We are later than planned posting our first entry from Victoria.  For some strange reason, we couldn't post a blog using the campground wi-fi even when we could do other things on the internet (see our comments below).  Today, Thanksgiving, we got Shaw internet installed, and magically, we can now update the blog. 

Thursday morning we continued our trek westward. After looking at our choices we decided to take the Fraser Canyon  Route to the coast. We stopped for the night at Canyon Alpine RV Park, about 1/2 hour away from Hells Gate.
  
On Friday morning we  stopped at Hells Gate Airtram.  Unfortunately we had missed the salmon migration by about one week. The good news was it was the end of the season and the fudge shop at the fish ladders was having their end of season sale.

Shortly after lunch we arrived at Peace Arches RV Park in Surrey. What a nice park. We would certainly stay there again.  There are  lot of seasonal people in the park, so we took a walk around the park checking out what people had done to prepare their units for colder weather.

Saturday (October 1st) we headed for Tsawassen to board the ferry to  Sidney.  Once again  the ferry gods were smiling at us.  We had not made a reservation.  We arrived with just enough time to turn off the propane before boarding.  It was a calm incident free crossing.  Shortly after 1 P.M. we arrived at Westbay Marina and RV Park in Victoria where we are staying for the winter.  It is a really great location, on the Victoria harbour.  The sites are small, so it took us a while longer than usual to get the trailer manouvered into our site.

For the rest of the week, we worked on leveling the trailer a little more carefully since we will be here a long stay.  We assembled the steps that Janet had cut out for us in Sicamous.  It is much easier on the legs climbing standard 7 inch risers instead of the trailers 9 inch steps.   We got the satellite dish setup for the living room TV and are using the cable connection for the bedroom TV.  Now we can each watch different programs,  particularly when sports are on.

The wi-fi is unpredictable.  The signal strength seems quite good, but the connection comes and goes.   Since they have cable service here, we ordered internet from Shaw.

Wednesday morning we woke up to find a Holland American Cruise ship moored in the bay.   This is a busy bay with float planes coming and going. As well, pedestrian ferries, cruise ships and freighters all stop here.

Thursday dawned sunny and warm.  We took  the opportunity to walk up to the fitness centre.  Rather than just blindly pay for 6 month, we decided to take a look first. As  a result we came to the conclusion that we would rather find another place to swim and exercise, or perhaps just walk around town, weather permitting.  After lunch we walked to the Johnson street bridge, a 3 km walk from the rv park. Just across the bridge is downtown Victoria and a number of places that we intend to investigate over the course of the winter.  We wanted to find out how long it would take us to walk. We discovered it is an easy walk to many of the places we are interested in seeing.

On Sunday, we drove the 45 minutes to Sooke to check it out.   After finding a spot to park the truck close to the cove, we walked down to the beach, and took in the views from there.

We followed the boardwalk along to another point on the beach, and walked back up the hill on a very nice boardwalk that switched back and forth many times.

Then we stopped at a really nice place called Mom's Cafe for lunch.  They had a small sign on the main street pointing to it, and we decided to give it a try as it had many vehicles parked at it, a good tip that it the place to eat.   We were a little disappointed that they didn't have the Thanksgiving turkey dinner available for lunch,  but enjoyed a salmon burger and a Hawaiian burger.

On Monday morning, the Shaw installer arrived and hooked up our internet.  He did check the co-axial connection from the outside of the trailer, which I have never been able to use successfully, and found that the connection is there, but isn't strong enough to drive modern digital cable (or satellite). He figures that is due to a splitter somewhere on the line, probably in a wall somewhere.  So now we have three cables running in through windows,  the satellite for the living room TV, cable for the bedroom TV and internet.

Future posts may be few and far between over the winter, as items of interest will probably occur much less frequently than when we were moving from place to place.

Week ending Sep 28

Tuesday morning we left Mara and our comfortble campsite in Janet and Trisha's driveway. After a short drive and a stop at a fruit stand, we arrived at Mabel Lake Golf and RV park. What a pretty place. As it is the end of the season the campground is almost empty. Our site overlooks the lake.

4 rounds of golf are included in our two day campground fees, so on Wednesday Janet and Trisha joined us for 9 holes of golf. The day was cool and cloudy, so really a perfect day for golf. After golfing John and I where treated to a great lunch at the golf club house.

We headed to Kamloops on Thursday. We stopped at the Village Cheese Company in Armstrong for some hot chocalate, blueberry scones and a couple of small packages of garlic cheese, while managing to slip among a charter bus load of customers. Next to the highway between Vernon and Kamloops, we saw a pretty little black bear. We figured he was only a couple years old, had a shiney black coat, and looked very healthy. Because we were on a narrow road, with a semi-truck behind us, we couldn't stop to get a picture. We found our way to the Kamloops RV Park, next to the BC Wildlife Park, about 15 km west of town. The temperature in Kamloops was about 10 degrees wamer than at Mabel Lake something we really appreciated.

Friday we shopped, did a bit of Kamloops sightseeing and picked up a real estate guide.

Saturday, since the weather was predicted to be warm and dry for several days, was spent painting the steps that Janet built for us. We were grateful to Janet as Joan has a history of being clumsy getting in and out of our home on wheels. We now have a set of steps that meet building code - 7 inch risers instead of 9 and a sturdy proper hand rail. In the evening we had a bit of a wind storm blow through the campground.

Sunday was a quiet day, hanging around in the sun and doing a second coat of paint on the stairs. We also drove into Kamloops to pick up some paint cleaner, and took advantage of that to check out houses and mobile home parks, to see if we were interested in Kamloops as a permanent location once we decide to end our nomadic ways and settle down somewhere relatively warm.

