August 2011

I cannot believe that August is almost over, and with that the summer is drawing to an end. The highlight of August was the 12 day visit of our daughter, Suzanne and our two lovely grand sons. We all fitted into the motorhome very well, with Suzanne and the two boys sleeping in our bedroom and Michael and I slept on the hide-a-bed in the living area. It was a wonderful time. I got Noah (the five year old) well on his way to swimming. We spent every day, except for one rainy one, in the pool. The weather cooperated and Noah and I had a ball spending the days together, either in the pool, the sand pit or playing games on the iPad. He was a delight. Owen is a very mischievous toddler and thoroughly enjoyed spending a lot of time outside with his Papa running or kicking a ball. He was not so sure of being in the pool and would only go in with his mommy. His smile lights up the whole room especially, when he is in the "monanone".

We are presently in Lake Huron Resort, just 8 kms north of Goderich. Last Sunday at 4 pm, Goderich was hit by an F3 tornado, which devastated the downtown core. All roads to into town are closed and we have not been able to get in. We had to make several detours just to get to this resort. We would have been in Goderich on Sunday afternoon but could not get a booking for this resort until Monday evening, so instead stayed at a Passport America campground, just outside Kitchener, called Nith River. While we had very heavy rain there, we did not know anything about the tornado until later that evening when we watched the news. Yesterday we went up to Kincardine to do our grocery shopping and met up with our dear friends, Russ and Trixie, for lunch at Erie Belle restaurant. Lovely steak and kidney pie and chips. There goes the diet again. I wish I didn't like eating so much!

Last evening there were tornado warnings again as severe weather swept in from Michigan over Lake Huron, but we had nothing but high winds and a short rain shower.

So, we are here until August 29th. On Saturday we will be golfing (ha) with South African friends near Clinton. Monday, we head back to Cedar Beach. No other trips planned for the rest of the summer but we may make one more trip, perhaps up to Galvin Bay. Photos will be posted once I get back to Stouffville as the Internet here is very slow and sometimes non-existent. Stay tuned!

The campground is FULL!

This morning we woke to the sound of thunder. The rain came and it teemed straight down for about 10 minutes, then cleared up. Apart from a few more light showers, it has now cleared up completely. My thoughts went to all those tent campers in the field. As the sun started coming out, I picked up the camera and took a stroll outside and photographed the tenting area and the "transient" RV area.

Tents and dining shelters jammed onto each site. 

Taken from across the playing field. This rain is needed so badly, the grass is dying.

Transient RV area. Still a couple of empty spots!

Our site

Long weekend in Ontario

This weekend is the Civic Holiday weekend in Ontario. We are expecting the campground to fill up completely and already the tenting area is full. So we will just hunker down and spend the weekend quietly up on our street. My flowers are looking wonderful and my tomatoes and peppers are growing so fast. Here are some pictures taken today.

My jungle.

There are some peppers hidden in there somewhere.

My tomatoes

Livin' the life.

The two of us 

Back home at Cedar Beach.

On our way home from Galvin Bay, we stopped off at Bell's Truck and Towing and got the tire valve sorted out. It took only about 1/2 an hour. The bill was $100, which was all labour as no new parts were needed. The trip home was completely uneventful.

Parked outside Bell's at the Esso Station in Selwyn, Ontario

Hitching up the Saturn at Bell's

We are now settled back at Cedar Beach. Getting back into our site was really easy and we only had to ask one person to move their car. We even got a rousing welcome from our Russian neighbour who was not talking to us in the last 3 weeks.

Nice to have decent internet again. I am going to spend some time on this blog, catching up with photos and working out a routine to post a little bit every day.

Tire trouble!

Back last year sometime, we bought tire pressure monitors for the Moho and the car, 10 in all. We just never got round to installing them until yesterday. Once Michael had finished the set up it was showing the driver's side inside rear tire was sitting at only 20 psi instead of 90 psi. He took the monitor off and then used a gauge which confirmed the reading. Over the course of the evening, the tire pressure gradually got lower and lower until there was no pressure reading at all. He was very worried and we discussed various options for getting the tire repaired. We asked the campground owner to come over with his big compressor to try and pump the tire up so that we could see how fast it was deflating. He is unable to come until tomorrow. So we borrowed another camper's small compressor but that did not work. Overnight the pressure dropped to zero.

This morning Sylvain (the owner)tried to put air in but was unable to. We went online to find out if there was a truck or tire repair facility in the area. Our camping neighbors also told us about a place just down the road who may be able to help, Bell's Truck and Towing. I had found our tire warranty and they will cover repair or replacement 100% , which is reassuring. We jumped into the car and drove down to the truck place and they sent someone immediately in a big tow truck, with a big compressor on it. The mechanic was unable to get any air into the tire and so he tried to get air out, again was not able to do that. His diagnosis was that the tire was full of air, probably over full at this point and that the valve stem was faulty. We can wait until tomorrow and stop in on our way down Buckhorn Road to get the valve stem repaired and the tire repumped up. Whew! It's funny how you think what is a disaster, turns to be (almost) nothing. Our imaginations run away with us!

Now to sit back and enjoy the rest of the day.