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Our Awesome Travels

Our Awesome Travels
Taken In Quartzsite Arizona Dec 7th 2015

Friday, September 30, 2016

Moving the park model home, trip to Stratford, computer issue resolved and a nice fall day.

Where are we today?
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           This is fall weather but really not too bad yet. Overcast and rainy a bit and not too cold. Hey that's wonderful, So I need a light jacket and long pants, we can do that.
           My first walkabout noticed the truck coming into the park at 7:35 am gonna take Bob and Mary's  park model trailer out today. They took the Florida room yesterday. So I wandered over to check out the process. It was ready to go. Back the truck in hook up the trailer and away they went. A 12 ft by 40 ft  park model and they passed through the gate at 8 am ! 25 minutes they are not going too far about an hour and will probably have it set up today too.
Hooking up the trailer
off the lot
around the corner 
just enough room
and out the gate
a nice light rainbow for the departure
         Suzie has a doctor's appointment in Stratford for 11:30 this morning so we packed a lunch and headed on out. Only an hours drive through the back country roads. Dropped her off and I headed over to the Staples in town to pick up an external DVD burner for my Mac, $50 bucks. The internal one is giving me issues. This is a simple fix and less expensive than a repair, plus Suzie can use it on her PC as well. I have a lot of years of photos that I want to back up on disk. While at Staples ran into Brian and his wife from Rock Glen (small world), Chatted with them for a bit, picked up Suzie at noon and we enjoyed our lunch and shared an order of fries from Mc D's. (her  request).
       On the drive home a local farmer had pumpkins for sale, So we stopped in and picked up 7 small ones for our Grands to carve if they like next weekend for our Canadian Thanksgiving. (Yup we have 7 grands now!)
lots to choose from
we have enough now
             Home before 2pm and  checked out the new DVD burner and works wonderful. I will put it to work even more over the next few days. Want to burn a few hundred thousand photos to disc before purging from my hard drive. They are already on my back up drive, but ya k now that can fail too.
           Then Gerry and Tucker stopped by  (doggie fix for Suzie) then Joe and Choco dropped in too, so we had a nice Happy 1/2 hour  but by then it was getting chilly.
Tucker got a treat
Joe, Choco and Tucker
         So inside to prep our salad.  Fire up our Weber Q to grill a couple turkey garlic sausage that we love, so lean and healthy and do get our garlic sausage fix too. 
really love these Turkey Garlic sausage
Sure was tasty and healthy too
          That was it for another productive day, enjoying the good life and wrapping up things before our southern migration. To chilly and damp to sit out after supper, so inside for the night. Read a bit and maybe a tv show/movie before hitting the sack.
          Glad that y'all stopped by and hope you had a wonderful day as well.
Where we have been this summer

Thursday, September 29, 2016

Checking our a few things, and computer backups, great stuff for a rainy fall day.

Where are we today?
Rock Glen resort, Arkona On.
Clic on a pic to enlarge it
             Hey it rained mostly all night and quite a bit today as well. But we had stuff to do. First thing a work crew came in to move a trailer that was sold. Bob and Mary's. Someone bought the trailer and are moving it somewhere else. We were here when it came in 6 years ago, and Mary was so excited. But  now as age takes its toll time for them to move on, A new owner for their wonderful home. They are still in good health, just time for a change.
their park model getting ready to go
The company doing it are pros. Today they are taking the Florida room and getting the trailer ready to go tomorrow. It is 12 ft wide and 40 ft long.
love the machines they have
trailer raised and tire pressure pumped up
there goes the Florida room
         In between the rain drops I managed to spend a couple hours re arranging one compartment and checking again for a possible water leak. The only place it could be and not there. ?? Think it happens when we fill our fresh water tank full for dry camping, maybe fill it less from now on and see how it goes.
        Then I worked on my Macbook Pro retrieving some photo files and burning to DVD's. It is a slow process but we do have the time.
         Soon time to whip up super, tonight a couple haddock filets pan fried in olive oil with fish crisp to add to our salad. Sure was very tasty.
yum
   The fall weather is here but at least not too cold yet, and even got a lot of outside things done between rain drops. Soon we be on the road again!
         Thanks for taking the time to stop by.

Where we have been this summer

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Another day of wonderful warm fall weather just getting ready to hit the road in a few weeks.

