Tuesday August 30, 2016 St. Clair, MI

Not much doing today.  After having our coffee, I checked around the park to see what sites were available  Nothing seemed any better than the overflow area we were in.  I checked with the office and it was fine with them if we stayed in the overflow.

We did have to ask for a maintenance person to come and open the sewer connection.

In the late afternoon I went out and found a nearby geocache that the last two cachers had DNFed.  After a visit to the grocery store I returned to the RV park.

Monday August 29, 2016 St. Clair, MI

We were up and underway by 9:15.  The first stop was at the park entrance for a geocache.  Out target for today was London, ON.

Most of the the drive was 4 lane controlled access highway with a 100 km/h speed limit. Since leaving Quebec Provence most of the signs are in English.  We made good time.  We stopped for fuel in London.  I paid cash and used up the remainder of our Canadian money. We decided to drive on and get into the US today.

I called Kevin Mallory in Celina about getting some repairs done.  He was very busy but agreed to work us in, asking me to arrive on Wednesday.  At a brief stop I got online and made reservations at a 1000 Trails park in St. Clair, MI for two nights.

Lake Huron

We crossed the Blue Water Bridge into the US.  It is a toll bridge.  This time they charged us for both vehicles.  When we came east in June they didn't.  The customs part of the border crossing was very quick.  The RV park was only a few miles from the border.  We have to get used to miles instead of kilometers.

Crossing the Blue Water Bridge

Back in the USA

Is that opening large enough?

An obstacle course before getting back on the highway

Safely entering the RV park

We got to the park at about 5.  We had driven 386 miles in about 7 3/4 hours.  I checked in and the ranger said they were very full and gave me a site number.  When we got to the site there was a unit parked there.  The owner of that unit was getting ready to move into the site next door because the one he was in, the same one we were told to go to, had no utilities.  I went back to the office and was directed to an overflow spot by the office.  The site had all utilities.  I will ask tomorrow if we can just stay here the one more night, instead of moving.

The view

Gerri found a nearby restaurant that sounded good.  It had a bad review on Yelp but we decided to go anyway.  The restaurant, the River Crab, was on the shore of the St. Clair River.  It turned out to be a good choice.  The service was a little slow but the food was excellent.  I had shrimp scampi and Gerri had a potato encrusted whitefish.

The food

Back at the coach we watched some TV, recorded shows of American Pickers. We were in bed by 11.

Tomorrow we will just hang around here.  I may look for some nearby geocaches.

Sunday August 28, 2016 Mallorytown, ON, Canada

We slept in this morning and then had our coffee.  We spent a little time catching up on computer chores a while we had our coffee.

I had planned to tune into the webcast from Oakey Boulevard but couldn't get it to come in.  I don't know which end the problem is on.

At the Tattoo in Halifax NS early in the trip.

We watched some TV.  I cleaned the bugs off the windshield and knocked most of the bugs off the front of the coach.  Gerri attended to laundry.

For supper Gerri added rice and beans to the sausage left over from last night.

Bed time came at 10 after some more reading and TV.  A very laid back day.

Tomorrow we plan to drive to at least London, ON and play it by ear for a place to spend the night.  If it isn't too warm we may stay at the same WalMart we stayed at on the way east.  A stop for fuel should take care of the rest of our Canadian money.

Saturday August 7, 2016 Mallorytown, ON, Canada

Our last day with the caravan.  There was a farewell breakfast in the restaurant of the RV park.  Breakfast was prepared by the park owner and his wife.  Everyone said their last minute goodbyes and exchanged plans for the next few days.  Some of the group live close and will be home in a few days.  Others like us live far away and will take some time getting home.  Of course there are a few full timers that are already home.

Before we left the park, Art Simpson came over and managed to get our DirecTV reception working again.  There was a point in Nova Scotia that we were too far north for our system.  After we got far enough south again we were still unable to get a signal.  He was able to accomplish what the support person at DirecTV wasn't.  In return I gave Art the use of a roll of Gorilla Tape to hold some damaged plastic work on the front of his tow car in place.

Since we are not going to be in the north east for fall the fall foliage change, Gerri got pictures of a couple of trees in the park that couldn't wait until fall to change.

We were on the road by 10 with plans to drive about 210 miles to a park in Bainsville, Ontario.  Most of the route was good two lane with controlled access or 4 lane interstate type highway.



The only problem we had was getting through Montreal.  I made a wrong turn that would have taken us on a bridge that we were not allowed to cross.  An alert bridge attendant stopped us before we got to the bridge and directed us to a turnaround and then shut down traffic so we could get in the right lane and onto the proper route again.


 Gerri did get some picture as we traveled.  Including some of the skyline of Montreal.

We passed Bainsville at about 2 and decided to go on.  Gerri located a park in the 1000 Lakes region in Mallorytown. and we headed there after she called and made sure a site was available.  The park was a KOA, which we usually try to avoid.

