The Tacoma overland build

Good morning from Mille Roches in the St. Lawrence Seaway!

Nabbed a beautiful last minute waterfront site :)

We are back home from our annual east coast adventure. This year was shorter than usual, and less touring, but no less of a vacation. We have had a tough few years, so this was long overdue to help recharge the batteries.

After leaving the beautiful Kouchibouguac park, we ended up in the Sépaq du Bic, near Rimouski. It is one of our favourite places - their Trombolo sector is a beautiful park born from a former Scout camp location. It is nestled between two bays, Baie des cochons and Baie du Ha!Ha!. Baie des cochons is filled with seals, so it's fun to sit and watch and listen.

We saw sooooo many deer while riding and hiking through the park. They were not shy and didn't run away when approached.

We spent our time at this park hiking and biking, with a few excursions for east coast nosh including to Cantine Cotière and Capitain Homard. The lobster roll at Cantine Cotière was interesting - a lot of competing flavours. Capitain Homard gave us seafood casserole and a spectacular sunset. Special shoutout to Capitain Homard who put together an off-menu dish for our little dude.

Our drive home was lonnnnggggg.... Over eleven hours for 700kms. We did stop in quickly, though, at the fromagerie des Basques, and found out that our son has a fond love of baguette ;).

Will provide a more tech focused update next time around!

We have truly been having a great vacation so far. Typically, we are go-go-go, while this year, we decided on a more relaxed place, staying multiple nights at the same site.

The rest of our time at Kouchibouguac reaffirmed our initial positive impression. The park is very well laid out, and sites offer privacy yet community, and the amenities are great.

We went for multiple nice bike rides as a family, took another road trip (this one into Miramichi along the coastal scenic drive), rented kayaks to paddle up the Kouchibouguac river, and... More cycling ;)

Leaving the camp on Tuesday was a bit bittersweet - Kouchibouguac has become one of our favourite spots, but we knew we were en route to our other favourite spot, Bic, Quebec.

We took the route up through Campbellton, NB, and then onward through the Appalachians. It was a beautiful drive, with very little traffic and varied terrain. We arrived in Sepaq du Bic and are here for another few days before returning home.

Here are some more pictures from Kouchibouguac et environs!

(Thought to share the photo of the air fryer hooked up to our battery pack. Travelling with a picky eater, he has been accommodated for every meal... IYKYK)

This year we have had a few weekend camping excursions (will post more on those later), but we are on our longer trip this year.

We drove from Lanark to Kouchibouguac, NB, on the eastern shores of the province on Friday. It was a long drive that started at 4:30, but we got here and set up before the sun went down, so that was a win.

We took the 108 logging highway across NB, which was excellent. Not much traffic, the roads were bumpy but passable, and we saw a moose frolicking in the greenery on the side of the road.

Kouchibouguac is a beautiful park. The design is well laid out, with each site feeling like you are in your own haven. We back onto a meadow, which is nice.

Best of all so far are the people. The most respectful campers we have encountered yet this year. It's nice to not feel like you're in the middle of a family party when camping ;).

Yesterday, we did a few bike rides as a family and hung out at the tidal pools for awhile. The husband shredded the rear tire on his bike, so we made an impromptu ride to Mike's Bike Shop in Dieppe yesterday afternoon to get a new tubeless rear tire. We then went into Shediac and had a great seafood dinner at the Sandbar, which is this very beachy restaurant. The wait is worth it if you're in the area. We also had a quick detour to the Pump House brew pub.

Today, we're going to be doing some more park exploration, and maybe a ride up to Miramichi later.

On our way to Arrowhead Provincial Park for a couple of nights.

Well... We are happy we got one of the Otentik sites from Parks Canada. Our previous site wouldn't allow us to open our annex room, so we would have had no reprieve from the weather we are currently experiencing. Instead, we are drinking coffee in a shelter with an electric stove, warm but only slightly damp (still better than soaking).

Yesterday we went to the beach again, and then drove into Charlottetown to replenish groceries , get paper and markers and get some more Cows ice cream. We had a nice evening fire back at camp and were able to watch a downloaded episode of a new Netflix series called "Who is Erin Carter" (which was decent).

