Saturday 6th April
The tire pressure monitoring system alarmed in the night with a low tire so we headed back to Good Year first thing. They couldn’t find anything wrong with the tire so maybe the monitor wasn’t on properly.
After breakfast at Crackers,the Indiantown breakfast institution, we headed back to the marina to say goodbye to Lawrence and then we headed to the veterinary hospital in Hobe sound for Buddy’s appointment.
After Buddy’s shots we dropped him off at Country Club Kennels and headed down to Century Village, West Palm Beach to Ira and Ann’s.
Movie of the day should have been ‘To Rome With Love’ but since half of it was in Italian and we didn’t have English subtitles in our copy, we gave up on that and then tried to watch ‘The Master’. After an hour of that we all agreed that it was just too boring.
Sunday 7th April
Hanging out and going to a birthday party for one of the other residents.
Mad Men two hour premier for entertainment.
Monday 8th April
Food shopping for the ladies while Ira and I did computer stuff.
We actually watched the rest of The Master but I don’t really recall it.
Tuesday 9th April
To the Honda dealer for Ira and Ann to get their car serviced and then a Costco run.
Wednesday 10th April
An early start to pickup Buddy and head to Titusville and Manatee Hammock Campground.
Thursday 11th April
Last summer in the Gaspe we met Phil and Barb Young in a campground. They used to be cruisers and now do a lot of RVing so we had lots to talk about. They asked us to drop by on our way down south in the fall but hurricane Sandy put a stop to that. However, they asked us to visit them on the way back. So Beaufort, South Carolina was our next stop.
They have a beautiful house that has had serious renovations, a lot of it done by Phil even though he’s in his late seventies.
They gave us a great welcome, fed us vegetarian and we watched our first episode on Netflix of the US version of the TV series House of Cards.
Friday 12th April
We got a tour of the area which is a multitude of islands separated by tidal waterways.
Hunting Island has a wellknown campsite and beautiful beach but we were only on it for about 5 minutes – too cold.
On the way home we picked up some local shrimp and oysters that Phil proceded to shuck when we got back. He bought clusters of them
which were really hard to shuck (in the rain too) but they were an excellent appetizer with beer.
Saturday 13th April
Played with Phil’s Boxee Meida player trying to play stuff from his computer, with poor results, Pity there wasn’t more time I would have made it work.
We visited the local Farmers’ Market and wandered round that.
That’s Phil and Barb standing next to Carol.
Here’s a rare pic of us together with the Budster.
After that we headed into downtown historic Beaufort which is when we remembered actually anchoring there and visiting the old antebellum town in a vain search for small propane bottles on our trip down south from Canada.
I sat on the waterfront resting my knee and watching the water traffic come and go through the swing bridge.
There seemed to be a surfeit of Beneteaus.
Sunday 14th April
Time to move on to North Carolina and the Carolina Crossroads RV park which has become a staple of our travels north and south.
Monday 15th April
Next stop free camping in the Camping World car park in Middleborough, New Jersey after passing round the horror that is the Washington/Baltimore area.
Tuesday 16th April
Thanks to Garmin we made a serious blunder approaching New York City and ended up crossing the George Washington Bridge which, apart from dumping us into horrendous NYC traffic, cost us $19+ in tolls.
We did get to Pierre & Ann's in Connecticut by late afternoon anyway.
Wednesday 17th April
A day inside with internet and cats. We did all go out for supper in the town.
Thursday 18th April
Bye to Pierre and Ann and then not far to Greenfields, Massachusetts and Chris and Divya.
Close by is one of those movie theatres that never got converted to Dolby Surround, stadium seated giant screen cinema and have very reasonable prices. No sooner than lunch was finished, we were off to watch ‘Oz, The Great and Powerful’ – whole lot of nonsensical fun.
Supper was at the Hope and Olive restaurant for some of those fried Brussel sprouts.
Friday 19th April
As a backdrop to our visit, the pursuit of the Boston Marathon bombers is all over the news. At this point they have identified them, one has been killed and the other got away.
