Pictures of our First 3 Days

If I wasn’t living this dream, I wouldn’t believe it. 

Hooked up and ready to move out

Bill takes the last turn at the Ridge for this year

Our route out of the area

We’ve had 3 amazing travel days so far and we haven’t done anything other than drive, stop, drive, eat, sleep over and drive some more.

Clemson hides in the pillows but keeps an eye on us

I’m counting on Bill to record the trip route in his blog On Our Way and I’m just going to focus on the fun pictures I took along the way. Most of my pictures are of water towers so forgive my obsessiveness.

Clemson has been the best little 4-legged traveler we could have.

He snuggles up and sleeps a lot

His seatbelt is his friend and he doesn't mind it at all

Settled in with his seatbelt on Mon. Oct. 24 he never complained once. Even on the first day when we crossed the border and the grumpy guard took 26 patties of his wet dog food, not a peep. 

Not too long at the border, Port Huron

Buying some at our first Walmart stop in Indiana just made us shake our heads, that they were American made.

My reliable guy

Typical diesel prices

One of many

Arrival in Indiana on Monday, Oct. 24

Not sure what they're erecting here but it was quite the project

 We’ve never slept in a Walmart before, although we had slept in Indiana once last year when we toured the DRV factory with our friends, Nancy and Ken. We arrived around 7 after a long day and found a huge area in the parking lot of the 24 hr. Supercentre and slept soundly.

Our quiet bright lit spot

Love this water tower

With plans to travel from Indiana to Missouri, the next day, we made up some hot oatmeal in the Suite before we pulled out around 9. We knew that would tide us over until we could find a rest stop to make up sandwiches for lunch. The weather was really co-operating and we had a good day for the trek.

We found that our 2 gps’ and my laptop and/or Road Atlas worked well for finding what we needed. I especially like the Good Sam Rand McNally one we bought at Camping World. It is one I can work on as Bill drives. I can change routes, cancelling and adding as we find necessary. It also provides us with knowledge of the upcoming gas stations for diesel fill ups, Walmarts’, and advises which ones allow overnight stays. I’m still learning how to work some features but so far I’m happy with it.

Hmm, makes you want a chocolate milk!

This cement mixer was towing a car....what the?

Fed Ex flyers at St. Louis airport

I prefer our wheels on the ground, but this is cool

Brazil? wow and we didn't set foot on an airplane!

Crossed through the bottom of Illinois on our way to Missouri

Got an ugly house to sell?
This picture is for my brother-in-law,
Gerry

Love the U.S. billboards

crossed the Missouri River

Spell it with me now "Miss iss ipp i"

Quite the rig, Bloomers? Not sure what this triple axis trailer is all about
but it was a conversation piece for sure.

A rig towing a rig

A little tractor outstanding in his field

Another mode of travel

Okay, now that is one big cross!!

Choices......we took I70 West but bypassed the downtown
core of St. Louis. Indianapolis was enough fun!

On Tuesday night, we pulled in to a Walmart in Wentzville, MO. I didn't get a picture of this spot. The young gal who Bill spoke to about where to park was a little more particular than the manager from last night (boy these managers are young!) and directed us to the lawn and garden area. We drove around after scouting the lot out on foot and nestled into a nice spot along the automotive/lawn locale.

Old Bourbon tower

New Bourbon tower 

And before we know it we are in Cuba!

Before the evening was over we were joined by another few travelers and a semi driver. Another quiet night of sleeping although we’d had a time change sending me off to bed at 8:30 instead of the usual 9:30! In the morning, we changed the clocks in the Suite all except one so we’d remember what time it is back home.

Not wanting to get on the road before the morning rush, we read some blogs and had our tea and oatmeal. I nipped into Walmart just after 8 to pick up some half and half cream so we had lots on hand before our next venture out.

Beautiful homestead, picture doesn't do it justice

The weather was absolutely gorgeous, warming up nicely so I donned a short sleeve shirt instead of the long sleeve one with a jacket. By the time we skimmed through the latter part of Missouri the temperature gauge in the truck was reading 70F! At one point, we actually turned the air conditioner on for quick cooling off spurts.

