Rain and more Rain

What a soggy week this has been and very trying! Heavy rain every day and next to no sun. Still it looks as though the coming week will be better but we have heard that before.

On Monday we stayed inside all day and listened to the rain beating down on the roof and watching thew St Lawrence River slowly rising. This spring has been the worse for 30 years and many parts of Eastern Canada are flooded.

It rained so much that we were surrounded by puddles of water. it eased a bit next day so we drove drove down to Rockport about 50km away and boarded a cruise around the thousand islands. The Thousand Islands are situated on the St Lawrence Seaway just before it enters Lake Ontario. The river is very wide here and on the myriad of islands people have built grand holiday cottages and even castles.




We cruised across the border between Canada and the US and arrived at an island with a castle on it built about 100 years ago.




The chef of the owner of this castle is credited with the 'invention' of Thousand Island Dressing. The castle was only lived in for 10 years.

Next day we drove up the River to Montreal. The rain still accompanied us. It rained hard all the next day so we stayed indoors and watched more puddles form around us. It was still wet the next day when we decided to go into Montreal.

We were disappointed with Montreal. Lots of building going on and not a lot of atmosphere. The old town was interesting but small and touristy. Maybe the rain didn't help but I doubt we will go back again.




Then accompanied by the usual rain we drove 300km up to Quebec City. We took the last site at the campground as there was a weekend rally happening there. We met up with some fellow kiwis who were doing the same sort of thing that we were and by coincidence also had a boat in Gulf Harbour.

It has rained constantly for the last 24 hours but tomorrow promises some sunshine so hopefuly we will get into the city tomorrow. Then it up the Gulf of St Lawrence before turning South as we head for sunshine in Florida, but alas that is some months away. Lobsters are a calling first!

We are only at 46 degrees North, about the same as Lake Te Anau is south, but a completely different climate with bitterly cold winters and hot summers. We are almost as far North as we are going this year. So far we have driven 1793 miles (2868 km) since picking up the fifth wheel in Indiana.

Location:Quebec City, Canada

Niagara and Toronto

The week started and finished rather wet and cold. We moved camp down to Ft Erie by an old quarry that is now a lake. The next day was cold and drizzly but we decided to go to the Niagara Falls anyway. We tried to find a park near the falls but they wanted $18 for parking so we drove on a bit further and found free parking. We were unsure as to whether the Canadian or American side was the better to see the falls but were glad we chose the Canadian as it by far the better view.




This is the view of the Horseshoe falls with the Maid of the Mist tour boat below the falls. We boarded they boat later and were taken up underneath the falls. What a noise. What power. It didn't matter it was drizzling as it was wet with spray anyway.



We spent the next couple of days in the cold and rain before packing up and heading to Toronto where magically the warmth and sunshine returned. We stayed in the municipal campground on the fringes of Toronto. A secluded place in what is the Canada's largest city. We were entertaining that night with two old friends of Wendy's from Cape Town. Some lovely home made bread rolls and Pasta were on the menu.




Next day we went into Toronto by bus and subway. We walked and walked all over from the big shopping centre Eaton Centre to Kensington Market.


And then more walking for miles up to Casa Loma, the home of Sir Henry Pellatt, a financier and entrepreneur of Edwardian times. A lovely home well described using the audio tour.



Luckily there weren't many people so we had the place almost to ourselves at times.




Then we walked for more miles to the home of Ruth and Ivan our hosts for the next couple of days.

Next day we caught the subway and then the ferry to the Toronto Islands which lie a km or so off Toronto. They have been turned into lovely parks. We walked from one island to the next, all the way with lovely views of the Toronto waterfront.





Toronto is a big city very like Melbourne with a mixture of many cultures. Lots of Victorian brick houses and its always buzzing with people enjoying themselves. We went for another long walk on Saturday along the Don River Reserve to an old brick works that had been turned into a farmer's market. We had brunch there and in the afternoon returned to the campground.

