December 30/12 - Phoenix AZ

Well, we are now in Phoenix so hopefully we will be in Yuma around noon tomorrow, we probably won't head out until about 9 am so as to miss Phoenix rush hour traffic! At least we are only two miles from 101, that is the ring road around Phoenix, so once we get on that it shouldn't be too bad to get out of town.

This morning the weather channel was calling for a winter storm to hit Flagstaff late this afternoon so we debated heading south at Albuquerque, but when we got to Albuquerque it looked fine to the west so we decided to head for Flagstaff. The weather was great all the way to Flagstaff, but just as we got there we had a bit of a snow shower but we were going to be heading south, as well as downhill all the way to Phoenix, so I figured it would be okay. Well, between Flagstaff and Phoenix we had snow showers and some freezing rain but, fortunately, not enough to make for hazardous driving just nervous hoping it wouldn't get any worse.

We enjoyed reminiscing on the way to Flagstaff about all the places we had visited when we came home that way in 2006. We had never driven from Flagstaff to Phoenix before and today we were thankful we didn't have the trailer as there are a lot of twists and turns as well as lots of steep downhill grades. For sure if we ever come back with the trailer we will take the more southern route!

Love The Scenery

Flagstaff Area with San Francisco Mountains

Today the temperature yo-yoed all over the place, it was -2C (27F) when we left Santa Rosa and we hit a high of 10C (50F) at Holbrook AZ but in between of these high and lows it was all over the place. It was only 8C (46F) when we arrived here, pretty cool for Phoenix!

Tonight we are at a Drury Inn again and still the same great deal as at Joplin, the only difference is that at dinner in Joplin it was pretty well all older people whereas tonight it was mainly families with very noisy young children. The food was good but we didn't linger long with all the noise, wonder if it will be as noisy at breakfast!

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

December 29/12 - Santa Rosa NM

Well, another day done and we travelled 1045 km, a record day for us!

This morning we started out with a great breakfast with many choices of cereal, fruit, yogurt, all kinds of bread, bagels etc., scrambled eggs, home fries, sausage patties and biscuits and gravy. Lots of juice & hot coffee to wash it down.

Kel, to answer your question re the three free drinks last night there were lots of choices with the draft beer being Bud Light, and all kinds of wine & liquor - even Margaritas, plus non alcoholic drinks.

When we got in the truck at 8 am this morning the temperature was -8C (17F) - BRRRR!! We had to put on gloves until the truck warmed up and we were really glad we had brought anything that could freeze into the hotel last night.

Today's drive was pretty boring going through the Great Plains, very flat for miles on end, we saw lots of hay bales, some cotton bales and lots of cattle. Tulsa and Oklahoma City were a breeze, the bonus of going through on a Saturday! Amarillo is quite spread out and it was fairly busy going through there. There is a huge windmill area around Weatherford OK, we saw that back in 2006. Today we came across miles and miles of windmills just east of Amarillo, we hadn't seen them before and were surprised at how many there were and that they were pretty well all moving.

The high temperature today was 9C (48F) and it was sunny all day. At different times we saw a fair bit of snow in the ditches but the roads were dry and good all day. By the time we stopped tonight it was -1C so I think it will be another chilly night.

Originally we had planned on stopping in Tucumcari NM for the night but when we crossed into New Mexico we changed to Mountain Time and gained another hour so decided to come on to Santa Rosa. We are now two hours behind home in time.

We stopped at the New Mexico Welcome Centre and a man came over to John and asked if we had been in Joplin last night. Turns out they also stayed at the Drury Inn last night and he remembered John and even funnier they are from Hamilton ON. They also left on Thursday and are headed for Green Valley, AZ, south of Tucson. At least I knew where Green Valley is as one of the volunteers at the Grand River Cancer Centre goes there so we have had a few chats about Arizona over the last year.

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

December 28/12 - We Are Now In Joplin MO

We are now in Joplin, Missouri, about 8 miles east of the Oklahoma border. Today was overcast all day, with a bit of snow west of Saint Louis and again at Springfield, but thankfully nothing too bad. Once we got to Effingham IL there was no sign of snow on the ground, and even though it was snowing at Springfield there was just a trace on the ground there. The drive was good with little traffic and thankfully Saint Louis was a breeze.

We are at the Drury Inn & Suites, a chain that Ginny & Gil recommended. For $70/night we have a really nice room and we got tickets for 3 free drinks each, plus dinner and breakfast. Dinner was a buffet with salad, cream of broccoli soup, penne pasta, meatballs, hot dogs and all kinds of chips and dips - can't go wrong! A couple from just south of Chicago asked us to join them for dinner as it was really busy, so we had a great chat, they have their RV with them but are motelling it on their way to San Antonio for the winter.

