The Silver Moose comes home

Back home: the only shot for Day 22 and hence the photo of the day

Day 22: Quebec ~ Thornhill (783km)

Another driving day, the final day, and we're home. Without a doubt the most uneventful day of the trip, consisting of almost 800km of highway driving, most of which down the Rte.20/401 forest-lined, divided highways. They give northern Ontario highways a good run for monotony. The only shakeup in the day was the frustration of trying to get through Montreal, which we did, but not without a 25-minute unscheduled detour through downtown. You'd think they could spend a little money on a proper highway bypass instead of a confusing knot that brings all the major expressways into the city before they somehow come out on the other side.

Anyway, we arrived back to the wonders of surburban Toronto shortly after 5PM, 22 days after we started this whole thing. The finish-line photo I took above is the only photo I took today, so it was a shoe-in for photo of the day.

Some reflection on the past three weeks: Canada is indeed a wonderfully huge and diverse country. This trip and the drive out to Victoria three years ago have showed me that this nation is made up of the most incredible variety of people and peoples, all shaped by their culture, history, and the landscape that surrounds them. While there are certainly strong cultural and heritage affiliations in various places, be it the Natives, the Quebecois, the Acadians, the Innu, the Newfoundlanders, or the Labradorians (who insist on their differences from Newfoundlanders), the ties uniting us all are certainly there and can be seen, at least in one form, in the maple leaf that flies from so many flagpoles across the country.

The Maritime and Atlantic provinces have a sometimes beautiful but sometimes harsh environment that has shaped a society overflowing with history into the friendly communities, large and small, that you find there today. They may not have the sophisticated, multicultural depth of Toronto or the modern, dynamic energy of Vancouver or Montreal, but they are equally rich in tradition thanks to a social and cultural palette that hasn't changed much in hundreds of years. And their comfort with this fact shows in their warmth to those that visit them.

Having travelled all over the world and with plans to do so again in the future, I can say that I have truly been enriched by seeing both shores of my own country and all that lies between, and I'll take those experiences and impressions with me the next time I go overseas, so that I can share them with the rest of the world.

Just for the record, here are the final numbers for the trip. Wouldn't you know it, we drove almost as many kilometres on the east coast trip as we did on the west coast trip.

Days: 22
Kilometres driven: 10107
Provinces travelled: 6
Average speed: 84.9 km/h
Capitals visited: 5 provincial, 1 national
Number of gas stops: 28
Amount spent on gas: $933.38
Lowest gas price (regular): 82.9; Mallorytown, Ontario; Day 1
Highest gas price (regular): 139.0; Pointe Lebel, Quebec Rte.389; Day 21
Longest distance between gas stops: 682km
Shortest distance between gas stops: 2.5km
Average Fuel Economy: 8.6L/100km
Different Canadian province licence plates seen: 11 (missing only Yukon and Nunavut)
Different American state licence plates seen: 31 states, 1 district
Most expensive meal: $40.00 (dinner, Harbour Restaurant, Cheticamp, NS)
Least expensive meal: $2.10 (lunch, Mike's Place, Pleasant Bay, NS)
Highest outdoor temperature (while in car): 24C (near Halifax, NS, 3:00pm, Day 10)
Lowest outdoor temperature (while in car): 0.5C (near Fermont, QC, 10:30am, Day 21)
Speeding tickets: 0
Free car washes: 1