I think my Mercedes must  be in here!

But this is likely what I can afford.

Arriving at our destination at Grove, Oklahoma allowed us to update our State Calendar of Places Visited. This is one of our membership parks, Eagles’ Landing Resort (formerly called Bears Den Resort, we assume) and I’m anxious to take a tour on my morning walk. The travel is tiring; I must admit and we don’t feel like doing much other than getting a meal into us and jotting some notes for our blogs before retiring for the evening. I’m sure that will change once we get a better handle on trip lengths and how far we really want to travel in a day.

Phillips 66 for diesel

some favourite water towers

Lebanon tower has a 'doobee'

Like South Carolina's Clemson tigers

Right now, we are settled in for a couple of nights and it isn’t costing us a dime. The water, hydro and sewage hook ups are welcome too after conserving for 3 days.

I hope you enjoy the pictures, I had fun taking them!

Thank you for stopping in to read today.

I've Been Remiss about a Couple of Visits

As we are preparing to leave Canada for 6 months, I fondly remember our 4 months here. This means some things that have taken place and as I think of them I realize I neglected to mention them in a post. For any bloggers, I’m sure you’ll agree that we don’t write posts just for others. I know I write posts as a memory for myself.

This summer has been busy and I wanted to mention our most frequent visitors, someone very close to our hearts, someone who for years I only had communication with through the wires and satellites. My sister, Donna, and I are 4 years apart in age and that gave us a strong bond from a young age.

Donna and I

Marriage(s) and families as well as jobs etc. have taken us away from each other, in the geographical sense. It has not deterred our connection but oft we would say “I wish we were closer so we could go shopping”, “I wish we could share our morning walks” and “I wish we were close enough to have you over for dinner”. The miles apart were too great for those wishes to be a reality.

Now, we are 20 minutes apart and less when they are spending time at their summer property. We see them once a week minimum, back and forth for dinners and campfires and helping each other. We will miss Donna and her husband, Gerry, our landlords.

Gerry, my brother-in-law

My  beautiful niece

I have two other sisters in the area whom I am happy to have seen more often as well. Wendy is in Owen Sound with her daughter, Morgan

Wendy

and Gayle and John are in Chatsworth. They will be heading out the first week of December for the southwest as well.

Gayle

Bill tending the fire

So, that is the family connection, totally aside from my closeness to Mom, which goes without saying.

So, prior to October 1^st, I talked my sister, Donna, into hosting a clothing exchange at her house. I had 3 friends from London area who said early in the year that they would make the trip for an exchange once I moved up here. So, when the day came, Laurie B., Laurie A. and Heather took the 2 ½ hr. trek up here and met me in Hanover.

It was a blast and we even had time to bring them back here to The Ridge for a quick tour of our home and location. Lots of clothes were exchanged and everyone left happy.

Laurie A brings the girls

Can't remember the joke but I missed these girls!

The weather was changing by October and even though we had some fantastic weather days, there were still some cool ones’ popping in periodically. Bill and I knew that our former boss, Deb, took holidays the week after Thanksgiving every year. Tossing a few dates around at the beginning of September we were able to talk them into stopping in here for an overnight visit on Tuesday, Oct. 11. They were on their way home from Lion’s Head and had no trouble at all bringing their 39’ Torque toy hauler fifth wheel in to park for the night. The extended gravel area up here on The Ridge made it very easy.

The Torque coming up the drive

Getting ready to make the swoop

going full circle

And almost in place

Settled in place beside ours

Clemson makes himself at home with Deb

It was a great visit; the weather was fine and we were able to share a dinner of barbecued steak and potatoes. Could this be the start of a tradition?

George makes a colourful fire

I know I missed posting about these visits and felt bad about it. Our friends and family are very important to us and we hope to see them all in the coming years.

Thank you for popping in, now I can move forward without feeling I left anyone out.

Please feel free to comment.