NorthernSnake
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Back in January I bought my 2002 Viper GTS Final Edition from a dealership in Montreal. Faced with the problem of how to get it from Quebec to my home in British Columbia I had the choice of shipping it (boring) or driving it (fun). So the plan was hatched to wait for Canada to unthaw (this takes longer in some parts than others), and then to fly out to Montreal Quebec and drive it home to BC on a cross Canada road trip/adventure.
Waiting five and a half months till I was sure we wouldn’t get fluke snow was tedious, but ultimately well worth the wait. May 18th My Wife and I flew out of our little Fort St. John airport, transferred through Vancouver and landed in Montreal around midnight. After checking in to our Holiday Inn the Wifey was hungry, room service had ended, and because it was a long weekend/holiday pratically everything in Montreal was closed. So we jumped in a cab and directed the driver to find the closest 24hour Mcdonalds (you can always count on McDonalds). What ensued was a two hour guided tour of Montreal at night. My wife and I had never been to Montreal before and our cabbie showed us some of the highlights; Notre Dame cathedral, Old Montreal, St. Josephs cathedral, shopping districts, parliament buildings, the list goes on…and all while noming on McDonalds which we eventually found somewhere in Old Montreal. Considering our tight schedule and plans to be in Toronto the next day it was really a great fluke that we such a great cab driver who killed his meter and showed us all over the place for $100 bucks…we really wouldn’t have seen much of Montreal if we hadn’t ventured out that night.
Anyways back to the car…after breakfast we caught a cab over to Clairview Motors (who were excellent to deal with by the way…ask for Albert). I could see my Viper parked out front before the cab even got there…it looked amazing! As I walked around it looking it over I was delighted with my purchase…the paint was perfect, the wheels were almost perfect (a little bit of rash on the passenger rear), the interior was spotless and everything else (exhaust, stereo, engine bay) was all super clean and looking pretty much brand new.
At this point the car had 12,200 miles on it 19,500 kilometres for those on metric system (the cars odometer reads in miles because it was imported from the States in 2003). Everything at the dealer had already been taken car of so I just took it for a quick test drive to make sure it ran good and we threw our duffel bags in the trunk, shook some hands and hit the road.
Over the next 10 days (we spent 3 day in Toronto) we drove from Montreal to Toronto, and from there we stopped over in Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder bay, Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary and our last night was spent in Jasper National Park before making the final push home. We covered between 550 to 800 kilometres per day, saw a lot of Canada and had a great time…here are some pics from our journey. (for some reason the pics we took in Montréal didn’t save in the camera properly so they start from northern Ontario)
A few pics by Lake Superior…this is in between Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder bay.
I added some Canadian flags to the car for the trip...although I now think there a permanent fixture because they got a lot of positive comments
Me looking smug
We found a great view at a rest stop…still Lake Superior
This little town who’s name escapes me on the way to Thunder bay had these HUGE geese every were, so a pic was in order
Cool old rusted out tractor in the same little town
A boarded up old building I took some pics in front of
Wifey and I at the Terry Fox Memorial outside Thunder Bay
Getting further north between Thunder Bay and Winnipeg
@ the parliament buildings in Winnipeg
You can see the flood waters haven’t receded completely yet (Manitoba had huge flooding this spring)
Wifey huggin one of Winnipegs painted bears…Hey! I think that bears coppin a feel!
Bears checking out the ride
Waiting five and a half months till I was sure we wouldn’t get fluke snow was tedious, but ultimately well worth the wait. May 18th My Wife and I flew out of our little Fort St. John airport, transferred through Vancouver and landed in Montreal around midnight. After checking in to our Holiday Inn the Wifey was hungry, room service had ended, and because it was a long weekend/holiday pratically everything in Montreal was closed. So we jumped in a cab and directed the driver to find the closest 24hour Mcdonalds (you can always count on McDonalds). What ensued was a two hour guided tour of Montreal at night. My wife and I had never been to Montreal before and our cabbie showed us some of the highlights; Notre Dame cathedral, Old Montreal, St. Josephs cathedral, shopping districts, parliament buildings, the list goes on…and all while noming on McDonalds which we eventually found somewhere in Old Montreal. Considering our tight schedule and plans to be in Toronto the next day it was really a great fluke that we such a great cab driver who killed his meter and showed us all over the place for $100 bucks…we really wouldn’t have seen much of Montreal if we hadn’t ventured out that night.
Anyways back to the car…after breakfast we caught a cab over to Clairview Motors (who were excellent to deal with by the way…ask for Albert). I could see my Viper parked out front before the cab even got there…it looked amazing! As I walked around it looking it over I was delighted with my purchase…the paint was perfect, the wheels were almost perfect (a little bit of rash on the passenger rear), the interior was spotless and everything else (exhaust, stereo, engine bay) was all super clean and looking pretty much brand new.
At this point the car had 12,200 miles on it 19,500 kilometres for those on metric system (the cars odometer reads in miles because it was imported from the States in 2003). Everything at the dealer had already been taken car of so I just took it for a quick test drive to make sure it ran good and we threw our duffel bags in the trunk, shook some hands and hit the road.
Over the next 10 days (we spent 3 day in Toronto) we drove from Montreal to Toronto, and from there we stopped over in Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder bay, Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary and our last night was spent in Jasper National Park before making the final push home. We covered between 550 to 800 kilometres per day, saw a lot of Canada and had a great time…here are some pics from our journey. (for some reason the pics we took in Montréal didn’t save in the camera properly so they start from northern Ontario)
A few pics by Lake Superior…this is in between Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder bay.
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I added some Canadian flags to the car for the trip...although I now think there a permanent fixture because they got a lot of positive comments
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Me looking smug
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We found a great view at a rest stop…still Lake Superior
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You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
This little town who’s name escapes me on the way to Thunder bay had these HUGE geese every were, so a pic was in order
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Cool old rusted out tractor in the same little town
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A boarded up old building I took some pics in front of
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Wifey and I at the Terry Fox Memorial outside Thunder Bay
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Getting further north between Thunder Bay and Winnipeg
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@ the parliament buildings in Winnipeg
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You must be registered for see images
You can see the flood waters haven’t receded completely yet (Manitoba had huge flooding this spring)
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
Wifey huggin one of Winnipegs painted bears…Hey! I think that bears coppin a feel!
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Bears checking out the ride
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