2016 Trip Map

OUR ROUTE FOR 2016

    This map is interactive, use the +/- to increase /decrease size and the hand to move the map. Under each marker may be some pictures, click on the small picture and the size will increase. Use ESC to go back to the blog.

Last Update for Fall Trip

This will be my last update from our Fall Trip. We are thinking about doing some touring to Sedona and maybe the  Mongolian Ridge. Depends how our time is but probably won’t be until January.

I have not done an update in a while. We stopped at Santa Fe for a few days to have a break and see the area.  

Santa Fe: We decided to visit Santa Fe on Sunday morning, at 9AM we couldn’t even find a parking place. We had planned to visit the Georgia O’Keefe Museum, Lorelei Chapel and the Old Town Square, just have a leisurely wander. All that went out the window when we couldn’t find a parking place and all the lots were full. As a back up I had an Audubon Conservation Area to visit and tour. Another bust. We had the address, went to the address and nothing was there. No sign, nothing, just some houses. Very disappointed. We just gave up and went back to town for a very good lunch at a restaurant suggested by a friend. 

Our next major stop was Albuquerque, we had been here several times before so we just planned to restock on wine, eat at Rudy’s, our favorite BBQ place, tour Petroglyph National Monument, Sandia Peak and maybe the Lava Beds. We did get to Petroglyph NM and saw several Petroglyph, It was a cloudy day so we skipped Sandia and the Lava Beds. Decided to do laundry and called a mobile oil change service to change the motor home oil.

After Albuquerque we headed for Phoenix, we were ready to settle down for a while and see the grandkids. We settled into our site and put together our to do list while in Phoenix. MH’s are just like homes, always a to do list. We review the list each week to see what we have added and what we have completed. 

First thing to do when in camp is to food shop, get hair cuts and whatever else we have been deferring. My car needed a front end alignment(new tires) and a servicing. Finding a place to do this presented a minor challenge. The first 2 I contacted wouldn’t give a ride home. I finally found a service that provided rides back and forth. I will use them in the future. 

Where we stay is north of Phoenix up in the foothills. We have a great view over the valley, love seeing the hot air balloons float past each day. We have counted as many a 8 at one time. This year there seems to be less in the air but a balloon crashed a few months ago so that may be the cause of the  drop off in flights. Weather is generally very good so no complaints there. In  the foothills we almost always have a nice breeze during the day. 

Weekends+ are consumed by family. Somehow time always gets away from us and the week goes flying by. Procrastination doesn’t help either. And then come the little things: water leaks, can’t work on the to do list until we get some parts etc. etc. 

Until we do some local traveling this will be our final travel update for a while. I hope you all enjoy the blog, it is my way of documenting what we have done and where we have been.

Santa Fe #2

As we wandered down I25 today we were very surprised, and cautious, as we saw 20-30 Antelope on the Interstate between the roadways. This happened twice as we drove. Other than that this was an uneventful drive, good road, little traffic. 

Our altitude went from 4000’ to 8000’ and back down to 7000’. This was the first relatively high pass we have gone through with the MH and we are pleased with its performance both up and down the hills. 

See what tomorrow brings in the way of altitude changes but we are approaching them with more confidence. Tomorrow we will be in Santa Fe for a couple days. Looking forward to this stop very much.

Santa Fe #1

We left Pender heading for Santa Fe. Stopped at the truck wash and were taken right away, shocking. This is a single thread operation and once you are in line you just sit and wait.

That finished we started on I80, another very good road. We stopped that night and everything was fine. 

Woke up in the AM to one of our tires being 10 lbs. low. Stopped at a Flying J and got  some air into it but not as much as possible, thought it was their air supply since MH tires need 90-100 lbs. Did fill up with propane though so not all was lost. 

Driving down the road I monitored the tire. We have a TPMS system (Tire Pressure Monitor System) so it is easy to keep checking the tire. The pressure kept dropping so I called a tire place at the next exit(we were planning to stop at this exit anyway). They said bring it in. The tech took the tire off (RR of a dual axle), reseated the valve stem, put on the valve extender and gave it a water bath all fine. Cost was a bargain $18. Could not believe it.

Next morning the tire was low again. Concluded it must be the valve extender. Took off the extender, put on the TPMS module and I went through another day of tire watching on the TPMS. All is well. I guess we will buy a new tire extender. At least that was all that was wrong.

Today we went from 3000’ up to 8000’ and back down to 4000’. We crossed the plains and saw the snow topped Rockies in the distance. Just beautiful.

Our campground tonight is way out in the high desert. This is a star watchers campground. If you have never seen the stars in the dark of the high desert it is a very emotional experience. The campground is so dark they do not recommend anyone coming in after sun down. 

We can’t see any stars, there is a forest fire on the NF which is just burning away and the smoke is making everything hazy. At least we don’t smell it. 

Wonder what is going to happen tomorrow???

Pender, NE

Sunday

We have moved down to Pender, NE from Sioux City. 40 miles. Pender is a town of 1000, 2 bars and 4 restaurants (kind of): Mexican, Pizza, local fast food and Subway. We took a drive around town and found the 4 restaurants and the laundry. 

Monday

Went to the reception center to say we were here and the tech took the MH away around 9. Off we went for breakfast and to do laundry. Came back 3 hours later and the MH was back in its spot, went to get gas for it and noticed a difference right away. 

Paid our bill, took a factory tour and went out to dinner. Tomorrow we begin our 4-5 days to Santa Fe but plan to go through a truck wash as soon as we find one. Everything is filthy and we have not seen any truck washes. They tend to be on Interstates and we have not traveled many Interstates in the 2 months. I checked and we should find one tomorrow. This has become a priority, especially the CRV. 

