Location:
Collingwood, Ontario, Canada
Once
again we're sorry for the long delay in communication. Since deciding
in March to put Rachel on the market we've had lots of jobs to do.
House jobs, boat jobs, camper jobs and family jobs. This all finally
came to an end just over a week ago and we have at last taken off on
our newest big adventure. Except that the camper jobs are continuing
– not unlike living on the boat....
We've
traded living on a 37 foot sailboat for living in a 20 foot camper.
Our storage and living spaces are w-a-a-a-ay smaller but we can
travel w-a-a-a-ay faster and still have all the things we need to
make our lives comfortable. Our 1987 Damon Escaper RV (classified as
a "Toyota micro mini motorhome"), whom we have yet to name,
is tinier and more cramped than Rachel, but more comfortable and
expansive than Wanda the Honda. And a bit between the two for speed
with our self-imposed maximum speed of 50 mph (80 kph), as well. We
are very happy with the compromise thus far. We get to see a lot
more when we travel slowly and avoid the interstate highways.
To
date we've traveled the length of the DelMarVa
(Delaware-Maryland-Virginia) peninsula, stopping at Chincateague and
Assateague islands to see the wild horses. We were lucky enough to
cross paths with wild horse #14 on a trail we walked and got a nice
photo.
We
continued on through Pennsylvania and had a wonderful time visiting
the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area where we hiked to 4
different waterfalls, visited Millbrook Village with it's costumed
docents, and stopped at Grey Towers, the boyhood home of Gifford
Pinchot, first Chief Forester of the National Forest Service (NFS).
From
there we headed up to Mark's mum's to help her get organized in
preperation for moving to a retirement community in Greensboro, NC.
After a wonderful (and busy!!) ten days with her, we headed out
again, this time to visit other family members in Massachusettes and
Maine.
We
found a lovely NFS camp site right on a small pond in the Maine
woods. Spent the night and walked some trails. We had the
campground to ourselves – it was quiet and stunningly beautiful. A
wonderful respite from all the visiting and travelling we'd been
doing.
Since
we were planning to go to Canada the next day, we went to get out our
passports - and couldn't find them! Turns out we'd left them in a
file cabinet in the basement of our house in Blacksburg. Sheesh!
Luckily our daughter Charlotte was able to send them up to Mark's
brother's law office nearby overnight, so crossing into Canada was
only delayed by a day.
We
crossed the border without incident and headed to a 1/2 price
campground we found just south of Montreal. This turned out to be a
real find as the last commuter train station in the line was only
about a mile from the campground. So the next day we parked the RV
at the train station and took the train into town. Old Town Montreal
is very cool. We really enjoyed the lovely architecture, great
walking and people watching.
From
there we started heading to Collingwood, Ontario to meet up with some
cruising friends we'd met in Panama. Along the way, we decided to
stop at a small town at one of the locks on the Rideau Canal. We
went for a walk, checked out the locks, and noticed a Grand Banks
trawler named "Hope" at the dock. There was a woman on the
back deck so we stopped by to chat. In the course of our
conversation, after telling her a bit about Rachel, she said "We
had some very good friends who owned a Tayana 37. Butch &
Ellie." Julie, not sure if she'd heard correctly, said "Did
you say Butch & Ellie? OH MY GOD!" This couple we had just
met at a random stop in the middle of Ontario were friends with
Rachel's previous owners! How small a world is that? They invited
us to ride with them while they moved the boat from the dock around
the corner to get set up at the lock. We, of course, said "Yes!"
and it was nice to get back on the water – even if it was only a 15
minute ride. What a trip, eh?
The
RV developed an oil leak on the way to Collingwood, so, after we got
there, Mark researched the issue and, since it looked like a big job
and we weren't set up to do something like that, we called the
Toyota dealer to set up an appointment. They said "1987? We
don't work on anything that old." The Toyota dealer, for crying
out loud!! So Mark & Steve ended up doing the work in the
driveway themselves. It's just as well, since after all that, it
turned out to just be a loose bolt - Steve snugged it up and the
leak stopped. The next day Mark helped Steve with a house chore –
hanging ceiling fans. It wasn't all work and no play, Collingwood is
a fantastic little town and we really enjoyed checking out the
trails, Georgian Bay waterfront, downtown area and ski resort. Good
friends are priceless.
Steve
& Marg are wonderful hosts and great friends. We have thoroughly
enjoyed our time here with them and will look forward to seeing them
again whenever / wherever we can.
Fair
winds and following ... ?roads??
