Road Trip Aug 2019 - Canada

From Fairfax, VA we went north toward the Niagara Falls area - Williamsville NY - to be exact.

We stayed with long time friends Jon and Barbara.  It was great to spend the evening with them and to catch up.

They're retired also and have three daughters who are married with lots of grandkids.  They are involved in their church and quite active in their local pickleball scene.

Our visit was too short, but then again, it was great to spend a little time with them.  We left early the next morning and made our way across the QEW./Lewiston-Queenston Bridge.  We were prepared for a busy time but instead it was early and Civic Holiday Weekend in Canada and the traffic had not picked up yet.

Going through Toronto was not too bad and we continued north toward North Bay before taking the turn to Rutherglen and Talon Lake where our friends Jeff and Tiffany have a cabin.  We parked our truck near the campground office and called Jeff, who arrived a few minutes later in his pontoon boat.

Their cabin is only accessible by water and we loaded a few things on the boat and were off to the cabin!

 Its a great location among 4-5 other cabins and buildings owned by them, Tiffany's brother and Jeff and Cheryl who live a couple hours away in Canada.

It was fun just hanging out and talking, relaxing and enjoying a great couple of days.  Jeff and Tiffany have 4 kids, three of whom are still teenagers.  The youngest two girls were there with us along with there three kids, and we all had a nice time relaxing.

They played board games in the evening, or read or put together puzzles.

One night we had a campfire.  A couple of days they rode across the lake a ways and anchored the boat for some fishing and swimming.  They have a jet ski and the kids hopped on that pulling a raft.  It was great fun and against all odds I caught a couple of small mouth bass.

It was great fun and relaxing and a perfect few days.

Once again and all too quickly it was time to say goodbye and Jeff taxied us over early in the morning to our truck and returned to the cabin for a few more days.

It was early in the morning and the rains came as we drove into North Bay for some fuel and got some ice.  We traveled south and east in the direction of Detroit.  We were going to Petrolia, Ontario to see Meghan's parents Marg and Bill.

Jeff and Tiffany told us about Weber's Charbroiled hamburgers on Highway 11.  We drove right by it, so decided to stop for lunch.

By now the rain had mostly stopped and we got there before the crowds.  We were eating under an umbrella at a table while the folks were starting to line up.  The burgers were the best in Canada and a real treat.  Glad we stopped.

Next, we travelled on to the Sarnia/Petrolia area and a couple of days with Marg and Bill.  We had another fabulous time with them, having seen them in March when then were returned from their winters stay in and came to see us in Virginia.

Bill had a golf tournament on Friday so Marg, Pam and I hung out and went over to the waterfront near Sarnia to Skeeter Barlow's for dinner.  I tried pickerel and vegetables with a baked potato.  It was  fantastic.  Don't know that I've ever had that fish, but it was great.

Somehow I missed taking a picture of us so I snagged this off the restaurant web site.

Pam opted for pasta in a mushroom and shrimp sauce which was good also. Bill was still at his golf tournament later finding out that he had prime rib.

Saturday morning Bill and I played a round of golf at the local golf club in Petrolia. It was a great day for golf and we had some fun.  In between all the rest of the round, we each hit a couple of good shots.  We had dinner back at their place and then went to a local play.  It was great!

The comedy was "the New Canadian Curling Club".  It was entertaining and very well done.

 The local theater is the Victoria Playhouse Petrolia (VPP) and every summer they fill the seats with local theater goers who enjoy great music and acting.

The facility retains the old architecture of the early 20th century and has been completed renovated recently.  It was originally built in the 1889 in the midst of the region's oil boom.  It is a great facility and a perfect setting for the evening.

The next morning we left early, made a quick stop at Tim Horton's in town for coffee and some Tim Bits and made our way about 20 miles over to the Blue Water Bridge/border crossing back into the U.S.A.

Our week in Canada was filled with great memories of friends and all we hoped for this trip.  Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Roadrunner Rewind: 2009 Travels - Our First 6 Months

We started full-timing in May 2009.  It took a couple of years of planning, research, decisions, project management (my worldview) milestones, and action -- and we launched into one of the best things Pam and I have ever done.

Looking back helps remind us of the excitement we felt and the new territories we covered and the things we felt during those first few months.  What an exciting time.  We had big plans and felt like sponges:  we couldn't soak it all in fast enough.

Everyday it seemed like we were learning a hundred things!  Everyday we felt excited and energetic and the whole idea was daunting. Our learning curve was steep and our brains could not take it all in. Something I have only recently been able to do is put together a contiguous map of the places we stopped.

