Thursday 3rd May (cont.)Installed the solar panel on the roof of the RV – required some of that magic Eternabond.
Friday 4th May After chlorinating the water tanks and one last waste disposal it’s off to the Good Year automotive service place for some new tires and after a check of the rear brakes, bad news, the rear axles are leaking and we’ll have to return for more expense.
However, right now we’re heading for West Palm Beach after dropping of this season’s canvas repair in Stuart and Buddy at kennels in Hobe Sound.
The transmission seems to be really acting up – something needs to be done.
We arrived at Ira and Ann’s in plenty time for supper and didn’t get to bed too early.
Saturday 5th May My memory upgrade for my Acer netbook had arrived at Ira and Inn’s, so time to install it. Without the service manual (courtesy of manualowl.com) it would have been tougher involving removing the keyboard then 14 screws before taking the back off – not for the faint of heart.
But that was nothing compared to fixing Ira’s HP computer that appeared to be suffering from a desoldered Graphics Processor Unit chip.
This involved dismantling the entire computer.
Then, while I pointed a laser guided temperature gauge at his GPU, he heated it up to 250deg with a hand torch. After several hours of work we had the whole thing back together and miraculously it worked.
They’d stored our Miata for us over the season, now it was time to start it, except it didn’t. We tried bump starting it but after that didn’t work we boosted it with some borrowed jumper cables. After driving it round for 1/2 hr it still didn’t start – sigh!.
Sunday 6th May Attempted to buy a new battery from Firestone – not helpful.
A Costco run – always good in West Palm if you’re hungry. Also bought a new 1Tb drive – there’s never enough storage.
Back at the ranch Ira and I went for a swim in one of their several pools.
Monday 7th May
Tried to communicate with Exide the Miata battery maker(it’s special because it lives in the trunk). Since the battery isn’t 2 years old and got nowhere. So ended up buying a regular cheapo from Costco.
Tuesday 8th May Time to move on, this time retracing our steps to Indiantown to get the RV axle seals fixed and the now unacceptable transmission problem.
We left the RV at Good Year and went off in the Miata to pickup Buddy and get more wine in Stuart.
The RV not finished, transmission part next day delivery, so we went back to the marina and the RV park.
Wednesday 9th May Back to Good Year once more to get the transmission part installed and by noon we’re off.
Manatee Hammock in Titusville is becoming a favourite stop. It has the tamest squirrels.
Thursday 10th May Away we go, out of Florida, Through Georgia and into South Carolina and the Wal-Mart at Waterboro.
Friday 11th May On to the north of North Carolina and Carolina Crossroads RV park another place we always seem to choose.
After chatting with someone in the swimming pool we made a decision to do something different and bypass the horror that is transiting Washington/Baltimore.
Movie of the day: How to Win Friends & Alienate People – One of those movies with lots of ‘names’ which usually means a bust but this one is definitely worth the time to watch.
Saturday 12th May Before leaving, I noticed this license plate which seriously impressed me.
Following our new plan we headed up to Richmond Virginia and then made a left towards the I-81 and the Shenandoah Valley.
When we stopped for lunch I climbed the nearby hill to get a better view.
After driving over some very bad freeway, the I-81 is in poor shape, we stopped for the night at a place we’d stopped for free the first time we went north, just in southern Pennsylvania.
It looks like a pastoral scene but like most places we stay on our way north and south there’s the sound of the freeway all night long.
Sunday 13th May Through Pennsylvania and into New York State and a stop at Tall Pines campsite in Bainbridge just east of Binghamton.
A very pleasant spot by the river.
One of those places we could have got away without paying, nobody had a clue we were there.
Monday 14th May We were zipping along the freeway and suddenly there was a clattering sound coming from the RV. On inspection it turned out the generator muffler had unbolted itself from the generator exhaust manifold and was held on just by the support strap. I’d no sooner stopped than a state trooper stopped to see what the problem was. I assured him a hacksaw would soon fix the problem. In no time we had the muffler aboard and we were on our way. Since my intent was to remove the generator anyway (we never use it) it was one less job.
