Tuesday -May 6, 2008

Wow, what a busy week we have had and no wifi! We arrived in Kincardine on Thursday morning, parked our Airstream in a pull thru spot in the back, and the fun of moving into our new digs began (we have bought a Park Model trailer for our summers here in Kincardine). The new “cottage” is completely furnished except for a bed so our first errand on Thursday was to go and buy a bed and arrange delivery, which they could do Saturday morning.

Our New "Cottage"



The couple we bought this from are friends and had left all their shed stuff in the shed for the winter and we had stored all our “clean” shed stuff in the bedroom so they arrived on Friday morning to close the sale and move their stuff out of the shed so we could move our stuff out of the bedroom and start moving in; and guess what we have been doing for the last few days!! I would never have believed how much STUFF we had in the Airstream, we have almost completely unloaded it and will sort through over the summer and hopefully the next time we go “on the road” we will be much lighter.

Yesterday we had appointments in Kitchener/Waterloo so it was nice to take a day off from organizing the new place. Today was another busy day but I did manage to spend a bit of time getting hooked back up to the internet and answer some e-mails. All of the blogs I read are over a week behind so it will take time to catch up on what is happening with those folks.

As always we thoroughly enjoyed our winter in the south and saw a lot of nice places on the way home. We are very thankful we didn’t run into any of the terrible storms that have been hitting the U.S. and that we had a good, safe trip home. It is kind of nice to think about sitting still for a bit but I know after a couple of months hitch-itch will start again!!

This will be my last posting until we go out again, hopefully in mid to late August we will head out for a few weeks, where is still up in the air, we will have to see what the cost of diesel is by then.

And so ends many great gifts of days and we look forward to the mystery of tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after and so on.

Tuesday -April 29, 2008

Wow, what a change in temperature, today didn’t get over 46F (8C) and even though it was sunny it was still cold.

We are now back in Ontario and our crossing at Sarnia was real quick – where do you live, how long have you been gone and how much are you bringing back – goodbye. We are at a park at Reese’s Corners which is about 20km east of Sarnia and will be here until Thursday morning when we go to Kincardine. We are parked beside Shirley and Harry who also have a seasonal site at Green Acres in Kincardine and like us are waiting here for May 1st when they open.

Welcome back to Ontario, wifi is $5 cash/night; other than Green Acres at Kincardine we have not found many really nice campgrounds in Ontario and they are all way over priced for what they offer but I won’t start on this rant now.

John called his brother and we are going into Sarnia tomorrow afternoon then going out for dinner with them so are looking forward to a visit with them.

Monday -April 28, 2008

As predicted yesterday, today was much cooler than we have been used to but I think we had better suck it up and get used to it. I did wear capris and a T-shirt with blouse over top all day and was comfortable but it has really cooled off in the last couple of hours.

This morning we went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast, we can’t remember the last time we had breakfast there and quite enjoyed it. After that we hit Wal Mart and Kroger’s to finish up our shopping, I really like Kroger’s yogurt so managed to stock up a bit as it was on for 10 for $4. When we got back I did laundry, now we will be good until we get back to Kincardine.

Once I finished the laundry John decided to get us hooked up in case it is raining in the morning and wouldn’t you know it, it started to rain while he was hooking up. Fortunately, it was just a few drops so not too bad and he is insisting on barbecuing tonight so I do hope it doesn’t rain while he is doing that. The cold will be bad enough!

It seems funny to have to use the furnace and heater again and the electric blanket has certainly felt good the last couple of nights.

I just got on the internet to post yesterday’s diary and pictures so here’s hoping it is still working so I can get this posted.

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

Sunday -April 27, 2008

We are into cooler weather now, I think this will be the last day for shorts and T-shirts for a while! It did get up to about 18C on the truck today but pretty well stuck around 16C, we had sun until early this afternoon but after that it was mostly overcast. The trees here are just coming into bloom with a lot of them still having bare branches; but there is a profusion of dandelions.

