There's lots of very well-done graffiti in the area surrounding the bus station. In fact, it's more like mural art. I think a local youth centre gets teens to do it in order to beautify otherwise empty space.

My bus finally pulled up at around 9:00 PM, and after almost missing that one as well, I was on my way to Drummondville. After an uneventful (yet long) trip down Autoroute 20, the bus pulled into the Drummondville bus station just before 11:00 PM. Marc Lachance met me there and together, we drove back to his family's home, where I would stay a couple of days.

After evening prayers and a sound sleep, I got up the next morning to find Nicole (Marc's wife) typing away downstairs - she took a few days off work to play a gracious host to me while I was in town. Nice! Gabrielle (Marc & Nicole's eldest daughter) came home from work at lunchtime, so we all got to eat together and catch up. Gabrielle works as a costume designer at the Légendes Fantastiques, a summer-long multimedia folklore show in Drummondville. It's pretty cool.

The morning gracefully bowed out to the afternoon, and once lunch was done, Nicole and I drove out to Odanak, a native reserve to the north of Drummondville. There, we visited a few of her contacts and friends, among them being Nicole O'Bomsawin, director of the Musée des Abénakis, which showcases the art, culture and history of the local First Nations people. We also spent some time with a nice elderly couple on the reserve, who told us all sorts of stories. I'm kind of disappointed I didn't take my camera along for the ride; I would have liked to snap some pictures there.

We ended the evening after dinner by going to visit Natasha, another one of the pioneers in Drummondville, and her three sons, Denyss, Darryl, and Melvin. Natasha and company were preparing to leave Drummondville in mid-July to join Jacky, the man of the house, as pioneers in Tahiti. It was nice to be able to see them again before they left.

On day 2, I planned to bus it down to Victoriaville - but Nicole would have none of that, and insisted on driving me down. In fact, she did one better and invited Arlène (Guy's wife) to come along, too.

Once in the car, we set out on our way and motored on down through downtown Drummondville. Along the way, I asked if we could stop over at the Carrefour Jeunesse-Emploi - a drop-in centre for youth in search of work. (I was a regular while I was pioneering.) It was lunch time, of course, so nobody was in the office, but one of my old counsellors was outside having lunch. We exchanged news and best wishes, and, satisfied, I got back in the car to go.

Soon enough, we crossed the bridge and were on our way to Victoriaville.

Warwick is a little town on the way to Victoriaville. It's a little detour from the road to Drummondville, but it's worth it. A Baha'i couple, Laurent and Jocelyne, own a coffee shop and roastery there (i.e. they roast their own coffee).