Our neighbors at Blue Ox have a sweetheart deal. They have a mini-Cooper(?), some special edition that Blue Ox has not made the base plate for (needed to towing car). They have free camping for a week (all Blue Ox customers have free camping), a rental car,  by allowing the engineers to use their car as a prototype they are getting a base plate and the towing/brake assembly free. All they need to buy is a drop hitch and some locks for everything. Can’t beat that.

Sioux City, IA

We have spent a few days in Sioux City, IA, killing time until our appt. with Blue Ox to get a part installed. 

We needed new tires on the CRV so we made a trip to Sam's Club for that. We need a front end alignment but will wait until Phoenix for that since we need an oil change and brake adjustment also.
We have enjoyed our time in Sioux City. Restocked food, visited the Sioux City Railroad Museum and the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center (great little museum) and did a Scenic Road Drive that wasn’t too scenic. 

Just a nice break from the driving for a few days.

Forest City, IA

The last few days have been in driving mode. We have traveled from Oshkosh, WI to Forest City, IA. Fall color is fair, doesn’t seem to be a good year for color at least up here. At a rest stop we finally found some good fall color.

We are in Forest City to visit the Winnebago plant. Surprising there is no wifi in the Winnebago cg. We need to go to the visitor center to pick up wifi. There is also no cell phone service but we seem to be in a pocket. We went to dinner and had cell phone service about 2-3 miles away. 

Our leveler jacks decided to act up and one would not go all the ways down, luckily we are by Winnebago. I went to Customer Service and explained our problem, told us to come back at 2:30 to see when they could fit us in. Went back to the MH and finished setting up. Knock on the door, they can fit us in at 1:30 today. It is now 1:20. We quickly packed up and drove over. 2 hours later all fixed. I found out the MH leveler system, which is automatic but can be manually overridden(which I did-site was not very level), got itself out of calibration by my forcing it to be almost level. Winnebago re-calibrated the system and all is well. No charge. Nice!

On our drive to Sioux City we had some of the best roads we have ever encountered in all our years of driving the country. The roads did not look new but were in pristine shape. 

We are seeing a lot of windmills in driving through IA. We have never seen a windmill being built but today we did. 

Some observations of the last few days:

Hardees and A&W are very popular fast food stops in WI and IA. Very few McDonald's.

Forest City, population of 4000: 2 restaurants_a Hardee; 8 gas stations all able to gas a MH; home of Winnebago(hires half the town)

Brett,IA: has a Hobo Museum and a Hobo Convention each year!!

IA: just like IN, barns have pictures of quilts on them, have no idea where or why this trend started

We are traveling a lot of back roads and find it a very interesting experience. 

We are now in Sioux City at a city cg on the river, great location.

Discovered the car needed tires. We had hoped to make it back to Wmbg before needing tires, wasn't to be. Called Sams Club, they have tires and I could even make an appt. That will be this mornings project. Once completed food shopping will be in order as I want to have enough basics to make it to Phoenix. 

Tomorrow we will visit the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, tour the Jolly Time Popcorn Museum and take the Palmer Candy Factory Tour.


After this on to Pender, NE to get a part installed on the MH and pick up mail and packages. Then we need to make a decision of how to get to Santa Fe. This will be forecast weather dependent. Do we go west then south or south then west? 


Santa Fe will be our last touring stop. From there we will go straight to Phoenix and settle in for the winter. 

 

Around Lake Michigan #4

We are now in the UP, colors are getting much better, not great yet. We are starting to find cgs have closed down, seems Oct 15th is the magic day, some are still open so we are forced to wherever they are for overnights.

We are mostly in driving mode right now, just enjoying what colors there are. We spent the night in Nahma, a very small town. CG only had backing spots but since we were the only ones in the cg we parked parallel and took 4 spots. Very quiet but the wind is really blowing. Had dinner at the local inn, apparently the locals think it is haunted based on the conversations we overheard. Maybe they have Halloweenitis. 

We are now heading to Green Bay, plan to take a tour of the Green Bay Packers foootball stadium and visit the National Railroad Museum. 

I called up our next cg and found out that there was a football game on Sunday and the cg has raised their rates from $20(our discount) to $76. We ended up driving another hour south until we found a reasonably priced cg. 

This also threw all our plans off since we couldn’t tour the field and it is looking like rain so we will skip the Railroad museum as it is outdoors.

Around Lake Michigan #3

Today we wandered up to Sleeping Bear National Seashore. Found a wonderful cg, have never been in one this luxurious that we recall. Big sites, each site has 2 chairs and fire pit, bricked pads, beautiful landscaping. There are 2 of us here and the cg closes on the 20th.

We are starting to encounter some minor challenges to find open cgs so it is a good thing we are winding down our wandering. We will finish going around Lake Michigan and then will start heading west. Our first planned stop is Forest City, IA to go through the Winnebago plant and then on to Pender, NE to have a part installed on the MH. From there we will meander toward Phoenix. Plans are to stop at Santa Fe for a few days as we have never been there for any length of time. 

Our visit to Sleeping Bear was great. 400’ sand dunes, just awesome. After visiting Sleeping Bear we went around the peninsula to Traverse City, pleasant drive, starting to finally see some more color. 

We found a great restaurant with the help of Yelp. This is the second time we have used Yelp to find us a restaurant and both have been very good.
We are in a town called Empire, it is between the northern and southern portions off Sleeping Bear. Thought we would eat out. 2 restaurants in town: burger/sandwiches and burger/sandwiches/pizza. Decided to eat in. 

The next day we visited the lower half of of Sleeping Bear and it was not very interesting. We then went to Traverse city to do some food shopping. The drive to Traverse was pretty, you can tell the main crop around here is apples, field after field of apples. Did our shopping and drove back. Just after we got back the skies opened up, We have managed to just miss the downpours 3-4 times this trip. Lucky. 