Will be an early night as for some reason I find travelling very tiring. How can that be when I just sit in the truck all day!

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

December 27/12 - On Our Way to Yuma

Today we headed out for Yuma, hopefully for three months. We were a bit concerned about what the roads would be like after last night's snow storm but they were fine and about Flint, MI the sun came out and stayed out the rest of the day.

We cleared Indianapolis and are in Plainfield IN for the night. We didn't bring the Airstream on this trip as we have the house in Yuma and planned on doing straight runs coming and going so it seemed to be better to do the trip without the trailer, but sure do miss it when it comes time to stop for the night. Motels aren't our favourite but guess we can suck it up for a few nights!

It's been a long day so time to get to bed.

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Home Again

I thought I had better get this updated and sign off. We had three nights in Ottawa but it rained most of the time so we didn’t do a whole lot. We stayed at Recreationland RV Park near Rockton, a nice little park and at $31/night (plus tax) the price wasn’t too bad. It was another $2/day for wi-fi but it worked pretty good so I didn’t mind paying the extra.

Saturday night we took Serita and Derrick out for dinner and it was so nice to see them again – we haven’t seen Derrick since Christmas and Serita since Easter, too long a time.

Sunday we went to Port Perry to Goreski Marina and RV Park, not a nice park by any means and at $45/night for hydro and water only, a real rip off as far as we were concerned. Of course wi-fi was totally unavailable! Unfortunately there are very few choices in that area and we wanted to visit our daughter Kel so that is the only reason we even stayed there.

We got set up at Goreski’s then went over to Kel’s about 4, we had a great visit and our daughter Nancy and her husband Carl came for dinner so we had a good time – sure do love to see our kids! We also got to see our granddaughter Cara for a bit before she went to work. It was neat – we got to see all three of our children just before we left on our trip and the girls at the end of our trip.

Monday, yesterday, we got back to Kincardine around 1:30, it was nice to be back but we sure enjoyed our trip and look forward to getting out again soon.

Today we took the trailer to London to get the leak in the black water tank fixed then on home to Woodstock. Tomorrow we will head up to Kincardine again and look forward to our time there until the park closes in mid October.

We travelled 8000+ kilometers on our trip and had a wonderful time and are looking forward to getting out again in mid September.

A Couple of Travel Days

We waved a fond farewell to Prince Edward Island yesterday, (Tuesday), as we started our journey home. The Trans Canada in New Brunswick is a really good highway so it was an easy travel day. We stopped about 3 pm at out favourite campground in Woodstock and as always enjoyed the view of the river.

Today we travelled to Levis and once we left New Brunswick the road wasn't nearly as good - it was very inconsistent with some really good sections and some god awful ones!
We arrived in Levis and unhooked then went into town to get fuel and groceries. Diesel was $1.309/liter, very painful, but still a lot better than gas which was $1.429/liter - ouch!

Tomorrow it is off to Ottawa for three nights and we are looking forward to dinner with our grandson and niece on Saturday night.

And so ends a couple more great gifts of days and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Some Quiet Days

I guess it’s been a few days since I did a posting but we haven’t done anything very exciting to blog about.

On Wednesday it rained in the afternoon but stopped around four so Leonard came by and said happy hour would be here at 5 as from here he could still keep an eye on the office. We had six people, including John and I, and around 7 Mish left then about 7:30 we moved inside as it was getting cool, Leonard, Brent & Krista left at 9 so I am presuming a good time was had by all. Lots of laughs and Airstream talk.

Thursday morning I woke up to my knees and hips screaming at me, they didn’t like the dampness from sitting out on Wednesday night! I rained most of the day so we didn’t do much but did go to North Rustico in the afternoon and bought some fresh shrimp for dinner.

Friday was a nice day so we went into Charlottetown and picked up a couple of groceries, went to the liquor store and Canadian Tire. My stomach was upset all day so I wasn’t feeling like doing much more than that, actually I slept a fair bit of the day and food wasn’t on my agenda – I had yogurt for breakfast and a Mars Bar for dinner - and yes in my opinion Chocolate is one of the food groups.

Yesterday was another nice day but quite hot. It was a big race day at the racetrack next door and the park is full this weekend with people coming for the races. We wondered how much noise we would hear from the cars but were pleasantly surprised that we didn’t hear much, probably because the wind was blowing the noise away and there are a lot of trailers between us and the track to help block the noise. Tuesday night the noise was a lot worse from the practice runs!

Mish came down this afternoon and said the noise was quite loud at their place but then they are right at that end of the park.

