Seeing as we haven't been able to travel south this season due to COVID-19 I needed a project to fill my time. I had planned on doing a recap of all 10 years of our travels but as it turns out we have done much more than I remembered so it has ended up being a much bigger job than I had anticipated. Re reading blogs, selecting and editing photos, finding out some web albums were no longer supported and had to be redone, adding links, etc. It's been fun reliving the past seeing people and places we had forgotten about. Unfortunately I've run out of time as we'll be moving soon and will only have limited Internet data. So I have 3 years 2010-2012 completed and may sometime in the future do more.
Dianne started our blog more as a daily journal more for ourselves, and family and friends from back home if interested. We rarely if ever get comments on the blog from family or friends back home but know some of them do read it occasionally. (You know who you are...LOL!) When we started out we didn't know anyone else living the full-time RV lifestyle. As we travelled and met more and more people, and as more people were researching the lifestyle online, our blog has taken on a life of its own as it has for many of our blogging friends. We have 115 followers many of whom we've never met but appreciate them tagging along and commenting. We've also learned a lot from other bloggers about this lifestyle, maintenance issues, and beautiful places to visit. In our 10 plus years on the road we have seen more places, and met so many fantastic people...more than most people would in a lifetime of vacations!
I don't recall what we were using for photography back then but the first few photos get blurry if I enlarge them so I apologize. It was also much easier to just take the photos from the blogs than try to find them in the picture files and match them with a blog. We also didn't post many photos back then because with the technology in 2010 all we had for internet was a 500mb Rogers Rocket Stick. Only a few photos from each blog will appear in these recap posts so if you want to see more you have to go to the blog.
From the start we decided that we never wanted to be on a schedule and that we would just wing it as we headed east to Manitoba to visit my brother. But first we wanted to visit and say goodbye to my cousins (the Oaks from my mother's side) and Dianne's brother and sister in law in Vancouver.
To view blogs click on blog dates then "Newer Post " at the bottom of the blog to advance.
Don't forget the Travel Maps up top too!
Last visit with our sons Rob and Chris
Once our install was done we moved to Fadalgo Bay RV Resort in Anacortes for a little longer stay than planned.
Taking a break along the Kettle Valley Railroad Trail. Princeton has some great riding areas...
July 19th-25th
We arrived at Reed Lake Campground in Grass River Provincial Park. It's mostly a fishing campground and very popular with mostly American fisherman. It's been 4 years since we've seen my brother Dave. At the time Kerry was his girlfriend but they are now married...
Everybody caught fish when we could get out as we had lots of rainy, windy days...a 25" laker...
With Dave and his son Jon. I appear to be the only happy one here...LOL!
We all took a drive to Weskesko Falls about 45 minutes away then had a picnic...
August 18th-22nd
Clearwater Provincial Park near The Pas, Manitoba. The colour of this lake was tropical and it's only 36' at it's deepest point. One day a conservation officer said a bear was sighted in the park so a bear trap was set up. We did some hiking, launched the boat, fished, and also did some exploration on the quads.
We washed the quads at the boat launch...
Beautiful beaches...
We explored some of the back roads in the truck and came across a herd of Bison. This bull wouldn't move until the herd had finished crossing...
We checked out the First Nations Museum inside and out...
September 1st-8th
The area had been getting record rainfall so we rode thru hundreds of puddles, mud and flooded areas.
The next day we took a hop on hop off bus tour around Savannah to get our bearings then did a walking tour. I have to say this is still our most favourite city that we've visited in the US to date. There is so much history in this city from slavery, the Civil War, as well as all the restored colonial style buildings...
This street is paved from rocks used as ballast from sailing ships used to transport cotton to Europe...
Tourist shops along the riverfront...
We had a fabulous lunch of shrimp and crab on Tybee Island the following day...
November 18th-29th
The following day I launched my boat and we went looking for alligators. Lets just say Dianne was an anxious passenger! During one of our happy hours we watched one float by. No swimming in this lake!
We saw a few alligators from a distance as well and some turtles...
We toured some of the homes.
We were cruising along quite nicely about 2 miles from where we had entered the lake when all of a sudden the motor leg kicked up out of the water, quit and had a smoky burning smell. It wouldn't start so we took turns rowing. Then the wind came up and began to blow against us. I thought of going to shore but it was extremely shallow for about 75- 100 yards from shoreline and there are alligators. With no boats in sight to rescue us I tried the motor and it fired getting us a little closer before quitting. We eventually made it back by alternating between rowing then running the motor until it quit again. I thought that weeds had plugged up the cooling port but later found out it was the impeller that went.
