Day 37: Travel day
Welcome
Yesterday was a huge travel day, our final one for the tour. We drove nearly 1000km from Montreal to Pittsburgh.
For breakfast we headed to a market that Tristan had found a short drive from the hotel. I bought a sausage in a baguette with some mustard and sauerkraut. I’m not sure what this dish is called but it was impressive. Please excuse me now while I go and delete ‘what is a French-Canadian hotdog called’ from my search history.
Tristan drove the first stint of the day. It was an epic stint, six hours behind the wheel. Our route was in the shape of a giant seagull and Tristan did the entire right wing, and some more.
We crossed the border at Thousand Islands, where the St Lawrence River divides the US and Canada on its way down to flowing into Lake Ontario. Driving over the Thousand Islands International Bridge the 1,864 islands of the archipelago look incredibly inviting with lake houses and jetties dotting all of the tiny landmasses, which in order to qualify for Thousand Islands membership must have at least one square foot of land above water level year round and support at least two living trees.
Crossing the Thousand Islands Bridge.
At the US side of the border Jonathan operated the carnet for the final time, this being cause for a small celebration.
If you look closely you can just make out Jonathan carrying out a small celebration as he makes his way across the pedestrian over-bridge at US customs.
It was a fiercely hot day and the now-completed carnet provides a perfect shield from the searing sun.
Morale is high in the first half of the drive.
After passing the giant flag at Camping World of Syracuse it was time for a driver swap so we pulled into a rest area. Then it was my turn behind the wheel. We took the iconic New York State Thruway on a westerly heading to Buffalo and then southwest to Erie. Then we pivoted to i79 heading directly south which took us right into Pittsburgh. It was a Monday night and the highways were pleasantly quiet. We arrived twelve hours after we had set out and feeling knackered. We did have a pretty nice 190 mile bonus on the van computer though.
The giant flag at Camping World of Syracuse.
Wild and wacky weather at the Seneca Travel Plaza.
