Back "Home"

Our new map

Ah, so good to be back "home" after 3 weeks on the road. We journeyed through thirteen states, five Canadian provinces, and paid over $100 in highway tolls in that time; 4,670.4 miles in all.

So much traffic - lots of big trucks

Saw some amazingly beautiful country. Of all our travels my favorite spots were Prince Edward Island, northern Maine, and Illinois/Missouri. I love the open farmland in Illinois.

Mya and Otis in "travel mode".

I never realized how much of the US is agricultural land, lots and lots of cornfields. Except for visiting Washington DC this will probably be our last foray into the eastern part of the US. The traffic is unbelievable. We only retraced our steps once on the way back and that was through St. Louis. Got to see the Arch from a different viewpoint. Got home just as the skies were opening up but it cooled everything off nicely.

Now we are waiting on the boat. The folks who have had it since we left (to fix the trailer wheel/tire) must be procrastinators because it's not fixed yet. Mya and I took Otis down to the lake yesterday for a swim and he headed right for the boat dock. He loves going out on the boat and swimming with us. He had to be satisfied with fetching sticks and swimming from the shore. He's pretty new at this whole swimming thing and he seemed to have forgotten how. But after a little practice he got the hang of it again. We are hoping the boat is ready Tuesday. We'll see. Jeff is missing his fishing time.

Hanging out on a Sunday afternoon.

Jade has started using my kayak. I'm glad she's getting out of the RV more this summer. We walked up the hill to the big pool this morning and swam laps. It was like the tortoise and the hare. She was swimming freestyle and I was doing my breast stroke. Hey, it's all good exercise. Also noticed on the way up the hill that they have put in a dog park here. Yay! Now we can let Otis run without worrying about him running off. 

Tomorrow we are going to go on an adventure and try to find the movie theater in Branson. The girls want to go see The Secret Life of Pets. The only drawback to our location here in the sticks is that it takes about an hour to get to Branson which is on the other side of the lake and the closest "big" (about 10,000 people) town. It's 20 miles one way to get groceries but it takes longer to get there because the roads are narrow and winding. Makes for a peaceful, secluded place but not exactly convenient. You can't have it both ways - lol!

Probably won't have a lot to share about in the blog as we will just be hanging out here for awhile. Looking forward to getting some reading in. Right now I'm reading a biography on the life of Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormon faith - interesting, to say the least.

Happy Sunday all!

Heading "Home"

So peaceful - and inexpensive!

We have stopped for the night at Maple Lane RV Park. It’s full hookup and only $35.00; and we are in a pull-through in a beautiful open field in the southwestern part of New York state. It’s amazing the wide range of prices we pay for our “accommodations”. The most expensive so far was $86 a night plus they charged us $10 per girl on top of that. So crazy.

Confederation Bridge- get your money out!

We left Nova Scotia on Thursday amid foggy skies and made our way to Prince Edward Island. The island is accessible only by traversing the Confederation Bridge.

View as we approach PEI

It’s 8 miles long and cost $1.3 billion to build. We are pretty sure they are paying for it with the toll one must pay to get off the island. We paid $61.00. Ouch! The east coast is full of toll roads. We’re pretty sure we’ve paid over $100 in tolls in the last few days. It would be nice if they actually used the money to make the roads driveable. New York roads are horrible.

Jeff and the girls - Northumberland Strait behind them

Prince Edward Island is idyllic; something right out of a storybook. It probably doesn’t hurt that everywhere we’ve gone the weather has been fabulous. But PEI is just miles and miles of rolling hills and everything is so green. Again, like so much of what we’ve seen, the island has a lot of agricultural land and most of PEI is planted in potato fields. We made a point to put our toes in the ocean; actually it was the Northumberland Strait. And it was COLD! Got some pretty shells as souvenirs.