Today, Sunday, is another beautiful day. We are going to go to North Rustico to get lobsters for dinner and Mish and Larry are coming down this afternoon for a drink, not too much excitement. Lots of rigs pulling out this morning, it has surprised us how quiet the park is even when full. The sites are quite large and there is a huge field between our row and the one behind us so nobody is right in your face here, although the seasonal sites are closer to each other.

And so ends many more great gifts of days and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

A Touring Day

Yesterday was a quiet day, we didn’t do much but went into Charlottetown in the afternoon as the pantry badly needed restocking.

We have gone three weeks without a TV but John decided if we were going to be here for over a week a TV would be nice so that was also on the shopping agenda. I was talking to Leonard in the morning and as well as owning and running this park he and Michael work at Sears, and Leonard mentioned that they had a couple of good sales on TV’s so that was where we went. We got a nice 22” LG LED TV at a good price and it has a great picture so we are pleased.

Today was a gorgeous day so we decided to drive to the east end of the island. We drove as far as Souris, a very pretty town on the Strait of Northumberland, but decided there wasn’t a lot more to see so at the end of the island so that was as far as we went.

We had lunch in Souris, a yummy bowl of clam chowder and watched the ferry come in from Isle de la Madeline, a 134 km trip. There were a lot of vehicles that came off and we were surprised at the number of RV’s that came off and were waiting to go over as it would be a very expensive trip and like Newfoundland there is only one way over and one way back.

Ferry

Looking Across Harbour at Souris

Historical Souris Lighthouse

We then headed back and took some of the scenic roads but there is nothing scenic until you get to the small town at the end of the road if it is on the water. We stopped in Montague for a bit, a pretty town with a pretty harbor, then home from there. It was a nice day and we thought it would be good to get it done before the weekend traffic starts and when the weather was so great as tomorrow it is supposed to rain.

Montague

Leonard is planning on having a happy hour tomorrow night with a couple of other Airstream owners here in the park so that should be interesting, hopefully it won’t be raining then!

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Annapolis Royal to PEI

Today was decision time, with next weekend being the long weekend we had to decide where we wanted to spend it as by Friday night we knew we wouldn’t be able to find a site very easily. After discussion we decided to go back to Prince Edward Island until after the long weekend so today was a travel day from Annapolis Royal back to Bayside Campground on PEI. Thankfully when you are travelling around plans are usually made in jello and easily changed, as when we left here we had no thoughts of returning until hopefully next summer.

The park here is busier than it was but it is still nice and quiet, a welcome change from Nova Scotia.

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Annapolis Royal

Today was a hot sunny day, the warmest day we have had in a long time but actually too hot for my liking.

We headed out this morning and drove to Port Royal where Champlain landed in 1609.

After walking around there we went back to Annapolis Royal, found a parking spot and walked around. We were surprised at how quiet it was, we had expected it to be much busier, especially for a Saturday.

Looking Across the River at Annapolis Royal

We toured the second oldest house in North America and they had cut out the walls so you could see it the actual construction of houses in those day, very interesting. After wandering the main street we stopped for lunch at a little café and by then I had had enough – time to head home as the heat was getting the better of me.

The park we were in was very quiet until yesterday when the weekenders started to arrive, unfortunately we have the Beverley Hillbillies on one side and Samson and son on the other. We won’t be sorry to leave in the morning, unfortunately we have found Nova Scotia campgrounds to be a lot like Ontario ones – overpriced and not great! This park advertised wi-fi and the owner told us if we couldn’t get it at our site we could get it at the office, well was he pipe dreaming as we couldn’t even get a good connection there.

Tonight it started to rain about 7:30 so slowed down the noise and fires.

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Touring Annapolis Valley

Today was another overcast day for most of the day but it did clear off about 4:30, fortunately we didn’t have much rain, just a couple of drizzles and the temperature was in the low 20’s, so not too bad.

This morning we went to the café here at the park for breaksfast and had their special that was very good. Also got on the wi-fi while there so got caught up with the blog, news etc.

After breakfast we crossed over McKenzie Mountain to the Bay of Fundy and drove along the bay till the end of the road, then had to turn around and retrace our steps. We then drove to Digby via the scenic route, Hwy. 1, toured around Digby then drove out to Lighthouse Road to Prims Point. We saw Prims Light Station – another lighthouse in a sad state of repair but still a working lighthouse and from there we watched the St. John/Digby ferry, Princess Acadia, come into port. Then it was off for a drive along the spit of land going out of Digby that looked like it might be a scenic drive but like most of the scenic drives here it was mostly forest. When we got to Digby Neck/Sandy Cove we turned around and headed back but that was the prettiest part of the drive.

