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dieselkiki

Another "smart" Road Trip!

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Yesterday was my last working day before a 2 weeks of summer vacation. Unlike last winter in Califonia, this time we will sleep in the camper. We expect to go to Baie-Comeau to visit the Manic-2 and Manic-5 dams and take the ferry to join the 132 road around Gaspésie. Then if we have enough time, we will maybe join the Prince Edward Island. Of course there will be some mountain climbing, hicking and some other kayak, outdooring etc... I'll try to put some pictures of our travel all along these 2 weeks!

Some pictures of our setup!

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Dom/Marianne

Edited by dieselkiki

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Thank you guys! I'll try to make updates as often as I'll have internet access. But as we don't sleep in hotels and as you go far away from civilisation... it's could take few days. So, tomorrow morning we leave home in direction of Sainte-Marie-de-Beauce for a super with my younger brother and dad. It will be our first stop. Have a good night! ;)

Edited by dieselkiki

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Merci Glenn! ;)

So, everything is onboard, I filled up the smart with cooking oil for a last time this week and we are gone! :)

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Edited by dieselkiki

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Well, our first day wasn't that bad. As I expected, the trailer is a little heavy to pull with the CDI. 30 min after we left home, the engine already start to overheat even if I drove at 90km/h on 5th gear. So I choose to stop it in a parking lot to inspect what was wrong. I found nothing exept low tires pressure and the rear right brake drum who dragging. I found that one of my handbrake cable was gripped. So I put some lub in both cables then the wheel turned more freely.

We took the 20 highway until Quebec city but we merge to the 73 to join my brother Karl to the "parc de la rivière chaudière". That was a good afternoon. I have catch some pictures of the falls and we took a look at the power plant (one of those not owned by Hydro-Québec).

After, we had to super to my father. A good moment!

Some pictures of the day.

Both of us... on the road again!

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Our stop in the parking lot. It's always entertaining to travel with a smart car. It's never anoying!! :rolleyes:

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The chaudière river and their falls...

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Some hiking in the park with Marianne and my brother

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The power generation station (4 tubine-alternator groups of overall 9MW).

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My and my younger brother (Karl)

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Arrived to dad's house in Sainte-Marie-de-Beauce. Pretty village in the middle of mountains.

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So, tomorrow we will stay for the day in Québec city but we will go to Baie-Saint-Paul for super with Marianne's friends who living there.

Have a good day folks! ;)

Edited by dieselkiki

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dk,Looks like you are already having a great time!Hope the weather stays sunny for the rest of your trip. Keep the pictures coming. That way, we will get to see parts of Quebec few us have visited.Your enthusiasm is contagious :) Graham

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Thanks for your comments guys! ;)

So, today was not that bad for us but it was not the same for the smart. There was alot of BIG hills roads. The weather was cloudy but the sun is comming in the middle of afternoon.

In a first time, last night we had some difficulties to found a place to park to sleep. There no peacful place around Québec city to park our trailer to sleep. We finaly found one at 30 min from the city. This morning we eat breakfast that we could called a "tailgate breakfast". An awsome bread made by Marianne with some fruits... that was a good start.

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After the breakfast, we go back to Québec city to visit some attractions. It's always interesting to go in the old part of Québec city. It's a kind of step back in time. There are a major part of Canadian story who was born around this area. We enjoy it every time.

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You can't go to Quebec city and don't pass by the Orléan island! Then you can't go to the Orléan Island and don't pass by the chocolate factory. Their ice cream cup dipped in blegium chocolate is just AWSOME! There are an 1/8" thick chocolate cover on it! :drool3:

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When you drive on the Island, you can see the 3 highest electric pylon in the province. These tower bring the power from the north coast (Manic/Outarde) until Lévis dispensing station where the power is distributed to the rest of the province and other country as USA or other canadian provinces.

