The Great Canadian Expedition

[Rsgtivr6]

Getting ready for our halfway across the continent trip. Heading from Minneapolis, MN to near Grand Falls, NB, Canada. 1510 miles one way. Leaving Friday afternoon and expecting to get there sometime Sunday afternoon. Loaded with goodies and the four of us it should be an interesting trip. Staying for two and a half weeks whilst we visit the GF's family. We are staying at the Maple Leaf Campground in St. Leonard, that her aunt owns, with full hookups next to her brother's family who are coming up from Virginia for one of the weeks. We will probably have to house one or two of their kids since they are just borrowing another family member's PUP for a family of 5 and ours sleeps 6 comfortably with no shared beds (other than our own). We are "making" (my son is actually begging) the kids stay in our tent as well some of the nights for the more "original" style of camping. Should be a good time, and if we don't have internet connections, I might not be on from this Friday until Aug 10th or so. Wish me luck! I hope I won't need it, lol.

[Terier]

Your road trip sounds wonderful. Please take lots of pictures and share with us.

Safe travels,
Terier

[Dave_Monica]

Originally Posted by Rsgtivr6

Getting ready for our halfway across the continent trip. Heading from Minneapolis, MN to near Grand Falls, NB, Canada. 1510 miles one way. Leaving Friday afternoon and expecting to get there sometime Sunday afternoon.

Am I reading this right. You're going to drive 1510 miles in two days! That's going to be 13 - 14 hours per day with gas stops etc. Man, you're a bear for punishment!



Have a good trip to NB...leave lots of money!



Dave

[Rebel702]

Should be a good time, and if we don't have internet connections, I might not be on from this Friday until Aug 10th or so.

If you have a smart phone get the Forest River Forums app working. Easy to keep in touch.

[capucine]

Good luck for this adventure. Let us know how much gas you have used for this camping trip!

[Rsgtivr6]

Originally Posted by Rebel702

If you have a smart phone get the Forest River Forums app working.

Well, our phones generaly don't get much of a signal over there, so it wouldn't do a lot of good. We are bringing the Thrive tablet and laptop, so hopefully we will get wireless there...

As far as gas, I am figuring about 167 gal each way at 9 mpg avg. At 5-6CAD per gal, I have 2k saved up for gas alone both ways. Still saving money based on 4 plane tickets and 3 weeks hotel room.

It will be over 3 days. Figuring 6-7 hours driving if we leave at noon-1p Fri, 10-12 hrs driving Sat, and 10-12 on Sun or whatever is left. If we carry over into Mon, it wont be a big deal. We can stop when we want to now, so it wont be based on where we can get a hotel. With 3 weeks, we are in no hurry, lol. I tried planning on 5-6 days out there with a couple day long stops instead of just overnight, but she would rather just get there and then relax for the rest of the time with her family.

She takes hundreds of pictures, so I am sure to have some to share!

[Rsgtivr6]

Ok. We made it to NB, Canada yesterday with no issues. Took us an extra day, but we figured it might stretch to Monday with a 1yo.

The Trail Express tires were my main concern, but I checked them at every stop and made sure to stay under 65mph and all was well.

The secondary issue was the rear rack with bikes AND the spare. It held up good and I found no signs of stress cracking anywhere. It seemed fairly rigid and the main point of stress seems to be the welds at the frame behind the bumper. I did have one problem with this though. If you come up to quick, steep inclines, your spare WILL rub. I rubbed a hole in my (cheap) vinyl cover from 2 quick hills. No damage to the spare besides a small rub mark.

No internet at the site, so will not be on a lot, but there will be pics to come!

[MilCop4523]

Originally Posted by Rsgtivr6

Getting ready for our halfway across the continent trip. Heading from Minneapolis, MN to near Grand Falls, NB, Canada. 1510 miles one way. Leaving Friday afternoon and expecting to get there sometime Sunday afternoon. Loaded with goodies and the four of us it should be an interesting trip. Staying for two and a half weeks whilst we visit the GF's family. We are staying at the Maple Leaf Campground in St. Leonard, that her aunt owns, with full hookups next to her brother's family who are coming up from Virginia for one of the weeks. We will probably have to house one or two of their kids since they are just borrowing another family member's PUP for a family of 5 and ours sleeps 6 comfortably with no shared beds (other than our own). We are "making" (my son is actually begging) the kids stay in our tent as well some of the nights for the more "original" style of camping. Should be a good time, and if we don't have internet connections, I might not be on from this Friday until Aug 10th or so. Wish me luck! I hope I won't need it, lol.

Enjoy your stay in NB. We live about 2 hours south of Grand Falls in Fredericton. make sure you visit the LOOOOONGEST covered bridge in the world at Hartland NB and stop to see the Grand Falls Gorge.

[Rsgtivr6]

Returned in the same condition as we left, so no complaints other than the 6 days of driving.

Now the fun part, PICS! (thanks to my gf's brother and her sister-in-law. Our batteries died and the gf is the pic taker, but not a battery buyer I guess...oh well)

The campsite all set up. The P-up is for the gf's brother's family up from VA for a week as well. Had her full crew together again for the first time in almost 10 years. Our tent was used a few nights for the 5 older kids.




Grand Falls gorge and dam from the back side.




More to come after I get some of the pics back from the other sis-in-law and some batteries in the camera to get some of the first half of the trip's pics.

[Rsgtivr6]

Originally Posted by MilCop4523

Enjoy your stay in NB. We live about 2 hours south of Grand Falls in Fredericton. make sure you visit the LOOOOONGEST covered bridge in the world at Hartland NB and stop to see the Grand Falls Gorge.

We went to the bridge and her brother took a vid and some pics. Waiting to get them back so I can post them. Pretty cool bridge and even more interesting history about it, lol. Some good wiki on Wikipedia about it.

Hartland Bridge - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia