We are back in Ontario…

 

Our Location:

Valens Conservation Area, Flamborough, Ontario, Canada

A quick update for the folks out there wondering about us.

Day 1- April 6, 2025

We left Ogilby Road, in southeastern California, at 7:20 AM PDT,  stopping to dump the tanks at the Chevron station, our wheels officially turning toward home at 8:00 AM PDT. We rolled along easily, filling whenever we reached the half way mark, which ended up being 3 times throughout the day. Our day ended at a rest area in Fabens, Texas just east of El Paso. Which means we crossed one time zone, losing an hour of our day. We pulled off the road and 7:20 PM, MDT. Yes, 7:20; I thought it a bit odd too. We had no issues, but a long day, travelling 610 miles.

Day 2 - April 7, 2025

We had our wheels rolling from the Fabens, Tx rest area at 7 AM, MDT. A quick Dogsled repair at Van Horn, Texas and we were off once more. Our plan was the DOT Rest Area near Ranger but we somehow rolled on past. We opted at that time to make a big change of plans and continued along thru Fort Worth, Arlington, ( the only slow down occurred at the edge of this city), and Dallas, continuing to Walmart, Greenville, Texas. The end of rush hour was nothing like we expected, very little traffic and almost totally smooth sailing. We arrived at Greenville at 8:10 PM, CDT, shutting down for the evening.  Another very good day, with only a hiccup, we travelled 651 miles on this day, with another time zone change to Central Daylight Time.

Day 3 - April 8, 2025

(This was our original day of departure, with a long 9 day trek in mind, but we opted for a different plan.)

We left Greenville, Texas at 7:30 AM,CDT and motored along smoothly all day. We left Texas, crossed through Arkansas and stopped Big Dog in Missouri, at the Haiti Welcome Center, 20 miles inside the state line. Another good day, no issues. A much shorter day as we arrived at 4:00 PM, CDT, travelling only 481 miles. Green grass, lots of green leaves and flowers, along with a couple of otters in the pond. Spring has reached Missouri.

Day 4 - April 9, 2025

We left Haiti, Mo at 7:10 AM, CDT after a fabulous night’s rest, but we left in long pants and heavy sweaters. Rolling along with no issues we crossed from Missouri to Illinois to Indiana (another time zone) and finally into Ohio. We stopped at Walmart, Napoleon, Ohio at 6:30 PM EDT. It was a rainy, drizzly kind of day all day and evening too, we are happy we put new wipers on just this morning. We are back in our own time zone now. Travel was 556 miles. 

Day 5 - April 10, 2025

We left Napoleon, Ohio under rainy skies, cold temps and mittens on our hands. The time was once again 7:30 AM EDT.  We crossed the Ambassador Bridge into Ontario, Canada and were waiting in line at 9:43 AM. The scrutiny is longer, only two lines , things were at a stand still. We quickly hopped lines when a third one opened shortly after 10:00 AM. We answered questions for about 5 minutes, given our passports and we rolled off on our way shortly after. The weather is a mix of rain and snow, the air is very cold but we are excited to be back in Ontario.  We continued on to our current location, adding an extra week to our stay here, originally we were to be back on April 17, but as you have read, we changed that plan. We arrived here around 2:00 PM.  Travel today, 283 miles.

We are getting closer..

It is a very ugly travel day.

In 5 days we travelled 2581 miles, it leaves us still 400 miles from home. We will be staying here until April 24, when the wheels will roll again taking us home to our Island.

Thanks for following along. We do hope your days are filled with better things than yesterday, but that tomorrow will be even better. 

Until next time…..

Take care, stay safe,

Deb

The Big Dog purred most of the day…..

 

Our Location:

Walmart, Osceola, Arkansas

The day started with the wheels slapping the I-30 blacktop at 7:30 am. We rolled along all day with no issues other than the last hour has been a windy one. However we knew it would be like this, so it wasn’t a surprise. Predictions are it will calm down within the next hour! Can you hear us? Of course not the wind is blowing too hard but we are saying…..yes….please stop very soon!