Chris has/had a serious musical instrument collection with keyboards, guitars, amplifiers etc. I got out my Strat from the RV and we jammed for a while.
In the evening Chris and I watched a Netflix movie: Tessla – a rather oddly made movie about the life and times of the famous scientist, educational more than entertaining. The ladies declined and went to bed early.
Saturday 19th April
While the ladies went for a walk, Chris and I took a bike ride to Turner’s Falls alongside the canal that bypasses the Connecticut River.
Movie of the Day: Hyde Park on the Hudson – very good!
Sunday 21st April
Did a different bike ride with Chris across the Connecticut River
Very fast flowing and turgid.
At one time this must have been a very industrial area with old factories lining the canal. However, the locals do all sorts of things to cheer things up.
Reflective metal squares that pivot in the wind.
The plan that night was to go to The Magpie restaurant for pizza but before going Chris asked me an odd question, namely what was the time difference between the US East Coast and the UK? He seemed relieved that it was as much as five hours.
The pizza was really good and the restaurant a very pleasant place and then after finishing the pizza suddenly the waiter appeared with cake and candles and the whole restaurant ended up singing happy birthday to .... me!
Chris had figured out that of course by 7 o’clock at night it would be the next day in the UK and therefore my birthday. It was somewhat embarrassing to have thirty odd strangers singing happy birthday but enjoyable none the less.
Back at the house we watched ‘Hitchcock’ – Split decision between Carol and me on that one but I thought it was really good.
Monday 22nd April
Chris went off to the dentist while I called Cheryl in Montreal to set me up with an appointment with one, while the ladies played Scrabble.
When Chris returned he helped me fix the wire to my computer power supply that had been bitten right through by one of Pierre’s cats.
Mid-day and it was time to go to get to a New York campsite in reasonable time.
We made it to Lake George Campsite in Queensbury, New York. A must stop for the future as it stays open pretty much all year and takes Passport America.
Tuesday 23rd April
Five hours to make it through the border and get to Ken and Cheryl’s in Montreal.
I got my dental appointment and some drugs but further work required.
Wednesday 24th April
A morning making appointments in Ottawa for doctor and dentist, shopping for Carol and supper with the addition of daughter Jessica, husband Mike and son Hunter.
Thursday 26th April
We’re on our way again to Ottawa. After Carol visiting her doctor about her back (which is still causing lots of pain) and picking some wine we headed out to Richard Hayward’s place.
He made a fabulous supper that he refers to as fish hotpot: in a chafing dish, a layer of haddock, then a layer of leeks, then a layer of onion topped with a layer of sliced potatoes. Bake the whole thing for some length of time and the result is wonderful.
Friday 26th April
My aching tooth is now loose – there goes another one. On the bright side I’ve found that Advil is a really effective tooth pain medication.
Richard and I went swimming at the Carleton Place Pool then back to the house to sit in front of the fire – the weather is hideous.
A trip to the dentist and I get the information I already suspected, that the tooth has to come out but he doesn’t want to do it on a Friday in case there are complications. So I must go through the weekend with it.
In the evening Buddy seems very listless.
Saturday 27th April
Buddy is not well at all so we decide to take him to the emergency Ottawa Vetinary Hospital where, for not a small fee, he is tested for everything under the sun only to find there’s nothing wrong with him and he’s already perking up.
While Carol stays at the vet’s, Richard gave me a ride to pick up the Subaru so now we have wheels.
Back to the house for communal Sudoku.
Movie of the day: Star Trek Nemesis – can’t actually remember anything about it.
Sunday 28th April
Buddy seems to be fully recovered from whatever was ailing him and again it looks like he’ll be with us a while longer.
Richard put on breakfast for us, his very pregnant daughter, son-in-law, grandson and friend Nancy.
Pottered around fixing a few things.
Monday 29th April
Dental appointment scheduled for Wednesday – good job I’m not in agony.
