Before I write up the last day of our trip, we wanted to tell you a bit about something we’ve been thinking and talking a lot about on the road.

Last time ARCTIC toured, we ate more Tim Horton’s and Husky meals than I think I’d ever had in my lifetime, just because that’s the easiest thing to find along the Trans-Canada Highway. This time, we wanted to make a conscious effort to support the local, independent businesses rather than the big corporations. It started out as an experiment, but after seeing over and over again how homogeneous the country is becoming, and seeing what rows of big box stores do to the heart of a town, we became even more convinced to stick to this goal.

We didn’t always succeed, of course. Sometimes when it’s 2:00 AM and you’ve just finished loading up after a show and you’re tired and you still need to drive an hour and you can’t find anything else open, a Tim Horton’s looks pretty good.

We also stayed with friends and relatives or at a room supplied by the venue, so we didn’t need a lot of hotel rooms. Once in a while the venues supplied food, as well.

We didn’t really make an effort when it came to gas, as it’s insanely hard to find non-chain gas stations along the highway. Grocery stores were a bit of a mixed bag; we hit the occasional Safeway-type thing when we were on a schedule, and independent places if we had the option. I would love to stop at more produce stands, but it’s not entirely practical for people in a car; it’s more of a hassle to wash and cut farm-fresh veggies, since we don’t have the facilities. If we were more prepared, we could have bought them, washed them in hotel rooms, and chopped them with camping supplies… but we weren’t.

If anyone has any recommendations for places along the Trans-Canada, please reply in the comments!

In case you’re interested, here are the places that we stayed or ate on our way out to Montreal and back again. I may have missed a few here and there, but according to memory and receipts:

Independent businesses

Sunshine Motel, Indian Head, SK
Craft-Tea Elevator Restaurant, Indian Head, SK
Northern Lights Motel, Wawa, ON
A truck stop (don’t know name), Pass Lake, ON
New York Sub, Toronto, ON (x2 - OMG we love this place)
Swan Restaurant, Toronto, ON
Everest Cafe, Toronto, ON
Pizzaiolo, Toronto, ON
Maggie’s Eatery, Peterborough, ON (x2 - lunch was so good we went back for breakfast)
Koi, Hamilton, ON
La Cagibi, Montreal, PQ
Abstractions Cafe, Regina, SK
The Haven, Port Au Baril, ON
Hot Belly Mama, Peterborough, ON
Bren’s Bakeshop, Belleville, ON
Big Red Barn, Moosamin, SK
Great Northern Hotel, Sault Ste Marie, ON
Bestway Motel, Windsor, ON
Gargoyle’s, Thunder Bay, ON
Viva Vietnamese, Winnipeg, AB
Some pizza place (non-chain), Medicine Hat, AB
Inn at Macleod Trail, Calgary, AB
Strathmore Station, Strathmore BC
Golden Grizzly Steakhouse, Golden, BC
PapAndreas Greek Taverna, Hope, BC

Chains

Mohawk restaurant, Hope, BC
3 x Tim Horton’s
Pita Pit, TO
Comfort Inn, Winnipeg MB x 2
Comfort Inn, Medicine Hat
Husky House, Golden BC