We continued along a trail to Lake George. See how far out the shallows go...
These are called Cypress Knees
December 6th-14th
We rode our bikes into Anacortes...
We enjoyed our stay and wanted to hook up in preparation for leaving the next day. However our front jacks weren't working?! The motor was running and the cross shaft was turning but the jacks wouldn't move...great! We ended up extending our stay an additional 5 days until the Mobile Tech could get the replacement jacks installed under extended warranty. Both worm gears were broken. Did Camping World overdrive my jacks or drop it hard with the fork lift...who knows. There had been a delay in contacting the factory because a backhoe had accidentally dug up their communication cables.
We drove into the cute little town of La Conner for a river front lunch...
We crossed the border and headed to Fort Camping in Fort Langley (Vancouver, BC area) for a couple of days.
We arrived at the Princeton Fairgrounds for an ATVBC Poker Run event. We had a blast exploring the area and meeting other club members from throughout the province. One day we had a parade of 150 machines ride thru town to the Dairy Queen. We rode to the top of the mountain above the fairgrounds to watch the local air show.
We drove to Kelowna for a few days to visit Dianne's brother Dennis and sister in law Suzanne. They had their 5th wheel parked at Desert Lake RV Resort on Tec-El-Nuit Lake in Oliver so after a few days we headed there. Nice!
We did many wine tasting tours too.
July 26th-29th
Arrived at Canyon Hot Springs in Albert Canyon just east of Revelstoke...
We stopped at the Rogers Pass Information Centre to get some ideas on hiking in Glacier National Park Canada. They recommended the Balu Pass Trail for great views of mountains, valleys, and glaciers...
The hike was 10 kms/6.2 miles and took us 5 1/2 hours round trip. One of many glaciers...
July 30th-August 1st
We stopped at the Rogers Pass Information Centre to get some ideas on hiking in Glacier National Park Canada. They recommended the Balu Pass Trail for great views of mountains, valleys, and glaciers...
We visited with my boyhood friend Ken and his wife Charlene and their son Andrew. They have a beautiful home on Cochrane Lake, just outside of Cochrane, Alberta. I've known Ken since I was 5 years old when his family were our neighbours in Regina, Saskatchewan until my family moved to Victoria in 1965. Pretty cool that we have kept in touch all these decades...well that makes me feel old!
August 2nd- 6th
We visited with my Uncle Gordon and Aunt Esther and cousins Heather and Yolande as well as my late mom's girlfriend Shirley, now passed, in Edmonton, Alberta. Uncle Gordon is my mom's youngest brother and the last of the siblings still with us. As a minister he has married and buried most of us...LOL!
Gordon and Esther. These two are the most active seniors I've ever known or heard of!
August 7th-9th
As there is no provincial sales tax in Alberta we had our 4 way truck and trailer camera system installed here as well as a Shaw Satellite system. After the camera install was done we discovered we had no AC in the truck...long story...
Prince Albert National Park at Lake Waskesiu, Saskatchewan. A beautiful community with lots of mosquitos and a lightening show...
Elk outside our rig...
August 11th-17th
After a side trip to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan to a GM dealer to figure out why my wipers and AC weren't working we finally headed to Manitoba. It was a blown fuse caused by the camera installer in an additional "unknown fuse box" under the truck between the cab and box.
We didn't want to take the longer route via Winnipeg to Reed Lake to meet up with my brother so decided to take a shorter route from Nipawin to The Pas, Manitoba. Well as newbie RV'ers we didn't notice that the "red line" marking the highway in our Truckers Map book narrowed where the pages joined. Before we new it we were on a gravel highway. We thought any non paved road on the map would be coloured differently. With no place to turn around we continued hoping to eventually reach pavement with no luck. We eventually asked a guy that was stopped checking his load and he said it's gravel all the way. By this time we were committed so 2 hours later doing speeds from nearly
0 to 65 kph/40mph at times we arrived at The Pas and spent the night in a Casino lot.
The fishing in Manitoba is awesome. In fact the last time we visited was in 1995 when Dave, me and my boys caught over 80 fish in one day! They have lake trout, walleye and pike. A 31" laker...
Clearwater Provincial Park near The Pas, Manitoba. The colour of this lake was tropical and it's only 36' at it's deepest point. One day a conservation officer said a bear was sighted in the park so a bear trap was set up. We did some hiking, launched the boat, fished, and also did some exploration on the quads.
