Need help crossing Quebec...

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grassy

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Joined
Sep 26, 2005
Posts
564
Hi,

My son is racing in Moncton and then we will be making a b-line across Quebec to Gananoque, Ontario...we normally do this quickly by car but this time we will be pulling our TT and bumping along at 100 KMs (60 mph).

Quebec has many rest stops...can you overnight in one ? Are theeir better campgrounds to stay in such as KOA ?

Any help would be appreciated.

Ian.
 
Ian,

Quebec has many rest stops...can you overnight in one ?

The rest stops in Quebec have signs indicating a 4 hour maximum.  However there are several Walmarts in the smaller cities such as St. Hyacinthe and Drummondville which are usually used by travelling RVers.  The Walmarts in Montreal prohibit overnight parking, and for safety reasons I would not recommend parking anywhere along the highway in Montreal.

There's a Flying J at the west end of Montreal, just before you get on 401.  It's on the link on Hwy 40 where the road splits to Toronto and Ottawa.  There's another Flying J in Napannee, Ontarion.

Another stop could be in Cornwall Ontario, at the Irving Truck Stop at the Brookdale Avenue exit.

Remember to arrange the timing for crossing Montreal to avoid rush hour between 6 am to 10 am  and 3 pm to 630 pm.

Do you need help with the route to cross Montreal?
 
Sorry for the delay in response..out RV'ing  :)  ...wish we had discovered this years ago..

I am thinking that Moncton to Drummondville would be a good haul with two younge kids at 60 mph..have to go to a map and count miles..

<>for safety reasons I would not recommend parking anywhere along the highway in Montreal.

Do you mean just pulling off the side of the road or in a rest stop ??...I have hear stories how bad they are after dark...don't know if true..

>Do you need help with the route to cross Montreal?

PLEASE...it is much different than driving a car...

thanks !

Ian.


 
      Moncton to Drummondville is about a 10 hour, plus stops trip.  There are loads of nice campgrounds along Highway 20, really from Rivierre Du Loup to Montreal.  I also would not try to stay in the rest stops, you might get rousted in the middle of the night by a unilingual QPP Officer and not be able to talk your way out of it.  As for safety, we travel that route (by car) about 3 or 4 times a year, 3 grandkids in Ottawa, we've never had difficulties or problem where ever we've stopped, but Montreal is a big city (by Canadian) standards, with similar inner city problem, hence don't try to overnight in the city, at a Walmart, etc.  I seem to recall a new Flying J on the Quebec city side of Montreal, check their website.
      As for directions, take the Transcanada Hwy from Moncton to Rivierre Du Loup, Hwy 20 to Montreal, then I always take Hwy 25, the Louis Lafontaine Tunnel, to Hwy 40, which takes you across Montreal Island (about 50 Kms/30 miles) and shortly after you leave the Island, follow directions to Hwy 401, which starts at the Ontario borber, I think you actually get back on Hwy 20 to get there, follow the 402 until your exit.  It will likely be about 4 hours, plus any stops.
      The Thousand Island area that you're headed for is beautifull and offers great camping, but it could be busy, you might want reservations.
 
For what it's worth, the TransCanada Highway (aka TCH) is not a freeway like we in the U.S. think of them.  In many places it's a two-lane road, so it depends a lot on where you are on it.  Don't expect to go 65 mph on it in all locations, especially with an RV.  It's more like a freeway in metropolitan areas.

Also, when you get fuel in Canada, you cannot use the truck side to get diesel fuel and it must be pumped by an employee.  It can get frustrating when the car pumps are in a narrow area.

ArdraF
 
    You are correct with the 2 lane comments, but from Moncton to The 1000 Islands, there is less than 100 miles of 2 lane, you'll hit about 45 miles through northern New Brunswick that they have not yet opened the 4 lane, although it's been a month since I've been on it, so more may be finished.  The remaining 55 miles is from the NB border to Rivierre Du Loup, but there's lots of truck lanes to let the traffic go by.
    As for fueling, it depends on the Province and Station.  I've filled my rig with diesel in NB and Nova Scotia, but I've also been told to go to the truck lane where they had full service, at the same price, I might add.  Can't say what it's like in Quebec or Ontario as I've not been there with the rig.
 
Also, when you get fuel in Canada, you cannot use the truck side to get diesel fuel and it must be pumped by an employee

That's an over generalization.  The availability of truck pumps and the policy as to their use will vary from station to station.  There is no National policy truck pumps.

