On our second last day of travel we decided to make a run for the border. So instead of stopping in North Dakota for the night after about 7 hours of travel, we decided to make for Estevan in Saskatchewan instead. So a much longer day for us as we crossed Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota before returning to Canada at Portal.

Today saw us travelling out of Ohio, through Indiana and Illinois to Wisconsin. This was a long tough slog as travelling though Illinois on the I-90 is not advised, especially through Chicago. It took us about two and a half hours to get through Chicago at lunch time (a distance of about 20 km). The I-90 was a parking lot.

A three state hop on this day. From near Utica, NY through Pennsylvania and then into Ohio. The I-90 travels from Utica through New York state by Syracuse and Rochester then finally leaving the state into Pennsylvania near Buffalo, NY. Then through Pennsylvania just south of Erie and into Ohio through Cleavland. We finally ended up camping near Toledo, OH for the evening.

New York state that is. The trip on this day took us through Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and finally into New York state near the university town of Utica. We stopped off in Portland, Maine so that Mrs. Evil could partake in some IHOP. The trip through New Hampshire was quick as only a sliver of that state separates Maine from Massachusetts. We skirted around Boston on our way to I90 which was our main route home.

Today was the start of the journey home, so strictly speaking this is now the cross-US tour as most of the return trip will be through the United States. We did cover some new ground in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick as there is a stretch of Trans-Canada highway that we bypassed when we traveled to PEI on the way out. The trip from Halifax to Moncton then on to Woodstock, NB was quick and filled with us eating up our fresh fruit for entry into the US.

A much shorter drive this time, from Charlottetown to Halifax. We opted to take the ferry so that we would have a different view than backtracking to the Confederation bridge. The drive through both PEI and Nova Scotia was nice.

After our night in Edmontson, we crossed New Brunswick. Unlike southern Ontario and southern Quebec, New Brunswick is quite hilly with many steep grades. A brutal head/cross wind dogged us till around Woodstock (not THAT Woodstock) when the highway shifted to the east and the wind became a brutal cross/tail wind. All and all a pretty but tiring drive for me having to deal with the cross wind trying to push us off the road.

After an overnight stay just west of Montreal we headed out on the road across La Belle Provence. The trip through the south side of Montreal took a while as major bridge construction was underway. I'm going to use that as the "I've driven in Montreal with a trailer" and call it that. Once out of Montreal the trip to Quebec City was good. The highway was busy, but not so much as to cause traffic slowdown. I'll also say that the Province of Quebec has frequent, excellent rest areas along the Trans-Canada highway which makes travelling nicer as well.

After a nearly two day stay in Ottawa, we left for Montreal. Not after spending some time visiting some museums. Mrs. Evil and my airforce buddy took in the National Air Museum on one day (while Simon and I manned the trailer while Simon napped). Today as a group we took in the Canadian War Museum. As an added bonus, veterans and their families get into this museum for free so that was nice. The trip from Ottawa to Montreal is actually quite a short one, it took us about three hours. We actually spent a third of that time stuck in traffic in Ottawa so the actual trip was only about two hours. It would also appear that my cereal box French was good enough to get us checked in at our campsite, the Montreal West KOA.

After spending a day in Toronto, we are off to Ottawa. Since we were staying in Cookstown, we had to back track up the 400 to Orillia to reconnect with the Trans-Canada highway. Now the central Ontario route of the Trans-Canada highway is a pleasant trip, but if you choose it be warned the speed limit is 80 km/h the whole way. If you're in a rush to get from Toronto to Ottawa, pick a different route. If you're not in a rush the route is scenic with plenty of small towns along the way. Gasoline was unexpectedly inexpensive as well, being in a (at the time of our departure) Calgary range of $1.15-1.20 per litre. A pleasant change from the $1.30-140 range of Northern Ontario.