Happy 2012!
Happy 2012 to all our friends and family! Better late than never right?
So what have we been up to? When we finished up our house sitting assignment near North Bay, ON we spent most of November and the first half of December visiting family and friends in the Toronto, Sarnia and Ottawa areas. …
Fantastic Fall in Northern Ontario
So where are we now? Powassan, just south of North Bay. We’re back house and cat sitting at the same place we were at last fall. We got here right after our farm sit in Strathroy ended at the end of August and we’ll probably be done this weekend. The people we’re house sitting for are returning from Gjoa Haven, Nunavit so Mother nature has to be kind in order for them to fly back on schedule.
Farm sittin’ in Strathroy
For the past 3 weeks we’ve been farm sittin’ in Southern Ontario, near Strathroy. This place was a lot like our farm. There were 4 horses, about 15 barn cats, a 5 month old border collie and 1 house cat to look after along with a big yard and vegetable garden.
It was a great place to get our animal fix in and so much easier to do chores when you don’t have to work! …
July HOT!
Once we were done in Cambridge, we headed to Windsor to visit my cousin Heather and my good friend Cheryl. I really enjoying catching up with them. Spending more time with family and friends has been an unexpected benefit of our nomadic lifestyle, no excuses not to visit. Until now, I don’t think I realized just how much working and maintaining our farm tied us down.
House sitting back in the old neighbourhood
For the past 2 weeks we’ve been house and cat sitting for our friends, Terry & Tracey from Cambridge, ON. They headed out west for a “relaxing” vacation, Tracey competed in the Iron Man in Idaho. That’s a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike followed by a 26.2 run (a full marathon). Hurts me to even think about doing that.
Back in Grand Bend, ON
You may recall that last year, we spent 2 months at the Lake front cottage my friend Sue owns in Grand Bend, ON We cleaned, painted and slaved for them and it went so well, we came back for more “punishment” this year. God, life is hard when you have to clean or paint for a couple of hours and then walk 2 minutes down to one of the best beaches on Lake Huron to rest and work on the tan.
We’re back in Ontario
After spending three cold, windy and rainy days at a park in Port Sanilac, Michigan (west side of Lake Huron) we came back to exactly the same kind of weather in Ontario last Monday. Very glad we didn’t come back to Ontario any earlier because according to everyone we’ve talked to, April and May have been wet and cold, very little sunshine.
Ludington, Michigan
After we dried out a bit in Columbus, IN we headed north to Elkhart, IN for a few days. This is the land of RV makers so there are some good deals to be had at the local RV surplus stores. This time we finally managed to get over to a couple of them in nearby White Pigeon, Michigan. …
Flooding along I-64 in Illinois
Today we left Marion, Illinois and drove for about 4-5 hours to Columbus, Indiana just south of Indianapolis. The route we drove took us along I-64 which is just north of the Ohio river that’s flooding. Every single creek or river we crossed on the interstate was flooded and again, the water was uncomfortably close to the road. …
Hot Springs, Arkansas
After we left Texas, we spent 3 nights in Hot Springs, Arkansas. It’s a pretty little town, right in the middle of the Hot Springs National park. We finally got some good hiking in on 2 beautiful days.
Check out the Hot Springs Album.
April 30
We left Hot Springs today and had originally planned to only drive about 3.5 hours to Blytheville, Arkansas in the top North east corner of the state but as we were driving, across the very flat land seeing all the standing water and flooded creek and river banks we thought we'd better keep on driving. …
A hot Texas spring
When we left New Orleans, we headed west to Texas. Before we got there, we made a quick 3 day stop at an RV park in Kinder, LA that was part of the Coushatta Casino. For only $17/night, it included everything. Great WIFI, full hookup, cable TV, a big, open pool. Very well laid out park. …
A week in New Orleans
It’s hard to put into words what our experiences in New Orleans over the past week have been like. We ended up spending most of our time in the French Quarter. It was something of an assault on all our senses and I mean that in both a good way and a bad way.
First the smell...
Mikey and the Freak!
Yes, we’re in New Orleans! We got here last Sunday and were only going to stay for 2 nights but that’s now been extended for 8 nights. We’re here until next Monday! What can I say, this town is a lot of fun...as we were walking and drinking around the French quarter tonight, both Dave and I were imagining what a great party this place would have been in our 20s with friends, family, an unlimited budget (this place isn’t ain’t cheap) and more endurance!
Mississippi
Spent 4 nights at the Gulf Islands National Seashore in Ocean Springs Mississippi. Only took about 90 minutes to get here from Foley, AL one of our shorter travel days.
We made this a pit stop on our way west because the price was perfect. $16/night but the amenities are basic, just water and electric, and bath houses which were somewhat run down. …
Sweet home Alabama!
