PEI Road Trip - Part I

We set out for our first road trip in two and a half years, to the relative COVID safe-haven of Prince Edward Island. Between COVID and Jane's two knee surgeries before that, we hadn't been anywhere since May 2019. With our proof of vaccination and our PEI Passes, we headed out on Labour Day for a short jaunt as far as Tillsonburg, to visit Dave for the night.

The next day we ramped out to a medium leg, travelling to eastern Ontario and another night of free lodging while visiting family. We departed in earnest in heavy rain, narrowly avoiding an accident on the 401 near Kingston. The rains chased us into Quebec and the Montreal area, where the A-30 bypass once again proved itself more than worthy of the $2.40 bridge toll.

We limited our stops to gas and washroom, plus a few food orders expedited using apps and curbside delivery - the Nagavator has a new job!

The wet weather petered out and we sailed northward through La Belle Province, stopping for the night at Motel Claude in the lovely Degelis area, just minutes from the New Brunswick border. Nice motel and they even conveniently had a Subway attached to the motel, and we were able to order on their app and pick up.

Early the next morning, we sped into New Brunswick and lost an hour to Atlantic Time, but otherwise made good time on our way to PEI. We traversed the Confederation Bridge shortly after lunch time, where our passes were verified and our noses swabbed for a rapid COVID test. PEI has done a great job of locking down and enjoying relative freedom, of course aided by their geography and controlled entry points - they had only 5 active cases when we arrived and had only had 236 cases in TOTAL since the start of COVID, with zero deaths.

After a brief delay, we were then set loose on the Island but warned that we could get a call in the next two hours telling us to come back, and to minimize our social activities in the interim.

Luckily, that was pretty much the time it would take to drive to our destination on the eastern end of the island anyway.....

A damp start to Quebec

Motel Claude in Degelis, QC

Up early but about to lose an hour....

Construction and moose warnings in western NB

COVID screening at the PEI border

Awaiting the nasal swab - at least it wasn't the brain scrape kind!

Waiting our turn at the Gateway Village

Off the Bridge and into the temporary testing facilities!

We're IN!!!