Friends, family and critters
Since we’ve been back in Ontario, we’ve hooked up with lots of family and friends and their pets. Great catching up with everyone! I didn’t take pictures everywhere we went but of those I did, here’s a few of the better ones.
Had a great Thanksgiving weekend with Dave’s family, thanks for the awesome meal Ruth!
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New trailer, more space!!!
In the past 6 months Dave and I have learned a lot about life on the road....so far:
- WE LOVE IT! NO REGRETS!
- We kept too many clothes from our former life, still trying to wear out some of those old T-shirts so we can invest in much more practical, technical wear.
Vanessa & Stuart’s wedding
Glad that we made it back to Ontario in time for Vanessa (our niece) & Stuart’s wedding. It was held on the country property (just outside of Newmarket) of her parents (Dave’s brother Al and his wife Gloria).
The weather co-operated the week before the big day so that guys could build the wedding hall (on the driveway) and the girls could decorate the structure. …
Back in Ontario!
So today we made it back into our home province of ON!
When we left Regina yesterday, we went on the road for about 10 hrs (including a few stops) and ended up at a small RV park in Manitoba, about 1/2 hr from the Ontario border. Long day! Figures the place we randomly stopped at gave us a pretty nice site on the river, which we didn’t really didn’t have time to enjoy...we just parked, ate and crashed.
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Saskatchewan prairies
Didn’t really have much time to check out the prairies so only stopped twice in SK. First stop was at a small RV park just off the Trans Canada highway in a small valley near Maple Creek.
About an hour south of where we were staying was Cypress Hills interprovincial park (it’s in both AB and SK). …
The BADlands
So after Jasper we made our way back south down the Ice fields parkway and then headed east. We ended up in Rocky Mountain House AB for a couple of nights, camped out in Marina & Anthony’s backyard in the country. They’re the couple we met in White Salmon, Washington! …
Jasper - Wildlife & Mountains Galore!!!
So we headed up the Ice fields parkway from Lake Louise to Jasper and got a site out at the Whistlers campground about 3K south of Jasper. Big place, almost 800 sites but only 177 with electricity. Again, only 1 of 2 campgrounds in the entire park that had showers so it’s popular. …
Camping at Lake Louise, Banff National Park - Alberta
When we left Revelstoke, we had no reservations but hoped to get in at the Lake Louise trailer park in Banff National Park in Alberta. We lucked out and got in for 5 nights, not quite sure how that happened because almost every night after that the campground was full. …
Mainland British Columbia
Since we left Vancouver Island on July 20th, we’ve been heading east across BC.
The ferry ride over to the mainland was much more enjoyable than the one from the states to the island. The weather was hot and sunny and we managed to spend the entire 90 minute trip on deck...some great scenery but no whales. …
Back home to Canada!
Hi everyone! On July 7th. we left Port Angeles, Washington on the ferry and headed over to Victoria, BC. Our first trip on a ferry and while the ride was uneventful, the weather sucked. Cold, damp and rainy...temp in the low teens (centigrade) but it felt even more miserable after a month and half of hot sunny days, none below 30 C! …
White Salmon, Washington
So we spent this past week, which was hot (90-100F) and sunny every single day, at an RV park in White Salmon, Washington with some old friends, Chris & Ian and where we met some new ones.
The park is right on the Columbia Gorge, just opposite of Hood River, Oregon where it’s a mecca for kite board fanatics (Ian is learning to be one!) …
Made it out of the Desert!
So since we left Vegas, we’ve been driving thru miles and miles of Nevada desert on our way northwest. Hot as hell and not a lot of interesting places to stop on the way so we’ve done a few hotel overnighters.
First night we stopped at a small hotel in Hawthorne, Nevada....about a 7 hour drive from Vegas. …
Vegas Baby!
Made it to Vegas...hot as hell! 100 degrees the first day, 104 the second. And forget what they tell you about dry heat, yeah it’s not humid but I think I prefer hot and sticky vs. hot and dry. First of all the skin feels much better in the humidity, so do the sinuses! …
Grand Canyon
So we ended up in a small RV park in Williams, Arizona about a 45 minute drive to the Grand Canyon. It was nothing fancy but a decent place to park the trailer while we played tourist and went to the Grand Canyon.
