Sue & Daves RV Adventures

It’s that time of year! We’ve been booking some more parks. Here is the recently revised itinerary for 2012:

May 2012 – Bronte Creek Provincial Park

June 2012 – Glen Rouge Conservation Area

July 2012 – Byng Island Conservation Area

August 2012 – Valens Conservation Area

September 2012 – Silent Lake Provincial Park and Lake St.Peter Provincial Park

October 2012 – not decided yet

So this year it’s looking like we’re travelling one weekend every month with the exception being September when we take our holidays. Sounds like fun! In the mix of parks we’re camping at, will be four new parks hopefully five once October is booked.

The trailer is almost ready to go for the season! I’ve finished almost all the dewinterizing and repacked all our supplies. Just a few things to check inside and the outside stuff to do as well, then we’re ready. We’re excited to see the season start!

This weekend is the open house at Niagara Trailers. Today the weather is kind of crappy, but we’ll see how tomorrow looks. It would be fun to go to the open house and hey, there are some good deals to be had.

Well, it’s time to sign off for now, but I’ve seen lots of trailers on the highway already, so happy camping to everyone already out there and with future camping plans!!!

Yay! Spring is just around the corner! Daylight savings time begins this weekend too! That means camping season is not too far away. I’ve been out to the trailer a few times checking supplies and making my lists. Pretty soon it will be time to dewinterize the trailer. Over the years I’ve tried to develop a routine to the process. I’ve downloaded guides and customized them to suit the trailer we own. I think I’ve pretty much got it streamlined now. The first thing I do is flush the antifreeze from the fresh water system, then secondly, sanitize the fresh water holding tanks. After that, it’s cleanup time inside. The funny thing is that every fall when I winterize,  I do a complete cleaning so I won’t have to do it when I dewinterize, but the process still doesn’t seem to be complete until I clean again in the spring! So, I empty the cupboards and closets of what little has been left in over the winter and make sure there aren’t any creepy crawlys hitching a ride. After the lights, fridge, furnace and other electrical items have been tested, then I move to the outside. The wheels, wheel lugs and undercarriage get inspected then the roof, vents, AC and antenna get checked. Lastly, at some point either when we dewinterize, or before our first trip out the Spree gets a wash and a polish.

We’ve been camping with our Spree now for two full seasons. It’s been a great trailer so far. I love the design of the “RKS” model with the kitchen in the rear and the bedroom in the front. The full shower is nice too. No problems so far in the time we’ve owned the trailer. We’ve used it from early Spring to late Fall and the furnace works great to keep the chills out. We crack a vent to prevent condensation from forming when we’re heating the trailer. I know there is some debate as to whether or not you should run your fridge off propane when travelling and after much consideration, we do. There are some exceptions of course such as when we’re re-fueling and of course if there are places where it is illegal to do so. I can’t believe we’ve had the Spree two full seasons now.

Nothing new booked so far, but I realized looking at my work schedule that I do have the long weekend in August off. There’s yet another possibility for a weekend away! This year I think we’re going to visit some new parks on some weekend trips. No official news on holidays for September. Anyway, Happy Camping to all!

Yay! It’s almost March, then comes April and the way the weather is going – kayaking soon! Almost time to dewinterize the trailer and get out camping! Most likely we won’t be travelling as much this year, but who knows exactly what the future holds! I’ve already booked a long weekend at Bronte Creek in May. We’re hoping to launch our kayaks into Lake Ontario when we go and paddle up Bronte Creek as far as possible. The water level in May should be a little higher, but who knows. We’ll enjoy some Spring fishing in Lake Ontario. As well, I’ve booked a long weekend in July for Byng Conservation Area. That trip is more for our daughter who is bringing a couple friends along for the trip. All of them have been to Byng and want to swim, swim, swim in the beautiful man-made swimming hole. I’m sure Dave and I will have a great time kayaking in the Grand River. If the timing is right, we might join up on a trip at Grand River Kayak. Maybe a moonlight paddle?

Looks like we may be on for a one week holiday in September, got to wait and see how Dave makes out with that at work. If so, then we’re likely headed to Grundy Lake or Restoule, but it’s still early yet.

Other weekend trips possibly in the works are to Glen Rouge CA, Pittock CA, Bass Lake PP, Mara PP or McRae PP and Albion Hills CA or Laurel Creek CA. Haven’t booked anything yet, but hopefully soon.

I’m getting camping fever bad! I’ve already turned the furnace on in the trailer and spent some quality time in there checking supplies, drinking coffee and hoping it’ll be time to dewinterize and camp soon.

The Toronto Sportsmans Show is on the weekend of March 16th and we’re hoping to go to that. We need some paddles for our new canoe. It’s always nice to go to the show and sometimes there are some good deals on stuff. Sometimes not.

One more day of work then it’s off to Timbers Outfitters in Seaforth to pick up our canoe! Can’t wait!

