Chapais Quebec to Alma Quebec 210 miles
Today is mostly cloudy and everything is really wet. It’s not currently raining however. We ate breakfast in the little restaurant attached to the motel. They are supposed to open at 8 am but the cook arrived late. Four other people were eating there as well. Rob tried drying the engine before breakfast. He also tried starting it. That didn’t work. Three First Nation guys stopped. One really wanted to buy it. Rob didn’t ask them to help pull. He did ask the folks at breakfast. One of them agreed. It took two trips around the block but it did start. Next stop was the gas station. Oh the car was a hit again. People came from everywhere. One gentleman was really fascinated. He spoke perfect English and had lots of questions. He is from Nova Scotia so he told us to tell them hello. We went past a huge sawmill just out of town. The parking lot had electric wires hanging down with electric outlets. You have to keep the engines warm in winter. The road is once again long straight stretches with forest on either side. We go up and down over numerous small hills and along rivers and lakes. We also went in and out of rain. Sometimes just small drops and other times bigger. Well eventually the engine got wet and started to cut out. We were slowed down to a jerky crawl as Rob kept coaxing the car forward. Amazingly it never completely died. It sure backfired a lot however. Most were small and rapid fire. When we came to the gas station and filled up the car would not start to move away from the pumps. A young man helped us push it out of the way. The distributor was very wet again. The leak in the radiator must still be there only not as big. Rob dried everything off and then took plastic from the bag of ice we bought and placed it as protection for the coil and black junction box. Now the car started. Since we were stopped we ate lunch in the car before continuing. The car seemed to run better and the rain has quite at least temporarily. We came to a flatter area and followed a lake. More people and small farms. More towns and bigger ones. Most of the houses have small front porches. We saw people sitting in chairs on their porch watching the traffic go by. They had lots to watch. Campers and fifth wheels were all heading in the opposite direction. We have also seen more churches. They usually have white steeples. Then we got a real surprise. Two police cars pulled us over. One in front and one behind. Lots of lights but no sirens. After a short conversation they asked us to pull off onto a side road away from the traffic. They did check Rob’s drivers license but nothing else. They did inform us that in the Provence of Quebec the driver must have at least one ear uncovered. We had our headphones on listening to a story. Rob told them we were listing to a murder mystery and they had a good laugh. Both of the officers took several pictures. It was probably a slow day and this traffic stop gave them something to do. We had no trouble finding our hotel. Tonight I tried poutine which is a dish invented in Quebec in the 1950s. Take french fries, add cheese curds and smother in brown gravy. It’s not bad but once was enough. Lodging for tomorrow is getting very difficult to find. We have spent over an hour and have one unconfirmed room maybe. Two of the hotels just hung up on Rob when he could not speak French.
Spoffords Travel 