Hi, as you can see from the title, we’ve been on the road a fair bit. We have certain destinations we want to reach, but the journey along the way can be just as exciting as getting to the final destination. I guess since our last blog post, our main immediate plan has been to get to the Badlands in South Dakota, then make our way to Yellowstone National Park, before meeting up with Kaitlin’s friend Tiara in Washington State.But there are a few places we want to see before doing that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our journey so far has offered us many beautiful places to drive through and to camp at, and a couple of “State” border crossings along the way. At the moment we are in the US state of Minnesota, but we have travelled through Michigan and Wisconson to get here. The photos above were in the state of Wisconsin. Even though this looks like a beach, it is actually on the shores of Lake Superior (which is one of the Great Lakes on the US and Canadian borders.) We couldn’t believe a lake would have waves good enough to surf on and be completely fresh water! When we stopped here for a break, Trev took the kids for a run on the shore. Reminded us both of Geraldton in WA.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our campground that night was at a place called Sand River and like many places we have been, there is always a real “character” to meet and Geoff, the Manager, was no exception. He had a real American drawl and entertained Tev with many “life” stories. We wondered why check-in took so long!

 

 

 

 

 

After staying the night, we continued on our way. Trev decided to take a “side” road in the hope of seeing some more wildlife like a moose or some bears.  We took another very narrow track that had a sign showing boats in a lake. We had decided that would be a good place to stop for a break, but after travelling up the track for 20 minutes, were beginning to think that maybe this was not such a good idea in our RV. Not that there was a place to turn around even if we wanted to, so in the end we kept going………..and we were so glad we did. That little escapade reminded me of life………… sometimes the path to Paradise can be rough and hard to get through, but in the end, the end result is worth the  bumpy journey!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stayed the night at another Camp site in Ontonagon where the weather was a wee bit chilly, falling below freezing. It has been beautiful travelling along seeing the trees slowly change their colours to those beautiful “Fall” colours. That’s one thing about the USA. The seasons are quite distinct and it is obvious with the colours that Autumn is upon us.

That brings me to the end of this blog. Our journey doesn’t end here, however. Next time we will take you with us on our jouney from Wisconsin into Minnesota to a place called Duluth. It just happens to be the birth place of music legend Bob Dylan. We camped 20 minutes from the city, but had a great deal of fun visiting the huge Aquarium, then dropping into the Oktober Fest which just happened to be on next door. Later we move camp sites and went on a fun ride called the Timber Twister. Watch out for photos in the next blog post. Until then………………..

We’ve now crossed the border from Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, Canada to it’s twin city Sault Ste Marie, Michigan, USA and moved further West into Wisconsin.

 

 

 

 

 

Trev managed to find a map and mark where we have travelled so far in America and Canada. I wil try to update it every week or so (depending on how far we have travelled), so you have a clearer picture of where we are.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The following blog is from Trevor about the challenge of driving a 31 foot motorhome around the roads in USA.

I guess you all know that Americans drive on the wrong side of the road! I don’t know how many times I’ve jumped into the car ready to drive off, only to realize that I’m sitting in the passenger’s seat. I’ve actually made a fool of myself by jumping into a taxi on the left hand side in New York City, only to have the taxi driver very calmly say “You can drive if you want”.

Not only is our Motor Home (or RV) long, it is also very wide. I find it very intimidating cruising along on the big multi-lane motorways with trucks sitting on 70 mile an hour either side of me, often only millimetres between my mirrors and their the truck bodies.

There are roads everywhere and they are all very busy. Not many roundabouts and when on motorways, no traffic lights. However, if you make a wrong turn it takes forever to find your way again. You can’t just do a u-turn! Our Navigation GPS has been a godsend. Without it we would not be able to get around. If any of you have seen the DVD called RV, with Robin Williams where he has his GPS called Lola. She says “Turn right”. His wife says, “Go straight”. In the end his wife says, “Choose!”

Well, that’s a little what it’s like with Cath and our GPS. (Might start calling our GPS Lola!)

