Dealer Campground and a New Week Started

After a ‘quiet’ weekend (def of quiet: absence of noise or bustle; silence; calm.) at the Chatham airport for Bill’s fun fly

 (see his blog “On Our Way” clembillpat.blogspot.ca for details), we headed to our RV dealer in London for some minor service on the Suite.

Everyone’s definition of quiet must be different. For some it means no kid noises, no animal sounds, no traffic. For us, it means no sirens as well. It doesn’t necessarily mean no overhead air traffic sounds, obviously. Yes, there were pretty constant sounds of rc jets, While there we met up with Jeff and Joan, fellow rc flyers.

They sure love Clemson

wing tips even had wheels!

whirlybirds 

rc chopper

bi-planes,

It took a few tries to get all 5 WW1 war birds in one shot.

and the occasional drone of a Harvard or 2 seater 

but this type of sound has been part of our life together. We can still find peace amid it all.

We arrived at CanAm www.canamrv.ca

 around 1:30 pm on Sunday (it isn’t really a campground but for us, it worked as one) to a fairly empty front parking lot with only one couple transferring belongings from one 27’ Airstream to a larger 30’. 

Once we backed in and unhooked both trailers it soon became apparent that we were only to be the first arrivals of many.

Airstreams pulled in one after the other plus a couple of travel trailers and the empty lot soon transformed into quite the compilation of rvs leaving only a space large enough for a single vehicle to pass through. It was quite a show and we were happy to be on the sidelines, out of the way. 

Well, since Bill has a knack for parking rv’s and has worked for CanAm, he was out directing traffic if they needed assistance. Never shy, Bill even drove a 30’ Airstream into the tight space for a young owner who admittedly said “I’m not very good at parking this thing yet!”. They’d had their new unit for 2 weeks so it is understandable that he is out of practice. Our new American friends called Bill the "Welcome Greeter".

We all have our calling, right?

Bill pulled a 30' Airstream from the top left corner of the lot through
the narrow path here

....and that is the Airstream to the left of the photo neatly parked

Some rv’s were in for service and others here for storage. People from Toronto who purchased their rv’s here are quite happy to take their vacations and return the unit here for storage because they have no room at home. I’m sure the prices at CanAm for storage are much more appealing than anything closer to home in that case.

Who says parking at your dealers can’t be fun? We’ve met a few fellow rv’ers in the 2 days we have been here. Everyone who ‘trips’ to Arizona in the winter highly recommends a spot or two to stop at, with Quartzsite being at the top of the list.

Steve, Phil and Don, Airstream owners, are great guys with whom we have exchanged information and plan to meet up with in the desert. Yes, Quartzsite in January will be the next time we see them, at least that is the plan. Looking forward to that for sure!

On Monday morning, bright and early Steve and Dan (?) brought out the tractors and made short order of the mess we created in the lot. *sigh* I know Bill is good at moving trailers but these guys had them all moved within just over an hour. 

Lickety-split! (Def: as quickly as possible; immediately

Synonyms: at full speed, very quickly, on the double)

Yup, just like that!

Next thing we know, our Suite was being hooked up and taken in. The 3 new batteries, a couple of shelf additions and a backup camera were done by Andrew and it was ready for us by the end of their shift at 5 pm. The little tractor brought it back out front, we plugged into hydro and settled in for the night.

While all this work was being done, Bill and I nipped into London to run a few errands. Clemson got a manicure, pedicure, shampoo and haircut at Rose's home salon while we tidied up some of Mom’s investments that were due. Dealing with the traffic of the city made us so very grateful for our chosen country summer living.

At dinner time we decided to use a gift card from Swiss Chalet www.swisschalet.ca and enjoyed a nice meal and a caesar. Yum. It was a beautiful night for sleeping with the windows open so said goodnight to Don and called it a night.

Tuesday morning we were up, wandered around the lot and chit chatted, took some photos and said Bon Voyage to our friends at CanAm and new acquaintances. A stop at Costco on the way through London and Henry's for a tripod and lens and we were on our way home.

We made arrangements to meet my son, Patrick, in Milverton after he finished a job in Stratford so I rode with him in his CRV and turned at Teviotdale to Hanover while Bill carried on through to The Ridge.

It was a lovely visit with Mom,

even though she wasn’t up and about as easily as she’d like and after an hour we said our goodbyes. Patrick was glad to have the opportunity to see his Grandma before her surgery.

Bill and I were happy to have the 2^nd of 6 children come to see our home on The Ridge and glad that he was able to stay for supper before he hit the road at 7:30pm for St. Thomas. I wasn’t too bright, enjoying my time with him rather than snapping photos. Darn!

So, not a picture from Tuesday but my handsome son all the same!

That was our weekend and into the week. Things are busy but I couldn’t be happier. I feel so content with every decision we have made that brought us here.

Thank you for reading, I hope your summer is going well!