The rainy season……

 

Our Location:

Summer Spot, Manitoulin Island, Ontario 

We are still getting settled here, much slower than usual but we are getting things accomplished. Our routine is becoming re-established and I have no doubt we will soon be back to our regularly scheduled summer life. 

It is always nice to finally unhook in our spot.

Our Cabin, the first opening of our side door. We need to remove some of that stuff .

I have spent a fair amount of time strolling in the trees, some well worn paths and a few less familiar and sometimes just in a general direction. My sense of direction is good and I can usually find the point I wish to find without any trouble. The amount of dead spruce trees is frightening and high winds bring more crashing down often. High wind days are not meant for walking in the trees.

A few things coming up in the rock gardens.
Garlic, chives and rhubarb.

We are having some very odd temps here, well below seasonal norms some nights and the cold winds from the lake are keeping our temperatures down significantly. The rains have been off and on since our arrival, a dusting of snow, some very heavy frosts have been witnessed as well. As of this writing we are expecting 3 days and nights of rain, with the heaviest being today, forecasters are saying 20-45 mm, which for our non metric friends means close to 1 - 1 1/2”. That is a lot of rain. However it is needed as the snowfall was minimal over the winter. We are safe from any floods as we are high up, on flat limestone, with no significant water pools until we go down the long driveway to the bottom of the quarry. 

Yep, it’s been a little chilly at times.

Can you spot the morels? I’m not sure if they are just starting or ending!

Happy Birthday wishes to a few folks. Nephews Allan and Jesse, April 21 and 28 respectively. Allan is of course my sister’s only son, and Jesse is my brother’s youngest son. Also to neighbour Earl, I believe his day is the 26 th. Happy birthday gentlemen, we hope it was a fabulous day for each of you. Nephew Jesse shares his birthday with his great grandmother Katie, also born on the 28th, many years ago.

We come in way down there by the slim white birch treee to the centre left.

Although it doesn’t look it, it is uphill most of the way.
This would be the least steep part of the climb, and yes we wind our way along.

A few pictures of what I’m seeing here. I hope you enjoy them.

Until next time…..

Take care, stay safe,

Deb

We are home…..

 

Our Location:

Summer Spot, near South Baymouth, Manitoulin Island

A very cold morning in Sudbury this morning, very heavy frost. We had wheels rolling before 8 am and were happy to start the last leg of our journey for this adventure. 

One of the many small lakes on our way.

Very light traffic, no issues and we rolled into Espanola about 8:40 am. We spent an hour and a half doing some shopping and topping up on a few things to tide us over. We need to make a trip back in a week or so for some things we didn’t get or complete while we were there. 

Wheels rolling again by 10:50 am we stopped one more time at Birch Island for a fuel fill up, $1.54 for diesel, which is approx $5.80 a gallon. The reserve prices are the best, I’m glad we can get them. Once again, wheels rolling we crossed the bridge onto Our Rock in the waters of Lake Huron at 11:20 am. 

The Bridge we cross to reach the Island.

Yep, it is a little skinny.

We entered the gate just before noon. Stopped chatted with Brother for 5 minutes and parted ways, he going his and we into 4lo creeping up the hill. Turned around, parked and had our first visitor by 2 pm. The visitor of course was Dad. 

Crossing the Bridge.. Little Current off in the distance.

A better view of Little Current.

After lunch we walked up to Dad’s to drop some things off, pick up the cabin key and before coming home managed to check out the house build and had 50 words with Jason before letting him get on with his dump truck work.

You can see the cabin thru the trees.

We are at the top of the hill, we need to turn in the space of the first pic now.

I will be posting much less, but will try to post a few times over the summer. Thanks for following along all winter. 

Until next time…..

Take care, stay safe,

Deb

A little closer than expected….

 

Our Location:

Walmart, Lang Lake Rd, Sudbury

A good start this morning, we were hooked up, garbage in the dumpsters and had used the dump station by 8 am. It was a little frosty but I had my little gloves to help my hands. The wheels were rolling and we were on our way. For my own information Reg Rd 97, Lennon Rd, Gore Rd, Hwy 6, 401, 407, 400/69, Sudbury Bypass, Lang Lake Rd. 