Heading into the mountain state parks have its challenges as well. The roads are windy and often with no guard rail to stop you from tumbling off the road edge. I can’t imagine how people drive around these roads in the winter when they are covered in ice. Often when someone is coming the other way they would have to pull over to let us pass. I’ve had to dodge racoons, the odd dear and squirrels.

There are some odd road rules here as well. Four way stop lights are bizarre. Everyone pulls up at the stop signs which are on all corners of the intersection. Then it is the first car to pull up gets to go first. However, after a few cars, who knows who was the first to pull up, so then you all fight it out. Often the four way stop signs are on major roads, so you need to watch carefully if driving along one that you don’t drive through a stop sign.

Another odd rule, but one that makes a lot of sense, is that in the USA you can turn right on a red traffic light as long as no one is coming along. The problem is that not all traffic lights allow you to do so. So you have to know when the rules change!

Toll roads are everywhere and you never know when one will spring up, so you must always have you cash ready. My biggest problem is stopping Cathy wanting to have a chat with the toll cashier when we have a line up of cars behind us.

Always think before driving into shopping parking areas, tunnels or servos. Check that you can turn around, able to park and that you won’t knock the top off the motorhome or the gas bowser!

Reversing in the RV requires one of the kids to run down to the back of the RV, look out the back window and yell if we are about to hit anything!

Other tips… keep side step up, wind down TV antenna, close roof vents, put anything sitting on tables away and put bubble wrap under the stove grate (as it will “drive you crazy” with the rattle).

Driving in USA has so far been a very different experience. But I have to say, the more you drive the easier it gets! Now, to entice Cathy to get behind the wheel!…….

 

 

 

 

Well, this will be the last blog associated with the beautiful Canadian countryside. An absolutely magical place and we know we will come back here one day and travel more of this lovely country. Now, from “cats, squirrels and skunks” to Sault Ste Marie. We decided on this day to travel until we hit our destination, so homework was the order of the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we stopped for lunch at French River, we celebrated Father’s Day with Trevor. Fo those of you thinking, that’s strange….maybe Canadians celebrate a week later than Oz, the answer is no, they don’t. It was just “us” who have been on the road, not watching TV (except for movies) and not really taking notice of what was being sold in shops. So we knew Father’s Day was “sometime” in September. It wasn’t until we sent Father’s Day messages to our own Dads that we realised we were a week late. Met another lovely family also stopping for lunch.  They had just come from where we were headed and seen two bears crossing the road. Funnily enough, the Father was called Trevor and one of the daughter’s was called Kaitlin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stopped again a few hours later for a quick break. Obviously the kids had the need to expel some pent up energy after being in the RV for most of the day. Luckily there were enough pretty towns along the way to stop at, if only for a short time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, very late at night, we arrived at our final destination, a “KOA” Camp ground set in the bush just out of Sault Ste Marie (which means Rapids in Saint Marie.) It is a city on the Canadian side bordering Michigan USA. The camp is run by a wonderful couple called Bill and Joan, who obviously invented the word “hospitality”. They don’t live there on their own however. They have 4 beautiful Collie dogs named Macey, Breeze, Indy and Chase.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now the whole reason we headed for Sault Ste Marie was to go on the Agawa Train which takes tourists into the heart of the winderness. But, it is a 9 hour trip (including a one and a half hour picnic stop). When we enquired at the campsite, it was suggested strongly that children may get bored travelling that amount of time just looking at the scenery, and because it would cost us a pretty penny to take the whole family, we didn’t want to risk the kids not enjoying themselves. So, the money was saved for another adventure and we did some sightseeing around Sault Ste Marie instead. One such attraction was the Bush Plane Museum, which turned out to be very informative and particularly “kid friendly” with many interactive displays and movies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Canadian Beaver “Bush” planes were considered by many to be one of the greatest inventions in the history of Canadian Aviation. It takes a special breed of pilots to fly these unique and very useful planes. They go go in just about every rugged terrain and land on water as well. They only need less than 100 m to take off. These planes were the first of their kind to carry water to put out bush fires. Now, there are about 1200 planes still in existence, but are about 40 years old at least.

