It's March 2012 and Silversand (AKA Derek) and Silverdunes (AKA Nikki) are sharing a beer with me in a heatwave in Bromont, Quebec. It's 24 celcius and I'm starting to doubt Derek's descriptions of ice storms, extreme snow and other forms of Arctic weather that are no-where in evidence. We discuss Overland Expo 2012, but I have adjacent trips to South Africa I am committed to making the travel impractical.Spool forward a year and we are preparing for Overland Expo 2013. Derek and Nikki will fly in and hire an RV to join us all in Arizona. But Nikki's work gets in the way. So much for doing a joint trip. We'll have to come up with some other plans.Spool forward another two and a half years and Sally and I are drinking with Derek and Nikki in that same Bromont bar. It is 32 Celcius. Once again the dire warnings about the Quebec weather have been unfounded. Either Derek has been mistaking Celsius for Fahrenheit, or I need to start selling my telekinetic climate change capabilities to Siberia.Stay tuned...

Friday 4th September : London to MontrealIt is a strange time for a day-time flight. 6:30 in the evening. We get up late and the taxi drops us off at Terminal 5, Heathrow airport. I get to use stuff like the first class check-in, priority security and first class lounge. These things are starting to convince Sally that flying can be a bit better than the charter flights she remembered from years ago (the free champagne helped).3 films and a short doze later and we are in Montreal. Well, that was my experience. Sally was less enamoured sitting next to a guy with halitosis behind first time flyers who kept reclining their seats all the way back into Sally's lunch.One thing I wasn't looking forward to was working out what to do in the morning before collecting the rental RV. The earliest collection time is 1PM, and with jet lag that will feel like 6pm to our body clocks. A call to the rental agency before our flight has a pleasant outcome - "Any chance you could do me a favour?" asks the rental guy. "Your RV is already prepared; would you be able to collect it in the morning instead of the afternoon?" he pleaded - eyeing up the possibility of being able to knock off work early. Well, I wasn't going to argue with that :BImmigration at Montreal was straight-forward and earlier research meant I knew exactly where to go to get the free hotel shuttle bus. And that was an easy 10 minute or less journey to the Holiday Inn - the first in Canada apparently - just outside the airport. Many nights in Intercontinental Group hotels mean plenty of points for purchasing ad-hoc nights like this, and as a bonus my platinum status means I tend to get a free upgrade too:Went to bed exhausted - well, it was 3am UK time.Off to collect the RV tomorrow...

Saturday 5th September : Montreal to BromontI booked a taxi for 8am - pessimistic really because it meant we got to the RV rental company across town 30 minutes before the first employee.One of these must be our RV. I was hoping it was the small 19ft one - I really didn't want a "free upgrade" to a 27ft RV because they didn't have the requested one available:By now you may have noticed that none of the above are truck campers :( - Once again we had failed to find a truck camper for rent, but at least on this journey we would have Derek's outfitter in convoy with us, and we could compare this compact class C against our truck camper that is only slightly shorter.The first thing we noticed was the RV hadn't been washed and the gas tank wasn't full. The interior was clean, the water tank full and the grey and black tanks empty, but as part of the deal the renter has to return the RV like that anyway, so there was the possibility that the rental station hadn't done anything to this RV since it was returned by the last renters. Note that the rules regarding gasoline are - if you return it with more gas in than when you rented it - they don't refund you, but if you return it with less - they charge you for the difference. But clearly just pocket that money without filling the gas tank back up!Rental guy gives us a very quick exterior tour. Hopefully we got the shortened tour because we are experienced RV owners - because if not there will be a lot of renters driving out not having a clue how to dump tanks or do other essentials. They seem to rely on you having watched all their introductory videos.The RV is a Ford E350, like the class B we rented in Denver. Same 5.4 Triton V8, but at these low altitudes it performed more acceptably than in the Rockies. on start-up the transmission defaults to tow-haul mode; which I disable each time, enabling it temporarily for down-grades and to improve compression braking coming up to junctions.For those of a technical nature, here are the maker's plates:Inside the first big difference compared to a truck camper is the walk-through cab:The overcab bed is cut away to make walking down into the cab easier. One of the cushions is then placed over the gap and has a ply insert to support you. However, that 3/4" less padding makes a big difference to comfort for whoever sleeps on that side (it being east-west configuration).Note also there is a full dinette. Many of the European class Cs save a couple of foot of internal space by making the driver and passenger seats swivelling captains chairs and doing away with one of the dinette couches.Looking rearwards you can see the central side-door, another departure from a truck camper:Behind the door is the fridge and wardrobe, and on the other side a wet bath. At the far end is a galley. However that is a cul-de-sac that gets really hot when you cook and is too far away from the dinette table meaning there is very little space to work and prepare food - a real drawback of this design.The side door does not have a window - it has a fake window:OK, enough talking about the RV for now - time to set off for Bromont, to the east of Montreal across the Champlain river.Derek and Nikki live on the side of a small mountain outside Bromont. They are gardening when I turn in their drive, and to Nikki's surprise (since it is quite steep) drive all the way to the top:It is great to catch up again, and many hours pass discussing all manor of subjects. Soon we are exhausted though and take up the kind offer of their spare bedroom.Stay tuned for some local Quebec camping...

