Today was a busy one getting all set up for our next couple of months. First it was off to Kathy's favourite little fruit store to stock up on fresh oranges and juice. Then off to Winn Dixie to fill the rest of our shelves.

With our tummies looked after nothing would do but getting ourselves to Wal Mart for other things. Thinking we had better hurry before they closed for New Years we rushed to the store. When I quizzed an employee about closing time, she said we never close. Well, except for Christmas Day. She said Wal Mart lets them go home at eight o'clock on Christmas Eve to spend some time with family, Christmas Day off then back to work at 7 am Dec. 26. How generous of Wal Mart. To which I say, what an outfit.

New Year's Eve now and I doubt we will see 2011 until tomorrow morning.

Happy New Year to all.

We finally made it to our home base in Fort Pierce. We layed up a couple of days in a place called Yulee, Fla. Sort of a need to gather our bearings. It didn't do much good as the bearings unwound upon our arrival here and attempting to park the Big Sky. We had an audience of about a half dozen well meaning experts ready to guide us in. Unfortunately I left my saw at home but one of the neighbours brought his along and we were able to trim some low palm tree  branches. They don't seem to want to give us an easy place to get into here but it is otherwise a great spot for the next couple of months. We are backed onto a green row of trees. I'll have to get the pics going soon.

Seems we have great neighbours. Lovely people from Ohio, another American couple, state as yet unknown, and a nice Quebec man.

Will update again soon.

Fourth Day

Long hard grind today. Sunny skies but very windy and several major traffic jams. Thought for a while there I was back in Toronto. Stop and go for miles and miles over nothing more than a fender bender on the other side of the road. Three times no less.

Overnighting in Orangeburgh, South Carolina.

Day 3

We got up bright and early hoping to beat the foot of snow predicted for our resting place last night. We made it far enough West so that all we had to contend with was the odd flurrie from the Western edge of the storm.

Now I'm sick as a dog, first cold in years. I've been whining and crying to solicit a bit of pity from Kathy but she thinks I am just a big baby. I've told her I'm pretty tough but she won't buy it. I'm in that hateful stage of achy bones and fever, I think I may feel better tomorrow.

Tomorrow we will head out and take I81 all the way down to I77 to avoid more of the storm that just won't quit. Saw too many pics on TV tonight of Southern drivers slipping and crashing into each other with just a bit of snow to manouver. They would be into the Big Sky for sure. So if I see much snow accumulation on the roads we will stay here in the Shenandoah Valley for an extra day. Why take the chance?

Gary and Marilyn, we're getting closer. Saw a Home Town today! Ate our first meal at Cracker Barrel today in a long time. Thinking/hoping to be in our first campground tomorrow night so we can get setup for the next 2 months.

Been thinking about going back to work in a couple of weeks. Really missing the guys. Ya right!

Day 2 on the road

Had a great driving day, Christmas Day. Thought about all the folks back home and glad it was a great day. Congrats to you Morgan!

Sleeping in a motel in Waterbury, Conn. Up early tomorrow to try to get West out of the big storm. Where we hope to get will receive maybe a couple of inches whereas here they expect a foot over Sunday and Monday. That would probably leave us here until Tuesday. After todays travel we are about 1/3 of the way to our final destination. Girls are holding up well. Only a few disagreements in the back bunkhouse.

Florida Trip 2010/11

First day out went very well. Left Bayswater at 7:30 am this Friday morning, Christmas Eve 2010. Very windy day which means the oil refineries were very happy with my travel plans. Then there was the snow and freezing rain thru the Cobequid Pass. Oh well, 600+ kms closer to the sunshine. The weather doesn't plan to get much better. Tomorrow should be a good day but a day or two of snow after that. We shall see.

Tonight it's Houlton Maine. Nice little motel on the edge of town, just a couple of kms inside the US. Very smooth border crossing.


We are thinking of our families tonight and wishing all a very happy day tomorrow. Glad you made it home Morgan!

It' hard to believe we have no obligations until March of next year. I know that somehow we will cope.