Where are we today ?
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       Another wonderful fall day here. A but chilly for a while though sunny most of the day and felt like puttering around outside. Got some nice walkabouts this morning and picked up some Pickerel at the reservation in Kettle point, sure do love pickerel when we can get it. And some cheap gas for our car .91 cents a litre ($3.44 cdn / gal, $2.02 US dollars) compared to .97 cents, took 40 litres so was a nice savings.
       After lunch of a very tasty Beef Barley homemade soup from our friends Paul and Judy(thanks guys), I flushed our fresh water tank after sanitizing, lubed all of our compartment doors, hinges and locks, checked and topped up our house batteries, touched up a bit of paint and even had time to get some quality reading time done outside. Was a wonderful day in the mid 70's and mostly sunshine, very nice...
Suzie doing what she enjoys
while I putter, too cool for her in the
shade so she bundles up a bit
        Then about 3:30 I fired up our Weber Q and prepped the chicken, turn to low close the lid for an hour or so, and I can read some more. It is a tough life ya know !
Chicken on sale so just had to do another
       We do love chicken, leftovers for lunch time salads etc, and of course more chicken soup in the near future, got to get some mileage from our $5.00 chicken 3-4 meals at least.
sure hit the spot tonight
     Then after supper enjoyed a nice mild evening, blogging and reading outside until about 7:45 then time to head in, getting chilly.  It gets cooler sooner every day. Cane is just in time the rain began at  8pm and pouring down pretty good right now. Love the sound of rain on our roof.
      And glad that y'all dropped by for a peek.

 When we head south
Check out the interactive map below to see where we have been this summer

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Nice fall day, helped our friend with his Rv and he helped me with my Mac, a win, win situation.

Where are we today ?
Clic on a pic to enlarge it
       Today just more fall weather that we can enjoy. Up nice and early about 5 am (don't want to miss any of the day!) Suzie shortly after. Got some breaky done and a few mugs of coffee consumed, computing done and walkabouts as the sun was rising. Love this time of the day.
       After fooling with my Mac for a while, Suzie and I went to visit with Gerry. Helping him set up his itinerary for the winter and some spreadsheets etc. (Suzie is a spreadsheet wizard). And he gave me some advice for deleting photos and stuff (he is a computer guy). Hey worked wonderful I now have 1/2  of my 500gb hard drive back so should be good for a while again.
       Then home to putter around a bit. Suzie would like some carrot cakes. So I had bought a mix (not homemade)sorry!  But is a very good one and these small cakes will last us a couple months in the freezer.
8 small carrot cakes so yummy
this what I used, carrots and raisins included
            Melinda dropped by thus afternoon for a short visit and Tucker came in for a Suzie fix. Works for the 2 of them. Not sure who likes it more Suzie or Tucker ?
Doggie fix anyway
            We did get some nice reading time done in the afternoon sunshine, quite comfortable and relaxing. Temps got to 70f and felt great in the sun.
         Then as usual gonna whip up supper. I had thawed a couple boneless, skinless chicken breasts out. And pounded them flat with my meat mallet (tenderizer) and they ended up very large. So the plan was to spice them up and grill on our Grill Mat and split one for supper on an English muffin and of course our salad on the side. The other breast to add to our lunches. for a couple days.
share one for supper and the other for lunches
        Our healthy salad with fresh strawberries, grapes and Cantaloupe sure did the trick tonight.
That is 1/2 of a chicken breast
and our salad
            Just another wonderful fall day, putting in time until we can cross  the border and head south, Where to? The southwest. What route will we take? remains to be seen, depends on the weather as we travel. No plans like usual just kinda wing it the way we like to travel.
             We still outside and getting close to 9 pm  and colder, soon time to head inside for the night. These days  are getting shorter everyday.
            Thanks for stopping in and really hope you had a wonderful day, wherever you are.
When we head south
Check out the interactive map below to see where we have been this summer

Monday, September 26, 2016

Overcast and drizzly, good day for a slow cooker meal.

