October 27, 2004

October 27, 2004

Trout Lodge

DAY 132

 

Another cloudy, but warm and humid day. Apparently, this is typical November weather for this part of the Ozarks. Since it was our "day off" again, we slept in and didn't go to the lodge for breakfast. Worked around the trailer until noon, then went for lunch.

Immediately after lunch, we left for Potosi, to run errands. Picked up the oil filler cap I needed for the truck at Parker-Banks Chevrolet, and made an appointment for service next Tuesday. Stopped at Dollar General for Hallowe'en costume supplies. Went to 2 different tire shops to discuss installation of the metal valve stems and metal valve extenders on the truck. Wal-Mart for a few supplies and more Hallowe'en costume stuff. Finally, to Potosi Auto Parts for a couple of battery side terminal bolts.

Back to the trailer. Had a couple of hours until supper, so I went over to watch the Camp Lakewood counsellors teach archery to the grade 6 groups that are here at Lakewood for this week. All schools in St. Louis send their grade 6 classes here for a week of outdoor education. I will be teaching archery eventually. Gave a grade 6 class a test in Canadian geography. They didn't do so well. Thought that Canadian provinces included Greenland and Iceland. Were able to name Newfoundland, Ontario, and Saka-choo-choo-wan. I wonder how many Canadian grade 6 students think that Mexico, or Cuba, or Jamaica, are states ?

Over dinner, discussed full time RV'ing, Escapee Parks, Branson, and RV maintenance with Julie, the other Workamper here.

Spent the entire evening in the front foyer lounge of Trout Lodge, hooked up to Wi-Fi, catching up on a backlog of web surfing and research, etc., while Joanne read the paper, and went back and forth between the lounge and the laundromat, doing laundry.

Tomorrow begins the big Hallowe'en activities here.

DSK

October 26, 2004

October 26, 2004

Trout Lodge

DAY 131

 

Today was a rainy, lazy day. It was our "day off". We slept late, waking to a warm, humid morning. Stepping outside of the trailer was like stepping into a sauna. We awoke too late to drive to Trout Lodge for breakfast. I did some minor maintenance work on the truck.

We met Sara at lunch. She is the only Canadian on staff here. She's from St. John, New Brunswick. She was recruited last spring right out of school when she graduated with her Master's degree in Outdoor Recreation / Education. She is in charge of the "high ropes" adventure courses here. Sort of an Outward Bound kind of program. Team building, self confidence building, overcoming your fears, etc.. As we meet more and more of the staff here, we realize that many of them have very specialized educations in outdoor recreation, outdoor education, that sort of thing.

This afternoon I blew off, reading the newspaper and napping with the cats. Hey ... I worked yesterday ! I slept through the thunderstorm and brief power outage.

At supper, first we chatted with Lunny about baseball, then with John, the Elderhostel Co-ordinator. He has an Elderhostel group here this week on a murder mystery theme week. We chatted with John about RV Workamping, Elderhostel programs, and St. Louis, which is his home. Tonight is game 3 of the World Series, with St. Louis playing Boston. Everybody here this week is infected with baseball fever, even Lunny from Australia.

Found out that the proper pronunciations are ; St. Lewis, Mizzoora.

DSK

October 24 & 25, 2004

October 24 & 25, 2004

Trout Lodge

DAYS 129 & 130

 

Sunday ; This was originally to be our first day of work here at Trout Lodge, but our start has been delayed by one day because Jessica Clay, the co-ordinator of the Workamper / Volunteer Program here had to go to Texas for the weekend. She left us instructions to familiarize ourselves as much as possible today. We started the day with a pontoon boat tour around Sunnen Lake, conducted by Laura.

"This is Trout Lodge overlooking Sunnen lake. It has 80 rooms and 19 lofts, each with a beautiful view of Sunnen Lake, which is a mile and a half long by half a mile wide with 5 miles of shoreline. Sunnen Lake's average depth is 20 to 30 feet, although it is 40 to 45 feet deep right in front of the spillway."

We had lunch in the dining room, then took a "facility tour" in a ten passenger van, conducted by Kelly. It takes about 45 minutes to drive slowly around the grounds of Trout Lodge, and adjacent Camp Lakewood, with narration.

Pontoon boat tours, and facility tours, will be 2 of my jobs here.

Mid-afternoon, we drove to the nearest town, Potosi, about 12 miles away. We wanted to buy a few supplies, look for somewhere to buy Science Diet Senior cans for Toby, and locate a GM dealer. Our first stop was at Dickey Bub's Farm And Home ( I kid you not ) to search for some of the supplies we needed. We bought a few supplies there, then went over to the Wal-Mart Super Centre. I don't understand how a town of less than 3000 can support a Wal-Mart Super Centre. Even more puzzling, why is it open 24 hours, like most of the large Wal-Mart stores here in the U.S. seem to be ? Is there a lot of locals going out to shop at Wal-Mart at 3:00 A.M. ? We checked out both the local feed stores. Neither one carries Science Diet. We located the GM dealer. It's a Chevrolet dealer, but I'm sure I can get an oil filler cap for a GMC truck there.

After dinner in the Trout Lodge dining room ( what great food at every meal ! ) I went to the front foyer lounge which is a Wi-Fi hotspot. It was my first time using Wi-Fi. It worked very well. I became so engrossed in e-mail, then attempting to connect to AOL through Wi-Fi that I sort of lost track of time, and didn't get to do my journal for Sunday, on Sunday. I eventually figured out how to connect to AOL through Wi-Fi. For the 5 weeks that we're here, I'll have unlimited free Wi-Fi access. WOO-HOO ! Faster than dial-up access through land line. Much faster than dial-up access through my cell phone.

 

Monday ; Today was our first day of "real" work since we sold PET VALU 234 Westgate on March 2. Over 8 months since a day of "real" work. We're tired !

We started the day by meeting Jessica in the dining room at 9:00 A.M.. After meeting with her for awhile, Ben took us out to the boat house and docks to give me an introduction to the operation of the pontoon boats. We went out on the lake in one of the three pontoon boats for a few minutes, and Ben checked out my "boat proficiency". I've owned three different sized boats over the years, so operating this pontoon boat seems within my capabilities. I assume that I "passed" the pontoon boat docking test.

Ben had to go pick up another staff member at the St. Louis airport, so he set us up in a meeting room to watch a couple of staff training videos. The first one was a history of the development of this YMCA facility ; Trout Lodge and Camp Lakewood. They have a major benefactor, the Sunnen family of St. Louis, who has been their benefactor for 2 generations now, since 1946.

After watching the videos, we met with Jessica again in the dining room. After we had lunch, she introduced us to most of the senior staff members, in their offices.

Our work schedule ended at 1:00 P.M., but we offered to work for the afternoon, to make up for the missed half day shift yesterday. Most of our shifts are half day shifts, 4 or 5 hours long. We were assigned to Angie for the afternoon, to assist with decorating Hillcrest Hall for Hallowe'en. Hillcrest Hall is a multi-purpose building, and will be used for most of the indoor Hallowe'en activities Thursday through Sunday.

Our "regular" jobs won't begin until next Monday. The balance of this week will be dedicated to Hallowe'en preparations, then actual Hallowe'en programs. KEWL ! We decorated Hillcrest Hall until 5:00 P.M., at which time we finally had an opportunity to meet with Chris Lunn, the Program Director. He's known as "Lunny". He's from Australia. I guess he's my "boss", although not Joanne's. I'm assigned to "Programs" and she's assigned to "Front Desk".

After meeting with Lunny for about 20 minutes, we returned to the trailer to feed the cats, and get some laundry for washing. We have decided to drive back and forth between the trailer and Trout Lodge most of the time. We walked over last night, and it's about a half hour walk. We drove back to Hillcrest Hall, loaded the laundry into the washers at the laundry building beside Hillcrest Hall, admired our decorating a bit, then over to the main lodge for dinner.

After dinner I visited with Deborah at the front desk while Joanne walked back to Hillcrest to put the laundry into the dryers. We both visited with Deborah for awhile, waiting for the laundry to dry. We picked up the laundry, headed back to the trailer, and I sat down at the computer.

WHEW ! Long, hard day.

DSK

October 23, 2004

October 23, 2004

St. James to YMCA Of The Ozarks Trout Lodge , Potosi, Missouri

DAY 128

 

I discovered this morning that yesterday when I was adding some oil to Dee-Dee, I got distracted by visitors, and forgot to replace the oil filler cap. I left it sitting on top of the turbocharger and it must have fallen off as soon as we started driving, I guess. DAMN ! ! ! I had to stuff a rag in the oil filler tube temporarily.

It was a very warm day today. At one point this afternoon I checked the thermometer on the outside of the trailer, and it read 88 degrees. Manitoba relatives ; eat your hearts out !

We left Pheasant Acres this morning heading east on Hwy. 8. Hwy. 8 is a very scenic back country road through the rural area of the Eastern Ozarks. It was a bit of a difficult drive, however, as Hwy. 8 is a two lane road with no shoulders, winding up and down and around through the Eastern Ozarks. We are still surprised by seeing the little hillbilly communities that pop up out of nowhere along the back roads in the Ozarks in Kentucky and Missouri. Little collections of half a dozen decrepit old mobile homes clustered together in an area.

