A Little Drive

We had another gorgeous sunset last night. I took photos from the front step of our RV again.

It was already 16C (60F) when I got up shortly after 8 this morning. The sun was shining and it was looking like a perfect day. I decided I'd better get back into my walks. There isn't much place to walk in the campground so I went out on Canaan Road. The shoulders are fairly wide but there is a big hill that you have to climb and I did it! I walked for about 25 minutes then came back in and did my back exercises. I have to say that since I haven't been walking, I haven't had nearly the back problems I have when I do walk.

After breakfast Gordon decided he wanted to go for a drive along the Ottawa River to the east of the campground so we went out for a couple of hours. You get some good views of the river but there's mostly housing along it and nowhere to pull off the road to take photos. There are three ferries to take you to Quebec that run and I got a photo of one although it's not great with the pole in the way. This one is at Alfred/Plantagenet.


Here are some other photos that I took.

A couple of old barns

A little winding creek along the road

A kayaker in the Ottawa River



We got back shortly after noon. I couldn't wait to get to bed. I was exhausted and slept for about three hours. Guess I'm not over this bug yet!

This afternoon turned cloudy and I think I heard some rain just after I lay down but I did see a high of 26C (79F) when we were out this morning. Tomorrow is supposed to cool off though.

A Warmer Day

I went for a short walk this morning as it was sunny but still chilly at 5C (41F). I still wasn't feeling up to par so I came back in after about 15 minutes. I had woken up feeling kind of weak and headachy.

This morning I just hung around and read and played on the computer. We needed bananas so I went into Rockland this afternoon. The temperature reached 20C (68F) this afternoon when I was out in the truck which is what was forecast as today's high. It remained sunny all day but still a slight cool breeze. I was also searching out a place to get propane as we emptied one of our tanks last night. Doesn't look like we'll need it much over the next day or so as it's supposed to warm up.

Note the bilingual signs in Walmart in Rockland. This is still in Ontario. I've never seen this in stores in Ottawa.



I've been checking out geocaches the last day or so as I have to find a place to put Ducky Love,

the travel bug that Ellie and I found when we were staying at Powderhorn Lake. It's kind of wet and muddy around here yet to do it but I need to get Ducky Love placed as I promised the owner I would do it at the end of April and the time is here!

Doctor, RV Dealer & Out for Sunset

I knew I had to get up early this morning consequently I was awake about every hour through the night but was up at 6:15 a.m. and actually didn't feel too bad.

Gordon had a doctor's appointment for 9:15 a.m. in the west end and traffic is murder here between about 6:30 and 9 a.m. We left the campground at 7:15 a.m. a full two hours before the appointment. Here's are some photos of today's trip.

Traffic photos

The freeway was backed up forever. I'm sure glad I don't have to travel in this every day.

Much better idea to take the bus

So we switched to surface roads

They were moving much better

We arrived in the area of the doctor's office about 40 minutes early so went to one of the spots that Gordon used to go to after dropping me off at Nortel.

Here's where Gordon usually dropped me at Nortel

Here's Ralph & Sons Diner - not the best name for a restaurant


I even had coffee - decaf only

After coffee, off to the doctor's office where he got in right away although we were early.

Doctor's office

From there we went to our RV dealer to take back their electrical cord and pick up ours. The new plug had come in but it wasn't hooked up to our electric cord yet so that was done while we waited.

When completed, we were both tired so came home and had lunch and naps. Most of the day was spent reading or on the computer.

Tonight we decided to do something fun so we went out for sunset. We stopped at a little park along the Ottawa River near us and then drove to Petrie Island.

Pretty scene along the river

This is a path at Petrie Island - we walked this a couple of years ago

It's not a gator
It's a beaver!

Another pretty scene in golden light

Just near sunset

I still feel better tonight, sure hope that keeps up!

Still Sick

Not much happened today. When I got up I felt worse like the cold has gone into my sinuses so had breakfast and went back to bed till around 1 p.m.

We had some rain, some cloud, some sun and some wind. Kind of a mixed bag of tricks today!

I did go for a short walk this afternoon to take some photos.

Quite a bit of standing water around the campground. This is the tent area.

A couple of photos of the Gatineau Hills taken from the campground.

Heavy fluffy clouds

This is the washroom/showers, reminiscent of Powderhorn where we stayed this winter.

Laundromat

Other than that I spent the afternoon on the couch. Being sick really sucks!

Getting the Important Stuff Done

Today was cold, wet and rainy. I think our high was 7C (45F). I haven't been doing much walking lately due to traveling and then getting this cold. I sure need to get back to it!

