Joining the Caravan and First Travel

June 24-25, 2016

We met our fellow travelers at a get-together at the campground. We have a wagonmaster pair, Bob, who leads the caravan and looks after road details, and his wife Marcia who manages the social aspects of the caravan. Tailgunner Bob and his wife Sue will generally be last in the caravan on travel days to provide assistance to any rigs having trouble on the road. Marcia had stopped by earlier and given us our “goodies”: two Adventure Caravan windbreakers, a backpack, and our trip log.

Rigs themselves fall into three types: Class A motor homes, fifth wheels, and travel vans. The 19 motor homes range in size from 34 to 45 feet, with many of them coming in around 40 feet [our Fleetwood Discovery is 38 feet]. The 6 fifth wheels range from 30 to 37 feet. The 3 travel vans are about 25 feet each. Home states include Arizona, California, Florida, Indiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia. The 58-day tour is a combination of two back-to-back tours. Most guests are making the entire trip, but about a third will drop out and be replaced by new travelers in North Sydney, Nova Scotia.

Caravan staff provided supper of rotisserie chicken (one per coach so there were leftovers for the next day’s travel), green beans, salad, roasted potatoes, rolls, and (of course) dessert. We introduced ourselves: We are former college presidents, engineers, teachers, firemen, marine biologists, bankers, railroad workers, secretaries, soldiers, policy analysts, pilots, and pharmacists.

We had our first drivers’ meeting where the wagonmaster reviewed the trip log– the driving directions for upcoming travel. They include each turn and the odometer reading expected at that point, rest areas, fuel stations, restaurants, sharp curves or steep grades, and pull-outs.

The first day’s travel was from Hermon (Bangor), Maine to Quebec City, Quebec. Our start was a little inauspicious: We couldn’t get the address to load in the coach’s navigation system [St. Nicolas is not St. Nicholas!] and the supplemental braking system would not set up. We had the trip log with detailed driving instructions and the braking system is not required so off we went. There were three surprises. First, at the border crossing, the agent asked our tag number. After a moment of panic thinking we didn’t know our tag number, we finally realized the tag number was on the registration right over the driver’s seat! Second, we were the first unit after the wagonmaster to arrive at the campground. We hadn’t rushed the trip and weren’t the first to leave, but our pace must have been steady. Third, (and we didn’t discover this until we were leaving the campground later that evening) we had overlooked a temporary traffic signal regulating traffic on a road narrowed to one-lane due to construction. How lucky we were that we didn’t meet another motor home on that narrow little stretch!

The 220-mile drive took us along mostly two-lane roads through villages, along rivers, and by lakes. There is so much window in the coach that reflections are a big problem in getting good photos.

Once we were set up at the campground in Quebec, we sought directions from campground staff to find a nice place to walk. Chutes-de-la-Chaudière is a waterfall on the Chaudière River–over 100 feet tall and spanned by a [terrifyingly unreliable Jane says] suspension bridge.

   Chutes-de-la-Chaudière

   Chutes-de-la-Chaudière

  Sure, it looks safe.  Dave proved that it was while Jane’s imagination kept her on the side.