This is a picture of our coach & tow vehicle. The Motor Home is a 2005 Beaver Patriot Thunder. It's a Monaco Coach Corporation product that was made in Bend Oregon in October of 2004. The "dinghy" is a 2002 Honda CRV.
This picture was taken as we were leaving an RV park near Rock Creek in southern BC in July of 2007.
I have been intending to start this blog since we started our adventure in May of this year ('07) but for various reasons I am only now able to start.
In Feb-Mar of 2003 we took a winter holiday in a rented class "C" motor home. We travelled from Vancouver down the west coast to Arizona where we stayed for the better part of a month. It was after that holiday that we decided that we would really like to try full timing in a motor home throughout North America when I retired.
For the next 3 years we did our "motor home research" & in April of 2007 we purchased the Patriot Thunder in a private deal from a seller in Florida. It took me 6 & 1/2 days to drive it from Brooksville Florida to Blaine Washington. After the importation process we parked it in the Peace Arch RV park in South Surrey. April was a busy month for us as we prepared to vacate our house for tenants who were moving in on May 1st, & move ourselves into our new coach.
We completed the move near the end of April & were officially living in the coach as of May 1st. We kept a storage place as well as a suite in the house for us to stay in when we are in Vancouver.
We were "in transition" for the month of May & the first half of June. Then on June 24th we "hit the road". We drove to Harrisburg Oregon where Monaco has a service facility. There we had some general maintenance done as well as some interior modifications made. We were there longer than we expected & on July 17th we left "Camp Monaco" & headed back to Canada crossing the border at Osoyoos BC. We continued up to Kelowna where we stayed for 10 days. My son, Jim, & his now fiancee' Jody, live there & we enjoyed spending time with them & Jody's family. Jim & I managed to get in some fishing & golfing & a couple of Bar-B-Q's ... all in all a GREAT time. We also had a nice visits with Lilyan McRae, Don Drummond & our old neighbours Marlene & Gregg Kenwards.
On August 2nd we left the Okanagan & drove to Russ (my brother) & Sharon's place out at Travers reservoir about 60 kms north of Lethbridge in southern Alberta. The wind blew & the dust flew for a couple of the days but we enjoyed being with them at their place on the lake.
On August 8th we drove from Russ & Sharon's place to Aylesbury (in that most beautiful of provinces ... SASKATCHEWAN)!
We parked the coach in Dad's yard at his farm site just outside of town & stayed there until Sept 9th. It was nice to be able to hook in to the "family farm routine" for the month. There was an early harvest so things were busy, but we enjoyed visits and meals at Raymond (brother) & Mickey's & Cliff (brother) & Nora's & watching the evening news in at Dad's. It was also nice to be able to see Mom almost everyday that we were there. Raymond & I got in a couple of good (great) fishing trips & I landed an 18lb pike on one of those trips!!
It was good to have "catch up" visits with David (cousin) & Laurie Watkins , Aunts & Uncles & friends around the community.
From Sask we worked our way across Manitoba, Northern Ontario & into Quebec & then Atlantic Canada. We pretty well followed the Trans Canada Hwy all the way to Eastern Quebec. Our stops included Brandon MB, Kenora ON, Thunder Bay ON, Wawa ON, Sudbury ON, Ottawa, Quebec City, & Beresford NB.
We stayed a couple of days in Quebec. It is truly a beautiful city & we enjoyed walking the cobblestones in "Old Quebec" & lunching in a street cafe. It was also interesting to see where a lot of Canadian history was made as well as the grand old buildings. Although it has a very European flavour the noticeable difference is the cleanliness of it all. We could have stayed longer but if you don't speak French you don't really fit in.
From Quebec City we drove along the south shore of the Saint Lawrence to Mont Joli & then turned down towards New Brunswick.
We overnighted near Bathurst NB & the next morning we crossed over the Northumberland Straight on the confederation bridge to that beautiful little "garden province" of Prince Edward Island. We stayed in PEI for a week. We took an Island tour, enjoyed great seafood & learned all about Ann of Green Gables. The weather was warm & sunny for the entire time & we thoroughly enjoyed it. Then on Sept 26th we took the ferry from Wood Islands on PEI to Pictou in Nova Scotia & continued the drive up to Cape Breton.
On Saturday Sep 29th we took the ferry from North Sydney NS to Port Aux Basques in Newfoundland. We left the motor home in Cape Breton & took the car for this part of our tour. It's a 6 hour ferry ride across from NS to Nfld so it was late at night when we got off the ferry. We stayed overnight in Port Aux Basques & then the next morning we got up & started our tour of NFLD. We drove up through Gros Morn national park & then continued on to Gander where we overnight'ed. I was particularily interested to see Gander from the ground as I had spent so many hours out over the Atlantic Ocean talking to "Gander Radio" giving position reports. We also made a Stop at the Arrow Air crash site memorial where, in Dec of 1985, a DC-8 crashed killing several hundred American servicemen returning home to Kentucky from duty in Cairo. The next morning we got up & drove to Saint John's. We arrived in there at about noon & were just in time to catch a city tour. It was an absolutely gorgeous day & we were treated to a great tour by a real Newfie Guide. He was humorous & it was a most memorable day seeing the sights & then enjoying some of the finest seafood around for dinner. The next day we started back across the province. We would have preferred to have taken a ferry back to NS from Argentia but that service had been terminated for the season & so we had to make the drive back to Port Aux Basques. We drove up to Twillingate on the north shore of NFLD, this is a place that is described as a "typical NFLD fishing village" & it truly lives up to that description. The shoreline scenery was fantastic. We overnight'ed there & then the next day motored down to Cornerbrook where we stayed overnight as well. Then the next day we drove to the ferry & arrived back in Cape Breton & our coach late in the afternoon.
