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