Sunday 6th September : Bromont to Mont OrfordWe have a casual start to the day and load the shopping, bedding and other stuff Nikki has arranged for us - saves us 'renting' amenity kits from the RV guy.Derek has a go backing the rental RV down his drive. They had previously ruled out possibilities of a future class C at that property, but this 19ft model was proving access wasn’t too much of a problem. Despite seeming to be fitted with ABS the E350 still locked a front wheel in a couple of places and slid leaving a couple of 10ft gashes in the gravel we had to kick over afterwards. Mont Orford isn't far away, but being Labor Day there is a huge queue for the park entrance.Nikki booked us two campsites, but they got moved due to maintenance work, and to top it off when we arrived another camper was still on our site, which they didn't need to vacate until 3pm. So we both went on to Derek's site and parked there. Since the class C was a bit more difficult to manoeuvre Derek and Nikki kindly suggested we take that site and they would wait until the other one was free and then take that.We walk to the lake edge - it is beautiful, but packed (being labor day weekend):We decide that canoes would be the best bet, but it is far too hot this afternoon - we would fry out there, so decide to revisit the idea first thing tomorrow morning. After a rest we get together at our campsite to cook a meal:Stay tuned for the canoes...

Monday 7th September : Mont Orford to BromontWe found the outside LED light by the side door to be very good, and the dinette a good size for us to sit around (being that the RV wall goes all the way to the floor rather than being stepped like a truck camper which restricts the dinette floor space), and plenty of interior LED lights.That first night we had tried to work out how the curtains worked at the front of the RV, but being very tired I resorted to just attaching them together with the velcro - though that leaves quite a gap at the top - nearby campers might get a worrying view when you climb into the bed:This raises another concern with the class C. I love having a fixed bed and our experiment with a class B showed that I hate having to make the dinette into a bed every night and back again in the morning. However, on a truck camper there is a nice, often wide, step below the bed. The class C has nothing there because that is the cab access, plus being a van it has quite a high cab. So in the night, when you need the bathroom, you have to feel with your feet to find the step on the back of the dinette couch. Miss that and you could tumble all the way to the RV floor.The aircon was pretty good - this was the only night we had hookup, so we tried it and it worked well, but sticks up a long way on the roof and is therefore quite vulnerable:There are no large roof escape hatches - there being a large sliding window as an escape route. On the roof are a couple of smaller vents - these use a T-handle to open and adjust them, which is quick and convenient - better than the rotary knob on my truck camper's vent:The wet bath has a small electric extractor fan and a tall domed skylight (which is also quite vulnerable when backing up at tree-lined campsites):However, we were parked at a slight angle. We are used to that and it makes no difference to us when sleeping. However, it made a big difference to the shower drain as Sally found. The shower is on the left side, the grey tank on the right, and it has a very flat drain which airlocks at the slightest angle:This is more likely to happen because of the tendency to park so that your head is upwards in the east-west bed. But this puts the shower on the downward side. This may be difficult to avoid because the dinette is on the same side as the shower and that is what you use as a step, and hence needs to be at the foot of your bed.I moved the RV later to drain the shower, but not before checking for a problem in the plumbing under the van. I didn't find one, but I did find this:Yes, that orange section is unpainted steel where the builder has cut into the floor of the van to run pipes through it, then covered it with unpainted steel, which is covered in surface rust during the 7 months since it was built. Not a great sign of quality.The RV also has an absorption fridge:We've got used to a compressor fridge and were pleased to try a modern absorption fridge allowing us to run off the grid. But on Nikki's drive we had to park at an angle, so I turned the fridge off. Once on the road I had turned it on again and it got cold fairly quickly. But at Orford we had camped at a slight angle. It didn't feel like much of an angle - we happily park and camp at that angle or greater in our truck camper, but with the absorption fridge, that angle disabled it and it was warm in the morning. So when people say "if the camper is level enough for you to be comfortable then the fridge will work" bear in mind that comfort is in the eye (or behind) of the beholder.At 9am we are down at the water's edge renting canoes. We get a 50% discount being campers as opposed to day visitors. I've never canoed before, but Derek has (though much of it was in central American rain forest) and kindly gave me some lessons.We have a lovely hour paddling around the lake:Afterwards we go to investigate Derek and Nikki's campsite:It is soon time to leave the the campground, and we head back towards Derek and Nikki's house for a short hike up the mountain nearby, the trail of which Derek had a major hand in building:It was interesting to compare experiences here because we had helped develop trails around the local woodland by our home also.Dinner tonight was in Bromont - in that same bar / restaurant I was in 3 and a half years ago. I enjoyed some of their excellent selection of ales, brewed on site. That meant that afterwards Sally had to get acquainted with a left-hand-drive, automatic transmission, column-shift RV driven on the right. I forgot Sally doesn't have anywhere near the diverse driving experience I have - but after a quick refresher course she did well.Back at Derek and Nikki's house we decided that for a quick getaway in the morning we would employ the Sleepy parking position at the relatively flat bottom of the drive - flat enough at least for the fridge to work (side-slope, not fore-aft):Stay tuned for our crossing into the USA. For those reading this as I type, sorry, but you'll have to wait until after the weekend for the next instalment - all this talk about truck campers is making me desperate to use mine tomorrow - please check back in then...Steve.