After the Tall Pines we stayed in Magic Pines which based on the number of tall pines deserved the name more than the previous night’s stop.
Movie of the day: The Onion Movie – Not a ‘real’ movie, just a string of sketches but entertaining just the same.
Tuesday 15th May We made it through Canadian customs without a single question about purchases – a first. He seemed more concerned about whether we had visited any other countries than the US (?)
By early afternoon we were in Ken and Cheryl’s driveway in Cote St. Luc., Montreal.
Wednesday 16th May It’s supposed to be cold in Canada in May, but it it’s quite warm, July warm.
Ken had just returned from France where he’s been visiting the counterparts in France to his position at Dawson College. Two of the people he had met there, Serge & Amelie from Lyons, came over for supper.
Thursday 17th May Out to the movies – Dark Shadows. Definitely split decisions on this one. The ladies liked it a lot but the guys thought it uneven and with one of those ‘how was that character suddenly able to do that?’ moments
Friday 18th May Ken’s birthday, so we had a family outing to a local eatery.
Saturday 19th May Movie time again – The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Cheryl, Carol and I went to see that while Ken saw Battleship. Split decision on the Hotel. Cheryl and I liked it, Carol not so much. Ken was slightly impressed with his movie.
Sunday 20th May Sunday, and rented some videos from Videotron, not as convenient as Blockbuster used to be but needs must.
Movie of the day: Mission Impossible 4 – I think I enjoyed it, can’t remember a thing about it.
Monday 21st May
Victoria Day and time to move on. Fortified with a great breakfast of Cheryl’s waffles with fruit and maple syrup we packed up, filled with water and headed west.
We parked in the compound opposite our storage unit in time for a thunderstorm and heavy rain to come through.
Tuesday 22nd May Clearing out the RV lockers of extraneous stuff and starting disconnection of generator.
More heavy rain and – argh! – another roof leak.
Removed the generator in the rain and moved it into storage.
Movie of the day: Page 8 – For Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy fans.
Carol seems to be suffering from a bad back so it’s an early night for her.
Wednesday 23rd May To our favourite (and only) Internet hot spot in Kemptville, Brewed Awakenings.
Up on the RV roof with Eternabond. Although leaks always seem to manifest themselves by dripping from the antenna rotator handle up until now the problem has always been somewhere else. However, this time it looks like it really was.
Thursday 24th May Time to move on again, after finalizing the storage and putting certain items on Kijiji at Brewed Awakenings, to Sandy Mountain Campsite for a night and a dump station.
Found out that my Fender bass is worth a whole lot more than I was about to put it on Kijiji for.
Friday 25th May On to Richard Hayward’s and all the mail that’s been piling up for 6 months.
Saturday 26th May Over to North Gower to take the Subaru out of storage and then drive over to the storage to fill it up with storage boxes that we’re giving to Richard Felicity who seem to have sold their house and are ‘downsizing’.
By the time we go back and pick up the Miata and drive back to Richard H’s, he has returned and also girlfriend Cheryl has arrived from Trenton. We all had supper and yakked until bedtime.
Sunday 27th May Richard’s daughter, husband Scot and grandson Connor came over for breakfast and we all had ‘omelets in a bag’.
What is an omelet in a bag you might ask?
Well the hosts prepare lots of fixins like shredded cheese and ham, chopped onion and peppers. Each person is then given a large (must be large) Ziploc bag and two eggs. The eggs are cracked and the contents dropped into the Ziploc bag and then you squish them.
After choosing the fixins, dropping them into the bag, mushing them as much as possible it should sort of look like this.
Then you must remove all the air from the bag – a very necessary step.
All the bags are then dropped into a huge pan of boiling water where they are boiled vigorously for 13 mins with the lid nearly all the way on.
On removal from the boiling water it looks like so.
After removing from the bag it will appear larger than you expected and somewhat like this.
