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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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”
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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Goodnight from Walmart in Jackson, Michigan
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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.