In trying to make our way back to Arkansas, we couldn’t decide if we should go inland or stick to the coast. We just hoped we could find something on the 4^th of July weekend. I had had my eye on place in southern Maine on the coast, a tiny town called Wells. It is the 3^rd oldest city in Maine. On the off chance they’d have a spot I called them and they did! We booked 2 nights (the 2^nd and 3^rd) so we didn’t have to worry

Fox checking us out on PEI

Coast of PEI

about finding a spot somewhere else on a holiday weekend. Such a cute little town but UGH!, the traffic. Thank goodness they have a trolley that takes people around the area and to the beach. We were just a mile from the beach on the Atlantic Ocean. The girls and I rode the trolley down there but it was funny. For the thousands of people that were in the area, there were only about 20 in the water. Lots of folks with sunburns because the air and water are cold but the sun is still blazing. I remember that from Alaska. You don’t realize you are getting burned because it isn’t that hot. The trolley took us into Kennebunk which is right next to Kennebunkport.  Isn't that where the Kennedys spent their summers? I can only imagine the cost of owning one of these little beach houses. I'd like to see the area when it's not a holiday weekend. Probably a lot more pleasant and calm. Jeff found a little doughnut shop he could walk to and bought the biggest, tastiest homemade doughnuts for us.  I never eat that kind of stuff but I couldn't resist.  Blueberry filled power doughnut - yum!!!

Crowded little town on 4th of July - Wells, Maine

Trying to get out of Maine is a trick if you want to go west. The roads in New Hampshire and Vermont, at least the major ones, all run North/South. Driving the scenic routes are great but after a while you just want to put on some mileage. We breezed through New Hampshire and had reservations in a tiny place called Woodford, VT. I’m so glad we found this place. I’m tired of the masses of humanity and this place was tucked away in the woods next to a state park. It was fabulous. Otis got to take a swim in the pond and wear off some of his never-ending energy. It was so nice to have some space to walk around and just be surrounded by nature, not people. The folks that own the place are really sweet. They are fortunate to have this place to call home.

Little pond right in front of our camping spot in
 Woodford, VT. 

We headed out early this morning on a 300+ mile day of travel. I'm getting tired of moving all the time. Yesterday I broke down in tears because Otis was being a dope and jumping at me and biting me. He just wanted to play but I wasn't in the mood. I think I've had enough of the road stuff. I just want to go back to Arkansas and swim and kayak. I remember two years ago when we did the East Coast thing. It's stressful because the roads are so crappy and so busy. Jeff has decided that Massachusetts drivers are the rudest drivers on the road. 

We are slowly filling in our
new map on this RV.

I just want to get back to some peace and quiet. We have about 3 more nights on the road. We have reservations just north of Columbus, Ohio for tomorrow night. Then it should take us about two more nights before we get back to our spot in Arkansas. As I sit here typing, I'm sitting by the open window and can smell the clean, cool air wafting in the window. That I will miss. We are heading back into the heat and will have to contend with that with only the two air conditioners. We need to find a fan blade to replace the one that broke a few weeks ago so we can use the air conditioner in our bedroom area. 

Time for bed. Got a long day again tomorrow but I'm looking forward to seeing Ohio. We only got to see the northernmost area last time we passed through. I think we even go into Pennsylvania briefly as we head south. 

The adventure continues. 

Mission Accomplished

We found it!  So happy:-)

We did it! We found the place Jeff has been looking for in Nova Scotia. It’s the sight of the filming of the Jesse Stone movies with Tom Selleck. And it just happens to be at the end of the road to nowhere. It’s just outside of a little town called Lunenburg. The road to get there is practically a one way, it’s pot-holed, and winding and twisting. We were wondering how the heck the people who filmed the movies even found the place. So beautiful; serene. This area reminds me of Homer, Alaska but with an east coast twist. The houses are all small and quaint painted in vibrant colors like turquoise, purple, pink, you name it. Most of the houses have the front door painted a bright color contrasting with the rest of the house.

Picture perfect.

