myBlog Image Gallery

June 11th, 2022

I had previously thought that all amethyst is purple but discovered that it can also be brown or white, depending upon its mineral content.


Amethyst is mined in an open pit in this area. They simply mine along a vein, checking each stone as it comes out of the ground. This small family-run operation began in the 1950s and has at least another 20 years of mining life left plus any additional resources that may be discovered.


We could hear cascading water from our campsite and found its source just a few campsites away. Other than the tannin-stained colour of the water, common throughout Ontario, the abundant waterfalls did not disappoint.


June 10th, 2022

Moonbeam, ON associates its name with alien visitors, as depicted by this roadside statue.


Hearst, ON was a little more down-to-earth illustrating the life and death struggle between the local moose population and a pack of wolves.


June 9th, 2022

It was a warm day and the mosquitoes were eating me alive but they did not faze this big guy. He had a small pool to help him ward off the heat.


A 1972 Polaris Starfire, though with a larger engine, it was essentially the same professional racing sled as my last snowmobile. It brought back many great and exciting memories.


June 8th, 2022

The scenery was great with forest everywhere and lots of lakes and marshland.


We were pleasantly surprised at the number of big rig friendly campsites available in this Ontario Provincial Park campsite, including lakeside sites.


June 7th, 2022

Our Walmart location was shared by 11 RVs the first night and 9 the second. This location is so popular that the store herd them all into an RV section of their parking lot.


June 6th, 2022

Our Jeep provides an ideal solution for getting out and exploring the regions we visit. Be it windy country roads or backwood wilderness, our Jeep helps us find great sights we can’t reach in our RV.


This old church building in Bala was screaming, “Take my picture!” Living out west we simply don’t see many 100 year old buildings and certainly none made out of stone blocks.


This region takes pride in their cranberry bogs, which are very different from those back home in BC. The Muskoka cranberry bogs are small and speak to a time gone by verses the large and modern man-made commercial fields back home.


Bracebridge Falls, in downtown Bracebridge, ON, is an iconic scene with water rushing through an old dam and down through the Bracebridge Power Plant.


May 23rd - 26th, 2022

The highlight of any trip to Niagara Falls has to be the falls themselves. Having seen the falls several times from the Canadian side in the past, this time we drove stateside and viewed it from Goat Island in the USA.

Ferris wheels, go cart tracks, and more. If it is touristy, Niagara Falls has it covered.

Niagara Falls, ON has capitalized on its tourism market and now offers a lively nightlife. It is exciting to walk the streets and explore all that is available but driving here at night is not for the faint hearted with people forgetting there are cars on the roads.


May 17th - 22nd, 2022

While in the Ann Arbor area we stayed at the Wayne County (Fairgrounds) Campground, 29 miles from downtown Detroit and 49 miles from Toledo. Its central location, away from the major urban clutter made for a good basecamp.


The historic Fort Wayne, along the Detroit River, is slowly being reclaimed by nature. This photo shows the decaying roofs in an area not typically open to visitors.

Another old relict of Fort Wayne, in a little better shape but sadly showing it's abandoned to nature.


The Ambassador Bridge, linking Detroit and Windsor, ON, was built in 1929. It is currently undergoing construction work making it slow and cramped for big rigs and the endless stream of trucks crossing between Canada and the United States.


Here's a shot of the Detroit and Windsor skylines from Belle Isle in the Detroit River.

Another view of the Detroit skyline from the south.


Linda and I discovered Steak'n Shake on our inaugural retirement trip down Route 66 in 2014. It has become a magnet each time we spot one.

Great milkshakes and burgers - the ideal way to cap off a day of touring cities we've not visited before.

May 16th 2022

We knew we had arrived in northern Indiana when we found ourselves driving behind an Amish horse and buggy.


Elkhart, IN is the epicenter of the RV industry. A phone call a couple of days prior to our arrival allowed us to arrange for a mobile tech to meet us in the RV Hall of Fame parking lot to service our hydronic heating system.


The parking lot at this bulk grocery store looks a little different from those we see at home.

Virtually every business in the area has a hitching rail, even McDonalds.

May 15th, 2022

The Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge spans the St. Marys River between the United States and Canada connecting the twin cities of Sault Ste. Marie. Our journey continues in the USA for the next eight days. It is a toll bridge that cost us $16.50 for our motorhome and tow car.

May 13th & 14th, 2022

When in this area you have to visit the Sault Ste. Marie Canal National Historic Site. The first canal on the site opened in 1798, but was destroyed in 1814 during the War of 1812 and rebuilt. The bridge above the canal leads to the US, our next day's journey.

Algoma Steel, the largest employer in Sault Ste. Marie, has been producing steel for more than 100 years. It's massive plant has an annual; production capacity of more than four millions tons of hot and cold rolled steel products.


If you like ice cream, stop by The Big Moose, in Sault Ste. Marie, and choose from their 55-flavours.

May 12, 2022

The Wawa RV Resort is not what I would term a "resort" but it is a nice campground that provides lots of space for accessing the campsites.

The river beside the campground was popular with the fishermen, though I did not see any coming back with fish.

A giant Canadian Goose stands guard at the entrance to Wawa, ON.

May 11, 2022

Kakabeka Falls was doing its best to drain the winter melt.


The piles of snow in our campground at Kakabeka Falls is a reminder that this is early in the RV season for this area.

May 10, 2022

We stopped at a roadside pull-out for lunch beside Percy Lake, which I renamed Lake Slushy. Only a film of broken and crushed ice remained floating on the surface, blown to one end of the lake by the wind.

East of Kenora, ON about 8 inches (20 cm) of water was flowing across the Trans-Canada Highway so traffic was controlled to one-lane. It was not a problem for large diesel rigs but could be for cars with minimal ground clearance.

May 8, 2022

Southern Manitoba is wet and this is the drier area north of the current flooding spoken of in the news. In areas, the highway was a single ribbon of dry land amidst vast fields of water.

May 7, 2022

The City of Yorkton Campground looked questionable as we drove in but we were soon greeted by well groomed, huge RV sites that were super easy to get in and out of. This is definitely the place to stay when going through Yorkton, the town I was born in so many decades ago. Only $35 per night.

May 5, 2022

Seeing mountain sheep along the highway, just east of Jasper, is a common occurrence. Today we had to stop in the middle of the road when a few of the small herd decided to cross the road.

May 3, 2022
Pipeline construction was our travelmate today. It ran along from one side of the highway, crossed under and repeated that time and time again.


There is snow on the mountain tops all around and the temperature tonight is forecast to be drop to 3°C (37°F) tonight. Thankfully, our furnace is working fine.
May 2, 2022
Linda did some quick thinking, snapping a picture as we turned onto the road.


Our first campground messed up our reservation but we finally got things sorted away and parked.