I've just scanned through all available radio stations here at Trout Lodge, near Potosi, Missouri. My choices seem to be 5 country stations and 1 head banger station.

We stopped for diesel at Steelville. GAW LEE ( a local expression ) ! Diesel is 20¢ a gallon more expensive out here in the "boonies".

We arrived here at YMCA Of The Ozarks shortly after noon to begin our "Workamper" job. We checked in at the front desk, and were escorted to their 4 site RV Park on the outer edge of their 5200 acre property. We unhitched and set up the trailer. We're the only rig here at the moment. This is home for the next 5 weeks. We had lunch in the trailer, then headed back to the lodge to begin exploring. That's probably the last meal we'll have in the trailer for the next 5 weeks. Our Workamper "pay" includes 3 meals a day in the lodge dining room. We each "work" 20 hours a week, for 3 meals a day in the lodge, and an RV site with electricity, water, and sewer hook ups.

We were supposed to start "work" tomorrow, but our "boss" had to go to Texas for the weekend, so our assignment will begin Monday morning. Joanne is assigned to front desk reception and phone. I am assigned a variety of jobs ; leading group fishing trips, taking groups of about a dozen lodge guests on pontoon boat tours of the 1 sq. mile lake for about an hour, and leading group hikes to the nature centre ( about a 1/4 mile from the main lodge on an asphalt path ) to see the nature displays ; live rabbits, ducks, snakes, rodents, freshwater fish in aquarium tanks, etc.. Sounds like tough work ! < snicker SNORT >

We visited with Julie for awhile, the only other Workamper here at the moment. She's been here a month, and will be here for another month. She's a single woman about our age living and travelling full time in a real spiffy little Class C motor home. She doesn't want to be parked way out here at the edge of the property, because she doesn't have a "toad" ( a small car towed behind one's motor home ). It's too far to walk from the RV Park to the main lodge. She's parked in the employee's parking lot by the lodge, and just comes here to the RV Park once a week to dump her tanks and refill with water. Plus, I think she might feel a little safer parked close to the lodge, rather than way out here. The RV Park is pretty isolated. Joanne really likes private, secluded areas like this. She'd fit in real well with the rural Ozarks hillbilly redneck survivalists out here

< snicker SNORT >.

We spent a couple of hours, until supper, exploring Trout Lodge and surrounding area. It will take a lot more than a few hours to see everything. There are three distinct facilities here. The main Trout Lodge, an upscale resort. Camp Lakewood, a summer youth camp. Triangle Y Ranch, a "dude ranch". Trout Lodge, and Camp Lakewood, overlook Sunnen Lake, a one square mile lake, with 5 miles of shoreline. The fall foliage colours on the hills surrounding Sunnen Lake are astounding right now ! I will take some pictures in the next day or two, and attach them to my blog.

We walked around the main lodge, then along the waterfront to Camp Lakewood, checking out the docks, boats, beach, etc. on the way. We spent a little time on Trout Lodge's huge dining room deck built out over the lake, leaning over the railing to watch fish in the lake. There are trout pellet dispensers on the deck, so the fish hang around at the edge of the deck waiting for "easy pickings". Finally, we went inside to have buffet dinner in the dining room. Just like an all inclusive resort in the Caribbean, without the pinã coladas. I wonder how much weight I can gain eating 3 meals a day in a buffet restaurant, for 5 weeks ? Oh, well ... I can always work off those calories driving that pontoon boat around <snicker SNORT >.

DSK

October 22, 2004

October 22, 2004

Branson to St. James, Missouri

DAY 127

 

 

We left Turkey Creek RV Village late this morning. It was somewhat hard to get out of there. Escapees are a friendly bunch. While I was doing my daily preventative maintenance tasks, then preparing to leave, I had a steady stream of walk by visitors. First of all, when around Escapees, the quickest way to draw a crowd of old men, is to lift the hood of your truck. ZOOM ! Like moths to a flame. The next best way to draw a crowd, is to prepare to leave. "Where y'all headed ?" It took me about 3 hours to do about 45 minutes of work this morning.

We drove north from Branson, back towards Springfield, on Hwy. 65. Except for a few miles back from Flying J on I-55 after riding out the tornado earlier this week, this is the first time since we left Ottawa about 3 weeks ago that we've either back tracked, or travelled north. At Springfield, we picked up I-44 headed northeast towards St. Louis. I wonder if it’s pronounced St. Looee or St. Lewis ?

We stopped for lunch at a road side rest area and had an interesting experience. In the restrooms, were sinks with hoods over them. Neither of us was quite sure how to use them. I stuck my hands under the hood and peered in. As soon as my hands were under the hood, an electric eye was tripped. First, liquid soap was sprayed for a few seconds. Then warm water sprayed for 15 or 20 seconds. Finally, and this was the neatest part, hot air blew under the hood for about 20 or 30 seconds. Stick your hands in over the sink, under the hood, get sprayed with soap, then warm water, then hot air. Pull your hands out. You're done.

At Waynesville, we stopped at Wal-Mart to buy some vitamin C. Joanne's cold is still pretty bad, and we're both taking vitamin C. Her to try to battle the cold, and me to try to avoid it. Leaving Wal-Mart, right beside the entrance ramp to the Interstate, was a dead possum. I stopped and got out of the truck to take a look at it. Probably the only chance I’ll ever have to see a possum up close.

About 3/4 of the way from Springfield to St. Louis, we got off the Interstate and onto Hwy. 8. Just a few miles west on Hwy. 8, we stopped for the night at Pheasant Acres RV Park.

Tomorrow we have about an hour to travel east to get to YMCA Of The Ozarks Trout Lodge where we start our first "Workamping" job on Sunday, for 5 weeks.

DSK

October 21, 2004

October 21, 2004

Branson, Missouri

DAY 126

 

A part of this adventure I really enjoy is experiencing "local flavour".

The first song I heard on the radio this morning was entitled "She thinks my tractor is sexy". The lyrics go something like this ;

She's not into cars

She's not into trucks

But if it "runs like a Deere"

Her eyes light up

While I'm typing this, Joanne is perusing an ad, and musing about whether or not we should buy some pickled watermelon rinds.

This morning, I went to the Post Office to buy some stamps. I asked the clerk for 10 stamps for letters to Canada. He said "OK ... but I only have flyers". I thought ... huh ? Does he mean air mail ? As I was thinking, he added "or doesn't it matter to you that all I have are stamps with flyers ?". I said " uuuuhhhh ... no ... it doesn't matter". So he sold me 10 stamps. And they do indeed have flyers on them. You know ... lilies, daisies, roses, etc., ... flyers !

At the theatre this afternoon I had a conversation that went like this ;

"Where y'all from ?"

"Canada"

"Where at ?"

"Winnipeg"

We went to see the afternoon performance of Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Mansion America Theatre. It was great ! A great performance of a great play in a great venue. We got tickets in the third row, just off centre.

We went to the theatre and bought our tickets this morning, then went exploring the Branson “strip”. Actually, Branson has 3 or 4 main “strips”. The city is built in the mountains, so there’s lots of up and down, and around. Quite an attractive city. Well ... except for the “strips”. It’s hard to describe those as attractive. It’s kind of like the Vegas of the Ozarks in that regard.

I was intrigued by, and chose for lunch, Ozark Mountain Smokehouse.

MMMM MMMM MMMM MMMM MMMM ! ! !

Good choice, Daniel !

DSK

October 20, 2004

October 20, 2004

Mansfield to Branson, Missouri

DAY 125

 

Yesterday as I was walking through the campground, the woman who runs the place approached me and said "who's Jay Korue Pore ?" My response was "HUH ?" She pointed to my chest and said "You ran for Jay Korue Pore. Who's Jay Korue Pore ?" I looked down at my chest. I was wearing my t-shirt from the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation's Run For Life. In the middle of the shirt is a spot where each runner attached a card naming whom they were running for. Above the square where the card was to be attached, the text reads "I ran for ... j'ai couru pour ..."

We left Mansfield, Missouri this morning in thick fog. I used my windshield washer to clean the windshield, and the windshield washer tank / pump / hose assembly self-destructed. This is the fourth time this has happened since I bought the truck about 13 months ago. Surgenor in Ottawa has replaced these parts 3 times already, twice at no charge. I guess some GM dealer here in Missouri is going to be replacing them again at no charge ! Must be a design flaw of some sort. We drove west on Hwy. 60 to Springfield, Missouri. Isn't that where "The Simpsons" live ? ? ? At Springfield, we turned south on Hwy. 65, a road with a lot of very big hills up and down the Ozark Mountains. Shortly after turning we stopped at the city of Ozark, Missouri for lunch and to buy groceries. Dee-Dee and Harvey struggled at 60 km./hr. ( 35 mph ) up some of the long mountain climbs, although they did manage 140 km./hr. ( 85 mph ) coming downhill. They could have gone faster, but at 140 the navigator was insisting that I slow down.

