Today is our last full day in Barrie. During the morning I caught up on some stuff in the trailer and then went inside to see how everyone was doing there. Colin worked on Cort and Sherri-Lyn's taxes and I just puttered around. At dinner time Sherri-Lyn's mom came over and had dinner with us. I had not seen her since the wedding so we had a nice chat. After dinner we watched some TV and I did a bunch of ironing for Sherri-Lyn. I like doing that so I didn't mind helping her out. We called in an early night for a change as we will being leaving reasonable in the morning and Sherri-Lyn has to work. It's been a great visit!

As seems to be the norm here......we slept in again.

Cort made sausages for lunch and Colin did a bit more work on the dingy. I did some clean up work in the trailer and laundry.

At about 5:30 we headed over to Georgian Downs to celebrate our anniversary. As Sherri-Lyn and Cort had been there last week they were able to give us a quick refresher course on making bets.

The meal was very good with a nice salad bar and good desserts. I did poorly and only came ahead on one bet by .60. Colin on the other hand had a simple strategy of betting $2.00 on each race on number 5 horse regardless of who that was. After subtracting the cost of his bets he was ahead about $15.00. He was feeling luck so when the last race was over we headed to the slots to try our luck there. He did 3 pulls on a $1.00 machine and came ahead another $75.00. I tried too but as usual for me no luck.

By the time we got home we decided that we still had time for one more game of Mexican Train Wreck and yes .......you guessed it he won that too! He was definitely on a streak!

We all slept in again......probably cause we went to bed so late. When we did get up Colin got organized on unpacking and getting the Dingy ready to use and Sherri-Lyn and I watched two good movies, Knocked up and Juno.....if you want a good laugh I highly recommend both! Seems Cort is coming down with a cold but had enough energy in him to harass me into making Turkey Croquettes. They were excellent and used up some of the left over turkey.

During the evening we played a good game of Scrabble.......Yah! ! Mom won! and of course another late night. I don't know how suddenly 3:00 am became the normal bedtime!

Shelly enjoying a cup of tea in the trailer.

Morning drinks in the trailer.

All in after Baby Shopping!

Cort and Sherri-Lyn enjoying Christmas Turkey Dinner.

Always have to have a picture of Colin carving the turkey.

Everyone loading up their plates!

It was funny this morning......there was this huge house, but everyone gravitated to the trailer....but that was okay.

Because of the time we all went to bed, we moved right into lunch. Cort made BBQ hamburgers while I got the turkey ready to go into the oven. After that was all finished and cleaned up, Shelly, Sherri-Lyn and I went to Babies-R-Us to do a Baby Registry for Shelly. Wow.....baby equipement has sure come a long way since I had my kids! They have Cribs which grow with the child and go right to a double bed size with only having to buy the new mattress. They also have car seats with bases that go in the cars, and attach to a stroller for when the baby is tiny but then remove and you have a stroller for an older child. Then there is the go anywhere fold up.......wait for it......Playpen, baby crib, change table with music and motion and a sun shade for outside. There are some people out there that are really using their heads for Baby Stuff! Wow! Since Sherri-Lyn is a nurse in the labor and Delivery ward she was a big help to tell Shelly what she would need and what products to avoid for safety reasons.

When we got back the turkey was not far from being done so we prepared the vegetables and potatoes and sat down to a great turkey dinner with apple pie for dessert. We had one more game of Mexican Train Wreck and then it was time for Shelly and Luke to head back to Mississauga.

Today Colin and I celebrated our 33rd. Wedding Anniversary. Gee I guess I have to keep him now!
It was great to be altogether with the family again.

Bailey & Ginny enjoying some corn on the cob.


Luke waiting for his turn to play Mexican Train Wreck.


Shelly doing the "AWE" thing with a baby sleeper gift.


Shelly and her treasure.

Sherri-Lyn opening her goody bag.


Cort waiting patiently for his turn.


Colin opening his Gourmet cheese.


Luke with his "Crab" Fridge Magnet.


Saturday morning we headed up to Barrie with the trailer in tow.

That's right! Since we didn't come back for Christmas we are having our gift exchange and Christmas dinner with Cort, Sherri-Lyn, Luke and Shelly and of of course the little 1/3, this weekend.

