Texas bound!

After a short stop at the Natchez Visitor Center we headed across the mighty Mississippi on the Natchez–Vidalia Bridge.

Natchez–Vidalia Bridge

We headed to a Corps of Engineers Campground on the Steinhagen Reservoir.  The sun was setting as we were arrivingat our sites.

Our friends Dave, Rose and Molly lead the way.

We had a beautiful campsite and decided to pull Harvey right into the site so we could have a fantastic view of the cypress trees.

The view our Harvey’s front window.

It was time once again to do the laundry so we went into Jasper,Texas to do some shopping and our laundry. 

We aim to do laundry at least every 10 to 14 days and find a commercial laundrymat. It takes us about 2 hours to do all of our laundry rather than having a washer dryer in our RV.

Kathy made our stay even better with a batch of homemade biscuits and with crushed strawberries this made a delicious dessert.

Our campsite was located at one end of the park or friends were at the other end so we headed 2 km ride every time we wanted to go visit.  We really enjoy our bikes for this purpose. They are electric assisted when we want to but because the campground was pretty level we’re able to pedal without using the electric motors most of the way.  We did get to enjoy the electric assistance some of the time.

The next day Kathy put her hand to making bread to spoil us again and it was great to have this treat when we’re on the road. She hand needs it and then puts it in a ceramic bowl that we bought and it Cooks in our convection oven.

Savalina plants are invading the Waters of the campground and much care is being taken to eliminate them. They had an airboat going through the bayou and spring for this plant. Signs at the boat landings indicate boats have to be pressure washed and cleaned down and dried so no seats are transferred to any other Lake. Although it was noisy with the airboats it was interesting to watch them work. In this picture they’re right in front of our RV.

We enjoy our time with our friends Rose and Dave and their puppy Molly. Here we are sitting out on the campground picnic table enjoying a beautiful warm day and having a game of pegs and jokers.

We decided to stay a couple extra days and even put out our lights to make it easier to navigate the ground around our RV. We were treated to the eclipse of the moon and it was beautiful seeing the moon shining over the bayou.

Midweek we decided we would transition to Sandy Creek Campground. This is another Corps of Engineer Campground located at the other end of the reservoir.  I was able to capture an egress who was fishing on the causeway going across the middle of the reservoir.

Sandy Creek

We moved to Sandy Creek and got an equally wonderful campsite with a boat dock right beside us. We were treated to some fabulous sunsets and had another great few days stay at the lake.

After we moved we got to travel around on our bikes and go for walks in this beautiful paradise.

Another boat launch at Sandy Creek.

Next time we head to the Gulf Coast…..

Boondockers Welcome Us!

We decided to leave early in the morning to avoid any traffic and any tie ups at the border crossing however there wasn’t any and at 4 o’clock we drove quickly out of Detroit, south bound without incidents.

Neither of us like or enjoy driving in the dark and that combined with the fog that was laying low over the land made it a little bit uncomfortable, however as the sun broke and our kids began calling us to check in how we were doing we were increasingly excited. Our day was picking up and we knew that soon we would be at the home of our friends Sharon and Todd. We also we’re looking forward to seeing our traveling companions Dave and Rose would also meet us.

It wasn’t long before we were driving in that familiar and friendly Lane of Sharon and Todd’s. They have a lovely long driveway and a piece of paradise at the end of it.

We got to stay with Sharon and Todd and we’re spoiled to pieces with their hospitality.

Sharon and Todd – Boondockers Welcome extradonaire!

If it wasn’t the cooking and food they shared it was the walks together through their beautiful property, the camaraderie around a campfire, the paddle boat ride on their pond or just the time spent chatting about missed times together.

Delicious hash browns on the grill.
The night before Todd made an Asian meal with delicious grilled chicken fried rice and spring rolls. These two spoiled us to pieces and we love them.

Sharon and Todd treated us to a awesome chilli and dig campfire meal!

Sharon and Todd by their pond at campfire time we got lots of time to relax before the evening set in on our last night.

It was a double bonus for us because our friends Dave and Todd joined us and we introduced them to Sharon and Todd. It was a great time however we ensured that we kept a social distance and it was hard because we really missed these folks.

Molly, Dave and Rose

Sharon and Todd have a beautiful lit Forest Trail that we got to do at night and we got to enjoy immensely during the day as well.