Until tomorrow.

Thomas Raddall Park

Another new experience, our first weekend at Thomas Raddall Provincial Park. What a great time. Our friends Ed and Liz joined us for a fabulous weekend of camping and walking the trails and beaches. We arrived Friday, late afternoon, as is our custom. Ed had arranged a rather unusual gift, my very own jackknife. He is never without his and suggested I should follow the same rule. Apparently I will discover a thousand and one uses for it now that I have it. I will carry it for a while to see how it works out. I did find it handy today to carve up a tick that had invaded my body.

After a good nights sleep we got up Saturday morning ready to hit the trails. My knee felt to be in good shape so out we went. The beaches are rugged in places, sandy and calm in others. Below we see Gabby retrieving a big stick from the depths of the Atlantic ocean. She was quite proud of herself.


















On Saturday Ed came up with another of his surprises, a jacknife for Kathy. A real beauty too and with the same instructions, to carry it at all times. Kathy seems to think she will use her knife a lot at work. Our beach walk ended just before the afternoon rain. This gave us the opportunity for a well deserved nap. By the time that was over we had another short beach walk before getting supper underway. The topper was a delicious strawberry shortcake that Kathy made with fresh Valley berries and real whipped cream. Yum.

Sunday Morning we headed out for our final walk of the weekend. We trudged thru the hardwoods ending up on the beach again where we saw seals and a mink in full retreat. I should mention the fresh bear poop we saw in the woods. That kept us on our toes for a while. Deer tracks too but no deer observed. The morning ended with a shared lunch with Ed and Liz followed by our goodbyes and departure from the park. We had a great time and look forward to returning to this wonderful place.

Rissers Beach

This was our spot at Rissers Beach the past weekend.








This is the view from our rear window. Pretty nice. The weather was great and the sand warm to the touch. I won't lie and tell you I went in the water. It was COLD!






Of course we had the girls for walks on the beach. Their first beach walk since those Florida days of January.







Unusual for a Pom but Gabby likes to wander right out into the water. She will even swim a bit for a stick.







This is my sister Wendy and her husband Lee. They joined us for supper on Saturday and then we all enjoyed a walk along the beach and then the boardwalk. We finished off the evening with a nice campfire on the beach.

First Camping Weekend of 2010

The first long weekend of the 2010 camping season saw us head out to try a new Provincial Park, Graves Island. Well, new to us. It is only 28 km from home and we've never camped here because it is so close. Joining us was my sister Wendy and her husband Lee, our good friends Ed and his wife Elizabeth. We had a great time with lots of good food and good times.

We didn't see anything special about the campground. We stayed in the new section over looking Mahone Bay in the background. It was a nice view but the campground itself looks more like a moonscape. Almost all the trees were cut down and it will be many years before the new ones take hold. I will most surely not be around to see the mature trees. Doubtful we will be in any hurry to return.

The weather was beautiful and sunny although too hot on our last day. The nice ocean breeze did it's job keeping the flies at bay.

Wendy and Lee have this fondness for morning campfires and over the years Kathy and I have picked up on this and enjoy the morning fires even more than the night fire. Kathy added to the tradition by having roasted hot dogs cooked to perfection over the fire. This has grown to be quite the custom and this weekend was no exception. I must say I try to limit myself to one or two at the most. I'm fat enough as it is. Ed and Liz have joined the parade and low and behold so didn't Gary Meade when he and Marilyn dropped by this morning.

It was great to get another camping season underway. Next up is Rissers Beach next weekend. I will promise to get some pics for the next report.

Busy weekend getting ready to start another camping season. We worked on cleaning the roof yesterday, a back breaking effort for two old koots like us. (Well, one of us is an old koot)

Kathy has started the inside and that won't be a lot of fun either. Returning from Florida we left a rear window open a crack and this resulted in a salt mist covering every nook and cranny in the rig. Oh what joy that is turning out to clean. We have the roof completed, and today I cleaned and organized the basement. We also got the water running. Turns out we did a good job winterizing as there are no broken pipes or leaks of any kind. Now I have to clean and wax the outside and finish the inside and we will be good to go. Who knows? We hope to have all the cleaning finished next weekend. Our first planned trip is to Graves Island for the long weekend in May. However, we usually make it out well before that, perhaps to Keji.