The roads were very good overall, some rough patches but mostly very good. We started at Greenville, Texas on I-30, caught I-440 at Little Rock for about 10 miles, hooked up with I-40 East for a while and then grabbed on to I-55 N at West Memphis.

Lots of green and leaves, spring is here in Arkansas.

The fields are waiting…

This route took us a grand total of 438 miles/705 km, we stopped 5 times, time spent travelling today approximately 8 1/2 hours. We averaged 57 mph/92 km, using approximately 27 gallons/102 litres. We had a side wind/tail wind, which helped push us along, my math says that’s around 16 mpg, I’m a very happy driver. The Igloo faithfully followed us over hill, down the valleys and around all the corners. I’m very happy with the new shoes Igloo is wearing.

Dualing big US flags.

No slow downs on our side of the byways but the other side slowed considerably when a bumper tow travel trailer sat amid extreme smoke with only the front nose still intact. We did not see any tow vehicle attached, luckily they managed to unhook it. Lots of smoke for a few hundred feet, parts must have been falling off along the way. Lots of pretty flashing lights of various colours. 

Arkansas rest area near Forrest City.

A few miles up the road, the new leaves aren’t showing yet…we’ve left spring behind.

As I type this the thunder is crashing, the rain is falling, the lightning is flashing and we are thankful to be off the road. We are anticipating this to pass quickly. 

However the grass is green.

Maybe because of all this water.

A rainbow, I think the rain is over.

Until next time……

Take care, stay safe,

Deb

Today was a rest day….

 

Our Location:

Empty Store Front, Greenville, Texas

We had a pretty quiet night, Riley slept in until 9 am, I on the other hand was awake from 4:30 am but felt as if I had enough sleep. We decided yesterday, due to a few things, weather being one, that we would stay here for two nights. So tomorrow morning we lift the front feet and roll the wheels again. 

Walmart across the street

Car wash, fuel station, ice hut and a few other things that I haven’t been to see.

We stayed inside most of the day, mostly cloudy with some gusty winds tossed in for interest and excitement. Grackles are interesting birds, they fluff up and scream at others, or even images in the window. It was a humorous but noisy thing to see.

Our resting spot

The clouds are breaking up.

On a personal note, Happy Birthday tomorrow to Joan, the woman married to my late uncle but not my aunt! ( private joke folks). We hope you have a fabulous day!

Also, good luck and congratulations to nephew Jason, lovely wife Leah, and family as they embark on a new chapter of their lives, listing their current home in Chelmsford for sale and moving back to Manitoulin Island, building a new house, and continuing to get Freshwater Electric on its feet. We are so excited for you guys!

Today’s pics are self explanatory.

Until next time….

Take care, stay safe,

Deb

A short day today….

 

Our Location:

Empty Store Front, Greensville, Texas

We had a plan that it veered a bit off course today, but that’s okay, we liked it anyway.  I will admit the sleep last night wasn’t the best, lots of noise at the Walmart in Mineral Wells. We weren’t in a hurry this morning and entered Walmart to get a few things. I asked a few local fellas what they thought of our plan to continue north to Jacksboro and cross the top of Dallas on US 380. They thought it was a bad idea, so we took their advice and motored along US 180 to Weatherford, back on to I-20 East, connected to I-30 around 10 am at Ft. Worth and rolled along through Ft. Worth, with one slow down, into Arlington, with another little slow down, into Dallas with a big slow down and managed to come out the other side at 11:45 am, unscathed, laughing and feeling pretty good. Traffic was actually pretty light and except for the usual “ lane ends get over” but nobody does until everything is at a stand still crap, everything went very smoothly. We arrived at our current location around 12:30. 

We travelled approximately 130 miles/209 klms, using approximately 13 gallons/49 litres, averaging around 55 mph ( not including slow downs), we travelled approximately 3 hours. Due to some hilly country starting off, and stop and go in a few places, some city driving, 10 mpg isn’t great but not bad. 