Yep it’s even better in person. We loved our visit!

There’s always time for reflecting on the water and on your friendship but it’s really the fun times that you have. Well we had fun times all the time were together. Just because there’s an outhouse doesn’t mean you have to go by yourself, well we had fun together and it was a great time with the group of friends.

Well all good things have to lead to more good things and was time to say goodbye to Sharon and Todd and head on our way to Nashville Tennessee.

A great time was had by all even with the social distancing.

And finally we hit the Natchez Trace our third time to travel this amazing North American beauty. The longest national Park in the USA. And here we get to do it with our friends Dave and Rose.

With our arrival and not just trace it opened up a whole new few days of traveling together and a whole bunch more of adventures …. next time.

Drop by for coffee now!

Love our perked coffee. We have the challenge of making coffee in the morning and not using our Keurig coffee machine. To use that machine we had to start the generator because our inverter is only a thousand Watts and the Keurig coffee maker is 1500 watts. So we bought a percolator and it only took me three quarters of a pound of coffee to get it to the point that we love the coffee. Here’s a quick video of our success.

Camping in the desert

Just a quick update we’re having a great time here in Arizona. We thought we’d share our camping location here in the desert. We camp on BLM land which is bureau of Land management. This land is owned by the United States government and that’s by the people of the United States. We are fortunate to be guests and able to use this land. Here’s a quick look at our campsite from this morning.

Mississippi and west!

Well we’re more south but the weather is certainly not yet that warm. Today we’re going to head from Athens, Louisiana to Rocky Springs Campground.

Athens is located in the north west corner of Louisiana. The village was named after the ancient city of Athens, capital of Greece. No resemblance though. The nearby welcome centre is quite a landmark. We were fortunate to stay at a BoondockersWelcome host home here in Athens.

After a couple hours of driving we arrived at the Mississippi Welcome Centre in Moss Point.

The stop is located as a rest stop right off the I10, offers travellers complimentary coffee until noon and has a great piece of art work inside.

We decided to take a night at Roosevelt State Park in Morton Mississippi.

The park was conveniently located outside of Jackson Mississippi and just before an entrance to the Natchez Trace at Clinton. Great park with all services $17 USD all taxes in.

It was a cool night however our furnace kept us nice and warm as did our IKEA comforter.

All sites were back in so we disconnected Lilly and backed Harvey into the snug space.

In the afternoon we decided that we would stop in at a city camp park in Lafayette Louisiana.

The Acadiana Campground Park is a nice little park nestled on the edge of a Lafayette housing neighbourhood. Although the sites were back in sites with only one pull through which was occupied they were of a good size to fit our rig.

To our surprise was a park within a park.

The Acadiana Nature station is a cool and I mean cool place to visit. The evening temperature here while we’re here was in the freezing range.

We weren’t aware of what time the station would open in the morning or what time we’d be leaving so we took advantage of the 30 minutes that it remained open while we’re here and gave it a quick tour.

Perhaps it was our quest to live like Robinson Crusoe but we love the construction of the nature stations office.

We took a quick walk on the wooded boardwalks through out the woods we headed back to Harvey and had a great dinner and sleep.

We started the day off with a visit to the Gator Chateau ….

We both got to hold this baby Alligator and were educated on their release program.

Later we stopped at the Texas Welcome center right after crossing the border over the Sabine River of Louisiana into Texas. The in an area called Orange, nope, no orange trees where we were.

These folks here are really great they help you with lots of information ideas and maps.

Next time we travel through Texas and meet up with a travel friend from last year!

And we’re off..

