La Lair On Wheels: White Birch and Blueberries

I've been around half of Quebec Province's Lake Saint-Jean and have biked on many of their bike trails called veloroutes which are solely for bicycles and pedestrians. One word comes to mind so far, "Amazing!"

My campsite for two nights in Dolbeau Mistassini is directly on this bike route and a large grocery store is one-half mile away. How lucky can a bicyclist get!? My van is parked at the bottom of this bike path, facing the waterfalls . . . .

Here's a short movie clip of how close I am to the waterfalls; it zooms to where my van is parked.

Since my sister and brother-in-law are at another town, we decided to each go our own way for a couple days. It's nice to be solo now and then.

I crossed over the Mistassini River on a bridge and saw these folks playing on a sandbar. And at another sandbar on the river, there were about 60 or so sunbathers and waders in the river. Folks here seem to appreciate being outdoors. I've noticed many restaurants even on busy streets with outdoor dining, including the second floor of restaurants, many balconies for outside diners.

On my way through town I stopped at a pavilion and a squirrel scurried out to greet me. I reached into my sack and got a corn nut for it. It ate it. Then I gave it a second corn nut; instead of eating it, the squirrel stashed it behind a bench seat, and approached me for a third corn nut. Smart squirrel; it already knows how to work the system!

After a short time sharing a path with cars in town, I was on this 10-mile designated bike path. What's not to like about this path!

The predominant views on this path were the plantations of white birch . . .

and the blueberry fields.

And a wonderful rest stop with a sign describing the vegetation and plantations in that area, a covered picnic table (with two bird nests on the rafters), a bench, a bike stand, and a short distance away (see red arrow) a toilet that is vented and doesn't stink. The Canadians think of everything!

I saw a man and woman (about my age, early 60s) leaving this homestead, which has a good supply of firewood, in a 4-wheeler and wagon, traveling across the road to a field. Next to this lovely round home was a travel trailer.

They were working hard on this crop. It's times like this, I regret not knowing French. I would most certainly ask about their lifestyle. My guess? Perhaps they live and farm from Spring to Fall, and with money earned from their crops, hook up their trailer, shut-down their round home for the Winter and go to Florida.