This one's really short

After you get through Ontario the rest of the county is a breeze! Quick update: we took Crowsnest pass and spent the night in Fernie.

Mountains! Finally!

Long-tario

During what seemed like an endless transit through Ontario, we passed the time by looking at clouds, making an inventory of the bug splats, and inventing license plate slogans that would accurately describe the vastness of the province:

Ontario...it's big
Ontario forever
Ontario...on the road again
Ontario...it's still Ontario

What do they look like to you? 

Is it weird that we were fascinated by these?

You may have seen some flooding of Southern Ontario in the news. We were in Northern Ontario and couldn't understand why there weren't any floods there. It rained like were were at the helm of an ark rather than a truck. Fortunately, the roads were unaffected. Unfortunately, our new tarp system was. We tried to resuscitate but the prairie wind blew out our sails. Since duct tape is the handy man's secret weapon, we applied it generously and kept on trucking. Turns out that duct tape can repair just about anything. Turns out that duct tape can also make the sexiest truck on the road look like the Hillbillies are moving west.

Huge thank you to Uncle Brett for loaning us the truck. Don't worry...we will scrub off the bugs!

Twilight: The saga continues

I don't think it's possible to witness this kind of weather on the west coast. Pretty sure neither one of us has seen anything like it before now. 

Our final morning in Montreal we awoke to sun and heat (and humidity!) but at least there was no rain! And so began the Tetris game that was loading the truck. Everything went without a hitch but sure enough, in true Montreal summer weather fashion, the sky became dark and the rain started to pour. Mike and I ran for the tarp. We didn't even have time to secure it but simply had to stand each on our side holding it out over the truck and our own heads as the water ran down our arms and into our shirts. Sure enough, fifteen minutes later the storm was over. We were soaked but our boxes were dry! 

This cycle continued throughout the day; sun, thunder + lightning, sun again, all the way to Mattawa where we camped with the mosquitoes for the night. 

Minutes before Michael said "I wish we had some rain to test out the tarp..." Famous last words.

Rain. 

To the left: sunshine. To the right: thunderstorms.

Our lovely tarp has not fared well so far. At this rate we'll need a new one for each province we cross. Luckily we brought a spare that we plan on using to reinforce the current one. 

While driving through Sault Ste. Marie yesterday, our tarp tore to shreds, we stopped to implement plan B. The spare went up and over and we sealed everything off with palette wrap. Turns out this is the way to go! 

Our final stop was Montreal River where we stayed at the Twilight Resort in a relatively bug-free cabin for the night.

Sadly, we left our beer in the fridge upon leaving and only realized it halfway to Thunder Bay. The next person is going to think this resort is all-inclusive!

It's happening!

I realize we haven't posted anything since shortly before our arrival in Montreal, and now it's time to head back the other way! Seems like the perfect time to start up again. Today's the day we got the motorcycle into the back of the truck, and it only took four people including me! (So, three people...) After having done the same trip previously on a motorcycle, I feel that Mike is underestimating how much we can pack in a very large truck, whereas he thinks I'm overestimating how much will fit. The winner shall be decided on Monday, as that's the only day before our move where the forecast doesn't call for torrential downpour. Fingers crossed that we can stay in a little pocket of sunshine for most of the way across.

Motorcycle Jean in the truck! I realize this isn't the best shot, but it was raining really hard...

It's happening! There's no going back now!

Our plan is to leave super early Tuesday morning as the truck has to be back home by July 5th. Seems completely nuts to me considering our last trip took an entire month, but Mike and Rick did in in four days so I'm sure we can make it before the deadline.

Our year in Montreal deserves a separate blog post, coming soon I promise!