Last Wednesday, the 26th of May, we went over to Barrie, Ontario for the graduation of Danielle Martin our niece. She graduated Cum Laude from Laurentian University's Georgian College with a degree in Business Administration. She majored in accounting and hopes to become a Chartered Accountant, the equivalent of our CPA. Here she is with the Dean of Faculty accepting her degree.

Here's proud Mom and Dad (now divorced but still friends) with their new college graduate.

Papa Rick and Danielle with her diploma.

And Mom and Dad as we had dinner at the Keg in Barrie and presented Danielle with some graduation cards and gifts.

This was a really nice event and a major milestone for Danni as she now goes off into life to pursue career and other lifetime goals. Pretty cool and we were lucky to be part of it.

Usually one of the first places we go to as soon as we hook up the RV in the neighborhood is the Coffin Ridge Winery, about two miles from our campsite. Like Messinahof in Bryan this is a really neat little winery, shop, and picturesque vineyards. The advantage here is that the vineyards overlook Georgian Bay in the distance and it is spectacular.




Lunch, complete with coffin, consisted of a variety of locally baked breads, some local cheeses, maple honey-butter, liver pate, and some pickled asparagus spears; different flavors but really good! All this paired with some Back from the Dead Red (pinot noir) wine, my wine mate, and the lunch was perfect.




The flowers around the buildings were just in bloom and perfect against the stone wall.

And a rusty praying mantis guarded the gate ...

As we left we drove through hundreds of acres of just seeded dandelions making the fields white with the fuzz. I don't know if you can harvest these things, maybe for wine, but if there were a demand these farmers would be rich.

Last Thursday night it was a wonderful 41 degrees for a constant driving rain storm for several hours. It was coming down at about 2 inches an hour and didn't let up all night. Unfortunately one of the seals of the slideouts wasn't properly extended and we had a pretty good leak which I am expertly drying out here at about 10pm.

Fortunately the weather has cleared out for the time being and we had a really nice day today of about 65 degrees and sunny ... maybe the mud in the park will finally dry out!

On Sunday morning we unhooked the Flying Scotsman and again headed north toward Canada. The weather was pleasant ... still a fair wind but not the gale of the last few days. We arrived at the Port Huron border crossing and the Blue Water Bridge about noon and with very little traffic were across the border in minutes.

Hello Canada!! We are back!!

After going up highway 21 for a bit we settled upon a private RV park in Walton Ontario. It was a little off the beaten path but we decided to go a new route to get us to the Meaford area. Meaford was a bit too far for the day otherwise we would have pressed on. And as it was Sunday we figured we didn't want to surprise our landlord in Meaford for arriving too early.

The Paradise RV park in Walton was very nice. It was primarily a seasonal mobile home park with four pull through sites as they probably didn't get many transient folks this far off the beaten path. The hosts were really great and for our 26CDN the boss man said because we were one of the bigger RVs he had seen there, we could have all four sites to settle into. It was a grass site with just water and electric but very quiet and pretty. The lake and beach on the property were well kept and nicely laid out. All in all a really good night and the last on the trip to Meaford.

Saturday morning we unplugged from the Buckeye KOA and headed north. The winds were about 40+ MPH and while we thought we might make it to Port Huron Michigan, we had to stop in Monroe, Michigan. Even though the new Flying Scotsman is heavier the strain of the direct wind from the left was too much to continue too long and when we stopped for lunch at a roadside park, we decided on the RV park in Monroe.

Our selection was excellent as the Harborview RV Resort is definitely a first class operation. The sites are all paved and the amenities and staff were top notch. The wind continued to howl though for the evening and the temperature was in the high 30s so it was pretty bitter walking poor Buster for the evening stroll.

After we left Fairborn Ohio and Wright Patterson AFB we headed east toward Lancaster Ohio where our friends Col (ret) Dick and Paulette Alquist live. It was a very windy day again but thankfully a short day and the drive through Columbus was very nice. We arrived in the Buckeye Lake KOA on Friday afternoon the 7th. The KOA was excellent with paved streets and a really professional patio setup for each of the motorhomes. Here is a nice nite shot of the park before the blinding thunderstorm hit that evening.