Breakfast at Royal’s in Richmond before another swim in Carleton Place.
A trip to see the doctor about my knee yields the info that the surgeon who did my other knee has moved to Parry Sound on Georgian Bay!
Movie of the day: Into the Blue – A British TV rendition of the Robert Goddard book of the same name. The author was not pleased, we’re not surprised.
Tuesday 30th April
Hanging round Richard’s place all day followed by fish hotpot again with guests Mike and Janet Simms.
We got quite silly with our smartphones.
Wednesday 1st May
We packed up to move on and I drove to Carleton Place to fill with propane then down to the Ottawa Municipal Campsite to be joined by Carol in the Subaru.
In the afternoon I went for my extraction whichwas, in spite of the freezing, very painful due to the tooth having three roots – I think he only anesthetized two!
Thursday 2nd May
The first of many trips with Carol to the Back Institute which is conveniently located on the other side of the city!
Friday 3rd May
After stocking up with wine at the Wine Garden it was off to Jumbo Video to avail ourselves of their unlimited movie rentals for $10/month.
Saturday 4th May
When we had supper with Mike and Janet, I discussed phone rooting with Mike. Rooting is where you gain access to the operating system on the phone so you can remove unwanted apps that get put on there by providers like AT&T (in our case). Mike had done his own so I thought I’d give it a try.
Sunday 5th May
First attempt at rooting was not that successful, I just succeeded in wiping all the apps out that I’d loaded.
In the evening we went into Ottawa with Richard and Nancy to see Stephen Fearing and Erin Costello. The Gladstone Theatre is a great locale and we sat on the second row in the middle – terrific concert.
I caught this pic of Mr. Fearing having a fag outside at half-time.
Monday 6th May
Great weather at the moment.
Found a web-site that promised rooting success for a small fee. It wasn’t that straightforward but it worked and I ‘rooted out’ all those pesky AT&T apps. It was well worth it as the phone wi-fi which had given me all sorts of problems proceeded to work perfectly henceforth.
Tuesday 7th May
Richard came over for lunch and dropped off our mail. I went to talk to the dentist about a bridge but I have to wait for that.
Wednesday 8th May
Up at five for a trip to the general Hospital for Carol to have an MRI.
Breakfast at A&W – much cheaper but just as good as an Egg McMuffin.
While Carol had a physio appointment, I got the phone transferred to my Bell account and although I’d been told it would cost, they did it for free.
Thursday 9th May
To the St. Laurent cheapo movie theatre to see ‘Quartet’ – maybe you have to be over 65 to really appreciate it, but we thoroughly enjoyed it.
Friday 10th May
The weather has changed, it’s now overcast and cold.
Carol went to physio while I hung-around the RV.
Saturday 11th May
There was a lot of rain in night but it cleared up for a trip out to Franktown Post Office to pick up Carol’s jacket, mailed from Massachusetts and do some shopping.
Sunday 12th May
A trip to the other side of the river to visit the SAQ warehouse that promises cheap wine. Turned out to be not that great a deal but we did get a reasonable box of Californian Shiraz.
Monday 13th May
Cold and miserable weather. Hanging round the RV and the office.
Tuesday 14th May
Not much warmer.
Wednesday 15th May
A trip to the east end and Carol’s physio and a Costco run – life is good.
Thursday 16th May
A trip to Cooley’s Auto Repair and a $1000 front end diagnosis.
Hairdresser for Carol.
Friday 17th May
We started a busy day with a full black tank necessitating a rushed trip to the dump station.
After that it was off to get Buddy clipped at PetSmart,
Then off to the east end for Carol’s physio. West end for lunch and rent some videos, pickup Buddy, gas up and head for Montreal.
We’re at Ken and Cheryl’s as part of our training for when we look after their house in a month’s time.
Saturday 18th May
It’s out to the Allegria restaurant to celebrate Ken’s Birthday.
Sunday 19th May
Sunday is Fogel family barbeque day.
