July 1, 2, 3, 2016 - Gaspé Tour

[psdunn]

On a beautiful Friday morning, 15 Corvettes left Moncton for a trip around the Gaspé peninsula, located north of New Brunswick in the province of Quebec.  Our route would take us north to Campbellton where we would cross into Quebec and then follow the coastal route in a counterclockwise direction around the peninsula and then back to Campbellton and home.

Our first stop on Friday morning was at the home of club member Bertrand Drapeau in Balmoral, NB where we were treated to a barbecue lunch and had the opportunity to socialize and gas up our cars before heading into Quebec.  Thank you for your hospitality, Bertrand, it was much appreciated.  After leaving Bertrand's, we followed our route to Campbellton and then along the southern coast of Gaspé through the towns of New Richmond and Carleton-sur-Mer and on to our first overnight stop in the town of Percé.  Our motel sat on a hill overlooking the famous Percé rock and the view from the rooms and balconies was spectacular.  Dinner was at a restaurant in town and the evening ended quietly with everyone resting up for the following day.

It was cloudy and cool on Saturday as we left Percé to continue our route around the coast, our first rest stop being in the town of Gaspé for a stretch and fuel for the cars.  From Gaspé we travelled north and west through many small towns where fishing looked to be the main industry.  The scenery was so breathtaking that we made many short stops to get a closer look and take pictures to try to capture the beauty.  Our caravan of Corvettes drew a lot of attention along the way with many people standing, watching and waving as we passed by and others taking pictures of the cars.  Later in the afternoon, we began to pass through periods of light rain and then as we got close to our stop for the night in the town of Matane, lightning lit the sky and we were treated to a cloudburst that was heavy but brief.  After checking into our motel we went into town to a popular buffet restaurant where everyone enjoyed an "all you can eat" dinner.  Later, back at the motel, a spirited game of LRC broke out - the favourite dice game of our club and, based on the noise coming out of the room, a good time was had by all.

Sunday broke windy and with a light rain and, just as we were ready to leave for home, we had a problem.  Bertrand Drapeau had started his car and closed the door to go back into his room and upon returning to the car the door refused to open.  The key fob was in the car and so the door should not have locked but for some reason, his car decided not to recognize the fob and locked itself up tight!  After trying everything we could think of, CAA was called, a service provider was dispatched and he was able to get a tool into the car to open one of the windows and allow access to the interior.  Lesson to be learned?  Keep a spare key in a safe place not with the fob.  After we finally got on the road, we travelled south from Matane through Amqui to Campbellton and then back to Moncton.

This was a terrific trip and everyone came home with many great memories.  Thanks to Charles Gould for putting it all together.

[psdunn]

More pictures from Gaspé.