Wasagaming Campground in Riding Mountain National Park. This is a beautiful park and community on the edge of Clearwater Lake.
We explored the area on our bikes...Ominnick Marsh
As I said in the beginning we just had a general plan to visit family and friends as we worked our way to visit my brother at Reed Lake. After that we were just going to wing it and so we did. When our son Rob and his wife Angie had a destination wedding in the Dominican Republic we got to know her family during that week. Well it just so happens that Angie's parents live in Winnipeg so we contacted them. They showed us a great time, drinks and appies out, dinner at their place, a tour of their golf course, horse races, and a trip to one of the city parks.
Brian and Linda...
Angie's sister Clair, Cruz, and Sandy. Sandy was actually a customer of mine when they lived in Victoria.
Angie's brother...Brian with his niece Stella...
The Forks is a really nice riverside historical attraction where the Red and Assiniboine Rivers meet. With a history that goes back 6000 years when Aboriginals traded at The Forks and eventually traded with fur traders, Metis buffalo hunters, Scottish settlers, riverboat workers, pioneers and tens of thousands of immigrants. There's a large market and entertainment area...
Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, Ontario on the shores of Lake Superior...
We took a day trip to Ouimet Canyon Provincial Park
We then drove to Eagle Canyon Adventures nearby where they have hiking trails, 300' and 600' suspension bridges as well as a 1/2 mile long zip line, Canada's longest. Dianne tried but couldn't do the bridges and I didn't but later wished I had done the zip line. :)
This photo of the distant suspension bridge is taken from the other one...
The next day we back tracked towards Thunder Bay to check out Kakabeka Falls, Ontario's second highest at 40 metres/131 feet.
It overlooks Lake Superior...
September 15th-17th
The following day we checked out Thunder Bay lookout. What a view!
On our way to Sault Ste. Marie we topped at Agawa Bay Visitor Centre in Lake Superior Provincial Park then checked out the beach...Nice!
Sept 18th-26th
Our main reason for visiting Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario was an offer that took us out of our comfort zone. When we were in Winnipeg a fellow walked by while I was setting up my satellite dish wanting to talk about the truck. He asked where we were headed. When I told him he said you're going right past Sault Ste. Marie. Here's my number...give me a call and I'll show you around. Dianne and I thought about it then figured what the hell...we'll have a built in tour guide. As it turned out Dave wasn't available to show us around but stopped by for coffee that evening after we checked in to the KOA just down the road from him. We made plans to go out for dinner the following evening. So we did some touring around on our own. One of the stops was the Ermatinge-Clergue National Historic Site. Two of the oldest stone buildings northwest of Toronto.
Ermatinge House 1801-1870 Clerque Blockhouse 1894-1908
Dinner at a waterfront restaurant...Dave and Lisa at the end of the table, Lisa's sister Leoni left, and her husband Armand on the right. Sadly Armand has since passed away. We have reconnected several times since in Arizona and again in Sault Ste. Marie. I've told Dave that thanks to him we've learned to leave our comfort zone and be more outgoing.
I'd heard that Elliott Lake, Ontario had one of the top ATV riding areas so I contacted the local club. During our stay we learned that this used to be a uranium mining town. Instead of letting the town die they advertised themselves as an active retirement community. With over 400 lakes in the area for fishing, recreating, hunting, ATVing, hiking, golf, cross country skiing/snow shoeing, and snowmobiling there is something for everyone to stay active and healthy. At the time the average cost of a 2 bedroom bungelow was only $74,000! Unfortunately some of those lakes are dead as they were used to bury uranium tailings. Apparently this was the safest way to reduce radiation.
View from the Fire Tower Lookout...
The Elliott Lake ATV club took us on an 8 hour, 90 km trip starting with a ride to the top of Beaver Mountain for a spectacular view...especially with all the fall colours.
Dianne puckered up and went for it...LOL!
A few days later after more rain we joined the Elliott Lake ATV club on their annual Fall Colours ride.
Elliot Lake Falls...
We had a blast with the locals and really appreciated them showing off some of their favourite spots...
Beautiful!
October 1st-3rd
We caught up with our former neighbours from Oceanside RV Resort, Garth and Donna, who we lived next to for 4 months just before retiring and starting our full timing. They were visiting family in Orangeville, near Toronto. Garth and Donna became our RV parents, and as a commercial truck driver with BC Ferries I got my first towing lesson on the road from Garth. Unfortunately Donna had a very tragic falling accident at Helliwell Provincial Park on Hornby Island in 2012 and passed away.