We ended with a movie: ‘John Dies in the End’ – let’s just say it was a disappointment for those who actually wanted to watch it.
Monday (Victoria Day) 20th May
Ken has reserved seats in the downtown IMAX theatre to see Star Trek Into Darkness in 3D – Nonsensical but very entertaining.
Dinner out at our favourite Montreal pizza place – how can you resist a pizza with snails on it?
Tuesday 21st May
Getting out of Montreal proved rather difficult but we still made it to Carol’s physio appointment in Ottawa just a few minutes late.
Wednesday 22nd May
Back to our Ottawa life with shopping and Internet at the park office.
Thursday 23rd May
Carol to physio while I hang in the RV.
When we arrived at the park there were no leaves on the trees, now our spot is quite green.
Friday 24th may
Cold and raining. That early nice weather has certainly gone.
We have an invite to Ruth and Keith’s place with takeout fish and chips from what used to be Joey’s.
Saturday 25th May
We’ve often thought that a 5th wheel would make more sense for our lifestyle than The Big Easy – more room and a vehicle always available wherever we are. So our intent has been to buy one at some point in the future and the truck to go with it of course.
Nancy & Doug who work for the park living there in their fifth wheel on a site near the office. They’ve decided that their mobile lifestyle must come to an end so they are selling both their truck and trailer. We’ve had an invite to suss it out so we did just that.
We are both severely impressed by the layout and the overall room. They don’t want to sell until the fall which would fit in with our current plans.
We were to go and watch Galena’s yearly pupil piano recital but Carol is s not feeling well so we pass.
Sunday 26th May
Every year there is a native Canadian pow wow on the park grounds involving large crowds and lots of drumming. It’s still going on since Friday.
Monday 27th May
Into Cooley’s early to get the tie-rod ends replaces on the Sube. They suggested putting Lucas additive into the power steering fluid to fix the problem – better than $600 for sure.
Tuesday 28th May
Returned our tire pressure monitoring system receiver which unaccountably started behaving badly.
Wednesday 29th May
Time for us to leave. Carol heads off to see her physio and do a few things while I take the RV to the dump station and then head over to Prospect.
Thursday 30th May
The weather has turned sunny and warm – finally.
Richard was away most of the day while we hung around the RV and gave it a wash.
I felt a cold coming on and tried oil of oregano.
Friday 31st May
After Carol went for a blood test we set off to visit Sandy and Ellen on Fifth Depot Lake - in a car.
My cold was in full “runny nose” phase but I kept on with the oil of oregano.
While looking out on the lake I remembered how lovely it is to wake up to the view.
They fed us a lunch of homemade bread and hummus washed down with Gazela Portuguese wine.
While the ladies played cars, Sandy and I strolled round the property to view his new solar panel location which he must have spent a lot of time digging a trench for the wiring.
On the way back we found one of what Sandy says are many turtles and their ‘nests’.
We finished our day with supper in the cabin above the beach. Carol has us back to Richard’s by midnight.
Saturday 1st June
Day two of the cold and still on with the oil of oregano.
We have tickets for a concert in Burnstown near Calobogie. Richard drove us out there and we had supper there first. It’s a great place to see musicians – intimate (maybe 50 people max) and the food is OK too. ‘Scarlett Jane’ was OK but we weren’t wowed.
However, they have quite a few good upcoming shows and Carol went ahead and bought tickets to see Martha Wainwright and Harry Manx (on two separate nights) later on this October. Should be great in such a small venue.
Sunday 2nd June
Nose much less runny, still more oil.
The weather is humid and warm.
As the day wears on I feel even better.
Richard and I tried marinating mahi-mahi with Tikka sauce – it was not a success.
Monday 3rd June
Cold appears to be gone – oil of oregano?
Doug and Nancy, owners of the RV we looked at, had advised us to look around before making any decisions so we could make a more informed choice.
It was cold and rainy so we went to Primo trailer sales where I seem to be able to get most of our RV stuff that can’t be got at Canadian Tire.
