Saturday October 10, 2009-Carleton Place to Brighton, ON

The site we were on at Tranquil Acres was grass and where we have to back the truck up to the RV to hitch up was a low spot so we'd been parking it across the road on a gravel spot for the last few days. Due to the rain that we had overnight Thursday night, all day Friday and most of Friday night as well as what we'd gotten through the week, it was very soggy.

We were slow packing up today as we had around three hours to travel so we pulled out about 10:50 a.m. By that time the clouds had mostly gone leaving us with sunshine and big fluffy white clouds. It was about 10C (50F) by then.

Photo taken just as we were leaving Tranquil Acres



Our drive along Highway 7 from Carleton Place to the turnoff to Tweed (which takes us to Hwy 401) was awesome. I think this weekend the trees are at their best colour so I was snapping photos as we drove along. I also saw a moose but we went by too quickly to get a photo of it. I thought Gordon was going to try to do a U turn with the rig but he only lost his senses for a moment and we continued on.

Photos taken along Highway 7





We arrived at the Brighton KOA just before 2 p.m. and were set up in about 15 minutes. We aren't setting up any satellites as the KOA has good wifi and we don't need to watch TV for one night.

Our site at the KOA


Barn just down the road from the KOA


After we got set up we headed off to see Presqu'ile Provincial Park. It's a very pretty park on Lake Ontario. We went to the beach. It was really windy and there was a kite boarder on the Lake. We took the Marsh Boardwalk Trail and then went to the lighthouse. We saw a few ducks and some geese and I saw a bluebird!

Kiteboarder on Lake Ontario

The Marsh Boardwalk

Marsh grass

Sunlight on the boardwalk

The Marsh


Part of the path led us through some really interesting trees

Lake Ontario shoreline

Bluebird


Presqu'ile Lighthouse

Before we came back to the RV we filled up with fuel so we can get on the road tomorrow and get through Toronto early.

Now we're settled in with stew for dinner and relaxing.

I saw this information on the RV Travel e-letter today and thought some of you might be interested.

IRS offers tax break for RV buyers

Friday October 9, 2009 - Thanksgiving Dinner

Today was a gray, rainy, damp day. It was raining lightly when I went for my walk but since I was dressed for it, I went anyway although I didn't go far.

We just hung around the RV most of the morning and early afternoon. I made a stew for us to have for dinner while we're on the road the next couple of days.

This afternoon we got ready to go to my sister's for our Thanksgiving dinner. This is the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend with Monday being Thanksgiving Day but because we're leaving tomorrow my sister decided to have dinner tonight instead even though she had to work all day!

Tomorrow we head out on the first leg of our journey south. We want to get closer to Toronto so we can get through the city early Sunday morning so we're thinking of the KOA at Brighton. I haven't made a reservation but when I checked yesterday they had sites available. I will call when we get on the road in the morning. Then Sunday we head to Sherkston Shores near Fort Erie, Ontario where we'll stay for probably two weeks and cross the border on Sunday October 25th. Although we love this campground, it will be nice to see some different sites and get some photos of Lake Erie again.

We had a great Thanksgiving dinner and I did pretty well. I only had a small helping of stuffing, no potatoes and a rice krispie square for desert so although I didn't stick to my diet completely I didn't load up on stuffing the way I normally would. Thanks to Margie and John for all the work and a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner! It was great to be able to see Nick, Betty and Danica too before we leave the area tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone on Facebook who wished us a Happy Thanksgiving! We're looking forward to a second one when we're in the U.S. next month!

It rained pretty much all day and was raining when we drove home tonight. Neither one of us see that well in the dark especially when it's raining but we got home okay!

Note

For this winter, I'd really appreciate it if I'm taken off your mailing lists for all emails with large photos enclosed. We'll be using our own internet satellite this winter and these things eat up our bandwidth like crazy. Also I'll have to refrain from reading blogs with music and large photos but ya gotta do what ya gotta do! I know I go on about this ad nauseum but when you're on the road it's important!

Gordon has updated his journal, to read it, click here.

No photos today!

Thursday October 8, 2009-Back to Ottawa

Today was a gorgeous sunny day. We managed a high of 15C (59F). I had a lovely walk!

Clouds and leaves
Gordon had to go back to the chiropractor today and get the results of x-rays he had taken yesterday. The news was good. There is no change in his spine since we first started going to this chiropractor 10 years ago. His pain apparently is from the facet joints and can be fixed with further treatment however we're leaving here on Saturday so he has exercises to do.

While we were out I got all my medical receipts together to send in for reimbursement, we stopped at a grocery and ran a few errands. We also stopped at Bruce Pit which is mostly used for off leash dog running but it's a pretty spot so took some photos there.

