On Our Way, Goodbye Ridge, Ontario, Canada, Hello Michigan

Bill and I woke up at 6:30 on Monday, Oct. 23 (departure day) to the sound of Clemson throwing up. That gagging sound is never a good thing at the best of times because by the time you react, it is too late. So, when we weren’t quite awake, there was definitely no hope of getting him outside on time. It wasn’t much and Bill quickly took him out while I cleaned up the little mess. Of course, on my clean duvet cover! Ha ha never fails.

Pretty day to say au revoir

 He is perhaps concerned about pulling out today. It was all good though, 6:30 was a good time to rise and shine. Today is the day! I hopped in the shower first and Bill went out to put the satellite dish away. We had one hot drink first thing and read a couple of blog posts before packing up the laptops. Mine comes with me in the truck so I can write and check directions if we need to.

Bye bye Ridge!

Bill hopped in the shower next and I cleaned up the dishes and secured the last couple of cupboards. We need to push our recliners right back against the wall in order to close the slides as well as turn our hi-lo coffee table lengthwise. Once dressed, the closet snaps were latched and the last few cans were dropped in the bunky where the recycle bins are.

It didn’t take us long to do these last-minute things so I slipped out and snapped some more photos. Not sad, not sad, there will be so many more beautiful pictures where we’re going. Bill hooked up and pulled over to the outhouse just at the head of the lane to dump our black tank. Nice to have this option and it is so easy with his set up. We pulled out of the lane at 8:39.

Almost ready to pull out

Two stops in Durham, one at the FS for propane and one at Home Hardware. Found easy spots to pull in and out of and we were On Our Way at 9:00. The weather was dry and mild at 15C. We drove on nice quiet two-lane highways through Varny, Harriston/Minto, Wroxeter, Bluevale and bypassed Wingham as we turned onto Hwy 4. Hardly any traffic on the roads makes for a nice drive. Check out Bill's post at On Our Way for a map detailing this route.

We ventured on and drove through Belgrave, Blythe, Londesborough, Clinton, Vanastra, Brucefield and Kippen. By the time we reached Hensall we were ready for a pit stop so pulled off into a parking lot and used our bathroom. Next was Exeter and we made the turn off Hwy 4 at Clandeboye. These are my old stomping grounds, as a teenager I travelled these roads often. Now it is 18C and partly sunny so I put my sunglasses on.

I'll miss looking at my garden

There were a few of the barn quilts our friend, Al, posts in his blog from time to time at The Bayfield Bunch. I tried to capture them even though they weren’t always on a barn! Continuing onto Hwy #7 for a bit we turned onto CR19 through Ailsa Craig, Nairn and Beechwood and then onto a bouncy Hwy 81 to catch the 402. For our American friends, the 402 is equivalent to your Interstates, being 4 lanes wide and higher speed limits.

We close the gate when we leave

Saw this Church sign: “Autumn is God’s way to show us how beautiful it is to let things go”

So, I present Autumn to you on the 402

As we approached the 10-km distance from the Bluewater Bridge at Sarnia, there was construction. The first we’ve seen, so lucky us! We were moved over into the left lane for about 2 km and then we approached the border traffic. Okay so it is 12:21 and it could be busier because of the noon hour rush. We weren’t up to leaving at 7 to get here by 10.

We are now in a single line of cars and rv’s with two lanes of trucks beside us. We can’t even see the toll booths yet. Good thing we are retired and in no hurry. This line to pay our toll of $9 was longer and slower than the line to customs. We were asked new questions by a stern young lady and sent on our way at 1:15. Then on to the rough I-69 until Flint where we started looking for our cut off.

Bluewater Bridge at Port Huron

With a stop at a BP for fuel and a Big Mac meal at the affiliated Mcdonald’s, our tank and our tummies were full. The pee break was also necessary for all 3 of us. Back on the road at 2 heading west. The light spattering of rain that started around 1:30 is keeping our truck windows clean. We’re loving that it is such a mild day for travelling.

These are for you, Al

Obviously, I spoke too soon because once we entered Flint, MI the rain was like a cloud overhead. A misty drive it turned out to be but still clear. The temperature dropped 6 degrees in an hour to 15C. We are listening to the 60’s on 6 and bee bopping along to the music. Great stuff! Once we got through Flint I-69 seemed to settle down and wasn’t so rough.

From experience Bill remembers it being bad from Lansing down to Indiana so I looked for an alternate route. At Exit 105 we turned onto S52 and took that two-lane highway down to Perry and Stockbridge where we caught S106. True, we couldn’t go 60 mph, the max was 55 but with the Suite it worked for us. S106 took us into Jackson, MI and both of these routes were beautiful highways. We enjoyed the drive.

Our perfect little traveller after 6 hours

It was approaching 4:30 and Bill had been driving for 6 ½ hours so we decided to stop at the Walmart Supercentre for the night. We were settled and opened up by 4:45. This has been a good driving day. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough sun for long enough so our solar panels weren’t charging. It just meant no tv tonight, it will be a reading night.

Port Huron, Michigan

With our big lunch at Mcd’s, soup would do us just fine. I hope you’ve had a good day today wherever you are planted.

Goodnight from Walmart in Jackson, Michigan

Thank you for sticking with us through our summer in Ontario and for travelling with us as we have our second winter adventure. I’d love to hear your comments.