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 coolish, blustery, wet morning....

 

 Our Location:

Saddle Mountain BLM, Tonopah, AZ

The wind howled all day yesterday and all night last night and is still fairly brisk. The rain that blew by early this morning is now back once again. The weather man didn't call for any rain, and in fact called for partial sunny skies most of the day. I think maybe they need to revisit their maps. 

Sunrise this morning around 7 am.

 

As much as I would like to head out for a walk I am not confident that I wouldn't get at least a bit wet, so until the sky actually clears up for more than 10 minutes I think I'll stick close to home. 

The weather man wasn't calling for rain when I looked this morning and the day doesn't seem to be warming up much either. It was 61F/16C at 6:30 and now at 10:30 it's only 67F/19C.  It usually heats up much faster out here. It may be a stay inside kind of day, time will tell. 

The fog has rolled in and out, in and out. The sun has come out and disappeared, come and once again disappeared. You get the idea. The temp is dropping and rising but not by more than 5 degrees each time. The rain comes and goes to come back again.

The day hasn't changed much from this morning ( it is now 5 pm), I did manage a short walk, photos tomorrow. It didn't warm up much and the wind was pretty constant all day. 

Until next time... 

 

Fog rolls in...

Off and on all morning so far.

Then it rolls out again....

Much like the clouds, come and go.

 

 

Take care, be safe, 

 

Deb

Cold, rainy day...

Our Location: Las Cienegas Grasslands, Sonoita, Arizona

A gray, miserable, rainy day interspersed with blue sky and sun for 5 minutes at a time. The blue sky promised but the clouds and rain just over powered it again and again and again. Rain all night, for over half of the day and still now as I write this post shortly after 7 pm. Tomorrow should be only a cloudy day, we shall wait and see. 

The blue sky and the sun appeared giving us hope.

But within minutes the skies returned to this.

The ground mostly absorbs the water quickly.

More teasing.

I talked to sister Jan for a while today. She and Rick are feeling much better and they think spring may be coming but who knows. 

 

I couldn't get all the photos to load for some reason but you at least get an idea of the kind of day we had. Thanks for stopping by, I hope you had a good day. 

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

Deb

 

Rainy errand day.....

Our Location: Near Tonopah, Arizona

 

A text message from a friend at 5:17 AM ended my sleep. It was very sweet of him to wish me Happy Valentine's Day and I would like to wish all of you out there a Happy Valentine's Day as well. 

 

I'm sure there will be even more colour in the desert soon.

They don't look intimidating from this distance but get closer and see how it feels.

 

The rain was still falling in spits and spurts as I listened to it dancing on the roof. A very dull over cast day with continued rain off and on was the weather story of the day. 

 

It's a very steep climb and I'm very careful around those rocks I think snakes might like 'em too.

That white dot off in the distance is the Igloo.

 

We had a quick easy breakfast and caught up with blogger buddies before Riley and I started getting ready for the day. Today was a day of errands and we accomplished them all. First we sorted the laundry and loaded it along with water jugs and trash into the Dogsled. We headed off down the road around 10 AM. A late start for us but oh well, we didn't have any other plans today except errands and with the weather yukky like it was, it was a perfect day to do them. 

 

I followed that almost looking path.

It's not as level as it looks from down below on the desert floor.

 I've mentioned before how our RV GPS takes us out of the way and sure enough she was determined to do so again today, I simply ignored her and headed off in the way my memory told me to go. I managed to get us to within a few blocks just by memory, after that I needed help and the GPS provided it.  When we left the Coin Laundry she took us 10 miles around to get us 4.5 miles from the laundry. I think I'm going to start using a different one.

 

I just love the little blooms on these guys.

 

It's not smooth out there.

 

Desert Coin Laundry on Monroe Street was our destination and we found it easily enough. A small lot with plenty of vehicles but we managed to slip in and find 5 machines we needed to complete our laundry. It's not the newest or the nicest but it's clean and the folks are friendly. There are two full time attendants that also do any laundry that is dropped off and are there to offer any assistance needed. It is unusual to find two attendants in these places so this one must be very busy. A couple of hours later we were finished and loading the clean laundry into the Dogsled. Riley informed me that she had seen a dumpster and had gotten rid of the garbage while on one of many trips to the truck from the laundromat. So we had completed two tasks already. 

 

So many wind worn holes in these rocks.

That flash of light caught my eye from a long way  off. I think it's something placed on the rock. One day I may go look.

 

We pulled next door to the Family Dollar to use their water dispensing machine and within a few minutes we had three chores accomplished. That left groceries and lunch as it was pushing to the top of the clock near the position of the 1. Definitely time for something to tide us over. 

 

Amazing the difference in the rock formations.

 

A stop at Walmart had us checking off the last two items on the list. It didn't take us too long before we were finished with the list and in the check out line.  We picked up some potatoes wedges and a rotisserie chicken for lunch. So we had completed the entire list. Yeah us. 

So close but yet so far away.

Back home we unloaded the Dogsled, put away the groceries and had some lunch. It was then we discovered a couple of items missing. I'm sure they must be in the Dogsled somewhere and I'll look better tomorrow. Oh well, unless they fell out when we were packing the truck I know they were in there. 

How can two mounds of rocks be so different yet so close together? Makes you wonder doesn't it?

The rain continued off and on all day, the fog or clouds hugged the mountain tops out the window but it was too dull to take any good photos. So today's photos are left over from a hike. We finished the day reading and resting with the heater turned on low as the air feels damp and cold. Hopefully it clears up soon as our batteries could use the juice. If not I'll have to run the generator tomorrow.

I just make another trip to this location and climb up there even though I know what's on the other side.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you had a wonderful day. 

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

Deb