We are hoping as we move to the UP that we see more color. Tomorrow will be our first day in the UP.

 

Around Lake Michigan #2

Today we wandered north from our cg still with the goal to visit every state park. 

We visited: Orchard Beach State Park, Ludington State Park, Charles Mears State Prk, Silver Lake State Park.

All were interesting, each was unique in its own way.  Orchard Beach was primarily a campground built on top of a giant sand dune. Ludington was a large park with lots of beach and sand dunes. Charles Mears was interesting, we talked with a local couple and learned quite a bit about the impact of winter and the amount of sand deposited. The winner, hands down, was Silver Lake. Sand dunes, giant sand dunes, awesome!!!!

We learned from some locals that the amount of sand accumulated in the winter is 3-5’ high, even with snow fences up. Everything is take out, the tables, the benches, trash cans etc. Come spring, a snow plow comes and plows the park out. 

When we came back to the cg we found out we were the only ones left. The cg is officially closed unless you give him a call. Not the first time we have encountered this. If you only want electricity there is no problem but by this time of year the water and sewer are closed down for the season so the cg is closed. Prevents a lot of problems. You know upfront what is going on and you get a good rate.

 

Around Lake Michigan #1

We picked up our annual pass a few days ago and the ranger made several suggestions for state parks to visit. Our goal is to visit as many of the state, county, federal parks as we can in the time we have. 

This afternoon we went to 4 different parks south of where we are, tomorrow we will head north of us and visit the parks.

You also will see a lot of lighthouse pictures, Lake Michigan has over 100 lighthouses on its shores. 

Michigan did something that I have never seen done before. It appears every bridge was measured and a height sign was put up, on the bridge, that is readable. Thank you Michigan.

 

Leaving Canada

This was an experience. Maybe another campfire story. About 3 miles before the border the road divided into 3: trucks, buses, cars/rvs. 

We followed the cars/rv lane, came up to some toll booths to cross the border and couldn’t find a lane for RVs. We decided to go through the cars only lane. Big mistake. The slot for your credit card was not reachable from the MH. I sent Tom out(I was driving) to go pay. He couldn’t get out, door was blocked. I beeped my horn several times, no help came. Finally decided if we moved forward he might get out. OK. That worked out and he hopped back in the rv. 

Next challenge was US immigration. Due to traffic I could not get over the the 1 RV lane that was available. So again I took the car lane. At least a person was there. I opened the  window and apologized, explained I was blocked. He took it OK and passed us through.

Coming out of the immigration booth there was essentially an obstacle course you had to negotiate with your vehicle. We had to dodge around all these barricades in the road. Very effective, sure slowed down the traffic. 

Glad to be back in the US. Today our plans are to find a campground, do laundry and get some food into the MH. Time to restock.

Niagara Falls #2

Today we went to the falls to get better pictures but the wind was blowing the wrong way. We then decided to go on the White Water Walk. This is really neat. You take an elevator down to the level of the Niagara River and there is a 1000’ boardwalk right next to the river. Rapids are graded 1-6, these are Class 6. The experience of walking by these massive rapids, with water flowing at 25mph is scary awesome. You feel like you are moving with the water as you stand and look at it. 

FYI-The Niagara River falls 10’ for every mile, a bit of a drop. No wonder it flows so fast.

After that the weather went downhill a bit so we took a bridge to the US side and planned to go to Goat Island. This island is in the middle of the American falls and is just a magnificent view of the power of the river. 

We were very disappointed, there is so much construction going on that you can’t find any good place to park. There were a lot of people around also which I found surprising since in the past most people went to the Canadian side. I believe the r3ason for so many on the American side is due to the Passport requirement to get to the  Canadian side. Passports are expensive and most families wouldn't spend the money for a trip to the Falls.

Right now I think are ready to get  back to the USA.

Some observations: Quebec and Ontario Provinces are like night and day. Quebec is quaint, lots of small towns, makes you wonder what people work at. Restaurants etc. are at a premium. Quebec also does nothing to improve itself, seems to be lost in the past. Quebec has lots of natural beauty but it is not exploited or advertised at all. On the roads there are never any pull offs or rest areas.

Ontario is dynamic, vibrant and very active. They have many Provincial Parks exploiting for us and their population a love a nature. You can tell Ontario is growing and want to exploit(within reason) its beauty. On the one major road we were on there were rest areas(with full services) about every 30-50 kilometers. Very few in Quebec.

 

Niagara Falls #1

Today we got out early in high hopes of getting to the Falls before there were any crowds. We arrived around 8 AM and no one was there, a bit cloudy though. We took a few pictures and then went driving around(now it was raining) to scope out where things were. We were interested in a walk along the river, at river level by the rapids, IMAX, and the Floral Showcase. Years ago we had done the Maid of the Mist, Behind the Falls and all the other touristy stuff. 

We are happy we took some pictures even though the sun wasn’t out. When we came back the sun was momentarily out but the wind was blowing  the mist across the road and we couldn’t take any pictures if we wanted to.

We drove down to Niagara-on-the-Lake and ate lunch. Sun was now out so we decided to stop and do the White Water Walk. Of course when we got there it was clouded over again. This was all in the forecast.

Tomorrow is suppose to be good so we will go to the Falls early, eat breakfast at Tom Horton(Dunkin Donuts of Canada) and continue on with our day. 

We returned to the cg and I went to logon to the internet. Could not get on, wrong password. Called the office and found out the password was changed daily!!! What a pest to need a new password each day. Must have major problems with the people in the area to do this.

