Road Warriors

It was a last-minute trip. We hadn't made big plans, didn't create an itinerary.

We also went camping.

A couple of years ago, in the summer of 2014, DW, my daughters, and I sat in a cozy restaurant in the Hôtel du Château, in the town of Beynac, in southwestern France. Above, the town stretched upward: upon the hilltop, Château de Beynac looked down onto the Dordogne River and our campsite, Capeyrou.

It was a pleasant dinner. We were dressed up, relaxed, having enjoyed a leisurely day of kayaking and canoeing the river, starting upstream, at Vitrac, passing the small towns and châteaux that line the Périgord.

Calmly, I told my beloved family that I was having a wonderful vacation, how I loved being back in Paris, loved the beaches and towns of Normandy and Brittany, and had loved the Loire Valley. The  Périgord had been surreal, and I couldn't wait to make our way to Carcassonne and, eventually, Provence.

But this evening, this very evening, would be my last night in a tent. I was done with camping.

More than three years later, DW and I were talking about a road trip and provincial parks.

I had no intention of vacationing in a tent. Those days are behind me. DW had intrigued me, however, with the idea of travelling in a camper van. Ten days later, I was on the road, driving to Joliette, Québec, to pick up a 20-foot, fully equipped camper.

Our plan was to spend a couple of days in Prince Edward County, to check out the wineries and breweries, and the town of Picton. We'd stay at Sandbanks Provincial Park, where our camper would be hooked up to running water and electricity. We had a queen-sized bunk bed, table, stove, two fridges, microwave (we never used it), toilet, and shower.

The beds were cozy. The cabin was warm and quiet. The best part was that when we were ready to move on, we unhooked our water and power, and just drove away.

We stayed at two different sites, at Sandbanks, visited two wineries: Sandbanks and Norman Hardie. We visited one brewery, Prince Eddy's Brewing, and had a nice lunch in Picton. We then rolled out, followed the St.Lawrence Seaway, east, to the Upper Canada Migratory Bird Sanctuary, where we camped right along the river. From there, we continued east, to Montreal, where we camped near Boucherville, before returning to Joliette, picking up our SUV, and heading back home.

DW and I had bikes on the back, used them to cycle around Montreal and the trails around the site near Boucherville.

"Did you enjoy camping from a van?" DW asked me when the trip was done.

"I did. I really did."

Then, the all-important question: "Would you do it again?"

"I would."

With a camper van, we've discovered a new way to travel. In the camper van, we were road warriors.