Cort moved while we were away and has a new house with a long enough driveway for us to park the trailer in.......just! We arrived, got the trailer parked ..... with a lot of onlooking by the neighbors. We got the tour of the new house which is much newer and much bigger than their old one. It is a two storey brick with 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms and a nice big garage, which they did not have in their other place. They are pretty much settled in with only a few things left to sort out.

Sherri-Lyn and I went out to get the groceries for the big dinner and shortly after we got back Luke and Shelly showed up. These get togethers are always fun as there are 5 dogs and 1 cat between the three families. A real Dog Party!

Before dinner we opened out gifts. Colin and I both got golf stuff including a "Chip Putter" and yes it is exactly what it sounds like.......for playing the fringes of the greens......can't wait to try it. We also got a really neat Driver cover each. Colin's is a Corona bottle with a slice of Lime on the top and mine is a curly pink poodle. I got fancy colored golf balls and Colin got some really neat cheeses, hot popcorn, hot sauce and a package of Deli Salami, all very tasty!

Cort made some excellent beef and pork ribs for dinner along with corn on the cob and a Spinach salad. After dinner we played a new dominoes game which I renamed Mexican Train Wreck but I think it is really called Mexican Train Dominoes. It was fun but with 6 people did not finish till 3:00 AM. .......tired.....z-z-z-z-z

Fred and Colin having a pre-dinner chat.

Friday morning we were officially allowed to go to the Elora Gorge park, as it opened at noon. We packed everything up and headed for Elora. We arrived and settled into our spot and sorted out some things that we didn't need to take with us to Elliott Lake and brought them to our storage garage.

The dogs were in need of a bath so I did that while Colin ran some errands in Fergus. At 7:00 we headed over to our friends, Fred and Wendy Gottmers for a visit and dinner. Fred had made BBQ steak with little potatoes, rice, asparagus and a neat little appitizer with tomato, cheese and some french bread. I brought a greek salad. We finished it all off with some pie and tea and then settled in for some updating of the last 6 months. We had a great time and vowed to get together again soon and maybe get in a round of golf.

Since we have arrived in Waterloo we have been very busy. We have visited with Shelly our daughter and her husband Luke. We also managed a visit with both of my brother although brief we did get together.

Most of our time has been spent running around with the new truck. First taking out the old hitch, getting the new truck box sprayed and then having the hitch put into it. Finally as of today, Thursday evening we are ready to tow with the new truck. Everything has been installed. We will move our trailer from Waterloo to Elora Gorge Park in the morning. We spend one night there and then move up to Barrie and spend a week with Cort and Sherri-Lyn. From there we will make our way to Elliott Lake to tour around and see what they have for sale in the way of vacant lots and cottages already built. We plan to spend about 2 weeks up there to check the area out and see if we like it or not. Then we will be back in Elora Gorge Park for the rest of the summer.

Lorianne with her new PJ's and sandals.


Colin with Chantale, Brad and Lorianne.


Grampa with Chantale, Brad and Lorianne.


Friday morning started out again with a healthy dose of Sunshine and warm temperatures. Colin did some running around in Waterloo and then we left for Fergus for a visit with Mom and Dad as well as Brad, Chantalle and Lori-anne. They drove down from Quebec for a visit and luckily we got home in time to see them as well. Chantalle is expecting another baby girl so as I knew that we would not see them when she is born I brought over a gift for the baby.

We had some odd jobs to do around Fergus and Elora and then we headed home to Waterloo.

Thursday morning started out with lots of bright sunshine and nice temperatures. We hooked up the trailer and headed for the US Border in order to export the truck. I pulled into the parking lot so that the truck was visible from the office window and Colin went in to process the paperwork. A quick glance out the window and a stamp on the documentation and we were done.....no more than 5 minutes!

Next stop Canada Customs. It took a little longer, about 15 minutes and we were on our way again, they suggested we drive down to Mississauga and do the rest of the paperwork there and that way we could avoid waiting for stuff to be returned in the mail. Colin left the trailer with the truck, me and the dogs in a parking lot With that done all we needed to do was get Canadian Tire to check the vehicle over and with that we were done.....all in one day. Colin then ran over to Shelly and Luke’s to pick up our mail and we were on our way to the park.......oh wonderful......rush hour traffic. We called ahead to the park and they had space for us so we could pull into our site after closing. Yea ....Ha.....we are home!

It must be Spring.....the Robins are here!
Oh Look it must be Spring, Colin is in his shorts!!


View of the Whirl Pool.


The Cable Car ride over the Whirlpool.


I know I don't look very excited, but that is as good as got today.


