You'd think that I'd be really excited about going to CJ'01 when I woke up this morning. I'd think so too, but when I woke up I was feeling miserable. I had a sore throat, and I felt really weak, almost like a flu. However, I wouldn't let that stop me from going on my great voyage! Around 8:30 a.m., my dad and I went to our troop meeting place where a charter bus would be picking the troop up to go to PEI. The bus was chartered from Great Canadian Holidays Inc. of Kitchener, Ontario. The parents took photos and videos of us, and before we knew it, we had said our goodbyes and were on the bus. Soon we were on Hwy 401 eastbound. Between London and Toronto, we watched the hilarious 1996 movie Happy Gilmore starring Adam Sandler. Of course, my favourite part was the fight scene between Happy and The Price is Right host Bob Barker at the Pepsi Pro-Am.
There was a brief slowdown as we entered Toronto, but we made it through the city just fine. We stopped for a washroom break at the Wendy's/Tim Horton's service centre between Newcastle and Port Hope. By now I had a bad headache, and I had to get some acetaminophen from one of the leaders. At this point our plan was to eat lunch near Kingston, since we were making excellent time so far. However, we hit a solid traffic jam just past Hwy 45 at Coburg. Apparently there had been a major accident several kilometres up ahead. For 45 minutes we did not move. We were intregued to watch other stopped motorists get out of their cars to get drinks out of their trunks and then chat with other drivers. Another London Scout troop travelling to CJ was stopped right behind us. Their Scouts took the opportunity to play some football on the paved median strip of the highway. While stopped we started watching another Adam Sandler movie, Big Daddy. The OPP directed traffic, including our bus, to drive around the terminus of the concrete median barrier into the westbound lanes of Hwy 401. We exited into Coburg, and we got onto Hwy 2 eastbound. Unfortunately other drivers were doing the same trick, and it took us over an hour to drive 13 kilometres to Grafton, before we got back on Hwy 401. During that time Big Daddy finished, and we started watching Raiders of the Lost Ark.
We stopped for lunch at the McDonald's service centre between Brighton and Trenton, sometime after 3 p.m. I ordered a Big Xtra meal. After lunch, we continued east towards Quebec. We watched a couple more Indiana Jones movies. We stopped for another washroom break at a service centre near Morrisburg. Soon we were out of Ontario and we were in Quebec on Autoroute 20. We exited onto Autoroute 40 via Autoroute 540 near Montreal. Throughout Montreal the Scouts were intregued by the stores we normally see at home, but with French names instead. For example, Staples Business Depot was called Bureau en Gros. We caught a glimpse of Olympic Stadium while on the island. We exited onto Autoroute 25 and went under the St. Lawrence River via the Louis-Hippolyte-Lafontaine Tunnel. We rejoined Autoroute 20, and then we stopped at St.-Julie for supper, as it was around 7 p.m. We went to Burger King. Since it was my first time in Quebec, I felt obligated to order poutine, so that's exactly what I did. One of the other Scouts was really intregued by the French version of Burger King, so he was asking everyone, "Ou est le boeuf?"
After supper, we continued on towards Quebec City on Autoroute 20. We watched yet another Adam Sandler movie; this time it was Billy Madison. When we reached Charny, near Quebec City, we exited at Route 116 and went to a parking lot where we changed drivers. The new driver took the bus to a nearby Ultramar Truck Stop. There many of the Scouts had showers, and hung out in the depanneur. I bought myself a bottle of juice in an attempt to gain control of the bug I had. After midnight, we got back on the bus, and continued east on Autoroute 20. I changed my watch one hour forward to Atlantic Daylight Time, and soon I fell asleep. Please click 'next' to continue. |