 

Lancaster, ON

I love RVing, you never know what each day will bring. We stopped for gas for the MH. Let me first say that many pumps don’t have credit card slots and those that do don’t read our credit cards. Sometimes you get lucky and the pump will work without needing to go inside and sometimes not.

Today, the pump wouldn’t start but someone came out from the store(we have encountered this before). She swiped some card and got the pump going for us, told us to go inside after we are done pumping. Tom went inside paid and she followed him out and asked that he come by her car. She then handed him a card so we get a gas discount(it works at most stations), an envelope with phone numbers for 2 senior citizen cards to give us discounts and 2 chocolate muffins. Wonderful person, totally unexpected.

Took us 30 minutes to fill up but that is minor. She is such a  kind woman to make sure we had everything to get discounts. I guess better late than never.
We are now in Ontario and back to English speaking area. Let me tell you there is still a lot of conflict between the English and French areas. We heard about the conflict several times in cgs from people we met. 

We are at Glengarry Provincial Park, right on the shore of the St. Lawrence River. That is one wide river!!!!

Tomorrow night we will again be in a Provincial Park and then to Niagara.
We are finally starting to see some leaf changes. Very early yet. We may hit Michigan at its prime but are heading for Niagara Falls for now.

Quebec City

Today our campground host took  4 couples to the ferry. He drove like a madman. We bought the tickets and boarded a ferry like I have never seen before. Spacious, looked brand new, smooth ride across the St. Lawrence to Quebec City.

We found our double decker tour bus, no seats inside so we had to sit on top outside. Much better for seeing things and taking pictures but the temp was in the high 40s with a 15mph wind. We froze. We had decided to ride the entire tour and then decide what to do. I did research yesterday and thought I knew until we encountered our bus ride. All we could think of was getting in to some warm building and defrosting. 

We decided visit the Farmers Market. Beautiful vegetables, meat, fish, sausages. We ordered a quesadilla to share for lunch(mainly because that was the only word we recognized). We ended up with pea soup, quesadilla, coleslaw and french fries. Weird. We have no idea what was in the quesadilla, cheese and other things. It was good though.

Back to the bus stop and where we wanted to go next. We had to be back at the ferry at 5PM for pick up by our campground host. Life became a bit difficult after this. Several of our stops weren’t available since the taxi drivers were protesting against Uber and had blocked several roads with their taxis. 

We learned lots of random things about Quebec and Canada. Quebec is almost 4 times the size of France. Canada is the 3rd largest country in the world in area. The b order between the US and Canada is the longest world border and it doesn’t need to be guarded. Canada as a whole has more fresh water lakes than the rest of the world. Quebec speaks French because when they made a treaty with England that was agreed upon. 

Quebec architecture is a composite of the old and ultra modern. I generally don't like this type of presentation. The buildings just don' blend at all. We went down one street with very quaint store fronts but ultra modern, rather ugly street lights. Horrible!!

We had thought about walking along the ramparts but with the weather being nasty that was not an option. We ended up going to one of the highest points in Quebec, La Chateau Frontenac. We wondered the street, found a coffee shop/pastry shop and had a snack. After some more wandering it was time to take the Funicular down to the ferry. That was a little something different.
Home we went on another immaculate, smooth ferry ride. 

Levis, QC

Today was a very easy driving day. Minimal construction and mostly on a 4 lane highway. We haven’t seen anything bigger than a poor 2 lane since getting into Quebec. 

Pulled into our cg for the night and asked about city tours. This place is great, sign up in the office, he has a shuttle that goes to the ferry and picks us up again. Looking forward to our trip to Quebec City as we have never been before.
Nice sites, long and spacious. He actually led us to our site and made sure the electricity was good before he left, never had anyone do that before. 

The only negative is we are near a highway but they generally calm down at night plus we have a white noise machine we can turn on. Should all be OK.

Mantane, QC

Today's drive was beautiful. Up and down some major hills, steep grades but just beautiful for 100 miles. We are driving along the  northern edge of the Gaspe Peninsula and I’ll call it the St. Lawrence River. Great views, again, no place to park.

We met some people from Michigan who were heading for the Maritime Islands and then they winter in Florida. We had a good laugh when I said we were heading for Michigan. 

Stopped for lunch at a small restaurant along the road, immaculate with great views. Cute curtains, of course no English and we don’t speak French. I asked what poutine was, gathered it was a sauce on the french fries with something sprinkled on top. I ordered it. It is  brown gravy with some sort of cheese crumbles/curds on top. Was pretty good. 

I have discovered Google Translate does not even come close the the Star Trek Universal Translator. The French spoken up here is totally different than what Google Translate has and there is no dialect for Canadian French in the database. So much for my brilliant idea. We are muddling through, hand signals work fine. Once we get through Quebec we should be back in English speaking territory. 

After a 6 hour drive with many stops for construction, up and down big hills etc. we pulled into our cg and found a site until the owner showed up. There are cows in the field next to us and  George(cat) is fascinated. He has been sitting by the windshield for 30 minutes watching.

Tomorrow we should be in Quebec for a few more challenging days……………..

 

Forillon National Park, QC

Today we wandered to Forillon National Park, 60 miles away but a 2 hour drive. Up and down hills for the first 2 hours, steepest grade was 17% for a bit. On average probably about 10%. 

Lots of construction.

This drive was primarily along the coast and was quite pretty, not many cars but also no place to take any pictures. 

We had an interesting experience when checking in for our campsite. They preferred credit card to cash!!!!! First time we have experienced this. We do realize that credit cards are used more heavily up here than in the US and everyone has a chip reader. The big difference is you need to sign for everything.

We arrived at the cg, found our spot and went out touring. Saw some eagles, seals etc.Sun kept hiding behind clouds. 