Now in this unflattering picture it may look like something the cat sicked up but the results are quite wonderful. So much so it is now my preferred omelet preparation method. Carol, however, is unwilling to give up that fried taste.
I think this crittur thought he was camouflaged against the RV door grab bar.
In the afternoon we headed over to Richard and Felicity’s with the boxes and to load up the Subaru with the guitars and treadmill that they have been storing in their basement since we sold the house. It wasn’t just a working visit we stayed for supper and helped them use up some of their freezer and fridge stuff.
Monday 28th May
Doctor’s visit for Carol and shopping for both of us.
More wild life wandering around.
Tuesday 29th May
Lunch with Harry and Bob for me, old United Marine fellow shareholders.
Back at Richard’s he made us curried shrimp and then we had a slide show of pics from his daughter’s storybook wedding in the U.K.
Wednesday 30th May
Carol has a colonoscopy tomorrow. So guess what she does all day.
Thursday 31st May
After she was up at 4 am to take her last ‘stuff’ we were up again at 7 and heading off for Carol to get the test which she passed with flying colours.
We celebrated with breakfast at Royal’s in Richmond with Richard before he headed off to Trenton to see his girlfriend Cheryl. The big breakfast may not have been the wisest thing for Carol.
It’s now quite cold, hard to believe after the hot spell.
Friday 1st June
Carol seems to be having some aftermath of the colonoscopy involving, shall we say, a bloated feeling.
I buzzed off and did some shopping.
Saturday 2nd June
‘Her indoors’ is feeling well enough to vacuum the cars out.
Charlie, one of Richard's menagerie cornered a squirrel on the deck trellis. The squirrel was madder than hell and screamed and chattered.
Busy day with a trip to Bells Corners to get a sterling money order for my UK pension, Madras curry powder from the Indian store, the world’s best marmalade from the Scottish and Irish store, MBA to talk to Carol’s ‘financial advisor’, to the storage yet again to measure the diameter of our spinnaker/whisker pole (someone is interested in buying it) and pickup the Walker Bay sail kit (someone is interested in buying that too).
Sunday 3rd June
It’s warmed up a little with some light rain. Time to move on, so by early afternoon we’re at Lena and Peter’s near Smiths Falls.
Monday 4th June
Off to Kemptville to do laundry and visit the storage.
Tuesday 5th June
After moving the RV to what we hoped was a more shaded spot it was off to MacDonald’s for Internet and then Canadian Tire for non BPA water containers. Damn Bob for scaring Carol about RV water tanks!!!
Wednesday 6th June
It’s all go. Down to the Civic Hospital for an ear appointment then back to Smiths Falls. After lunch it’s back to Bells Corners for another financial advisor visit.
Thursday 7th June
An early morning visit to Richard Hayward’s place where our Walker Bay dinghy has been resting to sell it.
In the afternoon it was back to the storage in Kemptville to put the whisker pole on a truck headed to Toronto.
Back to Lena and Peter’s to pack-up the RV and drive the relatively short distance to Bob and Elaine Gauthier’s in Carleton Place and park in another driveway.
Grilled salmon on the bbq, Bob’s homemade wine and lots of talk but not too late for bed as Elaine gets up at 5 to go to work.
Friday 8th June
After a morning talking RV’s with Bob, (he’s been doing it for years), we headed to Smiths Falls and a dump station and then down to Gananoque.
The intent had been to stay in the Gananoque Casino parking lot where Ira and Ann used to stay. However, when we got there we found that the local campsites had pressured the casino into not permitting overnight stays.
So it was back down the 1000 Islands Parkway to find a campsite, which didn’t take long.
With RV installed in Landon Bay campsite we unhooked the Miata and headed down to the marina to see if we could meet anyone we know from our years there.
We found Larry and Carol on Coral Wave at the dock. They told us we’d missed the other folks we know so we arranged to come back on Sunday when people usually return from anchoring out.
