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

A very short day today….

 

Our Location:

Walmart, Wabash, Indiana 

Last night was great, I slept in until 5:00 am, the location was quiet and we would definitely stop there again.

The only photo taken today.

This morning was warm, shorts and short sleeves were the order of the day. It has been an excellent day, the weather, the peace and the freedom to stop when we like, and so we did.  We drove a couple of hours and decided that was enough for today. We pulled into the Walmart around 1:30 pm, received permission to stay and parked at the outer edge of the yard and spent the day resting, napping and just decompressing. It has been a very good day.

Thanks for stopping by, until next time……….

Take care, stay safe,

Deb

We are in Ohio…..

 

Our Location:

Walmart, Napoleon, Ohio

The weather today was fabulous! Shorts will be a must tomorrow.  

Yesterday was a busy day, shopping, money exchange, visiting Bradey and the boys before heading back to the park. It was a long day.

This morning we started our day at Olympia RV in Flamborough, Ontario. After breakfast we packed everything up, pulled in the slides, put away the power cord had everything ready to travel. We locked the door, leaving the Igloo behind as we headed off to pick up daughter Courtney at the Go Station. The three of us enjoyed lunch near by while catching up. It was a quick visit but we all had fun. We dropped her back at the Go Station just before 1 pm, headed back to the park, hooked up and let the wheels roll. We made the decision to cross into the US instead of our original plan to stay at the onRoute in Tilbury.

The wait at the border was about 20 minutes, a few questions, a quick peek and we were off. The rough roads were not fun but we didn’t have any workers present and folks were flying, we rolled along about 65mph and around 8 pm we pulled into this lot. Thumbs up to stay the night from the Customer Service lady, I called Dad and Sister before having something to eat. 

Tomorrow we will do some shopping before we head out. We are hoping to cross into Central Time and spend the night at a great rest area we visited last spring on the way home. However that’s for tomorrow’s blog. 

Thanks for stopping by, until next time……

Take care, stay safe,

Deb

Back in Ontario…

 

Our Location:

Valens Lake Conservation, Flamborough, Ontario

We woke to sunny skies and coolish temps in Perrysburg, Ohio but it did warm up on our drive. Wheels rolling by 7:45 am we had the best kind of drive….uneventful. The regular rough stretch entering Monroe, Michigan, but other wise other than a noisy road surface, all was good. 

Our last state this journey.

We arrived at the Canadian Customs, paid our $11.00 and rolled across the Ambassador Bridge pulling into line about 9:15 am. A new Customs Officer, reading from the “script” was pleasant and by 9:30 am we were wheels rolling on past the Customs yard onto the streets of Windsor.  Our second bonus of the day, an easy crossing.

The Ambassador Bridge

TD Duck is crossing the St. Claire River for the first time. Lol.

We are going to cross that bridge to Ontario.

Chatham Kent was our first rest stop in Ontario. The call to our intended destination brought us our first curve ball of the day. Due to new management, no returning early admissions allowed. Hmmmmm… this is not good, we had based everything on this park. Riley came up with the place we never wanted to return to, I called and yes, they are open, in fact open all year. We had little choice and took a spot. Our third bonus of the day.  A call to Dad to let him know we are back in Ontario, and on the road we were once again.

Not birds, boats on the St. Claire River as we cross, you can tell we are high up.

Riley texted our usual folks to let them know we have arrived and soon we were pulling into the Conservation area. Just under $500 CAD secured us a spot for the week.  We stayed in this park once before with the old Igloo, which was 30 amp, but now we discovered there are no 50 amp sites. Not knowing this is rig was 50 amp when we bought it, and since we plug in so infrequently, I left my 50/30 conversion at home. While the rig came with a short 50/30, this one plugs into the rig, not the end of the 50 amp cord like the one I have at home. So that didn’t help us. We decided we would continue with our plans and worry about later.

That is Ontario, Canada. Weare almost back to our home province, but nit home.

