Back into the USA

September 12-14, 2016 – Days 24-26

Started our return trip back to the USA this morning by eating breakfast at Tim Horton’s – a Canadian and East Coast icon in the fast food industry. Everyone goes to “Tims”.  As of today we have come almost 3500 miles on this Safari so far.  The boarder crossing was easy and routine – lost our limes as Canadian citrus is not allowed in the US (limes probably came from the US?). The route to Watertown, New York today was relatively short and easy, with the exception of a few stretches of narrow single lane highway due to the ever-present road construction.

Day 25 led us to Binghampton, New York, with a stop along the way in Syracuse to visit a Camping World for a few supplies. Mike got his Christmas present a few months early: a new sewer hose system, oh boy is he ever a lucky guy! Don’t say he isn’t spoiled. We observed New York’s attempt at dealing with distracted drivers, along the interstates they have many areas labeled texting pullouts – we saw quite a few drivers using them. Good idea New York!

Into Pennsylvania today, drove 111 miles along the Pennsylvania Turnpike ($30.55) – roads again had a lot of construction, guess they are trying to get repairs finished before winter sets in. They have a lot of work to do, these were the bumpiest roads we have had all trip. Worried that the old rig would fall apart before the day was up.  The drive today was along the Poconos, beautiful forests of hard wood trees – a few appeared to be getting ready for their fall color show: a bit of yellow/golden leaves appearing along the roadside. We crossed the Delaware River and stopped in Clarksboro, New Jersey for next 5 nights. The RV Park is about 30 minutes across the Delaware River to Philadelphia

Ottawa

September 10-11, 2016 – Days 22-23

Today we started our 3^rd week of our North American Safari #5. We went into Ottawa and took the red double decker Gray Line Hop on – Hop off bus tour seeing much of down town Ottawa. Highlights of the hour long ride were: The Canadian Museum of History, Parliament Hill, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Stables, the National Gallery of Canada, Rideau Hall (Prime Minister’s Home), Canadian Aviation Museum, The Fairmont Chateau Laurier (beautiful old hotel), Royal Canadian Mint, and many other beautiful old and new buildings. After the tour we had a nice lunch at the Mill Street Brewery. We walked off our meal by walking along the parliament row taking in the majesty of the old structures along the Ottawa River. Ottawa is one of the most attractive big cities we have visited. In the evening we enjoyed another Manhattan at the Fairmont Hotel and walked back over to Parliament Hill to enjoy the sound and light show called the Northern Lights – quite patriotic and colorful.  We got back to our car and the Ottawa skies opened up with their own light show of thunder, lightening, wind and rain.  

Sunday afternoon we returned back to the city and walked through the Canadian Museum of History. A very unique and attractive building in its own right. The museum is actually in Quebec, across the river from Ontario. The exhibitions were: Napoleon, The Gold Rush, and First Nation Peoples artifacts, including many totem poles and interesting statues.  We enjoyed a break out on the patio over looking the Ottawa River and the city - Parliament Buildings and many other iconic sights. Ottawa has been a great way to end the Canadian portion of our journey. Monday we head back into the US – setting our sights on New York.

More Trans Canadian Highway #17

September 7-9, 2016 – Days 19-21 The LONG DRIVE!

We continued our eastward trek – through Ontario. Canada is definitely a country of open spaces, and long distances. Leaving Thunder Bay we were again on Highway 17 – fairly good roads, some construction but not much traffic. The roadside scenery was varied with forest like settings, lakes (and more lakes), and more granite with interesting rock stacking – some resembling the 1^st Nations Inuksuk – the Good Luck Traveler symbol, but still no moose sightings. Mid afternoon we took a much-needed break in small town of White River – fuel stop and an A & W Root beer called to us.  A nice surprise was that this little burg was the birthplace of Winnie the Pooh – 1914 Lt. Harry Colebourn in the Canadian Army, purchased a black bear cub in White River. He named the little bear Winnie after his hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba. The bear went with Colebourn to Europe; while he was serving in France he gave Winnie to the London Zoo. It was there in 1926 that A.A. Milne came up with the Winnie The Pooh stories for his son Christopher Robin. After a long day we stopped for the night in Wawa, Ontario – famous for their BIG Canadian goose statues. Placed around the small town to attract people off the interstate to come into Wawa.