We were headed to Branson to check out our first Escapee owned RV Park. At the Escapee Fall Escapade in Goshen, Indiana, Joanne decided that our likely route for this winter would allow us to visit 8 of the 9 Escapee owned RV Parks. Tonight we are at Turkey Creek RV Village in Hollister, a suburb of Branson. Interestingly, the next town over is called Kirbyville.

We knew that Branson was a sort of country music Mecca, giving Nashville a run for its money as the country music centre of the universe. What we were surprised to find was that there are many theatres here in Branson, each with 3 shows daily, morning, afternoon, and evening. Each show is different. There are well over 100 different shows daily. And they transcend country music. There are many comedy shows, magic shows, circus shows, variety shows, etc.. This place has evolved into a huge and varied entertainment centre. Joanne spent the afternoon perusing all the tourist information booklets we picked up when we entered the campground. She has decided that tomorrow afternoon we will be attending a performance of the musical play "Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat". Lorri recently bought her a CD of the soundtrack after she heard it play in Lorri's <snicker> minivan, and commented that she liked it.

We arrived here just in time to attend the park's daily 4:00 P.M. social hour. I was able to ask for some help in identifying some of the mysteries we've encountered lately. What I thought were chestnuts are actually black walnuts. Last night I "roasted" one on the barbecue, and this morning we cracked it open and tasted it. It was good ! The mystery fruit falling off the cliff in Kentucky are hedge apples. Nobody knew what the pods with seeds from yesterday are. And the male and female birds that walked by our trailer shortly after we arrived were Guinea Hens.

DSK

October 19, 2004

October 19, 2004

Mathews, Missouri to Mansfield, Missouri

DAY 124

 

What a great adventure this is ! ! !

Eleven tornadoes touched down in our vicinity yesterday evening ! As I’m typing this, the radio news reports that 3 people were killed by a tornado last night just south of where we were parked at the Flying J. Their house was torn apart.

We are experiencing a lot of "firsts" in the last few days ;

first tornado

first sighting of ( road kill ) possum

first sighting of ( road kill ) aardvark

hillbillies

tobacco fields

cotton fields

Teddy the fat little cat loves to eat barbecued butternut squash !

Today was hot and humid. We both wore shorts and t-shirts all day. What a difference in weather in just a few days.

This morning we left Flying J and drove north on I-55 for about 8 miles back to Hwy. 60, then 2 miles west on Hwy. 60 to the city of Sikeston. We stopped in Sikeston and had the tire repaired. I had the rubber "pop in" valve stem ( for passenger cars ) replaced with a metal screw in valve stem ( for trucks ). Now I have 3 of the 7 tires on the truck with metal valve stems. I bought an additional 4 metal valve stems, and will have the rest of the tires changed over soon. I also bought new heavy duty metal "dually" valve extensions to replace the rubber ones currently on the truck. When I asked the service man to inflate the tire to 55 P.S.I. as recommended by GM, he vehemently disagreed. He strongly urged me to inflate the rear tires to 80 P.S.I., the maximum pressure allowed by the tire manufacturer, in light of the load Harvey imposes on Dee-Dee. He says they always inflate rear duallies to 80 P.S.I. when towing heavy trailers. I will follow his recommendation and see if I have less tire problems.

Back onto Hwy. 60 westbound. Saw our first cotton field. We stopped on the shoulder of the road and walked through the ditch to see cotton plants up close. The cotton is ripe and ready for picking ... or harvesting. I can’t imagine that they pick huge fields like this by hand. They must use something like the combines used for grain. We stopped to have lunch parked in the lot of an abandoned service station. There seems to be a lot of failed businesses in Kentucky and Missouri. Filled Dee-Dee with diesel at Mountain View. We’re in the Ozark Mountains already. Next stop was an irresistible impulse. A touristgift shop type business called Hillbilly Junction. I bought a hiking stick, Joanne's belated birthday gift to me.

We stopped for the night at Mansfield, at a small RV park across the street from the home of Laura Ingalls Wilder, the author of the Little House On The Prairie books. In our campsite, beside our trailer, is a tree with leafy pods, filled with little, hard, dark, berries. I have no idea what they are. I will attach a photo to my journal. Anybody who recognizes what these pods / berries are, please let me know.

DSK

October 18, 2004

October 18, 2004

Hartford, Kentucky to exit 58, Interstate 55, Southeast Missouri

DAY 123

 

WOW ! What an exciting day. We dodged a tornado in Kentucky, got a flat tire just after crossing the Mississippi River from Kentucky into Missouri, then experienced ( and survived ! ) a tornado in an RV !

Yesterday I finished sanding, then painted my fibreglass repair. It's far short of perfect, but looks at least as good as I expected it would. It looks like what it is. An "auto body" repair done by an inexperienced amateur.

This morning as we prepared to leave the Ohio County Fairground / Campground, it was raining heavily, with a strong wind. We drove a short distance west on Hwy. 69, then a short distance south on Hwy. 231 back to the Western Kentucky Parkway. West on the Parkway until it was time to stop for lunch. We took an exit and found ourselves in hillbilly country. Decrepit, old mobile homes, '81 Chevy Citations or pickup trucks painted in camouflage colours in the yards, rocking chairs on the porches, toothless old women peering out their front windows at us trying to back the rig into a narrow driveway to turn around and get back onto the Parkway. We went another 10 miles or so down the road and took another exit into Eddyville, or as Joanne named it, Nowheresville, Kentucky. We parked in the parking lot of an old, decrepit motel to have lunch. The rain had stopped and the sun was shining. As we were having lunch, dark, menacing clouds rolled in suddenly, and we ate lunch watching a fantastic display of fork lightning all around us. As we drove away after lunch, we got about 4 miles down the road and entered a thunderstorm with extremely heavy rain, that only lasted about 5 minutes. We turned on the radio, and 8 minutes later the radio reported that a tornado had just blown through Eddyville about 4 minutes earlier. Holy shit !

The weather quickly improved, for the second time. We drove uneventfully to the western end of the Western Kentucky Parkway, then got on I-24 west to Paducah, Kentucky. At Paducah, where the Interstate turned north, we took Hwy. 60 west towards Missouri. On the map it looked like a fairly major highway, but turned out to be a very narrow 2 lane road with no shoulders, again through hillbilly territory. At the confluence of the Ohio River and the Mississippi River, we crossed the extremely narrow 2 bridges over the 2 very large rivers and we were in Missouri.

Dee-Dee was desperately low on fuel by this time. There hadn't been a service station with diesel for quite some time. Hwy. 60 soon joined I-57, and we stopped to fill up with diesel. While filling up, I noticed Dee-Dee had a flat tire on the rear. The driver's side rear was supported by just the inner tire, the outer tire was flat. I was able to fill it with air, and ascertain that the problem was a leaking valve stem. I got directions to the nearest tire repair shop, about 5 miles down the Interstate, and we drove there quickly. The tire shop was closed, and appeared out of business < sigh >. Story of my life ! I unhitched the trailer, jacked up the truck, removed the tire with the leaking valve, installed the spare, lowered the truck, and re-hitched the trailer in the parking lot. Joanne dealt with Toby's "accident" inside the trailer. He hasn't been quite right the last few days, since the deworming. While waiting for me to finish, she checked our maps, and found that there was a Flying J not too far down the road, only about 10 miles off our intended route. We decided to head to the Flying J to see if they could replace the valve stem, and perhaps we would spend the night in their parking lot, although that wasn't what we had planned for tonight. As we left the parking lot where I changed the tire, and got back onto the Interstate, we noticed really, really ugly clouds rolling in from the south. We were headed about 5 more miles west, then detouring about 10 miles south to the Flying J, right where these clouds seemed to be. Suddenly the radio was sounding an alarm, followed by a tornado warning. "Damaging winds, heavy rain, heavy hail, and deadly lightning ... if outdoors, seek cover" for the next 45 minutes for the area we were in. We rushed to the Flying J. So did everybody else. It was like rush hour getting into the Flying J. Every trucker, and every RV'er in the vicinity had headed for Flying J.

I wasn't able to get the tire fixed at Flying J. We settled in to begin preparing supper, when the rain began. A few minutes of light rain, then a few minutes of heavy rain. Then ... for about 30 seconds, the wind blew so hard the trailer was rocking heavily from side to side. The rain fell so hard visibility was zero. The rain was falling horizontally because of the wind ! ! ! After about 30 seconds, it was over. The wind subsided quickly, followed within a minute or two by the rain. In a couple of minutes, no wind, no rain, nothing ! Just wet ground. And a lot of scared cattle in a nearby truck howling loudly. Teddy had hidden underneath the bed slide and needed to be coaxed out. Toby hadn't seemed to notice.

We turned on the 12V TV to see if there was any information. The local network that we could pick up on the little TV was broadcasting a constant warning on the screen about tornado warnings and flood warnings for the area we were in, in Southeast Missouri, the Southwest Kentucky area we had come from, Northeast Arkansas, about half an hour southwest of us, and Northwest Tennessee, about half an hour southeast of us.