One thing we discovered is that in Quebec not many businesses are open on Sunday, including gas stations. Businesses are far and few  between normally but on Sunday you need to be prepared for nothing, including restaurants.

Perce, QC

Today the sun is shining and the air is clear. We went down to the dock and took thee boat ride out to Bonaventure Island where the Gannets are. The boat goes out to Perce Rock and then around the island. Gannets were all over the cliffs and we saw a fair amount of seals.

The strange water color is due to reflection of the sun off of the rocks.

We had seen Gannets in New Zealand when we were there and were somewhat disappointed. In NZ the Gannets were on a plateau and each pair had their own 24”x24” space. How they found each other is a miracle of nature. We learned if we wanted to get off the boat, hike 3 miles one way we could see the Gannets on a plateau. No thank you. The trails we have been on have been very rough going. We still saw an lots of Gannets, were impressed, just not what we expected. 

We are leaving tomorrow as we wander our way to Quebec. Plan to stay at a Forillon National Park tomorrow night. 

Our routine seems to  be working for us. We drive for 2-4 hours, find a cg, eat lunch and then go touring if inclined. 

 

Perce, QC

Well it is raining and misting so we went for a drive on several backroads and north, along the coast. Our views from the cg are as good as any place else. Came back to the cg, cleaned up the MH since it was getting out of control.

Rain stopped, sun came out so we thought we would have sundowner drinks with our neighbors but they had decided to go out to dinner. We are the only 4 in the cg.

Perce, QC

Perce is one of our major stopping points. We plan to do a whale watching cruise, visit the 100K plus Gannets on Bonaventure Island plus additional things the Visitor Center recommended for us. 

Today was an easy drive, only 120 miles. Packing up this morning the wind was blowing at 20 mph or more. One of our slide awnings(this is on top of the slide) would not roll up completely. We had to move the MH to a location so the wind was not hitting that slide as hard, then take the slide out and back in.

Pulled into our cg and it is out on a point, beautiful. Selected a site and settled in. The cg owners wife showed up about 2 hours later and we paid up for 3 days. The actual owner of the cg had left to set up his moose camp for a few days.

Our neighbors are from Ontario and they are leaving tomorrow.

After the Visitor Center briefed us on everything we asked where a bank was. Across the street. We would have never found it on our own, no indication that the building  was a bank of any sort. Looked more like a travel agency.
Wine is much easier to get in Quebec, everyone sells it, not much of a selection but much easier to find. 

Tomorrow brings our first day of exploring. Might rain though. We will see in the morning.

Bonaventure, QC

Today was one of those days for story telling around the campfire. 

Our campfire day started when I went to take out the slide with the kitchen. Went out about 6” and stopped, seemed to be binding. We could live with this since it was getting dark. Tried to move the slide several times and same problem.

In the evening(Monday) as we were watching TV all of a sudden the TV and other electrical died. Tom discovered the inverter was not charging the batteries. Couldn’t find anything obvious(in the pitch black). He will tackle it tomorrow. 

Tuesday comes and he starts checking, fuses, circuit breakers etc. Nothing obvious. The batteries charge when we start the MH so they will charge up when driving. As a precaution we went out and bought a battery charger, returnable for 90 days. We were lucky that this occurred in a major town that had stores.

Put our route into the GPS and said we would arrive around 12:45, great gives us the entire afternoon to trouble shoot. Just a couple hour drive. Only problem is, there is a time change and we had no knowledge of it. NB is on Atlantic time while QC is on eastern time. 

We did not notice anything amiss until I looked at my watch and it was 11:30 and we still had well over 100 miles to go. Our phones kept telling us we were still in Atlantic Time. Only the GPS thought we were on Eastern time. 

OK, we can handle all  this. Just drive a little longer. Then the next shoe drops. We had found the CG in our GPS and just told the GPS to go there. We pulled down this road based on the GPS and I knew it was wrong, just felt wrong. One lane road, no turnaround large enough for us. We found a parking lot but discovered it wasn’t large enough(we thought it was). Managed to get ourselves hung up blocking  the road. No traffic, no problem. Went to unhitch the toad. Couldn’t get it unhitched due to the angle we were at. Now a car comes. She speaks French, I speak English. I managed to communicate that it would be 5 minutes before we were sorted out.

We had to unhitch the toad and its tow bar from the MH, Tom held the tow bar up while I backed up. Then I backed up the MH and cleared the road. We felt we were good Americans as we provided entertainment to the car driver and someone who lived in the house next to the parking lot. I then pulled out the computer to see if I could figure out where we were vs. where we should be. 

In addition to all this we had rain/mist all day plus several construction zones. The car got the worst of this and is totally mud covered. Looked to see if there is a car wash in town, none. I guess I will hose it down tomorrow to give it some semblance of cleanliness. 

We had to go back 2-3 miles and then turn off on a different road. Tom followed me in the MH as I drove the toad. We are now in the left turn lane, and the street I want to turn into is one way out. Quickly signal to the right, wait for traffic to clear, continue down the road looking for a turnaround. I found a street to turn down but there was  construction going on. They allowed us to turn right, we parked the MH and I went to find the cg in the car. Found the correct street this time. Went back to get Tom.  Back through the construction, crew stopped traffic for us to get out. More entertainment for the locals. 

We checked in, went smoothly, she spoke some English, enough. She asked if we had pets. Told her 2 cats, She was very surprised we travel with cats. I guess that is not normal in Canada. 

Only 3 hours after our planned arrival and we finally settled into our site. Decided to stay 2 nights so we could tackle our electrical problems and slide. We need a rest for a while, been a little stressful.

