Chute de Luskville

Saturday April 29

Hey, another beauty morning,
The weather has been great and on our side.
Today we are heading up a little further on Hwy 148 along the perimeter of Gatineau Park. Our destination will be Chute de Luskville.
We are here. A lot of people seemed to have the same idea on how to spend a sunny day.
Cooper and I are getting ready to hike up and escarpment, it is about 2.5 Km to the top at the fire tower.
See you at the top.
Cooper and I took our time going up the rock trail, checking out as many of the sites we could the higher we got. Finally we made it to the tower and enjoyed the view.
It seemed we took our time going down a different trail, as if we didn't want it to end.
Today was an awesome day and I sure I will feel it in my legs tomorrow,all four of them.
Till tomorrow".......

Gatineau National Park

Friday April 28

Good morning Gatineau National Park.
Melkie and I have just finished a breakfast for champions and it's off to Pink Lake. Pink Lake was named after one of the first families to settle near the lake. Over time it was discovered that this lake was special,
They call this type of lake " Meromictic"  this means that the surface water of the lake will not mix with the deeper water, meaning there is no oxygen at he bottom of the lake. The lake looks blue in the spring and green in the summer.
Gatineau Park has many beautiful trails for all types of interests,biking, hiking, snowshoeing and even horse back trails.
Well it's been approximately 10 km and we have reached Pink Lake.
The weather has been great and the bugs even better. We are on our way back now to Bus Camp.
I think I am speaking for the both of us when I say when we get back we  will be calling it a day.....

Thursday April 27

Sun is shining and it's nice and warm already.
Today we will spend the morning enjoying, Mooney's Bay and Hog's Back Falls. Very nice park setting with beach area, and a windy shoreline along the Rideau River.
It is afternoon now and after that nice walk along the river kind of got us thinking about food.
So it's off to town to pickup some supplies. After that we will be heading across the river to explore some more of Quebec.

Parliament

Wednesday 26th April

Good morning!
       Cooper and I are off again. We stayed in a small town last night close to the Ottawa River. We have decided to head across the river into Quebec, where we will follow the river towards Ottawa city.
There's a small road just off Hwy 417, called Storyland Rd. This we will take across the bridge into Quebec. The narrow roads wind through very picturesque landscapes, small towns and vast farmland.

       As we near Ottawa, Cooper and I decide to take a break at Gatineau Park. Some of the park entrances are still closed for through traffic, but hiking and cycling are still welcome. I suck at riding a bike, my tail always gets snagged in the chain, so I guess hiking it is.

 Funny how two dogs can drive across Canada, but can't ride a bike.

 After a couple of hours enjoying the park with its  endless amounts of trails, it's time to make our way to Ottawa.This is where country dogs meet city dogs, and the parking.......well that's a whole blog on its own.

    Just think," If we were paid by the minute for every minute of our life, same as a parking meter, we would all be wealthy"..

.After dinner Melkie and I decided to split up. Melkie was off to Parliament, to check out some protest, and I headed over to Island Park.
After rush hour in the evenings, Ottawa is a nice city to walk through all the streets checking out the unique shops.
As it turns out I ended up down at the Parliament buildings, seems Melkie had fun and took some pictures of his own.
It's such a warm calm night, I think I'll just layback, chew on the bone a bit and think about tomorrow.....

Making tracks...

Tuesday April 25

Good morning!
 Melkie and I are all rested up ready to take 1 last spin along the lake shore, chase some chipmunks and head out.We will be heading up Hwy 11 north toward Algonquin park, where will spend the day checking out a few trails.

      As we entered the park we stopped and went to the visitors station to get a map of the park. While there Cooper decided he would take pictures of the flags on the flag poles. One flag of Canada and the Provincial flag, he thinks it would be neat to take the flag photos for every province we enter, hey why not.

      On our way to hardwood lookout a large moose crossed the road right in front of us, sorry didn't make it to the camera.
      After hiking Hardwood Lookout, we continued on to the Loggers Museum. The Museum turned out to be very informative, with a lot of life like displays, and interesting facts about the park and it,s surrounding areas. Algonquin Park with over 2400 lakes and 1200 Km of streams and rivers, makes this a key Eco system to our province.
    I really enjoyed that museum," how about you", Cooper?
For sure, "and I can't believe how those animals just stood there like they never noticed us".
    Well, time to hit the road again. Going to make our way a little closer to Ottawa before dark.
Till tomorrow......

Counting the days...

    Today Cooper has been outside going over the check list to make sure everything is a go. all of our lights seem to be working,solar panels charging, fridge and stove work and all emergency items are packed. Cooper mentioned that we should mention the chain of events in how the Barking Bus all came together.
        Over a year ago, we started with a 16 passenger bus. Up until now we have removed the seats and replaced the interior with storage cabinets, new seating and a pull out double bed. With 560 watts of solar panel on the roof and back up charging from our engine, we have enough energy to power our fridge, lighting and internet with plenty to spare. Our furnace and stove run on propane.
        Over the course of our journey we will reflect back from time to time on the different stages the Barking Bus went through to what it is now.
        So for now i hope you all have a great day, while i clean up some loose ends before we leave.

One Night....

        One night last winter, we were relaxing, glaring out the bay window.Afresh layer of snow was falling covering everything with its beauty, even our bus.
I said when the snow melts we should take that bus on a road trip.
Oh, that night was so much fun.We talked about all the places we would visit and all the things we could do there. We laughed so much, we even came up with a name for our trip,
The Barking Bus Adventure....

         Hello my name is Cooper, I am a Black Labrador Retriever, and i am Melkie, i am a Golden Retriever.
         Together we are two dogs travelling on the Barking Bus across Canada, Imagine that!
Well the time has come and the snow has melted, we have decided to leave in a few days from now. Melkie and I will be leaving from the Southern Georgian Bay area heading East toward the Atlantic coast to visit the Maritime Provinces.

          While we are on our adventure Melkie and I will be taking as many photos and videos of the wildlife and wonderful landmarks of our country. You are welcome to follow along our journey  and share all the cool things we do and share the stories of the wonderful people we meet along the way.

But for now over the next few days we will be packing and preparing  the bus for the trip.