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 Lone Star State…….

 

Our Location:

Walmart, New Boston, Texas

We left our Rest Area spot this morning just a couple of minutes before 8 am and arrived here about 4 pm. It’s 400 miles/648 klm. The Big Dog rolled along between 60-65 mph/95-104 kmh, at these speeds he loves to drink, we used a little over 38 gallons/144 litres. He ran flawlessly and the Igloo followed faithfully behind. Diesel prices today ranged from $2.94 - $4.23 per gallon.

Baled cotton.

Unharvested cotton.

We reached Arkansas very quickly this morning.

The drive was long but no construction stoppages, some single lanes but nothing else. It was a perfect driving day, we stopped often to stretch, look around some rest stops, made notes for the future. The great thing about this route is it’s pretty flat compared to the route we usually take. We like that for a lot of reasons but a big factor is Riley is having less sinus issues taking this route.

Truck/rv entrance to this rest area.

The car entrance.

Nice isn’t it.

Upon arrival we were given permission to stay, we called Dad, texted sister, and had a late lunch. It is very warm here, 87f/31c when we arrived but it has cooled off some, not sure what the actual numbers are but it will be warm for sleeping. 

Texarkana water tower.

At the New Boston Walmart.

We started the day in Missouri, went thru Arkansas and are a short distance inside of Texas. We think we have about 4 more nights in Texas, 1 night in New Mexico and within a day or two after that we should arrive in the Quartzsite area. That of course is just a rough idea, things could change at any moment. So to date we have spent an hour in Michigan, 1 night in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri, we did not spend a night in Arkansas.

Thanks for stopping by.

Until next time……

Take care, stay safe,

Deb

We didn’t go as far as thought we would….

 

Our Location:

Missouri Welcome Center, Missouri

Our day started with a very crisp nip in the air and frost on most things. By 8 amCDT we were frost free and wheels rolling after a quick sip at Murphys for the Big Dog.

Our first stop of the day.

We rolled along and not once did we have to stop for any construction, slow downs in speed limits, narrow lanes, single lanes, but always moving at nothing less than 45 mph/75klm. We stopped often and enjoyed the slower pace. 

The leaves look rusty here.

Our first glimpse of Rend Lake

We had plans to stop at the Arkansas Welcome Center tonight but when this one appeared we veered right and are truly happy with our choice.This is a massive lot, tons of space, big dumpsters and lots of cans.  We are parked against the curb with our slide open toward the curb. We have our panels out, charging the battery but they aren’t visible from the lot. We sit here with the door open enjoying the 75f/24c temps with a slight breeze. It is a good life.

You can park here overnight.

And it is away from the trucks and noise.

Come past the nose of the delivery truck veer toward where I’m standing and you will see the view in the above photos.

For our own reminder and perhaps knowledge for anyone on this route we are marking Rend Lake rest stop the premium stop in our future SOUTHWARD journey.  DO NOT enter the truck, rv parking, instead use the car parking entrance, DO NOT PARK THERE but go thru, past the welcome building, veer to the right and keep going. At the lake side you can park overnight, but not on the grass. There is a circle drive so no issues turning around. We asked in the WC and were told parking back there is permitted but not on the grass.

We crossed the Mississippi River today.

We entered the state of Missouri 

And we are still in Missouri tonight at her Welcome Center.

Tomorrow will be a long day, we both agreed but the two after will be short. I think I could get used to this way of travelling.

Thanks for stopping by.

Until next time…..

Take care, stay safe,

Deb

Still moving along…..

 

Our Location:

Walmart, Salem, Illinois

A pretty quiet night but I was still up at 4 am. This is not a new thing for me but it does make for a long day. Riley rolled out at 7 am and even though it was foggy we were on our way by 7:30 am. It was  pretty foggy until we reached the Interstate, a mile or so away and then it started to clear quicker, I guess between the sun and the heat being produced by the road top, it helped the process along.

Fog this morning.

Missouri welcome centre.

This is a very small section of the parking.

Lots of pathways to stretch your legs.

Some interesting things along the pathways.

We stopped 3 times overall, two rest areas and one fuel. Diesel prices are rising the farther north we go. We are regularly seeing above $4.00, but if you watch it is also available for the $3.80-3.95 range.

The dandelions look used up.

As you can see, very wide spaces.

We are enjoying the drive.

We are entering the state of Illinois.

The roads were rough for a while.

We had an easy day today, travelling only 232 miles/373 km, we used about 15 gallons/56 litres of fuel, we travelled for 4 1/2 hours. By my thinking we averaged about 15 1/2 mpg. Our average speed was 57miles/91 km. Again I have no complaints.

We crossed the Mighty Mississippi River to leave Missouri for Illinois.

Spring is working hard…

Blossoms are visible.

The roads were decent overall, Arkansas roads were good, a few patches here and there but good overall. Missouri roads were a bit rough in places but again, after a while they smoothed out. Illinois roads started off pretty rough and were rough overall in most places until just a while before we stopped. The Missouri welcome centre was fabulous, 20 miles inside the state line but it is huge, tons of parking places with spaces wide enough to put slides out. The first rest area in Illinois was closed, it looks like for quite a long time, but the second was open. Lots of folks parked for the solar eclipse event in the rest areas and currently at the Walmart as well. The parking areas are ringed with cars and people.

We touched three states today, Arkansas, Missouri and Illinois, we travelled on I-55 and I-57. Tomorrow we will arrive at a campground for a stay of 4 days. It is sunny, a bit on the coolish side at about 70 F/21C. The eclipse has been underway for approximately an hour and while it is getting darker outside, it is not a night time dark as I write this post up.

The eclipse has ended, it was an eerie twilight, that lasted a minute at most. No we didn’t look up but I did snap pics. Almost all of the watchers have left, within 5 minutes they were gone. Enjoy. 

Until next time……

Take care, stay safe,

Deb