However, there’s nothing that we like.
While Carol went to physio I checked out Factory Direct for the first time and discovered that whatever it says on the web-site about a particular store’s inventory is total and pure fiction.
After that learning experience we went south of the city for Carol’s pole walking sticks and then back to Richard’s.
Tuesday 4th June
We’d been driving past an RV place in Richmond for many years so we thought we’d go in and look at what they had to offer.
They had several fifth wheelers that were interesting but only one that met my criteria. The first thing we noticed is that the newer ones were very dark inside as result of dark wood and dark wall coverings. Very gothic. When we suggested this was little strange the sales guy seemed to agree with us but since all the manufacturers are doing it, it must be what people want.
We went back to Richard’s to surf for RVs.
Wednesday 5th June
For our stint in Montreal we decided not to take the RV with us which meant leaving it somewhere. The natural choice is always Echo Farm Storage in North Gower across from where we used to live.
Another decision made was to give Richard the Miata. He has always coveted it but couldn’t see himself buying it. Since we would always be able to borrow it we would have all the advantages except the cost of insuring, fixing it and storing it.
So we did a vehicle shuffle where I drove the Subaru to North Gower, picked up the Miata and drove it back to Richard’s, loaded up our stuff, Carol and Buddy and drove to North Gower to pick up the Subaru and then over to Claudia’s to stay for a few days.
Thursday 6th June
After Carol visited her physio we went to North Gower to get some things we’d left in the RV.
We headed to Kanata to see Iron Man 3 but since somebody got the time wrong we were too late to see it that day.
We watched a movie anyway: A Late Quartet – very good!
Friday 7th June
To the RV yet again, over to the Wine Garden for wine and then to the Ottawa Campground to take another look at Doug and Nancy’s RV and test drive the truck. For a thirteen year-old truck I was mighty impressed.
This afternoon we did make it to Iron Man 3 this time.
.
We watched another movie at night: Searching for Tony Blair (British made-for-TV movie) – bizarre!
Saturday 8th June
Went over to MyRV in Richmond to take another look at the RV I liked.
After that we drove to Richard’s to collect a few forgotten things and give him back his frying pan we’d taken in error.
After much discussion we decided to make an offer on the RV and called them up – no immediate answer.
We drove back to Richmond and while having a Timmy’s we got a call with an acceptable counter offer. So we sealed the deal. We have a new (to us at least) home
– should be easy to find a truck to pull it, they’re everywhere, right?
Sunday 9th June
Looking for trucks on the Internet – no luck.
Movie of the day: Looper – maybe not as good as expected.
Monday 10th June
The decision is to put the old RV in storage until September when we’ll put it up for sale. So we drove it from North Gower to Manotick to dump the tanks.
Back at Echo Farm; we cleaned out the fridge and turned it off.
We spent the afternoon looking for trucks on the Internet.
Tuesday 11th June
In the morning I called every Ford dealer in Ottawa looking for a truck. No truck but I learned something very important though. We didn’t need just any old truck, we needed a big one and diesel too – F250 diesel or better. Apparently the RV we have bought is not regarded as a small one.
Wednesday 12th June
More truck searching. A local Ford dealer has found one in Alberta if we’re willing to bay $2K to have it shipped to Ottawa – thanks, but no thanks.
Movie of the day: The Deep Blue Sea – very much a downer.
Thursday 13th June
To the RV for last minute stuff and picked up pizza from North Gower Pizza, which we used to consider one of the best there is. However, it isn’t so much anymore.
Movie of the day: Promised Land – Maybe a little to earnest.
Friday 14th June
To Montreal in the car to be ready for our month of housesitting.
Ken had already booked tickets for Superman in 3D at the downtown Imax theatre. Carol and I both thought it went on waaaaay too long.
Saturday 15th June
Found a truck in Mascouche, north of Montreal and drove up to see it only to find the boss had driven it home for the weekend.
In the evening it was one more trip to the Allegria restaurant (for the last time as it turns out since they are no longer in business) to celebrate Jessica’s mother-in-law Carla's birthday.