It’s picture postcard perfect! Had Otis with us until he decided he couldn’t take the twisting and turning on the tiny roads and barfed on Jade. Had to retrace our steps and put him in his kennel in the RV. It’s so unfortunate that he chews everything, otherwise we could leave him loose in here but he just can’t help himself. Yesterday morning he decided he would eat MY tennis shoes so now Jeff and I have matching dog-chewed shoes.  He even chewed the same foot so we match – how considerate of him.

Where is my kayak!?!

We wandered around Lunenburg after having accomplished our mission. Had some lovely seafood at one of the restaurants located on the harbor. Pretty windy but it was great to sit outside in the sun and eat overlooking the harbor. Lots of sailboats here. We wandered through town, quite a hike up from the harbor area. Jade pointed out how out of shape we all are – huffing and puffing up three blocks – but hey, it was steep!  There was a beautiful memorial to all the lost boats over the years; it was in the shape of a compass and had the names of the ships and what year they were lost. I can only imagine what this place is like in a storm or in the winter. It looks lovely now but I bet it gets COLD!!

Fish and chips, fresh scallops, yum!

Today we are just kind of hanging out. Woke up to fog and clouds. First time in weeks that has happened but it’s neat to see the area with its different faces. We are going to go adventuring later this afternoon to Mahone Bay, another small town near here and probably stay for dinner.  More seafood, yes!

Fisherman's memorial.

Tomorrow we head out again. We have reservations on the Atlantic side of Prince Edward Island. I had forgotten that PEI is where the L.M. Montgomery set her Anne of Green Gables stories. I love those books! 

Now we are headed into the tricky part of our journey the 4^th of July weekend. It will be hit or miss on reservations anywhere. We have no idea how we are getting back to Arkansas. That’s what makes it so fun – just get up in the morning and pick a spot – and hope there is “room at the inn” when we get there. Fingers crossed.

Are we there yet?

Our spot outside Quebec City

We made it to Quebec City with little trouble. Except we don't read french and all the traffic signs are in french!?!? It’s not nearly as big as Toronto with its 2.6 million people. It’s kind of strange because all the people are concentrated in the cities and then there are these vast open spaces with no one or very few people. Just like in Michigan and Illinois, there is a lot of agricultural area, lots of fields of corn. We skirted Montreal so don’t really know what that is like but it’s just slightly smaller than Toronto. 

I want one of these swings - so relaxing with a cup of tea.

We wanted to spend two nights in Quebec so we could visit Old Quebec but come to find out we had arrived (Thursday) just before THE busiest weekend of the year for the Quebec Province. We tried to get a second night at the RV park – and a beautiful park it was – but they were completely booked. We seem to have a knack for untimely arrivals. Unbeknownst to us June 24 ^th is La Fete Nationale or St. Jean-the-Baptiste Day and IS the largest celebration of the year in this province. Go figure!  So I guess Old Quebec will have to be added to the “places we’d like to return to someday”. We are getting quite a list of those. I was also hoping for 2 days in one spot just to relax. We have been traveling between 200 and 300 miles a day. I know we just sit here but it’s exhausting setting up “camp” and then putting everything away again in less than 12 hours to move on to the next place. But we have reservations in Nova Scotia for the 27th so we have to keep moving. We have spent the night in a different spot every night for the last 7 days and covered over 2000 miles since leaving Arkansas.

Watch for moose!

Quebec is reminding us a lot of British Columbia but flatter. BC has more mountains but the never-ending highway and endless stretches of trees is the same. Jade even commented on seeing mountains again! There are also mosquitoes. It actually reminds me a lot of Alaska. They even have the moose-warning signs along the road. I'd love to see a moose. You'd think after 47 years in Alaska I'd have seen enough moose, but it's been so long - would be fun to see one again. The road runs parallel to the  St. Lawrence River. This is the major seaway providing ships access to the Great Lakes area. There are also patches of lupines along the road just like Alaska. What I’ve noticed is the Canadians seem to be a cleaner people than Americans. You don’t see nearly the amount of trash everywhere that you see in the US. At Walmart, you have to pay for the plastic bags -.05 a piece; this encourages folks to use those reusable, fabric-type bags. Nice!  We should do that in the US – don’t ban the plastic bags, make it more cost effective to use the others.