We left around 2:30 pm with the Igloo running as usual on battery and headed off to Brantford to see daughter Bradey, SIL David, and grandsons Auston and Lincoln. It was a great visit, the boys are growing so fast, and are full of energy. We enjoyed a very nice turkey dinner, but shortly after, we headed out, stopping at Walmart but not finding a 50/30, instead finding a 30 amp extension cord. We had a solution. We bought the cord, came home, plugged in the short 50/30 to the rig, connected the 30 amp extension cord, and voila, we are good to go. I think this might be our option of choice going forward. The 30 amp chord is much easier to handle than the very heavy 50 amp. We shall of course carry both but we are thinking of using this set up. Our fourth and fifth bonus’ of the day.

The green grass of Ontario.

It’s hard to tell but there is the slightest suggestion of green in the trees, barely but it’s there. 

We travelled 250 miles/402 km. We stopped a number of times, travelling approximately 6 hours, we used about 20 gallons/75 litres of fuel, we averaged around 57 mph/91 kmh. We had a bit of a head wind, side wind at times, some stop and go traffic getting to the park and a bit of hilly countryside as well. So my math says about 12.5 mpg. Considering our fresh water is almost full, I think that was good. 

Until next time…..

Take care, stay safe,

Deb

Back in EDT Zone…

 

Our Location:

Walmart, Perrysburg, Ohio 

After a good nights sleep we had the wheels rolling at 7:45 am. Our original destination was changed almost as soon as the wheels were moving and as we clipped along we also changed our second destination, this was our third choice. 

Sorry, dirty windshield, Crescent City, Water Tower. We can’t keep it clean.

The roads overall were good, a few rough patches but not bad. We started by going back 15 miles to I-57 N rather than take state or county roads. We hooked up with US-24 East, which is only 2 lanes in Illinois. We crossed into Indiana and a little later at 9:43 CDT we moved into EDT meaning we are now back with our home province timewise. US-24 becomes a divided highway at some point in Indiana but due to a flooding detour, I can’t tell you where. We were routed probably 45-60 minutes from our original route. Eventually we managed to get back to US-24 East and continue along. Due to a ramp closer our journey to this Walmart was very adventurous and colourful. ‘Nough said. We arrived here around 3pm EDT. 

We travelled approximately 317 miles/510 km, we travelled approximately 8 hours, we used about 27 gallons/102 litres, and I filled up for $3.99  pg. I think that works out to around 12mpg. I’m happy with that. 

Good weather but a bit windy, side, tail and head. Wind is pretty cool, we need a sweater and we have been wearing long pants for about 4 or 5 days now. Spring is hinting but not quite here yet, a few more days. I think the high temp was 62F/17C, not bad for April 13. 

Until next time…..

Take care, stay safe,

Deb

Wheels rolling……..

 

Our Location:

Walmart, Wapakoneta, Ohio

A quick post, it’s been a long couple of days. I will post a much better post with photos tomorrow. Today we left Beamsville, Ontario, Canada around 2 pm. We arrived here at Wapakoneta at 9:45 pm. An easy border crossing once we got over the bridge and the trucks left the left lane. A number of slow downs due to construction and those fools that hang on until the last 3 inches before merging and make everything slow to a crawl.

We had partly sunny skies, a good breeze, and even managed to see some white stuff, both on the ground and falling. I think it was somewhere in the London,  Ontario region. Chatting with dad last night they had almost blizzard like conditions and an accumulation of about 4 inches. I could here the cabin shivering all the way to southern Ontario.

We hope 2 more days will see warmer temps and sunny skies. Looking ahead at the weather it looks like we are just in a very cold snap right now and a warm up is coming. 

I’m off to bed. Thanks for stopping by.

Until next time…..

Take care, stay safe,

Deb

We are safe and sound in Ontario......

 

 Our Location: 

Valens Conservation Park, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Our morning was an early one, we were on the road at 6:50 AM, I know that because we looked. We enjoyed the Mercer County Fairgrounds and would stay again. We enjoyed it, it was a relaxing few days. Next time we would actually get out and tour Celina, but this time was strictly resting. 

We noticed this truck back at Quail Ridge Rv Park, in Huachuca City, Az.

