I was fascinated more by the single-house islands than the ostentatious homes built by the rich folks, though. Having lived through constant remodeling of our home and camper, I know what it takes to build a house, and I cannot fathom trying to get it all to the site by boat. Not to mention getting electric power to the home, since most are not tied into the mainland power grid.
We spent two days camping in Kingston, Ontario but the fun part of this segment was definitely going to Gananoque and taking a tour of the Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence Seaway. There are literally over a thousand little islands in this area, most of them with at least one house on them. This area is a popular summer getaway, and in the early twentieth century, was a playground for the rich and famous. I was fascinated more by the single-house islands than the ostentatious homes built by the rich folks, though. Having lived through constant remodeling of our home and camper, I know what it takes to build a house, and I cannot fathom trying to get it all to the site by boat. Not to mention getting electric power to the home, since most are not tied into the mainland power grid. Both before and after the tour, we spent some time wandering around town, and it was a lovely, quaint little place. With the cutest street signs I have ever seen and a pretty downtown area that was very visitor friendly, we spent a lovely, yet fairly low-key day there.
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Niagara Falls is one of my favorite places on earth. We took our kids to the American side 10-12 years ago, and this time hubby and I enjoyed our first trip into Canada, eh? MORE PHOTOS
We quite happily spent the past 4 days with family in Erie, celebrating an aunt's 80th birthday. This part of the family is so welcoming and have a lovely area on the old farm with a pond and campfire area. In their family, there is an entire category of recipes known as "pond food." They have the cooking and hospitality down to a science. Since hubby's sister and her husband were next to us at the campground, we had a chance to do some visiting there as well. Next, on to Canada! MORE PHOTOS
As we are taking our first trip, I am so content. The trailer is working pretty much as we wanted it to, from the incredibly improved kitchen storage, to a bigger & easier to access shower, to our beautiful new bedroom, to improved outside storage. It is so amazingly satisfying to finally be reaping the benefits of all the hard work, frustration and planning that went on over the winter. It was also a treat to be able to finally use the many retirement gifts I received for our camper. It is lovely to have my friends and family “traveling along with us” in that way! We travelled the first day to Mt. Airy, NC in our brand new truck and what a difference having the right tool makes! Hubby was so much more comfortable driving now that we have enough vehicle to pull our trailer and the truck rides so smoothly. No more being slung to the side by semis! What a relief. Our fuel mileage has also improved dramatically, but of course, diesel is more expensive than gas, so not sure if we are saving any money overall. Told our campground neighbors last night that when you RV, you have to take the words “fuel mileage” out of your vocabulary. We chose to spend 2 nights, so we could poke around in Mt. Airy, and we sure enjoyed the pride which that little town has in being the birthplace and early home of Andy Griffith. The first night, we went to a jam session by some wonderful local musicians, who of course played old time bluegrass music. Folks wandered in and out as they wished to, and those who felt “moved by the spirit” got and clogged. What a lovely way to while away an evening! On our second day, we went into town and explored Floyd’s Barber Shop and the Snappy Diner, among other local Mayberry-esque sites. Sadly, the old gentleman who owns Floyd's has had a stroke, so he is only in the shop when a relative can bring him there, but we were able to see in through the window. We also took a tour of Mt. Airy in a squad car like Andy’s. What a fun way to see the area. One interesting part of the tour included the world's largest open-faced granite quarry. That thing is HUGE and it was neat to see a number of buildings built using granite from there, as well as the history and explanation of how/why each was built the way it was. We also toured the Andy Griffith Museum, which contains lots of memorabilia from his life and career. Out front is the fairly new statue of Andy and Opie going fishing. All in all, a good day. MORE PHOTOS Day 3 found us heading north toward Pa., with an overnight stop in Morgantown, WV. Our campground is way up a mountain, and is beautifully wooded. It is very natural, with little landscaping. This morning was cool enough that I put on a sweatshirt. Nice change from the upper 90’s at home last week! We had a nice visit with our neighbors from Nashville yesterday afternoon, who were completely amazed at the renovations we have done. They had been having