Saturday 9th June
Landon Bay is a beautiful setting with lots of walking trails that we were keen to (but never did) explore.
Sunday 10th June
Installed a new sewer outlet cap. You’d think that would be really easy except that the eye for the lanyard that attaches it broke off so remedial measures were required.
In the afternoon we headed back to Coral Wave in the marina for happy hour with Larry and Carol, Rollie and Francine and Steve (the ‘Hedonist’ – yes that is his boat name).
Back to the RV for a light supper and then back to the marina and a more wine and conviviality aboard ‘Home’ with Rick and Judy.
Everyone was of course interested in our adventures and misadventures down south.
Monday 11th June
The temperature is up so we put the a.c. on only to trip the 15A breaker. This forced us to move across the way for 30A service (at a price of course).
A day working on my UK pension with Carol doing the heavy lifting.
Tuesday 12th June
Overcast, cool and raining – now we have virtually unlimited power.
Finished the UK pension application so off to Fedex - $77 for each of two documents – ouch!
Wednesday 13th June
McD’s for Internet in the morning and then up the Parkway to Mallorytown where our other dockmates Don and Louise have a house that Don pretty much built himself (with some assistance).
It’s a beautiful post and beam construction I wish I’d taken some pictures of the interior.
They fed us very well indeed and there was much talk.
Thursday 14th June
I did take a walk up one trail to what they call The Lookout for a spectacular view down to the St. Lawrence.
We brought some boat canvas back with us that we wanted to have duplicated by the place in Kingston that made our enclosure.
No trip to Kingston for us would be complete without a trip to the Pilot House.
Everytime we came to Kingston in the boat we would head there for their fish and chips, thanks to the elderly lady who does the cooking that could only be learned in a place like St. Helens (Lancs).
Movie of the day: Australia – overwrought to say the least, Baz Luhrmann bas lost his mojo if he ever had one.
Friday 15th June
Time to pack-up and move on. This time to Harry and Barbara Keays’ place in Portland on the Big Rideau Lake.
We parked in the driveway and stayed the night. We always play cards and we learnt a new fun game – name? – A______e.
Saturday 16th June
Had a swim in the lake, certainly warmer than the St. Lawrence at this time of year.
Before we left we played another game of A______e.
The original plan was to head over to the hull arena for free parking with nearby dump station and water. However, the forecast for the following week promised abnormally hot weather so plans were modified to go to Sandy Mountain Campsite.
Movie of the day: TV Mini Series Hatfields & McCoys – very well done.
Sunday 17th June
Internet at ‘ Brewed Awakenings’ and some food shopping.
Monday 18th June
After 3 years our bike tyres are disintegrating so off to Canadian Tire for some new ones.
Time for the movies too and ‘Prometheus’ was playing at Barrhaven which has the nearest movie theatres and cheap too for old folks.
‘Prometheus’ – ‘Alien’ revisited complete with major plot holes and incomprehensibilities.
Tuesday 19th June
Heavy rain to start but clearing up and getting hot. Thankfully (for me anyway) the pool opened up so cooling off was an option after shopping and installing bike tyres.
Wednesday 20th June
Dental appointment for Carol downtown and then a trip to the very centre of Ottawa and the passport office only to find it’s moved to the suburbs. Another very hot day.
Movie of the day: Haywire – Not bad thriller.
Thursday 21st June
Eye appointment in Ottawa’s west end for C and then a hair appointment while I find wi-fi.
Friday 22nd June
Laundry- in- Kemptville day.
Saturday 23rd June
Packin up to move time again.
Drove to the Ottawa Municipal Campsite where we planned to stay for a whole month.
Movie of the day: An Awfully Big Adventure – disappointing.
Sunday 24th June
Drove over to Richard Hayward’s to pick up mail and chat.
Then over to Lena and Peter’s to pick up the Subaru – need something that can carry more than a Miata.
Picked up Carol’s sister Jean from the Ottawa airport for a week of card playing.
Monday 25th June
Rented movies and got some Internet.