I'm typing this at 9:30 P.M. in the driver's lounge inside the Flying J. I'm going back to the trailer at 10:00 P.M to see the local news with more information about the damage that the tornado caused to nearby homes.

DSK

October 17, 2004

October 17, 2004

Georgetown to Hartford, Kentucky

DAY 122

 

We've had a very pleasant and interesting day in Kentucky.

This morning as I was preparing to leave the highway rest area, I said "good morning" to the man from the motorhome parked beside us. His response was "howdy". WOW ! They actually say that here. AND ... "y'all" ! I'm having a bit of trouble understanding what people are saying because of their Kentucky accents. Even the radio disc jockeys sound like Gomer Pyle ( for those of you who are old enough to know who that is ).

We had no problem staying over night in the highway rest area, although as the night wore on, more and more commercial trucks arrived to spend the night. Eventually, it became as noisy as spending a night at a Flying J.

We left the rest area and travelled about 20 miles south on I-75 to Lexington. Joanne ( the navigator ) wanted to go around, rather than through Lexington, so she turned us west on I-64 for about 25 miles to Frankfort. From the rest area to Lexington, and then all the way to Frankfort was race horse country. Farms / ranches on rolling hills with green pastures that look like golf courses, with white painted triple rail fences for miles and miles. Sleek looking horses. Very expensive, very fast cars !

At Frankfort we turned south on Hwy. 127 for about another 20 miles, to the Bluegrass Parkway, then southwest on the very scenic Bluegrass Parkway. It was a beautiful drive, on a sunny day, that got warmer as the day progressed. We passed Abraham Lincoln's homestead, Fort Knox, and Abraham Lincoln's birthplace. As we crossed the Kentucky River I pulled over to the side of the road to get out and take a picture of the scenic river valley. I parked beside a tall cliff. On the shoulder of the road, at the base of the cliff, were orange sized fruits that I had never seen before, which had fallen off trees at the top of the cliff. I took a picture of one, and maybe somebody reading my blog can identify it for me ? We continued southwest on the Bluegrass Parkway to Elizabethtown, where it ended. We travelled just a few miles south on I-65 to get to the Western Kentucky Parkway. Southwest on the Western Kentucky Parkway to Leitchfield, where we stopped to have lunch and fill up with diesel. We had started earlier than usual this morning, and covered a lot of ground by noon. Also, we had just passed from the Eastern Time Zone into the Central Time Zone, so we had "gained" an hour.

After lunch, I found a radio station playing nothing but Bluegrass music. I listened for an hour or so, until it faded. We continued southwest on the Western Kentucky Parkway to Hwy. 231. A short distance north on Hwy. 231 through Beaver Dam to Hartford, then just a few miles northeast on Hwy. 69 to the Ohio County Park, Fairgrounds, and Campground. Joanne found this place in one of our campground books, and wanted to stay here today.

We arrived mid-afternoon, and I had time to do some more work on my fibreglass repair. I finished sanding it, and began work on painting it. While I was getting it ready for painting, Joanne was yelling at me from down the campground road where she was returning from the laundry room. Seems while I was working on one side of the trailer, 3 deer were walking by the other side of the trailer. Finally I heard Joanne, as did the deer, and I came around the trailer just in time to see 3 white tails disappearing into the forest.

We set up the mesh bivouac / cat gazebo and put Toby and Teddy inside for a "test drive". They weren't quite sure what to make of it.

DSK

October 16, 2004

October 16, 2004

Findlay, Ohio to Georgetown, Kentucky

Day 121

 

Poor Joanne. She's had a cold for the last few days, and it reached its peak today. She was really feeling miserable. Maybe that would partially explain her assessment of Ohio, which we travelled through yesterday and today. "Flat, ugly, and nothing going for it". Now we've both had our first "on the road" illness. Me with the flu recently, and now her with a cold.

It was brutally cold over night and this morning, with very high winds. We used the new portable propane heater we bought yesterday at Camping World, to use as a supplement or replacement for the trailer furnace when we're "boon docking". It worked quite well.

We left Findlay, Ohio this morning travelling south on I-75. We stopped at Flying J at Beaverdam, Ohio, to empty the holding tanks, refill the fresh water tank, and fill up with diesel. We stopped again at Troy, Ohio, for a lot of replenishment shopping at a Wal-Mart Super Centre. I've never been in a Wal-Mart Super Centre. It's massively huge, and includes a very large, full line supermarket within the store. We needed a lot of a lot, because we ran the cupboards bare for crossing the border yesterday. We had lunch in the Wal-Mart parking lot, then drove to a nearby Superpetz for cat food. We continued south on I-75, through Dayton, then Cincinnati, and finally, late in the afternoon, into Kentucky. Just after we went through Cincinnati, there was a terrible accident on the other side of the Interstate involving a motor home that had flipped and rolled. I think that’s the first time we’ve seen a highway accident involving an RV. There were many emergency vehicles, and the radio reported a few minutes after we went by that they were going to have to close the highway because of the accident, and that a medical emergency rescue helicopter would be arriving at the scene shortly.

I noticed a pronounced "Midwest" accent in Ohio, but I didn't have any difficulty understanding what people were saying. I don't know what to call the accent here in Kentucky. I'm having some difficulty understanding what's being said because of the accent. Kentucky's landscape is quite scenic. Rolling hills, lots of cedar trees / bushes mixed into the forest. Tall, sculptured looking cedars, the kind that we buy back home as "ornamental cedars", and meticulously trim and prune to keep them looking "sculptured". They grow wild in the ditches here, and look more "sculpted" in the wild than the ones on our lawns. We’re now about 650 km. / 400 mi. south of where we started yesterday in Ontario, and the fall foliage colours are just peaking here. They peaked in Ontario about a week ago. By the time we left yesterday morning, the colours were faded, and a lot of leaves had fallen.

We’ve stopped for the night at a highway rest area with a 4 hour limit. We want to stay over night and see if any one “rousts” us. I can’t see how, or even why, they would enforce the 4 hour limit. I hope the regulation exists only to be used when it’s necessary to get rid of “trouble”. If we get rousted, I have a plan “B”. I always have a plan “B”! Actually, I must confess. Tonight’s plan “B” was Joanne’s.

DSK

October 15, 2004

October 15, 2004

Rondeau Provincial Park to Findlay, Ohio

DAY 120

 

It was raining this morning. I didn't get to finish sanding my fibreglass repair. It was kind of miserable preparing for departure and travel, while it was raining.

We left Rondeau Provincial Park travelling northwest on County Road 15, then southwest and northwest on Hwy.3 to Blenheim where we stopped for a loaf of bread. We couldn't buy any other groceries as we were going to be crossing the border into the United States. From Blenheim we travelled northwest on Hwy. 11 to Hwy. 401. West on Hwy. 401 to Windsor. We crossed over the Detroit River on the Ambassador Bridge from Windsor to Detroit, Michigan. The border crossing was quick and easy. I guess the customs officer didn't want to be exposed to the cold rain any more than was absolutely necessary.

Once in Detroit, we took I-96 northwest to I-94, then I-94 southwest to the Detroit suburb of Belleville, where we stopped at Camping World to buy some RV specialty products. From Camping World it was west on I-94 to Ann Arbor, where we turned south on Hwy.23 towards Ohio. On impulse, we stopped at Cabela's in Dundee, Michigan. Cabela's is a huge sporting goods outfitter. I was curious to see one. My father used to mail order specialty "high end" fishing tackle from Cabela's.

What a "score" we made at Cabela's. We had been shopping for 4 months for a beach tent to use as a "cat gazebo". A beach tent is a small, maybe 5 ft. x 5 ft. x 4 ft. tall tent, with the top half made of nylon, but the bottom half made of mesh. It's meant to be used on the beach by children, to give them a shaded play area. Lorri pointed one out to us while were camped at Grand Beach. It would be a great "cat gazebo". We've been looking for one everywhere.

No, we didn't find a beach tent at Cabela's. We did even better. We bought a one person mesh bivouac. It's meant for use by bicycle or motorcycle campers, who need something small and light. It's like a "sleeping cylinder" made entirely of mesh, except for the nylon floor. It's 9 ft. long x 3.5 ft. wide. Room for one person and their sleeping bag, or ... 2 cats, a litter box, and a cat bed. It even has a nylon fly which was meant to be installed over top to provide protection from rain, but in our use, can be installed to provide shade. Perfect !