Sunday 16th June
Last Sunday family meal for Ken and Cheryl before their trip.
Monday 17th June
Drove to Mascouche again and test drove the truck. Seems OK to me but what do I know about trucks. We put down a deposit to buy pending an inspection by the Automobile Protection Association.
Ken and Cheryl left for airport but then I got a call asking me to take the hats they’d bought specially for the trip, to the airport.
We arranged for the truck to be tested the next day.
Tuesday 18th June
To Mascouche again for the APA test.
Did we dodge a major bullet!
There was diesel fuel in the oil and in the water, practically every joint was leaking, the vehicle showed signs of being underwater and there was low end knock. The mileage (which didn’t even correspond to their ad.)was not reflected in the wear on things like the brake pedal. Basically, stay away at any price.
So the search continues but the APA guy did give us a couple of leads.
Wednesday 19th June
Clearly we’re going to have to pay a lot more for the truck than we expected so we were willing to take a look at a truck at a north end Ford dealer.
Thursday 20th June
Hanging out in house.
Friday 21st June
Started an exercise regime with the ski machine, treadmill and stationary bicycle.
A trip to the West Island and Costco.
Saturday 22nd June
Another day hanging around and making fries with their T-Fal Actifry – awesome!
Sunday 23rd June
The weather finally clears from rainy and miserable. Another day spent on the Internet looking at truck stuff.
Monday (John Baptiste day in Quebec) 24th June
Ira and Ann arrived for a short stay.
Ira and I do some trailer load calculations and determine that we really do need a big diesel truck.
We’re big fans of Lee Child so we were anxious to watch Jack Reacher, the movie. Tom carried it off pretty well.
Tuesday 25th June
At Decarie Square, not far away, is the Dollar Cinema which was showing another Tom Cruise movie, Oblivion. 20 tickets for $20, how can you lose but you don’t get state of the art sound or anything but where else can you peek into the projection room on the way to the washroom.
The movie was a bit of a disappointment.
Second movie of the day: State of play – based on the Brit TV series which we’re in the middle of watching. Split decision on that one, though I agree Russell Crowe was not the right guy.
Wednesday 26th June
Ira and Ann left early to find a parking spot near their apartment.
Started the pantomime of changing our phone plan from postpaid to prepaid with Bell.
Drove to Circuit Ford to test-drive the truck and made a tentative deal based on a good inspection report from the APA. They were so confident, they offered to put right everything the APA found wrong.
It’s a big truck.
Thursday 27th
Found out that the APA guy has gone on vacation, so our whole truck deal is in suspension.
Friday 28th June
It’s back from stinkin’ ‘ot to cold and rainy.
Saturday 29th June
Another day in suburbia, on the Internet etc.
Sunday 30th June
Mowed the lawn – the things you have to do when you have house.
Took a trip out to Loblaw’s then the Punjab food store for some Indian munchies.
On the way back we stopped at Jessica and Mike’s to pick up some fresh veggies from some family connection’s farm.
Monday 1st July
Weed whacking – it never ends.
Tuesday 2nd July
Dealing with the incredibly incompetent Bell Mobility. Boy do these guys need some real competition.
Trouble with using Ken’s PS3 media player. Nothing beats a regular computer directly attached to TV.
Wednesday 3rd July
More messing with media streaming.
Thursday 4th July
Carol does much better at talking with Bell; she seems to have more patience. I can’t get past the fact that you have to spend hours on the phone with them to fix their screw-ups.
After an early supper we headed for Angrignon metro station where Google Maps indicated a huge parking lot. What Google Maps didn’t show of course was the $8 parking fee! However, we were committed time wise, so we paid up and took the Metro to Place Des Arts for a double bill of Lyle Lovett and Chris Isaak.
Lyle played acoustically first with a double bass player, violinist and another guitarist/mandolin player. They were superb, three of them being recording artists in their own right and powerful singers.
