Day 33 to Montreal
Fri 12 Jul 2024
Distance covered: 322km
Had coffee and packed away the rainsuit, waiting for some showers to pass, then scooted down route 73 to the very busy route 20 to Montreal, where more than one impatient driver insisted on tailgating and zoom-passing me in the right lane just to teach me a lesson because I wasn't getting out of the leftmost lane quickly enough. Buddy, I'm not going to get over and get right behind a truck because you and your red Camaro/Toyota minivan/Audi Q17 need to get to the Drummondville mall for your shopping neeeeeeds. It's Friday at 11am: chill TFO, Quebec drivers. I'm already cruising at 125kph and that's definitely into the danger zone considering how many American-style police patrol SUVs I've passed on this freeway. Made it into Montreal and the traffic got more dense and much slower, wanted to lane split but didn't, and declined the tunnel option with its weird traveaux warnings and lane diversions and instead GPS routed myself by some offramp with a stop sign and a picnic table (wtf) at yet another odd interchange and onto the Cartier bridge for views and scenery over an amusement park and there's that big old Expo 67 dome and skyscrapers and it's a big city. Hotel is on St-Hubert and has been nicely updated... but the other hotels on the block look like they might've been crack dens not too long ago. The vacant bus station at the end of the block looks a bit sketchy as well, but there's no encampment there--it's looks like the generic big-North-American-city abandoned building where there should be a few dozen tents. Walked down to the Village, which I haven't been to since 2009 or so when I'd occasionally come to Montreal on the weekend from Ottawa. Still a bit scruffy, and the wood decks in front of the cafes aren't as large, it was a pleasant warm evening and I grabbed a bite. It was BLUF night at the Stud, so went in for a while and chatted with a local named Max and a few of the other BLUF attendees and was given a couple of drink tokens from the bar manager because I was "with the BLUF guys". He might have reconsidered had he seen my BLUF fetish footwear, which were chunky Hoka running shoes that look like a tropical cocktail someone dropped on the floor. Anyways, it was a good evening hanging out... headed back home well before midnight because I'm an old.