Our Spot at Cave City KY



This Is an Amusement Area at Cave City



Today was the big cities day, Louisville was quite quiet and Indianapolis the same so we didn’t mind going through them, we have found that it is easier to do the big cities on Saturday or Sunday when there isn’t much traffic rather than a week day. Fort Wayne didn’t have a lot of traffic but there was construction – there has been construction there for at least three years now so what else is new!!

Downtown Louisville



Bridge Over Ohio River (We Are in Indiana When we Cross the Bridge)



We are in Auburn, IN and will be here for two nights as there is a bit of shopping we want to do tomorrow then we will head out on Tuesday. I don’t know how we are going to make out with the wifi as the lady said she is having trouble with it so we will have to wait and see. Today is the closure of our loop – we stayed here our first night out – Nov. 14/07 and are back today having traveled a total of 16,080 km in that time.

I am doing this early so that hopefully I can get it posted. We are now on EST so it is nice not to have to worry about time differences when calling home, the first time since November.

I guess I had better think about dinner, probably burgers on the barbecue, that is easy and hopefully John won’t freeze cooking them!! And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to the mystery of tomorrow.

NOTE: I couldn't get on the internet last night so had to wait until Monday to post this.

Saturday - April 26, 2008aa

Well, we did get rain last night but nothing serious, it rained for a few hours during the night and we heard a bit of thunder off in the distance but that was it. Fortunately it had stopped when we got up so John didn’t wet getting us ready for the road!! By late morning the sun had come out and the high on the truck thermometer today was 74F – perfect.

We took the trace to within 10 miles of the end at Nashville then cut up to I-40 to pick up I-65 north. The Trace drive was very pretty and today we met early spring in Alabama and Tennessee – the trees were just starting to bud and the wildflowers along the side of the road were starting to come out – they made a beautiful carpet along the shoulder! Closer to Nashville I saw my favourite spring flowers – lilacs, sure did enjoy the drive. We had two detours along the Trace but they were well signed and no big deal to do.

Flowers Along Trace



The Tennessee River



Gone Fishin



Along the Trace



Nashville



Tonight we are in a nice little park at Cave City, KY, we stopped here on our way home last year and had noted it as a good place for a stop over. There is free wifi but it seems quite slow so it will be interesting when I try to post my blog. Last night it took me forever to post my pictures so I don’t know what will happen tonight but if it seems to be taking too long I will probably just give up as I don’t have the patience for it.

The Departed is on TV so I have one eye on it and one eye on doing this so please forgive any typing or grammatical errors; once the movie is over I think it will be bedtime. And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to the mystery of tomorrow.

Friday - April 25, 2008

Last night we had a nice cool breeze coming in so it was a comfortable night for sleeping, thank goodness, as I haven’t slept well for about 5 nights! Today was another bright, sunny day but there was a lot less humidity and a nice breeze so it was a really great day.

We picked up the Natchez Trace about 15 miles north of where we stayed last night and enjoyed a nice peaceful drive to Tupelo MS (Elvis’s birthplace), the speed limit on the Trace is 50 mph so it is a bit slower going than other highways but the lack of traffic and nice scenery more than make up for the slower drive.

Here are some views of the Trace and one from an overlook









There are a few state parks and Trace parks along the way but they tend to have small sites so we opted to stop at a park in Tupelo, we got to the park, Campground at Barnes Crossing, about 2:30 and got the last site, so were glad we had decided to stop. The next park was about another 160 miles and we just didn’t feel like going that much further this afternoon.

After we finished checking in the woman suggested we keep an eye on Channel 6 as there is a slight possibility of severe thunderstorms tonight and hail – boy did that freak John but we finally decided to tough it out here as it looks like we won’t get too much bad weather.

The sites here are very large and there is free wifi so we are happy, after we got set up we enjoyed just sitting out and basking in the nice weather.

John Enjoying a Cold One



Looking Up the Road



Looking Down the Road




We even sat out after dinner for almost an hour, we really enjoyed it as it will probably be the last chance for a while! This park seems to be a mixture of seasonals and transients and is on lots of different levels, when we were sitting out we were looking over the roofs of the trailers on our curbside!