We enjoyed a few days with them exploring the area. At this point we'd completed all of our planned visits with family and friends.
Dinner at a Mexican Restaurant in Toronto with Garth, son in law Bob, daughter Cindy and Donna...
Niagara Falls was the last place in our plans. We took a shuttle into town from our campground, went to the IMAX Theatre, the Dare Devil Museum, took in the touristy areas of town and rode on the Ferris Wheel.
Even with rain gear on your shoes, pant cuffs, face, and camera get wet. As you get closer to the falls you enter a very wet wind storm!
American Falls on the US side...
Beautiful hotel that some of the rich and famous have stayed...
October 6th-11th
One of the stops on a bus tour we took was to the quaint town of Niagara-on-the-lake. We learned that the area was the site of some major battles during the war of 1812.
I had always watched a Canadian program called Dirt Trax TV Some episodes were filmed in Gilbert, West Virginia at the Hatfield McCoy Trails. Dianne just happened to go on their website and found out it was their 10th Anniversary Trail Fest coming up. Sweet...lets go!
For some reason our Canadian section became party central every night. We even had moonshine for the very first time brewed by a local mayor. It was a peach moonshine, very smooth and very good! We were told by several others that apple pie moonshine is even better.
Andrew and Sherry had been here many times before so took us under their wing showing us around...
Meals were available, there were game nights, bands playing, mud pit competition, drag and wheelie races, a kids track, lots of venders, a very festive atmosphere...
A parade...
One night we had fireworks that I was sure would start a fire as things were tinder dry...and they did!
A final ride before we all went our separate ways. This event was a blast and we met some pretty great people! We've stayed in touch with Andrew and Sherry.
With the downfall of coal mining in the area many of the surrounding communities and some private landowners had embraced the idea of becoming a major OHV riding destination to save their communities. It apparently took 5 years to get everyone on board. There are now over 1000 miles of interconnecting roads and trails that also allow access to gas stations, restaurants, stores, campgrounds, motels and hotels. A success story that many other dying resource towns could take a lesson from:)
We met fellow Canadians from Ontario, Andrew and Sherry, Chris (look down) and Lisa, and Shelly and Dave. The campground put us Canadians all together so we called our area of the campground the Canadian section...and nobody had a Canadian flag!
Now where do we go? I heard Myrtle Beach, South Carolina was pretty cool!
Lunch at the 14th Avenue Pier...
We were both wide awake very early so I suggested we grab a coffee and our chairs and head down to the beach for our very first Atlantic sunrise. It was so tranquil as the sun burst above the horizon with shore fishers in the distance and gulls gliding by...
Wow!
October 22-November 10th
Point South KOA, Yemassee, South Carolina. Wine tasting at the campground where 3 of the 4 couples were all from Canada...
Ben and Carol are from Port Alberni on Vancouver Island and invited us all back to their motorhome...
We took a horse drawn carriage tour. Duke the draft horse has been recorded as the second largest draft horse in the world...
Day trip to Port Royal and The Sands Boat Landing. We could see Dolphins feeding in the distance...
We made a snap decision to fly home from nearby Savannah, Georgia and left our rig at the KOA. Dianne's mom's health was failing fast and she wasn't expected to live much longer. This also gave Dianne the opportunity to go to her Retirement Gala which she was not going to attend. She confirmed our attendance but asked for it to be kept a secret. The looks on her coworkers faces was priceless when they saw us walk in. There was no way Dianne wasn't going to be there so the girls had Dianne's picture on a stick...LOL!
From the HR dept. Gwen, Laurie, Lynn and Delcie. Dianne has worked with these ladies for over 30 years with the exception of Laurie who was still working...
Sadly Dianne's mom passed away a few days later. I told Dianne that the timing of her mom's passing so close to her Retirement Gala was a gift to her for looking after her and her dad for the last few years...
Jeff and Gail were from Ottawa, Ontario.
Day trip to the beautiful town of Beaufort, SC. One of a handful of US towns with the entire downtown designated as a historic district. With many pre civil war plantation mansions and one of the only southern towns chosen to be occupied by Union troops rather than destroyed...
After our return from Canada our next stop was Fort McAllister State Park in Georgia, just a half hour south of Savannah. This is a great park with a heavily treed campground surrounded by salt marshes, the Ogeechee River, a civil war earthwork fort built by the Confederates and eventually taken over by the Union Army.