The weather has been fabulous, 60s at night, 80s during the day. Sleeping with the windows open and getting those fresh outdoor breezes is delicious! We crossed into New Brunswick on Friday and spent the night in a little spot called Riverside RV park in Edmondston, NB. A little town of about 21,000 folks it’s right along Transcanadian Highway 2, an amazingly smooth, wide ribbon of road in the middle of the wilderness. We are grateful after some of the crappy roads we’ve been on up until now. Up again bright an early as we headed southeast into Fredericton which is

Our campsite on the St. John river.

centrally located in New Brunswick and is the capital of NB. Hwy 2 runs right along the US/Canadian Border – within spitting distance practically. My phone, which we have on roaming, didn’t know where it was for a while probably from conflicting signals. We’ve also discovered that there is such a thing as the Atlantic time zone. It’s two hours later than Texas and includes Bermuda, places like St. Croix, and the eastern side of South America. Who knew? So we’ve aged an extra 2 hours on this trip. Glad we get them back on the reverse – lol!

I love my kayak!

Finally, we have gotten to spend two nights in one place. It’s a lovely RV park on the banks of the St. John River and an excellent spot for kayaking. Jeff woke me up this morning because he knows I like the tranquility of early mornings. I wasn’t thrilled initially but once I got moving I was so thankful. I took my cup of tea with me and spent 2 glorious hours paddling around on mirror smooth water. There are tiny islands within the river and I could paddle between all of them. The river is so slow-moving that it’s like being on a lake. I saw 5 deer, a river otter, and lots of ducks with babies in tow. I need to look them up to find out what kind they are.  Just as I was heading back some nut with his power boat headed out and ended the quiet and stillness. Good thing Jeff woke me up early.

We’ve just come back from playing at the waterpark here. Mya is practicing her clarinet and Jade is acquiring more dragons on her game she’s been playing. Think we’ll go out to dinner tonight. Tomorrow is a 300+ mile day but we will be in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia where we will stay for 3 days. We are so blessed to be able to do this. There is an added benefit to our new RV besides the full size fridge and the fireplace. I don't think the girls like their bunkbeds as much and so they have been up front with us as we travel down the road and it's made for a lot more fun family time together and more conversation. Jade spends a lot of time riding up front with Jeff and they haven't been sleeping in as late as they have in the past.  It's wonderful! Jade is also getting better with Otis. She really has not like having him because he is so hyper but she's is learning to work with him and train him and now even volunteers to walk him on occasion. Yay!

Jade setting fashion trends at the pool.

We are off to dinner. We treat ourselves to dinner out every once in a while. Otis will have to stay in his kennel for a bit. We have 323 miles to go tomorrow so it will be an early morning. Sweet dreams all.

Otis stressing out on the drive.

No crying over spilled milk . . .

Scenery in Michigan. The roads are HORRIBLE!

. . . even if it's an entire gallon splattered all over the floor of the rv. Jeff decided to go four-wheeling through the Grand Canyon in the rig and guess what? The refrigerator door popped open and an entire gallon of mile exploded all over the floor mixed with a container of grape tomatoes (and pickles, strawberries, cherries, etc.) Actually, he just hit a pot hole in a truck stop going slightly too fast but the results were the same. OMG! What a mess! There were tomatoes and milk everywhere. Thank goodness for the 4 beach towels we are using to keep the chairs and couches clear of Otis's wet feet and slobber. It took all four towels to wipe up the milk. It was literally dripping out the passenger side slide down the sides of the outside bins. We managed to get most of it up from under the driver's side slide but oh, what a mess. We are referring to it now as Dada's Dairy Disaster. We've cleaned up the floors as best we can but I'm thankful it's not hot here. I hope we got it all because when it gets hot again, it's going to stink like sour milk. We even made a Pinesol and water mix and poured that on the floor hoping it would follow the same route as the milk and wash it all out. There are still streaks down on the outside bins from where the stuff leaked. Do we have fun on our trips or what?