I have some route planning to do for tomorrow so had best get this posted then get at that. And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to the mystery of tomorrow.

Thursday - April 24, 2008

We awoke to another hot, sunny, humid day – sure do like the sun and warmth but I do hate the humidity. It was almost 10:30 before we got away, chatting as usual instead of driving down the road.

Kay and Bob are just an amazing couple and a joy to talk to, Kay is 80 and Bob is 84 and they are still enjoying being on the road in their Winnebago View. They were telling us last night at dinner that in 1972 Bob had bought a 31’ Airstream for $12,000 and they sold it in 2001 or 02 for $5,000 – guess that says why we like Airstreams!! They came over to say goodbye so I asked Kay if she would like to see inside our trailer so we ended up with everyone in the park having a tour. Pris’s parents had an Airstream years ago so she was quite interested in seeing what they are like today, and you know me, I never mind giving a tour. After the tour of our place we went over to see Kay & Bob’s View and were really impressed, they have had some custom work done and it is very roomy with lots of storage – we are keeping something like this in mind for when John no longer feels comfortable pulling the 34’ Airstream!!

We took kind of a long way around today but had an interesting drive, we went down to almost New Orleans then picked up I-55 North and are now just south of Jackson, MS. The water levels in Louisiana are very high and the bridge structures there are just phenomenal, I am sure there is no other state with as many bridges, let alone 10 – 15 mile bridges as Louisiana.

Crossing the Mississippi


Just One of Many Large Lakes


Here's One for Our Friend Terry


We are now at Byram, MS and it is a nice park but quite large, it appears that there are a lot of workers living here and a few families. There is no free wifi here and when we checked in the fellow gave us a pamphlet for Peristar, we handed it right back and said we wouldn’t touch them with a 10’ pole as we got burned by them last year in Texas; so I will have to wait until we have wifi to get this posted. Tonight will be TV (at least there is cable here so lots to choose from) and if I can’t find anything interesting there is always a good book.

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

Wednesday - April 23, 2008

Today was another sunny, hot, humid day – I hate to complain but I really am looking forward to a bit cooler days! This morning I got the garlic bread made for dinner and did a few odd jobs then this afternoon we went out and got some groceries and fueled up so we are set to go in the morning. I also found time to finish my book – Special Genius by David Baldacci, which was a good book.

About 4:30 we went over for happy hour and there were 4 new people who had come in today, Kay and Bob are from Tucson and Suzanne and Gary are from Florida.

Suzanne, Gary, Betty, Jim & Cookie


We had dinner shortly after 6 and it was awesome – Betty’s gumbo was out of this world, Cookie made a great potato salad and there was lots of garlic bread as both David and I made some. There were cookies, fruit and cheesecake for desert (David made the Cheesecake), so tons of food - everyone went away stuffed, and Betty gave out lots of left over gumbo so we are looking forward to another meal of it.

Rick and Brenda, the couple from Port Elgin, gave Betty this pair of underwear for her patio, sure are a conversation piece! Betty also collects license plates, she has all her customers who give her one sign them and she has them up on the patio rafters – neat!


This little lizard was climbing up the side of Betty's house


We sat out and visited till after 8, so now it is a bit of TV then off to bed. And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to the mystery of tomorrow.

Tuesday -April 22, 2008

Today was another hot, humid one but it was sunny all day. The couple beside us who are from Colorado left this morning so right now there are only three trailers left here but Betty said there are a couple more coming in tomorrow. She has 17 sites here and has been pretty full since last November so she is probably happy to see it slow down a bit.

Our Site at Betty's


I Love Her sign


Today was laundry day, there is no laundromat here at the park so I asked Cookie and Priscilla where they go and then headed out right after lunch to get it done. John stayed home as there is no use in the both of us sitting in the laundromat for an hour and half or so, actually I didn’t mind in the least as I took my book and it was really nice and cool in there so I actually felt comfortable for a while.