Well, camping season may be temporarily on hold but we’re still looking for adventure. We took our new little car on a road trip this past weekend. Nice car, great mileage. It’s a 2012 Hyundai Elantra. The first part of the road trip took us to Parry Sound. We were surprised at the lack of snow but I suppose it really shouldn’t be much of a surprise considering the weather this winter. Even worse in St. Catharines! Figures that once I learn to embrace winter and take up ice skating, ice fishing and snowshoeing winter becomes non existent. Remind me of that statement in a few weeks! Anyway, below are some pics of Parry Sound:

Next we headed a short distance North to Killbear Provincial Park and the boat launch for the Dillons. Here are some pictures:

Next stop along the way was Snug Harbour. I took some nice winter shots of the harbour:

Next we headed to Huntsville and Algonquin Provincial Park via Hwy 141. We took our lunch with us with the intention of a stop at Mew Lake Campground.  Algonquin is beautiful, but it’s a magical sort of beautiful in the winter. There wasn’t as much snow as last year when we went around the same time. We enjoyed our lunch and fed some bluejays at Mew Lake then oh my how the time flies, it was time to start the long drive home. Here are some pictures of beautiful Algonquin:

Our road trip was really nice. Longer than we planned, but it was still fun. We passed by a few parks we’d like to camp at such as Lake St.Peter, Silent Lake, Oastler Lake and of course Killbear. We’ll have to wait and see what the upcoming season has in store. For now though, our trailer is back home and winterized and road trips and winter adventure will have to suffice until we can camp again. Or, maybe we’ll have to consider some winter camping?

Merry Christmas to all and a very Happy New Year filled with lots of camping!

Wow! Where does the time go? My apologies for my blog slacking. Rockwood was wonderful and now September has gone. This month we will be heading to two new parks. The first will be Pittock CA near St.Marys and at the end of the month Glen Rouge CA east of Toronto. We won’t be bringing our kayaks these last two trips. We aren’t sure exactly what we’ll do yet but I’m thinking some geocaching along with s

We’re off to Rockwood again Wednesday after work to spend the rest of the week until Sunday. I’m so excited! We truly wish the original plan of camping at Awenda had worked out, but it’s all good.  We’ve reserved the same site – #37 the super duper large corner site. The weather so far is looking good. Cool, but very nice. We’re taking our kayaks but likely only kayaking at Rockwood this time. The lake is stocked with rainbow trout and there’s always some fun fishing to be had. As always, there’s lots of exploring to do at Rockwood too. I’d love to find out where all 20 caves are located!

This time out I’m trying a new hobby I’ve always wanted to try – geocaching! I’ve connected my Magellan to my pc and loaded coordinates of about 8 geocaches around the Rockwood area. Cool! I’ll be treasure hunting!

Dave has to work Thursday and Friday, but maybe he’ll get off work a little earlier than usual, here’s hoping anyway. As for me, I’m on holidays this week!

Lot’s of work to do for this trip, but I’ve got time at least. I finally updated my Picasa site with pictures from our Guelph Lake camping trip and the last Rockwood trip, so enjoy! Hopefully I’ll get around to adding the pages to my blog today or tomorrow.

Cheers and happy travels!

We spent another fine weekend at our fav park, Rockwood CA. We arrived on Thursday night and camped until Monday morning. Dave had to work Friday so he commuted to work and back. Rockwood is only about 1.15 hrs away from St.Catharines on a good drive. This time around we camped at a new site, #37. During all the times at Rockwood, I can’t say I really noticed this site before. Usually we stay at our old faithful site #21. That site was booked so we chose the next best looking site. It was huge, fully shaded and  situated beside the field and close to the hiking trail and path to the water. It was more private than most sites.  Our weekend was nice. Friday I kayaked on the misty waters of Rockwood lake then I walked into the cute little town of Rockwood to the bank and grocery store to pick up some last minute supplies. It was hot, really hot on Friday. I used my new kayak cart which worked fine until I was headed back up the hill on a rough gravel path, then it promptly fell apart. No amount of coaxing or half assed fixes would work. I ended up carrying my kayak back to camp. In the afternoon, I went on a hike around the trails on the park. Dave and I kayaked at Belwood Lake on Saturday, another hot, hot day. We fished but didn’t catch a thing. We got back to camp just before a torrential downpour. Good thing – all our windows were open in the trailer. We spent the rest of the day relaxing. That evening, a thunderstorm rolled through. The next day we relaxed around the campground.

We were heading to Awenda next weekend to camp, but Dave didn’t get the Friday off as hoped and planned, so we’re off to Rockwood again. This will work out better anyway since I’m off all of next week. We’ll drive up Wednesday night and camp until the Sunday. We’re hoping some friends of ours will camp with us Friday. Anyway, as always, Rockwood was wonderful!

We had a pretty good weekend camping at Guelph Lake CA. Our site was a corner site with a few trees which added some much needed privacy. It wasn’t very big and we had to back the trailer in on an angle between two trees. The park was a little noisy but considering how busy it was, I guess that was pretty normal. The site next to us was seasonal and it’s a good job I could tolerate country music because it seemed everyone in the area wanted to play it loudly. It rained Saturday afternoon but I still had time to get a  hike in and spend some time fishing on Guelph Lake. We caught catfish, perch and smallmouth bass. None of the fish were of any great size, but it was still fun. Not sure I would camp again at Guelph Lake CA, but at least we can say we’ve been there once.

Next trip out will be Labour Day weekend to Rockwood CA, one of our all time favorite parks. Our fav site – #21 was booked, so we ended up at site #37. I’ve admired it before on other camping trips to Rockwood, but we’ve so far always stuck with #21. Our site for Labour Day is the last one on the campground road with a view of a lovely field. Looking forward to it!