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After our visit of the Orléan island, we took back the road to reach Baie-Saint-Paul. Yeap, as you will see on my scangauge, the smart realy hated this stretch of the road between Mont-Saint-Anne and Baie-Saint-Paul. Alot of huge hills, alot of black smoke behind and alot of burned brakes pads smells! But the landscape worth the CDI pains!

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From this time, I was happy to get my new front ceramic brakes pads. The little trailer is not that heavy but... there's no brakes on it!

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Arrived to Baie-Saint-Paul, we was a little to early to go to Marianne's friends (yes, they don't are in vacation) :P. So we chose to visit a very special house. You guys now how I'm concerned about environment. We visit a house made by almost just recycled material. This house is called "Habitat 07", was built in 2007 around a TV show who was called "les compagnons du rebut global" (The friends of global waste). This building got alot of eco features as solar cell, wind generator, mass stove, waste water treated by plants, green roof, etc... That was very instructing and inspiring.

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After this visit, it was the time to join Marianne's friends (Nelson & Joëlle) for super. We passed a realy good time with great peoples around a good meal and some very good bottles!

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So guys, tomorrow we leave Baie-Saint-Paul in direction on Baie-Comeau where we will take the loooong and raaaaavaged 389 road in direction of Manic-2 and Manic-5 hydro power generation station for a visit. But for now, it's time to sleep!

Good night!

Dom & Marianne!

Edited by dieselkiki

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I love Québec City, we stayed at the Frontenac in February 2010 during the Carnaval. Great! ....and COLD!

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Your trip as usual is awesome, as are you photos, looks like you are having a good time. Hope it was brake smell from the smart and not clutch smell ( of course if it was down hill it was brakes). In any case enjoy the rest of your trip.

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For the moment, the clutch is still ok even if I had to start on some heavy upward hills. You know, when you floor it and it take 2-3 seconds before the car start to move... but no clutch smell so far. ;) But the turbo had to be red hot repeatedly for sure! 17 psi of boost, LOD at 99%, coolant temp at 114°c too much times, fuel consumption of 12L/100km... to everyones who said that smart CDI OM660 diesel engine is not reliable and enduring, I believe it's not so bad. The only problem we had with the smart is still this rear right brake drum dragging again. I removed the drum yesterday with Nelson and I found one of the 2 pistons is realy stiff to operate and I think It's the reason why there are dragging on this wheel. We put some lube under the rubber boots of the stiff piston and it help. I hope it will be better today!

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Edited by dieselkiki

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Wow! you sure are testing the CDI's limits in those hills of Baie Saint Paul area Dom. I know the areas you are traveling thru since Baie Comeau is my hometown. Thanks for sharing the the pics of your trip. I'm just about due to visit my hometown again. There's still some hill climbing ahead but you have been thru the worst of it. You will definitely be enjoying the sight seeing up these parts. En vous souhaitant un bon voyage... Mario

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I gotta ask (and maybe it's in an older thread which I haven't searched for) but what are the inside dimensions of that camper?

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Merci Mario! ;)

Leth: The inside dimentions are around 6' / 49"

So, Yesterday we took the road in direction of Baie-Comeau. We drove under a sunny sky and the landscape was so pretty! We had to take the Ferry at Tadousac to cross the Saguenay fjord. Unfortunately, we didn't saw any whales.

We reached Baie-Comeau early in the evening. Unlike Québec city, in Baie-Comeau there was alot of place to park the camper. So we took a place in a park to prepared a hearty meal. We enjoyed it!! After our super, I start thinking that it's could be a realy bad idea to take the 389 road with the trailer behind. The 389 is a 220km a forest road, 419 curves and only hills up and down. It could be realy unhealty for the CDI to haul the trailer up to Manic-5 power plant. That's the reason why I called an old friend with whom I worked with there are few years and who's now living in Baie-Comeau. I ask him if I could left the trailer in his yard for the day and of course, in addition to being very happy to see me back, he offered to sleep on his land ground. In fact, I parked the smart and the trailer on the slab of his futur garage. He saying to me: "You're car is the first one who's entering in my garage! :P

Today we took the 389 road to reach this famous Manic-5 dam. The landscape was awsome but the road... kind of insane, ravaged and just too dangerous with all these holes in pavement and wood trucks overload! They just drove as if they were alone on the road. Then I can confirmed to all of you guys, the smart suspension is pretty tough! The front strut and rear shocks hited the bottom more than often but, even after 226000km, there's still nos leak or damages. I'm realy impressed! But I was realy happy to don't have to haul the trailer.

