The big first day of our vacation. Just under 900 km in total. Our target departure time was 6:00 am. Our actual departure time was 7:05 am. Why the difference? Seems that the combination of going to bed late and waking up too early was enough to put Corbin in a miserable place. He complained his leg hurt, his wrists hurt, that he was going to throw up, that he was not well. Yeah. What a good way to start the trip. It almost drove Adam to the brink. After 30 or so minutes, Corbin slowly came around, and we said our goodbyes and headed out. Traffic through the GTA was typical - even for a holiday. The only slow down in Toronto was due to jack-knifed truck carrying bagged ice - the irony was not lost. Shortly thereafter we stopped in Ajax for breakfast and a refuel.
The next 200 km or so were torture. You see, some time after the Highway 35/115 interchange, the 401 goes from 3 lanes to 2 lanes. Usually not a major problem, but with cottage bound traffic, it was a problem. You would be driving along and in a few seconds you were doing 20 kph or you were at a standstill. No accident. No nothing. Seems that some people had difficulty in passing vehicles, as in they would barely speed up to pass a slower moving vehicle. With the volume of traffic, that meant traffic bunched up good. At the rest stop between Napanee and Kingston, Tina took over driving duty and Corbin was given his special surprise of the trip - a Game Boy Advance SP. He was in seventh heaven.
Just inside Quebec, we were looking for a place to eat other than McDonald's, but it seems that Quebecers love McDonald's. It was not until east of Montreal that we found an alternative in Burger King. Wait. Let's go back a few minutes. Yes, Tina drove through Montreal. With Adam playing the navigator, she managed to drive through Montreal with no problem. Tina was proud of her accomplishment. After finishing a late lunch, Adam drove the final leg. We hit some light rain in the Eastern Townships, but that quickly gave way to sunny warm weather. There was very little traffic on Autoroute 55 towards Vermont. We arrived at the Canada-USA border to be greeted by a small US Custom's facility (two booths). It was amusing not having to pay a toll to enter the US. We arrived at the Comfort Inn & Suites in St. Johnsbury, Vermont around 5:00 pm. Check-in was courteous and fast. In less then an hour, we were enjoying the swimming pool. A good Day One.
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