Since we’re heading west and it’s still only March, our plan is to stay as far south as possible to keep warm and to be close to the Gulf. Tried to get into Gulf state park in Gulf Shores, AL but it was full for the entire month of March...and it has 600 sites! Hard to believe but we understood why when we checked it out when we were in the area. …
St. George’s Island State Park, FL
This is a very popular Florida state park (right on the east end of the panhandle) so you have to book it well in advance if you want to stay for a week or more in the winter. We made our reservation last September, good thing we did because it was full.
This was our first time camping here and the sites are relatively large and spacious. …
Suwannee River & Mantee springs
Now that we’re back in Florida, we plan to head west before we head back to ON. Time to travel to some new places, see some new things. First stop on the trip was Yellow Jacket RV Resort on the Suwannee River (yes the one the song is about), in Old Town, FL. It’s It about a 3 1/2 hour drive NW from Orlando which is about the longest drive we try to do in a day.
Back in Florida and roof repairs
The flight back to Orlando from CR was uneventful, which is a good thing. Didn’t take long to get the trailer set back up. Nice to be back in our own stuff.
The next day was hotter than it was in CR. Apparently 86F was almost a record high, perfect for the beach but not the best weather to unpack and reorganize in. …
Back in Costa Rica
Have returned to Costa Rica for our 3rd house sit for Mike & Andee & Rocky (our boss!). Just in case you have this page book marked, thought we would let you know that we set up a separate BLOG and ALBUM to keep track of our adventures here. Take a look!
Towing tale #2
As you read in my previous entry, my first experience towing the trailer went well but not without some truck trouble. Despite that, I thought I’d give towing another try and pull it from Sebastian Inlet to Kissimme, FL. About a 2 hour drive.
All was going well for about the first 30 minutes when the noise we thought was something stuck in the right front truck tire or hubcap for the last 2 weeks finally revealed what it was. …
Fishing at Sebastian Inlet, Florida & Towing tale #1
January 2nd is a day I’ll always remember because it was the first time I drove the truck and towed the 5th wheel on public roads from Port Canaveral to Sebastian Inlet.
I was truly scared shitless to do it, almost chickened out but Dave “insisted” I give it a try and I’m glad he did. …
December in Port Canaveral, FL
Spent December on the beach at Jetty Park in Port Canaveral, FL. The campground is in a great location, our site was only a 5 min walk to the beach or to the fishing pier. And, as you can see by the pic above, we were really close to all the cruise ships that depart and arrive from this port.
Anastasia State Park - St. Augustine Beach, FL
We managed to book 4 nights at this popular state park way back in September....that’s the longest stretch we could get for a trailer our size. Sites for big rigs like ours are limited and apparently in high demand.
This was our first time at this park and it’s by far one of the nicest Florida State parks we’ve stayed in. …
American Thanksgiving in Georgia
Once again, we forgot all about the US Thanksgiving holiday long weekend in November. Going camping seems to be the way a lot of southerners prefer to spend this long weekend so campgrounds, especially the popular ones right on the beach, get booked months in advance.
But lucked out and found 5 nights available over the holiday at Fort McAllister Historic State park in Richmond Hill, Georgia, about 40 minutes south of Savannah. …
Back to the Beach! Murrell’s Inlet, SC
Spent the past 2 weeks at the beach in Huntington Beach State Park, Murrell’s Inlet, South Carolina. The weather has been perfect! Sunny every day, highs ranging from the high 50’sF to the high 70’s. In fact, today it was about 80! Compared to the cold, dreary weather we experienced last year coming down the east coast, this has been glorious!
Can you say BRRRR! Smoky Mountains, TN
Today was our last full day in the Smoky Mountains and last night it went down to 27F. Lots of frost this morning but it was sunny and this aft, the forecast high was going up to a balmy 53F in the valley in Pigeon Forge where we’ve been staying for the last week.
But...no way was it that warm where we spent 4.5 hours today. …
Real Camping! Cumberland Gap National Park
Now this is more like it! Nice big campsites with actual forest between neighbours! Even the sound of nearby traffic that carried in from the highway was more soothing than screaming kids high on sugar! :-)
This was our second time at this park (located where Kentucky, Tennessee & Virginia intersect), we enjoyed it so much in March 2009 (see old blog) that we had to come back. …
Road trip #3 begins!
Crossed the border into the US on Oct 17th, made a quick overnight stop in Lansing Michigan and then headed to Elkhart, Indiana. This town is where most of the RVs in North America are made so there’s lots of good places to buy RV stuff. In fact, the main reason we came here again was to pick up a Onan generatorfor our trailer. …