Well it is Saturday night and I was sitting in the recliner watching Global news as they are reporting on the latest political lies (after all we are only two weeks from our federal election and the news has to report each new lie every day) and as I glance out the side window, I said to Miss Laurie, Susan and Robert just pulled in and they are backing into their regular site across the road from us…and Miss Laurie’s response was precious “seriously” to which I responded yes I’m pretty sure it’s Susan and Robert.

Now the Pikes are becoming a regular topic of our blog, as it was just a few weeks ago that they surprised us on my birthday, they have been touring around Ontario seeing the sites and enjoying the warm weather. Now you may remember when they left us before they were heading to Windsor so Robert could take in a couple of the Detroit Red Wings pre-season games while waiting for some repairs on their rig. Well in typical RV fashion they are still waiting but they are getting real close, in fact one of the items is landing on this coming Tuesday and hopefully the rest are close behind.

So they were exploring up in the Parry Sound area, checking out the fall colours when Robert got the opportunity to take in the Detroit Red Wings home opener, so the are heading back to Windsor for a game Sunday evening and needed a place to park for the night, and we were that spot. It’s always great to have visitors and of course it just adds when they are unexpected.

Yesterday started out as a frosty morning, but warmed up as the day went on, Richard and I started winterizing the first group of trailers, as funny as this may seem I have not winterized a unit in about forty years, as our idea of winterizing Thunder is to aim south and drive till it feels warm! We have stayed in freezing temperatures now and then but just right around the freezing mark. In fact on Saturday morning when we had the heavy frost the thermostat in the wet bay turned on the furnace, yes Thunder has a diesel oil fired furnace and it has a pre-set thermostat in our wet bay where most of the water lines are, as well as a hot water radiator that comes to life to protect our systems.

This style of heating system is call hydronic heating and there are a number of brand names on the market, ours is branded Hurricane, these systems were developed for the boating world where no one uses propane, diesel which is used for the boat motors was the fuel of choices, and it works similar to the boilers in the big old houses that are the source of heat by heating hot water to be pumped to radiators. Thunder has five such radiators, one in the bed room, one in the bathroom, one in the kitchen area, one in the living area and of course one in the wet bay in the basement. So when it fires up it takes a while to warm all the fluid in the system (it is filled with an antifreeze similar to your car) but it is a nice gentle heat when we use it. But most of the time if we are plugged into shore power we heat with a little portable space heater.

Well it’s about eight o’clock on Sunday morning and Miss Laurie and Susan have headed to the beach in the search of some of the coveted beach glass, or the perfect shaped stone for painting. Susan and Robert will be leaving us by 11:00 this morning as they venture off to the Windsor area, but it is always great to see them even if it is just overnight.

Well this morning is cold, no not cool, no no this made it all the way to cold, 3 or 38 degrees, that is a number that makes me think it’s time to head south.

With only twenty days left on our schedule, at LHR (Lake Huron Resort) this is a reminder to me of just how much I don’t miss the cold…I know I am a Canadian boy and I’m suppose to be ok with the cold, and I used to have to just suck it up and carry on, but the last couple of winters being away from it, have maybe made me a little soft…but that’s ok. Now we have a choice as to where we winter, and freezing temperatures are not where I want to winter…just saying!

It’s Saturday morning at 4:57 and Mr. Divot just got me up because he wanted to be feed, so his routine is he climbs up on our bed and meows in our faces, and then one of us gets up and feeds the old grumpy Mr. Divot, well this morning it was me, and I notice the floor felt a little cool under my feet so I thought I will quickly check the weather on my phone and there it was the big number 3. Now being my optimistic (glass half full) self is thinking at least it is not freezing, but my pessimistic self is saying, ya but it’s really dam close.

So it’s cold enough that we have an electrical space heater, that has a thermostat and it normally cycles off and on over night as the temperature drops, after all we are only warming 320 square feet, and we like the bedroom cool for sleeping, so it is in the living area facing the windshield, but there is no cycling happening this morning. Now when we are traveling and not plugged into shore power, we will wake up to a coach that is 10 or 52 degrees and I will scramble to fire up the furnace as it circulates hot water through the whole coach, even the basement, but when we are on shore power and we have a cool night our little space heater is usually all we need.

But as I check the rest of the temperatures on my phone I notice Arizona is a balmy 14 or 60 degrees overnight and up into the low 30’s or 90’s in the day time, much better temperatures for this old fart, and then I remember that is thirty days or less we will be headed to those temperatures.

If you notice the temperature highs and lows there is less than ten degrees celcus from the high and low here but more than 15 degrees difference in Arizona, that is the desert, cool at night but warm during the day and notice nothing but sunshine for the week…then you wonder why we winter in Arizona.

Ok enough I heading back to bed, to dream of the warm temperatures of Arizona while boondocking in the desert drinking some of that economically priced Canadian Rye Whisky with a couple of ice cubes to keep it cool…just saying.