Sure you can go from Ottawa, Ontario to Toronto taking the Queensway to highway 416 to the 401 which would hold out the possibility of making the trip in 4 1/2 hours or less, if you were lucky and there were no volume related back ups at Peterboro or beyond, but otherwise, what's the point of seeing Canada at 70 mph, unless you had a good reason? About the only thing Canadian you might see along the way are the Tim Horton's Donuts at the rest stops, a few Petro Canada gas stations, and some unlucky speeder being pulled over by an RCMP (mountie) officer. Not a Canadian Tire store in sight.
You would see little else and have no sense of the rural beauty and British loyalist history of southern Ontario, built and inhabited by those with a different perspective on the American Revolution. Highway 7, the mostly 2 lane, diagonal route between Ottawa and Toronto was the original Ontario segment of the trans-Canada highway (their Route 66) and is an education. It travels through country settled by North American colonists who were not in favor of breaking with Britain, and being no longer welcome in the soon to be USA, made their way to various towns north of the border, many of which are along Highway 7 in the farms and townships of Lower Canada like Perth (still reminiscent of an old British barracks town), which we drove through, loved, and decided that it would merit a much longer stay next time around. All seems to be forgiven at this point, and they welcomed us and our American money with open arms. But maybe that forgiveness is not mutual. I was recently rebuffed by a local store clerk in upstate New York who refused to accept a Canadian penny I mistakenly slipped her. Maybe the revolution is not as over as I thought down here.
There was lots more to see along Route 7, and one day I will be reporting back, but there's only so much you can see and do when the trip is not really an amble and this time around, it was mainly the chip trucks and the roadside stands selling blueberries that caught my eye.
Jackie getting a large order of fries at the prototypical chip truck. Of course I like mine with ketchup, Jackie has hers with mayo, tres belgique, and Canadians seem to like theirs with vinegar, very British.
And then there's the French Canadian contribution to North American culture, Poutine, a combination of soggy fries topped with cheese curds and drenched in a thick brown gravy. But that's a culinary nightmare worthing of a posting all it's own.
Woody's Chips. That thing on the roof is a box of fries, just to remind you who they are since they got rid of the truck and generally negated the whole reason for stopping there in the first place.. Maybe they really wanted a McDonald's franchise.
Had a long talk with Ken who retired from the highway department a few years ago and opened this truck, which he said was his true calling in life which he was now able to indulge. He was very friendly, but we were still full and a bit queasy from the chips we had at that first truck not that long ago, so had to explain and apologize to Ken for not ordering some, but did promise to stop at his stand on our next go around. He told us not to worry about it, but we do, and we will, but we will be taking a bit of a chance as well, because his was the last chip truck we saw on Highway 7, and if he's not there....
One of the many blueberry stand we kind of stopped at which became quickly photographically tedious, and therefore I won't bore you with them, rounds out the sights we were able to see on the 7, next stop, Toronto.
Pablo
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