Today we have driven some 350km East along Lake Ontario to the area on the St Lawrence Seaway called the Thousand Island Area. Now it's raining again as we are setup just metres away from they St Lawrence Seaway. We are here for a few days before heading into Quebec. More on this area next week.

Location:Shoreline Rd,Prescott,Canada

We cross the border (what border?)

 

We have spent the last week relaxing in hot (30c) weather at the seaside and lakeside. We drove up the shores of Lake Michigan to a small town called Montague at the mouth of the White River where we spent 3 days in the woods in a huge campsite with hardly anyone around.  We went for a walk in the woods and saw a brace of white tailed deer jump up in fright and take off through the trees. Quiet and Relaxing.  Then it was time to start heading East towards the Canadian border some 300 miles away.

We camped at a lovely Lake (Minnawanna) in the middle of a Michigan State Park. We setup camp just feet from the lake an although the park had 300 campsite there were only 5 other people there. Camping doesn’t really get going in the US until Memorial Day Weekend which is the last Monday in May.

We wandered through the lovely trails in the park and saw chipmunks and a snake and Wendy swears she saw a beaver frolicking in the middle of the lake.

The day we were due to leave the lovely hot weather turned to custard and we left in rain which got heavier and heavier as neared the Canadian border. We were expecting long queues, interrogation and customs searches but there was nothing other than a cursory glance at our passports and ‘Have a good day’ and we were suddenly in Canada.  Not that we could see anything at all as the lake fog enveloped everything. We headed for the Niagara area where we had booked a campsite for on night before heading further South to another place.  This place was in a lovely valley (The Jordan Valley) but in the rain it didn’t really matter. But the roads in the park were narrow, the sites were grass and we concerned about getting stuck with our rig. But all was OK. We unhitched and went to St Catherines to buy an iPad micro sim for our iPad and we are now signed up with Rogers for 5GB for $35. We also bought some local wine from the LCBO.  Much of Canada will only allow alcohol to sold from Government owned stores. Beer is twice the price and more compared to the US (about NZ$2.60 a can) but wine seems reasonable in price. We had bought a couple of cases from  Wal-Mart in the US before we left and 1/3 the price.

Today in the pouring rain we drove 50km to Fort Erie where we are staying for 3 nights so we can visit the Falls and other attractions in the area. It was fun backing into a small site  facing a small lake in the pouring rain but we got setup and turned the furnace on and we were soon nice and warm and ready to watch Masterchef NZ using some of the 5GB bandwidth from Rogers Telecom.

The forecast is for rain and more rain for the next few days. So we may only get to see the falls. Then it’s on to Toronto where Wendy is catching up with Ruth an old friend from Cape Town days.

Remember you can follow our trip clicking on this Google Map link

If it’s Sunday it must be Indiana

Well it’s been quite a couple of weeks since we left Missoula in Montana and headed East on the I-90. We had to go quite slowly to run in the pickup truck which was a bit frustrating with 1900 miles to cover. And we weren’t allowed to use cruise control as the engine speed had to be varied quite often. Good exercise for my foot.

We passed from Montana into Wyoming and stopped at a small town called Sheridan and set the alarm for 4am in time for The Wedding. Afterwards we decided to leave early and went to load 4 huge bins, 4 suitcases into the pickup to discover that it was snowing and over an inch covered the pickup.

We decided to go anyway and hope for the best as we didn’t carry chains. Fortunately the passes were open for vehicle without chains and so we passed through Wyoming into South Dakota and then into Iowa and Minnesota and Illinois and finally on Sunday we arrived in Indiana. 1900 miles in 4 days and 3000 miles since we had left San Francisco a week earlier.

