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May 28, 2005
Home for awhiile
We returned to Canada on April 20 and spent a couple of days near Windsor visiting Bernie’s sister Joan and then on to the Milton KOA in time to help celebrate Kim’s (Ross’s niece) 30th birthday on the 23rd.
It’s amazing how fast 3 weeks goes. However, when you have dentist, doctor, accountant (yes, taxes), family, friends, visits to previous employment, truck maintenance and catching up on mail that had piled up, it just sails past.
Our first trip was what we called our “shake down”. Well it worked. Happily, we had no problems with the trailer and found that we were both getting more comfortable every day with it. We did find out that there were a number of things that we could remove. We learned that we don’t need 8 place settings of dishes or cutlery – we wash the dishes every day and if we have more than 2 additional people for a meal there are paper plates or the guests bring their own. We also don’t need as many clothes as we had taken. We run out of the essentials and need to go to the laundromat before we run out of slacks and tops. So – three boxes of “stuff” went to the storage locker.
Bruce Brown arranged to have a custom hitch manufactured while we were away and we had it installed during our time at home. Now we can carry our bikes with us. While travelling they are on the back of the trailer but we can put them on the hitch on the truck if we want to take them when sightseeing.
We also had solar installed. Our hope is that this will allow flexibility in where we can stop and set up. Not only does it charge our batteries for 12V DC use but with the inverter installed, we have 120 Volt AC power as well. Our lights and stereo run on 12V but most everything else (TV, toaster, coffee maker, microwave, etc) is 120V. We haven’t had much chance to try it out yet but when we do we’ll let you know if it works like we hope it will.
We did do a little local sightseeing while in the area and stumbled across a neat restaurant in Guelph that is worth a visit. It’s on Cork St., right downtown and is called Salsateria. It’s a combination of Chilean and Mexican food, prepared on the premises by the owner who is from Chile. We loved it.
Friday the 13th we helped celebrate Barnaby’s birthday ( it is actually on the 23rd but we won’t be in Toronto then) at the Harbour Castle. On the 14th we headed out, met Barnaby and Michelle at Tim Horton’s on Weston Rd for a final goodbye, and were on the road to the west for TRIP #2.
Posted by Ross at May 28, 2005 12:02 PM
Comments
Solar, bike rack, next to skinny dip wardrobe... sounds like all you need is a dog with a big tongue to wash those dishes. Careful, now. bc
Posted by: carrbob at May 28, 2005 01:27 PM
Hi folks, so glad to hear and see you ae having such a good time. Good to hear you are having good weather as well. Also glad to hear you are heading out west and not down east (glub glub) It takes a while to know what to take and what to leave. How much of each you need etc. Even when I am staying home. I make sure I always have, something to wear for every season. You never really know, when a fluke storm, or cold snap, or hot snap, or dry spell will come up out of nowhere. I enjoy reading all about your journeys, keep having a great time and keep up your good health. Ta for now Sharon Smith
Posted by: Sharon Smith at May 28, 2005 06:43 PM
Hey! This is a cool way to communicate with everyone. Glad things are going so well and that the kinks are getting worked out. Will you also include pics on your site eventually? Please do. Where are you off to next? All is well with us. Getting the farm up and going for the summer. Weather is the pits, but there is promise of sun tomorrow after weeks of rain and drizzle. Please note my change in email address. Take care, hello to everyone. Love, Lori and Jeff
Posted by: Lori at May 30, 2005 07:50 AM