Monday dawned dull and cloudy. After a breakfast stop for a panakoeken at the Amsterdam restaurant, we headed for Helmcken falls in Wells Gray Provincial Park. The last time we were there (about 10 years ago) it was so foggy, we could not see the falls but only hear them. We figured that high cloud was a great improvement. Here are pictures of Dawson Falls

and Helmcken Falls.

On the way back to the RV park we stopped at a Bison farm to pick up a steak and at a fruit stand to get fresh fruit and vegetables.

On Tuesday, went to the nearest Canadian Tire to return the little space heater, as it abruptly stopped working in mid-cycle. We traded up for a better model, so hopefully it will work better. Then we went swimming at the Canada Games Aquatic Centre, a very nice facility. We were even lucky enough to only pay 6.50 for the two of us instead of the regular 9.00 because we arrived just before lunch, when they have a reduced rate.

Wednesday morning, we caught up on laundry, and started preparing for our departure toward Vancouver on Thursday.

Few weeks ending Sep 18

Our past few weeks have been spent in the Calgary area, visiting with friends and spending time with our three grandsons in High River. We both caught up on our Dr's visits. Last weekend Joan broke all records by cracking the screen on her laptop and then while using John's laptop she spilled a glass of red wine on it. As a result we spent today (Sunday 11th) in Calgary replacing dead computers. We also took Trev and his family out for lunch (Trev's birthday lunch). While we were eating Trev cracked a tooth, so had to go to a Dentist to have it repaired. As bad things happen in threes, we should good for a while.

We will be spending some time, learning about our new computers and recreating all the stuff we had on the old computers.

We camped at Banff for 6 nights in the Tunnel Mountain trailer court. If it had internt access it would be a perfect spot, with full services and no campfires and the scenery can't be beat.

On Sept 13th Joan saw her oncologist. Good news. Her tests came back indicating she remains healthy. We packed up and headed west on Thursday and stopped for 2 nights at Revelstoke.

On Saturday we moved to Mara to park at Janet and Trisha's. Free camping - electricity, wi-fi, good food and good company. Sunday we went to Crazy Creek hot pools with them and then spent Sunday evening playing Wii in the trailer with them.

Week ending August 30

Wednesday was spent hanging around the campground, firstly washing the bugs off the front of the trailer and then laying around suntanning in the hammock.

Thursday we took care of some business in Calgary.

Friday was Joan's massage day. Her massage therapist (Wendy who has given her massages for many years) arrived at the trailer. While Joan was enjoying her massage, John went for a bike ride along the Bow River in Cochrane. Afterward, we sat outside in the sun and had a great visit with Wendy. Early in the afternoon we headed to Bowden to visit with John's parents and treated them to dinner at their favourite restaurant in Bowden.

Saturday was farmers' market day in Cochrane. It's nice to get fresh produce and fresh farm beef. After checking out the local laundromat (the campground doesn't have machines large enough for sleeping bags and duvets), we headed for Mackay's ice cream. Occasionally it is important to have dessert before lunch, and contrary to what most the of the ice cream places that advertise they have the best ice cream in Canada say, tiger ice cream is still available in the ice cream place that truly does have the best ice cream on Canada.

Sunday we headed to the Sibbald Creek area and hiked the Deer Ridge Trail. We chose it because it was not very long and reasonably close to Cochrane. Well, after missing a trail sign, the hike turned out to be a bit longer than we had planned, but we did manage to get to the top. The views from the ridge were great.

 

Back down in the valley, we came across an aboriginal structure, with prayer flags on it that reminded us of the Bannock Point petroforms which we visited in Manitoba.

Monday morning was spent at the laundromat. In the afternoon, we enjoyed a nice visit with Alan and Sharon Cole, friends from Canmore.

Tuesday was a quiet day, as it was overcast with occasional showers. We did go into Calgary to shop for pillow cases to replace one which mysteriously disappeared when we did the laundry on Monday.

Week ending August 23

Originally our plan was to leave High River Wednesday morning, but Sue was not released from the hospital until Wednesday morning. We had promised to pick her up, so stayed the extra day. Luckily the boys are old enough to look after her, so we headed back to the campground to do the usual housework. Then we went to the library to check email and then went for a walk. After lunch we did what all retired folks do best, have an afternoon nap.

Thursday morning we moved to Cochrane to the Bow Rivers Edge Campground. It is quite nice with wide level gravel sites, reasonable wi-fi and easy access to a satellite signal.

Friday we headed in to Calgary to have the 'axle discussion' with our RV dealer. They requested that we get copies of the receipt for the axles from Dexter in the US. We have hope that they will do the right thing and reimburse us. In the afternoon we visited with the Scotts, who we have known since Trever was playing Little League baseball. We had not visited them for quite a while. Our definition of good friends is that when you get together after a long absence you pick up just as if the last time you saw them was yesterday. This was the case with Don and Jackie. We visited for most of the afternoon.

Saturday we didn't do much, just enjoyed the warm weather while walking along the Bow River beside the campground.

Sunday we did some more campground recon. As we were driving into the mountains we decided that we knew which parks in Canada are the most beautiful. We still like the parks in Rockies the best. We picked up our friend Elizabeth in Canmore, and headed to Timmies for a drink.  As we were waiting in line, John noticed Steve waiting in the Wendy's line.  Steve had driven John into Calgary for the last couple of  years that we lived there.  It was great to catch up on what we had been up to since we last talked.  Then we went to check out Tunnel Mountain Trailer Park in Banff. It would be the perfect campground, if it only had wi-fi. We had hopes that since Fundy NP had wi-fi, that the Tunnel Mountain Trailer Court would have it now. We will have to send off an e-mail to the Parks to recommend that they add wi-fi to their amenities.

Elizabeth did a very nice barbeque dinner on her deck for us.  Here are pictures of a couple of the mountains that you can see from her deck in Canmore.