Summer solstice full moon and thunderheads - beautiful!

It was a shame to leave Camp Turkeyville, such a serene beautiful campground. And the temperatures have finally dropped. It was 63 degrees at 7:30 a.m. Lovely and cool with a little breeze. So much better than the heat and humidity. But alas, Nova Scotia is waiting. 

Lake Huron. We've now seen three of the 5 Great Lakes. We
never saw Lake Michigan even though we were RIGHT THERE!

Took forever to get through the border. At least 45 minutes. We were seriously worried about Otis and what difficulties we would have with him/his paperwork. As we approached the gates they opened a 4th lane.

I guess we have to help pay for
the bridge. This is on the US side.

We went through that one. They guy asked for our IDs, our license plate #, etc. He was not the most pleasant individual we've ever encountered. We felt like we were annoying him. He never asked about pets (just weapons) but Jeff said, "We have a dog." He replied impatiently, "Just go, just go." It was so funny. I think he got pulled from his lunch or something because there were so many people and the lines were getting longer. We probably could have brought an elephant into the country and he would have just wanted us to leave him alone! 

Part of the Toronto skyline and traffic. It's way worse than what
this photo shows.

We made our way to Toronto - stayed just outside the city in an "okay" KOA campground. It had a "K-9 Camp" (a fenced area you can take the dog off the leash and let them run) Otis was happy. Toronto is huge! Over 6.5 million people live there. The traffic this morning was incredible. I haven't tried driving the rig yet. I think I'll wait until we get to a less populated areas. So much traffic, so many big trucks. Jeff is doing great (except for the giant truck stop pothole!) Like he said, "we haven't hit anything yet have we?" Everything is so green but fairly flat. Looks like Michigan and Illinois. Lots of agricultural land. It's so strange how so many people are crammed into the cities and then there are these huge stretches of wilderness. 

Too much time spend inside the RV.

We are here just outside of Montreal for the evening and tomorrow we will be in Quebec City. We are trying to recall any French we ever knew because it is the official language of this province. We've had some long traveling days these last few days. Tomorrow we are only traveling about 200 miles so we hope to spend some time touring the historic areas of Quebec city. We have reservations in Nova Scotia for the 27-30. We will be spending some time in New Brunswick and maybe even get over to Prince Edward Island along the way. 

We are having issues with the GPS. It's steered us wrong the last two days. Thank goodness for Google maps. We use the RV gps initially but as we get closer to our destination, I look up the address on my phone with Google maps and make sure we are truly headed the correct way. It is so NOT fun getting off course in this rig. It's not like you can just turn around anywhere. But it is convenient using the truck stop gas stations to fill up. Otis gets his potty breaks when we stop. He keeps stealing my seat every time I get up. But today he slept most of the time so he is getting used to the traveling. We are so fortunate to be able to do this. It's a blast! 

We are near the railroad tracks again tonight. I love hearing the sound of the trains. I wonder if they purposely locate RV parks next to the tracks so you can feel like a vagabond or hobo riding the rails - just in an rv instead of a train. Or maybe it's just cheap acreage. I'm going with the vagabond thing. 

Camp Turkeyville. Seriously?

Real, live turkeys at Camp Turkeyville.

Who would actually make reservations at a place called “Camp Turkeyville”?  We would!  The place is wonderful.We are currently just south of Lansing in Michigan. We’ve had a busy couple of days since we left Arkansas. Our first day on the road we made it into St. Louis and got to have dinner with Grandma Pat. So great to see her again (Thank you again for dinner Pat!) We went to 54  ^th Street and the food was delicious. Have to find one of those in San Antonio; I think they have them there. 

