A blustery, overcast day with a high of only 13ºC or 56ºF, we had some rain overnight, but today is Sunday and the Bills are on one of the four stations that I can get with the over the air TV antenna. The satellite dish is up but I decided because we are going to be in the body shop this week, there wasn’t any sense of starting it until we are out, ya I know my Scottish is showing again, I just can’t help myself.

Well the Bills looked like the Bills of old getting kicked around by the Eagles, but as a long time Bills fan this is just normal. It has been a lazy Sunday for me, Miss Laurie on the other hand went for a walk with Irena, they took the dog to the dog park and then hiked a bit of the Bruce trail. Then they came back and spent the afternoon painting, Irena is an artist and whether oil or water, her work is amazing, she also teaches a number of classes and a few private students (so ya she is that kind of good). Miss Laurie is pretty good to, this is one of the pass times that she is hoping to enjoy this winter, in Arizona between hikes and cocktails. My day was not nearly as productive but I think we all need days like that, I got to watch some NFL football, and just kick back on a comfortable seat for the afternoon.

In an effort to comply with boarder requirements we barbecued some honey garlic sausage from the freezer, for dinner as that was just one less thing that the boarder staff would not have to take if they checked, not that they often do, but if they did we would answer honestly and they would confiscate any meat products that we have. I know to a lot of RV’rs find the Canadian boarder to be a deterrent to their travel, there are many mysteries which aren’t really a mystery at all if you just do a little research. You just need to find out what items are restricted, and leave them behind, as with any boarder there are some items that can’t cross and if you do some checking there is always a reason and it works going both ways as each country has their own restrictions. The two that catch us when traveling south are meat and citrus, neither are allowed to cross into the US and are so easy to forget, like that lime you slice up for your cocktail is a serious no no at the boarded.

It has not been a real good solar day as we only pulled in 20 amp hours of power today so the 15 amp line from Bob’s we managed to overloaded and kick off the breaker at about 10pm, with the inverter trying to charge the batteries and me running the space heater, so as we turn in for the night, we’re thinking it could be a cool night in the coach. This is one of the reasons that an inverter upgrade is in our near future, as the new inverters let us control the maximum load that we would draw from a shore power connection, as an example the 15 amp line from Bob’s house I could set it to draw no more than 10 amps (so no chance of overloading the circuit) and if another load would put us over the 10 amp mark the inverter would automatically add power from the batteries to cover the load. This feature will also be great when we are connected to a metered electrical outlet as a lot of parks charge separate for the amount of electrical that is used, so we could use our solar to reduce our costs. Again it’s showing a little isn’t it…sorry.

Day 755

Well that was a cold night, we are well past the little frost on the pumpkin, this left the ground white with frost, it was a bit of a late night for us so to say we are a little behind would be kind. But Thunder is packed and warming up as we do the final preparations before heading to Beamsville for a weekend with Bob and Irena, for what I suspect will be our last week before crossing into the United States. In fact the only hold up may be getting our new glasses, or at least my glasses, Miss Laurie is looking to get some contacts lenses this time through, so it will most likely be my prescription that holds us up, as they keep getting more complex as we (I) age, with the whole bifocal thing going on.

It may sound a little strange, but I think we will miss Richard and Bonnie, as we head south, we have worked with (for) them for the best part of six months. And as we part ways for the winter we will be curious as to what they are up to with the new grand baby on the way, the India adventure, and the Dominican. But I’m pretty sure we will stay in touch over the winter. After spending a few days at Maple Grove it comes to light what a massive undertaking this project is and why Bonnie and Richard just want to escape on their return to Lake Huron for a rest and a getaway, Miss Laurie has said a number of times this week that she can not look at what is here now and see the vision of the future plan just yet.

But as we aim Thunder for the Niagara Region we are looking forward to seeing our friends, maybe not so much my Doctors but again that just seems to come with the whole aging thing, and to jam them all into four days, Oh Yeh. But we have the weekend to look forward to before moving to St, Catharines. Well we pulled into Beamsville just before 1 o’clock today and are tucked away in their drive way, they have given us a 15 amp line that will keep us charged and Should be good for power.

Today was just a short run from Maple Grove only 44 miles (70 kms) down the QEW to Beamsville, with the only traffic being after the 403/QEW merge because it is a Saturday the traffic is heavy with all the Toronto traffic going to the Niagara Region for the Falls and winery’s in the area, the last count I heard was near 100 wineries. But still not real bad, the stupid people in the cars think that if I’m leaving a hundred yards of space they should try to jam five or six cars in my safety zone, how dare I plan for their inability to drive! I do not miss driving into Toronto on a regular basis any more, it is as bad or worse than most big American cities.

Today was great to catch up, for dinner we chowed down on Alex’s home made burgers, had some cake that Miss Laurie picked up at Costco and watched my Toronto Maple Leafs get beat up by Bob’s Montreal Canadians, the real kick in the butt we watched it on my old 70” 4K big screen from my sticks and bricks that Mr Bob now owns but makes sure to let me know that is has a really good picture, every time…Ya because that’s what friends do…