Heading out on our new adventure......

Our Location: Walmart Front Yard, Sudbury, Ontario

The last few days have been busy as we’ve been preparing to depart on Wednesday. A number of chores including propane regulator changed, laundry done, visits with various folks, and just a number of things to accomplish. 

These are the roads to and from friend Linda's Camp in the Providence Bay area, they include Blue Side Road with it's ONE LANE bridge, as well as the Manitou River on the Government Road.

Today Wednesday May 30 found our temperatures reaching 84F/29C on the first day of our newest adventure. To say it was hot would be an understatement but the humidity is what was so difficult to handle. The morning started warm at 6 am with temperatures at 57F/14C and just continued to rise. 

Welcome to the wide spot in the road that is Tehkummah. (Tack - a - ma)

We finally pulled out of our temporary spot on the green at 9:30 am after coffee time, a walk, showers and packing up, hooking up and heading down the hill. A quick stop at Dad’s house to say our see you in a month or so and we were off to the hamlet of Manitowaning to pick up my sister Jan as she’s coming with us this time. A stop at the local Information booth/used book stop to drop off some books, then on to sister’s house to load up her necessaries before pulling out around 10:15 am, leaving her partner Rick behind to mind the house, garden and cats. 

The small town of Mindemoya, we do laundry here.

The day would be a short one for us, our destination about 2 hours away. Only one stop for a top up of the Big Dog’s water bowl at $1.29 per litre (approx 4 litres to a gallon, you do the math). 

This turtle was crossing the green where we were parked. Only one we noticed.

We passed through Sheguaindah, Little Current, Birch Island, Espanola, McKerrow and past our usual turn off at Lively (Linda and Randy are at Camp) and motored to Sudbury and Mr. Walton’s front yard. We arrived before 1 pm and were unhooked and headed out to the blood lab, bank and Cosco for a quick couple of errands. We managed to have a quick lunch at Cosco before coming back home. 

The road during part of our travels today. Included as you can see are the blossoms just now showing themselves. Also the 'other' view but this one coming down Ten Mile Point hill toward the town of Sheguaindah.

The afternoon passed with us running all the fans, having all the windows and vents open seemed to keep the heat at least manageable but a shopping excursion into Walmart for some groceries and a few little things helped us cool off a bit. Sis and I  finally retreated outside to the shade of the Igloo as the heat inside wasn’t abating much but it was much cooler outside.

The town of Little Current located on the North Channel is the only gateway that allows one to drive onto Manitoulin Island. The Channel is accessible by a swing bridge that opens during the summer months, every hour on the hour for 15 minutes as needed to allow marine traffic to pass. Riley managed to snap a picture as we crossed the bridge, a picture of the North Channel that leads out to the waters of MacGregor Bay/Kilarney area. Another picture into the North Channel shows a large cruise ship docked at the down town docks of Little Current.

Here it is 7:35 pm and outside has cooled off some, hopefully the night time air cools off as well so we can sleep. As we sat outside Darren from Winnipeg, Manitoba sat with us and chatted away for an hour or so.  Darren and his wife Joan (whom we didn't meet) are parked behind us in a Class A motorhome. Around 9:30 pm we three ladies journeyed back into Walmart to just wander around and finally came home at 10 pm when the store closed for the night. The air is cooling off but it's still pretty warm. The three of us are finding it difficult to get to sleep. 

Highway 6 North, this is part of the drive between Little Current and Espanola. This particular stretch is called the Willisville Hill.

Thanks for stopping by. Today’s pictures are just some of the views out the window as travelled over the last few days including today. 

This is an extremely steep grade which finally gets us to the top of the above mentioned hill.

Until next time….. take care, be safe,

Deb

A quick catch up for most of the summer....

Our Location: Big Buck Resort, 205 Sparks Road, Hornsby, Tn

Hello folks. Still waiting for the jet pack to arrive but thought I’d at least get a post prepared just in case it arrives in a timely fashion. Although we all know that won’t happen, don’t we?

Our summer passed rapidly with us keeping busy most days, doing what, I’m not sure but we seemed busy. I made a few improvements to the Igloo over those island months. Riley’s trundle bed, and 2 bunk beds came out, storage shelves and a single bunk went in to the same space. The storage is under the bed instead of over it. Riley is a tall young lady and therefore always bumping her head on the upper bunk and it was always a mess. So taking it out was a wise idea. I installed a slide out drawer in the new shelving for HRH Miss Kitty’s royal potty making it easier to access and keeping it out of the way as well. The other shelving was made at various heights to allow for air flow as the trundle bed made it musty smelling under the bunks. We now have a a half dozen storage shelves which over time I may actually make into pull out drawers as well. Easier access is always better!! 

