Headin' to .....Gaspe

Friday, August 24
We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the Montreal and Quebec City areas. So much history, such nice scenery, and great people. But there is more to see!

We left the Camping Transit campground about 11 AM on Friday. I was taking advantage of the internet to get as many pictures uploaded to Blogger as I could as I'm not sure where our next connection may be.

It was an easy exit onto Hwy 20 East. Lots of traffic though and tons of RV's. It was a Friday so I suspect lots of locals heading out for one last weekend before school starts. We did lose a lot of the traffic where the road turned toward New Brunswick, but still pretty heavy all through Rimouski and only slightly less all the way to Matane where we will spend the night.

Our site at Camping Transit

Is this barn sticking its tongue out at us or is the farmer using a big thermometer to take its temperature??

St Lawrence River views. (bug smear in the center of the picture).

The road hugs the shoreline

Artistic flair with a nautical theme. Very nice.

Wow, now this is a BIG house!

Our stop for the night.

Saturday, August 25
We had a restful sleep in the Walmart lot at Mantane. A sign in the parking lot states no RV parking between 11PM and 6AM. Well, that isn't good. So I spoke with the Walmart Manager and he said as long as we park off the paved parking lot we are welcome to spend the night. There is a huge grass and gravel area so we parked there and were soon joined by a number of other RV's.

Our spot for the night. Well away from traffic.

The Matane lighthouse. No room to park the rig so a quick photo out the window would have to do.

A quick Tim Horton's coffee and we are on the way toward the Gaspe region. Now I suspected this would be a pretty drive.....but WOW! It is spectacular! Village after village, each one vying for the title as the prettiest! I'm not sure I could pick a winner. In places we literally hung on the shoreline. Up hills and just as quickly descend to the next village. Mile after mile it was a wonderful drive.

Fishing heritage

Beautiful old homes.

Barns of all sizes.

Down close to the water......

.......and high, away from the water.

Always a pretty village of the next hill it seemed.

A rest stop beside the water. Parking was a challenge at most rest stops. This one had lots of room.

Big churches in every village.

You can't get much closer to the water. This road reminded me so much of the Pacific Coast Highway in Oregon.

Some steep descents, and climbs too!

The lighthouse at La Martre. No room to park here.

More beautiful coast.

There was room to park here...barely. This is Cap-de-la-Madeleine

Beautifully restored.

Still active

Just enough room to make the turn.

Steep descent....with a turn at the bottom!

Rolling hills

We stopped here for a quick lunch break. After finally getting turned around I see a sign that says 'no trailers'. Now wouldn't it make more sense to put that sign on the highway BEFORE you turn in??

Another 'Wow' moment. There were lots of those.

Some big cliffs.

Perce Rock. Note the hole is on the left. See other pictures below. Hmmm, why would that be?

17% grade! Are you kidding?!

The 'Rock'.

The town of Perce. So pretty!

Now some of these hills were pretty steep. This is the first time I've had the truck downshift all the way into first gear to maintain 50 kmh. The descents were also interesting with 10, 12, 15 even 17% grades! Yikes! The tow/haul mode and engine exhaust brake on the Chevy Duramax work so well all I have to do is keep the truck on the road!

We chose to cut out some of the scenery around Forillon National Park as we'll disconnect the trailer at the campground and head back that way on Sunday. So we arrived late afternoon at Camping Nature Ocean campground in Perce. We got set up and took a short walk over the hill and this is what we saw........

Hole on the right??!!

Nice view for these folks.

A great spot to spend some time.

Cap Mont-Joli. These historic buildings can be rented. What a view!

Downtown area of Perce

Yep, that's a hole!

Sunday we'll head back and catch some of the sights we missed. Should be fun!

......and that was Our View From Here!