Thursday October 13th

This was the 31st and last day of our trip. It was wet and foggy again, and we took a scenic and circuitous route through the Superior national forest, and along Lake Superior's north shore. We noticed that we were leaving little patches of oil when we parked, but I didn't feel disposed to fix the leak at this stage of the trip, so I just kept the oil topped up.

We didn't want to drive the freeway home, so we crossed into Wisconsin and headed south on 35, a nostalgic trip as this was our usual route home from Voyager Village. We arrived home just before dark, and had time to empty everything from the camper into the house, but we had the usual struggle to get past all the kids' projects in progress. There'll be more news from home in the next letter.

So, was the trip a success? I think so. We met up with friends and family and enjoyed our time with them. We saw some magnificent scenery and learned a lot about Quebec and Labrador. Even more important, we now have some more places we want to go and visit. The camper performed well except for the intermittent propane and furnace problems. The oil leak turned out to be a loose filter, but we also found on returning home that a brush guard bracket had fractured from all that gravel road vibration. The camper's occupants didn't do too badly. Sandie had the objective of losing weight and reducing her cholesterol. The weight came down but the cholesterol didn't, and I suggested she sue Tim Hortons. Each of their donuts should be labeled with a warning from the Surgeon General. I had set off with a sore heel and elbow, and managed to keep them sore and add a painful shoulder. At the present rate the camper seems likely to last longer than we will.

If there was one thing I wish I'd taken along with us it would be our French-English dictionary. Although our target destination was Labrador, we actually spent twice as long in Quebec. The beauty of the mountains north of the St Lawrence and around the Saguenay was a big surprise to us.

Our next trip is in a couple of days when we head to England for a fortnight.

Love to you all from Peter and Sandie