We got to the park and were set up in a pull through site with full hook ups including 50 amp electrical service.  It was warm so we had to run the air conditioners until the coach cooled town.  The park is nicely kept and the sites spacious.  There are a lot of families with children here and the park has activities for them, including wagon rides around the park and a busy swimming pool.  Even though the nightly rate is high, like most KOAs, it does't have all of the Keep On Adding features that we dislike.

Once we parked and set up we started to relax.  I didn't even unhook the Jeep.  Thanks to Art's efforts back in Levis we watched some TV while relaxing.  Even though we didn't miss the TV when it didn't work, it is nice to have the option again.

We will stay here Sunday and hope to get the worship service net-cast from Oakey Boulevard..  Monday we will move on toward Celina, OH.

Friday August 26, 2016 Levis, QC, Canada

We passed on going to Montmoresy Falls with the group.  It had rained during the night but the sky was clearing up.  We had our coffee and caught up on computer chores.

Chateau Frontenac

In the afternoon we went to the waterfront in Levis and took pictures across the St. Lawrence of Quebec City.  I found a geocache at the Scout office.  We also went to a park that overlooked the river.  There was a group of people sitting along the wall making sketches, maybe an art class.

We drove across the bridge to the Quebec and did some shopping.  Then it was back to the RV park across the newer bridge.  Pictures of the bridges were difficult with traffic and how close we were.

Tonight's activity was dinner at a restaurant called Delice.  If that is French for delicious, it lived up to it'e name. We had excellent meals followed by one each of the desserts, chocolate bomb, strawberry shortcake and carrot cake.  Gerri and I both had a salmon dish as entrees.

Back at the RV we called it a night at about 10:30.

Thursday August 25, 2016 Levis, QC, Canada

Hop on Hop Off

A bus picked us up at 7:30 and took us into Quebec City at 7:30.  It was about a 45 minute trip.  The wagon masters had arranged tickets for the Hop On Hop Off bus tour of the city to start at 9.  Since we left the RV park early we didn't have our morning coffee.

A formal garden

It was a cloudy morning with rain showers.  We rode the tour bus once around the entire route.  We stayed downstairs on the double decked bus because of the rain.  We rode the Funicular cable car down to the old city.  Gerri checked out most of the souvenir shops.  I looked for a cache but didn't find it.  I think that between the clouds, trees and tall buildings the GPS wasn't giving me good accuracy.  We rode the funicular back up to the higher area.  It started raining again.

Wall of the old city of Quebec

Some of the Plains of Abraham 

Quebec Parliament Building

Part of the wall to the city

Funicular going down down down

At noon we met the rest of our group for lunch at a Chinese Restaurant called of all things Wong's.  We had an excellent lunch.

Chateau Frontenac

We decided to take the Hop On Hop Off bus again.  This time around we sat upstairs and didn't have a problem with rain.  We did another circuit around the entire route.  Things looked different from the open top deck of the bus.  Some times we forget how hard it is to get representative pictures of even the most imposing buildings in a close urban setting.  But, I think we got enough for good memories.

In one area of town the street lamps had large shades with art work on them.

Officially sanctioned graffiti 

Up on top

More of the wall

After getting off the tour I looked for a cache near a tourist information building.  My iPhone battery went dead before I found it.







At 4 we re-boarded the bus to return to the RV park.  Since there was a large mid-day meal the group got together for a potluck of snacks and desert at 5:30 in the restaurant of the RV park.

We were in bed early again.  Tomorrow's activity is a trip to Montmorency Falls at 9.  We may not go since we were at the falls in October on a tour from the cruise ship.

Wednesday August 24, 2016 Levis, Quebec, Canada

There were units leaving this morning at 7.  We did want to get an early start, but we didn't leave the RV park until a little after 9.  We had our coffee on the way.  We had 230 miles to go to our next and last RV park with the caravan.





The drive was much like yesterday's.  Along the ocean and through small towns.  We did turn inland to a controlled access highway.  Along the highway there were large farms, from the looks of the barns, mostly dairy.  Traffic got noticeably heavier as we got nearer Quebec City.

We stopped once for fuel and had lunch parked near the service station.  We were in the Camping Transit and set up a little after noon.

Dinner tonight was pizza made by the owner of the park, Rock and his wife.  We also had salad to go with the pizza.

After dinner a presentation was made to the wagon masters.  Kathleen Munsen had made small quilts for them.  The backside was made up of squares that each couple had written some expressions of  appreciation for the wagon master's hard work on the caravan.

We were in bed early.  Although we had had only driven 230 miles, the day seemed long.  I guess it was because we had several early days in a row.

Tomorrow a bus will pick us up at 7:30 and take us into Quebec City.  A hop on hop off bus tour has been arranged for us.