Fall 2023: "O Canada".......Here we come!!

We can't say it any better than that!

Road Trip Again!!!! Judy and I, along with Zoey the Malamute and Parker the Puppy are off on a “Cross Countries” Road Trip. Yep, that’s right, countries. We will cross the bridge from Ogdensburg, NY to Canada and over the next 30 days are driving all the way across Canada to Vancouver. From there we will drop down to Eugene, Oregon for a week and then make our way back home to Northern New York for a total adventure of 10 weeks.

Thursday August 31: 174 miles and parked at the Brighton KOA in Ontario, Canada

After crossing the bridge, it was the Kings Highway 401 all the way.

It's 9:30 Thursday morning and the dogs are packed, we are hitched up are ready to go.  Uh-oh!  The technology screen on our brand new pickup truck freezes up.  No GPS, no radio, no wifi, no nothing.  Judy does a quick Google search and finds this is a somewhat common problem on the new 2024 Silverados.  She learns about a system reboot procedure, so we try it.  Ta-da!!!!  It works and we are on the road.  Canadian border security at the crossing was polite and efficient.  The agent gave us a "Welcome to Canada and have a great trip" reply after answering all of his routine questions.

Pull Thru site A-15.

The drive to Brighton on Trans-Canada 401 along the north shore of Lake Ontario was smooth and pleasant.  The Brighton KOA is a wonderful rural campground that is very family oriented.  It has a HUGE playground that was busy most of the time.  The weather was warm and pleasant and lots of families were spending the Labor Day camping before school starts next week.  

Friday September 1, Labor Day Weekend: 145 miles and parked at the Barrie KOA in Ontario

401 to 57 north to 7A west to 12 northwest.  Not the most direct
route, but we wanted to avoid the Toronto traffic.  It was a beautiful drive.

Ceaderwood Deluxe Back In site 305. 

Obviously not my photo.  Upper loop on the right, lower loop on the left
and Cedarwood, where we are parked, in the back past the pond.

The Barrie KOA is large, beautiful and immaculate. There are 3 sections, a more family oriented Upper and Lower sections near the entrance and a more adult oriented area in the back called Cedarwood, where we are located. The weekend forecast is warm (maybe even hot) and mostly sunny. So, we spent a lot of our time relaxing on the patio and reading.  On many of my dog walks I passed the natural pond.  The wild fall flowers were in great bloom.

We upgraded our "Glamper" with a few new toys for this trip.  First, a Starlink Satellite Receiver to be able to travel with our own secure Wifi system.  With it, we have the security you can't guarantee with public Wifi, and with higher speeds we can stream TV, such as Netflix, which you can't do in most campgrounds.  Uploading photos to FB and our travel blog is a breeze.  Second, laundry has always been a chore. So, we added a washer/dryer combo to our home on wheels.  The RV came pre-wired and pre-plumbed for one.  Judy ran her first complete wash and dry cycle this weekend, and it works GREAT!!  Now she can do laundry whenever she wants and we don't have to carry around bags of quarters.  :-)  

Starlink dish mounted on Flagpole Buddy.

The dish can also be set on a tripod.

I keep the router in the pass thru storage compartment and
bring the cable from the dish up through the water hose opening.

Koolmore combo ventless washer/dryer.

Monday September 4, Labor (Labour) Day:

Here's an interesting fact: Both Canada and the US celebrate Labor Day (US spelling) the same time, the first Monday in September. And both countries made Labour Day (Canadian spelling) an official national holiday in the same year, 1894.

194 miles and parked at the Sturgeon Falls KOA in Sturgeon Falls, Ontario

Ontario 400 to 69 to 64 to 17 on a combination of 4 lane
 and 2 lane roads.  Light traffic and beautiful drive along the Georgian Bay .

Pull thru patio site ON-03.

Stock photo of the KOA located on the Sturgeon River, which flows into
Lake Nipissing, in the background.  Lake Nipissing is a vast shallow 
fishing lake averaging only 14 feet deep, that eventually channels into Lake Huron.

Sunrise over the Sturgeon River.

Sunrise at the KOA sun deck and beach .

The weather has been brutally hot while we were here.  It was 88 when we arrived on Monday and 87 Tuesday.  We spent a lot of time in the air conditioning of the RV, as did most of the other campers we saw.  We limited our longer dog walks to early morning and late afternoon.  The weather is supposed to break toward the end of the week as we continue to drive west.  It's interesting that here at the Sturgeon Falls KOA is the first campground where we have seen RV license plates from other than Ontario.  Parked near us are travelers from Florida, Texas and Alberta.

Parker the Puppy continues to entertain us.  Parker is 8 months old today, September 5th.  He has a 75 pound adult body, but still a 5 ounce puppy brain.  He can be cuddly and charming one minute and a bloody terror the next.  All part of puppyhood.

I love taking naps with my mom.

But a minute later, this happens.

Parker enjoys his morning coffee time with Judy.

And yes, he will even be nice to his sister on occasion.

Wednesday morning we move on to Sault Ste. Marie for 3 days.  We'll stay in touch, and thanks for following along with us.  Be well!

Next Post: Ontario is HUGE.