I took out the slides and the kitchen slide made a strange noise(not a good noise) and then went out all the way. Tom was outside and saw a part come flying off the slide. Seeing the part we had a similar problem when we first picked up the MH. The part that broke is a deflapper so the fabric over the slide doesn’t billow. All that is needed is a screw needs to be tightened. We have added that to our pre-travel check list. Slide now works fine.

Lovely cg, town owned, right on the water. I will take some pictures tomorrow. 

Tuesday:

Batteries were dead this morning. I refused to open the refrig due to temps until Tom found problem. He found the problem in 30 minutes, a fried wire inside the inverter. Probably came loose and fried, we have been on some very bad roads.
One thing I never realized was how much the US has in fast food/convenient food. Since we have been in CN we have not seen anything except a Subway and they are far and few between. Even supermarkets are in short supply. 

Bathurst, NB

Bathurst, NB -

Today we woke up to fog so decided to keep moving on. We are in a very nice cg in Bathurst, NB. We pulled in early due to fog and heavy misting, not pleasant to drive in. Driving to the cg reminded us of New Zealand, we encountered a one way bridge, no traffic lights, just everyone waited their turn. New Zealand had many one way bridges and some were even shared with a train. Many in New Zealand had lights though. 

Lovely 20 space cg in the middle of a what appears to be a very nice neighborhood. Of course no one was in the office so we walked the cg and picked a space and set up. Next we decided to do laundry. The laundry room in CN campgrounds are usually 1-2 washer and dryers so you can’t let your laundry accumulate too much. This one had 1 washer and 1 dryer and a box to put your money in. 

After that we went to the liquor store and supermarket. In CN, the province liquors store sells wine and liquor. We were not allowed to bring across the border more than 1 bottle each but that was finished up a couple days ago. Stopped at the store and essentially all they had was US wine, a very small section for CN wine. We were looking for a Zinfandel and CN does not produce a Zinfandel. I really think Farm Fresh has a bigger selection. 

It is frustrating to come to CN and need to buy US wine. 

KOUCHIBOOUGUAC NP, NB

Kouchibouguac, NB -

Today was a travel day. We had no plans to do any touring after we settled in. Lucky for us it was also a rainy day so we didn’t miss anything.

We ended up at Kouchibouguac NP. This is a First Nations Word from the Micmac meaning “River of Long Tides”. The tides up here are not as massive as those at Hopewell rocks. The tides just flow very far inland. 

This park is a Dark Sky Park, basically there is no extraneous lighting. In the off season that means there is a weak light by the restrooms, everything else is pitch black. 

We are in the South Kouchibouguac CG(pronounce what you see and skip the last C), not many people and most of the cg is closed down. Its final date is the end of Nov. 

This is an all year park. The winter season is composed of snowshoe and cross country trails. In fact, today we saw some people getting ready for cross country skiing on the road. Instead of skis they wear inline skates about 18” long and use the cross country poles. Interesting to watch. 

Where there is a good view the park has red Adirondack chairs, gives you a chance to sit a while and enjoy the view.

We may stay and extra day, some interesting  things to see if nature cooperates with no rain and the birds and seals cooperate. Another 2 days of very easy driving and we will be in Quebec and the Gaspe Peninsula.


 

St. Martins, NB

Today we drove to St. Martins from St. Andrews, about 100 miles though we have switched our GPS to km. We are very surprised at the improvement  in roads, at least so far. Previously, 10 years ago, the roads were rough going. This year we have had a 4 lane highway for the major roads. The secondary roads were a bit of a challenge.

We arrived at St. Martins and had 2 goals. The first, was to take the Fundy Trail Drive. This is a new road along the cliffs from St. Martins for 19 km. The road will extend further and the plan is to finish the road by 2018. This is a toll road and has some really great views. I feel they need to take a few lessons from the US National Parks. Signage is small, and hard to read from any distance. Some of the turnouts have no signage at all. 

This road has many turnouts with several short 1-2 km hikes. We didn’t do any of the hikes but generally enjoyed ourselves. One word of warning, if you don’t like curvy roads with ups and down in the 13%-15% range on average this is not the road for you. I thought I was riding a roller coaster.

After that we went looking for some Sea Caves. These are caves that are full of water at high tide and at low tide you can walk in them. I understand that there is layers upon layers of shells within the caves. Unfortunately we were there when the caves were full of water.

After that we went back to the cg. We finished off our last bottle of US wine and had no idea where to buy wine in CN. Stopped by our neighbors who were having happy hour and asked them. Only at the NB Liquor stores is wine sold. Tomorrow I will keep my eyes open for one of them as we drive. 

We chatted with them for about 30 minutes. This is one of the nice things about camping, everyone is willing to share information and make you very welcome.
Tomorrow we don’t have any distance or city goals, just drive until we are ready to pull over for the day. Finding a liquor store and a supermarket will be on our horizon. 

St. Andrews, NB

Today we made it to Canada. We had heard stories about crossing the border and were prepared for the worse. I even made a reservation for a cg close to the border in case we were really held up. 

We were the only ones crossing the border, it was eerie. We arrived at our cg around 12:00. Pulled right up and into our site, We need to get to a bank and get some Canadian money, a credit card only goes so far. Since we were in so early we had plenty of time. Visited a bank, the hardware store and then the Visitor Center. After that we went to Kingbrae Gardens, all I took were entrance pictures. We didn’t realize we had a time zone change and were an hour later. The Gardens closed in a hour and that wasn’t enough time.

Tom is learning his new role in life in the MH. He is sort of navigating better but misses so much. He just doesn’t pay attention. His other new role is to assist me in backing up the MH. If we are in a pull thru there is no problem but if we need to back in we need to unhitch the toad. Since this is normally done at the entrance to a cg someone has to lead to the site. I have always been the navigator in cgs. After unhitching, I look at the cg map and drive off to our site with Tom following in the car. 