About 4:30 we went over for happy hour and as usual the conversation was lively and covered a lot of topics. About 6:15 Jim & Cookie, Dave & Priscilla and John and I headed out for a crawfish dinner; they all had recommended Black’s but when we got there they didn’t have any crawfish so we went to Cajun Claw and they did have them so John and I were real happy as we had been looking forward to a feast of crawfish for quite a while. Dinner was very good and it was made even better with good company. Betty had a cousin visiting and had invited her for dinner so she passed on joining us for crawfish.

Tomorrow night Betty is making gumbo for dinner and she needed smoked pork sausage for it so I said we would get that and I would make garlic bread so after dinner we went to the grocery store and got the sausage and bread. I need to pick up some more groceries tomorrow but Betty needs the sausage first thing in the morning so we figured it would be easier to get it tonight than have to run out first thing in the morning and get back with it.

It is almost bed time – where does the time go!! And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to the mystery of tomorrow.

Monday -April 21, 2008

Today was mainly overcast and very hot and HUMID – I just lose all ambition in the humidity so needless to say it was a very quiet day. John got our tax returns and my mom’s finished and filed so that is one job that he is glad to see done!

I did some vacuuming and dusting and other than that managed to spend the day doing a bit of this and a bit of that!!

Yesterday at happy hour the people here had told us about another restaurant for crawfish, Black’s, so we thought we would try that tonight. We decided we would go over and join happy hour for a bit before going out for dinner and as we walked over Priscilla said that Black’s is closed on Mondays, woops there go our plans for dinner. Some of them were going to Shuck’s for dinner and invited us to join them but we passed as we want to go to Black’s tomorrow night, I think at least one other couple will be joining us tomorrow night and they didn’t go tonight night either. John barbecued burgers for dinner and now we are still looking forward to our crawfish dinner.

Tonight I rerouted going home about three different ways, so at this point I am not sure if we will take the Trace or go east to Mobile, AL then head north, my vote is for the Trace but we will see when it is time to head out which way we go.

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

Sunday -April 20, 2008

Today was another beautiful day, sunny and warm and the wind had died down so it was quite pleasant. On our way out of the campground we stopped to say goodbye to Pat and Jack and ended up chatting for ½ hour – oh well, we didn’t have that far to drive so it wasn’t a problem.

We had a good ferry crossing across Bolivar Peninsula (Texas Highways have a ferry crossing (free) across the peninsula); we were about ½ hour from the time we got to the ferry crossing until we were heading out on the other side so we couldn’t complain about that!
One of the Ferries


Looking Back At Galveston


Refinery on Bolivar Peninsula


Seagull Perched on Front of Ferry


One of the Large Ships in the Peninsula


One of the Ferries Crossing the Peninsula


The Little Tug That Could!


Coming Into Dock


The traffic from where we got off the ferry to I-10 was light and the roads were good, we picked up I-10 right at the Texas/Louisiana border and were planning on taking it pretty well to the cut-off to Abbeville. Like all good plans that one went awry – I was on the phone talking to Nan and not watching the interstate and all of a sudden we were on the road for the Lake Charles bypass, oh well, this is the way we went to Abbeville last year so we did it again today! At least there was little traffic so it wasn’t a major inconvenience.

On our way here we passed a number of oil drilling rigs and chemical plants, the sights and smells again reminded us of Sarnia and how we don’t miss all the pollution and smells!!!! Once into Louisiana coming in the back way we passed a number of crawfish farms/rice paddies. At this time of year they farm crawfish then when crawfish season is done they grow rice. We also passed a number of rice milling plants.

Marshland On the Way to Abbeville


Crawfish Farms



We got to Betty’s about 4:30 and she was out so Priscilla and Dave directed us to our site – it was a tricky back up as there was a 5’er which had just come in 2 spots over and their truck was sticking out but John backed in perfectly; much to his pleasure he had a number of people compliment him on how well he did it!! By the time we got set up Betty had returned so I went over and paid for 4 nights and got the password for the internet. There were a number of people gathered for happy hour so we grabbed a brew and joined them. Shortly after we sat down another couple came back from an outing and joined happy hour – they are from Port Elgin (retired there) but lived in Drayton and Elmira and he was a millwright for a fabricating shop that the company John worked for a number of years ago did business with – how many times have we said what a small world this is!!!!

