. To the east is the Metane River, a good sized river noted for it's salmon. Driving beside the river for many miles, we finally found a suitable spot for the dogs to go for a swim. The thing about my Labs is that water is everything!!! Pond water, lake water, river water, or pool water, it makes no difference. Calm water, heavy surf, strong currents, it also does not matter. There was a strong current that would take them downriver quite fast. It wasn't a problem as they would simply swim to shore and run back upstream. As I write this now, one is fast asleep under the table and the other asleep behing Helen's chair. It will be a quiet night tonight.