The top of Toronto off in the distance.

The drive was excellent except a very strong head wind, the Big Dog worked hard and drank heavily! Fuel is ranging from $1.52 to $1.67 per litre. Can you guess where the $1.52 was my fellow Ontarians….yep on many reservations along the way. We decided to continue on onto Sudbury instead of the MTO inspection spot because it was too early to stop, plus the wind would have been brutal there. 

The Canadian flag waving proudly in the wind.

This Walmart is posted as no overnight parking but when we asked at the Customer Service Centre we were told absolutely just park at the far side as far back as you can. So we are tucked up for the night against the rock wall. Some shopping to stock up a little for our summer spot, but alas many of the shelves were bare or things were beaten up to the point I think no one would buy them. It was a shock to find the store in this condition. Propane exchange: bbq tank… Yuma $20 USD, same tank here $34 CAD. Just thought I would add this for future reference.

Spring is not overly evident but it is near.

After we were parked we had rain, granular snow, more rain, more snow, the sun came out, the wind howled, rain, snow and now the sun is shining, the air is crisp and we are tucked in for the night. 

Moon River is high and fast.

Our home for the night.

We travelled 268 miles/431 km, we travelled about 6 hours, we used about 25 gallons/95 litres but a strong headwind. So I figure a little over 10 mpg, not great but no complaints.

Until next time…..

Take care, stay safe,

Deb

Our last day in Southern Ontario….

 

Our Location:

Valens Lake Conservation Area, Flamborough, Ontario

I would like to say the weather has been delightful, however my mother always told me never to lie. It has been cold, damp, overcast, windy and yes, damp, or did I mention that already? I know, I know, it’s typical spring weather, the lack of snow fall in the winter must be compensated by rain in the spring. Blah, blah, blah.

We are comfortable in our site and will be reserving this one in the future. We’ve learned that we can reserve 11 months in advance, that is a good thing to know! No water connections this early and I would guess none later in the fall either, but you can pull to Hilltop Shower Building and use the outdoor spigot to add water. There are no sewers at any site, but 5 dump stations are available. The above shower house is also the location for laundry, 2 top load only, 2 dryers, $3.00 is the magic number for all machines. The price for a night in the park is approximately $55 CAD per night. 

Courtney and Riley.

We have had a couple more visits with Bradey and the boys but today was unavailable as they are heading into Hamilton to see the Monster Trucks!  The boys, big and small, are all very excited. Yesterday, Friday, we motored into Hamilton to The West End Diner to visit with oldest daughter Courtney, she commuted from Toronto. We enjoyed the short visit, it is always exciting to visit with her. She is such a positive person and was totally thrilled with the little bag of goodies we brought her! The food was excellent too! We would definitely go there again if in the neighbourhood.

I’ve been chatting hit and miss with dad in the evenings, things are going well there and we are hoping to be there in a few days. The weather here is like the weather there, just a couple of degrees cooler. 

Tomorrow we start the near to last leg of our journey homeward. We roll out for points north, our destination will be just a couple of hundred miles north at a very nice spot for overnight. Not nice as in views but nice as in it is very, very large, ( semis park far away) pretty flat and just a half hour from one of our stock up on groceries stops. Sudbury. From there we have a couple of ideas, one which will have us arriving at home dirt around 3 ish on Monday or another one arriving around noon on Tuesday. We will figure it out as we go. So if all goes well we will be putting feet down for a few months by Monday or Tuesday in time for a dip in the temperature and moisture from the skies. Ah, springtime in Northern Ontario. 

Until next time…..

Take care, stay safe,

Deb

We’ve moved sites….

