Day 36: Montreal
Welcome
Yesterday we crossed into Quebec to play a show in Montreal.
We left Portland with a good night’s sleep under our belts and were feeling good about the big drive up to Canada. Jon was behind the wheel and took us north, heading up towards the border on a beautiful series of scenic single carriageway highways.
Breakfast was found at a Dunkin Donuts in the town of Windam. While there were some fine items to choose from on the menu I ended aiming for the healthiest - avocado toast with oven-roasted tomato, sesame seeds, and poppy seeds.
We crossed the border at Canaan, Vermont, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection Facility with an unusually high Google rating of 4.7 from six reviews. The agents on both sides of the border were friendly although Jon had to show them how to correctly operate a carnet.
The border.
This tiny border crossing with their outdoor document processing.
Another successful carnet operation.
The scenic splendour continued once we entered Canada and we wove our way around lakes and sprawling farmland. We ended up on Autoroute 10 which took us all the way into Montreal and our venue, Bar de Ritz.
The last time we played in Montreal we drove from Toronto through a blizzard and ended up arriving about five hours late. From memory the temperature was around -20°C, still the coldest we have ever experienced. Yesterday we cut our tardiness down to 1.5 hrs and the temperature was more like 20°C, a great improvement. I do have a fond memory of that last Montreal show, though, and last night’s show gave me a very similarly warm feeling.
Rosie Tucker continuing to blow away crowd after crowd with their opening set.
The pack train dissolves into chaos outside the van.