Tag: photography

Day 2388

Wednesday April 17th 2024

Day 9 of out trek north

Dear Journal:

Well if everything comes together correctly our trek north will end today, we are waking up at the Cracker Barrel in Roseville MI and I have a special breakfast planned for today, we are less than an hour from the border and other than one more fuel stop we will be in Ontario late morning. When I first got up this morning at 6:11 the skies were overcast, and now at 7:18 there is light rain falling, almost exactly as forecast, our weather app is showing a few scattered shower this morning with the heavier rain later today. The temperatures have retuned to seasonal as well the temperature this morning is 54ºF (12.2ºC) with a little breeze, the sad part is that this temperature is the forecast high for todays end destination. We ain’t in Arizona anymore!

But first things first, breakfast and a cup of fresh perked coffee and yes this morning there was a wee Irish blessing in my cup (the end of the bottle). This morning I ordered the “Country Fried Steak” along with scrambles eggs, hash browns, biscuits and gravy, Miss Laurie ordered French toast with “Country Fried Chicken”, maybe a wee bit extravagant but just a typical American breakfast. Along with breakfast I also got to experience the worst customer service that I have ever experienced at a Cracker Barrel, which just go to prove that even an American standard like Cracker Barrel can have issues at times.

Today is our push for the border so we have to prepare for Canada Customs, always a fun experience, trying to remember all the purchases that we are bring back into Canada. My laptop time is 5:58 so I’m thinking is is really 8:58 if it ever catches up, we will be hitting the road in the next few minutes where we will head (east?) on Interstate I-94 that will dump us in to Port Huron at the Bluewater Bridge and our border crossing point. But first one last fuel stop and as bad as the fuel pricing is in Michigan it is still better than Ontario. It is also where I will update Navi to metric so the speed limits in Ontario will be easier as the speedometer on Thunder only reads in miles per hour, and the speed limits just over the bridge are all over the map.

After our fuel stop we are only 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the bridge, and as we approach the bridge the fare to cross the Bluewater bridge is always a mystery, but todays rate was $9.00 American ($12.45 Canadian) compared to last years rate of $18.75 Canadian of back in spring of 2020 at $12.75 Canadian, the receipt today was RV-4 a rate for RVs I assume while often they charge us as a truck, I guess it just depends who is in the booth that day.

Canada Customs was a breeze, of course it helps when I pulled into the wrong lane and the poor agent had to walk over to us to check us through, just the regular questions, how long away, goods or services purchased, and of course the alcohol or tobacco question. That last question is such a silly question because we have a few bottle of alcohol that have crossed the border probably a dozen times so now we just reply we received two bottles as gifts and we have a few part bottles, which is kind of true, along with beer from three different cases, and a few other odds and ends that migrated with us.

Shortly after crossing into Ontario the rain started, not heavy enough to be worth stopping for, but heavy enough to make driving difficult, and as we head further north there are hardly any buds on the trees and temperature just keep dropping. Welcome to Canada EH!

Navi is showing our arrival in Goderich (our summer home) by around noon, and as we take Hwy-21 north along the Lake Huron coast line the winds are buffeting the coach, this old coach doesn’t get pushed around very easily by a little wind, but I can feel the attempt. We made it into Goderich at 12:10 according to my iPad which now seems to have caught up to all the time zones, and we stop at a grocery store to pick up some item that we could not bring across the border.

While Miss Laurie is shopping I decided to exercised the generator, it has been month since I last operated it and as the solar panel harvest today is not strong, so it can replace some battery power as it warms up. Miss Laurie has returned and is putting the groceries away, and we restart Thunder and drive the last ten kilometers (six miles) to Lake Huron Resort. I have to admit this does feel like coming home as this will be the fifth year of six that we have worked here.

Welcome to spring in Ontario or as I refer to it as rain and mud, don’t get me wrong I love seeing all the plants springing to life but as much as everyone was excited by the mild winter, there will be issues because the ground never froze to all the rain had to soak into the soil as opposed to running off. The result is a very wet campground this spring, we were hopping for a couple of days to get our site prepared, but everything is too wet, and the damp cold air is not real welcoming, but a month from now all the wet will be forgotten and life will move on.

Day 9 Stats: 215.6 kilometers (134 miles) solar harvest 84 amp / hours (solar can suck when it rains) $0.00 camping, 21.68 gallons (82.05 liters) of diesel fuel.

And this ends our spring 2024 northern trek 2130 miles (3428 kilometers)

Day 2375

Thursday, April 4th, 2024

Dear Journal:

Today is looking like it could be our last Arizona adventure this spring, we are off early this morning enroute to Chris & Lynnea’s home in Globe. Lynnea is our immediate supervisor and is the manager of the gift shop for the Arboretum, she has been at the Arboretum for over 25 years. Lynnea and Laurie hit it off from very early on, they both speak their mind and if you ask a question you should be prepared for an honest answer.

I usually do the “Wordle puzzle every morning, or at least I try to complete it.

And there is nothing more depressing than not getting a single letter on the first word!

But also nothing more exciting than guessing the correct word on your second attempt!

Todays adventure started early this morning with some fresh perked coffee with a splash of Irish cream, followed by an omelet breakfast, as we prepare for the unknown. We don’t know exactly where we are going other that to the Globe area. We have put an address in the GPS and are heading off on an adventure.

Miss Laurie drove up to Globe and I snapped this photo while driving through downtown Miami Arizona, of the Mexican Poppies blooming. They are growing along the highway, either side of the concrete sidewalk.

After some confusion over the directions we eventually, got some follow up direction as well as a rescue pilot vehicle to guide us in. Lynnea had told us a number of times that the road to their home could be challenging, but I was not prepared for what I actually seen and experienced. Lynnea knew we were lost when we were late arriving, apparently we are known for being punctual. Not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing, but we do like to be on time and complete our commitments. In retrospect instead of an address we should have just asked for the GPS coordinates as we often find rural addresses can be incorrect no matter what guidance system you use but coordinates remain constant.

Chris & Lynnea live in a rural area north of Globe, their home is at 4100 feet of elevation and is located on a hill side with a million dollar view. Today we are going exploring into the Tonto National Forest that surrounds their home, we are using a Honda ATV that seats four, we have packed a lunch and a few beverages for the adventure and will take us a number of miles through many BLM trails. Here are a few of the phots that we captured along the way.

Well believe it or not neither Laurie or myself have ever ridden in a All Terrain Vehicle, and I expected to return all beat up from the terrain. But that didn’t happen i was surprised at how well it absorbed the trails that we encountered. Miss Laurie had time to do some rock hounding and we got to know our hosts a lot better, as well as the area surrounding Globe. We seen areas with native pottery, and could see signs of native life in many areas, it is also amazing how the this rugged but beautiful land is being grazed by cattle, as the local ranchers are granted grazing right on BLM land. We encountered many gates that had to be trans versed as we enjoyed the views and the ruggedness of Arizona.

We returned from our adventure mid afternoon and after a tour of their home Chris grilled steaks over a wood fire, and we enjoyed a wonderful meal while chatting about their next projects around their home. It is always an honor to be invited into someone’s home, and your don’t build a home in a location like this without wanting some privacy. So to have them take one of their days off to take us sight seeing was also a big ask. We are lucky to have people like this in our lives.