Tuesday 26th June
Took a trip to Carleton Place to join the public library only to find it not open - second abortive attempt to join a library - and then dropped by Richard Hayward’s for lunch.
After lunch, we took a walk to the creek and I proceeded to fall in the mud and my camera went into a puddle. I hated the damned thing anyway!!!
Movie night for us all. Star City, Gatineau is close and cheap (on a Tuesday anyway) and saw ‘ Brave’, another A1 Pixar movie.
Wednesday 27th June
Over to the Wine Garden, a do it yourself wine place that basically seems to just sell wine – at a very good price.
Thursday 28th June
Shopping day.
Friday 29th June
Awning repairs and three hours on the phone with evil Bell Mobility getting a new plan.
Saturday 30th June
After breakfast at McD’s
it’s off to the airport with Jean and then back to Lena and Peter’s to divest ourselves of the Subaru.
Tried a second time to get our propane tank filled, seems the valve is kaput – sigh!
Sunday 1st July
Our toaster dies at breakfast so off we go to Xcess Cargo for a replacement. Not only did we get a toaster but we got a neat little rice maker.
After some food shopping it’s back to the OMC.
Movie of the day: Was going to be ‘Trust’ but we abandoned it (don’t often do that) and watched ‘The Pallbearer’ instead – had its moments.
Monday 2nd July
Laundry day again and arranged to change sites the following Sunday.
Tuesday 3rd July
Got the bikes out finally and sampled the famous Ottawa bike trails.
Carol’s new passport had arrived at the ‘post office’ in Franktown so it was off to Richard’s.
While there I made use of his table saw to rip some wood for the RV interior and watch the robin feed her chicks (or is that the male).
.After picking up the passport and finally joining the Carleton Place Public Library it was back ‘home’.
Wednesday 4th July
Another bike ride, this time to Shirley's Bay. Always wondered what it looked like.
The intrepid cyclists.
Thursday 5th July
Picked up our replacement Miata battery with a hefty surcharge even under warranty.
Lunch at Mr. Pho’s in Bells Corners with Richard Wormleighton – love those Vietnamese soups. Richard and Felicity are staying with their daughter Amanda now their house is sold and they don’t move into their apartment until late August.
Buddy visited Brigitte who clipped off all that fur and made the incredible heat of this summer a bit more bearable for the little fella.
Friday 6th July
Started the day with a CAT scan, nothing quite like it.
Hanging round the campsite.
Saturday 7th July
Carol went for a driving lesson to drive a standard. He taught her some very peculiar things.
Visited Ruth, Keith and family who live just down the road from the campsite to do our yearly catch-up.
Sunday 8th July
Our propane in the RV main tank was down so we had to take a trip to Merrivale Road to the nearest propane filling station.
On the return to the campground we moved a new spot where with the help of a rooftop antenna we could pickup wi-fi from the office – woo hoo!
Monday 9th July
A bike ride down to Moodie Drive and round the industrial park that used to be the exclusive location of the mighty and now fallen Nortel.
Tuesday 10th July
A shopping day and writing a stinky letter to Bell Mobility.
Movie of the day: Joueuse – Excellent French movie.
Wednesday 11th July
A few days ago I’d ordered a tire pressure monitoring system from the US to be delivered to the UPS store in Ogdensburg, New York State.
So off I went in the Miata, down the 416 to Prescott and the bridge to the USA. Seems strange crossing into the US in the middle of summer – like going to a foreign country (?)
Picked up the system, installed it on the Miata and headed back to Ottawa.
Carol had a Miata driving lesson. She did OK.
Movie of the day: Another Year – not one of Mike Leigh’s best.
Thursday 12th July
The fridge has been acting up so gave the guys who sold us a replacement cooling unit a call. They had some suggestions to be tried. First thing was to plug it in directly and bypass the controller. Then try more insulation in the stack.
‘Borrowed’ some insulation from Keith and bypassed the controller. Let’s see what happens.