On Monday, we received an e-mail copy of the invoice we needed for our axles, and forwarded it to the RV dealer. Then we celebrated Jamie's, our youngest grandson, 11^th birthday, a day early. It is our practice with the younger boys to take them shopping. This year, instead of going to the toy section, he wanted to pick up some books. He also graduated to the adult menu when we took them out for supper.

When we got back to the trailer after supper, we had a knock on the door. A young lady asked if I (John) wanted to make $50. She was trying to set up her satellite system, as she will be here for a few months working in town, and one of the shops had told her it would cost $130 for someone to come out and set it up. We hooked everything up but unfortunately weren't able to get it working.

On Tuesday, we got up early and moved the trailer two sites up the row we are in. We had only booked for a few days when we arrived, being cautious about making long term commitments in campgrounds. When we asked to extend our stay until just before the long weekend (when we head back to the High River campground), we found that the site we were in had been promised to people coming in to visit with their parents in the site next to ours. We are spending the rest of the day waiting for a Shaw Direct technician to check out our dish because when we moved to this campground, we found that we didn't have about 8 channels anymore. These are the Alberta channels, so they are ones we like to have to keep up with the local news. After moving the trailer, and of course the satellite dish, this morning, we had the Alberta channels back. However, since this is likely still a loose connection in the dish, we need to get it fixed.

Week ending Aug 16

Tuesday and Wednesday we spent shopping for some small repair parts for the 5th wheel.  As our luck would have it, most of the items we required where not in stock.  We did get information and when we get to Calgary we will order the required items.  We had a bit of a rainstorm one evening in the campground, which resulted in a nice rainbow.

Thursday we scouted some RV parks for our next trip to Edmonton. However, we discovered that we had chosen the best in the area at Glowing Embers. As we were leaving the next morning, the people next to us were moving to a brand new park near Stony Plain, so we may check it out next time.

Friday morning, we moved to Coyote Creek Golf and RV park about 6 km west of Sundre. It is a great park with beautiful wide, long sites and is extremely well organized. The bathrooms are some of the best we have seen and the showers are the best by a country mile. But as usual there is always some issue, in this case no wi-fi.  As we are here to visit John's parents we can do without it for a few days. We have been chatting with John's parents on Friday nights via Skype, but today we will be with them in person.  After we got set up we headed to Bowden and spent the rest of the afternoon with John's parents.  After dinner we came back to the campsite and watched the Calgary/Sask football game.

Saturday we spent the day in Bowden. John's Dad had volunteered to help move the library books from the old library to the new one so John spent 6 hours Saturday with his dad on this project while Joan spent the day with John's mom, doing laundry and visiting.

Sunday we moved to High River, arriving about lunch time.  We have come back to the campground that was the beginning of our trip this summer.  Our grandsons were home alone, so they came over to the campground for lunch.  Trev came over after work, then we went for dinner at the Chinese restuarant where Sue works.  After dinner everyone came back to the trailer to visit.

Monday morning, Sue went into the hospital for an operation, so we went over to Trev's to pick up our mail that Jamie had been collecting for us for the last three months and then took the kids out for the day.  We checked out a few campgrounds in the Calgary area, since the High River one doesn't have the essential wi-fi.  Then we did the little hike up Heart Creek where we got some pictures of our grandsons, Anthony, Taylor and Jamie.

When we got back to High River we picked up some chicken and sides for dinner. Trev took the boys to see Sue in the hospital between dinner and desert. She was feeling well. 

Since the temperature was expected to go down to only 5 degrees overnight, we turned on the furnace for the first time in months.  Consequently, we have to fill a propane bottle for the first time since Rocky Harbour in Newfoundland.  

Tuesday Joan went to the High River Hospital to get her blood work done. This needs to be done 2 to 3 weeks before her CT Scan, for her next cancer check. We have learned that small town hospitals are much better to get this kind of thing done since the waiting times tend to be much shorter.

Week ending August 9

Tuesday and Wednesday we drove from Regina to Edmonton, via North Battleford. Anyone who has had the pleasure of that drive understands why I have nothing to say. Actually that is not true, we stopped in Lashburn at the little grocery store, hoping to find a muffin to go with our mid-morning coffee, which we had made and kept in a thermos we bought in Regina. They have a little (and I mean little) bakery in the rear of the store where all they make is cinnamon buns and bread. The cinnamon buns would not be done until 1:00 P.M. but they did have one of yesterday's models. The day-old bun was really tasty and fresher than many we have had at other bakeries, that were supposedly today's model. So if you are ever driving by Lashburn Saskatchewan and in need of a treat, stop at the only store in town. Late Wednesday afternoon we pulled into Whitemud Creek Golf and RV resort where we had only been able to get two nights.

Thursday morning we spent some time shopping and then visited with Annie and Buncha. They treated us to a great Chinese dinner and then we visited with Sue and Elizabeth, her daughter. They came out and saw our new home.

Friday morning we moved to the Devon Lions campground. It advertised that it had full service sites with 30 amp power, so we arranged to stay for 2 nights. Since our experience in Manitoulin Island with the mold, we are leery about booking too long before we see the place. When we asked if visitors needed to stop at the office before coming to our site, we were surprised that there is a 6.00 per vehicle charge for visitors. The only other time we expected visitors was in Regina, and neither campground we used there had a visitor charge. I guess the Lions club here is in need of money. The site was a seasonal site that the regular tenants had released for a while and was very nice with a large sitting area which faced away from all the other units in the campground. The only glitch was that the power was flaky. There were frequently people at the main breaker box resetting the power. We decided two nights was enough for us. Ann and Daniel and George came out for supper. We had a good visit with them.

Saturday was a dull cloudy day with promise of showers. We where not concerned as we spent the morning doing some shopping and then headed to Mill Woods to visit with George and Fern, our neighbours from when our kids were in elementary school. Joan took the opportunity to use Fern's vacuum to clean out the truck. We have a great vacuum in the trailer, but it is a built in system, so makes it impossible to use it in the truck. Late afternoon we headed out to Sherwood Park to enjoy dinner with John's Aunt Joan and Uncle Alfred. Their grandson Cory was there as well. We had a nice visit and came home with 2 bottles of wine complements of the in-house vintner.

