Reviews

ONroute - How a service station saved my life

How a service station saved my life, when we found ourselves in a massive RV, on the motorway in a terrible storm.

Chris Lloyd

27 Jun 2022 — 5 min read

It may not look it, but this was our oasis

This sounds melodramatic, but I think ONroute, near Port Hope, Ontario, saved my life. Through an odd series of events, we ended up driving down the motorway, in the dark, during a dreadful storm in an absolutely massive Recreational Vehicle (RV). The reasonably modest service station was like a shining oasis, a bolt hole and ultimately a haven for the night. Honestly, I will have a soft spot for ONroute until the day I die.

ONroute

For those who don't know, ONroute is a chain of service stations in Canada. They are pretty much like all service stations offering food, petrol and parking, and in our case, a safe haven for the night, and of course, being Canada, Tim Hortons coffee.

Driving a massive RV!

In 2018, Elsie and I went for a holiday in Ontario. The plan was simple, a few days in Toronto to see family, then a week in an RV to explore more wild and picturesque bits of Canada, then back to Toronto for a week, exploring the city, eating fantastic food and meeting even more friends and family.

I'd booked an RV from Canada Dream and arranged campsites. I wasn't being overconfident; I realised I would be driving on the other side of the road and something bigger than my usual VW Golf. So the plan for the first day was low-key, pick up the van in Brampton and drive to Sandbanks in Prince Edward County. Google says the journey will take two and a half hours, and I'd assumed it would take us four or five. Ultimately we gave up after seven, with me almost in tears!

Maybe I should have realised my carefully laid plan was falling apart pretty early on. I had assumed that we could pick up the van at lunchtime, but Canada Dream phoned in the morning to confirm everything, they explained that I could come in at 3 pm, and the kind and jolly manager also told me that they had managed to upgrade us to a much 'nicer' vehicle - its turns out nicer meant genuinely massive!

Our home for the week, very, very long, but ultimately great fun

Our beautiful home for the week was 8.9m (29ft) long and could sleep six, possibly over the top for the two of us. The staff at Canada Dream were tremendous, and the van was lovely; I came to enjoy driving it. But right there, standing in a car park in Brampton with the sky darkening, I was too embarrassed to say I was frightened, and it was just too big.

So we set off into the night and into the suburbs of The Greater Toronto Area (GTA). We had decided it was better to stay off the Highways, at least to start with. We thought this would allow us to get used to the driving and avoid a toll rather than jumping straight on the 401.

It was ultimately a mistake. The GTA is huge; the drive through the endless suburbs and mini-cities took far, far too long and involved stopping at 100s of the traffic light. Whilst the whole time, the sky was darkening. When we finally joined the 401 Highway, it was almost pitch black. But far worse, despite being summer and lovely for the rest of the holiday, that day, there was a tremendous storm. An epic storm, torrential rain, trees falling over kind of storm.

So I joined the motorway on a tight slip road, in a huge van, in pitch black, with gigantic double-length articulated trucks whizzing past at what felt like 100 miles an hour. I was exhausted, terrified and possibly getting a bit snappy with poor Elsie. We drove like this for maybe 30 mins, and I genuinely thought we were going to crash or at the very least give up and pull onto the hard shoulder and have to be rescued by mounties.

Any port(hope) in a storm

In a bit of a state, gripping the wheel for dear life, we saw the sign like a glowing beacon for the ONroute. I didn't know what it was other than a place to stop; we crawled along the inside lane, determined not to miss the exit.

I hoped we could stop for an hour, allow me to catch my breath and calm down. Maybe the rain would let off, but I was dreading getting back on the road. As we pulled in there was a sign for the car park, and another RV parking, which was at least plus I wouldn't have to get upset tying to park the monster.

As we drove slowly into the RV park, my heart beginning to slow, we joked that it would be nice if we could just stay here for the night.

Then we it'sthe RV parked in front, was clearly set up for the night and not in a discrete way. Both sides fully extended, all the lights blazing, through the window I could see a guy happy and warm on his sofa, eating dinner and watchingfootball on his giagatic telly. I have never been so happy to see a fat man eating pizza. We decided to do the same.

Onroute (interior) - It may not look it, but to me, a warm embrace

We parked and went to explore our first campsite. Maybe not as picturesque as Sandbank, but I will always be grateful. I will remember it for the rest of my life. Sometimes it's not about instergramable moments in front of a lake but rather a safe well lit car park, lovely clean toilets friendly staff and some food.

Would we RV again? - yes absolutely

We made it to Prince Edward CountyWe'renext day, which was lovely. The rest of the trip was fantastic. I would recommend RVing to anyone, and if one night you have to spend it in a car park, I can only hope it is as nice as the one at Onroute.