Up to Ottawa

We left Milton at 8:45, a lovely sunny day. After the purchase of a tract of land from the Mississauga Indians in 1806, construction began on the old York Road, encouraging settlers to go to the lands west of Toronto, the first village in the new frontier. We drove on the old York road to the 401 and sailed through Toronto.

We had the OPP stop traffic in the other lane and escort about 100 motorcycles past us.

We’ve found driving on the weekends means much less traffic and it was great. We passed Oshawa, the center of Canada’s automotive industry and site of General Motors headquarters. We’re driving along the north shore of Lake Ontario. We passed Port Hope nestled in the Northumberland hills, started by 2 United Empire Loyalists, retreating form the American Revolution in the States, in 1792. Coburg, situated on a stretch of sandy shore of the lake, was the most popular retreat in all of Canda by 1900 with a summer population of 2000. Every mile you pass, you see where history has taken place. It’s fun to see the places that you see on the National News. We passed Kingston founded by Count Frontenac, governor of New France in 1763 as a fur trading post and strategic military stronghold. Lots of history there. It is at the junction of the Catarqui (gateway to the Rideau Canal) and St. Lawrence rivers and provides access to the Thousand Islands, a vast unspoiled water playground. We went north on Hwy 417 and joined Rog and Myrna at Camp Hither Hills RV just 20 min outside Ottawa.