Friday, March 31, 2017

Last Leg, Early Start, Destination Ontari-ario


On Friday, Mar. 31st we were up by 6:30 and it was nice and cozy in the Suite. The temperature overnight got down to 37F and all we had on was our little Blue Flame propane heater. Wonderful! No flannel sheets yet either and we were toasty all night long.

First priority of the day was to try and reach my little sister, Wendy, to wish her a Happy Birthday. She’s a busy gal back in Owen Sound so we were unable to catch her on FB messenger or on her cell. At least she’ll know we were thinking of her from the message I left. 
My sister, Wendy and me from my teenage years

Wendy, all grown up
Also, a Happy Birthday to my dear friend from school, Rufus, who lives in Hinton, Alberta.

My friend Ruth, really knows how to party


We called ourselves the 3 Musketeers back in the day
Happy Birthday, Ruth!
We had a tea this morning and were on the road by 8 o’clock. The sky is overcast yet no precipitation so far. We exited onto Hwy#21 (Corunna Rd) then onto I-75S to connect with I-69N. The pavement was terrible again only around Flint. Soon we were away from the city and on a smoother highway.
No rain at least
When we pulled off to fuel up at a BP I noticed the road crew patching holes in the asphalt. One truck goes through with 2 guys with shovels and fill the holes, then a large dump truck follows and drives its 2 wheels over the patches, then a pickup truck does the same thing. I’m sure these guys are taking their lives in their hands with the crazy drivers on these highways.
The shovellers

This is the last truck

Like George from Our Awesome Travels and other rv’ers, we like the Flying J for their truck lanes to fill up so it is also nice, when you need another gas station, to find that BP also offers these large lanes. With big units, the last thing you want to worry about when you need a fuel top up is whether you can get in and out.
The bridge to Canada in the fog

Daddy's 'black' fog :)
We’ve had a good drive with little to no rain to speak of. We reached Port Huron and the fog was pretty ‘black’ as my dad used to say.  He was a character and when we disputed that it was white, he said ‘you can’t see through it so it has to be black!’, just to get us kids going.
Short line at the border
The line up at the border crossing was short and fast. In line at 9:30 and thanking the young guard at 9:40 as he sent us on our way. Yay! We were as honest with him as the fog is white (heh heh) and are sailing on our way to Arkona. It is 3C and still foggy off in the distance and HWY-402 is smooth as a baby’s bottom. Home.
Familiar road from Arkona

Curvy road to Rock Glen Park
I have a feeling we're not in the United States anymore
Yah well, how can things that go so right suddenly turn around? Here we are at Rock Glen RV Resort with reservations for a week. Thank you, Gerry, for helping us out with that. Jane and Rob are ‘iffy’ whether we’ll get into an Executive Site but ‘try and if it is too soft, we’ll park you on the road’. Fine.
No longer Fine
The lanes are so narrow in this park for big rv’s and then you have to turn your wheels sharp to back in…………. well, our rear truck wheels sunk and here we sit on the lane, neither in a spot or out.


 We called our affiliated Roadside Assistance and with the help of Clarke’s Towing we were out of that sinkhole. Quite a friendly guy too and we’ve never had to use their assistance before so a bonus in the otherwise topsy turvy morning. 


This debacle only added to Bell screwing up our re-connection to Bill’s Samsung, the employee inputting May 31 instead of March 31. Oh my, it is hard to get good help these days!
We left our mark at the park
We took a break and had a discussion about what to do. Sitting in the lane, we couldn’t reach hydro hookup and didn’t want to mess around looking for a spot that would reach. Discouraged, tired, hungry, cool and damp we called our favourite people at CanAm.
A nice chat with the Clarke's driver
"Have you got a spot for us for a couple of days?" Peggy says "yes" so; the decision was easy. Bill backed the Suite up to the main road and swung it around towards the exit. After advising Jane that we weren't staying and getting our $10 gate pass returned, we left Rock Glen at 12:40. We’ll never see those 2 hours again, I thought as we hi-tailed it to Lambeth. We have offered to help them at their Driving Seminar on Sunday so it makes total sense to park there in the back. With hydro. Kudos to CanAm and kudos to Peggy!