Needless to say we had a late dinner and I am doing this now but will post it with pictures in the morning – I just don’t have the patience to deal with trying to do it all tonight.

Today we talked to my mom, our two daughters and our son so that makes it a good day!! And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to the mystery of tomorrow.

Saturday - April 19, 2008

Today was a beautiful day with temperatures in the high 70’s and just a very light wind, much pleasanter than the constant blowing we have had.

We headed into town as yesterday I had seen a mattress topper at Wal Mart that I thought might be good – it is 2-1/2” of foam with 1-1/2” memory foam on the top so altogether another 4”. John thought it would be okay so we got it then we went to Kroger’s where I got some fresh fruit and veggies and my yogurt, I really like Kroger’s yogurt the best.

There were a lot of people on the beach, and in the water today - with the calmer winds the water wasn’t so rough so would be okay for swimming. There were cars parked for almost a mile down the road from the pier and it was packed with people fishing, wonder if they were catching anything!

When we got back John got us hooked up so we are ready to head out in the morning. We also got the new mattress topper on the bed, looking at it I think I will need a stool to be able to get up into bed – lol!!!

I saw Jack and Pat, the couple from Newmarket with the Airstream, come in about 3:30 so invited them down for a drink. They are a great couple and we really enjoyed getting to know them, hopefully we will meet on the road again sometime!

John is barbecuing salmon for dinner and it is about time for me to do the noodles and cook some corn on the cob so I guess I will close off. Tonight will be another night of the usual – TV if there is anything on or else reading. I bought David Baldacci’s Simple Genius so think that is what I will be reading tonight. And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to the mystery of tomorrow.

Friday - April 18, 2008

Well, today was a much cooler day than yesterday, it rained off and on during the night but this morning the wind had switched to out of the north so it was much cooler, can’t say I am complaining!!!

This morning was pretty quiet then this afternoon I headed out to Wal Mart for a haircut, pedicure and some shopping; John stayed home and cleaned up the outside of the trailer etc., probably more to his liking than shopping!! Driving into town I noticed the surf had calmed down considerable, then coming back I saw a shrimper out in the bay.

By the time I got back it was time to think about dinner – where does the day go. Today I bought the new David Baldacci book “Simple Genuis”, so guess what I will be doing tonight! And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to the mystery of tomorrow.

Tuesday -April 15, 2008

Today was another nice, sunny day but it was WINDY!! Fortunately today was a stay at home, do chores, day – Molly Maid has yet to make an appearance so I did a good cleaning and washed the floors. I also go the laundry done as the park where we are going doesn’t have a Laundromat so I figured it would be just as easy to do it here where there is a good, cheap laundry and have it over and done with.

John finally thinks he has everything pretty well done for the taxes so today we got out the printer and got all the tax stuff printed off so he could make sure he had everything, another job done.

John got the truck hooked up this afternoon so that is one less thing to have to do in the morning. Tonight is another quiet night of TV or reading – so what else is new!! And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to the mystery of tomorrow.

Monday -April 14, 2008

Today was a repeat of yesterday’s weather, sure do like it and after hearing from friends who are on their way home and encountering cold, wet weather we are enjoying every bit of this warmth and sunshine.

Today we went to Wildseed Farms and the gardens and flowers were absolutely gorgeous, I will let the pictures tell the story.!


Entrance to Wildseed Farms














We toured the butterfly house and there were hundreds of beautiful butterflies, trying to get a picture of them was very hard as just as they would get in focus they would fly away.








It was a gorgeous place to spend a few hours and there weren’t a lot of people there today like I suspect there was on the weekend.

We decided to take the back way back home and went through Albert and Blanco and can you believe it the Town of Albert is for sale, wonder if whoever owns it thinks someone can make it into another Luckenbach!



I am going to get this posted now then will have to get busy and get supper going. We have nothing planned for tonight other than TV (that is if there is anything worth watching) or else a good book. And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to the mystery of tomorrow.