May Days

 

While in Texas we've snapped many pictures of the bluebonnets so here in Ontario the treat is the dandelions. This is the Brown farm just down the road with their millions of dandys in full bloom. They are quite short lived and in about four days had all seeded and blown away.

 

Also in May we celebrate the birthday of Jo-Anne's brother, Rick. This one is special because he just turned the big 65 and that entitles him to some more money and benefits from the government. We had a Chinese dinner at the Waterford residence where Dad Martin lives and Danni and Tyler also came down from Bracebridge for the awesome event. Rick's close friend Guy brought him over and it was great to see Guy and everybody else who we haven't seen since our departure last October.

If you have money to invest and are looking for that perfect venue I ran across this sign below just down the road. Now I'm not sure if there are 15 of you owning that hen, do all 15 of you share the first egg ... tiny portions eh?

And the ever more present chippers becoming quite comfortable sitting on our chest and begging for more peanuts.

For your French lesson of the day this is a soup with a fancy name but both the mushrooms and the white wine got lost somewhere in the stuff and we wouldn't buy it again.

The weather has been consistent with near 80 for the highs and we just had a nice shower, the first in a week or so ... summer finally here and in full bloom.

Springy SNOW

 

Last weekend we got together with our friends Jeanette and Morgan and had a bit of happy hour in the nice 65 degree weather ... flowers starting to bloom and clear blue skies and the hostess as we awaited our guests.

 

Then a Norther blew in with lower temps and cold rain ... but the critters must still be fed eh, even at a blustery 38 degrees in the picture below. Guess it is time to be bringing the flower pots in at night ... jeez.

And it got worse! After a couple of days, the 38 degree rain turned into smaller flakes and then got downright wintery!

Tonight will be about 32 but the precipitation is supposed to slowly taper off and the promise for next weekend is to be a sunny 70 degrees again ... Spring in the Northland!

 

We're Back in Canada!

 

We hit the border across the Blue Water Bridge on the 4th of May. A bit of a cloudy 65 degree day but that makes driving more fun.

 

There was no wait at the border and we roared right up to the gate ... actually crept up as the RV is just about as wide as the customs gate openings ... tight. After about a 10 second pause at the gate we were off again across Ontario for the 6 hour drive to Barrie.

 

 

Because the trip is all two lane roads through small towns typically we stop in one of them to have lunch and a break. Nice wide roads and places to park in the villages.

And as the sun broke through, we backed into our spot at the Barrie KOA in the Cedarwood section for the senior set. The grass is nice and lush indicating plenty of moisture this spring but our beautiful Maple tree has just started to bud and will be a while before the leaves appear. Time to unpack the ton of patio stuff that has been in the basement since we left in October.

From our departure in Bryan, Texas to the arrival below in Barrie, Ontario we went 1623 miles which is about the shortest distance between here and there that you can travel; even with all our stops. We averaged about 9.4 miles per gallon so used about 173 gallons at an average of $1.90 per gal ... not bad.

And one of the local residents with a comment on our arrival.

 

Last Stop in the US

 

After unhooking from the park near Ann Arbor we drove the quick 5 minutes over to the Camping World on I-94 for our appointment to see about the broken fridge.

 

While in the customer lounge at CW I posed for some humor relating to our "camping"  experience so far on this trip. After the diagnosis of the fridge; them, "What's wrong?" me, "Smell ammonia." them, "It's broken." me ... duh. Still $60 for the diagnosis. Note the Norcold refrigerator owners manual in hand. 

 



After the CW process and their promise to have the parts and pay for the repair we headed for a couple of nights at the Port Huron KOA. We have arranged for Jo-Anne to get her monthly allergy shots in Michigan this summer instead of NY. After a nice nite in the Port Huron park, on the 3rd we went the 30 miles down to Mt Clemons to the allergist.

When that was accomplished by some great folks we explored a bit and ran across another neat place to eat and have a glass of wine.

This is the Engine House Pub in downtown Mt Clemens and it was a nice find.

It looks like it wasn't that long ago that firefighters worked out of the place and the walls are covered with pictures of recent fires that the heroes here battled in the local area.

We assumed that at least a few of the folks here had run engines out of the very place they are now having a cool one and watching hockey on TV.

Even though it is early May the trees have just started to bud and it was a pleasant 60 degree day.

Then the next morning, the 4th of May, we were off to Canada, knowing we will be back around the first of June to get the fridge fixed and another shot.

Detroit bound

 

Because of the fridge problem we began our trek toward repair in the Detroit area; but first how to get there. Rule number one ... go down the two lane if at all possible ... and we did. Leaving Memphis we took US 79 as far as we could and it was a nice trip.

 

This is a nice two lane road from Memphis to Clarksville through some really pretty parts of Tennessee. Initially we thought we would stay at Clarksville either on or near the base, but then decided to whack out another few miles.

 

After about 309 miles in pretty 85 degree weather we slowed down near Bowling Green Kentucky at the KOA. For our 42 bucks the site was really nice and we could have stayed a few more days here in these pleasant surroundings ... let's see the National Corvette Museum ... oh man!

 

Anyhow, broken parts on the house made us move on and another 300 miles up the very boring and stressful I-65, I-71, I-75 through Cincinnati let us land at the Wright-Patterson AFB near Dayton. This is another known oasis for us for our $20 and we know what to expect.

Our appointment to fix the fridge is on Monday the 2nd of May so we picked a park near the Camping World that might be convenient. First the weather. When we arrived in Ohio it was still warm and humid with the AC on. We woke up and the heat was needed ... nice. As we progressed toward the Detroit area the weather cooled and the rain didn't stop.

And for the same $42 in the Detroit Greenfield RV Park (Ann Arbor area) you get a short muddy piece of grass, now in the 49 degree drizzle. Keep in mind that the imperfect rating system gave the same ratings to the cesspool below as the one two nights before at the KOA in Bowling Green ... you never know ... ! Actually this was an old KOA that failed their standards and went private.

While taking a break from cleaning the now non-functional fridge, we went over to Ann Arbor and toured the campus and had lunch on the main drag.

The University of Michigan is a beautiful old campus and was where Bruce's dad got his PHD many years ago. The century old buildings and campus really are attractive and make a peaceful setting.

And their bell tower which was playing as we drove around the campus. Just wished we had a prettier day to see the place.

Tomorrow we will see what the magic gurus at the Camping World have to offer and what might slow our summer travel to Canada.