For 1000 miles  from Montana we had been passing through rolling hills. The ones near Montana were very high 5000 ft. But gradually and almost imperceptibly the height of the hills decreased until by the time we reached Iowa we were in the great US Corn belt and the land as flat as. We had passed over the Bighorn Mountains, past the site of General Custer’s Last Stand and over the Missouri and the Mississippi Rivers swollen with snow melt from one of the worst winters in recent memories. Spring was only just coming. The trees lay bare and it was cold. Oh it was cold. Every day we had to load the suitcases and storage bins into and out of the pickup tray.

But we are now in Elkhart the RV capital of the world where most of the main RV  brands are built including our Sundance Fifth Wheel made by Heartland.

We arrived at the dealer early next morning to discover they weren’t ready for us even after weeks of notice, and further our TV had been stolen. They replaced that but what should have taken a few hours took all day.

We decided to stay in Elkhart for a few days to kit out the fifth wheel. This we did with frequent trips to Wal-Mart.  Prices are a lot cheaper than NZ.  For example 1 doz eggs cost $1 at Wal-Mart. Fuel is cheaper at US$4 or so a gallon or NZ$1.30 per litre. Strangely Diesel is more expensive.

On our last day in Elkhart we went out to Shipshewana to see a huge flea market where we bought a few bits and pieces. But the main attraction of the area is that it is in an Amish County.  The Amish also called Pennsylvania Dutch are German immigrants from long ago who speak Pennsylvania Dutch as their main language, use High German in Church and talk in English to the rest of us. They do not subscribe to modern conveniences and drive around in horse and buggies and dress like early Victorians. A strange sight. 

Many of the people are Dutch descended and Dutch and German names, foods and architecture abound. We bought some lovely German sausages from a big Amish supermarket.

Then it was time to head off. We decided to head into Michigan for 10 days to make sure everything was working in the RV. if not we could always pop back to Elkhart to get it fixed.  We left and headed North and stopped just out of Grand Rapids in a small campground where we had a discount pass to get a half price site.  We managed to unhook and setup fairly well and spent the next day just relaxing and trying out our bread maker which produced lovely crusty bread.

We hook up to electricity, water and sewerage and have most mod cons.  We have found the PBS channels on American TV  (equiv of BBC) and they are very good. Similar to Living and Travel channels on Sky NZ. A very good picture as most channels are in HD these days and the days of NTSC seem to be disappearing rapidly. All of the campgrounds have good wi-fi so we can keep in touch with the world very well. We can (thanks Sharon!) stream virtually any movies via wifi to our TV using Netflix. We have discovered Pandora on our iPads and connecting it via our hifi system can listen to free personalised radio. Listening to Diana Krall now .

The people we have met have been very friendly and helpful. The countryside is very pretty and the scale of everything is so vast. We have the same scenes in NZ. We have high desert – 50 miles of it on the central Plateau, but it goes for 800+ miles here. We have high mountains but there seem to be endless high mountain ranges in the States. We have the Canterbury plains but the Great Plains go on for ever. We have Lake Taupo but the Great Lakes make it look like a duck pond.

Sam has left to go home now having secured a great job at Quid.com in San Francisco where he returns as soon as he has a visa. He had a great time enjoying all the SF has to offer and meeting his new work mates socially as  well as at work. He did a lot of walking from climbing Mt Tamalpais just over the Golden Gate bridge to walking 30 minutes to work every day up and down the steep hills.

Today we went to Holland.  That is Holland Michigan which was founded by Dutch settlers in 1847. We imagined some kind of quaint Dutch village, but in reality it was a typical American town with tulips scattered through the parks and roadsides and a windmill in another park ($10 entrance)  As we had seen our fair share of authentic Dutch towns and windmills we gave the paying attractions a miss and went out to the shores of Lake Michigan and saw Big Red -  a famous old lighthouse at the entrance to the Holland Harbour. The sun was warm and the sky was blue and Lake Michigan looked at its best.

This coming week we spend some more time in Michigan before crossing the border into Canada where we will spend the next two months heading over to Nova Scotia.