788 July 29, 2022 Matane
The promised overnight thunderstorms never materialized. We had some gentle rain this morning. By the time I was ready for my walk, the rain had stopped. One of the greatest pleasures of this gypsy life is waking up in a new town and going for a walk in a new place!
No rain, though the clouds looked kind of threatening.
Many of the houses here have cheerful red roofs or doors or planters or green roofs or blue roofs. I love the brightly painted houses. There are also lots of beautiful flower gardens and hanging baskets with a profusion of brilliant annuals. I think if I lived here in the winter when everything is grey and snow covered and frozen, I would want lots of color too!
We traveled only a short distance today in La Cote or the coastal region. This beach in Saint Ulric was a terrific breakfast spot.
We were lucky to find another free RV site on the Saint Lawrence River. The mall in Matane allows RVs to stay in the back parking lot.
This afternoon, we took the Jeep and traveled 20 plus miles inland. It is amazing how quickly the scenery changed from seashore to fir trees and mountains.
We saw this covered bridge and stopped for pictures.
Our destination was the Reserve faunique de Matane. This is a wildlife preserve. This region has the highest density of moose in all of Quebec. I was hoping. When we arrived though, I saw that there were other cars and knew that it would be unlikely to see anything. I also know that moose like to be in the water in the early mornings and around dusk.
We drove on the gravel road through the park. The scenery was magnificent.
Lac Matane.
Cedar waxwing.
It was already midafternoon and so we decided to take Route 4 through the park and back to Matane, in lieu of the much longer route. As soon as we made the turn, the road got much rougher. We rode up a series of switchbacks to the top of a mountain. The views were incredible.
We noticed very dark sky, then thunder, then lightning. We could see the rain cell over the distant peak.
We got back into the car and it began to rain and then to hail!
As we descended the mountain, the weather improved. As we rounded a bend, we saw a bull moose trotting along beside the road. He veered into the brush and disappeared. Tim stopped the car, climbed onto the footboard and saw movement. I got out just in time to see the moose look directly at me and then he turned and sauntered away. I was giddy with excitement. What a joy to see this guy today!
We finally made it back to pavement.
As we drove back to the RV, I saw a seal perched atop a rock in the Saint Lawrence River. What a day…what an adventure to live this way! Thank you, Tim for bringing me here!