 

 

 

A little side note to Brayden Dewar if you are reading this. You would have loved this Museum with a myriad of aircrafts, a lot of Scientific knowledge basically about “how” planes stay in the air, and a whole section on what it takes to be a pilot. We reckon you will be up to the challenge well and truly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back at the KOA campsite, Bill and Joan were as generous as ever and allowed our children to have use of the “yellow banana bikes. As you can see, they had a ball…..as did the “biggest kid” of all!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bill and Joan invited the kids to watch their dog’s agility training (and they have a champion among their pack) and the family had more fun playing mini golf. To make the place even more special for Flynn and Amber, they struck up a friendship with two gorgeous children called Maisie and Malcolm who had just moved to the area with their parents Jordy and Joan. Like I’ve said on many occasion, it’s the people who make the place!

I know you sense another story coming up written by Trevor, and you would be right. But first, to fill you in on where we went from Niagara Falls. Canada is truly a beautiful country and we decided we would head toward Sault Ste Marie, but drive as far as we could on this particular day.

Problem with that idea is that we bypassed Toronto to get to Highway 400 which would take us all the way up North West toward our destination. What we didn’t count on was a highway closure due to an accident. We managed to crawl our way to another exit, and take all of the back roads trying to get back on the Highway 400. By the time we hit a small beach town called Wasaga, we decided it was time to pull up stops and camp for the night. What a gorgeous little campsite with people as friendly as ever.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The campsite had a few other kids for Flynn, Amber and Jai to play basketball with and all of the kids enjoyed the heated outdoor pool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So now, onto Trev’s story………………

The Cat, the Squirrel and the Skunk!

We stumbled upon a beautiful little camping ground at Wasaga Beach on Huron Lake (Great Lakes area) in Canada. Just like a real ocean beach except the water was fresh water! Lots going on whilst we were there with a triathlon in town and hundreds of teenagers doing Hip Hop dancing on the beach.

Back at camp I was having a cuppa outside early in the morning sitting on the lawn in amongst scattered tall trees. I watched as the resident ginger tabby cat was stalking a black squirrel. The cat looked large and fierce and determined to have squirrel for brekky. However, something wasn’t quite right! The unusual thing was that the squirrel didn’t seem to be the least bit bothered about this feline predator. As the cat crept closer the squirrel wouldn’t run. He seemed to be teasing the cat. He danced about on the lawn with his tail bouncing around high in the air going about his business of snooping around the grass. Suddenly the cat made a dash and squirrel darted about two metres up a tree trunk, turned around and looked teasingly back at the ginger cat. Ginger, sensing that she had lost the game, turned and slinked off, ignoring the squirrel. The little squirrel then jumped back down and danced around once more as the cat reorganized herself for round two.

I suspect this game goes on everyday, as the two seem to know each other. In fact I think they are buddies!

That night I left a bag of rubbish outside the motorhome. It had our leftover takeaway chicken bones in it. Well, I think this delighted the local resident fauna, namely a skunk. In the early hours of the morning I awoke to something going on outside. An animal was feasting on our chook bones and making a huge mess. I jumped up and saw something black and white dart off (the resident cat was ginger so she wasn’t the guilty one!). After cleaning up I went back to bed.

In the morning there was this horrific stink around our RV, in fact it seemed to stink everywhere. Now I can tolerate bad smells (I do live in a motorhome with seven smelly kids!), but this was awful! When the kids woke up they also complained about the smell. All I could think of was that my little mate from last night had got his revenge!

Well as it turned out, the smell was coming from a skunk! One had been run over about 150 metres down the road just outside the camp. I just hope it wasn’t my little mate from last night.

 

We are so glad we made the decision to go across the border from the Niagara Falls in the USA to Niagara Falls in Canada.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stayed at another KOA (Kamps of America) park, and in the process met some really lovely people. The kids went for a night time swim in the heated pool and we met a couple and their son who were from England, but were travelling around Canada before moving permanently to New Zealand. The next day we had the good fortune to meet some gorgeous ladies who were busily cooking food on the fire by their cabin. It turned out that they were part Welsh and part Mohawk Indian!