Bruce Pit
Great blue heron at Bruce Pit

One of the trails

We were home for a late lunch. Then I made some cornbread stuffing for Gordon as we're going to my sister's tomorrow night for Canadian Thanksgiving dinner. I'm not sure what I'll eat at this point but I can eat turkey!

We put away some of the outside stuff today since it was such a nice day. I'd rather put things in the compartment when they're dry and tomorrow it's another rain day!

Wednesday October 7, 2009-Gettin' 'Er Done!

We had some sun this morning, we also had rain and the wind came up near the end of the day so it's been a mixed bag.

Some clouds this morning

I noticed these trees have green trunks - sort of mossy looking

A Fall scene



There are a lot of rail fences in this area

This old tree is down by the beach in the campground


I got up late as it was raining and decided to stay in bed for a while but this causes my hips to hurt. Oh well!

This afternoon we headed in to Ottawa to have a final chiropractic treatment. Gordon's back has been really bothering him so the chiropractor sent him for x-rays so he has to go back again tomorrow but I'm done hopefully till we return to Ontario in April/May timeframe. We picked up our prescriptions for the winter. That was a costly stop!

On our way home the sky was really dark and we had a few rain showers.




They've been turning Hwy 7, an east west route that takes us into Ottawa into a 4 lane freeway. They're making great strides in getting it going. Here they're building an overpass at Dwyer Hill Road. When it's complete it will make our commute from Carleton Place to Ottawa much faster!

Tuesday October 6, 2009-Carleton Place Shopping

The day started out to be absolutely gorgeous, sun shining with low lying fog, great for photos. It was a bit cool at 6C (42F) however there was no wind so it wasn't bad for my walk. Here are this morning's foggy photos.










After breakfast I went into Carleton Place to get a few groceries. I'm stocking up on Gordon's rice crackers for when we're in the U.S. and I needed to pick up some fruit and other stuff. That took about three hours. If you'd see the size of Carleton Place, you'd wonder where I managed to spend that much time.

As it got later in the day it turned more cloudy with rain looming. The forecast is for some heavy rain tonight and overnight.

After a nice shower I sat down at the computer and Dee popped up on Yahoo Messenger so we chatted for a while.

Just before dinner I went out to take some stuff to the garbage and met the man across the street. He bought a trailer in a park in Bradenton, FL and goes there every winter so I was asking him about RV parks in that area. He's given me some ideas. Now we just have to decide if we're going over there in March or not.

For Gordon's latest journal update, click here.

Monday October 5, 2009 - Lots of Nothing

Did you know that a large number of people in the U.S. are born on October 5th? You would expect birthdays to be evenly distributed among the 365 days on a calendar. AnyBirthday.com has a database of the birthdays of more than 135 million Americas and claim that more people were born on October 5 than on any other day of the year. The reason seems to be that October 5th is approximately 9 months from New Year's Eve. Another little bit of trivia.

This morning was mostly cloudy and cool for my walk but at least it wasn't raining. I saw a great blue heron flying over the river but not close enough for me to get a photo of him. No turkeys this morning either.

We've had lots of rain

Leaves are still changing

Some horses taking a nap


Not much happening today, we had rain off and on and sun off and on. I watched two TV movies, something I rarely do in the afternoon. I also worked a bit on my yo yo quilt until my eyes got tired and read a bit.

Sunday October 4, 2009 - No electricity!

I was definitely a bad girl today. I woke up to no electricity. Gordon had gone out this morning and saw numerous hydro trucks so when I got up he suggested we go to The Gourmet Restaurant in Carleton Place for breakfast. We haven't been there in at least two years. Breakfast means things that aren't on my new diet - toast, home fries, eggs......BUT at this point I don't have severe enough reactions to anything so away we went.

We had a good breakfast although we were lucky to get a table. The place was packed!

From there we decided to take a drive to Almonte, a little town not far from Carleton Place as it was unlikely that we'd have warmth yet so we drove over there. It's a picturesque little town with lots of waterfalls and a downtown on a hill with a corner in it. Lots of interesting little shops. Almonte is also notable for being the boyhood home of Dr. James Naismith, the inventor of basketball. How many people knew that little piece of trivia?

The Mississippi River at Almonte


Falls on the Mississippi

More Falls in town

And more

Dowtown Almonte

Looking up the hill


Looking down the hillOne of the cute little shops


My younger sister called while we were out and wanted to come and visit but I wasn't sure when we'd be back and if we'd be back to normal so we'll see them Friday at their place for Thanksgiving dinner. Canadian Thanksgiving is next weekend!

After that we decided to come home and see if we had electricity and we did! Thank goodness as I started feeling unwell. I get these rippling pains in the lower right part of my skull sometimes. I haven't had one since probably last year but they really hurt! So I took a bunch of medications to get rid of it and finally went to sleep. When I woke up it was gone!

It also rained for most of the afternoon. Not a nice afternoon!