Saturday October 17, 2009-Out and About

It was a bit warmer this morning at 4C (40F) than it has been and the wind wasn't too bad so I took my trail to the beach, walked some on the beach, through the park models, through the woodsy area and came home via the little hill that overlooks the park models near the beach.

Path to the beach (actually the path takes you to some park models so it's still a ways from the beach)

Geese at the beach

Ripples at the sand bar

Swampy area in the woods

Another path that takes you toward the beach

But I turned left and went up the hill on my way back to the RV



I spent most of the morning on the computer and after lunch Gordon and I were ready to get out. Cabin fever was setting in.

So we drove to Centennial Park, a little park in Port Colborne. From there we were able to see the Point Abino Lighthouse.

View of Lake Erie from Centennial Park

Point Abino Lighthouse

We were on our way to Morgan's Point Conservation Area but Gordon wanted to take Lakeshore Drive. Just as we arrived at the lift bridge, it started to go up. A ship was coming down the Welland Canal so Gordon parked the truck and we took off to take some photos of the ship. It was a ship from Quebec carrying iron ore pellets.

Ship going under the lift bridge


Lift bridge going back in place

Crossing the lift bridge

From there we continued along Lakeshore Drive and arrived at Morgan's Point where we took a couple of trails that take you to the beach.

Shoreline

Boardwalk trail


On our way home we fueled up at 90.9/litre then when we arrived at Sherkston Shores we signed up for another night here. Right now it looks like we'll be crossing the border on Tuesday and heading for Columbus, OH.

Friday October 16, 2009-Another Day at Home!

L-2C (35)F
H-6C (42F)

I'll make this brief today as I didn't take any photos and today was much the same as yesterday.

I had my usual walk bundled up like a mummy although it was less windy today so although the temperature was lower, it didn't feel as cold.

We spent some of the morning researching routes south but no definite decisions made yet.

I had taken some meat out of the freezer today so I baked some chicken thighs in the oven while Gordon barbecued pork chops and chicken legs. I'm hoping that if the meat is cooked I can take it across the border. I had thought we'd be here longer so I have quite a bit of stuff in the freezer but we have a few days left before we leave so it may get cleaned up.

Another day of TV, reading and napping!

Thursday October 15, 2009-Hanging Around Home

Today was a quiet laid back kind of day here at Sherkston Shores. Our high was 6C (42F), no sun and was very windy. Needless to say it was cold!

Regardless, I set out on my walk. Today I took the path that goes around the quarry. As that only took about 15 minutes I walked to the other side of the area where we're parked and had a look at the other side of the marsh from where I was yesterday. I only saw one duck, must have been too cold for them too!

Quarry from campground

Quarry from the other side

Closeup taken of our RV from the other side of the Quarry

Path along the Quarry

Campground where we spent Sunday night is almost deserted

Part of the campground layout

The marsh


When I got back to the RV and after breakfast, I dug my electric throw out from under the bed and spent most of the day on the couch either reading or watching a TV movie, All the Good Ones are Married. Most of the plot line was pretty common but it was easy to watch and didn't require any brain power!

It was a good day to relax!

Wednesday October 14, 2009-Getting Stuff Done

It was another cold, cloudy morning when I went for my walk. The thermometer read 3C (37F). I walked down to the Lake through the park models and came back along a path that goes through a marshy area. It was a nice walk because I was dressed for it.

The beach

Our row in the RV park

An old shipwreck in Lake Erie just off the beach

The path coming back from the beach

Ducks in the marsh

I saw this dead Monarch butterfly on the road

Our row from the other end

After breakfast I got the vacuuming done. I had been putting it off due to my back but the back problem has resolved itself so it was time to get it done.

I had located a couple of laundromats in Port Colborne, the nearest town to where we're located so I decided to get the laundry ready and take it with us. We found the Colonial Laundromat and Cleaners on Main Street. It was clean and there was someone there which I like as it is also a cleaners. It looks like his wife runs a small travel agency at the front of the store too. It seems that washing in this area is now at least $2.00 per load so I decided since I liked the look of the place to get it done. While I was doing that, Gordon went to the Mall and got a haircut.

After I was finished we drove around town a bit, checked out the other laundromat (not as well kept) and then came home.

I have been asked why we don't just get a washer/dryer in our rig. There are three problems with that, number one being that where the W/D would go is Gordon's closet. The number two problem is that our home park at Carleton Place does not have sewer as such. Our gray water is piped into the ground and a W/D would cause an overflow problem. The third problem is that we don't want to tow the extra weight around. Since we spent 4 or 5 months at our home park in the summer, it's just not worth it to us.

Once home I updated our expenses spreadsheet (not pretty) and read a bit.

Now we're having a relaxing evening.

