Highway QC-132, Where the Saint Laurent River Made Me Cry

2020 was a weird, life-changing year. I was still living in Toronto, and I had lost my job, my legal situation in Canada was uncertain. My SIN number had expired, my work visa had expired, and my Permanent Residency application was pending, waiting for IRCC agents to return to the office and resume processing a pile of applications that had been accumulating since the March stay-home order.

It was stressful, and I couldn’t do much about it. I was okay financially, but with questions about how long that would last. However, if there’s one thing I know is true, it is that having time and money at the same time makes for the perfect time to travel.

Closing borders and stay-at-home orders had a slingshot effect on me, it’s holding me back against my will while I fought the urge to move. When the restrictions were lifted, I had to make the most of it.

I spent a day looking through my Lonely Planet Canada travel guide to create an itinerary of places I wanted to visit north of Québec City. I knew I could car-share my way up to the Québec capital and rent a car from there, limiting the driving to the Belle Province. I booked hotels along the itinerary, which gave me about 2 to 4 hours of driving per day to avoid overexerting myself, as I wasn’t aware of my solo driving capacity.

It took about an hour to finally relax once out of Québec City, driving north toward La Baie-Saint-Paul. The roads, even though bumpy, felt like freedom. Listening to the perfect summer road-trip playlist full of upbeat pop, euphoric, and wanderlust songs was all my tattered soul needed that year.

The beginning of the trip truly felt like summer vacation, like in the movies, I was the main character for a fun biopic. Tadoussac and Chicoutimi were great, the hikes were splendid, and the views from the top of the fjords were worth every mosquito that died in my sweat on the way up. The heatwaves made swimming in rivers and lakes exhilarating.

Then I crossed the Saint Laurent on the Saint Simeon ferry on a rainy, windy day, making the crossing bumpy and odd, as some COVID distancing signs were still restricting seating on the boat.

From Bas-Saint-Laurent, driving north to Rimouski, I discovered charming houses along the road, remnants of Quebec’s early settlement history. Then, right by the river, the weather was shifting, from blue skies to low dark clouds, making me a bit concerned about the rest of my trip. Before ending my day in Rimouski, I took a short hike at the Parc National du Bic, a must-do according to Lonely Planet. It was a steep 4km hike that should have been rewarded with a view over the bay, if not for a thick fog that would make any Newfie feel right at home.

Finally, on a sunny morning, I left Rimouski for Rivière-au-Renard, where my next accommodation was. The GPS announced, “Stay on QC-132 West for 317 km,” and that’s when the coolest road trip of my life started. 

Along the river, I passed through charming places, sometimes simple fishing villages tucked into the crook of the bay, sometimes a bit bigger, with churches and shops. The road hugged the river cliffs, and each turn or climb would reveal a new sight, surprising me with more beauty and magic each time. The sun was shining; it wasn’t too hot yet, and its light was reflecting off the Saint Laurent, giving the water a sparkling effect. 

I had all that I wanted: the sense of freedom, the soothing summer sun, the wonder of the picturesque area I was driving through. I was building up an emotional high, and somewhere between kilometre 317 and Rivière-au-Renard, another gorgeous view revealed itself before me.

It felt like Mother Nature was unloading her favourite tricks to reward the plucky travellers. Mother Nature was putting on a show, with sunshine, warmth, and a light breeze for Québec’s most famous road trip. I took it all in and started crying from joy, from freedom, from exhaustion, from all sorts of emotions. Remember, 2020 was a weird year, and it was only June.

I was also stunned to see I could cry from a beautiful view; it had never happened before. I had never been so touched by a view or place before. How’s that for a compliment, Québec?

I was only halfway through my road trip, and the rest of my visit to Gaspesie continued on this emotional wave, beauty over beauty, a sparkling river by my side, and the sun to light my way and warm my soul. And swims, as many as possible, to cool down, too; the heatwave was still on.

It turns out, a few years later, another road trip on Cape Breton Island made me teary, too. There might be something in the Gulf of Saint Laurent that comes for my soul, but that is a story for another time.