Sunday was a moving day. We moved to Glowing Embers RV park, just a few miles north of Devon at the junction with 16A west of Edmonton. This campground finally has everything we want, wi-fi, a good satellite signal and the best washrooms and laundry we have seen on our trip. Luckily we got the satellite set up in time to watch most of the NASCAR race.

Monday morning John joined Buncha for a game of golf at the J.R. golf course. The fellow checking us in warned John that the greens were quicker than on most courses. It was a very affordable course, at 22.00 for 18 holes, and fairly challenging. The first 9 holes all have water hazards to avoid, so John lost a few balls in the water. Fortunately, Buncha has a nice ball retriever, so we were able to make up for the lost balls. John found that golfing on a live course is more challenging than the Wii golf, particularly judging the putting weight and line. While John golfed Joan did laundry and booked another 3 nights at the campground. They had space but we had to change sites. Okay by us, when necessary, particularly when we have found a campground as good as this one. We will spend the rest of the week finding bits to repair a couple of problems in the trailer and doing some research on what we need to do to winterize our trailer to live in it for the winter, such as get skirts for the trailer to keep the heat from escaping too fast.

No pictures to post this week.

Week ending Aug 2

Tuesday morning we left the KOA in Thunder Bay by 7:15 and headed west. Our destination unknown. We stopped at Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park to view the falls.

The most noteworthy event of today was that we stopped for diesel at Upsala, a full service Shell station and paid 1.499 per litre for diesel. The most we have paid per litre this entire trip. Later in the day at Kenora we paid 1.219 per litre at a Husky full service. We pay what we have to. Sometimes you just don't have a choice, the truck and trailer are just too heavy to push to the next station with cheaper diesel. After we stopped for diesel Joan moved john's glasses to the console between the seats in the front of the truck and they disappeared. We looked for the next 300 or so km trying to find them, with no luck. After we parked for the night, John emptied the truck and lo and behold his glasses were under the passenger seat. Along the road today we saw 2 very pretty deer, we have seem surprisingly few animals this trip, but it has been very warm so I guess they are in the trees, keeping cool.

Tuesday night we pulled into West Hawk Lake campground at Whiteshell Provincial Park in Manitoba. What a place to camp. We were able to get a site for 2 nights large enough, but they are booked from then on. We only had electricity, so will be conserving water. The good news is that it is very economical. The Manitoba Provincial parks must really be encouraging people to use them, as they are not charging entrance fees and the camp fees are unbelievably low.

Wednesday morning we picked up some maps to add to the information we had received the evening before and headed out to Bannock Point Pertroforms.

We were lucky enough to speak to a native person who told us a bit about them and where to find the majority of them that we had missed. Petroforms are rock formations at least 1500 years old and are sacred places to the Natives. After a lunch break beside Dorothy Lake we did the McGillivray Falls hike. The trail leads to McGillivray Lake and is part of the Trans Canada Trail.  While we where on the trail and John was doing the trail finding his comment was "where in blue blazes are we?" Pretty obvious don't you think?

Thursday was a travel day. We stopped in Portage La Prairie at the travel information to find out if Spruce Wood Provincial Park had any full service campsites available for the next couple of days. Their RV sites were flooded early this year and have not yet recovered. They had some sites with 15 amp power, no water or sewer. They were not sure that the sites they had available would be large enough for us. As a result we passed on that park. We ended up at Shady Oaks for the night. It is beside the highway, has water and electric and a heated pool. After getting set up and determining that the wi-fi they advertised (and that you pay the third party for on-line) doesn't work, we went for a swim and called it a day. After dinner we were sitting playing games on our computers and Joan looked up to see the tail end of Eagle (by Jayco) 5th wheel less than a meter from the window. The people had backed in on an angle and had missed our slider by a good 2 feet. This is the coziest campground experience we've had. A short while after our neighbours got settled, there was a knock on our door. People from a trailer in a site on the other side, with another trailer between us wanted to let us know they would be leaving early the next morning, because their truck and trailer where long enough that they were blocking us in. Their plan was to be on the road by 8:00 A.M. That is about the time we usually leave, so the fact they are blocking us in isn't a big deal.

Friday we arrived at the KOA in Indian Head. Karen and Dominique came out from Regina for dinner and a visit. After they left, a brutal thunderstorm went through. It was really shaking the travel. Our power went off about 1:00 A.M. When we got up just after 7:00 A.M. we still had no power. When speaking to other people in the campground, their power was out as well. We hadn't bothered with our awning, as a result it is still in tact. Many others are in shreds. Our satellite dish was blown over, but undamaged. Other had their satellite dishes broken, so they had to replace them. There were several large trees down in the campground, but luckily no trailers were damaged. The most interesting event was a large bale from the hay field behind the campground ended up in the sitting area a group was using the evening before. Can you imagine their surprise when they opened their door in the morning to be nose to nose with a giant hay bale?

We spent Saturday in Regina at Karen's, doing our laundry while helping her do yard work. We made two flower beds out of bricks as well as tore apart her old fence and gate, so that it is ready for disposal. After a rib dinner we came back to the campground, set up the satellite dish so we could watch the Sask vs Calgary football game.

Sunday morning we moved from the Indian Head KOA to Kings Acre Campground just inside the Regina City limits. It is an okay campground and more convenient for us to visit with Karen. Karen and Dominique came out to the trailer for lunch and dinner. We didn't do much because it was a very hot day. Our truck said it was 35 degrees C with not a breath of air. Eventually we went over to the local WalMart, just because it is air-conditioned and we needed cooling down. After wandering around (and picking up a few items) we stopped at McDonald's for a milkshake, then came back to the trailer, eventually barbequed chicken and called it a day. At 9:00 it was still 85 degrees in the trailer so we sat outside waiting for the trailer to cool off. When we got up at 8:00 this morning it was 64 degrees in the trailer. What a difference 12 hours make. I wish we could have bottled some of that cool temperature.

