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