I wait in the road to back in while he checks electrical, checks this and that. I finally make some noise and he remembers I am in the road. His next challenge is to get me into the site. I cannot tell my site from anyone else when it is a wide open field so I ask him to stand on the corner of the site so I can know where the corner is. Hasn’t quite mastered that yet plus he doesn’t keep in my mirrors so I just stop until he shows up again. A few more backins and we should be OK. 

This is a lovely cg, right on the water on a point of land. We can see Maine across the water. Sites are large, all grass and the wind is howling all the time. 

Mt. Desert Island, Oceanarium -

Today was cloudy so we went to the Oceanarium. This is a private enterprise that is the only lobster hatchery in the US. The Oceanarium is well worth going to, it was fascinating. There are 4 components to the tour. We started at the Discovery Tank and learned about the “fish” they had in the tank. Saw and touched some fish that we had never heard of before.

After that we went to the Lobster Hatchery and this was great. The gestation period of lobster is years long and then they produce thousands of eggs(some produce 30,000-50,000+). Through a series of tanks, warmer water and good nutrients the Oceanarium has a 50%-75% survival rate to place back into the ocean in 2 weeks, vs. the normal 6-8 weeks in the ocean waters, if the eggs survive.

Next on to a  Marsh Walk which was somewhat interesting. Biggest excitement was a Blue Heron that landed. Since we see Blue Herons every day this was old hat for us. 

After that we had a lecture at the museum about the lobster industry and its evolution. Very interesting.

Then the rains started and we headed back to the  motor home.

I am trying a different piece of software for the pictures from Photodex. Click the lower right for full screen(little square with arrows). I you are on a tablet you will need to swipe the screen larger. Sorry about the ads, free software comes with a penalty.
  
 

Acadia NP, Mt. Desert Island -

Yesterday and today we wandered Acadia National Park and Mt. Desert Island. We have been very surprised by how many people are vacationing at this time of year. We have normally found this time to be quiet. We could understand if  there were fall colors but none haven’t arrived yet.

With all the crowds we have had some disappointments in what we wanted to do. We tried Cadillac Mountain(tallest mountain on Mt. Desert) and where the sun hits the US first in the morning. An awesome experience. Our first try was wall-to-wall traffic and we gave up. Our second try was early in the morning and we were able to get to the top, beautiful view. 

Our other disappointment was the Wonderland trail, just no parking at all. We may try that again tomorrow. Depends on the weather, rain is in the forecast again. 

Other than those disappointments we are having a good trip. We head out around 8 AM and get back between 1-2 PM. Works fine for us. 

Today we did some site seeing in Acadia and then headed to Penobscot Narrows Bridge, this is cradle bridge, same designer as in Boston and Tampa Bay. The difference is that you can go to the top of one of the towers for a wonderful view. Maine is water water everywhere so the views are awesome. 

We meet so many wonderful people that we have chats with, from the supermarket to the scenic views. We just chat away with them, everyone is always in a good mood on vacation. All these brief encounters are interesting and entertaining.

One thing that surprised us was the number of cruise ships that come here. Only one per day but every day there seems to be a new one. 

We will be leaving for Canada on Friday and I am not sure about the internet situation. We will be in many smallish villages that do get tourists but not in massive quantities. I know the campgrounds are more rustic.

Acadia NP, Mt. Desert Island -

Today we woke up to fog and generally miserable conditions. We decided to go to Acadia NP visitor center and get our pass plus I was looking for a 2016 National Parks Centennial shirt for the east coast to match my west coast one. I had tried Jamestown and they did not have what I was looking for,
We parked and had to hike up 52 steps to get to the visitor center. My knee made it up with no problem, down was a slower challenge. We got our pass , no shirts and  went on the loop road. Nothing much since it was so foggy. There was  cruise ship in that was a surprise. Huge ship in the bay.

After our non-event drive we went lobster pricing. Everyone is charging $5.99 per pound and going up to $11.99 over 1.25 lbs. Since we wanted 1.5-2 lbs. lobsters we weren’t too happy with the pricing. We also checked at the supermarkets and Hannaford's was $5.99/pound up to 1.75 lb. That is where we bought our lobsters for dinner. Also did some supermarket restocking since we weren’t doing anything else. 

Just after we got home the skies opened up. Sheets of rain, thunder lightning etc. Happy we made it home before the rain started. 

We went out to get our lobsters and saw some lobster scissors. We bought a pair, wow, do they make lobster eating so much easier. We are going to get another pair for home.

Weather is suppose to be good tomorrow.

Acadia NP, Schoodic Point -
 
This is a little known part of Acadia National Park. We meandered via back roads toward Schoodic. One thing that we knew, but perhaps you didn’t, the tides here in Maine are 10-12’ vs. the 28’ in Canada. There is a wayside where you can see the tide come in and out. Still, I don’t  think anything beats Hopewell Rocks in Canada.

We kept seeing signs for  “Lunch on the Wharf” in Corea. Sounded interesting so we decided to eat there. Lovely place, we were the only tourists, rest were locals. Actually ate on a wharf overlooking the harbor(low tide).
Tonight we met all our neighbors and the campground supplied a Thanksgiving in September meal. Everyone brought something. Great meal, met some more of our neighbors. Had a pleasant evening until the rain started. That sent everyone home fast.

I have added a slide show. I am using new software and having a learning curve. I am not sure I can get rid of the dark gray bar on the bottom. Be patient. I also don't seem to have any control over the speed. WARNING: Don't put your cursor on the pictures, that switches to a different mode and you will lose the captions. I am not sure about this software.