Our first overnight was at the Tilbury North Enroute rest stop. It turned out that a lot of trucks and RVers had the same idea. Capacity crowds made it feel like a campground.Heading to the Ambassador bridge, connecting Windsor with Detroit, we were reminded that there are only 17 intersection traffic lights between Detroit and The Ontario/Quebec border. All of them within site of the Ambassador bridge in Windsor.We approached the CBP gates and were redirected to the only gate for RVs our size. Unfortunately, while towing a car (toad), using our Blue Ox towing system, we are unable to backup haRVey. The friendly traffic folks had to stop all lanes of bridge traffic so we could do a full circle turn back towards Windsor and line up at the full RV body scan booth. The scanners are those big yellow boxes down the sides of the driveways. After a friendly onboard visit by the border patrol officer and a chat about his assignment and travel tips while posted in El Paso, Texas we were on our way south.Our trek south along the I75 through Michigan has to be the roughest road outside the I10 in Louisiana across the swamp and the rock roads through the Arizona desert.We were relieved to see the Welcome to Ohio sign overhead and the extreme road conditions change.
We continued our journey we took a short lunch break and time out to purchase of our Cricket phone plans in Madison Indiana.After an hour driving on narrower than comfortable county roads, due to our quest for adventure, then we arrived safely. It was a year ago that we stayed with Sharon and Todd at Reflections.It’s easy to see why we visit this Boondockers Welcome.We had the opportunity to go hiking with our friend Todd. It turned out to be a great 2.7 mile hike around the lake.it was a great hike and I got to see some great little growths on trees.Even some little people in the forest.We both had a really great visit and we’ll look forward to coming back to seeing our friends but it was time to hit the road as the weather is cooling off and with rain forecast that could be snow.We took the day to drive from Indiana, through Kentucky, Tennessee and Boondock in Athens, Alabama.Saturn 1B Rocket in Elkmont, Alabama.Installed in 1979, the 224′ / 68 metres tall Saturn 1B was a forerunner of the Saturn 5 launch vehicle for NASA missions. It boosted unmanned Apollo modules and a few orbital trips.Next time we head south and west. Mississippi here we come!

NO pressure

Earlier this year we installed the Valor TPMS – Tire Pressure Management System in haRVey.

Up until now, the method of checking our towed Toyota car Lilly was a handheld tire gauge. This was only happening from time to time.

We took Lilly to Rick’s Auto repair in Rodney Ontario for installation of sensors inside her tires.

Nick the technician did a great job getting the clamps and sensors installed. I had the opportunity to help with the installation. After a quick balance of each of the tires they were reinstalled.

Each sensor has its own corresponding chip and identification. I ensured that each chip was marked with the corresponding tire position LF LR RR and RF.

The next step was the placement of the chips into the Valor command module.

It was a quick call to the north American distributor Don and I will step through resetting the computer. It was a piece of cake and just like that Lily was reporting temperature.

Now now as we travel down the we will constantly have a readout of the pressure on each of the 10 tires. If the pressure or temperature changes outside the parameters we will be alerted giving us plenty of time for us to pullover and avoid a costly accident.

Were glad to have this safety measure in place as we head on down the highway.

A challenge with living full-time in our RV is connecting with friends that visit our hometown. We were thankfull to have a visit with Tammy and Mike from The Netherlands.

Our travels together took us to Erieau Ontario to see the higher than normal water level of Lake Erie.

It’s always terrific to spend time together getting the best pictures is an adventure in itself.

A day of adventures is never complete without a walk on the Port Glasgow beach a a visit to a favorite of ours, Tall tales cafe

We had the opportunity to craft a story, collectively with the kids about the Niagara River monster. A definite tall tale! The tallest tale teller of all went to our great friend Mike!

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With our home base park closing at the end of October we were invited to stay at our friends Bob and Simone in Dutton Ontario.

We had a great stay with them and we’re very thankful. a great staging point for us for water and to fill up our propane at the local Rona.

We had the opportunity to visit Strathroy and have Lunch with our friends Tena and Grant.

They always have tips and are happy to dream with us on what the upcoming trip may have in-store. Thank you dear folks.

Aftera quick trip to pick up haRVey we were on the way to our first night stopover at Tilbury Enroute rest stop. It appeared from the number of neighbours that we had at night they had the same idea.

We were up and ready to roll leaving at 6:38. With clear roads and warning of snow showers later this week we are heading south.

Disney trip family celebrations

We decided to take our kids on a trip for our 2019-2020 celebrations. We packed them up and flew them to Orlando and 9 days at Disney.

This is the thank you video we from them this Canadian Thanksgiving.

All points south.