We lucked out, the $25 park entrance was waived on Father’s day as a way to help local people enjoy their own backyard during these tough economic times.
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7 States in 8 days
So we left Alabama on June 11, now today, 8 days later, we’ve been in and thru 7 states:
June 11 - Alabama to Mississippi
June 13 - Mississippi to Louisiana then Arkansas
June 16 - Arkansas to Oklahoma
June 19 - Oklahoma to Texas then to New Mexico
Tonight we’re in a hotel in Santa Rosa, New Mexico, time to get caught up on email, update the website, do laundry etc. …
Red Rock Canyon State Park - Oklahoma
Did another 6+ hour drive to make up time and ended up at Red Rock Canyon State Park in Oklahoma. Neat spot, we literally camped in the canyon, right up against red rock walls. Thought it would be really hot but there’s been a decent breeze most of the time...thank god because by noon, it’s one stinking hot breeze and there’s no where to swim!
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Arkansas Diamonds
While we were in Mississippi, Dave started a conversation with our next door camping neighbour about the shoe thief (it didn’t strike them...again, don’t know why we were targeted?) and it turns out he was from Louisiana. Super nice guy but boy did he have some southern accent and a classic mullet, hair down to the middle of his back to go with it....wish I could have figured out a way to discreetly take a picture!
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Mississippi Shoe Fetish!
So the hamstring injury has put us about 2 weeks behind schedule so we only spent 2 nights in Mississippi on our way out west. Good thing because some 4 legged (we hope) creature has a shoe fetish! I kid you not!
We stopped at the Roosevelt State Park (nice campsites!) …
Bye Alabama!
Finally, after 2 weeks, the not so quiet neighbourhood in Prattville, Alabama can return to normal now that those two Canadians have left. Time for all of us to detox! :-) Many glasses of wine & beer have been consumed over these past 2 weeks during some excellent meals and conversation. …
Hamstring update
Finally got into see a Dr on Friday and he confirmed that Dave does have a Grade 3 hamstring pull, the most severe it can be. They took a couple of X-rays to make sure the muscle was still attached to the bone and it is. No missing bone fragments either so it’s all good! …
Sweet home Alabama.....for maybe longer than we thought!
Finally hooked up with my cousin Tom, his wife Michelle and their 3 kids, Cameron, Heidi and Andrea in Alabama. It’s been years since we’ve seen them so it’s been a great opportunity to visit and catch up. They’ve been living here for around 5 years now so they’re almost “locals”! :-)
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Georgia
Since we were on our way to my cousin Tom’s place in Prattville Alabama, we stopped for a couple of nights at the Georgia Veterans State Park near Cordele, Georgia. Turns out that weather system we thought we had avoided in Florida was now swirling around there. …
Amelia Island - Florida
For once the crappy weather actually worked to our advantage! The Friday before the US memorial day long weekend I managed to get a 3 day reservation at Fort Clinch State park on Amelia Island, right on the eastern Florida/Georgia border. Someone must have just cancelled because of all the rain. …
Back in Soggy Florida!
We left the Costa Rica rainy season only to arrive back into a very soggy Orlando. Trip back was uneventful despite the major weather system in Florida. All our stuff was just as we’d left it (YAY!) and the weather gods actually gave us a bit of break and let us get set up in the campground in drizzle vs. torrential rain.
…The Costa Rica Blog & Album
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 house sitting adventure in Costa Rica. Take a look.
Sarasota/Orlando - Florida
We stayed at this HUGE RV park in Sarasota for a week but the only reason we picked it was because it was only a 10 minute drive out to the millionaire’s condo on Lido Key where Dave’s family were staying. 7 of them came down to help celebrate Pat’s 60th birthday and we surprised her by also showing up. …
Cedar Key - Florida
Took about 7 hours to drive here from Topsail...longer than we normally like to drive but it was worth it.
Cedar Key is a really laid back, fishing focused island about 2 hours north of Sarasota. We stayed at our first privately owned RV park here and although we were expecting very little privacy on the sites, there was ZERO privacy. …
Topsail Hill Preserve State Park - Florida
Wow was this a nice park....expensive at $38/night but we got our money’s worth. Hydro, water, sewer and cable hook ups at each site.
