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.

Rain and pain

Late Sunday afternoon, I stood up from the dinette and twisted my right knee. Have no idea what I did, but I could not stand on that leg. The pain was excruciating. Either I have torn another cartilage or pulled a tendon. R.I.C.E treatment along with analgesics and an uncomfortable night in bed. It was marginally better on Monday and I continued with the treatment. The emphasis being on REST. Today my knee is much better. I am going to have to see my knee doc as this is the knee I had arthroscopy on a few years back. I see a knee replacement in my future.

Today is a damp rainy day and we did not venture out too far. It is interesting watching the big rigs move out, to be replaced a couple hours later by more big rigs. What I have learned is the most of these full timers are members with various camping membership groups. Resorts Of Distinction, Adventure Outdoor Resorts, Coast to Coast, Western Horizons etc. Different memberships have different rules as to how long you can stay at one place and how much you pay. In Coast to Coast we paid $499 and we have an annual renewal rate for $89. We can stay at their resorts for 1 to 2 weeks at a time. There are not a lot of resorts in Ontario, but there are lots in the US. we received free RPI membership which includes Thousand Trails. Affiliated membership resorts are Good Neighbor, Western Horizons among others that I cannot remember at the moment. I will fill them in later!

In all this coming and going of full timers rigs, people get to meet other campers and somewhere along the line, they will meet up again at other resorts. They do a circuit, moving from resort to resort to comply with time in and out rules. Inevitably you get to meet the same people at different places. A community on wheels. Most of the rigs are fifth wheels as they are the most spacious. I prefer the motorhome pulling an economical car behind. I cannot imagine sight seeing in a honking great gas guzzling truck, even if I have to have a little less room in my home. I have no desire for a fifth wheel.

By evening today, my knee is a whole lot better and I can actually walk around a bit. Popped over to George and Sue to ask more questions re Internet access and satellite etc. They have been on the road for 5 years, so they have a lot of information to offer.