As we prepare for new adventures, the time has come to sell our beloved 2020 Ford Transit Connect. Anybody who has been following us knows that we’ve done some pretty epic road trips while camping in the van. All while its compact size has let us easily navigate busy city centres and use underground parking.
So let’s look back at 5 years of road trips and van camping.
2020: Quick and dirty conversion for Gaspé and Saguenay
Even before purchasing the van, we had planned a scuba road trip to dive at Les Escoumins, near the Saguenay river in Quebec. We had an epic campsite booked nearby and we’d rent a vehicle. But with the world shut down by the COVID-19 pandemic, we purchased the van in August 2020 to give us more flexibility for local adventures.
We quickly prepped the van for this road trip by making simple plywood sleeping platforms that would sit on top of Nanuk hardcases (which acted as our storage). We purchased $2 Ikea Pärkla storage bags to hang on the side walls. And Keith sewed custom curtains for the windows. There was no insulation or ventilation, so every morning, Keith would wipe off the condensation that would form on the ceiling.
We mostly managed to stay at campgrounds on this trip, especially since many towns in Quebec have municipal campgrounds that offer open lots for overnighting at little to no cost (although little to no services too). But another wave of COVID start hitting during the trip, leading to the closure of many campgrounds, including our campground at Les Escoumins. So in the end, our road trip became entire improvised. We decided to start with the Gaspé peninsula (where we did manage to scuba dive), followed by a trek up and down the Saguenay Fjord. We sometimes needed to improvise with stealth camping on the side of the road or got permission to stay in parking lots. (Our first parking lot camping was at Canadian Tire in Paspébiac.)
We ended the year with a weekend of camping at Killarney Provincial Park in late November. The park was nearly empty so we had our pick of stunning campsites. We did some amazing hiking. But we also learned that cold weather camping was not our thing.
2021: Newfoundland and permanent sleeping platform
After our successful road trip in 2020, we decided to go big for 2021: Newfoundland.
Our first stop was the RV spot at the Berthier-sur-Mer marina, which we discovered on the previous year’s road trip, and would become the first night of every road trip to follow. Beyond the beautiful site alongside the St. Lawrence river, we got to enjoy strong Quebec beer and poutine!
We had a few camp sites booked for some national parks in New Brunswick and Newfoundland, but otherwise, we planned each overnight stay the day before for maximum flexibility. And we fell in love with Newfoundland and promised ourselves to return.
By the fall, we knew we were hooked on these road trips and decided to make a more permanent sleeping platform for the van.
2022: Back to Gaspé and Lake Superior
We started the season with some local camping to test out the new sleeping platform and storage setup. It was a resounding success!
We realized we didn’t get to explore the Gaspé peninsula as much as we had wanted in our 2020 road trip. So for 2022, we planned an entire trip just to focus on Gaspé and Forillon National Park.
And to cap off the season, we secured an amazing lake-front campsite at Lake Superior Provincial Park for the Labour Day long weekend and were dazzled by an amazing northern lights display.
2023: Grands-Jardins and Ivy Lea
We brainstormed quite a bit for a 2023 road trip. We looked at various provincial and national parks throughout Ontario and Quebec to find something new and interesting. One destination was a clear winner: Grands-Jardins National Park in Quebec.
Our journeys through Quebec have mostly kept us on the south side of the St. Lawrence river. But this time, with our destination being 2 hours north of Quebec City, we decided to cross to the north shore at Montreal and explore the north side of the river.
Grands-Jardins surpassed every expectation we had. Much of the camping and hiking were in areas recovering from forest fires, so the tree growth was sparse, offering amazing views of the rolling hills. It also happened to be blueberry season, with blueberries growing throughout the park (and on our campsite) and the park fully allows picking the berries for personal consumption (and we did!).
We also spent the first week in September where all our van adventures started: at Ivy Lea Campground with a campsite directly on the St. Lawrence River, where we could scuba dive directly from our campsite.
2024: The north-eastern loop
For 2024, we knew we wanted to return to Newfoundland. This time, we booked the ferry well in advance, so that we could start the trip with the long ferry to Argentia, then driving from the eastern side of Newfoundland westward to Port aux Basques. (Last time, this ferry was sold out, so we needed to backtrack.)
Separately, we had booked Broadway tickets for only a few days after our the roadtrip.
As we started planning our route, we realized that instead of backtracking home from Newfoundland only to depart a few days later for NYC, we could merge the trips. We would leave Newfoundland and make our way through Maine, stop in Boston for a few days, then NYC, and finally returning to Canada via Buffalo.
We revisited many of our favourite spots in Newfoundland, spending extra time in Bonavista with the puffins and whales, and in Gander to catch a performance of Come From Away. We also explored new areas, including the Irish Loop and Port au Choix.
As we made our way towards Maine, we discovered “The CAT” high-speed ferry from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia to Bar Harbor, Maine. This allowed us to explore Halifax and the lower peninsula of Nova Scotia.
Once in Maine, we stumbled upon the magical town of Freeport, where we partook in the free summer concert series, enjoyed delicious lobster rolls and local craft beer, did some late-night shopping at the 24-hour L.L.Bean flagship store, and overnighted in the town’s RV parking lot.
By the time we made it back to Canada, we had spent nearly a month living in the van, with only the occasional night on a ferry or in a hotel. And we loved every minute!
We have so many amazing memories linked to our Ford Transit Connect micro-camper. Whether they were moment actually inside the van, or destinations we managed to visit because of the van. It marks a memorable chapter in our life. We’ll miss these moments dearly, but it’s time to start new and different adventures.
Scuba Duo 
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