Camping at The Pinery PP - Aug 2015

Since early May 2015 we've been at Laurel Creek Conservation Area, living full-time in our RV after selling our house.  In our last Blog (New Years 2015) we outlined plans to spend this coming winter near Nanaimo, BC (on Vancouver Island).  We are moving forward with those plans.

 

Our tentative departure date for BC is rapidly approaching so we took the opportunity this past week to give the motorhome a good run and get a change of scenery at The Pinery Provincial Park.  Aside from some very warm, 30 degree days we very much enjoyed the Pinery and appreciated the considerable shade on our campsite.  We are attaching a number of photos that we took during the week and hope that you enjoy them.

Our stay at Laurel Creek has been very enjoyable and we plan to reserve the same site for next summer.

 

A second blog has been started (peterjudyweber2.blogspot.ca) which will be dedicated to our trip to British Columbia and our winter stay on Vancouver Island. BC.





Pinery Provincial Park - Riverside Site 461

Our new sign hanging above the door

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The Dunes

Grand Bend Pier

Our selfie at the Grand Bend Beach

Ausable Channel

 

A HAPPY NEW RV'ING YEAR

Early in September 2014 we began thinking about selling our house in Waterloo and living / travelling full-time in our RV for an undetermined period of time. While camping at Arrowhead PP mid September we met a Stratford couple who had just recently made a similar decision.  As I recall they were planning to head to Florida for the winter, although they were a bit concerned about the cost of maintaining adequate health care while out of Canada.  Since neither of us has any great desire to spend winters in the Southern USA, we began to look at other alternatives.

As varied as summer camping plans might be from one person to the next, plans for the winter segment of the year are equally varied. Having participated in the MacGregor Point PP on-site winter camping program for the past five years, we have no aversion to spending the Winter months in a cool climate, preferably within the borders of Canada. After looking at the map and researching the Internet we eventually focused on the West coast, specifically Vancouver Island. We soon located Living Forest Oceanside Campground and RV, a full-service, 4 seasons RV park just outside of Nanaimo with affordable rates for the winter season.  Shortly thereafter we reserved site #45 for the Winter of 2015 - 2016 (see photo and web link below ).

 

 http://livingforest.com/

 

Site #45 (Summer Photo)

We hope to have the house sold no later than May 31, 2015 and will depart from Waterloo mid to late September with a target date of October 1 for arrival at the RV Park. Depending upon the route chosen to get through the Rockies, one can encounter heavy snow when travelling  in October. Temperatures at the RV Park are traditionally above the freezing mark for most of the winter although night time temperatures can be a few degrees below the freezing point.  At this moment the temperature at Nanaimo is +4 degrees C while in Waterloo it is -9 degrees C.  Typically Nanaimo is about 10 degrees warmer than  Waterloo but as temperatures drop, the differential becomes wider.  We will remain hooked up to both sewer and water for the winter  but will require a bit of insulating wrap and electrical heating cable to prevent the external lines from freezing.  Unfortunately they do receive quite a bit of rain during the winter.  It is too soon to determine just how many winters we will ultimately spend on Vancouver Island.   

 

Aerial View of the RV Park

It will be difficult to leave our "church family" at WMB Church in Waterloo. However, there appear to be a lot of churches in Nanaimo including at least one Mennonite Brethren church, so there should be plenty of opportunity to get involved in the local Christian community.

The trip to Vancouver Island is in excess of 4,000 km one way so we hope to be making a few stops along the way.  Since living / travelling full-time in our RV will become a new "phase" of our life, it would seem logical to start a new Blog for the years to come.  We believe that we can link the two blogs so that anyone looking at the "old" blog will be pointed to the "new" blog and vice-versa.

Between the date we move out of our house and the date we leave for Vancouver Island, we expect to be using Laurel Creek Conservation Area as a home base. Of course we hope to be making some trips to our favourite Ontario campgrounds during the summer months so watch for future blog updates.

Anyone wishing to be kept abreast of further developments may wish to sign on as a "follower" of this blog site. Depending upon your preferences, this may enable you to receive "text" or "email" notifications on a timely basis.

Have a Happy New Year 2015

Judy and Peter Weber

 

 

 

 

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

 

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

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

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.

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Leaving The Pinery Provincial Park




Our campsite #2 in Ash Woods












Our broken RV air sensor switch



Bladder Campion near our campsite

Tiger Lily near path

Swamp Iris

Sunset on Friday evening