Friday 13th July
Temporarily installed a fan on top of the fridge vent – maybe that will do something.
The fridge is holding @ 45degF which is not bad given the fact it’s like an oven outside.
Movie of the day: Blue Valentine – deeepressing!
Saturday 14th July
Got the fridge down to 35 – best yet.
Bought some box fans for a more permanent fan installation.
Richard Hayward and girlfriend Cheryl arrived for a leisurely lunch inside the RV – too hot outside.
Movie of the day: Wild Target – not as good as we thought it might be. Bet the original French movie was better.
It’s so hot we go to bed with the a.c. on – first time.
Sunday 15th July
Installed the box fans over the fridge vent on the roof.
Cycled down to Acres road and back.
While up on the roof adjusting the fan locations I stepped on the skylight over the shower which is DEFINITELY not made to be stood on.
Picked up our replacement Miata battery with a hefty surcharge even under warranty.
Lunch at Mr. Pho’s in Bells Corners with Richard Wormleighton – love those Vietnamese soups. Richard and Felicity are staying with their daughter Amanda now their house is sold and they don’t move into their apartment until late August.
Injuries were sustained but fortunately I missed the femoral artery so am still alive.
Monday 16th July
Called around for pricing and delivery on a new skylight. The best price was from a place in New Brunswick but the delivery was three weeks – no good! Found that Primo Trailer on Moodie Drive could get it in a couple of days so drove over there and ordered it.
Also drove to Kemptville to pickup C’s new glasses – it’s a miracle, she can see again.
Tuesday 17th July
Fridge down to 30 – too low now, time to reconnect the controller..
Thunderstorms and tornado touchdowns south of Ottawa – yipes!
Movie of the day: Never Let Me Go – weird!
Wednesday 18th July
To the Wine Garden for more wine supplies before we head east although Carol is not drinking currently.
Movie of the day: The Girlfriend Experience – dull.
Thursday 19th July
Over to the dump station before moving sites yet again.
This time no Internet.
Over to Primo Trailers to pickup skylight and then off to the storage to drop off a few things we don’t want to drag around. While in Kemptville C got her glasses better fitted so as not to gouge her nose.
Friday 20th July
Installed the tire pressure monitoring system on the RV tires only to find that the guy who last mounted the rear wheels (a mechanic not a tire jockey) had put the new ones on such that the valves for the inner wheels were pretty well inaccessible.
Removed the remnants of the old skylight and screwed down the new one.
Movie of the day: Animal Kingdom – very good Australian crime drama.
Saturday 21st July
Made an appointment on Monday morning to have Frisby Tire fix the rear wheel problem.
Used Eternabond tape on the skylight to seal the edges.
Got a phone call from Bell Mobility refunding us $130. I’m happy with them - for now.
Sunday 22nd July
Tidying up and preparing the RV to travel.
Over to Richard Hayward’s to drop off the Miata and ‘bye for a while. He gave us a ride back to the RV after supper.
Monday 23rd July
Up bright and early (?), over to the dump station and then to Kanata and Frisby Tire. They charged us a startling low $22.60 to jack up the RV (twice), take the outer wheels off, put air in the tires and put the wheels back on properly.
We’re on the road again, heading for Ken and Cheryl’s driveway in Cote-St-Luc.
Daughter Jessica is there with new baby Hunter.
After supper it was out to see the first of our Just for Laughs comedians – Joey Elias. He’s actually a local boy and funny.
Movie of the day: Watchmen – Too much angst (and blood) for a superhero movie.
Tuesday 24th July
Some IMAX screens are what Ken calls fake IMAX – like the one in the AMC, Kanata. Montreal, however was the real thing, and the best place to see The Dark Knight Rises. A long movie but very good for that kind of thing. Though after the recent thing in Colorado I couldn’t help feeling a little strange during some of the more violent parts.
After supper it was downtown again, this time to see Dave Gorman. He’s a Brit and does a thing with a projected computer screen. Very funny.