Arrived to Manic-5, we saw the dam and... WAW!!! It was realy UGE! It's the world largest multiples vaults dam and the visit of this site worth the 5h30 of the smart torture! That was realy interesting to learned how all this project was build and how all this green power is produced. I recommend this visit for everyone who love energy and big infrastructures. And you know what? It's free of charge for everyone who want to visit! ;)

http://www.hydroquebec.com/visitez/cote_nord/manic-5.html

So, as usual, some pictures of these 2 days. Enjoye!

Some landscape of our yesterday travel, just beside the St-Lawrence river:

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After some hours of driving, we gave a brake to the smart and we enjoyed the river in a pretty village.

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On the road to take the ferry to Tadoussac

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On the ferry

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To the park for super

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Our "camping" to my friend Pierre! (Merci beaucoup Pierre et Mylène).

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On the Manic (389) road. It's the same road to reach Newfoundland (Labrador).

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As this pannel showed, this road isn't an easy one to drive on. You are better to don't be a newbie driver.

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After 25km on the 389, you cross the Manic-2 power generation station.

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All along the 389, they are always there, standing as tireless soldiers: The electrical pylon!

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Then we finaly arrived after almost 3h of insane driving across the holes, animals, wood trucks, curves and hills... Manic-5!

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Marianne enjoyed it!!

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Pictures of the building periode

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Our visit

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On the way back...

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I persists to say that the fuel thank on a smart CDI 450 is way too small

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And it's even more true when the only fuel distributor on the 389 between Baie-Comeau and Manic sell the diesel 1,60$/L.

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Even 10km before Baie-Comeau, the road is still weird to drive on!

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Then the last thing I did today...

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We still have no idea of what we will do tomorrow because all the ferry to cross on the south shore are sold out. But there's a ferry in Les Escoumin who don't take any reservation (first arrived, first served). If they have a place tomorrow, we will maybe cross the river to continue in Gaspésie. If there's no places, we will probably continue on the north shore and reach Havre-Saint-Pierre, Sept-îles or maybe Natashquane! The only limit we have is: "We must be at work the sept. 8th. :P

Edited by dieselkiki

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Just a suggestion: There's the Forestville high speed ferry that will take you to Rimouski. It's usually easier to get on board this one because of it's higher price. On the plus side, it will save you time and there's the Maratime Museum in Rimouski that is a "must see"

http://www.quebecmaritime.ca/en/company/ri.../transportation

http://maritime.musees.qc.ca/en/museums/po...-pere/index.php

Edited by turbomar

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Oh my!!! Thanks for sharing your trip with us! The pictures and narrative are priceless! :thumbsup_anim:

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Turbomar: Forestville is sold out until sunday so far. It's the same for Saint-Siméon and Godbout. We found a place for today at Les Escoumin for 5h30pm. There we go!Glenn: I'm happy to read you enjoyed it! :)

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6'x49" is pretty good. I like the setup of those Little Guy's, especially with the rear hatch. I've never heard of them before.$1.60/L is crazy!Looks like a fun trip, thanks for sharing the pics. Safe driving.

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Holy cow! $1.60/litre c'est tres cher! I am going to Nicolet, PQ in September for a week, Dom. I hope the price comes down :lol: I'm sure it's not that price in the urban areas. But, the way things are going in other parts of the world, who knows! Nice trip and enjoy yourselves.

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