Dewy morning walk...look at all the web work...

Also this summer I managed to secure some 6” pipe which I attached to the back bumper and now store some of my sewer hoses inside. Holes in the bottom allow any water and moisture to drain, both end caps have handles to make removal easier, and I attached the end caps to some small chains to ensure they don’t drop off and get lost. A small bumper guard ensures there is no rubbing on the back of the Igloo. 

If any of you are like me, challenged when it comes to having a long reach then you’ll know what I’m about to say. The basement side cubby was always being cleaned out so I could reach something in the ‘far back area’, you know the far back area I mean. The one where you can’t quite reach it but it’s not TOO far back just enough to tease you into thinking if you could add even 1” to your reach you’d be successful. Except it was not to be reached without taking a pile of stuff out so you could lean in and actually reach it. So over the summer I also constructed a slide out drawer for my right side cubby. It’s not a big drawer as the pipes and design of the area don’t allow for it to be big but it extends fully on 36” sliders and makes just about everything on it easily accessible. It’s not fancy, it’s not perfect but it works and I’m happy with it. I can unhook it, pull it out and voila, easy to grab anything I want there. It works fantastic!!! Thanks to my sister Jan and her fella Rick for the help. Mostly Rick, more than Jan. ~laugh~ 

Lovely Lady Slippers

My brother’s oldest son Jason was married this past summer. July 29 seen Jason become the groom of a lovely young lady named Leah. They’ve been together for a long time and have owned a house for a few years as well. Jason and Leah are young, beautiful, exciting people with a warm, friendly and inviting attitude about them. I wish them all the best in the future. For this big event we hooked up and hauled our Igloo to the small hamlet of Providence Bay, Ontario where we parked right on the grounds of the reception venue. No need to drive anywhere after the fun!!

Daughter Riley had her foot assessed at the Desimone Foot clinic in Sudbury. Her problem is a friction callous folded over on itself causing a corn IN her foot. It can’t be removed according to the woman we see at the clinic but I think I’ll ask a dr when we get back in the spring. However it is no longer causing her any issues as Megan has taken the callous down a great deal. I’ll try to keep that up over the winter months but there is nothing I can do about the corn except to ensure she has cushion pads to place around it. 

Fog morning but some family time for these geese!

Riley also had surgery to remove a huge cyst that had formed on her right ovary. Surgery was August 30 and went very well. We spent the night before at my best friends house in Lively and drove into Sudbury the next morning. Riley was out and we were on our way home before 2 pm in the afternoon. A couple of days of easy living and Riley was back to her old self!! Dr. Wallace performed the surgery and upon follow up indicated the cyst was 10 cm in size. HUGE. Everything went well, and looked good at the follow up appointment as well. Thanks again to Dr. Wallace, warm, caring and compassionate, we would recommend her to anyone needing an GYNO/OBGYN in the Sudbury area.

Late September found us hauling our home off the island a few weeks earlier than usual. We hooked up the big Dogsled to the Igloo and hauled our way first to Lively, Ontario for a couple of overnights, a quick visit or two with my best friend Linda and her hubby Randy, an appointment at the foot clinic for Riley and before we knew it we were off to Nepean, Ontario. We put our feet down at Riverbend Park in Pakenham, Ontario for a week while we enjoyed the second wedding of the summer. My sister’s youngest daughter Brittany tied the knot on Sept 30 to a nice young man named Kevin. The bride and groom both work in/around the Ottawa area, own a house in Nepean and have been together for some time. Kevin was leaving a week from the wedding date to attend RCMP training courses out west for 6 months. To them we wish the very best of whatever the future may hold and where ever that may take you. 

beautiful colours...

My sister Jan and her fella Rick stayed at the Igloo with Miss Riley and I. We had some good times, shared a lot of laughs and enjoyed the time together. It was tough saying goodbye to them as I’ll miss them a great deal. As I will everyone on the island but it’s only for a few months!!!

Okay, enough of the catch up for today. I’ll post some more in the next few days to catch up and then I hope to be doing so on a regular basis again. 

So thanks for stopping by, nice to see you again or see you for the first time.

Until next time….be safe, take care……