Tuesday 8th September : Bromont to FreeportFollowing breakfast at McDonalds in Bromont we set off for the US border at Stanstead at the top of I91:There weren't many people crossing that day, and we had to park and go into the office to do the paperwork. The border guys in the office were fine - joking amongst themselves. Though it does seem like a fairly heavy duty border presence unless Canada is actually a very unlikely harbinger of economic migrants, terrorists and drug smugglers. More likely I suspect the US has to harmonize all border controls and doesn't want to be seen to be more favourable to one neighbour than another.Definitely in the US now:A bit of old England here - a Norman style church - the style the Norman (French) invaders built in England after 1066:We passed Crawford Notch and stopped for lunch just down the hill:Then headed on towards the coast:We stopped at the Factory outlet for LL Bean, but couldn't find anything we needed. We also looked for a Timex outlet where Derek had found expedition watches at a huge discount in the past. Sadly it had closed down.Nikki had booked us several nights into Recompense campground just outside Freeport, Maine. I think these were sites 720 and 722. I was really careful about parking this time, trying to get the camper absolutely flat so both the shower and fridge would work:It was fairly empty, which was great - a real change from the holiday weekend:These sites don't have hook-up, but they have water a few yards away and there is a shower / toilet block a couple of minutes walk away.

Trip Report : Quebec and New England | Good Sam Community

sabconsulting
Explorer
Sep 18, 2015
Sunday 6th September : Bromont to Mont Orford

We have a casual start to the day and load the shopping, bedding and other stuff Nikki has arranged for us - saves us 'renting' amenity kits from the RV guy.

Derek has a go backing the rental RV down his drive. They had previously ruled out possibilities of a future class C at that property, but this 19ft model was proving access wasn’t too much of a problem. Despite seeming to be fitted with ABS the E350 still locked a front wheel in a couple of places and slid leaving a couple of 10ft gashes in the gravel we had to kick over afterwards.

Mont Orford isn't far away, but being Labor Day there is a huge queue for the park entrance.

Nikki booked us two campsites, but they got moved due to maintenance work, and to top it off when we arrived another camper was still on our site, which they didn't need to vacate until 3pm. So we both went on to Derek's site and parked there. Since the class C was a bit more difficult to manoeuvre Derek and Nikki kindly suggested we take that site and they would wait until the other one was free and then take that.

We walk to the lake edge - it is beautiful, but packed (being labor day weekend):

We decide that canoes would be the best bet, but it is far too hot this afternoon - we would fry out there, so decide to revisit the idea first thing tomorrow morning. After a rest we get together at our campsite to cook a meal:

Stay tuned for the canoes...
sabconsulting
Explorer
Sep 18, 2015
Saturday 5th September : Montreal to Bromont

I booked a taxi for 8am - pessimistic really because it meant we got to the RV rental company across town 30 minutes before the first employee.

