Things didn’t start off too well.  I gave myself an hour to shower and eat and 45 minutes to get to the bus station before my bus left (Google indicated it should take about 30 using the metro).  Somehow I took longer to get ready than I thought and ended up leaving the house in a complete rush.  I walked to the metro and when I got there, I pulled out my Ziploc ‘wallet’ to pull out my Opus card and realized that I was missing my cell phone.  I just knew right away that I had left at home and that I absolutely had to go back for it.  I was planning to use it for navigation, photos and keeping in touch.  I jogged back home as quickly as I could and found it on my kitchen counter.  At this point, I had about 20 minutes to get to the bus and knew that I wouldn’t make it if I took the metro.  No cabs were in sight, so I called a cab company and ordered one.  It took 7 minutes to show up and when it did, I asked if it was realistic to ge to the bus station in 13 minutes. The driver said ‘it might just be possible’ and proceeded to step on it.  The cabbie drove quickly and we were lucky with the traffic lights and he got me there with a couple of minutes to spare.  I threw some cash at him and told him to keep the change as I jumped out and ran into the depot.  The gate for the my bus was right near the entrance and I had to laugh when I saw the long line and that I still had plenty of time to board.  I was one of the last ones on board and it took about 30 minutes for the bus to be ready to leave.  The bus ride was very smooth once we got going and we were in Quebec City on time despite the late departure.  I didn’t have to change bus until the next stop in Rimouski, where there was a 50 minute break, during which I had lunch.  I had been texting with Gill and was sad to learn that Daisy was too bug-bitten to have her surgery, I could only imagine how disappointed Gill was after going all the way to Chicoutimi.  I also had some issues with my eReader, it wouldn’t turn on as the power button wasn’t working.  When I plugged it (the bus has electric sockets), it did seem to work a bit better but still would take several tries.  I usually use a cover that automatically turns it on when it’s opened (and off when it’s closed) but had decided not to bring it since it was extra weight.  I even contemplated trying to find a store in Rimouski to buy a new one, the Canadian Tire seemed to stock the Kindle, but decided against it since my books are all in the Kobo format and it would be too troublesome to switch.  I figured I could try plugging it into my power bank to help turn it on.  The ride from Rimouski to Matapedia was a bit slower since there were a few stops that seemed to last 5-10 minutes.  We got into Matapedia about 20 minutes late, just after 5 pm.  I had planned to go to the grocery store and pick up a few fresh things before starting.  It wasn’t a short walk and I was already feeling the weight of my pack before adding the last few bought food items and then filling up my water since there’s none at the first campsite.  It was then back to highway to where the trail comes in from New Brunswick and crosses over the highway. It was only about 100-200 meters of uphill to the campsite.  There’s a shelter and a tent platform here, although I didn’t see the platform at first since it’s a bit away from the trail down an overgrown path.  I had booked the platform and so once I found it, I set up my tent on it.  I had bought poles for the tent since although it can be set up with hiking poles this requires being able to tension the guyline well, which is usually done with setting a tent peg into the ground.  The poles helped but in order to ‘stake out the vestibule’ and to maximize the space inside the tent, I still had to use either the wires on the side of the platform or rocks to pull out the guylines.  I had seen someone at the shelter, as well a picnic table, so after I set up the tent, I went over with my stuff to make dinner.  Mo was section hiking and just finishing his first section going the opposite direction to me. He was going to start another section in a day, also going the other way, so we figured we might cross paths again in the Reserve faunique (we never did and I heard through the hiker grapevine that he stopped early due to a sore knee).  He went into town to get dinner so I ate on my own, but we chatted a fair bit when he got back and he told me about how he did a hike in the past where he only drank olive oil.  He said that he never felt hungry but that the olive oil burned his throat so he wasn’t doing that again.  My dinner was roasted tofu, bell pepper, onion and sweet potato tacos.  I had dehydrated the filling, but the tofu didn’t rehydrate at all well and was very toothsome. I turned in around 10:30 and slept surprisingly well once my feet warmed up, despite the highway noise.