Driving to Montreal

Tomorrow, at a time of day I normally try to pretend does not exist, I will leave my home in Saskatoon and begin my drive to Montreal. I plan to take three days to drive the approximately 3200 km, which may be a bit ambitious so I've given myself almost a full buffer day. I'm going to be at the icebreaker opening reception at 7:00pm on Friday in Montreal at the APECS pre-conference workshop; if I drive as long tomorrow and Wednesday as I hope to, I'll arrive in Montreal in the late afternoon or early evening of Thursday. If I get more tired than I expect or experience other delays, I can spend Thursday night somewhere a few hundred kilometres west of Montreal and have a leisurely drive into the city mid-day on Friday. I'll be staying with a friend of a friend on Rue St. Denis, which I have been told is exactly the part of town I should most want to be in to experience Montreal at its best.

But first, a series of long drives.

Day 1: Saskatoon to Kenora, ON. 1047 km according to Google. If things go extra-well, I might push it the extra 140 km to Dryden, where the Husky station is a truck stop with restaurant. I love Husky restaurants, especially for breakfast.

Day 2: Kenora, ON to Cochrane, ON, via Highway 11, 1200 km. I'm trying to stay north as much as possible, I have no reason to dive south towards Toronto and southern Ontario. Again, if things go very well, I'll try to push it to Kirkland Lake. Obviously this is more feasible if Day 1 makes it to Dryden.

Day 3: Cochrane, ON to Montreal, QC, via Quebec 117, 868 km. The shortest day of the three, because I want to arrive in Montreal at some polite time to meet the person I will be staying with. I'll be tired, but if I drove 1000 km on the third day I'd show up completely exhausted from the road, and make a poor first impression. Hence my desire to push longer on Day 1 and Day 2.

The whole trip eastwards, covering something close to 1/2 the width of the North American continent.

Going home will be a different route, I'm planning a Sunday Drive out of Montreal (there are ferries across the St. Laurence! One is about 80km downstream from Montreal!) and a weekend at the family cottage between Ottawa and Kingston in eastern Ontario. I'll be in less of a hurry going home, and I'd like to explore the south shore of Lake Superior by driving along the upper Michigan peninsula.