Chris Isaak was something else. There was the usual warning about use of cameras/cell phones etc at the beginning of the show but Chris Isaak actually encouraged people to take pictures or whatever.
And talk about pandering to the audience. He had girls up on stage dancing round him and he went out into the audience to be with his most appreciative fans. I’m afraid we left before the end though; it was all a bit much.
Friday 5th July
A trip to Fairview shopping centre for some health food, oh yes and an espresso gelato.
Saturday 6th July
Catching up on sleep after a late night and hanging out.
Sunday 7th July
A call from the APA guy, he’ll check the truck tomorrow.
For this Metro trip we went to the Vendome Metro station and parked in the street.
We met Ira and Ann at Place Des Arts to catch the last night of the Jazzfest.
First act on our list was Israel Proulx.
Lots of people as the rain started to come down.
Next up was Pornflakes doing a Rolling Stone Album thing. Not too many good songs unless you’re a died-in-the-wool fan.
By this time it was chucking it down so we took shelter in the Heineken tent watching Amadou & Mariam on a TV screen while we actually heard them right outside.
Last performer we saw was Krystale where we managed to find seats protected from the endless rain. She was very good.
We then walked back to Ira and Ann’s apartment then they drove us to pick up our car and head to Ken and Cheryl’s.
Monday 8th July
Up early to drive to Circuit Ford for the car check.
Some things need to be fixed including replacement of a rear wheel but generally the vehicle gets the thumbs up.
Movie of the day: Hysteria Рentertaining and just a little risqu̩.
Tuesday 9th July
You can bet what the ladies are doing in the solarium while Ira and I do computer stuff.
To the dollar movie theatre to see 42 – Maybe a little glossy but well done none the less.
Back to the house it’s the second movie of the day: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford – very good if a little perplexing at the end.
Wednesday 10th July
Ira and Ann left to claim a parking spot.
The truck will be ready tomorrow – woo hoo!
Thursday 11th July
Took possession of the truck minus the new wheel which is supposed to come in real soon and then left it for rust proofing at Barry the affable Jamaican’s rust-proofing shop.
Friday 12th July
The Internet and the phone have a problem, a need for Videotron.
Picked up the truck and brought it back to the house.
Downloaded the truck manual since the dealership seems to be having a huge problem getting us an English one.
Mowed the lawn again to make it look like we did something when Ken and Cheryl return tomorrow!
Saturday 13th July
One last whipper snip to clean up the garden.
We’re in the middle of supper when the wanderers return about an hour ahead of time.
They came back with son and daughter so there was much yakking about the trip of a lifetime.
Sunday 14th July
Packing up to head back to Ottawa and the new RV.
Watched lots of movie clips and pics from the big trip. I’m seriously impressed with Ken’s camera.
Monday 15th July
Up early but after checking with Circuit Ford there’s no wheel, we’ll have top pick it up later.
So we load up the Sube and the truck and head for Ottawa. It’s hot as h**l so Buddy is in air-conditioned luxury with me while Carol sweats it out in the Subaru.
Although I have an appointment for a safety check, Cooley’s don’t get round to doing it by the end of the day so we leave it there and head to Richard’s. However, after checking with myRV I find the appointment for the hitch install is 8 am the next day and that can’t be changed.
So we head back into Bells Corners and retrieve the truck.
Tuesday 16th July
Up early to get the truck in for the hitch.
Breakfast and Internet at McD’s where we met Brian our next door neighbour from the Ottawa Campsite.
While at Canadian Tire buying seat covers and such I get a call that the truck’s ready so off we go back to Stittsville to pick that up and then back to Richard’s to get a bit of much needed shut eye. Meanwhile it’s another stinking hot day.
Wednesday 17th July
Breakfast at Royal’s in Richmond before heading across the road and down a bit to get our RV orientation and pickup the RV.
After that, the RV is on the hitch and it’s over to Echo Farm and old RV to move stuff from one to the other.
Then it was off on a new kind of adventure.