We continued south on Hwy. 23 towards Ohio. Once we were in Ohio, we joinedI-475 which is the I-75 bypass around Toledo. We stopped in Toledo to feed the cats, buy groceries, and fill up with diesel. We should have made supper and stopped for the night, but we decided to go a little further. We headed out of Toledo, southbound on I-75. We stopped at a road side rest area near Bowling Green, Ohio ( not to be confused with Bowling Green, Kentucky ), but the regulations prohibit over night parking, so we continued. We stopped at a Pilot Travel Centre near North Baltimore, Ohio ( not to be confused with Baltimore, Maryland ), a service centre like Flying J, but there were no other RV's there, only a lot of commercial trucks, so we continued. We finally stopped at a Cracker Barrel Restaurant in Findlay, Ohio, for the night. We stopped quite a bit later than we had planned, and decided to have supper in the restaurant instead of preparing it in the trailer. We had wanted to eat at a Cracker Barrel, but had not yet done so. It was a very busy place, considering it was after 8:00 P.M. when we went in for dinner. We had a very good "home cooking" style meal. It was nice to once again be in a restaurant in the United States where restaurant standards of service are much higher than they are in Canada.

Just as we were arriving at Findlay, I was thinking that the name of the place "rang a bell" with me. I eventually remembered why. This city is the home of "Pantasia", the high school steel pan band that performed at the Escapee Escapade in Goshen, Indiana.

DSK

October 14, 2004

October 14, 2004

Rondeau Provincial Park

DAY 119

 

Well, Toby seems pretty much back to normal today. I guess my theory was correct. We must have over dosed / poisoned him with the deworming medication. For the second and final dose, due in 2 weeks, we'll cut the dosage in half.

I spent some time this afternoon doing some long over due corporate accounting. I discovered $20,000 I had sort of "lost / misplaced". Hard to believe that one can lose or misplace that much money.

Most of today was taken up with the ongoing saga of my fibreglass repair. The final application of fibreglass cloth and resin had hardened, and was ready for sanding. I sanded, and filed, then began the application of auto body putty. Apply putty, wait an hour or two for it to dry, sand, then start over. By the end of the day, it was almost complete. I think tomorrow morning will be the final sanding, then it will be ready for painting. It's taking more time than I thought it would, but it's turning out much better than I had anticipated. The two broken and repaired areas are thicker, and therefore stronger, than they were originally. The cosmetic appearance is looking very good. Just call me Little Johnny Bondo.

DSK

October 13, 2004

October 13, 2004

Rondeau Provincial Park

DAY 118

 

Much of today was spent taking care of Toby. He's very old. His time is running out. We have a tough decision facing us not too far into the future. He had four seizures today ; two this morning, one this afternoon, and one this evening. After each one, his mobility was impaired for an hour or two. He couldn't walk without his hind end falling over. He couldn't lower his head to the water bowl without falling over. He was dizzy and disoriented. For lengthy periods today each of us took turns just holding him, and assisting him to eat and drink. I am hopeful that these problems are simply a reaction to the deworming medication we administered yesterday. It became apparent a week or so ago that Toby had roundworms, and so we had to buy and administer deworming medication to both Toby and Teddy. We administered it in quantities appropriate to their weights, but at Toby's age, maybe that was too much for his systems. Maybe he's just suffering a bit of deworming medication overdose / poisoning. I certainly hope so, in which case he should be better in a day or two.

I continued work on my fibreglass repair. Considering the two false starts / aborted first applications, it's looking not so bad. Eventually, it should come out looking acceptable. I think today's second application of fibreglass cloth, and resin with hardener, should be enough. Tomorrow I hope to be able to begin sanding.

Although quite cool today, the sun was shining brightly, and since the forest colours are astounding right now, it inspired us to get out for a few short walks around the campground, carrying Toby in our arms to give him a chance to get some fresh air and sunshine. Without Toby, we hiked over to the beach on Lake Erie. Big wind, and big surf today. Rondeau Provincial Park is located on a narrow peninsula, with Rondeau Bay on one side, and Lake Erie on the other.

I read a book, with Toby cuddled beside me. I napped, with Toby cuddled beside me. I was inspired by Toby’s problems, and our upcoming long drive to Missouri, to just take it easy today. We watched a bit of TV. We haven’t watched TV much since we started travelling. I was surprised, when watching the news, how out of touch with current events we’ve become. I should buy a newspaper more often.

DSK

October 12, 2004

October 12, 2004

Rondeau Provincial Park

DAY 117

 

Today is our 30th wedding anniversary ! Happy Anniversary to us !

Happy anniversary to ma petite ingenue. I love you, and cherish you, more each day.

Hard to believe that it's been 5 years since we were bobbing around on the Atlantic Ocean, on board The Majesty Of The Seas, trying quite unsuccessfully to outrun Hurricane Irene. Some nightmares seem like yesterday, even after 5 years.

Yesterday, we were in an area of the campground where a huge, old chestnut tree was dropping ripe chestnuts. I picked up half a dozen, still in their outer pods. I took them back to our campsite, with visions of "chestnuts roasting on an open fire". I left them on the picnic table in our site. This morning ... HEY ... some ******* woodland creature stole my chestnuts during the night !

We drove 17 km. into Blenheim today to do some grocery shopping, and supplies shopping at Canadian Tire. My priority was to get some fibreglass resin hardener. I got some, and restarted the repair on the damaged lower skirt of the trailer. Worked fine, when the hardener was mixed with the resin. Started to harden within a couple of hours.

Replaced a couple of gaskets underneath the kitchen sink, which was leaking slightly. Lesson no.2 in RV plumbing.

It was such a nice sunny day I decided to go fishing late this afternoon. Caught 3 Bluegills and 1 Northern Pike. Good thing I don't rely on my fishing prowess to feed my family.

A quiet, pleasant dinner, followed by a quiet, pleasant evening. Just the two of us ! Well ... and the cats !

DSK

October 11, 2004

October 11, 2004

The Pinery Provincial Park to Rondeau Provincial Park

DAY 116

 

Today is Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving !

Actually, I need to clarify that. Happy Canadian Thanksgiving. We are going to have Thanksgiving twice this year. We will be working at YMCA Of The Ozarks on American Thanksgiving, so for the first time in my life, I need to specify Canadian or American Thanksgiving.

Recently, I was talking to an American ( in Elkhart, Indiana ) and mentioned that Canada and the United States celebrate Thanksgiving on different dates. He asked if Canadians celebrate Christmas on a different date than Americans ? ! ! DUH ... sure, Dave ... Canadian Christ was born on a different day than American Christ ! And the three wise men came by snowmobile !

Today we travelled about 150 km. south, all on back roads, through very picturesque rural area ; farms, ranches, forests. We moved from the eastern shore of Lake Huron to the northern shore of Lake Erie. We arrived at Rondeau Provincial Park late in the afternoon. There's not many campers here. The "weekenders" are gone home.

My 5 day old first application of fibreglass had not yet hardened. It remained "soggy". The fibreglass repair kit I bought was definitely missing the hardening compound. I scraped off the layer of fibreglass cloth and resin I had previously applied. What a gooey mess ! It was like trying to scrape spruce gum off the trailer. Tomorrow I'm going to drive to Blenheim and see if I can buy some fibreglass resin hardener.

Since we had Thanksgiving turkey dinner for my birthday yesterday, we didn't want to have turkey again today. Joanne made my favourite spaghetti recipe, while I sat at the end of the dock near our campsite, and fished in Rondeau Bay for half an hour. I didn't catch anything. Except perhaps some really great sunset photos.

DSK

October 10, 2004

October 10, 2004

The Pinery Provincial Park

DAY 115

 

Today is my 50th birthday. Happy Birthday to me ! ! !

My horoscope for today says that I may be earning a reputation as a bit of a maverick, but that I simply don't care. Hear, hear !

I've been sort of dreading the arrival of my 50th birthday, but not in the typical fashion of dreading such a milestone in life. I've been dreading how this lifestyle choice denies me the opportunity to have a big "blow out" birthday party celebration with family and friends, as I think most people do on their milestone birthdays. Oh, well ... at least it's not as bad as what I thought it might be when an employee asked, after we returned from celebrating Joanne's 50th birthday in Paris, France, what would we be doing for my 50th birthday ? I surmised that I would likely be having a birthday dinner in a road side Denny's, somewhere in rural Arkansas, having Happy Birthday sung to me by a waiter named Bubba.

Joanne worked hard to make this a very special day for me. She succeeded. Thank you, my love. When I returned from showering this morning, she had prepared a special birthday brunch of French Toast made with cinnamon raisin bread, served with the freshly made jam we bought yesterday at the farmer's market in Grand Bend. Beside my plate was a hand made birthday card. I've never had a hand made card before. She drew a modified "reproduction" of an Inuit painting that I really liked at the McMichael Gallery. The original painting that I saw and liked was entitled "Joyfully I See 10 Caribou". The birthday card drawing was entitled "Joyfully I See ... You And Me".

I received birthday greetings by telephone from my sister, and Joanne's sister. Thank you, Sharon. Thank you, Lorri.

Perhaps the biggest, and most pleasant surprise of the day was to receive birthday greetings by telephone from Dwight Atkinson and Jennifer Lamb in Vancouver. It's been a very long time since we've had an opportunity to chat. Thank you very much, Dwight and Jenny, for taking the time, and making the effort, to phone. Unfortunately, while they were chatting with Joanne, after chatting with me for awhile, we lost the phone call. The cellular signal here at Pinery is very weak, and interruptions in calls are frequent. I've had quite a bit of difficulty staying connected online long enough to update my blog in the last few days.