Google Maps limits how many locations that can be displayed at one time on the map.  I had to learn to use overlays.  There are more features to learn I am sure but here's a look at where we went:


The day we bought the Roadrunner (2007 Tiffin Allegro Bus):  May 22, 2009

What an exciting day!  During the next six months we made our way to Maynardville TN to see Pam's sister and family.  Then we headed to Oklahoma City to see friends Kirk and Susan.

Our next scheduled stop was in Pontiac Illinois for a three week stint with the NOMADS - a volunteer group.

We then traveled to Canada (Petrolia across from the Port Huron border crossing and onto the beautiful Bruce Peninsula and Tobermory.)

We headed west to Mount Rushmore and then south again to another volunteer project in Greensburg KS.  After that, we visited brother Reid in Albuquerque.

We drove the Roadrunner south after that and headed to Kerrville TX for our first rally (with RV-Dreams).  We then went to the Fort Worth area to see brother Brad and then explored that area of Texas.

From there we went to the Rio Grande Valley and the border town of Nuevo Progresso.  Once there we crossed the border (on foot) and tried out Mexican dental care.

Our volunteer efforts to us to Galveston TX for a few weeks and then we headed west again.

It was on to Tucson next where we spent some time before heading to the San Diego/Camp Pendleton area for the holidays.

From there we went north to Redlands CA, near where we lived in the mid 1980's and visited former neighbors Bob and Sue.



It was a busy first six months on the road.  We tried to see a lot.  We did!  And we learned a lot and were pretty excited to be on the road.

We were asked, "What's the most memorable thing you have seen so far your travels"?   Ugh... that is always a hard question but some of the more notable memories include:

• Taking in the morning fog over the lake at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Benbrook Lake, Fort Worth, TX
• Disaster Relief volunteering, meeting like-minded folks in Galveston, TX
• Getting shivers at the exceptionally well done evening ceremony honoring military at Mount Rushmore
• Enjoying middle America at a lovely evening town 4th of July concert in Pontiac Illinois
• Crowding 17 friends and family into the Roadrunner over the holidays on the beach at Camp Pendleton CA

For a more complete listing of our experiences during the year, you can click on the right panel of the blog under '2009'.

That's a recap of the Roadrunner Travels during the first six months of our time on the road.  Its fun to look back!

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Oh Canada! - Quebec City

First - I am way behind in my blogging.  Anyone of my readers ever have that issue?  We are now in Virginia Beach where we will be for about six weeks.  But I wanted to do a post on our time in Quebec City so here goes.

We drove from Presque Isle, Maine crossing the border into New Brunswick Canada at Fort Fairfield.  From there we headed north and then west into Quebec.

We stopped at the nearest rest stop/tourist information center for a stretch of the legs.
We traveled along the Saint Lawrence River and had moderately long driving day.

We arrived at our campground (Campground Transit) mid-afternoon.  It was a 243 mile day and we were tired.  We got set up and enjoyed an uneventful evening at a nice campground.

The next morning we drove into Levis and caught the ferry over to Quebec City.  Ferries are always interesting.

We were in the midst of regular 'commuter' folks and some tourists like ourselves.  The approach over to the city is pretty spectacular.

You can see the Citadel, Frontenac and some of the old city.

Once on the island we proceeded to the historic section of the city which was about a two blocks from the ferry.

 In the middle of the old section stands the Notre Dame des Vicotires church.

We had lunch at an outdoor cafe

And we walked around some more after lunch

Along the Promenade

To the Citadel

We came across some street performers before we went back to the ferry

It was pretty day for walking around the old city.

That is all for this edition of the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Thanks for joining us.  Until next time...

Back in the Saddle

Actually I was never out of the saddle, I just took a break from the blog.  The few days I intended to skip turned into a week, then two and now what has been the longest break since I started the Roadrunner Chronicles.  A pause turned into a break which turned into a hiatus.  But we are back with another edition of the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Thanks for joining us!

So the last time we left you we were in Port Huron, MI. While there we saw Marg and Bill for a few days and got to spend some time at their cottage in Tobermory, Ontario.

And we went into town down by the Little Tub for a nice afternoon of ice cream and a walk.

Then we went back to Port Huron to the Port Huron Township RV Campground so I could get my online work done.   We stayed there for another week.  In the evenings, we went for a few walks down by the city park on the water.

The Thomas Edison Railroad Museum is there.  He grew up in Port Huron. It is a very nice park with a good sized walkway and a great place to hang out in the evenings.

We also go to see George and Sharon (RV friends from Tucson) and Rod and Lisa, friends from our days in Hawaii.  Their daughter Andrea and granddaughter Verity joined us for breakfast before we left so that was nice.

After Port Huron, we drove to Dayton, Ohio and saw our friend Diane (also from our Hawaii time).  It is always good to see her.  We got to see a couple of her kids who are all grown up now.  It was nice.

