Niagara Falls and Buck Shot Lake

Day 14  7/4  Everyone seems to think Niagara Falls is better from the Canadian side. I think they are more majestic from the Canadian side but you can get closer and more personal on the American side.  After crossing the Rainbow Bridge we spent the morning on the Canadian side of the falls.  It is built up with motels, casinos, shops and restaurants which includes beautiful walkways and landscaping.   Tip for those of you who may visit, you can park at the casino parking deck for only $5 a day.  After walking along the shore and taking pictures we rode up the hill on the Incline Railway Car which offered a nice view.  After lunch we went to the American side of the falls which is a state park.  You could get a lot closer to the falls to see the force of the water and see the build up of the rapids.  Both sides are worth seeing.  We were able to see some fireworks from the campground.  Happy 4th of July !

Rainbow Bridge and American Falls from the Canadian Side

Horseshoe Falls

Close up of Horseshoe Falls

The power of the water is amazing

Incline Railway Track

I hope this is a runaway buoy as it is just above the falls !

Close up of Horseshoe on the US side

Horseshoe on US side

American Falls on US side

Day 15 7/5  We used today to wash clothes, go to the grocery store, make granola, gas up the car and catch up on the blog. Wayne put a new bearing in the drivers seat.  It had been difficult to rotate and was making a terrible noise.  It is much nicer now.

Day 16- 18  7/6 to 7/8  Our travels today took us to the Rochester, NY area to park the RV.  Tom and Sandy, friends of Anne and Mike, offered to let us park the RV in their driveway so we could go by car up to see Anne and Mike Long. We met Anne and Mike on our first crossing to the Bahamas on Born to Cruise.  They were constant VHF radio contacts on the crossing, and we later met in person at the laundry room in Nassau.  If you followed us during our first cruise Anne and Mike own the boat "Beans".  They are still cruising, we have moved on to RV's.  We arrived at their home in Plevna, Ontario on Buckshot Lake, just in time for a wonderful dinner.  It is a joy to be able to see someone again after a long time apart and just pick up where you left off.

We enjoyed a wonderful weekend with dear friends. Anne and Mike have a nice place on the lake.  Along with the house, they have a two car garage, a boat house and a dock. Wayne counted 9 boats! Anne has several garden patches taking advantage of the sunny spots on their wooded lot. They feed the birds and the chipmunks but try to discourage the bears. The chipmunks have been trained to eat out of your hand.  They love peanuts and sunflower seeds. They stuff their cheeks then run to their storage place to stash it and rush back to you for more. While there we took a motor boat ride to see Tom and Sandy to thank them for the use of their driveway. David and J invited the 4 of us all over for sundowners on Saturday.  Sunday afternoon proved to be a perfect afternoon for a sail around Buckshot Lake followed by a quick swim.  In the evenings after dinner we enjoyed playing games and talking.

RV storage thanks to Tom and Sandy

Chubby cheeked Chipmunk

View from the screened in porch where we had lunch and supper

Wayne's new friend

They were standing in line for the sunflower seeds

Getting ready for our sail, the boat is a US 18

View of their house from the lake, boat house to the right

We all had a great time sailing

Anne taking down the sails

Wayne putting the boat back on it's mooring

Day 19  7/9  It was time to head back to the US.  We promised to get together as soon as possible with Anne and Mike, maybe at their place in Florida.  We picked up the RV from Tom's place and drove to Sampson State Park in NY.  We took a walk before dinner to explore the campground.

Pennsylvania

Day 9, 6/29.  This may not have been our longest drive but it probably took the longest…Williamsburg, VA to Harrisburg, PA, Gifford Pinchot State Park.  The traffic was TERRIBLE!!!  In southern Florida they complain about the way the snowbirds drive and create traffic, but that is nothing compared to this.  It was accidents and too many people on the road.  We drove 256 miles and it took us 7 ½ hours.  After dinner we took a walk around the park. There is a nice lake. We saw many campsites where they brought their kayaks. 

Day 10, 6/30  I had never been to Gettysburg, so today was the day.  We decided to do the movie, cyclorama and bus tour along with the museum.  The bus tour in an air conditioned bus was the way to go.  Our guide was informative and had a sense of humor.  Wayne had seen the cyclorama years ago.  Since then it has been cleaned and moved to a beautiful new facility that  was built just for this amazing painting.  42 feet tall and 133 long and painted in the 1800's. WOW !  We took a break in the middle of the day to enjoy a vegan burger at The Parrot, very good.  Our final stop of the day was to see where Lincoln did his Gettysburg Address.  

Day 11 7/1.  So the plan was to get up early and drive to Letchworth State Park...however while preparing to leave I noticed that the Low Coolant Light was on...not good.  Change of plans.  It was Sunday so we knew we had to spend another night and look for a mechanic in the morning.  We talked to a camp host who happened to be a mechanic.  He offered to look at it.  He said he thought it was the waterpump, which is what Wayne suspected.  After making arrangements to spend another night, we decided to check out Hershey.  I had heard the factory tour was good. We along with LOTS of other vacationers did the Factory Tour.  It reminds me of a ride at Disney where you get on the ride which is a moving cart that holds 5 people.  You are then taken along a track with a host on the screen in the cart as well as animated cartoon characters along the way.  Free mini chocolate bar at the end.  Good ride for free.  We resisted temptation and did not buy anything in the gift shop.  