Where are we today ? 
Clic on a pic to enlarge it
        Lotsa rain overnight then on and off most of the day, just like the weather gods predicted. So we had planned a meal in our slow cooker today. And it is a venison stew. We were gifted some venison (bambi) from our good friends at Galvin Bay on our last day there. Pat and Norm. She supplied us with her recipe and even the ingredients. What a fantastic woman Pat is and a supper couple we have known them for over 10 years.
        I got this going by  9 am in the slow cooker on low all day long.  For the recipe click HERE or my recipe blog top right sidebar.      
      While this was happening I played with my Mac Book pro trying to free up hard drive space for most of the rest of the day. Was overcast, cool and drizzly anyway so a good day for it. I made some progress but not enough. Back to the drawing board another day.
       Then about 3:30 the sun came out. Perfect time to get away from my computer and head outside to enjoy some afternoon sunshine and fresh air.
we enjoyed some great fall weather
        A bit later Melinda and Gerry stopped by for a quick enjoyable "Happy Hour" just to give Suzie her doggie fix.
Tucker looking for a treat
Thanks Suzie
          We discussed the work Gerry has been doing to prep their trailer for this winter's travels and shared more stories. Then it cooled down quickly so time for our supper and they head home for theirs as well.
Tucker Look at George!
      This Venison stew was amazing so tender and tasty. Hope we can get some more in the future. If we can as I am not a hunter.
oh so good and leftovers as usual
         Actually not a bad fall day, just mostly drizzly and not too cold, we can deal with that, just not shorts and t-shirt weather right now. Maybe again soon, I can always hope.
        Glad you dropped by and hope your fall day was a good one too.

 When we head south
Check out the interactive map below to see where we have been this summer

Sunday, September 25, 2016

Day trip to Bayfield and Volkfest on a wonderful warm sunny fall day.

Where are we today ? 
Clic on a pic to enlarge it
       Hey it was cool again last night 52f, but did eventually warm up, by noon in the mid 70's f and that is just fine with the sunshine. Got the usual walkabouts for a couple miles after breaky then an early light lunch.
        Our plan today was to head up hwy 21 to Bayfield for the Volkfest today if the weather was good , and it was wonderful. Thanks to Rob from the park for posting on Facebook that we knew about it. We did not leave until 11 am just only an hours drive drive and did not start until noon anyway. And no we did not stop by to visit the Bayfield Bunch. even though they live just up the road. It was a last minute decision and don't like to just drop in on people even though we have met them a few times before.
       Perfect weather and next to no traffic. The summer season has ended with all the crowds here.
this was worth going to
       Arriving about noon after a nice country drive for about an hour. Losta Volkswagon vintage vehicles there on Clan Gregor Square. Think maybe a couple hundred. And mostly the old campers that VW made way back when.
Rob was one of the first we saw, with his
custom dune buggy
VW Thing, always wanted one of those
love the tilt windshield
Carmen Ghia, wanted one of those too 
nice old Porcshe
     I had 4 VW bugs over the years 1959, 1960, 1973 and a 1974 for parts to fix my 1973. My 1973 was my main car for about 3 years, in the early '80's. Very cold in the winter even with the gas heater. I blew the engine and bought the 1974 for spare parts and a good engine that I installed in my '73 Super Beetle. These were so easy to work on an engine swap by myself only about one hour. Then I saw this one below for Sale! 1973 Super Beetle would make a wonderful towed, but then Suzie kept me in line and said no :<(. Oh well I can dream right?
mine was baby Blue
      Lots of vendors there with food and stuff. And really not crowded at all so nice to wander about under the shade trees.
      This booth below offered FREE t shirts and everything you needed right here to make your own Tie dyed t shirts. Thought about it but then again, do we really need one? Hmm..
Tie dye shirts drying
        We saw all the cars and I enjoyed it more than Suzie. So being such a wonderful warm fall day we strolled Bayfield's main street. Yup it is a touristy area, Bistros, Cafe's, Pubs, high end clothing stores, expensive restaurants and artsy fartsy stuff. Not for us but a nice stroll anyway enjoying the fresh air and people watching. No crowds here either made it really nice as well.
this young fellow cruised around the block a few times
    Then we cruised down by the harbour and the beach. Some pretty fancy yachts and sailboats here to look at, impressive !
these guys just heading out
The beach is quiet but 4 people in swimming!
        After a couple hours here headed back to camp, picked up a few groceries in Grand Bend and home to enjoy the rest of the afternoon. Read outside for a while then whip up super.
        Tonight a couple smoked pork chops to add to our salad, Cantaloupe, strawberries and grapes for a very tasty meal.
smoked chops on the Q about 3-4 minutes a side
so moist and tender
      After supper enjoyed some cooler outside weather, dressed accordingly, chat with a couple neighbors, reading and blogging until 8 pm, getting kinda cool so time to head inside.
       Glad that y'all dropped by for a visit and hope you had a great day too.

 When we head south
Check out the interactive map below to see where we have been this summer