Wonderful to see "Grandma Pat" again.

Our RV spot wasn’t anything to write home about but it served its purpose. Got up bright and early to play tourist at the Gateway Arch. Phenomenal! I didn’t realize that the Arch is actually part of a National Park: Jefferson Memorial Expansion Park. A lot of the area is under construction but you can tell already that it’s going to be absolutely beautiful when it’s completed. The “entrance” to the park is at what they call The Old Courthouse. This courthouse is where, in 1846, Dred Scott and his wife Harriet, both former slaves, sought freedom for themselves and their 2 daughters. 

A nice man took our picture in front of the Old Courthouse. 

The 1857 decision against them was instrumental in pushing the US into the civil war. Such an odd feeling to stand on those courthouse steps and know that in earlier times, the fate of slaves were decided there. Once again, I so wish I had paid more attention in history class. Mya will be in 8^th grade in the fall and the curriculum is US History. How amazing to be able to say you’ve actually been to some of these places. I hope the girls grow to appreciate these experiences. Jade made the connection to the Dred Scott court case once I jogged her memory.

Dred and Harriet Scott

You climb though this little door
into the "pod".

The trip up into the Arch was fascinating. You ride up in these little “pods” that have 5 seats. No way that anyone with claustrophobia could ride to the top. Its 630ft high and it takes 4 minutes to go up, 3 minutes to come down. At the top there are 16 small windows on each side to look out over St. Louis and the Mississippi River. There were lots of barges making their way up and down the river. We were so glad we decided to make the time to do this. I’d recommend it to anyone who finds their way to St. Louis.

Inside the "pod" to ride to the top of the Arch.

Explaining the creation of the Arch

We continued north through Illinois. Jeff and I were both surprised at how rural Illinois is. Lots of agricultural land; reminded us both of Iowa. Lots of corn and soybean fields. Spent the night in a KOA that we’re only giving 3 stars max but it was a place to hang our hats. The best part was it had a fenced “dog park” and Otis could run around off-leash. He is becoming quite the traveler. I think he’s figuring out the routine and he’s stopped pacing while were driving. Although, every time I get up from my chair he steals my seat. He likes looking out the windows at the passing scenery!

View of the Old Courthouse from up in the Arch.

A little excitement this morning at 5 a.m. The air conditioner started sounding REALLY loud and then it sounded like a jet was landing on the roof. Jeff jumped up and turned the thing off. After climbing on the rig and peaking in the unit, it appears the fan has disintegrated. Fortunately, it’s not leaking any fluid or anything but we are without a back AC unit at the moment. Thank goodness we are up north. The weather everywhere has been so hot but here in Michigan we are finally getting a reprieve. Which is good because the big awning also broke. This is why we decided to take the rig on a long trip. It’s a “shake-down” trip to see how the rig functions. We did the same when we got our previous RV; that was our trip to Alaska. We are thinking of swinging by Red Bay, Alabama – home to the Tiffin factory – on our return trip and having them fix everything.  

Otis riding shotgun.

Just got back from a stroll to the Camp Turkeyville ice cream parlor and settling in for an evening of watching American Ninja Warrior - the girls' favorite show while we are on the road. 

Tomorrow we are headed into Toronto to start the Canadian part of our trip. Keeping our fingers crossed that there is no problem with Otis's paperwork or anything else they can think of. It's going to be a rather long day, about 350 miles. We like to keep it under 300 usually - not sure what we were thinking when we made these reservations. The girls have just learned that while in Canada they will not have access to any Internet. The fees for outside the US are expensive so only my phone will have access so I can make reservations, use Google Maps, etc. We may not make it out alive!!!!!!