Today we wandered towards Acadia National Park. We drove up I95 for a while and it was a bit irritating. Our RV GPS is set for low bridges and alarms at any  bridge 13' 6" or less. Did you know that most of the bridges in Maine on I 95 are 13' 6". Alarms were sounding constantly driving up the road. We then moved over to US 1, thinking it would be scenic, along the coast. It was so-so. I was thinking it would go along the water and be a pleasant drive. Not so.

We arrived at out campground, checked in and went to our site with a minor problem before getting to the site. Unhitched the car and had a dead battery, had a jump from the CG. Went to our site. Lovely site, we are in a seasonal site and it has  been spiffied up with flowers and other plantings, including a vegetable garden. Our one neighbor is from North Carolina and the other from Williamsburg(haven’t met them yet). 

We went for a drive to give the car some exercise and managed to turn our 15 minute drive into over a hour. Tom didn’t realize it but when we turned back the car GPS wasn’t working correctly and he didn’t notice it. We were heading southeast instead of northwest. Good thing we were on an island.

Our trip has had a lot of bumps and bruises. First, being cancelled out of Assateague, then our credit card was hacked, next we ran out of checks(additional are buried in the MH someplace) and the final was the battery was dead in the car and we had to get a jump.

Since Tom doesn’t need to take down the satellite dish any longer(we bought an automatic one on the roof), I asked him to do the car while he was doing the other outside stuff. He said fine. Check list was on the visor. Today was the first day he did the car, dead battery. The car key needs to be put into ACC mode and he left it in RUN mode. Dead battery. Why do I have check lists posted all over the place??? They need to be read………..

This is 4 bumps we have had, I had always thought the limit was 3. Never boring on the road. Just adds to the story collection.

Today was an interesting day. We saw a truck ahead of us with his rear wheel smoking, maybe half mile. He just kept driving on. About 10 minutes later the wheel caught fire and he pulled over as the rest of us quickly pulled to the fast lane and went past him. Next excitement was someone’s luggage blew off a roof rack and was scattered all over the interstate.

Other than that we had a pleasant drive, beautiful countryside, little traffic. Too bad the interstate was in such poor shape. Every crack was felt, bumpity bump for 70 miles.

The initial entries in this blog were written before Hermine changed all our plans. It is best if you read the blog in date order so you will need to start at the oldest date. The map represents our stops as we wander to Acadia National Park. We are currently heading toward the area around Albany, NY. Just taking our time. Yesterday we had major crosswinds that battered us for 200 miles. Today we know we will have a very rough interstate and tomorrow we will be going through VT and NH. That will be very curvy and up/down major hills/mountains. On Friday we will finally get to the coast and wander up US 1 along the coast, that should be pleasant. 

No pictures until we get to Acadia.

Enjoy!!

We brought our RV home on Thursday and hoped to get mostly loaded before Hermine hit. We had a to do list(just like a house) and managed to get the exterior work done and some of the interior. Hermine ended up not affecting us, even with all the hype from the weatherman. 

We plan to leave on Labor Day in the morning. Our only concern is going to Assateague we need to go across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and if there are high winds we will not be allowed to cross. We anticipate the winds will calm down by Monday and will not be an issue. 

Well we had a surprise on Sunday night(we were leaving on Monday). Our reservation at Assateague was cancelled due to major damage from Hermine(tropical storm). The entire park is now closed until the 7th or 8th. All our plans have now been changed. We will head directly to Acadia and may spend extra time there. I would like to go to Camden, Somesville and other towns that I have always wanted to explore. We would like to go back to the Schoodic area of the Acadia National Park also.

When one door closes, another opens. 

Moving into the Modern World

This year I am trying something new. I will be using a Blog. Some pictures will be contained within the Blog and others will have a link to my website, hopefully there may be slideshow contained within the Blog. This is going to be a dynamic situation as I learn how to manage the blog and play with different presentations. I am planning to have a map of our travels on the first page of the blog with markers as to where we stop. If you click on each marker there may be a picture under the marker.

I have already encountered problems doing this. In the middle of setting up the blog there was an update. Functionality I was using just disappeared. Down the tube went some work. One item that I miss is the ability to put a slide show inside the blog, this worked great but in the update that functionality has disappeared. I will continue to look for a solution. Be patient, if this doesn't work out I will switch back to the old method.


Our Plans for This Year:

We are planning to go to Assateague Island National Seashore and then on to Acadia National Park. From there we will wander through New Brunswick, Canada. We are not planning to stop at Hopewell Rocks at this time. For those of you who have not been there I will post some pictures of the area from previous trips. Seeing a 28’ tide is awesome, as is walking on the bottom of the bay and 6 hours later where you walked is covered by 28’ of water. Other things we will be skipping Campobello Island(Franklin Roosevelt summer home) and Alexander Graham Bell’s summer home, Beinn Bhreagh in the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site(Parks Canada). If you ever go this way these are both worth a stop but bring your Passports as you will be in Canada.

As we wander north our main goal is the Gaspe Peninsula in Quebec. This is one of the Top 10 Drives in the World, we are looking forward to this as we have never been to this area. We will do this drive counter-clockwise to keep the ocean on our right. After this we will wander along the St. Lawrence, visit Quebec City, Montreal and Niagara Falls if time permits.

Then back to the US and a stop at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Seashore(sand dunes) for a rest. Then on to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, wander a while in the Michigan, Wisconsin area. We need to be in Pender,NE in late Oct. to get something done on the motor home. Pender sounds exciting, Yelp says 3 restaurants: Subway, Pizza Place and something else. Luckily we are not spending much time there.

Then back to wandering our way to Phoenix for the winter.

The usual rules apply. I type, I don’t proofread.