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. 28th. 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Our turn off approaching and look at the windshield and pavement |
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| Not a drop to block my view of the park sign |
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| someone is completely relaxed today |
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| He obviously doesn't know we are being followed (or maybe he does and maybe he knows by whom) |
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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| this was our chili and toast |
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| 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.
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| My contribution of a Hallowe'en picture |
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| And look who is camped beside us!! And our sites are definitely enhanced by the beautiful sunshine |