June and Marilyn came bearing gifts from their heritage for the children………and from that moment on a friendship was formed! In fact, we shared a cooked lunch with them swapping stories and finding out about their native ancestors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marilyn had walked around Lake Erie with native Grandmothers (traditional elders) , blessing the lake from all of the pollution of modern living. That in itself was a fascinating story. When we caught a shuttle bus into the city of Niagara later in the afternoon, June and Marilyn came with us……and our kids treated them like surrogate Grandmothers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our family caught the yellow elevator up to the top of the Skylan Tower where we had a scrumptious buffet, then took photos of Niagara Falls from the Observation Level.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a “all-you-can-eat…….bursting-at-the-sides…..time-to-roll-home” type of meal, we met up with June and Marilyn again and made our way to Clifton Way, where the lights were bright, music was pumping, attractions were enticing…and the kids were in seventh heaven.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We wandered down to the cliffs to see Niagara Falls at night. The lighting was spectacular and the pictures do not do it justice. June and Marilyn also told us that a couple of weeks earlier, a Japanese student, who was in Canada studying, was swept off the cliff as she stood astride a rail to take a closer photo of the Falls. It took over a week before her body was recovered on the US side of the Falls. What a tragedy. The whole time I was at the Falls, I was reminded of a book we read at Bookclub back in Burekup called “The Falls” (Written by Joyce Carol Oats). The presence of the Falls was pretty awe-inspiring seeing nature in such a powerful state.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After leaving the Falls, we promised the children they could choose two attractions to go on or in. Kit, Flynn, Kaitlin and Jai decided to go into The Haunted House. We tried to talk Kit out of it, as I thought the Fun Centre (which Amber and Chayse had chosen) would be much more down his alley. But Kit would have none of it! It was the Haunted House he wanted to see. We decided Trev should go with him, and according to Trev afterwards, it was just as well. The 5 of them had only been in the house for less than 5 minutes when the spooky surprises and deafening noises scared the living daylights out of Kit. Apparently, Kit was hysterical and wouldn’t let go of Trev’s legs. Luckily there was an “Exit for Chickens” about that time, so Trev made his way to the door. Kit thought he was going to be dragged into another horror room, so whilst Trev was busy trying to “save” him, Kit refused to let go of the wall (all the while screaming hysterically). I think the people behind thought this was part of the charade of the Haunted House! Needess to say, Kit was quite happy to go the Fun House after that!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the time we had seen all the Attractions, it was pretty late. June and Marilyn had been the best surrogate Grandmothers by looking after Akaisha or watching the Chayse and Kit whilst we were with the older children. What a blessing! But our journey wasn’t over. The shuttle bus trip home was pretty entertaining in itself. We had the best bus driver you could ever want. He was absolutely hilarious and everytime we stopped, he’d get out of his seat and tell a joke. One I have to repeat is this one (I apologise in advance if you are blonde…just as the bus driver apologised to all of my kids.)

There was a brunette, a redhead and a blonde. They were in a small village, but were running from the Law, so found a tavern in which to hide. The Police were hot on their heels, so once inside, they had to find some quick hiding spots. There were three huge sacks shoved in the corner, so they each jumped into one. When the Policeman came in, he saw three very heavy and full-looking sacks. He kicked the first sack where the brunette was hiding. “Woof” said the Brunette. “Oh, puppies” thought the cop. He kicked the second sack where the redhead was hiding. “Meow” said the Redhead. “Oh, kittens” thought the cop. He kicked the third sack where the blonde was hiding. “Potatoes” said the Blonde.

The bus driver went on to say that he had told that joke about an hour earlier to another group of passengers, and there was a 19 yr old blonde girl laughing the hardest, but as she got off the bus, she said “So what was wrong with the blonde girl in the joke saying potatoes?” Apparently he answered, “If you have to ask that, this is definitely your stop!!!”

And that, my friends, is all.

Until our next blog…………………………………