HE SAID: As Pat said in our last blog, once we got back from our cruise we drove "Willie" from Miami to Toronto. I had never seen this part of the USA before so it was an interesting ride. We left Tuesday May 20 and headed north. The first day we had lots to do to get to the point where we could actually hit the road, which included getting the motor home, attaching the car, getting gas water and food for the trip. We didn't get very far the first day, just getting to Jacksonville Florida. It was cool enough that we decided to stay in a Walmart that night. It was a brand new store and in a good location of town.
The next day we drove as far as Charlotte North Carolina. (This was Wednesday - Paul's Birthday). We decided that we would get an RV campsite as it was way too hot to stay without the AC running full blast. Poor Pat spend a good part of the afternoon trying to find a place that was decent and not too expensive. She finally found a place that was attached to an Amusement Park (see below). It was a nice place with few RV'ers. We weren't impressed though that the Laundry and pool were closed just as we pulled in.
Getting out again early we then drove all day again till we found a place just north of Pittsburgh.
I really loved this RV park. The camp hosts were really friendly and there were many trees for shade. The main office is located in an old converted church (picture above). On these days of long driving, my energy level was just enough to plug in the services and get TV reception on the bat wings. I want to come back to PA. It is beautiful state.
Friday May 23 we were on our last stretch to reach Toronto. It was a nice drive along Lake Erie to Buffalo where we stopped at a Sam's club to buy Paul and Ronnie some cheese and meat for us. The worst part of this last day was all the toll roads and delays getting across the bridges and eventually the border (the latter going very smoothly). We were anxious to get to Toronto and get set up so we could see Paul and Ronnie. The last leg of the trip is always the hardest and it didn't help that we: 1) ...couldn't find the RV park in Toronto and 2) we went the wrong way to Paul's place and it took us an extra hour of driving to get there.
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| On top of the CN tower- notice the Scotiabank building in the view... |
- took the Dogs to Wooffest - like a Woodstock for dogs
- Visited with Pat's aunt and Uncle in Orangeville
- Had a barbecue at our RV with Paul and Ronnie and Sandy Burbank
- went to see the X-Men movie in a really cool theatre in Toronto
- Visited with Pat's cousins Kathrine and Grant
- Had a great visit in Kitchner with Kim Barnes and hubby Craig (who is, by the way, an excellent cook)
-Lunch with Rose and Patsy in Brantford at Moxies
- Went to Second City comedy club after eating at Wayne Gretskys restaurant.
-we helped Paul and Ronnie clean out their old apartment as they also had a move to a new place while we where there.
- went and had dinner at O. Noir - where you eat in total darkness. You are led to your table by a blind person who brings your three course meal. It was a real adventure.
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| O'Noir Toronto Restaurant lobby |
- and above all we did lots of driving on the crazy Don Valley Parkway and the famous 401. We couldn't believe how much it cost to fill our little XB car compared to the states so that was a real push for us to drive to Winnipeg via the states.
We left for Winnipeg early Sunday morning June 1'st. Taking the 401 again, this time crossing over at Sarnia/Michigan. Again had no issues at the border (now that I have memorized my RV license plate...it goes faster). We got as far as a KOA near Benton Harbour called the Covert South Haven KOA which happened to be the blueberry capital of the USA.
This was our first time in a KOA on this trip and the accommodations were great, although we were only there one night.
Monday June 2nd, we drove for a good 12 hours. It was exhausting. It didn't help that the roads in Michigan, and Illinois were terrible, but we also had quite the wind making driving the RV a challenge. We set a goal of getting to Minneapolis so we could hit a Costco before going back into Canada. Similar for Paul and Ronnie, we also stocked up on Cheese and meat for the Vissers. Finding the Costco was a breeze (and it was nice getting cheaper gas again). However finding our next KOA was more of a challenge. The GPS really let us to the wrong part of the city and we drove a good extra hour just finding the park.
Minneapolois NW KOA
We didn't pull in to almost 9 PM and the camp host gave us the worst site ( like parking in a pond). Our overnight neighbour said as we got set up "welcome to the Swamp". I guess the state had lots of rain and the drainage in this RV park really sucked. Oh well only one night.
We arrived at Visser home around 5pm on June 3. It was a much better drive our last day. The roads in North Dakota were awesome. And once again no issues at the border.
It is good being back in Winnipeg and staying with Beth, Patrick and the grandkids. We are sleeping in our RV so we did set up in their driveway. I was impressed at how we got everything set up so we aren't on the street.
We will be here till the end of June then back to Alberta.
She Said:
What a long few days of driving! After leaving Miami, heading to Toronto I became an expert at crawling out of my seat, grabbing the seats and table to the back for my restroom breaks. John has very different patterns than me, so because of the facilities, we certainly didn't have to stop as often as we do when driving in the car. Many of the roads we drove on we horrible, and a few times I wondered if I was going to be flung around, landing on my backside, on the floor of the RV. I was able to save dignity the entire trip, so all is well in that department!
It was great to visit with so many people in Toronto. I sometimes forget how many great family and friends we have there! We were very busy during our 9 days there. John listed everyone, and pretty much everything we did. O.Noir was a very interesting stop. Sitting in pitch darkness, only relying on other senses was quite and experience. I totally lost track of time, and was somewhat surprised that we were there for over two hours. It makes me grateful for the vision I do have...my right eye doesn't see much, but full vision in my left eye, so I can enjoy the blessings of light. (my depth perception does suck, though)
Comments on a couple of the parks we stayed at: the one with the Amusement Park was extremely frustrating as the only reason we decided not to Walmart parking lot the night was because we needed to do laundry. I had spoken with the manager on the phone, said he'd wait in the office until we got there. He did, but as soon as he gave us our site number, he was gone...in the process, we discovered that the laundry was attached to the main building and therefore locked up...as well as the pool being locked up. It was very frustrating, as we were in need of some clean clothes!
The other site that left me somewhat on the edge was the KOA in NW Minneapolis...it was rated highly on every site I checked on. We wanted a stop time for the day, and as we knew we were going to shop, we decided to get a hookup site. First, John has understated his response to our inability to find the park, after we shopped and filled up with gas. I had input the address on the GPS...it told me that the number I needed didn't exist, so I input the closest number it would allow...how far could 999 and 11336 be apart???? Our discovery was...a long way - after realizing we were being taken to a residential neighbourhood, I recalled the number difference...oooppps! If you want an answer in this case, it's about 30 minutes of driving. As we were now into about hour 15 of the day, mostly driving, John was not a happy camper. In effort to find our way quickly, I called the campsite. A very friendly woman, for whom english is a second language, tried to help me out...she also didn't have a clue as to where we were, not fully understanding the landmarks I was giving her. I had an aha moment, remembering the 'Points of Interest' feature, input Camping, found the place, and we were back on our way. If you know us, you will know there was some discussion and muttering happening all the way to set up. The fact that we ended up parked in a marshy spot with a huge puddle in the corner was not a great addition to the day! We did survive, however!
It was a great relief to arrive in Winnipeg. We got here around 4:30, so the grandchildren were home from school. How wonderful to get hugs from them all! I was visiting children as the RV was being set up. I was amazing to see how innovative Patrick is, with the tires on 4 blocks of wood. It looked like a ship coming out of the waves...the front being about 4 feet higher. I was assured that it was very safe and steady. I will expand on this in the next post. It will be a while before was have such long distances to drive, and I'm grateful for that. It took about 3 days to recover the last run. I will say though, I'm still having lots of fun!!