Day # 2 of the LONG Drive – ditto of many of the previous days, but we have Ottawa in our sights and know that a couple of more of these long days will get us there. We continue to enjoy the ever-evolving scenery and have lost count of the number of golf courses that Ontario must have. Every area with any population at all has at least one if not more courses. The Canadians are very athletic folks.  A new curiosity along the roadsides has been a number of chip shacks. These were food truck like vehicles set up along side the road, many near lake parks and other places where vacationers might gather. They were sort of appealing, but luckily the few that were still open for the season were not convent fro us to pull into. After a very long 300+ mile day we came to rest next Porky’s Chip Shack in the small town of Narin Center, Ontario.

Day #3 --- ditto! Although this was not a boring day! We had several adventures that tried our good spirits, but all worked out ok! A few miles into our morning travels we were pulled over by an Ontario Highway Patrol Car – yikes, blinking lights on a black car behind you is never a good thing! Not knowing quite where to pull over on a highway with very narrow shoulders was another concern. The officer was very polite and wanted to let us know that Ontario has a very strict seatbelt law. He could not see that we were wearing our seat belts – we have no shoulder sashes. After realizing we are in an older rig that we indeed did have seat belts (yes, we wear them), he let us go and was very friendly despite Guinness and Coronas initial loud greeting!

Adventure #2 came at lunchtime. We drove looking for a roadside rest – few and far between and when they are there – we can’t always see them in time to get into them. Needing a break we got off the highway in the town of Petawawa. A nice town, with a big military base. We drove sort of blindly looking for a parking lot that would work for a break. We spotted one, and entered….. oops, good entrance, but sadly no easy exit ! Figuring we could get out by unhitching, we took a few minutes to walk the dogs and eat lunch. By the time we had finished the parking lot that had only a few cars in it was filling up quickly. There was a big military celebration across the road, complete with bagpipes and drums – parking was at a premium and we were taking up way too much space. Quickly we flew into action: car off the dolly, dolly off the MoHo, wiggle the MoHo around, reattach the dolly, put the car back on the dolly! PHEW – it was quite a well oiled machine that got it done and we were able to get out of the way of may cars wanting our spots.

Adventure #3 – we drove on towards Ottawa – a bit tired and worse for wear at this point, we found a campground but had trouble trying to actually get there. Hate to admit it, but really do miss not having the Maps/gps program in Canada. – After 30 min or so of being lost and frustrated, another call to the campground straightened us out and we got there!! Boys were we BEAT – 3 days, 1000+ miles and a day from Hell was about all we could handle. Oh do we ever know how to have fun!

Ontario and more Trans-Canadian Highway

September 4-6, 2016 – Days 16-18

Guess it is official – summer is over! Labor Weekend is here and celebrated in a big way here in Canada. Left Winnipeg and headed about 250 miles to Dryden Ontario. Our Trans Canadian Highway 1 has turned into Hwy 17 East at the Ontario boarder. We traveled with very light traffic; some drizzle and rain off and on during the day. Moose Watch was still in effect – the roadside had many promising looking pastures and ponds, but neither Mike nor I could positively identify any sightings.  We did however both see a grey wolf. He trotted across the road in front of us, seeming to not even notice us a few yards away. The roadside scenery was pleasant, lots of green vegetation, and outcroppings of granite along the roadsides. Many crazy folks appeared to have stopped along the way to place pieces of granite on top of each other, leaving rock stacks for us to enjoy. A lot of the granite was pink – like we had seen in Maine a few years ago. The theme of most of the ride was LAKES – seemingly 100s of them small, medium and large, almost the entire drive today.

On this 2016 Labor Day, Thunder Bay, Ontario was the next destination on our itinerary. We again drove on wet roads, but the holiday traffic was light and the roads were good. The speed limit was reduced to 90 K (aobut 55 mph) from our earlier 110 K (65mph) HWY 1, but with the rain it was reasonable.  We had some good news at our last fuel stop – topped 9.5 MPG – know that doesn’t sound great, BUT we generally run 8-8.5. Karen’s math skills were put to the test converting liters to gallons, and Canadian dollars to US. Scared Mike with one of my figures, but finally got it right.  After reaching our KOA Campground the drizzle stopped and we were able to enjoy an afternoon beverage outside.

