Early Departure, Easy Border Crossing, Half and Half Driving Day, Park Arrival

I guess I was a bit excited about getting on the road because I was in bed Saturday night at 9:30 and then wide awake at 4:30 on Sunday, Oct. 28^th. I couldn’t go back to sleep so rolled over a few times like a barrel and finally crept out of bed around 5:45. I did well and didn’t wake Bill or Clemson up while I got dressed and ‘sneakily’ left the bedroom.

We had Ron come by before we pulled out to say one more goodbye
He is just that kind of guy - thanks Ron for the send off!

I turned the fireplace up a bit and sat in my recliner to finish my book. And finish my book I did. A Darkness More than Night is after The Poet (which I’ve read) and the references back to it were easy to pick up on. I enjoyed this Harry Bosch story a lot. I initialed the front page, which is what we do, and tucked it in the cupboard for Bill to read. We had eaten some cereal, Bill’s cold and mine hot oatmeal, and had our first brew and were all packed up and ready to pull out before 9.

Waiting in Arkona for Rob to fuel up

Rob stopped in Arkona to fill up his white Beauty and Bill took the lead from there today. We’ll take turns. It was a nice drive to Port Huron with the clouds moving out and giving way to some peaks of blue sky. 

Just a peek at what could be - fingers crossed

Not much but brightening it up enough to give us hope. We were surprised that on a Sunday the lineups over the Bluewater Bridge in Sarnia were as long as they were. With 5 booths open at 9:45, we had a wait of about 20 minutes.

 

Crossing the Bluewater Bridge is always a lovely view

Approaching and entering the border crossing 'corral'

The bigger surprise was that we were about 30 seconds with the crossing guard. He asked ‘where were we going?’ ‘just the two of you?’ and ‘is anyone in the trailer?’ I snickered to myself at the last question and thought of all the illegals in there (not really!) but he pleasantly handed Bill back our passports with ‘have a good day’. Rob and Pat had just as easy a time with 2 or 3 similar questions.

It was here I first noticed that we were being tailed

We are always prepared as much as possible for any question, with nothing to hide, but it is the same feeling arriving in the States as it is leaving. Relief. Now we had nothing else to worry about. We can buy any food we want etc. and go anywhere we want and just obey their laws and relax. Easy peasy. We stopped at at Rest Area at Casco, MI for a nature break around 10:30 and soon hopped back on I-94W.

Rest area in Casco, Mi

It was 38F when we left home and now it was 40F. At least it is going in the right direction! Until we got to the Detroit vicinity, we had pretty good roads. Then it went to hell in a hand basket, let me tell you. It was horrible! I texted Pat and told her that we wouldn’t need to ‘shake’ our martinis when we arrived at camp. 

I talk about our little pest at 'home' and then I see this
All is forgiven - lol

Bill and Rob both travel at a respectable speed approx. 10 mph below the maximum considering the speed limit and the weight we were pulling which certainly helped but I was still nervous to open cupboards when we arrived.

When we reached the Ohio state line, it was honest to God like night and day. Yes, there were a few bad patches later on but I couldn’t believe how the roads were looked after in this state. We stopped at 12:50 at Portage Tic Rest Area for lunch and the rain at this point had began with gusto. We were in for a nasty driving day even though the temperature had risen to 45F. Thank goodness for that, at least!

The boys walk into Love's to pay for diesel - $3.46/US gal

We stopped at a Love’s on Deshler Road near North Baltimore for fuel before moving on. I-75S was pretty smooth going with the exception being at Lima and OH-81 where construction caused a slow down. 

The weather and a bit of construction were the only hangups today

We were down to one lane and this lasted perhaps 15 minutes of bumper to bumper traffic. The rain was battering down and the air was white with road spray through all of this and I am not ashamed to admit I mumbled a few “please stop the rain for us to set up at least” as we approached our destination.

Our turn off approaching and look at the windshield and pavement

Not a drop to block my view of the park sign

someone is completely relaxed today

He obviously doesn't know we are being followed
(or maybe he does and maybe he knows by whom)

At 2:30 we turned off onto Exit 111 to Wapakoneta, OH and left towards Arrowhead Lakes RV Resort.  Voila! The rain stopped, nor word of a lie and enabled us to set up without getting wet. This is a Coast to Coast park for us and for $10/night with full service, it is a very nice park. This is only our second time here and we are only stopping for the night. It would be a great place in the nicer weather.  

We chose 2 pull-through sites together and I just love it when things work out. Not only was it easy to pull in and get plugged in but no sooner did we do this when the sun came out and gave me a great opportunity to take a picture of our rv’s in the glow. The boys drove up to the clubhouse and checked us in on these sites and when they returned, we drove into Wapakoneta to the Wal-Mart for some ‘prohibited’ foods.

Arrowhead Lake, I presume

Before returning to camp, we both topped up with fuel so we are good for a few hours tomorrow without having to do so. We decided to stay in tonight and heat up our chili for supper, with toast. The clouds were back and the wind was pretty wild out there. 

A few pictures of the park on my short walk

It was quite mild at 6, somewhere around 53F/10c so after we ate and did the dishes, I slipped out for a walk around the park. I didn’t go far but stuck my head in the clubhouses and checked out the pool. As I said, nice park.

this was our chili and toast

When I returned from my walk, Rob had brought us a cabbage roll to share
Bill doesn't like them so I ate half and will share it with myself tomorrow night
Delicious!

This was a good first day on our real trip despite the weather. Tomorrow looks much brighter and warmer still. Join us to see where we head next! I hope you’ve had a good day too. Safe travels if you are on the road as well.

My contribution of a Hallowe'en picture

And look who is camped beside us!!
And our sites are definitely enhanced by the beautiful sunshine

Thank you for reading today. I enjoy hearing what you have to say.