Sentimental Journey

 The Ridge

It was 6:15 when we all stirred on Sunday, Oct. 18th. Today was not the day to be dangling. There was excitement and the normal nervous anxiety we always feel when leaving a long term location. 

Good morning!

Looks like a lovely send off!

All went perfectly and we were hooked up and pulling out at 8 am. 

It was a beautiful sunny sky yet a bitter wind had me tucking my chin in my coat while checking lights and taking last pictures. Brr.

And then we roll!

We took a bit of a different route, through Listowel, Atwood and Mitchell. It was nice for a change. Gibbs was a pretty good traveler but each turn was cause for concern. 🤷‍♀️ Does Daddy know where he's going?

Yes, we put up with a bit of
whimpering and panting
but he's a pretty good traveler.

We made a brief nature stop at South Huron, following Hwy 23 to #7. Elginfield and Ailsa Craig were on our route. Seeing signs for Lucan, Granton, Denfield and Clandeboye brings back good memories of my teenage years. 🥰

We don't come this way 
all the time but today,
it was the route we chose.

From Hwy 7 we caught the 402 to Sarnia and soon came upon the slow moving lanes at the Blue Water Bridge. We got in line at 11:30 and after waiting 45 min. got up to the border guard. Very pleasant but asked us over to secondary for our I-94 documentation. 

The Blue Water bridge and view is always
picture worthy.

Easy from there. Picture, fingerprints and since their computer was acting up, we didn't have to pay the $35/each fee. Bill got teased that I was his daughter and that made up for the long delay. 🤭 (for me anyway!)We actually only spent 15 personal minutes with them before wished a great winter.

Some views along the way.
Little at that cute water tower.

We ate our sandwiches on the road, it was 12:45, and we stopped at a rest stop for a nature call. At Imlay City, MI we fueled up at $6.14/gal, saving $8.74 with Mudflap. The I-69w was pretty good so far. We knew we'd be late getting to our HH destination so messaged for approval to still go. 🤷‍♀️

What a nice place!
Too bad we arrived after hours but I 
could still tour the grounds with the
windmills.

Of course! was the reply so we carried on to the Mid-America Windmill Museum, arriving at 5:05, the only overnighters. That's nice! 

Gibbs and I walked the grounds

Bill was obviously very tired, as were Gibbs and I, but after setting up, Gibbs and I walked to peruse the old windmills on the property. Some running quite well. In case you're interested, here are some 

of them.

For supper, we just had weenies and mack & cheese with the last 2 pieces of carrot cake. Finally it's gone! Melodie, your muffins were wonderful for our lunch! 

So, now on to a bit of an explanation for the title of our blog. Bill and I made the decision during the summer that this is our last year of traveling to the United States for our winter. With his diagnosis of a heart murmur 2 1/2 years ago, his travel/health insurance rises each year. Age is only a small increase.

Supper was a no-brainer.
A switch up tomorrow though.

This year, we each took $5000 deductible just to bring it to a reachable cost. We figure, as sad as it is, 10 years living in an rv fulltime, traveling south for 9 of those years, it's time to stop while we are both still in good health and in full control of our future. What will we do?

Well, Robin, our bnb friend, has offered us the Carriage House to be our permanent 'full time' sticks and bricks home. That really helped to make the decision easier. It will be a bnb until August 1st when we will take possession. 

Don't worry! The Suite will still be on The Ridge and our summer 'cottage'. We're very settled with it all, after running through various scenarios. Living right in town will be nice and we have a number of friends there already. 

This winter will also be different. In the theme of saving some funds, we canceled our reservation in Park Place RV Park with Sue and will be boondocking at Roadrunner blm with Ken and Kim for as long as they are there. It's how we started out in 2016 and it's how we'll finish.

It was a long day but a good one. Tomorrow will be much the same, Bill just checked, so come back and see where we end up! We had sunny skies all day and evening, with around 64F/17.78C for a high. Here and at home.

Here's where we are.
Good night!

Thank you for coming along with us.