Monday morning we picked Karen and Dominique up and went out to Regina Beach for a picnic lunch. The water is still really high and the beach area is still flooded.  

After lunch we wandered down the beach for a bit, and then came back to Regina and went to the Sandra Schmirler pool for a swim. We dropped Karen and Dominique at home after dinner at Chili's.

Week ending July 25

Tuesday we left Manitoulin Island. Our intention was to spend Tuesday there doing some hiking and sightseeing. However the campground was very moldy and John's asthma kicked in. We didn't feel we wanted to risk staying another day, so we packed up and drove to Serpent River Campground on the North Channel of Lake Huron. The campground is open and clean and a big improvement over the last one. There is a lovely pool there, so after dinner we went for a swim. It was like having our own private pool.

Wednesday we drove the Deer Trail, a scenic tour of the East Algoma Region. We started with the Fire Tower Lookout at Elliot Lake. Unfortunately, it was too hazy for the promised long distance views of Lake Huron. Then we visited the mining museum, which has lots of information on uranium mining, and dealing with the tailing ponds after the mines have been closed. After a picnic lunch at the Elliot Lake Mining Monument we continued on the driving tour. We stopped at numerous lakes and along side the Little White River. Once we arrived back at our campsite we enjoyed the swimming pool. We where the only ones in it again.

Thursday we spent the morning cleaning and then spent the afternoon at the pool. It was a very hot day and the pool felt wonderful. We had to share the pool this time with numerous seniors who camp here in the permanent sites as well as a group of people camping here for a special VW camper's event. The owner of this campground "improved" his VW van by taking off the front end of one and the back end of another, and joining them together.

Friday was a travel day. We headed through Sault Ste. Marie, where we bought a dog. Since we have been camping it seems that everyone with a large trailer (and some without) has dogs. We felt very left out, so we got a beagle and her puppy. Of course with John's allergies we had to choose carefully and this one seems perfect. Perfectly hypoallergenic, no hair, no walks, no barking and it sit quietly by the front door. The only drawback is if we drop it we will break it.

We then continued along the shores of Lake Superior to a campground at Wawa. Saturday morning we visited the town of Wawa, then drove to Magpie High Falls,

Silver Falls and then spent some time wandering along the lakeshore at Sandy Beach.

After leaving the beach we stopped at Tim's for lunch, then headed back to the campground to suntan at the pool. Again we had the pool to ourselves. This was one of the nicer pools we have had, obviously catering to swimming rather than kids playing as it was deeper than most pools we have been in.

Sunday was a day of rest . We opted to stay at this location as we wanted to watch the Indy car race from Edmonton and the Regina vs Montreal football game. We were not sure we could get to the next campsite and get set up in time.

Monday morning we were on the road by 8:00 A.M.  We stopped at Marathon for an early lunch and experienced the 'it's a small world' syndrome again. In the same restaurant, Rick F., who worked with John at CP Rail a number of years ago was also having an early lunch. He was returning to Calgary from a motorcycle trip to Labrador and Newfoundland. What are the chances of running into someone you worked with in restaurant in nowhere Ontario?   After all there where only 5 customers in the place. This was also a great driver change location, a smart move on Joan's part. A short way up the road the heavens opened and the rain came down so hard the wipers could not keep up. For once John had the privilege of driving through bad weather. The weather cleared up by the time we got to Ouimet Canyon Provincial park. It is a day park, just a 1 km walk into viewing the canyon. Because the road was narrow windy and steep, trailers are not allowed in, so we had to disconnect the trailer at a spot they provide 3 km from the canyon.

By 4:30 we arrived at the Thunder Bay Koa for the night. We were able to get a spot that was large enough that we didn't have to unhook. We decided unhooking once a day is enough. It will make packing up tomorrow a real breeze.

Week of July 19

Tuesday afternoon we arrived at the 1000 Islands Ivy Lea KOA. After getting set up, the trailer leveled, satellite working and dinner planned, we headed to the pool. Not a pool large enough for swimming and full of kids. So we used the 'adults only' hot tub, and chatted with a couple from Sarnia.

The next morning on our way to Brockville, we stopped at St. Lawrence National Park visitor centre. They have a display about the snakes and turtles in the area. Most of the park is only assessable by water. We then visited the Brockville museum. Brockville is Ontario's first incorporated town. It is also the site of Canada's first Railway Tunnel, which goes under their present day city hall. After spending time learning about Brockville, we wandered their main street, stopping for lunch at a local pub. While sitting on the deck of the pub the heavens opened and the rain came down. After some time the rain let up a bit and we headed for the truck. On the way back to the campground and after a quick grocery stop, we visited Eagle point Winery. They have only been open for business since early May. We bought one of the wines that tasted quite nice.

Thursday was housecleaning day. Joan did bathroom, shower, kitchen and John vacuumed. Joan also made bread. In the afternoon we headed to Rockport to take a 2 hour boat trip through some of the 1000 islands. What a beautiful part of Canada. There are actually more than 1800 islands. To qualify as an island, a chunk of rock has to have at least one tree growing on it. Here is one of the smaller ones,

some kids jumping off one of the islands into the water

and a cormorant (we think), balanced on a rock which wouldn't qualify as an island.

Friday, we packed up and headed for the Bruce Peninsula. The drive was uneventful, even going through Toronto on the 401. But we knew that would be the case as John drives in the afternoon, and he never seems to hit excess amounts of traffic or construction. The campground we stayed at Friday night was a beautiful campground, however we were parked in a very treed site, so no satellite TV.