Ian,

My comment about stopping in MOntreal was because the way the highways pass through Montreal, there are no rest stops within the City, and it would be inconvenient to pull off unless you knew where you were going.  However there are a number of shopping malls close to the Trans Canada particularly in the western part of the City where you could pull off, do some shopping and rest.

These would be on Hwy 40, using the exits in the upper 40's and 50's  eg exit 52  etc.  Also you would have little trouble with English in that part of the City.

When is your trip?  I can write some comments today and possibly tomorrow, but will be offline until July 17.

If you're coming from Drummondville, set your GPS to take you through the Hyppolyte Tunnel, then on Hwy 40 to cross the City of Montreal.  Use that route rather than following prompts for Hwy 20.

Avoid that route before 10 am or after 3 pm weekdays.  Use it anytime on weekends.

When you get off the island at the west end in Vaudreuil, there is a split in the highway taking you to 401 toward Toronto and 417 toward Ottawa.

The Montreal Flying J is at that split.

If you choose to stop in Drummondville, there are several malls on the south side of Hwy 20 including a Walmart.  There is also a Walmart at the exit for St. Hyacinthe.

Bewtween Riviere Du Loup and Quebec City there are several good rest areas, where you could stop for meals.  At St. Jean Port Joli there are a couple of truck stops.  Also if you have time, unhook your toad and visit St. Jean Port Joli for the unique wood carvings that are sold throughout the town.

Also there are a number of rest areas between Quebec City and Montreal where you can stop for meals.

If you are travelling through Quebec the last two weeks of July, be advised that it's a major vacation period for all the trades and construction industry.  Campgrounds are usually full and traffic heavy with RV's.  On the plus side, rush hour through Montreal is lighter.

Hope this helps.
 
That's an over generalization.  The availability of truck pumps and the policy as to their use will vary from station to station.  There is no National policy truck pumps.

It may be an over generalization, but last summer we were in Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland for two months and I don't believe we used even one fuel station where we were allowed to pump our own diesel.  There may not be a national policy, but common practice is what we found to be the case.  We also were not allowed to use the truck pumps, presumably something to do with taxes.  Moreover, all the truck pumps we saw seemed to require swiping a special truck card which we could not get because we were not a truck and only truckers could get them, effectively eliminating RVers from using the pumps.  Catch 22 for us.

As to the huge orange construction signs in Quebec, they were full of verbiage - no international symbols - and none of the words looked familiar.  We enjoyed our stay in Quebec and attitudes are better than they were years ago on previous trips, but friendliness to visitors is not high on their agenda.  We met some lovely people, as well as some less than helpful who pretended (we were told by a couple of people) not to understand English.  One person who had lived in the U.S. explained that there's a whole generation of young people who were not ALLOWED to learn English during the Separatist movement years.  This person explained that her children wanted to learn English but because they were of French heritage were prohibited from doing so.  They taught their children English surreptiously.  What a shame to hinder people who want to participate in the world at large.  Anyway, I think that's the attitude that Ron and the others are mentioning.

ArdraF






 
ArdraF said:
As to the huge orange construction signs in Quebec, they were full of verbiage - no international symbols - and none of the words looked familiar.

That's what confused us Ardra. We were on top of the signs before we realized it and, when my driver (Chris) looked at me, all I could do was shrug my shoulders. Our experience was specifically in Montreal.

We ran into a different road sign issue around Quebec City (driving the toad). We'd be following signs to the freeway, then all of a sudden we'd find ourselves on small city streets with no hint of how to get to the freeway. Obviously a lack of familiarity and preparation on our part.

However, we really would like to go back to the Maritimes. We hadn't planned to visit Canada at all on our trip, but Steve was kind enough to map out a route and provide lots of good campground info for us. We "did the Maritimes" in 2 weeks, which was all we had spare in our schedule. So we'd like to go back some time with plenty of flexibility in our schedule (maybe 3-4 months) and enjoy the sights.
 
I don't know, but they all seem to speak English pretty well when they winter in Florida.  ;D
 
but they all seem to speak English pretty well when they winter in Florida

Not exactly.

The majority of French Canadian Quebecers live in enclaves around the Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood and Pompano area.  The communities are segreagated from the general population and they form various socio-economic ghettoes.  The area provides virtually all services in French including newspapers, TV and radio stations, stores, real estate agents, banks, insurance agents and just about every other service imaginable.

They are staffed by legal and illegal immigrant workers from Quebec who have set up businesses to service the large population that invades inhabits South Florida each winter.

They have no reason to speak English in Florida except on the odd occasion when a service is not available.  Even BellSouth has French speaking customer service personnel.

As A result they hardly integrate into Florida activities because life in Florida is just like life in Quebec, but with warm temps.
 
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