We have been taking side roads and not coming back the same way we went to places to try and explore.  The rolling hills with the barns are nice to see, however,  we are not fans of the PA road and highway systems.  

Day 12 7/2.  Wayne was on the phone at 7 AM calling mechanics.  The first was too busy, but  he did however recommend Interstate Towing and Recovery in Camp Hill, PA who said, yes, they could look at it for us.  They confirmed it was the waterpump.  The  part was in stock and would be delivered...well the manufacturer's computer was down so they would not deliver the part until the computer was up.  So...we waited all day and no part.  Wayne and I both finished the books we were reading and we went out for a nice lunch at The Vegetable Hunter.  I have not mentioned that PA is having an extreme heat wave !  95+ temps...it is cooler at home.   We are spending the night in the parking lot, hopefully the computer will be up tomorrow.

Capital Downtown Harrisburg,PA

Day 13 7/3  YEAH the water pump was delivered and installed within an hour.  After a late start, we were once again on the road.  We drove from Camp Hill, PA to Grand Island, NY, Cinderella Motel and Campground. It was a long day on the road (325 miles), but we are happy to be on our way again.  

Our 2018 Adventure Begins...NC and Virginia

Please note that wifi strong enough to upload pictures has been hard to find.  I will post when signal strength allows.  I am doing updates on Facebook on a regular basis.

After a fun 12 days of having Will and Charlotte visit, it was time to get ready for our summer trip.  After 3 very busy days of packing and getting the house ready for a hurricane that we hope will not come, we were ready to go.  We are taking our road bikes and our mountain bikes.  The road bikes ride inside the RV.

Our goal is to spend the night in each of the lower 48 states in the RV.  This trip will take us to New England and into Canada.  To make the traveling easier we will try to drive around 250 miles or less per day.  We broke that rule on our first day out…oh well, we will do better.

We left home on Thursday, June 21, 2018 and drove 332 miles to Brunswick, GA where we stayed at Coastal Georgia RV Park.  It is a beautiful park with a nice pool, pull through sites, convenient to I95 and they will let you wash your RV.  The coach was in serious need of a bath.  We enjoyed the pool.  Wayne washed half the coach on Thursday night and the rest on Friday morning before we got on the road.

Day 2, 6/22  We drove 353 miles to Albemarle to visit Dad.  Another long day on the road but we know the route well.  Thankfully the traffic was light so we had an easy trip.  We had a short visit with Dad and made a batch of cookies to tide him over until our return trip.

Day 3, 6/23 , We said good bye to Dad and headed to Crosswinds Campground, in Jordan  Lake State Park near Apex, NC. This park is very near where Brian and his family live.  Brian, Almendra, Caleb and Amelia joined us at the lake for a 2 hour swim.  The kids LOVE the water.  Amelia smiled the whole time she was in the water.   I was enjoying the water too so I did not a get any in the water pictures. We then went over to Brian and Almendra’s to have dinner and play Dominion. 

Day 4, 6/24.  Our morning was a shopping trip to find an alligator float. Another family had an alligator and it looked like so much fun we had to get one.  And of course we had to get the pink flamingo !  They will look great in our pool and the kids loved them.  Brian and family joined us for a picnic followed by another swim in the lake.  The campground has it’s own beach which is clean and sandy and the perfect place for a family outing.  After our swim we again played games with Brian and Almendra, this time it was Isle in the Skye.

The walk to the beach

Snacks after a fun swim

Day 5, 6/25.  Monday was another travel day.  We did better and only drove 225 miles, from Apex, NC to Williamsburg, VA.   We stayed at the Williamsburg Camppark.  A dear friend from high school, Judy Powell Wood, lives in Williamsburg.  She took on the challenge of fixing us a vegan dinner.  She did a great job!  We spent the evening catching up on each others lives, talking about traveling and reminiscing.

Day 6, 6/26 We rode our bikes 41.3 miles on the Virginia Capital Trail.   This trip was from Mile marker 0 to 20, which is the Charles City Court House.  The trail goes from the Colonial Capital of Williamsburg to the Virginia State Capital of Richmond.  It is a very nice paved rail trail. We will go back another time to do the rest of the trail.  Judy once again did an excellent job preparing dinner.

Mile 0

Mile 20

Day 7, 6/27 It was time to do some exploring.  We drove down the Colonial Parkway.  Wayne used to ride his bike on it 40 years ago.  We decided it was too bumpy and too busy for us to ride our bikes on it.  The docent at the Yorktown Battlefield Visitors Center did a great job of helping us understand the Battle of Yorktown and everything that happened there.  Our walk through the Village of Yorktown and along the water was a contrast of old and new.

Day 8, 6/28  Wayne and I had both done tours of Colonial Williamsburg, so we decided to just walk around and take pictures of what we could find that was picture worthy.  Recently we finished watching the Netflix series “Turn”, which was all filmed in this area including Colonial Williamsburg.  It was fun to pick out the spots they had used. Our afternoon was spent playing true tourists by going to the pottery and the outlet mall.

Taxi/Uber

Bus

Street Band