Robert had woken up at 5:00 am with "monkey brain" thinking of several things he has ignored since being on holidays, and was mortified to realize that our truck insurance had expired 5 days ago. He had called about 2 weeks before to take care of it, and the insurance company were supposed to get back to him with how to proceed, but being in holiday mode he completely forgot to notice that they never called back. So that was going to be the priority of the day. We first had to get to a town with internet and wait until the insurance company in BC was open!. We were VERY careful driving...
The washrooms at our campsite in Lac Boyer...
Memories of Africa...
Toilet paper roll (Red Green version, complete with duct tape)
This area is very much a hunting/fishing haven!
Many come here from all over to experience the hunt!
We never did get to meet Michel Langlois...
Today, we are going to be putting on the miles and hoping to make it to Hearst, Ontario, birthplace of our good friend Gilles Boulley. It is rather cold... 10 degrees and overcast, some rain. Mostly forests, this drive reminded us of the drive from Winnipeg to Falcon Lake... only 10 times longer! We passed a lot of mining towns along the way. Going through the town of Malartic, Robert noticed a huge staircase going to the top of a hill. Of course we had to stop and explore...
Sculpture at the largest open gold mine in Canada...
Click here for a 44 second video of the largest open gold mine in Canada!
Cool stairs up to the observation deck...
By the time the insurance company was open in B.C., we had already made it to Rouyn-Norand. We spent a few hours at the Tim's there doing business. Whew! Taken care of, thanks to technology, scanning signatures, emails back and forth, filling out forms online, etc. Quite the process!
Back into Ontario!
Rain, rain, rain that day... time to put on some miles...
More rain and lots of trees!
Getting closer to Hearst, we noticed a lot more logging trucks, as we had in Quebec. Having no cell or internet service (what else is new?), we had to wait to be at a gas station before we could contact Gilles's brother Pierre to be able to meet him, when he offered us to stay/camp at their home. After our long day we were happy to accept! He met us on the road to be able to guide us to his home.
Hearst, hometown of world famous Gilles Boulley!!
We got to meet his brother Pierre and his awesome family!
They let us park our trailer in their huge yard... Thanks!
We had a lovely visit with Pierre, France and their two daughters, Sophie and Samuelle. Lots of family stories and they even pulled out some photo albums. So fun!
Gilles mom, Pierre and p'tit Gilles!
P'tit Gilles on the left
(Did Christian ever look like that??? Wow... carbon copy!)
Gilles, the baseball star!
He then took us on a tour of the town, showing us where they grew up, played hockey, the street named after their grandfather who was mayor here, the schools, etc.
Gilles' grandfather was mayor of Hearst for a few terms...
To top it off, he brought us to the wood mill which was a sight to behold, especially in the dark. Felt like we were in a futuristic movie, watching these gigantic machines at work!. We immediately thought of the grandkids and how impressed they would be.
Click here to see the 2 minute video of the cool machinery at the huge lumber mill in Hearst. Here, the crane is loading flats of 2 x 4's, 2 x 6's, etc. on the appropriate piles, all of the piles ready to be sent to the drying kiln...
Raining heavily as we went to bed but made for peaceful sleep!
Thank you for this amazing blog. You are making me cry as i look at those old photos. I am glad that you had the opportunity to visit with my brother and his family.
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