Well, we're home and these pics prove it. Kathy has her winter coat on.








That white stuff Lilly is standing on is not sand.








The shiny black truck is coated in salt, parked in snow and snow flakes are falling. Oh well, on a bright note only 327 days before we head out again, next time for 2 months. Yeah!

The final day on the drive back was uneventful. We covered the final725 kilometres in sunny but cold weather. We left the RV at Bluenose RV for repairs to the inverter/battery charger. It broke down on our second day out going South. There is some doubt as to the quality of my winterizing efforts which needs some attention. Hopefully not too much trouble there.

We had a great time and can't wait to do it again at the end of this year. This is it for the blog. There is a chance I would chronicle our camping adventures this summer but it would be more for our entertainment than anything else. I doubt too many would want to follow our boring weekends aboard the Big Sky. The blog will certainly be back for our next journey South in December. It has been a great way for our families to keep check on us while we are away.

Saturday proved to be a long day behind the wheel. 1118 kilometres for the day bringing us to Houlton, Maine. Drove through beautiful mountain country the past couple of days in Virginia, West Virginia and even PA and NY. Cold was the order of the day. Nothing Florida like about these temps. Tonight driving along northern Maine we have -21C. Now THAT is cold. When we set down for the night nothing would work on the Big Sky, not even the lights. Batteries may be cooked, or perhaps frozen is the operative word. Will have to see. Now, IF the truck will start in the morning we should be home for supper Sunday night. Diesels do not like cold starts and I can't get it plugged in so the morning should be interesting.

Travel report Friday January 29, 2010

Got up first thing this morning and winterized the Big Sky. Good thing too as the temperature never got to above freezing. Couldn't get the washer so had to stop at an RV place and get them to do it. Ended up near Scranton, PA for the night. Staying in a motel. Almost 800 kilometres distance for the day. Still 2 long days ahead. However no storms in the forecast. We managed to get ahead of the big storm coming from the South West and are now not too much North of it. Weather channel tonight said this could be one of the top 10 winter storms in North Carolina history. Glad we missed it. Tomorrow hope to get to NB but it is a long drive.

Got up this morning and spent a bit of time exploring Santee SP for a bit. It is a beautiful Park. The girls seemed to enjoy the break. They have a few stray cats wandering around the Park. Staff told us that some people who no longer want their pets drop them off at the Park and speed away leaving the poor things behind. Occasionally the SPCA is called in to collect them and take them away. One can only imagine.

After fueling up we were finally on the road by 10:00am. Not a good time if you expect to get far, which we did not. Stopped for lunch at the Cracker Barrel in North Carolina. Did about 500 kilometres today coming in to land at Emporia, just inside the Virginia State line along the I95. Staying the night at Yogi Bear's just off I95. Going to try to get at it early in the morning to attempt to beat the storm that is heading in our intended path along the Virginia mountains. We could be stuck there for a couple of days. It does not look good.

On Wednesday we made it to Santee South Carolina, and stayed at the Santee State Park. Good drive yesterday although it was in the wrong direction. We covered about 800 kilometres. It was much more fun traveling I95 South than North. Today we are going to try and get the rig winterized as we are heading for cold weather. Should end up the day in the Virginia mountains somewhere, hopefully North and East of Harrisonburgh.

We're spending our last full day in Florida lazin' around in the sun, walking the girls and thinking a lot about returning to the Great White North. Although we will be glad to be home, wouldn't it be best if it was in April or May? That's my thought. I will attempt to update the blog as we travel northward when I can pick up a WiFi connection here and there. So, we leave tomorrow morning, Wednesday, and expect to be back by Saturday or Sunday. We are taking a different route to get away from the big city traffic in the Boston to Washington corridor. At Richmond, Virginia we will head to the West and come North on I81 and cut back East at I84 before resuming on I95 North. The weather outlook is good right now and I hope it keeps looking that way.