This morning Gordon called immigration and found out some details about picking up his Permanent Resident Card. His cold hasn't been getting better so he thought he'd better go and get it today in case he gets worse. So off we went in the rain. We had to go to downtown Ottawa and parking a one ton truck down there isn't fun so Gordon pulled over behind a delivery van across from the building, turned on the 4 way flashers and got out. I got in the driver's seat and took off to the nearby grocery store who has a free parking lot. I wandered around the grocery for a while then back to the truck. I was just heading out to plot how I was going to pick him up when my phone rang. He was only gone about 45 minutes. So now he's good till October 2013 then we have to go all through the procedure again. The only option would be for him to become a Canadian citizen, otherwise every 4 1/2 years it's do the paperwork!

When we returned to the RV, he went to bed and I had a shower and went in to Rockland (the nearest town) where they have a Superwalmart, a Food Basics and a Your Independent store. For a small town it sure has it's share of grocery stores. Anyway, I managed to find mostly everything on my list that was important and some items that weren't on the list.

Here are a couple of photos I took from our window this afternoon.



After unloading the groceries and putting stuff away, I made stew and cornbread muffins and it was good!

Murphy's Law

I was warm and cozy under my electric blanket listening to my favourite radio station here in Ottawa when all of a sudden the power went off. I had heard on the radio that there were some areas in the east end of the city where the power was off so thought that's what had happened. So knowing that my bed was no longer going to be warm and I couldn't listen to the radio, I got up.

Gordon was just coming in from outside and told me that our electric plug had been smoking so he unplugged it.

To make a long story short we went into Orleans (before breakfast), the most eastern suburb of Ottawa but couldn't get what we needed there. We came back to the park thinking we'd buy the pigtail (50 to 30 amp) at the campground as we'd seen one in the store yesterday but the office wasn't open. On our way back we stopped to pick up some fruit as I had eaten most of it before we crossed the border so had none for breakfast. Then back home for breakfast, still with no power.

When in Orleans, I saw this snow in a parking lot

So after breakfast we headed west to our own dealer, Vos Trailers (about 100 km or 60 miles return) from where we're located. We took both our 35 foot 50 amp cord as well as our pigtail. Again long story short, we're replacing the pigtail and due to the 50 amp plug being discoloured from being too hot they are cutting about 10 feet off our cord and putting on a new 50 amp plug.

Vos sent us home with a 50 to 30 amp pigtail and a 30 amp cord on loan until the plug comes in and they can do the work. They are a wonderful dealership! So at least we now have power. That's as close to boondocking as I ever want to be.

I took this photo of Ottawa's skyline from the freeway coming from Vos.


When I got home I had lunch and went back to bed for the afternoon. I still don't feel much better even with that wonderful afternoon sleep.

Last night after I posted, I went for a little walk around the park. I actually felt better last night than I do tonight. Here are some photos.

Flying Canada Geese

Pretty tree in the park

A copse of white birch trees

Our site from another angle

There are several of these little bridges throughout the RV park

Lots of Canada Geese in the fields around us

Last night's sunset from our front doorstep

Temps today low 2C (35F), high 15C (59F). We had some sun this morning but most of the day was cloudy. Rain's coming tonight!

Back at Home Base

Gordon got me up early this morning saying he wasn't feeling well either and we'd better hit the road. We were out of the KOA around 7:45 a.m., crossed the border shortly after noon. We declared what we had planned to, paid our taxes and went on our merry way. There wasn't much of a lineup at the border either.

Heading out


Very few people in line at the border

This was on the truck window in the lane next to us

Welcome to Canada

Back in our home province after nearly six months

Some of the Thousand Islands
Crossing the Ivy Lea Bridge into Ontario

Go east!

When we had our sticks and bricks house we lived in Nepean.

Coming into Ottawa from the south, lots of houses have built up here in the last few years. This used to be fields not so long ago.

A very familiar sign around here although we did notice a few of them around Ohio

This is another familiar sign. Canadian Tire isn't just tires, it's like a department store of stuff for the house, the car, the garden and lots more.

The freeway in Ottawa splits, you go right to go to Montreal and to the left to go to our campground

The road to the campground runs along the Ottawa River



On our way north on Hwy 416 we were listening to an Ottawa radio station. They said that our main (only) east/west route was down to one lane for construction in one spot going eastbound and was backing up so we decided to detour through the city and come out on the other side of the construction. Amazingly considering the time of year we saw very few little snow patches along the route.

We arrived at Recreationland east of Ottawa shortly after 1 p.m. They have free wifi here and our month cost us $582.75 including electric on 30 amp service. It's quite a distance from our doctors and my sister but it's a pretty good price and things are bustling in the east end of the city.

Entrance to Recreationland

Our row

Our site - not a lot of people here yet


We've signed up for a month here with an option for another month.

I think we reached about 16C (60F) today although I wasn't really checking too closely.

Gordon is not feeling very well, I hope he doesn't get bronchitis again! Sure glad he was able to get us home AGAIN...........

We're so glad to be back. It always seems like such a long haul and it's worse when you're sick. Sure do miss Texas!