The park itself was spotless, they had staff out daily picking up debris on the sites and they used leaf blowers to clean the park roads. …
Navarre Beach - Florida Panhandle
After almost 3 days off torrential rain and thunderstorms, tornado watches and flash flood warnings, the sun came out this afternoon and it felt fantastic! Being cooped up in the trailer during all that wasn’t really our idea of fun but hey, it’s all part of the journey I guess! …
FLORIDA!
Hi y’all! We made it to Florida! We’re “roughing it” at the Milton Gulf Pines KOA (www.gulfpinesrv.com) until March 29. We have cable hook up and internet access so we can get caught up on email and update the website. We picked this place just for that reason. …
Mobile Alabama and area
Arrived in Mobile Alabama on March 23rd and decided to stay for 3 nights at an “urban” RV park in the suburb of Chickasabogue. It actually had nice, big spacious sites, lots of trees between sites for privacy. It was pretty quiet there (no screaming children) even though it’s spring break for some Alabama counties but you could hear the traffic and sirens....when the rain wasn’t pounding on the trailer. …
Isaac Creek Campground - Franklin, Alabama
Headed about two hours further south and spent another 3 nights at Isaac Creek Campground, still in rural Alabama.
It was a nice drive on one of the curviest roads (#41) we travelled on. The host at the previous park we were at said he thought it was the worst engineered road he’d been on. …
Prairie Creek Campground - Benton, Alabama
Man can it rain in the south! It’s been 5 days since we’ve seen the sun and boy has it been nice to dry out. It’s now perfect, warm, spring weather, enjoying every minute!
We’ve been at this campground in rural Alabama (Closest big city is Montgomery) for 6 days. …
Cumberland Gap National Park - Kentucky, Tennesse & Virginia
Got here On Sunday and stayed 5 nights. The weather the first part of the week was almost summerish (almost 80 F, 26 C) and ended almost winterish...it was actually freezing rain, semi hail yesterday. YUCK! Isn’t that why we left the cold frigging NORTH??
We were so impressed this park, nice campsites...big and relatively private. …
WE’RE FINALLY ON THE ROAD!
We left Aurora yesterday and spent last night at my cousin Heather’s in Windsor. It was great to get a quick visit in with her and her family before we left.
This morning we crossed the border at Detroit and drove to just south of Dayton, Ohio where we’re crashing for the night. …
Where are we??
For those of you wondering where Dave and I are, we’re still in Ontario. We just finished a 10 day house/cat/dog sitting for my sister-in-law Ruth. She and her husband just got back yesterday from Barbados, yes we’re jealous.
So when are we actually going to get on the road and on with this adventure? …
HOUSE SITTING IN WATERLOO
Started house/cat/dog sitting for a week for my friend Ina today while she and her kids went to Mexico. Timing was perfect because we still had some loose ends to tie up before we actually got on the road.
The week flew by, managed to catch up with some friends while we were back in town but not nearly long enough to touch base with everyone. …
PANAMA
After having the auction, moving and quitting our jobs we thought we’d splurge and go on our first 2 week long vacation to an all inclusive, somewhere hot. We got a great deal for the Royal Decameron resort in Panama for the middle of January and boy was it hot. …
HOLIDAY VISITS
Once we left Cambridge, we started on our holiday road trip to visit family. We started in Bright’s Grove, then headed for North Bay for a few days, over to Ottawa, and then back to Newmarket/Aurora. It was great to see everyone!
While in Ottawa, something I’ve always wanted to do was skate on the Rideau Canal. …
HOUSE SITTING IN CAMBRIDGE
Moved in with friends Linda and Wilf for a week before they left for their 6 week vacation to Australia and New Zealand. Thanks guys!
We had quite a few things to do after the sale of the farm and quitting work so house sitting for them worked out perfect for all of us.
THE FARM IS SOLD! MOVING DAY!
Today was our last day at the farm....moving day.
It was a lot of hard work to get to this point (especially getting ready for the auction) and we were exhausted both mentally and physically. I think I only got an hour and half of sleep last night, Dave only a couple of hours more.
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