The girls are at the door and ready to go for their walk!








After the walk it was back to Cracker Barrel. Yesterday Kathy had purchased an item and did not notice that the clerk had not removed the security tag. So we decided to have lunch there, again. They cater to RVer's by allowing them to park overnight in their parking lot while on the road. We will take advantage of that on our way back North.



Took this shot for Gary. He likes Corvettes.








Checked out another RV Resort on the way back. It is a very nice spot but have a 2 dog limit. That lets us out seeing as we are a 3 dog family.

Spent a bit of time with a couple of nice neighbours here at Road Runner and then back to watch a bit of football. Nice warm day, a bit of a passing shower but a bit too muggy.

Been a while since the girls have been on.

The last few days have been spent lazin' around getting lots of sun, a few shopping trips and lots of long walks with the girls. Today took a drive to West Palm Beach to have lunch with Gary and Marilyn Meade at the Cracker Barrel. Had a great time and said good bye to them until their return to Nova Scotia. The return to Winter weather is not far off and the blues have set in for sure. Oh well, a few days left which we must take full advantage of and get out and about in the summer (for us) weather.

A nice easy day, lots of sun time in our chairs, lots of time to gab and time to get in a bit of shopping for groceries. Also went to Big Al's for a bottle of fresh squeezed orange juice that Kathy has decided is superior to Tropicana. I'll see what I can do for a pic of Big Al's.





On this walk with the girls Lilly decided she wanted up on Mom's neck just the way she does while we are in the truck. That is a bad habit we are sorry we ever allowed to take hold.






On the way home we stopped in here, Kathy's favourite donut shop.

Decided that Monday would be a good day to head for Key West. This pic of Miami early in the morning. Problem is it wasn't early enough. We had a very "rushed" day due to not leaving early enough and traffic problems along the way.























Lunch was here, nice place for sure. People pull up in their boats, tie up and have a meal. I included a pic of the menu as I had never seen aliagator or dolphin on one before. Kathy and I stuck with the more traditional Yellow Tail Snapper.





Driving South thru the Keys is a beautiful site for sure. These pics could never do it justice.
























We did make it to Key West in time for the sunset over the Gulf of Mexico.

These chairs got quite a workout today in the 27 degree weather. When up and about I even managed to clean up the basement for the first time in about 3 years. Kathy attended to the inside and got her house looking pretty good.



That pretty red thing hanging above the dog pen (and part time clothes line) is a Wind Spinner. You wouldn't believe the drive we endured to obtain it, the crowds we fought off. In the store it worked perfectly and looked very pretty as it spun in the breeze of the fans blowing on it. It was impressive enough that we dropped $65 in the till and took it home with us. Now it takes gale force winds to barely have it swing back and forth let alone embark on it's, in store, colourful twirling action. Other than the money the most memorable thing I recall of that day was the skill of the saleman who sold us the Spinner.

After all this work Kathy suggested she was too tired to cook so we ended up at the Golden Corral again for another all you can eat buffet.

I'm looking at that boat way down at the end of the dock and thinking about John and Sherryl, my sister and her husband. I'm thinking of how good they would look out there sunning themselves while the staff prepared their meal in the Galley. And what better place to dock than right here at The Pelican Yacht Club in Fort Pierce, Florida. Come Spring you could always set sail for Deep Cove. What do you think Sher, should I reserve your spot?




















A few more shots of the Yacht Club on this warm and breezy Florida day.







Down to the beach where the fishing boats where coming and going with their usual followers of dolphins.







We spent a lot of time today either in our chairs soaking up the warmth, walking the beach or watching people fish. They seemed to be hauling in mostly small cat fish today. Stopped in at Publix for a few groceries on the way home. Kathy tried her best to get in a bit of shopping/browsing at Bells but informs me that she misses her sisters and her real shopping friends, other women who know how to relax and shop. Apparently I'm not a good shopping mate.