Westward bound with a bit of a surprise

We left you in Buffalo where we had a great time and a lot of fun at a July 4th cookout at Joanne's parents' house and met and enjoyed some of her large family.  We tried to brave sitting outside but the record heat finally drove us inside to the AC.  

Jason took a couple of days off and took us to Niagara-on-the-Lake in Ontario, about an hour away.  It is located in a beautiful area of farmland, wineries, pretty homes, and is a picturesque walkaround town with tons of shops, restaurants, and parks.  Jason had been there before and was somewhat familiar with the wineries.  Jan and I honestly didn't have a lot of hope for Canadian wine.  Well it turns out some of the wine produced here is world class, and we can assure you, delicious:-)  So after tasting quite a bit and having a nice lunch we all three tried to keep the Canadian economy going, all the while enjoying the favorable exchange rate.  The car was definitely heavier on its return to the USA.

The Konzelmann Estate Winery

Jason heading into Big Head Winery

And our favorite, Ravine Vineyard

Then after one more get together the night before we left, off we dashed to Indiana for our body shop appointment.  We stopped in a campground nearby, and had asked for a pull-through site for a 45' motorhome towing when we made our reservation as we would be leaving by 6am the next morning.  We check in and head for our site and when we pull in our truck in still in the road behind us!  Jan runs back to the office, and they say, oh, and give us another site, but the problem is we can't just drive around to it, so we have to unhook, move the truck to the new site and then back and fill the coach to get pointed in the right direction and then pull in and reconnect the truck.  Not a big deal overall, but it is disappointing that in what looked to be a nice campground only half full, that they can't get a simple request correct.  Anyway we spent an uneventful evening and got off right at 6 am for our appointment.

Now just to review we had an appointment to fix, for the third time, the top of our left front wheel well, where the tire hit it during a tight left turn on a slant.  We had found out, too late unfortunately that the manufacturer for some reason built the left wheel well opening 2" lower than the right, no wonder we were having a problem.  If we had realized that we would have done a corrective repair the first time.  Anyway, we had talked to the body shop on the phone and sent pictures, and they had given us an estimate that they informed us had to be confirmed when they actually saw it, which we understood.  It was in the ball park of what we wanted to spend so we made the appointment.  They were also going to cut the lip back inside the wheel well to help mitigate the problem.  Also I should mention when we were having the new air bags installed in Florida, I had Josam's increase the ride height 1/2" in the front which we were assured wouldn't hurt anything and it appeared that the 1/2" made an incredible difference on its own.  The body shop man came out, looked everything over, moved the coach to the work site, and then, Surprise, came out with tan estimate which was WAY higher than we had talked about.  Jan and I talked and decided, especially with preliminary plans for Alaska and its bad roads next summer, to put off the repair til another time.  There were no hard feelings, but I am reluctant to name the shop as I don't want to take a chance that anyone would think they did anything wrong.  It is a quality shop that I would readily go back to.  We did have them cut the lip out and that looks like it will help a great deal as well.

It's pretty small and actually doesn't show very much

Here is a shot of the lip.  They ended up cutting about 1 inch off and
tapered it around the side so it looks like factory

You can see the taper they cut into the lip

We had planned up to 3 days in Elkhart so all of a sudden we gained the time.  We went off to breakfast to give them time to cut and we could figure out what to do.  We had wanted to go up north through Michigan and the U.P. anyway to avoid going anywhere near Chicago so now we had time!  We decided what we really wanted to do was spend the extra time in Montana.  We had wanted to go up through Michigan and the U.P. anyway to avoid going near Chicago, and now we would be able to and arrange to stop near Pierz, MN to revisit an incredible meat market, Thielen Meats of Pierz.  We used to watch a Food Network show called The Heartland Table featuring Amy Thielen that we enjoyed and when traveling through this area a few years ago visited the market and were very impressed.

Our first stop was 180 miles to a very nice resort campground in Stanwood, MI, River Ridge. The next day we go over the Mackinac Bridge and right into a detour adding over 40 miles to our already long day due to a closed road.  

The Mackinac Bridge

Under construction

We did get all the way to the west edge of Michigan and spent the night in a quiet nice campground in Iron Mountain, MI, Summer Breeze.  Then yesterday with another long day we arrived in Onamia, MN at the Rum River campground where we will stay 2 nights to get to the meat market, then another day into ND, and into Montana.  When you make these dashes from one side of the country to the other you learn it is a long way:-)

Happy 4th of July!

