#210 Camping AlouetteSt-Mathieu-De-Beloeil, QC

Camping Alouette was a nice little place that had the look of a lot of long-term resident kind of retirement place. Maybe a place to go in the summer for families. We stayed there for two nights. When we first got there, we had just now officially entered Quebec. I didn't know anything about Quebec but the instant we hit the Border everything went 100% French.

I had heard about this past but I thought it just meant that as you meandered about Quebec a lot of the people spoke French. That's not the case. It's a whole different country as far as culture goes and it's one hundred percent, French.

As we approached the border we noticed the second you touch Quebec all the highway signs are in French. Every single word is French so we just had no idea where the exit was. The GPS told us what to do but it's not like there was any way I could navigate using the highway signs anymore. I don't speak French all so it caught me off guard.

The GPS guided us into the campground and we got to the place where one checks in. The first thing I saw was the receptionist person at the office speaking French on the phone to another customer. I said is there any chance that you might speak English?

She said, of course, no problem. I said well I know I've got a lot to learn while I'm in Quebec but I just didn't know how I was going to check-in without knowing the language. I was very grateful. She said you'll find it a lot of people who run businesses feel it's pretty important to speak both languages because it's good for business. I said I agree and I thanked her again.

We settled in and almost nothing significant happened. The only real interesting story I would offer would be my steps.

The steps for the RV pull out as an assembly and the ones I have are getting on towards 10 years old. They kind of lean to the right and at one point some sort of structural part had failed so Savannah put a new bolt in there. I noticed if it just had a little structural assistance it would not slide off of its member support anymore.

It had started messing up again and I just felt like it was time to do something more worthwhile. Because we use the steps every day it's not easy to put this off.

I decided that if I placed a piece of angle iron maybe 1/4 inch x 2 ft long would give it the proper support.

I wasn’t sure if home depot would have it but I thought at a welding shop that might just pop up.

I left out of the RV park and got on a service road I figured something might turn up.

I noticed up on my left there was something that looked like an industrial park. There was an automotive looking shop. They usually have a scrap metal pile around back. I rode around back to look. I didn't want anyone to think I was stealing so I went around front to ask permission.

I walked up to a fella that was working on a car doing some kind of brake work. I said hi do you speak English? I believe he said I do not in French. I thought to myself I would love to ask you this guy if he has a piece of angle iron around back or somewhere.

I spoke into the phone a paragraph of what I was at wishing to have and hit Google translate and transposed it into French.

I showed him the translation and he looked at me like said something in French like I have no idea what you're talking about.

Later I would find that he wasn't trying very hard because this is pretty easy.

I think human nature is the same everywhere you go. He didn't feel like dealing with me so he was hoping I would go away.

Happily, he pointed me towards a secretary-type office manager and I went and spoke to her. I said is it possible that you speak English and she said yes I do and how I may help you.

I told her what I was looking for and that I had attempted to I asked the fella and he didn't seem to get what I was saying. She said she could help me. She talked to the guy in French he walks right over to the scrap metal pile and I said like oh yes that's it, that's perfect.

She took the piece and had him cut it at 2 ft and asked $5 for it. I was thrilled. I went on back to the rig and I just took my Sawzall and some nuts and bolts and such and started assembling this metal thing. This made my steps safe even if not new.

After I had paid her for the metal, I showed her my google translate question on the phone. I asked her if I had asked it the wrong way? She said the translation was perfect he was just being otherwise.

Fast forward a year I ended up finding a very high-quality set of steps at an RV dealer that they gave me for free. After I installed these new steps it was amazing from then on.

Camping Alouette Inc

3449 De Lindustrie St-Mathieu-De-Beloeil, QC

(450) 464-1661 3449 Chemin de l'Industrie, Saint-Amable, QC J0L 1N0, Canada