A little of this, a little of that (09-09-13)

That’s about what we’ve been up to.  We finished our visit to the Novi area with some doctor visits.  Nothing but good news, and that’s always nice!


Anyone who has been in my trailer for the last few days may be wondering why we have a sleeping bag on the couch.  Well, we are bringing it to California for our daughter, and as soon as I brought it in and put it down, Dozer decided to make a nest in it.  Once he finds a new “place”, he sleeps there for about a week, and since I am sooo nice, I am leaving it there until he gets tired of it.




 

Once we had the doctor appointments out of the way, we headed across the state to a mini DRV Suites rally. We went to this rally last year and really enjoyed the people, so we made a point to get there again this year.

We had several potluck dinners and breakfasts, and went out to dinner one night at a nearby casino.   The weather was just about perfect for  hanging around outside all weekend long. With a small group, you get a chance to get to know people a little better.  Different combinations of people would be lounging by the fire at any given time, which made for smaller, more intimate conversations.

And of course, part of the fun of these rallies is checking out everyone else’s rig.  One of the potential consequences of that pastime is the creation of envy.  More about that later. 

Last year Paul and I played tennis at the single tennis court this RV park has, and this year we headed over there again, hoping to shed at least a half pound or so after eating for 3 days.  We were confused once we started playing because something about the court just didn’t seem right.  Somehow it felt Way Too Small.  As it turns out, they turned the one tennis court into two pickle ball courts.  A pickle ball court is about 2/3 the size of a tennis court.  After a few minutes of accidently backing up into the fence, we gave it up and headed for the pool and hot tub.

   Once the rally was over, we headed down to Howe Indiana to the DRV factory, where our trailer was made. 

Since we were pretty close anyway, we wanted to take the factory tour and see what’s new. Some of the new things they are doing is putting garbage disposals and dishwashers in the new units. I guess that would be nice, but neither is on my Wish List.











Pretty much everyone who has met Paul knows he loves lights- especially LEDs.  He definitely gave the thumbs up to the new LED recessed lights that are being put in the new units.

But in the back of his mind was something he had seen in someone else’s trailer at the rally, and that’s what we were carrying when we walked out the door of DRV. Because nothing is too good for our trailer- Paul is in the process of installing a brand new electric toilet!   Ok, it’s not that exciting, but it will be (or better be, for the price we paid!)  less frustrating to use and maintain than the one we have. Having the positive feedback from current owners was the tipping point on this purchase.

So, that’s what he is working on today.  We’ll stay in the Howe Indiana area for a couple of days while he gets that installed and we do some other shopping.  After that, we’ll meander towards New Mexico, but we haven’t even discussed the route we’ll take, or what we want to see along the way. All I know is that after all this eating,  I want to do some hiking.

60,000 Miles (09-02-13)

It’s hard to believe the truck has 60,000 miles on it, but it does, and it was time to buy a new set of tires.  That’s just one of quite a few chores we’ve been taking care of in Michigan.  It’s one of the more expensive chores though. Ouch.  Paul is pretty happy with the new Michelins, so that’s a consolation, I suppose..

The guy who runs the storage lot where we store our jet boat called us a couple of months ago to tell us there is a hole in the shrink wrap, so we drove over, patched the hole, and headed on our way. One of these days we’d love to figure out a way to get the boat to Arizona, or somewhere else where we could use it!

Our next stop was our storage unit where we keep our household goods.  We passed by our old house on the way there.  It’s a nice house, but we sure don’t miss all the “stuff” that goes along with house ownership!








 

Digging into our storage unit usually requires us to toss a bunch of stuff into the hallway.  We always hope no one will need to get past us while we are there.

I know most of our full timing friends sold all of their household goods, and every year Paul and I reassess whether it’s worth paying for another year of storage, and every year the answer is yes, so I guess this works for us at this point.

The RV Park we’re staying in had a yard sale on Saturday, and everyone could put stuff out that they wanted to sell.  We took advantage and grabbed a bunch of stuff from storage to sell off.  Some of it is our daughter’s stuff, and she was happy to make a few dollars (without having to do the work!)  We did ok- the most important thing being that we got rid of stuff that we don’t need or want anymore. 

Paul is using some of the “down time” to make some changes to the valances on the windows.  Me, I just make sure I’m close by to hold up the other end for him. 

In between chores, we’ve managed to spend time with friends!  There’s never enough time to see everyone, and I hardly ever remember to get the camera out, so I have very few pictures. Mason was very happy to have his picture taken in between his attempts to entertain the cat though.  I was still working with his mom, Pennie, when she became pregnant with him, but we were gone before he was born. We've seen him several times since then though!

The next few days will be full of other "stuff" that needs to get done before we leave here (hopefully) on Friday. 

It’s Amazing What We Get Used To ! (08-30-13)

But first- you know when you’re on vacation, and on your second to last day being away from home, you start packing up some of your stuff, preparing to leave, and all of a sudden, you just want to be home?  Well, that’s what happened to Paul and I.  Once we knew we were leaving Canada, we were suddenly in a rush to get back to the states.  So, off we ran, putting lots of miles behind us every day, and we ended up arriving  in the states 3 days ahead of schedule. Crossing the border was no issue, we were asked a few questions, and then he told us to have a nice day.  Gee, and I had made sure we had eaten all the meat and produce we had, just in case! 