Since that campground couldn't give us a spot for Saturday, we moved to a campground closer to the Manitoulin Island Ferry. We set up camp and then headed into Tobermory. We got our reservations for Monday's ferry then headed to Bruce Peninsula National Park. The place was packed, as it was Park's Day. We picked up a trail map , got some advice about the various hikes, and headed out on a hike from the visitor centre to the Georgian Bay shore. On our way out, we were passed by a couple of park wardens hurrying along. A while later, a fellow coming the other way asked if we had seen someone with a broken ankle. After enjoying the views along the lake shore, we started heading on the return part of the loop back to the visitor centre. We ran into a group of EMS and park wardens with a lady with a broken ankle on a stretcher. They had the stretcher balanced on one wheel, which made it possible to navigate the trail as it was quite rough, with lots of rocks and tree roots In all the hikes we have been on over the years we have never encountered someone with problem this serious. After a quick stop at the beer store we headed back to the campground. John is in his glory. There were three football games on, one right after the other. Of course, he couldn't manage to stay awake through them all.

Sunday morning we did a hike to the "Grotto" in the National Park.

Somewhere along the way, Joan lost her glasses, which she had hanging from the front of her top. After checking back along our route with no luck, Joan went into the park office to leave them our contact information in case someone turned in the glasses. The line-up of people was so long that it went out the door, but someone waiting in line was kind enough to volunteer to leave our information with them. Fortunately, Joan was smart enough to keep an old pair of glasses, so she can still see and can legally drive. After lunch back at the trailer, we watched the Nascar race. After it was over, we went to Singing sands beach. It was amazing. The water was very shallow for a few hundred yards, and incredibly warm, like a bathtub. Here is a picture of the patterns that the waves make in the water.

About 8:00 we got an email from the people at the parks office. Another hiker had found Joan's glasses and turned them in, a big relief.

Monday we took the ferry over to Manitoulin Island. Once we got set up, we thought we would go for a hike. However it started to rain, and would not let up, so after walking along the harbour boardwalk, buying a rhubarb pie, we stopped to pick up groceries and headed back to the campground.

Week of July 12

After checking the weather forecast and determining that the next day would be a perfect beach day,  we headed for Charlottetown. We visited Confederation Hall.

Next door, we were fortunate to catch an hour long performance put on by the Confederation Centre's Young Company. It was a musical play called the Talking Stick which was based on the Mi'kmaq tribe's legends.  After the performance we did some window shopping and then headed to Gahan Pub, a micro-brewery, for lunch. After stopping at the Cows company factory store for an ice cream cone, we drove around the south shore, which is the Red Rock scenic route of the island, stopping at the Port Joli - Fort Amherst National Historic site, and then the Argyle Shore Provincial Park to enjoy the views of the red rock cliffs along the coast and the warm weather.

Wednesday morning dawned clear and sunny as predicted. We headed to Prince Edward Island National Park.  There was not a cloud in the sky, 30 degrees, the ocean was wonderfully calm. We didn't swim, but we waded a little bit, dodging the jelly fish, which we were told could leave a rash if they stung us.  On the way back to the campsite we stopped at a roadsite stop to get some new PEI potatoes, then looked for a spot to fill the diesel tank.  It took three gas stations to find one with diesel.

Then next morning, the drive across Confederation Bridge was interesting. The truck is tall enough that we had a great view over the wall of the bridge to both the PEI and New Brunswick coasts. We stopped at Hopewell Rock Provincial Park, on our way to a campground in Fundy National Park, and walked down to the ocean floor among the rock formations.

Friday morning we headed out to do some hiking in the National Park. Our first trail was a short loop to Dixon Falls.

Our second was to Coppermine.  However, the coppermine trail was closed, so we headed down to the Wolfe Pointe beach to watch the tide go out. It was interesting to watch the ocean floor appear. Since we were done earlier than planned, we went into Alma, the little town next to the park, and browsed the small shops there.  That evening after dinner we walked down to Alma to see what the area looks like at high tide. What a difference.  The fishing boats that were resting on skids in the mud in the early afternoon were floating at the docks, high on the tide.

Saturday morning dawned grey and damp, a good day to be travelling, so we packed up and headed west. (Well more north than west really).  Joan always drive in the morning, so it rained  all morning, at one time, so hard that the windshield wipers were almost useless. Fortunately, it cleared up a bit when we had to get out of the truck to buy groceries in Oromocto.(I expect everyone to dig out their maps and find this place).  John drove the rest of the day, so no more rain. In fact the sun shone in a few places.  After driving up most of the St. John river valley, We camped in a nice four star campground just north of Grand Falls. 

Sunday dawned sunny and beautiful. We went into Grand Falls, took pictures of the falls and walked along the river, at one point taking 250 stairs down to a viewpoint.

We came back to the campsite for lunch and then headed for the nice beach at the pond at the campground to get some vitamin D. We also became domestic and did laundry later in the afternoon. This campground is very large, so it has many amenities. One thing we have discovered is that a campground that has a large number of permanent sites also has cheap laundry. We generally have been paying 2.00 to 2.50 per load, but the cost here was only 1.25 per load.

Monday we headed for Ontario, but of course we had to go through the 'country' of Quebec. At the border there were Canadian flags on the road into New Brunswick, but only Quebec flags heading north, with not a Canada flags in sight.  We camped at a 4 star campground in Drummondeville. The site was so bad we couldn't level the trailer without unhooking the truck (we were too lazy to do that for an overnight stay). The internet signal was too weak to get on line. What a disappointment for a four star campground.  To rub salt in the wound, it cost us more than any of the other campgounds we have stayed in so far.

Tuesday around noon, we arrived in Cornwall (Joan got to drive through the freeway congestion in Montreal since that was the in the first half of the day), and stopped at the info centre there to find out some details about KOA's in the 1000 Islands area.  We will see if the 33% premium for staying at a KOA is worth the investment for a couple of nights.

