Following the Grand Rassemblement, we spent three nights in a private campground just a couple of miles from the factory. There we got to regroup with a couple of other Altoistes and do mundane things like shopping and laundry. This was a nice campground for the sites next to the river, which we happened to get. There are nice facilities there and even a couple of waterfalls along the river.
After almost two weeks in Quebec, I found a few more vocabulary words had gotten retrieved from my high school French. I couldn’t for the life of me explain that I needed “Loonies” for laundry when I went to the grocery store. But another guy in line helped me out and I caught the word “monnaie” (not that I could have spelled it). Later, at the campground I was able to use the new magic word, resulting in a nod and a “way way” (Oui, oui) from the campground host. Foreign languages are fun!
Richard was able to get in a bike ride from St. Joseph to Beauceville, along the main road. This has been one of his favorite rides in Canada so far.
We went back to the factory Tuesday for our planned service appointment where Monsieur Frederic Pratte met us to go over our list. He is the chief guru in charge of all things service related for Safari Condo. We had conversed with him (sometimes extensively) over the years through email, and it was fun to see an off duty, relaxed version of him at the Grand Rassemblement. Back at the factory, he was all professional and had our email ready with the list of repairs, maintenance tasks, and new additions. All we had to do was stay out of the way, which we accomplished by going back to Ste. Marie for lunch, taking a look inside their impressive local church, and hanging out in the little waiting room at SC to use their wifi. 
We decided to get another keder rail installed on Dory’s port side so that we can mount an awning for shade purposes when it’s really hot. We also got a port side light to assist with after dark set ups. Richard’s hands down favorite improvement is that Frederic was able to instantly diagnose and fix a rattle from the 12v fridge compressor. It is now super silent. I think I’m most happy with the fact that the backup camera now seems to work! Frederic replaced the whole system and it is connecting and working perfectly so far. I’ve already used it to back into sites and I’m very happy. Other than that, it was all about bearings, and gaskets, and seals, oh my. And we did get a laugh or two out of Frederic, plus some hugs with Michelle Nadeau – that was probably worth the whole trip right there.
We ended up staying at Camping St. Joseph after the factory visit rather than overnight at the factory. Just felt weird thinking of waking up in our jammies as employees arrived at work. It’s a good idea to stay close after a service though, just to make sure everything looks good. Like we had a new gasket that wasn’t quite staying stuck. So we stopped by in the morning before heading out for good. Frederic made quick work of it and tested everything for leaks with a power spray. All good. We said our farewells to Annie, who was there for her service, and we were off!
We are now officially on our way home. It’ll take several weeks to get back across the continent, and our plan is to take a more northerly route. And that’s a wrap for our Mothership re-dock!
