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