We had a great time on Port Aransas beach (Port A) but it was time for us to move on. We’ve talked before about towing our 2019 Toyota Corolla which we have affectionately named Lily but I don’t think we’ve ever shared any pictures or videos how we do this feat.So here goes we’re hooking up Lily to Harvey and turning it around on the Port A beach. This will give you an idea of how wide the roadway is at the North end of this island. Kathy drives the rig 99% of the time because she is capable and loves doing it.Port Aransas is a city on Mustang Island, on the Texas coast. It’s known for its Gulf of Mexico beaches and fish-filled waterways. As Port Aransas is on an island we drive South until we get to the Corpus Christi Harbor Bridge that will take us into the city of Corpus Christi.Our trip has been primarily about smaller towns and villages, that’s what we really like, not the bigger cities and centers. On our trip South we actually bypass Corpus Christi and head south on State highway 77.The land is extremely flat and from time to time we’ll see the border patrol doing checks on vehicles heading in the north direction. We love change in vegetation as it’s really beginning to look desert.It isn’t until January that we will actually be stopped out of order station and that will be on the west side of Texas.We’re heading to Harlingen, Texas and to the FedEx Depot to pick up a previously arranged shipment of a new Sailrite sewing machine. We’ve had our eye on this for some time and aren’t disappointed when we pick it up as planned.Our plan is to use it for several of the projects that we have in mind including curtains and bike covers. Maybe some future boat projects as well.We headed off to Winterhaven RV park, which is towards South Padre Island in Brownsville. The area that we were going to be going to is the southernmost area of the United States along the Mexican border, the intercoastal waterway and South Padre island. We stayed two nights in Winter Haven RV resort.We got to enjoy a very simple RV Park. We also enjoyed seeing prickly pear cactus up close in person for the first time.All along the road we are continue to be blessed by the changing dynamics of the scenery. Texas has been very flat along the gulf coast and we can see how hurricanes can do so much damage.We are also quite surprised that we were not met with any of the uprisings that were being reported by national news agencies of the illegal aliens trying to infiltrate the border.We decided even though we arrived mid-afternoon that we would take a drive and go down to South Padre Island.… about 45 minutes away from our RV park.We definitely weren’t disappointed as we went there’s a little town of Port Isabella.It just happened to be that Port Isabella was celebrating their Christmas parade and the arrival of Santa Claus.We took a quick trip over the bridge to South Padre island…and came back to enjoy the parade.The Point (Port) Isabel Lighthouse is a historic lighthouse located in Port Isabel, Texas, United States that was built in 1852 to guide ships through the Brazos Santiago Pass to Port Isabel. Of the 16 lighthouses originally constructed along the Texas coast, Port Isabel is the only one open to the public. With a perch 50 feet above the ground, it is popular with photographers and other visitors, because they can enjoy great views of South Padre Island and the beaches. In fact, a number of couples have climbed the 75 winding stairs, including three short ladders, to exchange wedding vows at the top of the tower.this is a beautiful lighthouse that you see when you come back from South Padre island and just before you go across the bridge that joins the mainland to South Padre island.The two-mile-long Queen Isabella Causeway, located in southern Cameron County, Texas, is the only road connecting South Padre Island, Texas to the mainland. The Causeway was opened in 1974 and replaced the previous bridge, which had also been named Queen Isabella Causeway. This bridge also spans the end of the Gulf ICW.Queen Isabella Memorial Causeway collapsed on the night of Sept. 15, 2001, killing eight people when they plunged from the roadway 80-feet below into the bay after a tugboat and tug slammed into the base.Let’s say we looked differently at the bridge causeway after learning of its history. The bridge which is totally safe now with new navigation lanes had pelicans flying along the side of the road as we travel across.The sunset was amazing over the water and up to the town of Port Isabella as we settled in for the towns Christmas parade.It was amazing the number of kids and families gathered who almost all spoke Spanish which of course is no surprise as we’re only a few miles from the Mexican border and of no surprise as this part of Texas was once part of Mexico.Next trip we take a look at San Padre Island.

Craggy Wash Boondocking

Just a 8 miles north of Lake Havasu City centre, Arizona, on the east side of the highway 95 is the Craggy wash area of BLM land.

Lots of great rock climbing.

You can’t see RV’s from the highway as you need to drive the one mile to the rocky valley camping. This is away from the airport

An ideal boondock location because the road is accessible for all size RVs, it’s convenient to town, and you have the option to park beside other RVs if you want to socialize or pull in farther for more privacy.

Hope you enjoy these 360 photos.