Afterwards we walked around the Just for Laughs after and some good Indian snack food.
Wednesday 25th July
Comedian of the day: Tom Brewer – he was on Saturday Night Live for a while (Goat Boy, if anyone remembers). Very professional but I liked Dave Gorman better. But Carol almost fell off her seat – laughing so hard.
Thursday 26th July
It’s a cooler day. The heat hasn’t bothered us so much as we stay in the house when at Ken and Cheryl’s while the RV gets real hot.
Just for Laughs today’s choice was Paul F. Tompkins with three other performers, one of which is involved with 30 Rock, he was the funniest in what we all thought was a disappointment compared to the other shows we saw.
Friday 27th July
Our plans for cycling with Ira and Ann in the Laurentians got canned as Ira had been not well for a while and still wasn’t feeling 100%. So we arranged with John and Rejeanne to be at their place on Monday.
A day hanging round the house while Ken and Cheryl babysat their grandson as his parents went to a Just for Laughs show together and a meal out. They were belatedly celebrating their first wedding anniversary. (The actual day was preempted by Mike’s appendix suddenly playing up and he was rushed into hospital where the offending appendage was removed.)
Saturday 28th July
After Cheryl’s world famous waffles and maple syrup, we took a bus to visit Ira and Ann in their downtown Montreal apartment. They have a wonderful view from their 11th floor balcony overlooking the mountain and the apartment swimming pool. There is a gourmet Asian food store on the ground floor and a Metro Supermarket in the basement. In all the time I lived in Montreal I never went on a bus. Given the hazards of driving and the parking there it makes a lot of sense.
We had a chat in their place and some munchies before taking the bus back. Got on the bus but then had to get off ‘cos we didn’t have enough change. Fortunately the buses run every 10 mins, so no big whup.
Ken went off for a midnight show with son Jeff so we (and Cheryl) took the opportunity to watch a movie he probably wouldn’t: The Young Victoria – very good history lesson.
Sunday 29th July
After packing up we were on our way again to Camping Rouillard on Lake Tortue which is basically Shawinigan – didn’t see the little guy though.
A very big and busy campground with a band that STARTED playing at 10pm.
Monday 30th July
On to St.-Jean-Chrysostome and John and Rejeanne’s place south of Quebec City.
We learned a new game – Ballobong (spelling) – we weren’t very good at it – from John and Rejeanne’s next door neighbours Sylvie and Michelle.
John loves his fires so we ended the evening around the campfire.
Tuesday 31st July
It’s not cooling down any here. The fridge still needs the fans running and the temperature still gets up to 50 sometimes, then just like that it goes down to 34 - ???
Did a temporary repair (until we can buy a new one in the US) on the fridge shelf that’s slowly disintegrating by being bounced around with bottles on it.
A trip to Crevettes Plus has become a staple of our visits here and it never disappoints.
We had our post supper coffee (John makes a mean, I mean mean cappuccino) by the fire.
Wednesday 1st August
John was working and Rejeanne was eager to take a bike ride with accompaniment. We did a long ride to the Chaudiere Falls which are spectacular and if my cursed camera (it recovered from being dropped in the puddle – damn it) had worked – can’t really blame it for dead batteries – there would be pictures here.
Supper was Rejeanne’s fabulous veggie pie. Don’t miss meat pies so much but the savoury pie is just such a part of northern English cuisine(?).
Coffee by the fire.
Thursday 2nd August
Temporarily the temperature has dropped but the forecast is even hotter.
Today Carol and I are providing the food and entertainment. We made grilled salmon, roasted veggies and rice and since I finally resurrected (found in the storage) Local Hero with French subtitles that was the entertainment. Local Hero? In my top ten best ever.
Friday 3rd August
Rejeanne and I went swimming at the free local pool while Carol went to the hairdressers.
We each made our own suppers before John went off to do his night job.
Saturday 4th August
Time to move on again. After packing up and saying our goodbyes we head off for fuel and one of the many free Quebec dump stations.
