Waving goodbye to George and Barb, we departed the farm on Friday morning shortly after 9:30. The traffic was heavy through Toronto with some slowdowns. But, we made good time and arrived at our planned stopping point ( a truck stop near Port Hope ) at only 12:30. Since we didn’t want to spend hours in a parking lot, surrounded by trucks, we pressed on. There were no Harvest Hosts or Boondockers Welcome nearby but I found a Walmart in Belleville that had some good reviews.
There we found a spot in the shade and Murray checked over the rig. The passenger trailer rear light had been acting strangely. When he removed it, he found that the outside of the light had been broken and water had intruded at some time in the past. I found a Truck and Trailer Supply place nearby and we offloaded the car. When he installed the new light, he found a light bar under the lip of the trailer that he hadn’t seen before. Another trip to Truck and Trailer Supply and we now have many lights working on the back of the trailer. Dinner time found us walking to a nearby pub. The night was noisy but no one bothered us.
The next day’s drive took us almost to Cornwall. Following gps, we headed for Upper Canada Village. I missed the entrance and we made a u-turn just down the road. There was a nasty noise when we entered that lot but all seemed well. Returning to Upper Canada Village, we found a parking spot and got ready for adventures. Murray checked the rig and discovered that the trailer jack had spun itself down and the bottom had hit the pavement. The jack was badly bent! Using a two inch heavy duty ratchet strap, and a hammer, he managed to get it almost straight again. Then, he used bungee cords to prevent it from spinning down once more.
It was a very hot and humid day and right about noon. But, we will still plan to go into Upper Canada Village. At the ticket booth, we discovered that there was no seniors rate nor was there a half day rate. As I cannot walk much more than an hour, we decided $50 for an hour was just too much.
Time to head to our Boondockers Welcome spot for the night, with a view of the water. Our lovely hosts welcomed us before leaving to attend a party. Gord loaned Murray some tools to cut off the bottom of the jack tube. It had been worn away due to contact with the pavement. I will attach a photo.
It is now Sunday and time to enter Quebec as our out-of-province health insurance is active. The roads varied from lovely new smooth pavement to atrocious broken s*#t. The motorhome sounded as though it was breaking apart at times. And the rain! Heavy at times to the point that we slowed substantially. At other times, just a light drizzle. But it had no intention of clearing. We followed my phone’s gps to our Harvest Host spot for the night at a winery. But, I missed the corner and we had to make another u-turn. Eventually, we found the correct spot and carefully made our way up their driveway. On either side of said narrow driveway was very deep ditches! We parked and checked in. After a wine tasting and some shopping, we relaxed, ate dinner, watched the rain and crashed into bed.
Our thirsty beast need fuel before we could even head for the freeway. The nearby gas station was a nightmare with heavy customer traffic ( 2 truck and trailer rv’s plus us plus regular cars), a tight parking lot and a Tim Horton’s as well. But, we managed and Murray handles this thing like a race car.
On through Quebec and into New Brunswick, the miles clicked off beneath our tires. Arrived in Woodstock NB mid afternoon and stopped at Canadian Tire to purchase a new trailer jack. The old one just keeps winding down and impacting the pavement. Not a good thing. Not far from Woodstock was our spot for the night. Strawberry Fields Farm is another Harvest Host location and Tim guides us through a muddy lane to our parking place. He told us to pick any ripe strawberries that we found. The recent rains had ended their harvest. A truck and fifth wheel trailer with three persons aboard joined us for the evening. It was lovely to sit out and listen to the birds while watching the sunset.
Now, we only have one more day before we arrive in Canso for the Stan Rogers Folk Festival. I suggested that I find a campground near Amherst NS where we can get water, dump waste and do laundry. Loch Lomond Campground was near the highway and we got a drive through spot for $49. After research, it was determined that liquor was cheaper in New Brunswick so a stop was planned at the last town before Nova Scotia. Even with that stop, we arrived at the campground by 1:30. Lots of time for me to do laundry and for Murray to remove the old jack.
But, of course, our issues are not over. The refrigerator keeps failing when on gas but nothing has thawed out yet. The slide is making groaning noises sometimes. And tomorrow is a new day. Who knows might crop up? I can almost guarantee that there will be something. That is what travelling in a motorhome is like. When you take your house and drive it down the rough roads, all sorts of things go wrong.
That is Life on the Road!
Hugs
Heather & Murray
Oh I love the stories. Can’t think what it is that is soooo familiar?? Oh yea, fixing things on the road.
“Life shrinks or expands in relation to one’s courage” and boy are your lives expanding! Never a dull moment for you
Bravo from Emerald Dragon!
Ride on…. Rob