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NYC and Atlantic Canada Road Trip!

9K views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  davedrivesody 
#1 ·
My wife and two kids just got back from a whirlwind tour of New York City and Atlantic Canada. Starting from Ottawa, our first stop was New York City. Got to see the Empire State building, the 911 memorial, a show and the Intrepid air and space museum and just experiencing the city in general. NYC is a fun place but after 6 days we were all tired of it. We wouldn't have gone for that long but my daughter had a dance competition there.

Our next stop was Truro, Nova Scotia. We spent a day there rafting on the tidal bores. What a blast! Next we drove up to North Sydney, NS to catch the ferry to Port aux Basques, Newfoundland. After a 6 hour over night cruise, we drove up to Rocky Harbour, in the Gros Morne National Park. I can't tell you how beautiful this province is. Gros Morne was particularly breathtaking. I won't go into all the stops we made, but during our week there we got to sea kyak with pilot whales (got within 10ft of one pod), some good hiking and of course got to taste some screech and cod. Or as the Newfies pronounce it, cad.

Took the long ferry back to NS this time. 18+ hours but it was mostly overnight so not such a big deal and we had a cabin to crash in. Our final port of call was a cottage near Cavendish, P.E.I. There we basically just hung around and relaxed. Going to the beach, biking a little, etc. After a week, we headed back to Ottawa. That was brutal as we did it on one day. It's a 13 hour trip and I did all the driving.

We did a total of 7500 kms and I got to say the Oddy held up really well. Lots of hills to climb because basically the whole of Atlantic Canada was carved by glaciers. The van managed them with relative ease. I kind of broke a few speed limits on the downhill to make it easier on the uphill. The maintenance minder popped on on the trip home saying the van was ready for an oil change. I'm getting that done Friday along with the transmission fluid. It isn't due for a little bit yet but considering how the terrain we drove in I think it's probably a wise decision.
 
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#2 ·
Earlier this summer, I too did a part of the Atlantic Canada trip you did.

You're right, the hills there are long and steep. It's an old truckers' trick to build up momentum going down then bleed it off going up the other side. With that technique and premium fuel, I could get over a lot of them without downshifting. For the others, I could get well up the grade before the downshift.

Pulling up those grades in a lower gear quickly heats up the transmission fluid even when the air temperature is relatively cool. I have an ATF cooler, but it has minimal capacity. I too changed the ATF upon returning.

Dave
 
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