Views from Prims Point

Digby Neck

Coming back in to Annapolis Royal there was an outdoor store that John thought looked interesting so we stopped and wandered through there – lots of guns, ammunition and anything hunting that you could possibly want but not my cup of tea.

We came back to the trailer and watched the weekenders roll in, sure not like the 55+ parks in the sunny southwest! Oh well, as long as they are reasonably quiet and don’t party all night it won’t be a problem.

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

The Evangeline Trail

Today was pretty much overcast and cool, we had a few drops of rain when we were at Yarmouth, then the sun came out on the way home and it was really nice.

We drove the Evangeline Trail from here to Yarmouth, what a pretty, scenic drive through mostly Acadian Nova Scotia. We went through lots of pretty little towns, saw a lot of interesting wharfs with large fish processing plants and a couple of majestic churches with awesome spires.

A Sad Looking Lighthouse

Interesting Yard Decorations

We stopped in one little town and walked down to the beach, the air temperature was 19 and the water was 16 but there were still quite a few people on the beach and in the water – brrrrr, much braver souls than us!

We stopped in Yarmouth for lunch and did a bit of grocery shopping then it was back home on Hwy. 101, not nearly as scenic a drive as the Evangeline Trail but much faster.

The internet is sort of working tonight so I managed to get yesterday’s blog posted but don’t know if it will last long enough to do todays.

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Truro to Annapolis Royal

Yesterday was a cool, wet day so we didn’t do much – got caught up on laundry, cleaning and reading.

Today was cloudy first thing but by 10 am the sun had come out and it turned into a lovely day with temperatures in the low 20’s. We drove the scenic route from Truro to Annapolis Royal, the Glooscap Trail along the Minas Basin, a very scenic drive. The tide was out so lots of wet sand.

Views Along the Way

We got set up at Dunromin Campground at Annapolis Royal then took a drive into town, it is a pretty town with a lot of historical buildings so will go in another day and walk around and check things out.

The internet here is typical – not good, so I don’t know if I will be able to get this posted without going up to the office, if I have to go up there it won’t be done until tomorrow as I am settled in for the evening.

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Whycocomagh to Truro

Yesterday was a quiet day, I was quite tired so we just took it easy for the day, in the afternoon we went out and fuelled up then stopped at the Farmer’s Market where I got a new rug for the entry to the trailer and John bought me an ice cream cone – yum. I got my blog and pictures done from Saturday and our trip around the Cabot Trail.

Today was a travel day, but not a real long one, we are at Scotia Pine Campground just south of Truro. We got here in lots of time to get set up and then go into Truro to see the tidal bore, we also decided to stay for two nights and go into Halifax for the day tomorrow.

Before the Tide Came In

Tide Coming In

Scotia Pine Campground

We keep saying what a small world this is and today was another example. When we got back from going into Truro we had new neighbours from Ontario so I started talking to the fellow and asked where they were from, turns out they are from Bradford/West Gwillimbury and his sister was a member of council when I was treasurer for West Gwillimbury and we know many people he knows.

The wi-fi here isn’t good so I don’t know if I will get this posted tonight, we sure are getting frustrated with the wi-fi in the parks, when you check in they say sure we have wi-fi, but, it isn’t working very good for some reason or another – grrrr!

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

The Cabot Trail

Today was a gorgeous day, sunny and bright but not too hot, a perfect day for touring the Cabot Trail. We picked Nancy & Dave up about 9:30 and headed out and had a great day with lots of sight seeing stops, checked out a few stores, had a nice lunch with a great view and ended up back at their park where we had dinner in the park restaurant.

Jelly Fish at Elizabethtown

The Cabot Trail

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

The Ceilidh Trail

Today was a funny day, the coolest day we have had since leaving home, it was mainly cloudy with a few sunny breaks and the odd shower thrown in. The high was only about 18C, my first day wearing jeans and a sweatshirt.

I had an e-mail from Nancy Robinson that they had checked into a campground near Baddeck so we stopped to see them for a few minutes on our way to tour the Ceilidh Trail and made arrangements to pick them up tomorrow morning to do the Cabot Trail.

We took the Cabot Trail over to Margaree Harbour then headed south on the Ceilidh Trail, a nice drive but the road was pretty rough in spots. We drove into MacLeod’s Campground at Dunvegan where we stayed almost 40 years ago, still a pretty view out over the ocean, and Margaree Island, but not worth $41.40/night for a 15 amp hook-up with no sewers. We drove down as far as Mabou where we had lunch, then came home, a nice drive.

Margaree Harbour and Lighthouse

Margaree Island

Mabou Harbour Lighthouse

We can’t get the wi-fi at the trailer so are at the clubhouse where it is working fine, just a pain not to be able to do it at home.

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.