Waking to Rain, Black Beauty Treatment, Dinner out with Friends for Real

Today, Thursday, Apr. 12^th Bill once more was awake and up before me. I slept in until 8 after another early rise at 4:30 to nature’s call. Hmm, what’s going on? Anyway, when Bill heard me up, he made my tea for me. With the pitter patter of rain on the roof he knew I wouldn’t be walking anywhere this morning. There is an area in the back forty of CanAm’s lot that would be fun to explore but it needs to be a dry day and we haven’t had too many of those. (any of the small pictures can be clicked on for a larger view)

Not a pleasant morning

There are a couple of things going on today, for sure this time. Firstly, Bill was taking Black Beauty back to Mt. Brydges Ford for a thorough check over before we reach the 60,000 km warranty mark. Al offered to go through it and fix anything that was necessary for us and for the low cost of the actual ‘check’. We have decided to buy her out now instead of going through with another leased vehicle. The ONLY benefit of going with a new lease is that we wouldn’t have to replace the tires or anything on the trade in.

By 10:30, the sky showed the promise of a walk for me

That decision is for two reasons. One, we love our truck and it has everything we want in a vehicle. To try and lease a new one, the cost would be more than what we are paying now AND even going to a lesser truck, which we were willing to do, the cost was not going to save us any money. We would like to lower monthly payments if possible. Buying it out, saves us a nice chunk each month and we have the vehicle we 'built' 3 years ago. I think Black Beauty is happy too! 

My walk took me through the maze of stored, new, used and repaired trailers
All shapes and sizes

We have been pondering a lot of options over the last 2 weeks and for one reason or another have decided that we are in the unit we need to be in, can afford to be in and have the truck we need to pull it. Plus saving some $$ at the same time. Bill left at 10:30 for Mt. Brydges and since he had eaten cereal earlier, I needed to get something for myself. I cut up a banana, added some wheat germ, granola and cream. I would have used yogourt but I’ve run out and this is the best fat product I have in the fridge.

The Bambi

The other plan we have for today, is dinner out at our friends’, Brenda and Randy. They invited us a few nights ago and we are looking forward to seeing them again. They are the couple who came and stayed with us for a night in Quartzsite. Bill was all messed up yesterday and had me all messed up, thinking our invite was for last night. Half the problem is that we lose track of the days. Especially when we are sitting here in a bit of mid-stream, home but not home yet. What day is it? LOL

Mobile Suite twins

So, I had to actually check my phone yesterday afternoon to confirm the date again before having a mid-afternoon lunch break. We wouldn’t have eaten had our plans actually been for last night. The sun has come out now and once my tea is finished, I’m going to slip on my boots and coat and take a walk around the property. I’m looking forward to that, my step counts have been terrible for over a week!

A row of new Airstreams

There aren’t a lot of areas to walk without walking along the busy highway and I’m never keen on that where there are no sidewalks. I took my big Canon and snapped some pictures of the trailer storage area. Some new, some old, some SOLD and others probably for sale. It was a little muddy in spots so I had to dodge puddles and the two boys on tractors who were pulling trailers in and out. They must think I’m nuts, walking all around the lot.

the Airstream Base Camp

Once back in, I worked on my fingernails. They are growing so fast, which is new for me! I must be doing something different. I filed and painted them a pretty pink and sat beside Clemson with my book. As is usual for me, I managed to mess up two nails within minutes of sitting down. Egads! Such a clutz when it comes to nail polish. The new book I’m into is good so while waiting for the nails to ‘really’ dry, I read a few chapters.

Rpods are popular

Bill called at 12:15 with the good news that he was on his way home with a complete truck checkup done at no charge. Awesome! I knew that the two A/C receptacles in Black Beauty weren’t working properly. Sometimes when we’d have a long travel day this past winter, I’d plug my laptop in and there would be no connection to the outlet. Ford has ordered the parts needed and we’ll go back at the beginning of the week and get that taken care of.

The Nest, Airstream's newest little product goes
for a test run

After hearing from him and knowing I had about 45 minutes or so, I swept the kitchen floor and got out my mop to wash it as well. Just as things were dry, Bill returned home around 1. He had to make a quick stop at Staples to pick up our Quicken Turbotax program. That will be one of the first things we take care of when we make it back to Durham and are able to get our mail. He made himself a sandwich and we relaxed for the afternoon.

Sometimes rv's are just aptly named

Around 1:30, all hope of more sunshine vanished when the clouds rolled in, thunder and lightening made an appearance, even some hail!! We at least made it up to 11C by 2 o’clock before the expected decline to 3C overnight. To make a liar out of me, before the night is through, there will be more sunshine, solid blue skies, gusty winds and 20C. Now that is what I call a funny day! With a couple of walks close to home here, it was a great day.

Brenda lives in Old South London which is where many of the original homes
remain

 We prettied ourselves up and left Clemson in charge of the Suite. It was around 6 when we left for our friends, kind of in the centre of the city. This will be a treat for us, I know I’ve had a couple of lunches with Brenda but Bill and I have never had a meal at Brenda’s home. Not for lack of trying, she has tried a few times to work it into her busy schedule and our trips to London. I’m glad tonight is the night!

Nice treed streets and large single family homes
too much for us but beautiful to look at

And this is Brenda's beautiful modest home
It was her family home and when she lost her Dad, she was able to purchase it,
set up her hair salon at the back and make it her own

It was great to see our friends, we had a lovely dinner and evening. Lots of laughs and shared stories over a few glasses of wine. It is nice to talk to them about our travels because they met a few of our rv’ing friends when they visited us at Quartzsite. They send a ‘hey’ out to George and Suzie and Tom and Deb. Delicious oven baked crispy chicken with cauliflower and broccoli were the main course and a yummy butter oatmeal square for dessert. We were stuffed!

Our beautiful friends, Brenda and Randy

 It was 10:30 when we rolled in the door and instead of working on my blog post, I went straight to bed with Clemson. The good days just keep adding up!

Goodnight from the Richards' in London!

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