Then we drove to Red Bay where we are now.  We have some work to get done on the Roadrunner and will be posting more about that.

Until next time, thanks for joining us!

Roadrunner Financials - July 2011

Roadrunner Recap

• Camp Murray ANG Campground, Tacoma WA
• Pacific Beach Navy Resort and Conference Center, WA
• Nehalem State Park OR
• Cedars RV Resort, Ferndale WA
• Fairchild AFB Famcamp, Spokane WA
• North American RV Park, Coram MT
• Minot AFB Famcamp MT
• Grand Forks AFB ND

Here's an interactive map that shows where we traveled.  You can click on the letters and it will tell you the location.

During July, we put a lot of miles on the Roadrunner again.  Since we were in the Northwest, we wanted to see Seattle and Vancouver.  We did that by taking day trips.

We also took a long day trip to Anacortes Port for a ferry to Victoria BC which was great.

Then we went down the Oregon Coast and stayed at a Navy campground.  Turns out we should have only stayed there a few days so we could go farther south.  Instead we explored the area with time at Tillamook Cheese factory and some quaint towns along the coast.

We also stayed at an Oregon State Park that was a tight fit but adequate.

Our travels also took us along the northern states in the NW and we crossed the border a few times to say 'we have been in Alberta and Saskatchewan'.  We also stayed at Minot AFB Grand Forks AFB in North Dakota.

Good News Areas We Are Under Budget
We were a little under on our campground fees for the month, probably because we spent 10 days at a Navy Campground along the southern coast of Washington.
We also were a little under budget in our grocery costs.

Biggest Expenses
Like the previous month of June, we spent a lot on fuel.  Both diesel and gas.  
TV and Internet are budgeted wrongly as we are always over budget in this area.

Food (as in eating out) was little high for just the two of us, but then we were under in the grocery area so that was not a big deal.

Large One Time Cost Items
Nothing really stands out in this area this month.

Monthly Average

We were a modest $15 over budget this month and we were fine with that.

Thanks for taking a look with us on the budget and finances.  One reason I am doing this is to track our expenses and secondly - I hope it is helpful to some of you out there who might be asking "how much does it really cost to full-time as an RVer".

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Time in North Dakota

After Glacier NP, we drove east and are in Grand Forks, ND.  It took us a few days to get here.  After leaving Coram, MT (near Glacier NP), we drove on Highway 2 east for an overnight stay in Glasgow, MT  at the Cottonwood Inn and Suites/RV Park.

It was a pretty interesting idea and we wonder why more motels don't have an RV park out back.  It was off the busy highway in a quiet place and had full hookups plus use of the pool and facilities.


From Glasgow, we continued east to Minot AFB FamCamp in Minot, ND.  The campground was full but it had decent overflow camping near by.  We parked out of the way and on pavement in a level area.

The base has a policy of a no cost boon-docking area, plus they will come around to your trailer/RV and pump it out and/or give you water if you need it.  All free.  Zippo.  It was a pretty good deal and we were 100 yards from the BX and commissary.  For a three day stay it was perfect.

We heard about Minot and all the flooding in June.  It was raining when we drove through town on the way to the base.  We had to be re-routed from a bridge that was flooding.

A couple of days later, we visited the areas in town that were flooded out and underwater.

It was heart breaking and sobering.  The hard work of rebuilding has begun but the smell was strong and no one was back in these homes yet.

Another day we drove north across the Canada border into Saskatchewan

and over to Manitoba before we crossed the border again and returned to Minot.

From Minot we drove east to Grand Forks, ND and are staying at the Air Force Base FamCamp.

It is in an old mobile home park area of the base with lots of grass and open area.  The optimum area for the warm, 85 degree weather is under the trees.  After being in this spot three days,

we were able to move to this location.  A little shade and fire ring were nice.  Probably the best thing about the sites here are the price:  $6 for full hook ups if you are a senior and $12 for the rest of us.  Hard to beat.

While at the previous spot, I spent three days washing and waxing the Roadrunner.

It was a big job, but we were happy with the results.

A highlight while here was a visit from NOMADS friends Don and Lillian.

We met in Galveston two years ago on a NOMADS project and then met up again in Mississippi in January.

After a lot of miles the last few weeks, it was good to stay in one place for a while.  This past week I have been able to put in some hours doing my online work which comes up at the end of every month.  We have also done a lot of reading and some walking the last few days.  I had a good run one day and took out my bike for a trip around the base.  But we are looking forward to traveling south tomorrow and arriving at Brookings, SD for a Habitat Build.

So that is what we have been up to the last week or so.  Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles.  And thanks for your comments.  We look forward to them.