Tuesday October 13, 2009-Shopping Trip to Fort Erie

I woke up to rain sprinkles on the roof. It was cloudy and chilly but we're nice and warm inside. My back is sore but I can move without a problem today. Since it was only light rain, I decided to head out for my walk but I stuck close to the RV.

Here is our site (thanks to Gordon for the photo)

I eat breakfast every morning while on the computer so I decided to sign up for the free wifi here. You're allowed four hours then you're off for ten hours. The four hours starts when you sign on and ends four hours later regardless of whether you're on your computer for the whole time or not. It's fairly fast now that most people have left the campground. Kind of looks like a ghost town here today, but that's pretty much what we like. There is another choice of 30 minutes every 2 hours and you can use that within your 10 hour waiting period for the other wifi.

This morning we went out and got our propane tank filled. We had run out the last night at Tranquil Acres and there are some cold nights forecast coming up.

After an early lunch we drove in to Fort Erie and went down by the Niagara River for these photos of Buffalo, NY. We also updated the roaming on our Verizon phones while we were there.

The Peace Bridge that runs between Fort Erie and Buffalo

Buffalo Skyline


There was a little area that jutted out into the river that was pretty.




I got some groceries, checked out the laundromat $2.50 to wash! On our way home we stopped at the laundromat here at the park. It's $2 to wash and $2 to dry. Still pretty expensive! Maybe I'll check out the little town west of us, Port Colborne.

After unpacking groceries, I lay down to read and had a little nap......

Monday October 12, 2009-Happy Thanksgiving Day!

First of all let me wish a Happy Thanksgiving Day to all Canadians who celebrate this holiday! Thanksgiving is a statutory holiday for most provinces except for New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, however in those province if your job is regulated by the Federal Government, it is a holiday - like banks and telecommunications. For reference see Wikipedia.

It was another very cold morning but at least there was no wind. It was cloudy when I set out for my walk which turned out to be 40 minutes. This is such a huge place that there are lots of places to walk. I walked through the woods, through subdivisions of park models, along the beach, by the quarry and had a wonderful time!

Path through the trees

Overlooking some of the park models

Not much of a sunrise today

The row that we are in here at the park has a low tree at the end so we were hoping that some folks in the row in front of us would leave so we could pull through onto the paved road to get out of this part of the park. We had to check to see if the peron on our new site had vacated so Gordon walked over around 10 a.m. to check. He had to check a couple of times and finally saw them heading out of the park. By that time most of the row in front of us had gone except, of course, for the guy right in front of us but Gordon wheeled us through one of the other sites and we were on our new site in no time flat!

Somehow when reaching into the compartment to get some plastic blocks out to prop up the sewer hose I sent my upper back into spasm. This getting old thing isn't for the faint of heart! Consequently I haven't taken a photo of our site yet. Hopefully tomorrow it will feel better.

We've had a completely cloudy day although sun was forecast. Our high was 10C (50F). Not a very nice day.

We had stew for dinner tonight, no turkey!

To read Gordon's latest update, click here.

Sunday October 11, 2009-Now at Sherkston Shores

It was cccccold this morning at 1C (34F). I was up at 5:30 a.m. Practically unheard of for me but I wanted to be sure that I would be ready to leave at 8 a.m. And I was! But someone else wasn't so we didn't get on the road till about 8:15 a.m.

I took this panorama on the KOA road when we were out warming the truck up this morning.

More Fall leaves on our way this morning


We were still going through Toronto before 10 a.m. At least it was bright and sunny for our whole trip. There was quite a bit of traffic probably because of Thanksgiving weekend but it all moved well and we had no delays.

Going through Toronto

We arrived at Sherkston Shores about 11:35 a.m. and were on our site and set up by about 1 p.m. However the park is very busy and we couldn't get a 50 amp site when we checked in so we have to move tomorrow. This is also a very small site for our rig. Since the forecast is for near freezing at night and single digit celsius temps this week we need the 50 amp!

Our site for tonight


We're also giving serious consideration to crossing the border a week early. We'll decide later in the week as I'll have to make arrangements to do so with our travel medical insurance broker. The long range forecast for Sunday the 25th which is the day we planned to cross originally is for rain and wet snow and we don't like traveling under those circumstances. The weather might change in 2 weeks. Do we want to chance it?

After we got set up we relaxed for a while then drove down to Lake Erie. It was so cold and windy I didn't want to walk. The site we're at is farther from the lake than where we'll be for the rest of the week. So hopefully I'll get to do some walks around the park this week. I've missed my walk the last two days with getting ready to get on the road.

The Quarry and the beach


We had an early dinner tonight as it looked like there would be a pretty sunset. We went to the beach about an hour early to take some photos.

Overlooking the Lake

Pretty clouds


We walked on the beach, it's a very big beach! These park models have an awesome view!

It was indeed a very pretty sunset!

And the sun sinks slowly into Lake Erie.....