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

We have crossed two time zones today….

 

Our Location:

San Simon, Arizona

We left Ward County Safety Area around 8 am CDT.  It was a nice 63f/17c with a bright ball of fire just peeking over the horizon. We crossed into MDT around Sierra Blanc, Texas and were able to repeat our previous hour rolling along but with different scenery. 

El Paso, Texas

El Paso, Texas

We stopped a few times, once much longer than we had anticipated but at the end of the day we managed to stop the Big Dog at this rest area just two miles inside the Arizona state line, which means another time zone, MST/PDT. We are now 3 hours behind Ontario.

Long, long trains, 4 engines or more.

We have arrived.

It has been a long day so I let the photos tell the tale, I’m sorry but I doubt they are in the proper order.

Until next time…..

Take care, stay safe,

Deb

A little further down the road……

 

Our Location:

Ward County Rest Area, near Wickett, Texas

We had an excellent nights rest, awoke refreshed and ready to go. The rest area was quiet, peaceful and we slept with all the windows (except the door) and vents open. It cooled off nicely over night and morning was a perfect 63f/17c.

Lots of oil derricks here

Wheels rolling by 8:30 am, the day would prove to be a fantastic day to drive. We travelled 295 miles. Today we put our 2nd jug of Def in since leaving home. We always carry one but on these long journeys we carry two, just a precaution.we arrived here at the Ward County Rest Area around 2:30. Parked up against the curb with the slide out, we are tucked in for the night. Called Dad, texted sister. Tomorrow we will cross into Mountain Daylight Time, putting us 2 hours different than home.

Another birthday wish today, this time to Leah, a very pretty, very friendly happy young lady who is married to my nephew Jason and mother to Hudson and Lainey! We hope your day was spectacular Leah!

The fans were all turning today.

We are officially in cactus country now.

Thanks for stopping by.

Until next time……

Take care, stay safe,

Deb

Eastland, Texas Safety Rest area….

 

Our Location:

Eastland, Texas Safety Rest Area, WB 

A very warm night for sleeping, windows and vents all open. A very quiet night we were the only RV in the lot, a couple of semis although they are not be there, a few stray cars, maybe 3. It was very peaceful. We had wheels rolling around 8 CDT, we travelled 256 miles/412 klm. I do not recall the time we stopped.

I think I may have danced while filling the tank.

We stopped here….

Inside the building…

We are over there…. Way over….

Our plan was stop before Dallas/Fort Worth for the night and do the city Sunday morning but well, we didn’t do that, we just kept going. Some bottlenecks, slowdowns, some rough patches but overall pretty good. Fort Worth spit us out after about an hour and a half, with all the parts still in the same condition and place as when we started.  We travelled about another hour to reach this rest area. We are here for the night. A very nice spot, we are again tucked up against the curb with one slide open.

Rockwall is the beginning of Dallas/FW

We are heading in…..wish us luck.

The joys of travel, as we opened the slide we noticed it didn’t seat itself properly and discovered the silver step plate has come off. Now isn’t that lovely. However we have put the slide out just past the windows and feel this issue is not dire, the other slide doesn’t have that kind of plate and so we will not worry about it but will also not put the slide fully out. We will ensure the carpet doesn’t curl back under the slide when we pull it in and I feel certain all will be fine until we reach our destination and have it fixed.

It is like the Energizer Bunny, it keeps going and going…

We  are just entering Fort Worth, still lots to go.

The weather is sunny and warm, 80f/27c, with a slight breeze. We are looking forward to cooler night time temps.

Birthday wishes to a wonderful friend and sister in law Barb as she celebrates today. Barb is a kind and caring person, a fabulous cook and a pretty smile. She shares this day with grand daughter Hazel, who is a force of nature. Happy Birthday to these fine ladies!

Thanks for stopping by.

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

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