For dinner, we went to the Oakwood Inn Resort just on the other side of Grand Bend. Tonight was their Thanksgiving buffet dinner. It was quite a spectacular dinner in quite a spectacular place. The Oakwood Inn Resort reminds me a lot of Minaki Lodge north of Kenora, Ontario where we celebrated most Thanksgiving / birthday / anniversary weekends until we moved to Ottawa in 1988. Before dinner, we walked around the grounds of the resort, which is a large wooded piece of property, a few hundred feet inland off the beach on Lake Huron. Their dining room is an old "log cabin" structure. Our dining table was against a window, overlooking the large pond with fountain on the first fairway of their golf course.

We ate too much !

When we returned to the trailer, Joanne lit the candles on the birthday cake she had baked for me this afternoon, and sang "Happy Birthday" to me. We were both too stuffed from dinner to eat birthday cake. We went for a short walk. It was a cool night, with a very clear, very dark, brightly star lit sky. Very romantic. After our romantic, little stroll ...

Happy Birthday, Daniel.

DSK

October 9, 2004

October 9, 2004

The Pinery Provincial Park

DAY 114

 

I thought I was all better, but apparently not. I seem to have had a relapse of the flu today.

It rained over night, so today started out cloudy and cool. The sun came out in the afternoon, although it remained cool.

This morning we had to drive to the registration building to "register" for the campsite we had to move to today. Yesterday we could only "reserve" and pay for the campsite. Today we had to "register". Computers !

After registering, we returned to the trailer, closed everything up, and hitched up. Since we had to move the trailer from one site to another, we figured we might as well take the opportunity to drive over to the trailer dumping station to empty the holding tanks and refill the fresh water tank. That done, it was back to our campsite area to set up in our new site.

Well ... there went the entire morning.

After lunch, I wanted to continue working on my fibreglass repair, but yesterday's application was not yet dry. I think the kit I bought was missing a hardening compound that is referred to in the instructions, but my kit doesn't have. Maybe that’s why the resin hasn’t dried after 24 hours ? Maybe I just don’t know what I’m doing ?

We decided to drive about 10 km. north on Hwy. 21 to Grand Bend, a resort town on Lake Huron with a population of about 1000. Joanne wanted to shop at the farmer's market that was to be set up in Grand Bend today only. We drove around the town, then parked, shopped at the farmer's market, and walked down to the beach on Lake Huron. Wind and big surf ! Kind of reminded me of Cancun, Mexico.

At the far end of town, we found a luxury resort called the Oakwood Inn Resort ( and golf and country club ). Their signage was advertising Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. Joanne went in and made a reservation, although for us it will be my birthday dinner more than a Thanksgiving dinner.

We had a premature Thanksgiving dinner of sorts tonight. I barbecued fresh, local turkey thighs, fresh, local little potatoes, and fresh, local little plum tomatoes, while Joanne cooked fresh, local green beans inside the trailer. We cut the little plum tomatoes in half, sprinkled salt, pepper, and Parmesan cheese on them, wrapped them in foil, and baked them in the barbecue. Turned out great !

After supper, we sat around a campfire, trying to get me warm. I've felt cold all day, but I think that's more attributable to illness than weather.

DSK

October 8, 2004

October 8, 2004

The Pinery Provincial Park

DAY 113

 

Another amazingly warm day today. 25 degrees Celsius / 76 degrees Fahrenheit ! Joanne wore shorts all day until evening.

On our way to the main gate this morning to check if any sites had become available for Saturday and Sunday nights, we saw a female eagle swoop down onto the side of the road, and fly away with something clutched in her talons. She landed in a tree near the side of the road, so we stopped to watch. We had binoculars in the truck, so we had a great view of this marvellous bird. She dropped what was in her talons, then glared at us until we left. I guess we were interrupting her hunting, and she didn't look too happy about it. Mind you, I suppose an eagle rarely looks happy. Their appearance isn't exactly cheerful. Sort of a permanent scowl look.

We were able to secure a campsite for Saturday and Sunday nights, and only about half a dozen sites over from where we are now, so when we move tomorrow morning, we won't have to go far.

We went hiking on the Lookout Trail. The trail ascends the largest sand dune in the park, and from the top, you can see the Old Thedford Bog, the park, and surrounding farm lands. The addition of the leather wrist strap to my hiking stick really enhances its functionality. It should soon become Joanne's hiking stick, because I have asked her for a new one as a gift for my 50th birthday in 2 days.

I spent the afternoon doing fibreglass repair. It's the first time I've worked with fibreglass cloth and fibreglass resin. When the trailer wheel and tire flew off the broken hub, just outside Minneapolis about a month ago, the lower fibreglass skirt of the trailer sustained considerable damage. I've been procrastinating starting this job, largely because I've never done fibreglass work before, and really didn't have a clue. Also, I knew that the repair would take a few days or more, and I didn't want to tackle this job when we were travelling daily. I bought a fibreglass repair kit awhile ago, and today started the job. Much of the time was spent cleaning and preparing the damaged surfaces. When I was finally ready to start with the fibreglass cloth and fibreglass resin, I read the slightly inadequate instructions, and started in. The first attempt was a bit of a disaster, but also served as the lesson in how to do it. I scraped off attempt number one. The second attempt went better.

I think it will likely take 3 days for 3 layers of repair, then a couple more days for a couple of coats of paint, so maybe 5 days in total to complete this job. Wish me luck.

DSK

October 7, 2004

October 7, 2004

The Pinery Provincial Park

DAY 112

 

 

What an amazingly warm day for October 7. The entire day was "short sleeve" weather.

Started the day doing some minor routine maintenance chores. Straightened a bent fibreglass lower panel on the trailer. Repaired the gas leak on the barbecue. It startled me yesterday when it "popped" and blew flame out of where it shouldn't be. While working on the fibreglass skirt I found a piece of leather cord on the ground. It seemed to me to be just about the right size to be the wrist strap I wanted on my hiking stick. I drilled a hole through the top of my hiking stick and threaded this leather thong through. It's a teensy bit shorter than I need, but it will do for now.

We spent the morning driving all around the park, exploring. The main park road is 12 km. long. What a large park ! We hiked the Riverside Trail alongside the Ausable River, then went to the beach on Lake Huron. It was so warm I walked barefoot in the shallow water along the beach. Just like a Caribbean beach in January. We returned to the trailer for a late lunch. After lunch, we took the cats for a hike around the campground. We wanted to see the Yurts that are available for rental. There was a park employee nearby as we were looking at one of the Yurts, and he unlocked it so we could see inside. They are somewhat like a cross between a large tent and a small cabin. Rather interesting, and certainly a great option for winter camping in this park which is open year round. We hiked over to the campground host's site, and chatted with the campground hostess about the park's volunteer campground host program. Then we hiked alongside the river as it meanders alongside our campground. We hiked along the river to where a bridge crosses over, and where the campground store is. The cats were starting to get restless, so I guess we had them out hiking a bit too long. Teddy was really fussing, as he seemed convinced when we were on the bridge and the dock, that I was going to toss him into the river. Teddy, the rocket scientist ! We hiked back to the trailer, and they were both happy to get "home".

I spent the balance of the afternoon removing the broken fridge exterior vent door and frame, and installing the new one we picked up in London yesterday. It looks good, despite the fact that the new door doesn't have the trailer's graphic striping across it. It's white ! The old one was yellow from sunlight and age. And brittle ! That's why it shattered so easily when I dropped it a couple of weeks ago.

While Joanne prepared home made fresh celery soup for supper, I worked on the photos I shot over the last few days. Some are very nice. I will attach the best ones to my blog entries. My new digital camera and computer capabilities make my photography look good, I think.

DSK

October 6, 2004

October 6, 2004

Springwater Conservation Area to The Pinery Provincial Park

Day 111

 

This morning we left Springwater Conservation Area and travelled "back roads" to Port Stanley. We were here in June, and Joanne wanted to return for lunch, for "the best fish and chips" she's ever had. We parked on Port Stanley's beach, and walked back onto the main street through town. The little fish and chips business that Joanne favours has, quite unfortunately, just gone out of business, proving that there is a great deal more to succeeding in business than simply providing a great product. We walked through the tourist section of town looking for another place to have local pickerel or perch for lunch, finally settling on the restaurant side of a quaint little country inn. Lunch was very good, although the upscale ambience ( and pricing ) of this inn was not exactly what we were looking for. The fish and chips shop run by the guy from Ottawa was such a down to earth, simple place, with superb, freshly caught, freshly prepared pickerel and Lake Erie Yellow Perch fillets.

After lunch at Kettle Creek Inn, we walked over to Golem's Fish Market to buy some fresh pickerel fillets, and smoked Lake Erie Yellow Perch for tomorrow's lunch for me and "the boys". Toby and Teddy love smoked fish.

We drove north out of Port Stanley on Hwy. 4, following it to London, where we had to stop at Can-Am RV to pick up the fridge exterior vent door that they ordered for us. After picking up the vent door, we drove just a teensy bit east on Hwy. 401, back to the Flying J. What a great RV friendly chain. We filled up with diesel, filled up with propane, filled up with fresh water, and dumped our holding tanks. All of that, at one pump island, without having to move the rig !