Arriving at our dealers’ was like a homecoming and it felt really nice to be welcomed so warmly. Peggy set us up, as promised, and soon we were settled inside our Suite up close to the building with hydro. Sweet! It is cold and our bodies really need to make an adjustment but we have everything with us that we need to keep warm.

Bill made up a sandwich and I found something to tide me over until dinner time. It will be a soup and cracker night, me thinks! I’m making myself a tea as we speak so that will warm me up for the time being. We will be staying here at CanAm for at least a couple of days, maybe more. I appreciate that you are reading today to make sure we got home safely. The sky today is making it obvious that there will be no sunset so I'll post this instead. 

I can say now that I have taken a few of these dirt paths and loved them!

Thank you to all of our friends and family who have followed along with us on this first journey to the southwest. Now, we aren’t just dreaming about it, we made it happen and hope to continue to do so for a long time. It has been a real treat to know that you have been with us. 

All comments are welcome.

22 comments:

  1. Back to Hardtop Parking is still a good way to rest up. Glad you made it Home Safe and Sound.
    Enjoy!

    It's about time.

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  2. Not a good start to your first Ontario night but it could have been worse I guess. It will work out for Can Am and for Bill to get his feet back in the water so to speak;-) Enjoy your stay and a big Welcome Home!

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    1. Thanks sis, always could be worse and we are happy to be on home turf. Both CanAm staff and Bill are happy. :)

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  3. "WELCOME HOME", you were missed!

    Jim

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  4. Welcome back to Canada, we don't usually go in there until the first of May or just park on the roads and not on a site. Grounds can be very iffy as you found out. Have fun in London.

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    1. It would have been better to park on the road for sure instead of trying but when we couldn't reach the hydro hookups from where we were on the road, it wasn't worth looking for one that would. Thanks, it feels good to be home and even better when we get to The Ridge.

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  5. Glad to hear you made it home. I've enjoyed following along on your journey.

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    1. Thank you Cheri. it was a wonderful winter and we hope a repeat for this next one! :) Nice to have you along.

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  6. Nice to know you made it home safely. It is always nice to get home but also nice to head south again in the winter! To bad about the RV Park, it looked like a nice one, but at least you were able to get out and found a place to stay 😊

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    1. thank you. Yes, we will be looking forward to going back in the fall. all is well that ends well.

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  7. Hi Pat and Bill, I fell behind in keeping up with your blog adventures and was very pleasantly surprised to learn in this one that you're back in Ontario. Let's make sure we get together soon - would love to hear more in person about your winter in the south.

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    1. Sounds lovely, Laurie. Will you be going to Kim's clothing exchange? Donna and I will be there, I think it is Apr. 30

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  8. So glad you got home without too much trouble. Wonder what a "hydro" is? Must be a Canadian thing.






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    1. ha ha, I'm getting heck from Canadians for saying on FB 36F instead of our 3C and now you for the hydro thing! too funny. Hydro is what you call Electric, sorry, yes totally a Canadian thing. We didn't realize that until this winter. :)

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  9. Glad to read you are back in Ontario safe and sound. Sorry to read about your problems at the park...from the picture it looks like you were close to being in a site...sounds like you found a perfect solution.
    Stay warm and safe.

    The joke in Michigan is that the only time the potholes are not a problem is in the winter when they are filled with packed down snow...:)

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    1. Thank you guys. Bill hadn't moved onto our site at all yet before his wheels went off on the opposite side in his wide turn. Their lanes are not well-equipped for big rigs like they are down south.
      Good one about the pot holes, hmm, debatable which we'd rather have!

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  10. Glad to see you made it home safe. Hope to cross paths with you guys again next year and we promise to keep our distance. Have a great summer.

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    1. Thanks Lorne, we'd love to cross paths next year. I will have my tape measure handy just in case you forget. :) Enjoy your trip home and a great summer.

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