Tuesday, 9/6/16 - Awoke to gray and MUGGY weather – phew the humidex quotient must of been near 100%, we are so spoiled, don’t often have this kind of sticky weather! Took the little Prius into Thunder Bay to see the sights…. So foggy that we couldn’t see much of Lake Superior or much of anything. Not sure what we missed, but drove through the downtown and still didn’t see much of anything that looked like the promised “POINTS OF INTEREST”.  After returning to camp and doing a bit of catching up on housekeeping projects – the sun came out, the fog went away and the humidly seemed to drop too. We headed back out and saw some interesting locations. The Terry Fox Memorial was located up on a bluff over looking Lake Superior (we could see it). Terry Fox had cancer as an 18 year old, had to have his leg amputated. In an effort to give to other cancer patients Terry inspired Canada with his dream – his MARATHAN OF HOPE – a cross Canada run to raise money for cancer research. Terry from British Columbia knew only too well the ravages of cancer was determined not to leave this world before a cure had been found. The planned 5,300 mile run across Canada, began April 12, 1980 in Newfoundland. Running 26 miles a day, Terry conquered 5 provinces by the time he reached Ontario in June. At mile 3,339, near Thunder Bay, Ontario, reoccurring cancer forced him to give up his run. Terry inspired an entire generation of Canadians with his determination and devotion. Through his strength and determination this monument was created in his memory.

Our next stop was about 15 miles west of town, the Kakabeka Falls; with an easy walk we were able to see the falls and the beautiful surrounding granite canyon. These falls are the second highest in Ontario.  Dinner tonight was also a HIGH LIGHT at the Keg Restaurant. We enjoyed good Manhattans, great appetizer of bacon wrapped scallops, fantastic dinner of prime rib and a good Shiraz wine from Jacob’s Creek – Adelaide, Australia. Wow an amazing finish to our visit to Thunder Bay.

Manitoba

August 31- September 3, 2016 – Days12-15

Another day on the North American Safari #5 road saw us leaving the province of Saskatchewan and heading into Manitoba. We can officially mark that on our travel map on the side of the MoHo. We enjoyed a scenic drive – the ever-present agriculture with more rolling hills and trees and other more interesting vegetation. The highway continued with construction, narrow lanes with close on coming traffic made for a tiring drive for Mike. There were many road signs warning us of possible moose and antelope appearances. Karen watched closely, especially in the roadside ponds for the listed animals, no sightings were made.  We stopped for the night in a small community RV Park in Elkhorn Manitoba.

Canada is complete, for now!

The next morning we continued east along the Trans Canadian Highway 1 (TCH-1) on a very windy, bumpy road. More construction – the highway department appeared to be working hard to try and complete their projects in the next few weeks before the season changes. The scenery was much the same, with many fields of hay, wheat, canola, corn interspersed with spaces of trees of various descriptions.  The Safari Motorhome and towed came to rest at the KOA campground west of Winnipeg. After setting up camp, we took an investigative drive into the city, about 30 miles east to Winnipeg. We found our way to the area called the Forks – the intersection of the Red River and Assiniboine Rivers. The Forks Market was an interesting collection of shops to investigate. Winnipeg is a very attractive and diverse city, a lot of traffic on Thursday night. Dinner was another M.Q.= Manhattan Quest, a disappointing participant; too sweet, small pour and not cold enough.  

beauriful bridge

not the best!

The Heart of Nation Trolley Tour was an interesting and entertaining 95 min “fly-by” view of Winnipeg & surrounding communities. We saw the charming French Quarter, the Exchange District (financial area), Assiniboine Park Zoo, MTS Center home of the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets team, Manitoba’s Legislative Building and many interesting buildings/houses of varying architectural design. Our next stop for the day was Canadian Museum for Human Rights, a very inspirational setting to explore and reflect on human rights in Canada and around the world at the.  Besides the amazing displays the building was an extraordinary structure to walk around.

loading the tour bus

modern architecture

Our last day in Winnipeg we went to the zoo – nice grounds with some very well done exhibits. We enjoyed the Journey to Churchill attraction with Arctic wolves, seals, polar bears, musk ox, and a snowy owl. The zoo also featured and interesting display of rare red panda and snow leopards. One of our favorite stops was the Toucan aviary – full of many colorful birds and one toucan that liked to pose for Mike. It was a perfect day to walk and see the sights. Winnipeg and Canada has been WINDY – today the temps were in the low 80’s with only a slight breeze.  Our journey next took us to the Manitoba Legislative Building with its neoclassic architecture and symbolic adornments. – We were excited to get a tour. There are people who believe that this building completed in 1920 is in fact full of Dan Brown like intrigue: grandiose interior of its ode to Olympus, is studded with hieroglyphics, freemasonic symbols, and numeric codes. The top of the building is complete with two sphinxes, and a Golden Boy. Our final Winnipeg experience was a decent Manhattan and a very good dinner of ribs and Cajun chicken. This has been a great stop along our 2 months adventure. 

Polar Bear

Toucan

Manitoba Legislature(gold man on top like Oregon)