Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Monday 10th May
With no last check on the boat we left Granny’s Grove and down through Labelle to the east coast and West Palm Beach to stay with Ira and Ann for a few days.

Tuesday 11th May to Thursday 13th May
Hanging out in West Palm with a visit to Costco our only trip out as it was getting a little hot for cycling and nobody seemed to have a lot of energy.

Friday 14th May
On the next day we were booked into Edisto State Park in South Carolina so there were some miles to be covered before then.

We made it all the way to northern Georgia to stay at a Flying J Truck Stop.  This one had a special spot for RVs.
 
This is a big plus for Flying J’s as , although you can park overnight for free, usually you have to park too close to the trucks and listen to them idle most of the night.

This is something you only would see in the USA, it’s based on a Ford Excursion so it’s got to rate as the biggest limo, short of a Hummer limo.


Saturday 15th May
On up the I-95 to the turn off for Edisto and by check-in time we’re at our favourite camping ground and we’re on the site we had booked 6 months earlier.


Just a few metres from the beach.   We could just see the ocean from the RV.

And the RV from the beach.


Sunday 16th May to Friday 21st May
We had a lovely week with great weather on all but one day.  I did some surfing.


We took walks along the miles of beach with Buddy.


Sometimes as far as the inlet that feeds the wetlands on Edisto Island.


The wind did blow pretty strongly all week giving us a wind-swept Buddy.


Battalions of diving pelicans.

 



It’s a big nesting place for loggerhead turtles but no one seemed to know what this little guy was.


He walked all the way from the sand dunes and then swam off into the sea.


Wouldn’t have liked to meet this crab while swimming in the surf.


That's a size 10 croc.

Carol contracted a cold during the week and I had to have a tooth out so it wasn’t all just a fun time.

Saturday 22nd May
The week flew by and it was time to move out and northward.

We made it to our usual spot at Roanoke, North Carolina and barbequed the last South Carolina shrimps we’ll have for a while.

Sunday 23rd May
We learned a lesson about blindly following GPS’s when we ended up in the middle of downtown Baltimore after realizing the I-95 goes under the river there in a tunnel and RVs with their propane systems are not permitted through them.

Our overnight stay was in a very noisy Flying J in New Jersey.

Monday 24th May
On the way coming down we had been fairly lucky in passing through New York at a relatively good time.  We decided to avoid the whole area by going up towards Albany on the Jersey side (well west of Newark) and then heading across  directly east to Boston.

This dropped us in very rural Connecticut where we found a lovely spot on Lake Wilderness.


Tuesday 25th May
We did intend to stay at a Wal-Mart or some other such free spot but Maine was uncharacteristically hot and we plumped for a campsite with power.  We found a really great one for very little with our Passport America discount.
 

Wednesday 26th May
The day started off really warm, we even had to turn the a.c. on before we left.   By mid-afternoon we had crossed the border into New Brunswick, arrived in Saint John and picked up the Subaru from the storage place (after a boost).

Turns out next time I tried to start it, the Subaru  needed another boost, so it was time for the first of what will I’m sure be many visits to Canadian Tire for a replacement battery.

Thursday 27th to Monday 31st May
Carol’s sister Jean and husband Tim have moved since we last parked The Big Easy in their driveway.  They now live in a condominium with no facilities for parking 30’ RVs.

Fortunately their son Teddy, wife Kim and son Nathan have lots of land and nice long driveway where we could leave the RV while we stay in Jean & Tim’s new house.

They have a beautiful view of the Kennebecasis River and the ferries crossing to the Kingston peninsula that seperates the Kennebecasis River from the Saint John River.

The picture is a panorama shot that you would have to turn your head to see the whole.


They are very happy with their new place that has nice deck with a view.


But they’ve had to cut down on cars with only the single garage.


We went to a couple of movies – Robin Hood and Shrek Ever After 3D – did some shopping and took Buddy and Riley for walks.

Tuesday 1st June
Using our air miles we’d booked a trip to Ottawa to stay with our friend Richard in Ottawa, so after dropping Buddy off at the local kennels,  Jean dropped us at the airport and with only a stopover in Montreal we were in Ottawa by early afternoon.  Richard picked us up at the airport and we drove back to his place in the country which seemed very strange without Sarah to greet us.

Wednesday 2nd to Wednesday 9th June
Richard’s been keeping the Miata in his garage for us and so we had a car to drive round in, visit some friends, get some of our organizational things done, get a filling etc.  We also got to meet Richard’s daughter’s beau Steve and enjoy some really good meals.
 
Thursday 10th June
The day of our return started just fine with a stop off for a great breakfast at Royals in Richmond.  We thought we had lots of time to catch the plane, however, when Carol checked the ticketing information she found the plane actually left in about 10 mins.  So Richard drove us down to the bus station to catch a bus to Montreal to pick up the next leg of the flight. However, Aeroplan cancels the flight if you miss the first leg so it cost us lots to rebook the flight.  Just be aware anyone who uses Outlook for their appointments, when you change time zones it changes the appointment time.

Friday 11th June
Beautiful weather and time to do some RV fixin’.

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