It also has an excellent Civil War Museum...
After our tour of the fort we did a 3 mile loop hike in the park and came across our very first Armadillo...
This is the building Henry Ford sold his first car from. He also led the restoration of Savannah back in the early 30's...
Laura S. Walker State Park, GA Our main reason for coming to this park was to visit the Okefenokee Swamp Park. We wanted to take the 2 hour boat tour but were told that due to the drought they were experiencing all boat tours were cancelled but they still had a train tour.
We saw lots of alligators...
We took in the show at the Interpretive Center where this fellow tried to get Dianne to touch this snake.
She reluctantly touched it for a millisecond. He then walked into the audience with a baby alligator and just as he got to me it peed! Boy did I jump. He said don't worry...it's just Gatorade...LOL!
We took a day trip to Jekyll Island. Beginning in 1886 and lasting for well over 5 decades the Island that had been purchased for $125,000 by fifty three prominent Jekyll Island Club members created an exclusive island retreat for family and friends. Some of the elite and wealthy families were the Rockefellers, Pulitzers, Vanderbilt's, Morgan's, Goodyear's, Crane's and many more.
Indian Mound Cottage owned by the Rockefellers...Yep...that's a cottage!
We toured the Georgia Sea Turtle Center...Georgia's first sea turtle rehabilitation, research and education facility. This is Griffin. He had a gastrointestinal infection and a stroke so will spend the rest of his life in this facility...
Remnants of the Horton House built by Major William Horton who established a thriving plantation on the island in the 1730's. Constructed of Tabby which is from sand and seashells...
Checking out the Clam Creek Picnic area and Fishing Pier on the island...
Back at the campground we were invited over to Roy and Sandy's and a tour of their motorhome. They are from Port Orange, Florida near Orlando where we were headed. We spent a couple of hours with them as they showed us many of the parks they had visited. They were emphatic that we give them a call when we reached Orlando and they would show us around...sweet! A very nice down to earth and genuine couple.
Happy Hour as the sun sets...
A Gator floating by...
November 29th-December 5th
Salt Springs Campground, Ocala National Forest, Florida.
We checked out the trails and cold water Salt Springs. No Manatees but look at all those fish!
There is a large OHV area in the Ocala National Forest so we rode in a few of different areas. Quite different from what we were used to. Very flat and sandy when we're used to steep and rough:)
They have huge OHV staging areas which we had never seen before...nice!
We launched the boat and did the very scenic 5 mile trek along the Salt Springs Run to Lake George. It's shallow and weedy and you have to be on a constant lookout for Manatees that move into the area when it's colder out as they search for the constant 72F spring water...
Hey...we're in Florida... got to check out an airboat ride sometime:)
Lake George in the distance. It's the second largest lake in Florida, 5 miles wide and 18 mile long.
With a depth of only 10 feet we had been warned how quickly it can get really rough...
Come on Dianne...this is fun!
The following day we drove a few miles away to check out the Silver Glen Springs...a very beautiful park.
The fish have congregated around where the spring bubbles up thru the sand. Florida has around 600 cold water springs, more than anywhere else on earth.
Wekiwa Springs State Park, near Orlando where we had below freezing temps. We stayed here until the 14th then dropped our rig off at Suncoast RV for warranty work while we flew home to Victoria, BC for Christmas where it was warmer than Orlando!
We took a 40 minute hike to the springs...
There were lots of kayakers...
That's my 2010 recap. We dropped off our rig for service and storage at Suncoast RV in Orlando then flew home to Victoria for Christmas and returned 3 weeks later to continue our adventure in Florida. Thanks for tagging along and hopefully your interested in checking out 2011-2012!
Wow, that was quite the year! It is always fun to look back at old memories. We need to get up to Reed Lake sometime!
ReplyDeleteIt was a very busy year for sure. I’ve never experienced fishing like that before...so much fun!
DeleteWow you had a very busy year. Lots of great memories you revisited. :)
ReplyDeleteYes it was go, go, go! We have learned to slow it down a bit over the years.
DeleteLots of wonderful memories. We've seen a good number of those ourselves.
ReplyDeleteBe Safe and Enjoy!
It's about time.
So much to see but not enough time 😉
DeleteIt would be nice if you would put the year after the month and day.
ReplyDeleteIt’s good to remember your adventures
The blog is a review of 2010. 😉
Delete