Travel Day - Toronto to Quebec

The mode of transport (considering our very recent bus experiences) was NOT the bus, nor the train, but we discovered it was much cheaper to hire a car for the day and drive ourselves - excellent!!

Woke to a beautiful blue sky - fantastic day for a road trip.

Collected the car from Avis, it was a  nice car - but it didn't invoke the same maternal response as "Gav" (our first hire car of the trip in Alaska).  We installed Nancy Navigator and traversed the city of Toronto to collect our bags from the Hotel and then onto the Highway of Heros.  We were on our way.

Once out of Toronto (about an hour) we stopped for breakfast - Tim Hortons, always a safe choice.  Just a quick stop then back on the road again.

See Photos for scenery.

Note worthy observations:

1.  The road going east is very hazardous to drive during bad weather.  We extended our stay in Toronto by one day due to a severe blizzard, snow and freezing rain (we think this is hail) warning.  The storm was moving up through Ontario and into Quebec from the States.  Whilst according to news reports many travellers heeded the warning, the evidence on the road suggests some brave motorists attempted the journey and are now wishing they had just stayed at home.  Many cars appeared overturned, in the snow banks either side of the highway, and even more trucks jackknifed into precarious positions as they   slide off the road.  We on the other hand were cautious and had one of the most beautiful days for our journey.

2. Leave Toronto before 8am, this is to ensure that you don't arrive in Montreal in time to get stuck in peak hour traffic.  We were lucky in the fact that we had an excellent radio station, snacks and a good sense of humour as we travelled approximately 15km in 2.5 hours. (See photos)

3. You need to pull into a service station just on dusk.  Why you ask?  See pictures of the dirty cars below - this is caused by slushy snow on the edge of roads, parking lots and driveways.  The vehicles in front of you kicks-up this mist of dirty snow, and you need to clean your windscreen constantly.  Well back to why you need to pull into a service station just on dusk. Just as your windscreen gets covered in this layer of dirty snow, so does the headlights and if you don't pull over and clean them they are completely ineffective. Fun fact for driving in snowy areas.

This is the car - very exciting to gear up for driving on the wrong side of the road and the car!!

Absolutely gorgeous day - meg's checking out her new camera!

Greenbelt Country - well white at the moment!

Pretty

Just a little cloud cover

This was taken at speed so Meg's camera doing very well!

An apple ?!?!

How cute is this - where's the beach people??

Look shadows - it's been awhile for us!!

Railway

Very arty Megs

Nice

This she took for me - I love painting rocks!

This is the traffic jam in Montreal - get a load at the dirty cars!

They all look like this

This poor guy kept putting on his rear windscreen wiper - to no effect really.

Flying moose - who knew?

Boredom = Chocolate

First view of Quebec

Apparently you say Kebeck - say there you have it!

First dinner - it was late!