Time to Roll

It's been a lovely relaxing week at the lake but it's time to get on the road. I haven't blogged because not much to write about when our days consist of fishing, reading, swimming, and just basically hanging about. We've been out on the lake every day. Yesterday Jade even strapped on the wakeboard again. Just like riding a bicycle. She was able to pop right up out of the water and ride for longer than she ever has, even throwing in some cornering on her. She really wants to be able to jump a wake but we haven't gotten there yet. She was sore this morning! The day before we also had them out on the tube hauling them around and Jeff "cracking the whip" and trying to fling them off which he did a number of times! The surface temperature of the water is 90 degrees, slightly less than the air temperature. Perfect! Otis is now jumping in off the boat all by himself. He doesn't even wait for us now; yesterday he was the first one in - lol!

Better on the wide open water than on a road!

Today we are getting ready to roll. We've decided to attempt a visit to Nova Scotia (again - failed attempt 2 years ago). We will head north into Missouri, Illinois, Michigan and then Toronto, Canada. That's as far as we've got reservations at this point. Should spend the night in Toronto on the 21st. We are going to travel through Canada until we hit Montreal and then cross back in to the US and cross through Maine to get there. There's a place called Skowhegan, Maine that we stayed at 2 years ago. We probably will stay there again but it's all up in the air. We've got Otis's rabies vaccine paperwork. That and $30 ought to get us across the border. I swear if they turn us back this time over something stupid like last time, we will NEVER try to visit Canada again. 

Had some excitement today. Had to pull the boat to park it while we are gone for these few weeks. We are using the marina just across the lake from here to launch and pull the boat because the one here is too iffy. You'd have to back down this long rutted road and hope no dim-bulb has parked down by the lake so you have enough room to turn around, etc. The one across the lake is a real boat launch - just a longer drive. Jade came with me and I let her drive the boat. Jeff drove around in the car and met us there. We got it all loaded up and headed to Wal-Mart to stock up on provisions (Mya eats us out of house and home. She LOVES the full size refrigerator in this rig.) 

Disaster averted - thankfully.

About 3 miles from Wal-Mart Jeff says, "there's something wrong with the tire on the boat trailer". He said he could feel a wobble or something. We had about 5 miles to go to get to Wal-Mart and the wobble was getting worse. We made it to the parking lot and hopped out to look. ALL 5 lug nuts were loose and a few were close to falling off. If we had driven any more the whole dang wheel would have fallen off WITH the boat on the trailer! OMG! We had no problems at all when we launched it a week ago. Jeff said he found it hard to believe that all 5 came loose on their own. The trailer is parked on the resort property but that doesn't mean someone couldn't get to it - the ramp here is a public access ramp. I'd hate to think someone intentionally loosened them. But you never know. We are just thankful we averted a disaster. And that Wal-Mart has huge parking lots and tools like lug nut wrenches, etc. (I know Wal-Mart doesn't have the greatest record when it comes to how it treats it's employees, etc. but as an RVer, there is no better place to stop and shop. In Canada, they even let you stay overnight in their parking lots for free!) He was able to tighten everything well enough and there was a tire store less than 3 miles away that said they could fix it. I held my breath practically the whole 3 miles there. They said the wobbling also wrecked the rim so the whole thing needs to be replaced. If it's not ready tomorrow, they said we could pick it up when we get back from our trip. Nice guys!

Mya has claimed the recliner. Thought that was Dad's.

Jade and Otis just hanging out. Jade's on her phone - go figure.

We are excited to start adventuring although just hanging out here is so relaxing. Between pool time, lake time, kayak and boating time, and reading we can fill a day nicely. Otis is starting to get used to the RV and relax a bit more. He sure does sleep well after a few hours of boating/swimming. Talked to "Grandma Pat", our friend Susan's mom. She lives just outside of St. Louis so we hope to have dinner with her tomorrow night. We might try to visit the Gateway Arch in St. Louis before we leave on Sunday. I didn't realize that it is actually a part of the Jefferson Memorial Expansion Park so we can get our National Park Passports stamped. We'll also get to fill in another state on our RV map. Love that!