Out of the Flying J, west on Hwy. 401 for a few km., then west on Hwy. 402 to Hwy. 21. North on Hwy. 21 towards the southeast edge of Lake Huron. We stopped at the town of Forest to buy some groceries. It's really noticeable how much more pleasant the staff are in small town grocery stores ( Forest, Picton, Lorette, etc. ) than in the large cities. Joanne and I have decided that, whatever our future brings, our days of big city living are over.

Finally, past the "temporarily closed" Ipperwash Provincial Park to The Pinery Provincial Park, on the shores of Lake Huron, just south of Grand Bend, Ontario. Ipperwash seems to have been "temporarily closed" for about the last ten years, since a native dispute within the park resulted in a native being shot dead by a police officer. The inquest into the incident has been ongoing for years and years.

The Pinery was only able to give us a campsite for 3 nights, despite our desire to stay for 5 nights. Despite having over 1000 camp sites, the park is fully booked for the upcoming long weekend. We got settled into our site just at dusk. Visited with our neighbours, and their dog, for a short time, walked around the campground briefly with the cats in their slings, then made a late supper.

DSK

October 5, 2004

October 5, 2004

Kleinburg to Springwater Conservation Area, Orwell, Ontario

DAY 110

 

 

I woke up feeling a little less ill today, and my health improved slowly as the day wore on. As I type this late in the evening, I'm feeling almost okay.

First thing this morning we headed over to the McMichael Art Gallery. It's a gallery dedicated to Canadian art and artists. About half of their collection is The Group Of Seven works, and the other half is other Canadian artists. We went there to see The Group Of Seven art, but there was a lot of other interesting art to view as well. I particularly liked Emily Carr's work. We spent the morning exploring the first floor of the gallery, most of which was The Group Of Seven. By lunch time I was feeling a little run down, so we went back to the trailer in the parking lot for a long lunch and short nap. In the afternoon, we went upstairs to the second storey, and second half of the gallery. Before we left late in the afternoon, we walked around their lovely property.

< SIGH > For the fifth ( and final ! ) time this summer, I had to drive across Toronto during rush hour. Yesterday we entered Toronto from the east, drove across to the middle, then exited to the north. Today we had to enter from the north, drive to the middle, then exit to the west. After leaving the McMichael Gallery, we drove south on Islington into Vaughan until we found a TD Bank. After doing some banking, we drove over to Hwy. 400. We drove south on Hwy. 400 back into Toronto, then joined the 401 heading west. We crawled, bumper to bumper, stop and go, out of the city again < SIGH >. How can a city this big not have a ring road / perimeter highway ?

Just as the setting sun became troublesome for driving west, we got off the 401 at Cambridge to wait out the setting sun, and replenish groceries and supplies. We finished our shopping, and got back on the highway, about 2 minutes before the sun set below the horizon, making it possible to drive again. Good timing. Darkness arrived a little sooner than we were prepared for it, so we ended up hunting in the dark for this Conservation Area campground. Another full time RV lesson learned. It's not really feasible to be searching back roads in the dark for some location you're unfamiliar with. After finding this God forsaken place, then we had to hunt around in the dark for an empty camp site, then hunt around for the power box, etc.. What was really a barrel of laughs was hunting around for the electrical panel / circuit breaker box after we blew the circuit breaker at our camp site.

Maybe tomorrow will go a bit smoother.

DSK

October 4, 2004

October 4, 2004

Sandbanks Provincial Park to Kleinburg, Ontario

DAY 109

 

I was sick today. I started feeling a little ill Saturday night. Yesterday, I felt poorly. Today, I felt really ill with a flu like illness. Fourteen years of running our own businesses has conditioned me to keep working through illness, so I was determined to just keep going today. I just had to do everything in slow motion.

I started the day doing my regular daily preventative maintenance, which today included checking and adjusting truck tire pressures. I attempted to use my new heavy duty truck tire 12V air compressor to adjust the tire pressures. It didn't work. The motor runs, but no air is produced. I'm disillusioned. The $60 version is as useless as the $8.50 version. It goes back to Wal-Mart for a refund.

Leaving Sandbanks Provincial Park, we drove north on Hwy. 12 to Hwy. 33. Hwy. 33 follows the north shore of Lake Ontario, first southwest, then northwest. As we passed through the little village of Bloomfield, we were surprised to see the Drop 'N Flop factory. Surprised because it was a small, non-descript building with small, non-descript signage, in a small non-descript village. Drop 'N Flop is a manufacturer of pet beds. We sold a huge number of their beds over the years, largely because we think they were the best pet beds we carried. We have one that was originally Nikki's, and is now used by Teddy, that is 14 years old and looks exactly the same as the day we bought it. I had somehow envisioned Drop 'N Flop as a bigger operation, perhaps in some Toronto suburban industrial park.

At Consecon we stopped at a road side market stand and stocked up on local fresh produce ; tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, and potatoes.

At Trenton, Hwy. 33 meets "the 401" as it's known locally. We got onto Hwy. 401 westbound, and reached the eastern edge of Toronto right at rush hour. This is the fourth time this summer I have had to drive the rig across / through Toronto, usually at rush hour. It's become quite

tedious ! When is it not rush hour on the 401 through Toronto ? ! I was in desperate need of fuel halfway across the city, so I had to get off the 401 and find some diesel. After filling up, we drove on city streets over to Hwy. 27 going north. North on Hwy. 27 to Kleinburg, where Joanne wanted to visit the McMichael Art gallery to see their collection of original Group Of Seven art. Alas, all we own are reproductions and limited edition prints.

The McMichael Gallery was closed by the time we arrived. Remember, I was functioning in slow motion today. We parked in their large empty parking lot, and were planning to "boondock" over night, and visit the gallery first thing in the morning. Shortly after our arrival, a security guard from the gallery came over and told us we could not park over night. We moved a short distance over to a local city park, and parked over night in the parking lot.

DSK

October 3, 2004

October 3, 2004

Sandbanks Provincial Park

DAY 108

 

Today was sunny, but a bit on the cool side. Not surprising, I guess. It is October, after all.

Soon it will be as cold here as Manitoba in July and August !

I was a little ill today, so I felt tired and weak all day. This morning I finally got around to replacing the shower faucets. They were leaking slightly. I had bought a new set of shower faucets at the RV Surplus store in Elkhart, Indiana. Today was my first self taught lesson in RV plumbing. The job went well. Afterwards, I tested the new 12V heavy duty truck tire air compressor I bought the other day. Now I understand why some 12V air compressors cost $6.50 and some cost $60 ! I also fabricated a long 12V extension cord for this new compressor, using the cord I cut off the cheap compressor that I burnt out. Just call me McGyver !

While I did this work, Joanne went off to hike and explore the meadow wild flowers, toting Teddy along in his sling carrier. After I finished my work, she took me for a meadow hike, to see some berries she had found. They were little black berries, on shrubs that were 5 or 6 feet tall. The berries tasted bitter. We don't know what they were. There were also some plants with huge pods. I think they might be called milkweed. Joanne broke open a pod to see the contents. Inside there were seeds on soft, fluffy stems which float away in the wind. Ever since Costa Rica, and the Pica Pica experience, I have an aversion to breaking open pods on plants.

After lunch, we went off exploring Sandbanks Provincial Park. First we drove over to a different campground called Richardson's Campground. We are camped in Woodlands Campground. At Richardson's Campground, we parked and walked over to Sandbanks Beach. Another wide, soft sand beach on Lake Ontario, like the beach yesterday. As I am typing this, I had to look at the park map to see that the beach we visited yesterday was Campers Beach. After Sandbanks Beach, we drove to the Dunes Beach day use area. This is an area of tall sand dunes surrounding an inland lake, West Lake, which at one time was a bay on Lake Ontario, but shifting sand dunes closed in the bay to form a lake. After walking around Dunes Beach, we drove through the very picturesque tourist village of West Lake, on, of course, West Lake. Pretty ritzy looking resort area. First time I've seen a Rolls Royce since Naples, Florida. A Silver Spur. Nice car. I want one ! From West Lake we drove to see the ruins of Lakeshore Lodge, built in 1870, in business until 1972, burned to the ground in 1983.

By now, I was feeling very weak, and tired, so we returned to the trailer. I read for awhile, then napped, hoping a nap would strengthen me.

When I awoke, it was time to start a camp fire, and begin cooking supper. Once again, I cooked supper over an open fire. What an outdoorsman ! Little Johnny Wilderness !

After supper, we sat for awhile by the camp fire, cats on our laps, Toby wrapped in a blanket. It's Sunday night and the weekend campers have all left. We're the only ones in the campground. Kind of spooky !

DSK

October 2, 2004

October 2, 2004

Sandbanks Provincial Park, Ontario

DAY 107

 

Today started out cold and raining, and remained that way until late afternoon. This is the first poor weather day we've had in a month, since we left Winnipeg. This is the kind of day that inspires me and the cats to just laze around. Well ... the cats are so inspired most days.

