RV Journal: 2014

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Last call for 2014 at MacGregor Point Provincial Park

After five years of winter camping at MacGregor Point Provincial Park in the "on site" winter program, we have decided to pass up on the 2014 - 2015 winter program which starts in another week. However, that didn't prevent us from spending one more weekend at the Park.

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous and this afternoon we took the opportunity to carve a pumpkin at our picnic table. As daylight began to fade, we lit the jack o'lantern and took a few pictures. We hope you enjoy them.

Watch for a new blog next spring.

Site 33 in Ash Woods campground

Photo of Turtle Pond taken from Ash Woods

Cleaning out the seeds and that "stringy stuff"

More seeds & stringy stuff?

The finished product

Jack O'Lantern on the motorhome dash

Note reflection of trees & sky from windshield

Thursday, September 18, 2014

September Camping at Arrowhead Provincial Park

We arrived at Arrowhead Provincial Park on Saturday, September 13 and are scheduled to leave this coming Saturday, September 20. We are on site # 211 in East River Campground on a very large, very private site with excellent satellite TV access. For additional pictures of Arrowhead refer to our September and October 2013 blogs.

When we arrived at the Park there was a sign at the Park Office indicating that an "active Black Bear" had been sited in East River Campground on or about September 11 and to take precautions concerning garbage, food, etc. Last evening about 8:30 pm while returning from Huntsville, (what we believe to be) that same bear crossed the road in front of us by the Campground office. No one else had seen the bear since September 11.

We have seen the usual complement of deer but one was unique in that it was a buck. However, the real "prize" was a bull moose that came through our campsite on Monday at about 4:15 pm. I was sleeping and Judy woke me to tell me about the moose. Half awake, I saw the moose and went for the camera but by the time I snapped the first photo the moose had disappeared into the brush.

These campsites tend to have about 80 feet of trees and brush separating them. The moose came out of a vacant campsite across the road from us and walked between our site and the adjacent site at a distance of about 30 feet from our RV. Next morning when we reported the siting to the Parks staff they said "no way". Obviously this was a rare siting.

Today we took a drive to Mikisew Provincial Park about an hour North of here to "scout out" some good campsites. Although there are a limited number of sites suitable for a 38 foot RV, we did find some nice sites, a couple of which had a good view of the lake and beach areas. Heard some loons while we were there. On the downside, I locked my keys in the Jeep and had to call Good Sam Club to "rescue" them. They dispatched a tow truck from Bray Motors in Sundridge and the driver took less than 5 minutes to get into our vehicle.

Bear warning at Arrowhead

Young Grouse of a family of 4

MIKISEW PROVINCIAL PARK

BURKS FALLS

A "selfie" taken at Burks Falls

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Weekend at Owen Sound KOA

As indicated in our most recent blog, two weeks ago we had to leave our RV for a minor repair at Wark Service Centre near Port Elgin. The repair was done promptly and rather than make a special trip to bring the RV back to Waterloo, we decided to book a weekend at Owen Sound KOA. It's been about four years since we've been at this campground.

We arrived late afternoon on Friday, July 4 with a two night booking but since checkout time is rather early (i.e., 11 a.m.) we decided to book an extra night and leave on Monday. Our "regular" site across from the spring fed trout pond was already booked so we took site 39 in the "lower campground". Our "through the windshield" view is a hay field which may not seem exciting to some folks but it's much better than staring at another RV.

Last evening we went into Owen Sound for dinner at the Swiss Chalet restaurant. We scouted out some easily accessible gas stations where we could get some diesel fuel tomorrow. We then stopped at the Old Mill Dam, Harrison Park and on to Inglis Falls further upstream.

CAMPGROUND PHOTOS

Good TV Satellite Access at our campsite

View from our windshield

The Trout Pond

A couple of Trout in the Trout Pond

OLD MILL DAM & INGLIS FALLS PHOTOS

Sunday, June 22, 2014

A Weekend at MacGregor Point Provincial Park

Our campsite booking at The Pinery PP expired on Friday and with the Park being fully booked for the weekend, we made an online reservation at MacGregor Point Provincial Park for Friday and Saturday nights. The trip up Highway 21 was very enjoyable and we arrived shortly after 3 p.m.

After unhooking our towed vehicle Judy went on ahead to locate the campsite and Peter filled up the RV with fresh water. However, about halfway between the dumping station and our campsite the low air pressure warning buzzer started beeping and the air pressure dropped to the point where we feared the "spring brakes" would lock up. Fortunately we did make it to our campsite and after setting up for the night made a trip to Port Elgin to locate someone who could work on air brakes. We were referred to Wark Service Centre and although they were just closing for the weekend, did indicate they would be able to make any necessary repairs the following week.

Saturday morning Peter was able to locate the source of the air leak (a low air sensor switch that split in two) and did a temporary repair that allowed the air pressure to get back up to normal operating level. However, with the low air sensor no longer working, the "buzzer" rang constantly and would have driven us nuts, not to mention being a possible safety issue. Therefore, upon leaving the Park this afternoon we drove the RV to the service centre about 5 minutes East of Port Elgin and left it there for repairs when the service centre opens on Monday. Aside from the inconvenience of having to drive home without the RV, we were grateful that the breakdown occurred when it did. Had we been in the midst of a lengthy trip we could have been stranded "in the middle of nowhere" and possibly requiring a tow truck.