My grumbling turned into dour bitterness when a police roadblock interfered with our preset route assignment within the first two miles, throwing our mileage markers off right from the onset. To the front of me

Forced left, into a residential area we knew nothing about, we increased our pace despite being, well, somewhat lost. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press)

was renowned auto journalist-TV personality Tony Whitney, also openly murmuring, and just to the rear was Chinese-language correspondent Regina Chan, forever accommodating and just generally nice. We coursed through a number of shopping store parking lots and somehow, thanks to Tony's leadership, ended up on the predestined route once again, bypassing the roadblock.

We soon found another such roadblock, and the floodwaters that covered the path ahead helped us to understand what all the commotion was about. Forced left, into a residential area we knew nothing about, we increased our pace despite being, well, somewhat lost. Again to our dismay, we passed under the highway we needed to be on with no entrance in sight. As we did, another Rio lined up behind us, which we soon learned carried to Korean executives that had

Most likely this wasn't the scenario Kia's PR staff had imagined when dreaming up the first stint of our journey, something they most likely planned out while driving the picturesque countryside during daylight hours. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press)

been tooling around the neighborhood, lost for quite some time. A few phone calls to Kia's helpful PR staff, some desperate guesswork and sheer luck now running in our favour, we ended up pointed in the right direction and on our way to Charlevois.

Once out of Quebec City, one of my favourite habitations within this great land of ours, the highway narrowed and started to wind, while the late night air grew deeper in pitch as the rain pelted down with a newfound ferocity, the likes of which I hadn't seen since caught up in a downpour just outside of Hilo on the big island of Hawaii. The road to Charlevois was slick, its pock marked surface filled with deep puddles, and Tony was driving with a mission, no doubt thoughts of a delectable meal followed by a comfortable hotel room dancing in his head. Despite my sagging eyes, there was little else I could do but follow as closely to him as safely possible. Most likely this wasn't the scenario Kia's PR staff had imagined when dreaming up the first stint of our journey, something they most likely planned out while driving the picturesque countryside during daylight hours.