Week ending July 4

On Wednesday, we went on a boat trip into West Brook Pond. It was a fjord many years ago, but a peat bog developed which separated it from the sea.  We had to hike 3 km in to catch the boat, fortunately the hike was easy, so it only took about 1/2 an hour.

What great scenery. The walls of the fjord where straight up, with lots of waterfalls and interesting rock formations.

We spent Thursday around Rocky Harbour. Walked the local trail and went downtown for lunch where Joan enjoyed some more fresh seafood.  In the late afternoon went to the pool for a swim.

On Friday we departed our campground in Rocky Harbour early. As it was Canada Day we didn't know what the traffic would be like. It was very light, hardly another vehicle on the highway. We had a reservation for the 6 o'clock ferry, (they require that you arrive 2 hours early) Because the traffic was light we moved right along and arrived at the ferry terminal just after 11:30 (Our 4 1/2 hour drive only took us 3 1/2 hours). Fortunately the ferry had space and they allowed us on the early ferry. We arrived in Sydney Nova Scotia shortly after 6:00, rather than 1:00 A.M., which was the original plan. We pulled into the Arms of Gold campground, for 2 nights. It is one of the nicest campgrounds of our entire trip. We were able to watch the Canada Day fireworks from across the lake. We think they were from Sydney Mines.

Saturday we did some grocery shopping, went to a local farmers market, and replaced our satellite dish. The wind had blown it over on its nose one too many times.  Luckily we got our TV working in time to watch the evening Nascar Race.

July 3rd dawned warm and sunny. We almost regretted leaving, but carried on anyway. We pulled into a campground near the ferry to PEI.  Because we arrived early we took advantage of the nice weather and spent some time on a very nice  beach by the campground. Hot sunny weather has been so elusive this summer that we both came back from the beach slightly red. 

Monday was again a cloudy day that promised rain showers, so it didn't look like a good day for the beach. We packed up and headed for the ferry to PEI. We left the campground about 20 after 9, the ferry leaves at 9:30. Since we are considered an oversized vehicle we could not make a reservation, and they want you at the ferry at least an hour ahead of time.  We headed for the ferry anyway, figuring we would wait for the next ferry at 11:15. The ferry gods again smiled on us, as the 9:30 ferry was late, just unloading as we pulled up, so they put us in line and when it loaded about 9:50 we got on. PEI ferries are good deals. PEI has an odd, but interesting practice of only charging you to leave the island, therefore you can do the ferry then bridge and only pay for the bridge.  It will cost us about 58.00, as opposed to the 135.00 it would cost us by ferry. It also was the shortest route.

Once we got set up in the campground, internet and satellite working we decided this was a good time to go to Anne of Green Gables house. 

We also went to the Cavendish section of PEI National Park. The red rock cliffs really are as spectacular as we have been led to believe.

Week ending June 28

We arrived just out of Truro, NS on Tuesday to camp at Hidden Hilltop Campground, a nice campground with lovely level sites, so we didn't have to unhook to level the trailer, a real bonus when you are just stopping for the night.

The next morning we headed for Sydney, planning to catch the ferry to Newfoundland the next day. As we drove along, the sun actually broke through the clouds and shone for almost an hour.  We know that sounds mundane, but given the weather we have had, seeing the sun was quite exciting. We got a campsite at Arm of Gold campground, only 6 km from the ferry. The fellow who runs the campground has sisters living in Calgary and has spent a lot of time in Alberta. The campground has been in his family for 45 years.  We unhooked and drove down to the ferry terminal to get tickets.  Despite everyone warning us we needed reservations we had no problem getting booked on the 10:00 A.M. ferry. The lady selling us the tickets called someone over (who was in a security area that was out of bounds to us) to provide us with travel information about Newfoundland.  After a quick shopping trip to a local mall to pick up a pair of hiking boots for John, we headed back to the ferry dock area to have dinner at a seaside restuarant. The seafood was pefect, the scallops as tender and delicious as I remember from 28 years ago, when we were last in Nova Scotia.  They had the picture of the ship 'Joan' below on one of the placemats.

Thursday dawned sunny and almost warm. As we were hitching up the trailer, we knocked it off the blocks we had under the front legs, because Joan took the gizmo braking the trailer wheels off before we hitched up.  The front of the trailer came to rest on the back of the truck and we couldn't raise the front legs enough to get it off the truck. The man who worked at the campground came to help us with his hydraulic Jack and extra blocks.  It took us a few minutes to get the trailer raised so we could hitch it and head for the ferry. The crossing was wonderful, a calm, clear day. We had a mid-morning nap, a bit of lunch, played computer games and surfed the net looking for a campground close to Gross Morne for our stay there. We got off the ferry, camped at Little Paradise campground at Port aux Basques. We hosted happy hour in our trailer with some people we had met in Ottawa and ran into on the ferry, as well as some neighbours from last night's campground who had tried to help us get the trailer back on the truck, to discuss our plans for the next while, compare notes, etc as to what we planned to see and do in
Newfoundland.

On Friday, we stopped in Deer Lake at a service station called Deer Lake Truck and Tire, before heading into Gros Morne,  for an oil change.  We hadn't booked this, but within an hour we where on our way, oil changed and brakes checked to be sure they were still okay after the problems we had going into Ottawa.  The weather so far is holding out. If someone had told me Newfoundland would be an Emerald Isle, I would not have believed them. The area so far is beautiful, lots of up and down, green trees. We were surprised that there was even some snow still on the hills.

Saturday we did a short, but strenuous hike to Lookout hills, 5 km return, elevation of 640 m. The sun shone all day - a real treat.