Anyway, this post is more about the differences I noticed being in Canada. My thought started when I was surprised at how happy I was when we arrived in St. John’s, Newfoundland a few weeks ago, and it got me thinking. As we’ve toured each province of Atlantic Canada, our destinations have gotten more and more remote. In Labrador, the most remote, we ran out of paved road after just an hour of driving (I am sure other areas have paved roads?).  New Brunswick, our first province, didn’t seem too different than being in the states, with Costco, Kohls, and Tim Horton’s (think Dunkin  Donuts) available, and restaurants on every corner.  There were a few things that did change right away though.

We had no data plan for our cell phones and ipad in Canada.  We pretty much got used to that fact, although I will admit that we did pick restaurants based on whether they have Wi-Fi, and we forgave each other for sitting at the table with phone in hand.  On the flip side, its strange, I think, that we are so used to having the internet at our finger tips that we missed not being instantly connected, whenever and wherever we want.   2 years ago, neither of us even had a smart phone, never mind an ipad! Now I would have to admit that if my ipad broke, it would be replaced within days, not weeks.  I, personally, had to get used to the fact that my phone was not the one receiving phone calls.  We only added Canada to Paul’s phone plan, so all of our calls went to him.

One of the things I loved about our time in Canada, is that the cream they use for their coffee is real cream, not “fat free” non dairy creamer, like I am used to.  Every morning, my coffee tasted like it was from a first class coffee shop.



Instead of google, we used paper maps and tour books to do our research and planning.(this made planning much less fun for me).  We definitely got used to making sure the tour books and maps  went with us in the truck every day! When writing my blog, my memory is so bad that if I can’t remember a fact correctly, I usually just “google” it to make sure I have it right. In Canada, I had to cheat- I typed notes on my iphone- so I’d have the details for later.




There is one exception to the map thing.  I spent $1 and bought a map app for the ipad.  It’s the best dollar I have spent in a long time. Once the maps are downloaded, they are accessible offline, so I can use it as a second GPS as we travel. It’s been invaluable.

We adjusted fairly well to the metric thing.  We learned to  do the mental math fast enough and accurate enough to wing it when dealing with kilometers, meters and kilograms.  Well, maybe not kilograms. The stores list certain items by the pound, and certain items by the kilogram or gram, so we were always confused.   Mostly if we were buying something its because we needed it, so we just closed our eyes and put it in the basket.  We completely looked the other way when buying diesel.  It was $5 a gallon when we got here and it only went up.


There are certain numbers we made a special point to learn in metric. 

The height, and width of our vehicles are some of those numbers. Nothing like scrambling at the last second when a sign on the highway states “all vehicles over 2.6 meters wide MUST exit”.

After New Brunswick we moved to PEI, where the restaurants and grocery stores are few and far between, and large chain stores are non-existent. No Wal-Marts here!  We were in vacation mode on PEI so we really enjoyed not being inundated with the usual suspects for stores and restaurants.

In Nova Scotia, Halifax is sort of an oasis of urbanism.  The city has the only two Costcos in Nova Scotia, and although there isn’t a bunch of chain restaurants, there is no shortage of great places to eat.  

The rest of our stay in Nova Scotia was far more like PEI- very few restaurants and the grocery stores are mostly Co-ops-grocery stores that are owned by the townspeople.

We also had to get used to seeing street signs in Gaelic, as well as English, although, it really didn’t take much getting used to.

Before we left for Newfoundland we took advantage of the semi large town of Sydney, Nova Scotia to stock the refrigerator and freezer.  Having experienced shopping on the mainland, we had no idea what to expect on the island, and we arrived with literally enough food to last the entire 3 weeks, if need be.  The produce on Newfoundland is not what we are used to at all and we bought very little of it.  We are used to freshness and variety and I think the stores on the island struggle to provide that. 
I am not saying one way of being is better than another, many of the things we got used to had nothing to do with the fact that we are in another country.    It just dawned on me when we arrived in St. John’s and I was smiling, that I had missed some of the things I am used to having.

I was happy to see Best Buy, even though I didn’t need to buy anything.  I was thrilled to see Costco, although the lines were so long we left without buying anything.  The second time we tried to go, on Wednesday, it was closed!! Apparently there’s a local holiday that we knew nothing about!

Television is something else we’ve gotten used to.  Well, Paul is used to having at least a few channels to surf, so he has gotten use to reading more books for the last month or so, and I really don’t care much about TV, so I have been enjoying the quiet.  Most places in Canada, we had NO television channels at all.







As Paul and I travel, we go through urban as well as rural, and downright remote, places.  We shy away from the urban pretty regularly.  Neither one of us is a city dweller, and a little goes a long way with us (especially driving a dually!)  I, for one though, have discovered I would feel too cut off, living too far from a metropolitan area.  As much as I bemoan the fact that we can predict what restaurants and stores we’ll see when we arrive in a new city (Best Buy, TJ Maxx/Ross, Applebees,  Target, Kohls, Olive Garden etc) I guess I’ve gotten used to those places being there when I want them!


So, now we are back in Michigan, visiting with friends, shopping in our storage unit, and going to doctor appointments, for the next week.