Dog For Sale

Anyone want a dog? Cheap? Better yet, free? Right now he is standing in the driver's chair with his feet up on one arm twitching at every bird tweet and dog bark within a 20 mile radius. That, after waking me up at 7 a.m. because  . . . who knows why? ACK! Yesterday I was "allowed" to sleep in til 8. I was awakened by the sound of a tennis shoe being whacked on the floor. He had eaten off part of the back of one of Jeff's new tennis shoes. He is only alive because they were a $12 pair of Costco specials. 

(Jeff, of course, was out fishing - his morning routine.)

(He is now pawing at me and licking my elbow - better go take him outside to see if he needs to "do" anything - he just peed a few minutes ago - outside!) No - he just wanted to play tug-o-war with the leash. I put him on the outside leash and left him there. UGH! Yesterday we decided to make a run to Wal-Mart for essentials, like a bath mat so we don't slip and kill ourselves after a shower. (Now he's whining outside the door.) We left him inside in his kennel with a little water. We were gone 2 hours tops. Mya went in to "release the Kraken" and he comes flying out of the RV sopping wet. He apparently spilled the water that was in his drinking bucket and taken a bath in it. Water all over. (I just let him in. He has wrapped the cable leash around the picnic table twice and got muddy feet. He's laying here now looking at me - now he is licking his muddy feet.) 

You are probably thinking "Just take the poor dog for a walk". Well, I have my morning routine too.  I get up, take my vitamins and drink my vitamin water, make a cup of tea - or two - and read an inspirational passage to start the day. Walking the dog does not fit in there anywhere. (Now he is lying on the couch looking morose.) 

Otis needs some reassurance.

We have had fun with him. We bought him a life jacket and so we all went out on the boat Saturday. He comes too. We like to find a cove and just splash around in the water. Great relaxing way to keep cool. Otis has been before but we didn't let him jump in because we didn't have the float coat for him. He was dying to jump in, but scared. This time he made the big leap! It was hysterical! He was paddling like crazy and he'd come up to one of us and we'd have to protect ourselves from his razor claws. We all have bright red stripes down our backs and arms from him pawing us. The jacket has a handle on the back so he can be hauled out of the water and into the boat.

He's having fun now,

Finally, after about 3 sessions he calmed down enough to enjoy it. Jade swam as fast as she could away from him and he went after her. He can swim FAST when he's got a goal. Really rather beautiful to see how athletic he is. We've also found a huge clear grassy area where we can take him off leash and let him run. He is one athletic dog - when he stretches out to full speed it's a marvel to watch. We still need to work on getting him to come back to us instead of ignoring us though.

Relaxing after our swim

Today we are going to take him out to swim from the shore without his float coat. He needs to learn to swim without it. He is a Portuguese Water Dog after all. He's even got webbed feet which would explain why he could swim after Jade so well. Not a fair competition - lol! 

Well, I've got my tea. Guess I'll go put on a pair of shorts and walking shoes and take the "Kraken" out for a stroll while it's still a little cooler. Otherwise, he'll get too hot, lay down in the shade, and I'll have to drag him back to the RV.  Fast Dog - Free to a good home!!!

Good Morning

Golf Course is looking better - it's not underwater like
last year after the flooding

We made it. Landed here in Arkansas about 3:30 yesterday (Friday). Had to do a little tidying up; wash down the RV pad and get the leaves brushed away but it's as beautiful as I remember it.  The lake is down to normal levels so the golf course is pretty much back in shape. Looks like their are some Canadian geese that have made their home on the course. There are so many birds here. We are also hoping the chipmunks come back to visit us now we are back.

View from the RV this morning.

Not sure what is wrong with me. I keep waking up at 6:30 - 7 a.m. Must not be quite in vacation mode yet. Don't think that will be a problem after today. The girls are happy to sleep in this morning. Only thing on the "agenda" today is getting the boat in the water. And my kayak. And us!

Summer has begun!