a conversation all day (since it had been raining) about whether or not they could paint inside their 5th wheel camper. Rita, the wife, said she WILL be picking out paint as soon as they get back home! Another one who has been bitten by the reno bug! They shared with us that there was a lovely overlook site just on the other side of the interstate, so after we went back into town to refuel, we headed over to Cooper's Rock Overlook. This is one of my favorite parts of taking a trip where it is the trip, not the destination that is important. It allows us time to find hidden gems along the way, and this one certainly qualifies! We will at long last be pulling out and headed north tomorrow, in spite of the fact that we have discovered what is perhaps the original source of the water issues. After hubby pulled her out of her shed to clean her up, it rained and he found water inside. Apparently, the living room slide is leaking from the outside and we are hoping that redoing the outside seals will fix it. But, alas, those must be ordered online, so we will be checking the inside often, if we travel in rain. Since the inside seals have been replaced already, she does not leak when the slide is out, so on the road will be our only time of concern. Another thing to be fixed when we get home. We had to postpone our departure date due to my mother-in-law being sick, so we have flipped our trip somewhat. Our updated route map: Essentially, we are taking much less time to get to Pa. then spend more time on the return trip. I am so excited to be going to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, then on to the 1000 Islands tour in the St. Lawrence River.
Spent a lovely weekend at the lake! We had an absolutely perfect campsite, with a nice new concrete pad to put her on and a magnificent view of the lake out the living room windows. Those windows are one of the main reasons I wanted this particular trailer when we bought, and once again, they proved to be worth their weight in gold! This lake has gorgeous sunsets, and we were treated to two of them this weekend. With very few exceptions, the trailer performed exactly like my vision and it was so exciting to be using it again!
We are taking her to the lake that is 10 minutes from our house this weekend. Cannot wait to see how it all works!
Hubby has hooked everything up for the new truck and done a test pull, he says he can hardly tell the trailer is back there. GREAT news! Today, he washed her all over and she is nice and shiny white now. NO leaks evident from the shower, so more great news. We spent time Sunday planning our June trip to Pa. We are going to take 2 weeks to get from SC to Erie to see family. Two things we really enjoy are touring NASCAR facilities and visiting college campuses. We plan to stop at Bristol Motor Speedway, Univ. of Va., James Madison Univ. and Penn State, as well as spending a couple of days exploring Gettysburg. The return trip will hopefully include Niagara Falls on the Canadian side, and a run back down through the New England states as we head back south to finish the wedding planning with our daughter. The rest of the Allure flooring and our new truck both arrived the same day! We spent most of the day dealing with the minutia of buying a new vehicle, picked up the flooring and arrived home yesterday evening tired, but feeling good! Hubby got right back to work this morning and installed the last of the flooring in the living room slide, then he and I moved the furniture from the living room in the house to the one in the camper. Unfortunately, I have yet to buy a new couch for the house, so the living room is quite empty right now. Meet our brand new, still smells like it, 2015 GMC Sierra 2500HD Diesel! And, at long last, the living room is ready to use! Hung the clock and wall basket for remote and computer cords, etc.
Tasks are being wrapped up, one at a time. Hubby got the floor trim put in the bathroom and living room. Sadly, we miscalculated the amount of Allure flooring we needed, so the slide is still awaiting flooring, but it has been ordered.
He has also completely finished the bedroom [YAY!!] and the toilet has been set in the bathroom. The shower curtain clips still need to be attached, and then that room will be finished as well. So, basically, we are done! All that will need to be done once the slide has flooring is to move in the furniture. I will definitely post pictures once all is in place. What a journey this has been. So amazingly rewarding to see ideas bear fruit and cannot wait to get her on the road again. My "hitch itch" is at EPIC levels at this point! I have included 2 panoramic pictures of the LR and bedroom so you can see the wonderful work my husband has done. [PS- Don't you love the trim hanging from hangers under the slide cabinets? I get so tickled at how hubby gets things out of the way.] |
AuthorI am a retired High School Science teacher, married to a retired mechanic and we are super excited to begin this new phase of our lives! Archives
June 2017
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