Breakfast was apple muffins that Joanne baked late last night, made with apples that were still growing on their trees 24 hours ago. Since it was cold and raining, we spent the morning exploring Sandbanks Provincial Park by truck. This is a large park, with 4 separate campgrounds spread over a distance of about 5 km.. It's spread along a sandy shoreline of Lake Ontario. Wide, sand beach. Today, big pounding surf. Looks like a really appealing place to spend hot summer days. We visited the beach, drove all around a couple of the campgrounds, visited the campground store, and the nature / visitor's centre. Back to the trailer for lunch, followed by a very long nap, while Joanne did laundry.

By the time I awoke from my nap, the rain had stopped, and the sky was clearing. We put the cats into their new sling carriers and went for a hike around our campground. Most of this campground is shady campsites, in thick, tall forest. The sunlight barely makes it through the thick forest canopy. There is a section that is open meadow, covered in wild flowers. Here, the sun shines brightly. We walked across the meadow, to enjoy the warmth of the sunlight, as it had been chilly all day. Now I seem to be paying the price, allergy wise, for spending the afternoon wading through fields of Goldenrod ( he types while wheezing and gasping for air ).

Late afternoon was spent planning our journey / adventure for the next 2 weeks, until we cross into the U.S. to head for our 5 week job in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri. We planned where to spend my upcoming 50th birthday, and our upcoming 30th anniversary.

I did some work on digital photos I took yesterday. I printed and filled out some paperwork for our upcoming Ozarks job, and prepared it for mailing. I printed and filled out an application form for a job as a Manitoba Provincial Park Campground Host next summer, and prepared it for mailing. I did some corporate accounting work. Now I'm working on this, as Joanne prepares supper. The song on the radio right now is "Leroy Brown", the baddest man in the whole damn town ... from the south side of Chicago. He must have been from that scuzzy area around Joliette we were in a couple of weeks ago !

Supper included a Waldorf Salad variation, and a baked Apple Crisp variation, both using yesterday's fresh apples. Joanne is quite adept at utilizing local harvest fare available wherever we happen to be.

HA ! Beat her at another game of Scrabble.

DSK

October 1, 2004

October 1, 2004

Kingston to Sandbanks Provincial Park, Ontario

DAY 106

 

This morning we drove through Kingston to get to Hwy.33 on the other side of the city from where we were. We headed southwest on Hwy. 33 which follows the north shore of the St. Lawrence River / Lake Ontario. It's not really clear as you travel west from Kingston where the St. Lawrence River ends and Lake Ontario begins. The drive along the shore was very scenic. Frequently there were little road side parks on the shore. We stopped at one, just to enjoy the scenery for a few minutes. The road meanders along through towns and villages, and orchards and vineyards. This is Ontario's newest wine growing area. We stopped at a road side market stand, and bought a basket of local apples, and some fresh corn picked this morning. Suddenly, as we were driving along, there was a sign that said the highway ended in 600 metres. HUH ? Another sign. Road ends in 300 metres. WHAT ? ? ?

And there we were. The Glenora Ferry. The road map sort of shows Hwy. 33 crossing Adolphus Reach, a stretch of water in the North Channel, but we thought it would be a bridge. It's a very beautiful area. The ferry crossing takes just a few minutes. It reminded us of the ferry crossing the Ottawa River at Cumberland, about a km. from where we lived. After the ferry crossing the Adolphus Reach, Hwy. 33 continues through the tourist areas of Prince Edward County, including the very pretty town of Picton. We stopped in Picton for a few groceries, then on to Sandbanks Provincial Park.

After we got settled into our camp site, I decided to let the cats out on a rope for a bit of fresh air. It's been quite awhile since I've allowed them out on ropes, because they have a tendency to eat grass until they vomit. This camp site was sandy soil, with no grass, so I figured there would be no problem. First Toby came outside for about half an hour, then it was Teddy's turn. Teddy wasn’t stymied by the lack of grass to eat. Low hanging maple leaves on the “runners” sticking out of the ground around maple trees will do just fine as a substitute, thank you. While Joanne took some laundry to be washed, I came inside the trailer for just a minute to get myself a soft drink. When I went back outside, there was the rope lying stretched out across the camp site, with an empty cat harness attached ! DAMN ! Teddy did his "buck out" routine.

With mounting panic, we searched and searched, calling him and shaking a bag of dry cat food. The sound of a bag of cat kibble is usually enough to bring him running, at least from the next room. No such luck. We searched the forest all around our camp site, and up and down the campground road for about half an hour. Joanne was getting really scared. Me a little less so, because I figure Teddy won't stray too far from his food dish, at least not for too long. Finally, as I was walking down the road, back towards our camp site from about half a dozen camp sites down from ours, there was Teddy, meandering down the road in front of me, back towards our site. I guess he was getting hungry ! Teddy's Big Adventure ! Fat little jerk !

I made a camp fire, and set up my laptop at the picnic table. I enjoy getting some computer work done, while sitting outside by a camp fire. I cooked the corn over the hot coals. I appreciate the dichotomy of cooking freshly picked produce over an open fire, like some sort of red necked survivalist, while surfing the Internet on my laptop connected through my cell phone.

After dinner, we sat outside by the campfire, in the dark. It was a fairly warm day, and the evening was pleasant. Joanne and I were sitting close together by the fire, talking quietly about our plans, with Toby on my lap, wrapped inside my jacket. He loves sitting by the fire. We all got very startled when a raccoon came ambling through our camp site, about 5 feet away. Joanne, I, and Toby all got startled when we saw the raccoon, and then the raccoon got startled when he saw us. He scurried across the camp site and disappeared under Dee-Dee. A few minutes later, a little mouse came scurrying across the ground in front of us and almost over Joanne's foot. We seem to be camped in the wildlife crossing zone.

DSK

September 30, 2004

September 30, 2004

Ottawa to Kingston, Ontario

DAY 105

 

When we arrived in Ottawa a few days ago, one of the kitchen cupboard doors, behind the dinette slide out, had come open because of a misaligned latch. When I extended the slide outwards, the edge of the slide caught on the cupboard door handle, damaging both the inside edge of the slide out, and the cupboard door. I spent this morning repairing that problem, including removing and repositioning the latch inside the cupboard door. By the time we were hitched up and ready to leave, it was 12:30.

A bit south on Bank Street / Hwy. 31, then a bit west on Regional Road 8 to Hwy. 416. South on Hwy. 416 to Hwy. 401, then west on Hwy.401 to Kingston. We were parked in front of Sep's house by 4:00 P.M.. Since they had treated us to dinner at Mino's last weekend, we decided it was our turn to spring for dinner, especially since Sep and Susanna had to work today and we didn't < snicker >. Yesterday Joanne had bought all the fixings to prepare my sister's Teriyaki beef barbecue recipe, and Caesar salad, and a couple of bottles of nice wine. As soon as we arrived, Joanne began to work on supper.

Digressing a bit, when we stopped for lunch at a road side rest area halfway between Ottawa and Kingston, Joanne reminded me of something funny that had happened there a year ago. At least she can laugh about it, now that the scars have healed. On our very first outing with Harvey and Dee-Dee last fall, we stopped at this same rest area. We took the cats out for a walk, to give them a break from being inside the truck. They were still rookies at travelling. We walked them on their leashes, as we went to the washrooms. Well ... not washrooms really ... pit toilets ... you know, outhouses. I went in the men’s outhouse with Toby. Joanne went into the women’s outhouse with Teddy. The Master of Overreaction ! Joanne picked Teddy up into her arms as she went into the stall, to keep him with her, and out of trouble. As she entered the stall with Teddy in her arms, he took a whiff, and looked down into the toilet pit. MMMMEEEEOOOOWWWWRRRR ! ! ! As he shreds Joanne arms and shirt trying to escape, for fear that she is going to throw him down through the toilet seat into the outhouse pit. Poor Teddy. Dumb as a rock !

So ... when Sep and Susanna arrived home after work, we started in on the appetizers Joanne had prepared, and I began to barbecue supper on the barbecue that Joanne and I gave to Sep and Susanna as a wedding present when they got married a couple of years ago. We ate and drank, and talked and laughed, all evening. Sep is the embodiment of the mantras "live life large" ... and / or ... "go big or go home". Our main reason for returning here was to sell to Sep and Susanna our few remaining possessions that were not sold by the consignment shop in Ottawa. Our rosewood cutlery chest, and the gold plated cutlery set within, were a bit too upscale for the garage sale and flea market crowd, and had even proven a bit too upscale for the consignment shop crowd. Sep wanted to buy them. He travels all over the world on business, and indulges in purchases of exotic liqueurs and cigars. We indulged in plenty of both tonight. I don't think I've been this intoxicated in 20 years. After dinner, Sep and I sat out on his back deck, drinking Black Sambucca, and smoking Romeo Y Juliet cigars from Havana. I’m expecting to have quite a headache tomorrow morning.

DSK