 

Our Location: 

Valens Lake Conservation Area, Flamborough, Ontario

Site # 144

We both slept really well last night. I will admit the tree coverage here makes it darker, plus our tinted windows adds to the dark.  By 11 am we were out walking the roads looking for a brighter site. We found several we liked better than the dark, sloped site of #175. I drove up to the office to ask about moving to one of several other sites, however the only one available for our whole stay is #144 , which worked fine, it was on my list. It has some sunlight but is much less in the trees, more level and just a nicer spot. Not first on the list but not last either. In less than 45 minutes we were packed, hooked, towed, parked, unhooked and set up.  We are happy once again.

As you can see things are very tight in Valens Lake Conservation Area.

A boardwalk over a fast flowing stream.

The new heater connection works great, we used it this morning for the first time. It heated the Igloo fabulously. We do need to find a way to keep the heat downstairs though. In Igloo 1.0 we had a curtain that we could hang at the bottom of the stairs, it worked great. We will have to figure out something for this rig as well.

Auston walking the beam.

Riley and I headed out this afternoon to spend more time with Bradey and the boys ( this of course means David, as well as Auston and Lincoln). Auston is taking gymnastics and we thought we would go watch. Yesterday we offered to pay for whatever take out they wanted for dinner tonight, and it was delicious. From a little Greek place near by, it is one of their favourite places.

Lincoln enjoying a sucker.

A very Happy Birthday to my brother Rick, he celebrates tomorrow, the 16th but I may not write a blog tomorrow so I will get my wishes in today. Rick is of course, my oldest and only brother. He lives next door to my dad, in what once was my Granddad Bill’s house. It no longer resembles that house, but the old house is still part of it. Rick is a generous, kind, helpful fella, always helping someone. He has a quick smile, is blonde, and blue eyed like me. Although I’m sure his blonde is white, while I’m still blonde! Happy Birthday brother! Below are some his first creations over the winter, all scrap metal, parts and pieces.

Happy Birthday wishes to cousin Daisy, celebrating today.  Daisy and my father are first cousins, his mom, her dad, were siblings. Daisy and her husband Robert are fabulous people, very active and community oriented. They live just a little down the road from our summer spot.

Thanks for stopping by, I won’t be posting everyday until we start travelling again, which should in 5 or 6 days. We still aren’t back to home dirt yet, another 380 miles/620 km. We will break the trip into at least 2 days, possibly 3. We shall see.

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

A very windy day here….

 

Our Location:

Countryside Campground, Gibson City, Illinois

Rain, wind, then much more wind, and it is still blowing strong. Hopefully tomorrow is a calmer day as we are pulling out for the next leg of our journey homeward.

Green Acres RV Repair Shop, Clinton, Illinois.

Yesterday we hooked up and hauled the Igloo to Clinton, Illinois to Green Acres RV Repair. We had a propane leak that we needed to have fixed. Many calls to the Bloomington area rv repair shops netted me 10 days to look at it, and I would need to drop it there until they got around to fixing it. The nice gents at Green Acres took us right away and we were back on the road in about an hour. 

To add more excitement to the adventure the Dogsled decided to REGEN about 4 miles before we arrived at the repair shop, so we did an extra long loop until it stopped its new found trick. The Dogsled has only ever did this twice, once yesterday and once in March 2020 on our way homeward during Covid. At that time we were in a rest area just inside the Ohio state line, the old Igloo had a broken spring and the truck started to regen, but ended up on a flat bed back into Indiana and was fixed under warranty, they shut and locked the garage after the repair. We were on our way the next day. So as you can imagine I had a few butterflies while the Big Dog was playing tricks. However everything went well, we were back in place in the park by 1 pm.

Some interesting flavours.

Today we toured around the town a bit. We stopped for fuel, toured the local market and checked out the little town park, full hookups for only $10 a night. However the spots are tight, there are about 5 or 6 spots, paved, and a cute little area. If you are able to back into tight space easily, you may want to write this one in your “possible” book. 

We have enjoyed our time in this area and are thinking of perhaps coming this way in the fall. However, it is a long time until then. So far we like the convenience of this route, we avoid a number of cities, there is plenty of places to park over night, the rest areas are plentiful, the fuel stops are also plentiful and good access. So we will consider it for a good route in the fall.

The photos are just a few things on my phone.

Until next time…..

Take care, stay safe,

Deb