Today, we are planning on driving around for some indoor activities until the rain let's up a bit. There is supposed to be a Ripley's Believe it or Not in Cavendish, so we may check that out.

We have noticed that the campground has cleared out. The only people left are those with hard shell or solid surface vehicles. I won't lie, the decision to get one of these indoor sites has had me feeling a little like a fraud, but... We are warm. And dry.

On Tuesday, we drove into St. Andrews by the sea to try, for the third year in a row, to find the whales. Despite multiple previous valiant efforts, the whales just didn't want to be seen previously, in either Gaspe, the Cabot trail or on PEI.

We booked an excursion through Quoddy Link Marine for a catamaran sailing and crossed our fingers. This was an approximate 2.5 hour drive from our base camp site, so a bit longer than we would have liked, but everyone assured us that the best place for whale watching was in Fundy neck.

We boarded the craft, layered up and expecting a cold trip, to be pleasantly surprised with nice weather. The male half got away with wearing shorts, while junior and I were bundled and over dressed.

We lucked out. We got to see the Fundy hat trick of whales, included Minke, Humpback and Fin whales. We also saw some seals, tuna, dolphins and many sea birds. The photos aren't great because I don't have access to do any zooming or processing from my phone, but we had a few good instances where the whales showed off by frolicking right beside our craft.

After that excursion, we returned to camp happy and fulfilled, had dinner and then went to bed (made for a late day with travel, etc.). The next morning, we broke camp and headed out to Stanhope, PEI to set up camp for a few days.

We loved the Stanhope site last year, so opted to spend all our time here this year, rather than splitting with Cavendish. Unfortunately, the sites are not quite as advertised. With the tent set up, it's difficult to fit into a regular site, as they tend to be longer and narrower. We ended up unable to get the trailer into the site we initially booked and had to switch it up for a super non-flat, open and busy site. Not ideal, but doable. Benefit is that we are literally a 200m walk from the beach, so hard to complain :).

Yesterday we spent the day playing at camp and on the beach and went into New Glasgow for a traditional lobster dinner at New Glasgow Lobster Suppers .

Today we are breaking up camp to switch to an Otentik site. Unfortunately, we are about to experience the tail end of some hurricane weather, with winds up to 80km/h and rain upwards of 25mm/h. We are tough, but we aren't stupid. We have another week to go, and the last thing we want to contend with is a broken tent from strong winds, so we are moving to a wood framed permanent canvas tent on site for a few days to wait out the weather. Still camping, more like glamping this round :)

Yesterday was our first full day out in Fundy, and it was really great. We woke up and the weather was calling for 40% chance of showers, 0.1mm of rain per hour. We learned that the weather forecasts here are slightly more accurate than back home. We did get some rain until about 11am, but then it was overcast, if not sunny for the rest of the day.

We drove into Alma to explore the beach at low tide, and had the chance to watch the tide come in. We also went to a little chip shack that my family has come to since I was about 15 years old - they have the best friend clams of anywhere around, so we had to buy a dish to share.

We then went on a hike up to Laverty Falls within the park. It is a connector to the Trans-Canada trail network, rated as an intermediate trail with a 2.5 km section each way that is supposed to take you between 1-1.5 hours (each way). We thought it was high time to get our little dude into a more advanced trail, and gave him the option between a coastal hike or a waterfall hike - he chose the waterfall. The terrain was rocky, filled with roots and at some places, completely water/mud filled. He did it, and with fun too. We finished the entire hike (out and back) in about 1.5 hours, so we made really good time to boot!

From there, we went exploring some of the gravel off road trail network in the park, and found the park's heated outdoor pool. We decided to take a dip in the pool and enjoyed a nice float and play session - doing laps back and forth chasing each other.

After this, we went back to the camp, hung out for a bit, and then drove back into Alma to feast on some seafood. We returned to the Alma Boathouse, where they made a special off menu dinner for our son, I had a lobster roll and seafood chowder combo and the hubby had a fisherman's plate.

Another great day! Today, we are off to St. Andrews by the Sea to do some whale watching on a catamaran.

We are out and about again, this time for our longer trip of the summer. We will be just shy of two weeks when all is said and done, and we decided to return to the Maritimes to spend more time in the places we didn't have enough time for last year. A combination of base camping + day trips, which is very different from the hectic drive, set up camp, sleep, pack up camp, drive adventures we are so used to.