Headed out Sunday to do an easy coastal hike of 6 km return, with an elevation change of 10 whole meters.  We picnicked at Lobster Cove Lighthouse and then walked around the site to a few viewpoints.
Monday morning we went on a mini-vacation. We left our home at the campground and headed up the northwest coast to L'Anse aux Meadows, a National Historic Site, where a replica has been made of the first Viking settlement in North America 1000 AD. We went through the viking village, talked to one of the interpretors that was working on making a fishing boat in the tradional viking way. 

We also saw an iceberg in the harbour, which was one our must-sees in Newfoundland. We had found a web site that told us there were ice bergs in the St. Anthony area and we found one in the exact location promised. We were lucky to be able to see it from the historic site. 

After we were done there, we stayed in a nice little hotel in St. Anthony's, and had a good dinner in their restaurant.

Returning home (back to the trailer) on Tuesday, we stopped at Port aux Choix historic site.  There are archaelogical digs there of pre-historic Indian and Eskimo sites. 

The trip was interesting we saw several moose, a caribou and a bald eagle.  When we were talking to one of the rangers at the Viking place, we discovered that Moose is not native to Newfoundland, nor are coyotes, but the caribou is.  The moose are prolific enough, that they are planning a cull by issuing hunting licenses for five hundred this fall.  

Week ending June 20

Finally some progress, and we were able to leave Ottawa. Almost $2,000.00 lighter we have new axles, new tires and new brakes, what more can a person want. The people at Frisby Tire in Ottawa where really great - we dropped in about 9:30,(no appointment) and had 4 new tires on the trailer by 11:20. They even had to go to the suppliers and get 2 tires because they only had 2 of the required tires in stock. So we programmed our travelling companion to take us to Drummondville, Quebec. After 100 KM we stopped at the Canadian Tire store in Casselman. (Following the tire installers instructions) They torqued the tires with the same torque wrench John had bought earlier in the trip. It took 3 people to do the job, one working the others chatting with us. When they found out we were from Calgary the one fellow told us that his brother is the GM at Mount Norquay. Not only did we get the tires torqued for free, we got all sorts of travel info about places to see in New Brunswick. All in all a very good stop. 

At the Quebec border we stopped at the Quebec visitor info and picked up enough info to keep us reading well through Quebec. Camped at Drummondville, where most of the campground was permenant sites, we were the only overnighter, so had lots of space and made a back-in site into a pull through, they were very level, so didn't even have to unhitch the trailer - made this morning a breeze, hit the road before 8:30. Stopped in Levis (Accross the river from Quebec City) visited the Levis Fort. Time to improve our education. The purpose of the fort was to protect us from those nasty Americans. It was never used for the purpose for which it was built.  Had lunch and then carried on.

We then arrived at the beginning of the Gaspe. Stopped at a municipal campground in Trois Pistoles. It reminds us of National Park campgrounds, because there are loads of trees, only difference is they have full services. There always seems to be a disadvantage, the one here is we can not get satellite because of all the trees. So much for watching the 7th game of the playoffs.  We couldn't even find a radio station.  Trever emailed me with the news that my Boston Bruins won (I've been smiling ever since).

At Ste. Anne-des-Monts, we still didn't have satellite reception, but could send and recieve email, but no other internet service here on my computer. Our travelling companion (GPS Lady) was very unhappy with us today, as we took the scenic route , which was clearly marked NO TRUCKS - she figures we are the same size as a truck and at every intersection she insisted that we turn around. It took her almost 30 KM to figure that we were not going to heed her warnings.  

The next morning, we woke up to rain, rain and rain. Once we got packed up, we went to retract the sliders. All went well until the bedroom slider, which wouldn't move.  We checked all of fuses, and found one that looked suspicious.  You just can't drive down the highway with the sliders out, so we went to ask the campground host if he knew where we could get someone to look at the problem. It turns out he was an electrician, so he came over with his circuit tester and confirmed what John had suspected - we had blown a fuse. He replaced it with a fuse of lesser strength, allowing us to close up the slider. He advised us to get the correct fuses.  No charge for his extra service.

The drive along the St. Lawrence was very picturesque, numerous waterfalls, sea birds, and water lapping up against the rocks. 

We arrived at Camping Des Appalaches in Gaspe where we had made a reservation for 3 nights, in order to allow us to explore the area around Gaspe and do some hiking in Forillon National Park.   As we drove around the area, we found that every campground was overlooking the Bay, except the one we were staying at.  The weather was not the best, typically it still always seems to rains on weekends.  We still got out and did some sight seeing. It did put a damper on out hiking plans though. The Gaspe is scenic and well worth the visit even though we had to tolerate low cloud with rain, rain and more rain.

Sunday dawned cloudy, but no rain, so we hiked up to Mont St. Albans lookout. We encountered a fox on the way up. John was standing on a bridge waiting for me, when a fox came out of the bush, wanting to cross the bridge, he waited,and I arrived at the bridge, so he disappeared into the bush. The weather on the way up was good, but by the time we got to the top, clouds had rolled in.  The view none the less was spectacular, and well worth the uphill trek.

Today, we packed up early and headed around the south shore of the Gaspe toward New Brunswick. We set the GPS for the campground we had located on the internet the night before, but our GPS lady wanted to take us back along the north shore to Ste. Anne-des-Monts and then south to New Brunswick. We ignored her, and headed south.  We had to ignore her for quite a while, because everytime we passed a point where she told us to turn back, she would recalculate the route and tell us to turn around at the next opportunity.   This kept happening until we were within about 20 km of the junction with the highway coming across the Gaspe from Ste. Anne-des-Monts.  She is nothing if not persistent in deciding what route we should be taking.  Usually she gives up long before she did this time though.

We got a shot of Perce Rock because we were lucky enough to find a spot to pull the trailer over. 

One thing we learned driving around the Gaspe was that they have all of the rest areas and viewpoints on the shore side, which makes a certain amount of sense.  However, this meant that we always had to cross the highway to stop.  We were surprised at how much red rock there is in cliffs along south shore. The color reminded us of the Sedona area in Arizona.