One of these must be our RV. I was hoping it was the small 19ft one - I really didn't want a "free upgrade" to a 27ft RV because they didn't have the requested one available:

By now you may have noticed that none of the above are truck campers :( - Once again we had failed to find a truck camper for rent, but at least on this journey we would have Derek's outfitter in convoy with us, and we could compare this compact class C against our truck camper that is only slightly shorter.

The first thing we noticed was the RV hadn't been washed and the gas tank wasn't full. The interior was clean, the water tank full and the grey and black tanks empty, but as part of the deal the renter has to return the RV like that anyway, so there was the possibility that the rental station hadn't done anything to this RV since it was returned by the last renters. Note that the rules regarding gasoline are - if you return it with more gas in than when you rented it - they don't refund you, but if you return it with less - they charge you for the difference. But clearly just pocket that money without filling the gas tank back up!

Rental guy gives us a very quick exterior tour. Hopefully we got the shortened tour because we are experienced RV owners - because if not there will be a lot of renters driving out not having a clue how to dump tanks or do other essentials. They seem to rely on you having watched all their introductory videos.

The RV is a Ford E350, like the class B we rented in Denver. Same 5.4 Triton V8, but at these low altitudes it performed more acceptably than in the Rockies. on start-up the transmission defaults to tow-haul mode; which I disable each time, enabling it temporarily for down-grades and to improve compression braking coming up to junctions.

For those of a technical nature, here are the maker's plates:

Inside the first big difference compared to a truck camper is the walk-through cab:

The overcab bed is cut away to make walking down into the cab easier. One of the cushions is then placed over the gap and has a ply insert to support you. However, that 3/4" less padding makes a big difference to comfort for whoever sleeps on that side (it being east-west configuration).

Note also there is a full dinette. Many of the European class Cs save a couple of foot of internal space by making the driver and passenger seats swivelling captains chairs and doing away with one of the dinette couches.

Looking rearwards you can see the central side-door, another departure from a truck camper:

Behind the door is the fridge and wardrobe, and on the other side a wet bath. At the far end is a galley. However that is a cul-de-sac that gets really hot when you cook and is too far away from the dinette table meaning there is very little space to work and prepare food - a real drawback of this design.

The side door does not have a window - it has a fake window:

OK, enough talking about the RV for now - time to set off for Bromont, to the east of Montreal across the Champlain river.

Derek and Nikki live on the side of a small mountain outside Bromont. They are gardening when I turn in their drive, and to Nikki's surprise (since it is quite steep) drive all the way to the top:

It is great to catch up again, and many hours pass discussing all manor of subjects. Soon we are exhausted though and take up the kind offer of their spare bedroom.

Stay tuned for some local Quebec camping...
sabconsulting
Explorer
Sep 18, 2015
Friday 4th September : London to Montreal

It is a strange time for a day-time flight. 6:30 in the evening. We get up late and the taxi drops us off at Terminal 5, Heathrow airport. I get to use stuff like the first class check-in, priority security and first class lounge. These things are starting to convince Sally that flying can be a bit better than the charter flights she remembered from years ago (the free champagne helped).

3 films and a short doze later and we are in Montreal. Well, that was my experience. Sally was less enamoured sitting next to a guy with halitosis behind first time flyers who kept reclining their seats all the way back into Sally's lunch.

One thing I wasn't looking forward to was working out what to do in the morning before collecting the rental RV. The earliest collection time is 1PM, and with jet lag that will feel like 6pm to our body clocks. A call to the rental agency before our flight has a pleasant outcome - "Any chance you could do me a favour?" asks the rental guy. "Your RV is already prepared; would you be able to collect it in the morning instead of the afternoon?" he pleaded - eyeing up the possibility of being able to knock off work early. Well, I wasn't going to argue with that :B

Immigration at Montreal was straight-forward and earlier research meant I knew exactly where to go to get the free hotel shuttle bus. And that was an easy 10 minute or less journey to the Holiday Inn - the first in Canada apparently - just outside the airport. Many nights in Intercontinental Group hotels mean plenty of points for purchasing ad-hoc nights like this, and as a bonus my platinum status means I tend to get a free upgrade too:

Went to bed exhausted - well, it was 3am UK time.

Off to collect the RV tomorrow...

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