Before heading out, we had some upgrades to do to the trailer. Since our on board battery died last trip, we had to decide between buying a new battery, or getting another battery pack which would offer more versatility. We opted for another battery pack, so picked up another Bluetti - this one a LiFePo 2000Wh that can equally be used during home energy events.

To make it fit, hubby had to angle grind a large section out of our equipment side of the trailer. He also decided to create a better connection for the plug, as the Snowmaster fridge 12V plug has been in use for two years and is a little loose. He made a 12V to Anderson connector cable, and then decided to create an Anderson to Anderson connector for travelling, so now our electricity and plug situation is well in hand.

On to the trip...

We decided we were going to make the 1250 km trek from Lanark county to the Bay of Fundy in one go. No small feat with a wife with small bladder capacity and a young child. We packed everything up, set our alarms for 3:30 Sunday morning and were on the road by 4:28.

One significant lesson learned from this trip is that it's easier to start your drive in the dark, than it is to drive all day and finish your drive in the dark. We were on the other side of Montreal by 7am, so were really ahead of traffic, which was nice.

The drive itself was smooth and uneventful. My son remembered a stop we made on our trip last year at a specific Burger King in NB (which was coincidentally right beside the Covered Bridge chip factory), and he really wanted to go again. So, we promised to bring him back. That was an error. We arrived and the Burger King was closed and under construction. He was one sad little dude, but then we figured out that their Drive Thru was open and that turned the whole experience right around. We also grabbed some chips from the factory store, including a lobster flavoured variety that will be an interesting treat.

Getting back on the highway, we continued toward Fundy National Park. We ended up arriving in the park after 13 hours and 15 minutes of driving (stops included), and we weren't completely burnt out - a benefit of starting early in the day. One of my personally favourite views in the world is as you approach Alma, the first sight of the water and the bluffs of Alma in the distance - as if the sea and the shore are beckoning to you, saying "Welcome home". This sight didn't disappoint, again :)

Rather than set up camp immediately, the trip called for beer (which we didn't have), so we drove into Alma to get some beer from the Holy Whale Brewing Company, where we got our awesome micro brews last year.

We came back to camp, set up, had dinner and lights out. Best sleep we've had in a long time!

The last photo is our Daisy girl, living her best life at her new kennel :)

Today we are going to do some low tide exploring and a few hikes.

Parc national de la Mauricie was a great new park for us to visit this past weekend.

We stayed in the A loop at Rivière-à-la-pêche. We were hoping to bring our GSP with us, but because the park clearly states dogs can only be on the camping spot, we had to leave her behind. In our observations, however, there were dogs everywhere throughout the park, including on prohibited trails - we probably would have been ok bringing ours.

Day 2, we regrouped from the insane rain, thunder and lightening show from the night before. Our tent and annex certainly came in handy and kept us nice and dry, but we were doing a lot of sky watching to make sure we weren't caught up in nasty weather.

We did two family capable hikes. The first was a 4.5 km out and back along the Mekinac trail, which borders rivière Saint-Maurice. The second was a loop at Lac du Fou, which added another 3km or so.

That night, we chilled at camp and had fun playing with sparklers and magic fire.

Day 3, we did a few more smaller hikes. We were too late in getting a canoe rental, so we will need to plan ahead next time we go.

We did the bear trail at Wapizagonke lake which was about 4km, and another little hike at Lac Édouard which added another 2km or so.

Overall, impressions of this park were very good. We had a good amount of seclusion in our camping area, the kitchen/showers and washrooms were well maintained through the park, and you were far enough away from the city to prevent urbanites ruining your trip by slamming their car doors at all hours of the day/night.

We will be back!

Forgot to mention one major piece from the weekend. We had a non serviced site for four days, and usually we would be ok with the trailer battery running our fridge, and the Bluetti for whatever else. Except, our trailer battery finally died. On day one. So... We ran off the Bluetti for everything, and while it was a little nerve wracking, everything was kept cold and our lights worked. We will need to get a new battery though (boooo) and are looking into a LiFePo battery. We push off again in a week or so for a 13 day trip where, again, we don't have electricity the whole time, so we are under the gun to make a decision on replacement battery quickly. More to come!