The next morning we got up & drove the Cabot Trail around the northern part of Cape Breton, it was spectacular. The trees on the trail were in their finest oranges, reds, & yellows & it really was a "picture taking day"!
We also stopped in the delightful little town of Baddeck where we went through the Alexander Graham Bell museum.
The next day we fired up the Thunder & drove to an RV park near Halifax. We put in there for about 5 days. We had been noticing that the alternator wasn't doing it's job properly in charging the batteries while we were driving along & so after some diagnostic work the decision was made to replace it. The part had to come from Toronto so we were delayed 2 days while the work was being done. We have appreciated having our extended warranty on the coach as it has covered any significant work that we've had to have done. We had a visit with Blair Marryatt, one of my hockey buddies from Delta who retired to Halifax about 5 years ago, while we were there. We went over to his place where he and his wife Colleen hosted us for a fine dinner & visit.
Then we headed down the east coast of NS through Peggy's Cove, the Swiss Air 111 memorial, Lunenburg & around to the Annapolis valley. We overnight'ed in Annapolis Royal. From there we left Nova Scotia & drove to Hopewell Cape in New Brunswick. We stayed in a little RV park near Shepody Bay & were absolutely blown away by the Hopewell Rocks. This is the area were the tides are in the order of 20-30 feet on a regular basis & the shoreline is exposed at low tide so that you can literally walk on the ocean floor. We did just that & were amazed at the formations that were being carved out of the rocks by the action of the water in this part of the Bay of Fundy.
From there we drove to Saint John. We stayed there for two days & had a visit with one of my original flying instructors, Gina Jordan, who I worked with in Calgary in the early 70's. Gina treated us to a most enjoyable day including the best fish & chips in the Maritimes at Patty's Place in St. Martins.
On Oct 17th we ended our tour of Atlantic Canada. We got a pretty early start & drove from Saint John NB to Foxboro Massachusetts!! It was a beautiful day for driving & we were treated to gorgeous fall colors along the way. We entered the US at St Stephens NB (upper Maine) & then hooked into I-95 at Bangor Maine.
We settled into a very nice park in Foxboro (just south of Boston), & stayed there for 4 days. Matthew (my nephew) was on a road trip with his University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux hockey team & they were playing a couple of games in the Boston area. We attended both games & were able to meet with Matt after each game. The hockey is played at a very quick pace & several of the players on the team (including Matthew), have been drafted by NHL teams.
Our stay at the Foxboro RV park was quite interesting. The park was hosting a "Halloween Theme weekend" & on Friday night all 403 sites were filled with families with lots of kids. Most campsites were decorated & the kids in their Halloween costumes had a ball.
On Monday morning Oct 22nd we got a pretty early start (0800), & headed back out onto I-95. It was another beautiful morning & we planned to get in a good day of driving because the weather was forecast to deteriorate later in the week & we wanted to get through the high density areas of New York, New Jersey & Maryland in good driving conditions. The Highway system on the Eastern Seaboard of the US is a good system but the volume is unreal. Anyway we navigated our way (GPS) down I-95 to Fredericksburg Virginia. It was a pretty stressful drive. The highway is crowded with a lot of big trucks & everybody is doing at least 70 MPH or more. The Thunder performed admirably & we were able to negotiate most of the way in the 60-65 MPH range. We got caught in a traffic jam (due to an accident), about 10 miles from our destination & didn't arrive until after dark. It was no fun setting up that night. We had travelled 500 miles that day & were on the road almost 12 hours. We vowed that from then on we would never go more than 300 miles in one day!
Our stay in Fredericksburg was OK but the weather was not so nice. It rained most of the time & was cool & grey. We had a couple of "in days" but did get out to see around a bit.
We left Fredericksburg on Friday morning (Oct 26th) & drove our 300 mile limit to Wade, North Carolina (near Fayetteville). It was another grey day & the windshield wipers were on most of the way. We booked into a very nice KOA campground for 7 nights. It is really set up to handle the "Big Rigs". It has cable vision, Internet hookups & huge parking sites. The people are very friendly & we are enjoying our stay here very much.
Today is Monday (Oct 29th) & so now you are up to date on where we've been & where we are now.
We will try & add posts to the blog on a fairly regular basis so that you can follow along with us as we make our way around the US & Canada.
I will also be posting some pictures of our travels as well.