I know it's been quite awhile since my last post, why, well, we've been busy, busy:-)  We left you on our last night in New England on our way into New York.  First we stopped in the Adirondacks, a favorite of ours, but particularly a favorite of Jan's as she and her family spent a lot of time there while she was growing up.  We were pretty close to Lake Placid and Whiteface Mountain, while most of her time was spent farther south in Indian Lake.  The reason we stopped was twofold, one we needed a couple places to space out our drive from Vermont to Buffalo, and two, we wanted to scope out the fishing possibilities while there.  Our first stop was in a campground in Wilmington, NY, called North Pole.  It is actually 2 campgrounds in one, and even has a motel.  It is right on the Ausable River, a renowned trout water.  It was a bit tight for us, but all in all, pretty nice and very well kept.  

The Ausable right from the campground

We fought weather for our short time there, so were unable to go up Whiteface Mountain like we planned so instead took a ride way down to Indian Lake to see what had changed in all those years.  It was a beautiful ride, and we had a nice picnic, in the truck.  I know all of you that are sweltering with the heat, including us right now, will hate this, but it was too cold and windy to get out.  Indian Lake looks much the same although quite a bit quieter.

Lunch stop

Along the way

  

Even found a nice spot for coffee on the way back

And got a view of the ski jumps at Lake Placid

We only had 2 whole days and we spent one of them watching the rain fall outside and a movie inside, very relaxing.  Then went to check out the fishing spots.

Ausable River

A fisherman and his dog trying their luck

We scouted out numerous places along the river to fish for when we decide to go back to the area.  But now we needed to get back on the road and head farther west.

Our next spot was right on Lake Ontario in Adams, NY at the Willows on the Lake campground.  We had a beautiful ride through the mountains on a gorgeous day.

Even found a nice place to stop for lunch

It turned out okay, but we did have an inauspicious beginning.  First of all the turn into the campground was more than 90 degrees and had quite a drop, and came up too quickly to plan it better, so in we went and drug our rear end getting off the road.  Nothing was hurt other than the paved entrance luckily, then as we made our way into the campground, they had an incredibly tight turn to make which we were only able to negotiate by Jan getting out and moving a fence!  So with that entrance under our belt we checked in, and ended up being escorted to a very nice, huge site, surrounded by grass with a sort of view of the lake.  The entire "front" part of the campground is filled with permanent/seasonal people so it makes seeing the lake difficult.  

The campground dock on Lake Ontario

Our very nice site
and, yes, we are level even though it doesn't look like it:)

We spent yet another day in the pouring rain, but it did clear off, and we got a chance to wash our filthy motorhome and truck.  Then it was off to the Buffalo area to visit our son, Jason.

Here we are at the absolute largest "campground" we have ever been in since we started RVing over 20 years ago, Leisurewood Recreational Community.  It is enormous, over 900 sites, 3 pools, basketball, playgrounds, beach, ice cream stand, shuffleboard, well you get the idea, and hundreds of golf carts wizzing around.  I put quotes around campground because the RV's make up about 25% of the mix with park models, modified trailers, from nice to not so nice making up the rest.  It is very handy to our son, but, well, I don't know if we'd come back here.

But it's worth it for the visit.  We've enjoyed several dinners, lunches, visits, etc with Jason, his girlfriend Joanne, and her family.  We took a fantastic historical boat ride up the Buffalo River to learn about Buffalo, and had an opportunity to make a quick trip to Canada to visit our friends, Debbie and Harold.  We are having a great time here in Buffalo!

Jan, Jason, and Joanne
getting ready for our boat trip
It is over 90 degrees!

Out past the Naval and Military Park
This is the only guided missile cruiser on display in the US
the USS Little Rock

Past the oldest still operating fire boat in the world
built in 1900 the Edward M Cotter
still capable of pumping 15,000 gallons/minute!

This the Concrete Central, the largest grain elevator
in the world when built in 1915
It could hold 4.5 million bushels of grain!

So we had time for a quick jaunt into Canada to visit Debbie and Harold, part of our Florida crew.  It was about 3 hours to get to their place in Barrie, Ont, but first we met them on their boat on Lake Simcoe, a large, absolutely gorgeous lake in Ontario.  The heat has even reached up here as it was over 90 when we arrived.  They took us out for a wonderful boat ride which cooled things off nicely as we cruised around.  A fabulous time!

Harold taking us off the dock

Out on the lake with me, Debbie, Jan, and Harold

This is the beautiful view they have to put up with
right from their dock:)

We had a wonderful time, a delicious dinner, and a great visit, and the icing on the cake was the temp dropped after dinner and we enjoyed a pleasant time on their deck.  Heck, Jan and Harold even put on coats.  The next morning before it warmed up too much we did a enjoyable walk along the waterfront in Barrie.

Along the waterfront and beach

After we got back we had to bid them goodbye and head back, as we had dinner plans that evening.  Thank you guys so much!!

So later today we are going to a 4th of July get together, and enjoy a couple more days here before we shove off for Indiana and parts west.  We are having a wonderful time here in Buffalo, we are starting to understand why so many people love it here regardless of the little bit of snow they get.  Lots to do, friendly people, a small town feel in a big city, and beautiful countryside all around.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!!