And this one was in Fry's parking lot in Sierra Vista, AZ.

This morning's sunrise as we headed East.

We did see the sun later in the day.

The roads were pretty good over all, a few rough patches but not too bad. We had easy sailing to the border and the crossing was easy. A few questions and we were on our way. We crossed back into Ontario by 11 AM. We stopped a few times but not for long. 

Daffs in bloom at a rest area in Ohio.

We were only in the state for a short time.

We crossed the Ambassador Bridge.

The St Clair River.

There were lots of folks out on the water.

On the 401 East at MM 224, near Woodstock we had our first ever blow out of a tire on the Igloo. It was an interesting experience, no one was hurt but we do have some damage at the wheel well and along Riley's slide, one of the side markers is gone and apparently the Igloo isn't covered by CAA, who knew that? Not me. So I had to foot this bill myself. Kal Tire came after a two hour wait, and we were on the road again within about 20 minutes. Officer Stephen showed up and waited with us for about an hour before she was called away. We appreciated her assistance very much. Anyway all is well with us, we drove for another 50 minutes to reach Valens Conservation.  It's a big park and lots of trees, not someplace we would stay again. The roads are very narrow and the trees too close to the roads and the entrances to the sites. Our site is particularly odd, we had to turn around as the power receptacle is almost in the site beside us, we barely reach the post, if we hadn't turned around we couldn't have reached the outlet.

Back in Ontario, the grass is greening up and the leaves are almost visible.

The roads were pretty good. Excuse the dirty windshield.

Not our best day.

Tomorrow we are going to visit grandsons/nephews, daughter and her husband. We are looking forward to it very much. 

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you've all had a good day. 

Until next time....

Take care, stay safe, 

Deb

One more sleep.....

 

 Our Location: 

Mercer County Fairgrounds, Celina, Ohio

It was a wonderful night temp wise, sleep wise, not so much. Oh well, it is what it is, at least it wasn't a travel day today. We slept with all the windows and vents open last night and very few blankets. We are soaking up as much heat as possible. 

Jim these are for you and Barb.

Until you mentioned your project I hadn't ever seen any, and there is one right here in the fairgrounds.

At coffee time I had my pick of seats, I tried a few of them.

This morning I took my coffee and climbed into the grandstands to watch a few trainers letting their charges run for a bit. Even managed a quick conversation with one as he went by, we thought I might have the best seat in the house. Considering I was the only one there, I think we were correct. A walk around the park, a quick trip for diesel but no top up for propane as it was flat rate, no matter how much they put in, we left without a top up. The fairgrounds are getting ready for a yard sale tomorrow, starting at 8 am, we will be long gone by then. We hope to pull out by 7 am to avoid the confusion and busyness.

These two were just enjoying the wind in their manes and having a good time.

I spoke with the fella on the inside lane.

This guy came late to the party.

A few pics of the views, I hope you enjoy them. A quick up date, Rick is now off the ventilator, he was sitting in a chair for a while yesterday, he's still pretty fuzzy but doing better. Thanks for all the concern in the past week. 

 

They aren't racing just trotting along.

Not clear but you get the idea, they were enjoying their run.

He's still getting warmed up.

 

Until next time...

 

Take care, stay safe, 

 

Deb

 

 

A very bright, sunny warm day....

 

 Our Location: 

Mercer Fairgrounds, Celina, Ohio

We woke to a nice temperature, sleeping with windows and vents open. A walk along the paths here at the fair grounds, we enjoyed the sun and a brief sit in the grandstands to watch a horse going through his paces. I hope you enjoy the photos. 

We are parked over there behind the grandstands.

The horseshoe pit.

Some pretty small white flowers.

Some parking spots over there.

Lots of buildings here in the fair grounds.

Can you see the back end of the Igloo?

The barns over there, lots of horses there.

Going through the paces on a sunny warm morning.

Up in the grandstands...

We could see this water tower....

Blurry but a morning run and not breaking a sweat.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you've had a terrific day. 

Until next time...

Take care, stay safe, 

Deb