After we got in and established in our park we were invited over to Dick and Paulette's place for dinner. Lancaster is a very neat little town in a picturesque valley and I wish I had gotten some more pictures of the place. Dick and Paulette just bought their new place less than a year ago which is situated on a large lot on a pretty good hill which allows a spectacular view off of the porch. We had a great enchalada dinner and wine and it was super to see the Alquists again who lived near us in New Braunfels and who just moved to Ohio this last year.

Right now in Monroe, Michigan it is 46 degrees with a steady 40 MPH wind from the north making it seem like ... damn cold! Wow, we left Texas to escape the heat of summer and we now have gotten a lot more than we asked for.

From the great park in Kentucky we worked our way toward Ohio and the base in Fairborn. It was a truly beautiful day and making it better we filled up at a Pilot station where the diesel was $2.96 a gallon. So far we are averaging about 9 miles per gallon which isn't bad. Below is the Famcamp where we have stayed for several years as it is truly a first class park especially for the big rig kind of vehicles.







The sites are nice and wide for our slideouts and the roads are all paved and level ... really helpful when the torrential rains come. And here is the office and lodge at Bass Lake where you register for the Famcamp. You deal with Anne at the counter who will make your whole day; funny lady who is totally and completely in charge of her campsite.

We were taken out to dinner by Greg and Char who have hosted us several times before on our annual trek to the north. After our normal commissary and BX shopping event we hit one of the local restaurants recommended by the O'briens. This time it was the Pub located just south of Bevercreek. Absolutely the best food and service! I had the "Bangers and Mash" and Jo-Anne had the "Shepard's Pie" both of which were excellent. While we were too busy to get a picture of the O'briens themselves, we got one of Baily, their dog ... ahhh, yes, this is a dog ... sort of. And Baily can't help being a cute four pounds of fluff.

Sunday night the green and red blob below finally worked its way east and while we got a bunch of rain, it wasn't anything like Nashville and central Tennessee got with huge amounts and a large loss of life; messy and dangerous storm.

After leaving Chattanooga and a really nice park, we headed north on I-75 for Kentucky with beautiful weather. We arrived at the KOA in Mount Vernon called the Renfro Valley KOA and it was very nice. The sites were large and there were only a couple of other rigs in the place. As you can see the trees now are just starting to bloom as we are following spring as it moves northward.

Leaving the KOA on Tuesday morning we were met by the local pets of the park. As we were watching the bull moved over to his cow to protect her and the two calves.

We are off heading north toward Wright-Patterson AFB and our friends Greg and Char O'brien. We should be able to stay on the base in the Famcamp there at Bass Lake.

This morning we left the Huntsville/Decatur area of Alabama, met Todd and Diana at the Cracker Barrel in Madison and then headed eastward toward Chattanooga, Tennessee. The huge red weather blob is still just to our west and we are going eastward hopefully to avoid it. As of right now Nashville has had something like 17 inches of rain and more is predicted.




Tonight we are in the Best Trav-l-park in Chattanooga. It's a standard gravel RV park geared for our type of bus. The last couple of nights at the Point Mallard city park were more basic with kids, fires, tight spaces, mud, and all the stuff we really don't care for. Tonight is good.

The red weather blob is still out there to the west and it is raining right now and still about 80 degrees. We are now on I 75 and need to turn north to head toward Ohio but that is right in the middle of this massive storm. We'll see tomorrow whether we will .... oooo thunder and lightning right now ... head off into the gale.

We arrived in Decatur Alabama on Friday night having been chased by the weather all day. We booked into the Point Mallard Park which is right downtown Decatur and about 15 miles from the LaVigne's place. This map is from Saturday morning as the mean weather and possible tornadoes were about 60 miles to the northwest of us.





In spite of the weather threat we went over to Todd and Diana's house in Madison. After leaving Germany they were assigned to the US Army Redstone Arsenal just outside Huntsville and have been here about six months. They bought a wonderful new house and have begun the unpacking process but were the super hosts in spite of still having many boxes to unpack. Diana cooked up a really good German breakfast at their place after which we separated for a brief rest and then we re-grouped for dinner, again at their place.




Before dinner and while enjoying the appetizer spread we sipped some good wine at the unique bar that they brought from Germany. If you look back in our blogs from last summer and their house in Horrenburg you can see the same bar in their rental place there. Rather complex and weighty moving process to say the least!

The BBQ steaks were wonderful and the hospitality was perfect ... love you guys and we'll plan the next trip to your other house in Piesport soon!