Silly Endings

 

Yes, on Thursday we will head off to points south but as you know the consummate blogger takes many photos while you are otherwise trying to enjoy yourselves. Here's a few outtakes.

 

First, today we had our final lunch at Appleby's in Barrie. Their new creation is a quesadilla burger. Sounds weird but is really, really good. Don't know if the places in the States have caught on but this is a keeper ... and paired with chili ... great.

 

 

Yet I'm still not too sure about the rigid taco ... might not sell well in Texas.

And in a little town just north of here ... maybe the 2,000 bikes might not sell this summer ...

The 60 inch flat screen TV must serve as the bunk bed I guess.

And the last chipper handshake to say "bye and I'll hold your nuts for you big guy till next year."

A lot more down the road later this week. Or first planned landing is somewhere in west NY on Thursday evening, but the road has many twists and turns and as you know we will report on the latest happening on this crazy road.

The Forest Is Ablaze

 

I apologize to those in the fire zones in the west as this blaze is just for show only and a natural ritual of the hardwood trees in the north.

 

The treeline below is representative of all those that line the farmers' fields in this area north of Toronto. If you look close at the first yellow tree below you can see the leaves falling ... neat.

 

 

This maple in Creemore, just to the west of us was pretty spectacular with its new Fall poufs.

And the small garage or carriage house below with the vines that only nature could color ... hey I just take the pictures and don't enhance, eh.

And here is our KOA in the upper park portion as the leaves begin to pile up around the campsites.

Of course who can resist the Flying Scotsman with one of the final shots with the color in the background.

We are in the final stages of bidding farewell to the friends and family in the Barrie area and plan to leave here on the 2nd of October and head southward toward New Orleans. More to follow tomorrow on the plans and our last days here for the year in Barrie.

Cruisin'

 

A week or so ago our next door neighbors here at the KOA offered to take us for a short trip in their "other" RV. As we have experienced other folks who have offered to take us for a trip in their 12 foot aluminum Jon Boat, we were pleasantly surprised when we arrived at the "Ship" below.

 

This is a 38 foot Bayliner cabin cruiser and it is beautiful. There are far more living spaces and separate entertaining areas on this thing than the Flying Scotsman for sure. It has two staterooms and two separate baths ... sorry, heads, and three different levels. Our neighbors, Morgan and Jeanette have meticulously restored and maintained this 1991 boat and the classic woodwork and fittings are truly a work of transportation art.

 

 

I was allowed to briefly sit at the controls (while parked) and remarked at the similarity of this cockpit and those of aircraft. Arrayed in front of me are GPS, weather radar, marine radio, depth gauge, and the autopilot input pad. With twin throttles and transmissions it is highly maneuverable. There is a duplicate set of all these controls one level below in the pilot house proper.

As we departed on the Trent-Severn Waterway from Port Severn we headed east and encountered the Big Chute (below) or historic Marine Railway we have shown before, except we were land-bound before and looking at the boats navigating this thing from the sidewalk. Time to hit the rails. If you were an avid boater and were heading full speed toward this view below I think you'd be waiting for the crunching of fiberglass.

Not so here. As you slide onto the cradle it gently picks up the 40,000 pounds or so of us, hauls us up over the top like a roller coaster and on the way back you have the view of the water about 80 feet below ... wow!

After a leisurely run up the waterway amongst the many islands that reminded us of the 1000 Islands area of the St. Lawrence, we paused for the wine toast of the day.

The boat was to be Morgan and Jeanette's main living venue but then the land based 5th wheel RV showed up and they are now looking for a buyer, but the sign below at the marina seemed an apt name for whatever recreational vehicle you are now or contemplating.

42 years since that blind date in Ottawa!

Time flies but only gets more fun.

 

Being too busy here in Barrie and couldn't get over to Paris the obvious choice is Gio's for the best Italian (or any kind of) food there is to be served.

 

 

We started off the evening with a bottle of Il Bosco, Rosso Toscano, Azienda Casale, Italy 2008 which was one of John Remmo's (the owner who immediately knew us from a year ago) recommendations.   It is a 100% Sangiovese grape, very good wine & very smooth.

In front of my sweet partner is the Caprese of bocconcini cheese and tomato slices and sauce. And we shared that and the Manzo Filetto Carpaccio we had two years ago. The latter dish is paper thin cold marinated beef that, no kidding, actually melts in your mouth ... really hard to describe and almost as hard to get to your mouth ... but wow!

Here's the pensive blogger as we waited for the main course with a little of the restaurant in the background.

Then the main course (secondo piato) where Jo-Anne elected the Fettuccine Alfredo ... no conversation other than mmmm, yeah, mmmmm, wow.

I had a special of their Atlantic Char on a bed of pasta which as it reminded me of salmon was a great dish. Of course perfectly prepared and the seasoning on it and the pasta really blended well.

 

All of that was only the lead up to the real Italian meal that brought us together 42 years ago ... Zabayone (sp). This desert is what nations have fought and lost territory over. In about 20 minutes of work with a whole bunch of eggs you could try to imitate what is here ... trust us we have flushed a lot of eggs over this one ... and you won't.

The smile tells it all as we share this special dessert as we did in that summer of 1972 ... many more to come!

The Scotsman and the Bandit

Unlike the movie this one involved a very hairy cat who had settled into heaving up a hairball at 3am every morning ... messy, noisy and probably painful for him and an aging motorhome.

 

We have had the cat shaved in the past and as you see he has been quite hirsute for the last couple of years.

We contacted our local vet here in Barrie and scheduled the old puss for a shave and because he has to be sedated to do that (cat with attitude) had the vet look at his teeth as well ... something you also don’t want to do when the Bandit is awake.

 

On Tuesday the 2^nd we took him over to the vet in the afternoon as it is an overnight deal because of the being put out and they want to watch him for the evening.

We had a nice relaxing day on Wednesday as we waited to hear from the vet. After noon he called to say that the Bandit had one abscessed tooth and another broken one ... and that he would remove the really bad one, but that everything else was great and the cat minus five pounds of hair was doing well.

Late afternoon on Wed we picked up the now naked kitty and paid the $1000 for his bail. Cute tummy eh.

OK. Cat sleeps all night and then we launch into the Scotsman part. We are up at 0530 (reveille anyone) and get the bus over to the Hitch House at 8am to get the broken awning replaced. Let’s see Bandit back into his carrier (no kitty we are not going back to the veterinary sleepover place), leave the bus and motor down the road to kill 8 hours of repair time.
 
So we decided to park the cat at Rick’s apartment and grabbed Jo’s dad and took him to lunch at a new place here called the Cottage Canoe. Quite good for a fast food joint and some different menu items. Actually the quesadillas were nice as was the Philly cheese steak wrap which we shared with some ok house merlot.

Dropped the old guy off and picked up Bandit and headed back to the RV garage at about 3 where the Flying Scotsman was waiting patiently for us to pay the $1500 bail to get it back home ... expensive theme going on here, eh. For you RV folks out there, without the extended warrantee the bill would have been over $4000 for the awning but they picked up the rest ... expensive shade.

Needless to say the ol guys, including feline, slept well that night!