Rock wall means you are either just about to start or have just finished driving in Dallas.

Rockwall is just to the east of this body of water.

Warm sun, no breeze, and not a cloud in the sky, we are content here. I am even charging the battery for good measure. 

Until next time…..

Take care, stay safe,

Deb

We have arrived in Texas….

 

Our Location:

Empty Store across from Walmart, Greenville, Texas

We pulled out this morning after a night that was a bit warmer and managed to have the wheels rolling around 8:00 am. We are of course in Central Daylight Time. We had to go north to the overpass, hang a left and another left and rush down the ramp heading south once again. 

We are entering our 6th state.

I love the name of this town.

The drive was uneventful and we crossed into Texas, the Lone Star State around 11:30 am.  We cruised along, stopping a couple of times, hoping to follow our “plan”. A phone call to an RV park changed that plan as there is no room tonight. We decided to stop here at Greensville instead even though it was early, we had a back up plan. The plan worked great, I must say. We stopped here very early in the day and spent the next several hours in shorts and short sleeves putting most of the Igloo in order. At least tentatively. There is more to do of course but it’s a start. We can at least find clothes now! 

A beautiful Texas rest area.

So going forward we still need to dewinterize and do some laundry and will hopefully be pulling into a park in the next day or two to accomplish those little jobs. If not we have a plan for that too. 

Our home dirt tonight.

The weather outside is wonderful, shorts, t’s, windows, vents are open. It’s just a wonderful night. We are very content.

Thanks for stopping by.

Until next time…..

Take care, stay safe,

Deb

Sweetwater to Greenville, Texas.....

 

 

 Our Location:

Empty Store Parking Lot, Greenville, Texas

We had a good day yesterday, a nice afternoon and evening to rest up from the last couple of hectic days of driving. The Walmart parking lot was slanted and one could not find a level parking area but for future reference, there are some nice rest areas on either side of Sweetwater that would be great for an overnight stay. Temps this morning started off around 55F/13C and as I write this it is 66F/19C. A bit breezy on the road but not bad. We left at 8 am CDT and arrived here at about 1 pm CDT. We called it a day as the drive thru Dallas was a bit stressful for only about the last half hour. Ft. Worth and Arlington and the first part of Dallas were a breeze but the last bit was stop and go, humpy, bumpy and construction made the lanes very narrow. Certainly not any worse than driving thru Cincinnati or Toronto. The Big Dog was pretty efficient today, sipping down about 20 gallons of juice. I filled up before we left Sweetwater for $3.39 gallon. I like those ones!

 

Forgive the mirror but spring is present in those pretty bright leaves and bright blades of grass.

 

 

Some blooms too, and the green here is darker, the leaves are bigger, they've been out longer.

 

We travelled 273 miles/440 km, we travelled for approx 5 hours with rest stops included. We have in the last three days travelled 978 miles/ 1600 km, we are not quite half way home yet. We still have 1,149 miles/1850 km until we cross the border. We consider that to be 'home' as we will actually not get back to our summer spot for another few weeks and many more miles. We have approximately another 730 miles/1173 km after we cross into Ontario. That includes a bit out of the way to get to Roseneath, Ontario to Buttercup Ridge for 10 or so days while it continues to warm up at our summer spot on the Rock. We are no longer in the desert as you can see by the photos and the temps are nice but the humidity is evident.

 

We are heading into Ft. Worth, Texas.

It was an easy drive. See that tower way off.....

we passed it a bit later on.

Chatted with my dad when we arrived here to let him know we are off the road. He informed me that sister's partner Rick has suffered a heart attack and is currently in Sudbury hospital. He has no other news. 

Love the overpasses. We are in either Ft. Worth or Arlington. This is only two, earlier they were like spaghetti.

That looks like a Fedora, doesn't it?

That is Dallas off in the distance.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you've all had wonderful days. 

Until next time....

Take care, stay safe, 

Deb