Looking up the River


A view towards the falls.


The Tourist Trolley.


A Huge hunk of ice being chewed away at the bottom of the falls on the US side.


The tour boats still waiting for the last of the ice to leave the river.


Alot of water there!


The American side Falls.


The Horseshoe Falls from the US side.


The Casino on the US side......not quite as grand as ours.

We sat in our Tops parking lot this morning and sorted through our paper work and receipt so that we would be all ready to cross the border and go through customs. We are about a 5 minute drive to our first stop, US Customs. We got there and found the place we had to go into. Colin went in and I stayed with the dogs. Colin came back very quickly with an odd smirk on his face.........no one told us it was 72 business hours and we missed the 4:00 deadline on sending stuff in by about an hour!!!! So now What? We can't cross till Thursday. We fired up the computer to look for a campground. We had driven by a KOA the other day that had some trailers in it and on checking found out that they were officially open today......oh good. Colin loaded the directions into the GPS and off we went. The one we ended up at was not the one we saw along the highway. This one had lost it's office and laundry room to a fire last July and where now in the process of rebuilding but they were open although their water was not turned on yet. We were bone dry so we filled with the guy's hose from the main building before we pulled into our spot. He said that he might have his water on by the end of the day, so I kept my fingers crossed that it would be as we are both running out of clothes.

At this point we decided to make the best of things and do some sight seeing......it is after all a very pretty area. We drove along the American side, and checked out the the Whirl Pool and Devils Hole. Then along to the American Falls and then the Horseshoe Falls from this side ......since we can't go over there yet!

I am definitely not feeling great as this cold has gone right into my chest and I am finding it hard to walk any distance without getting breathless.

It is my Birthday today so we went out for dinner .....even though all I really wanted was hot soup. By the time we got back I was running a fever again so we just lay low for the rest of the night.

So we figured we had to wait till 8:00 PM on Monday to cross the Border and go through Customs. That gave the required 72 hours for them to process our paperwork.........NOT! Their office hours are 8:00AM to 4:00 PM it was now 8:00PM. At this point I was feeling lossy so I didn't really care if we spent one more night in a parking lot. I went and talked to the manager of the Tops grocery store and he was very kind to let us stay the night there in Lewiston . WE went out and had dinner at Denny's and the manager there allowed us to fill our water bags at his outside hose spigot. Now we could at least have a shower before we went to bed. We will go through tomorrow morning.

The last two days have been traveling days. Unfortunately Colin and I both came down with a cold. Do you have any idea how hard it is to drive and blow your nose at the same time? Lets just say .....not fun. Traveling in tandem adds a whole new twist to going home. Colin has not managed yet to loose me......which is good since I am hopeless with directions. Before we start out from any given point we pick a place to meet so that if one of us, me, does get lost I can ask directions and get there. The dogs get all excited when we stop someplace and they get to see each other, as Mexi is traveling with Colin and Splash is traveling with me.

We plan to cross the border around 7:00 Monday night and then stay someplace just on the Canadian side. then it will be just a short drive the next day to Waterloo and the park we stay in there.

Hopefully it goes well.

Waiting at the Staples parking lot for the fax to go.


It's just so dog gone pretty!


It's getting all wet!


The first thing this morning we got the call from the dealership saying that the truck was in and we could pick it up at 2:00! We drove the 40 miles from Waterloo to New Hampton and there it was........they had left the poor thing out in the rain. The actual paper work took us about 10 minutes......the best part was we got an extra $2,000.00 rebate because we already own a Dodge.
How cool was that! A Friend of ours, Pat Lynch from Iowa met us at the Dealership and we had a little chat with her. The man who owns the dealership is actually her friend and Pat and her husband introduced us when we were still in Fulton.

We left, Colin in the old truck with the trailer and me in the new truck......Lucky me! We got about a mile down the road when Colin realized that he had left his wallet behind. I headed back and picked it up for him while he waited at the side of the road.

We headed back to Waterloo to go to the Staples there and fax the necessary paper work to the border. Naturally the fax machine at the Blue Water Bridge was not working and after about an hour of trying we decided we would rethink the trip and Cross at the Lewiston bridge. that done we headed for a Flying J for fuel, propane and dinner. As we were getting fuel I noticed that a bracket under the trailer holding our "Tube Storage had broken loose, so we had to stop and fix that before we could leave. We drove till about 1:00 am and decided to call it a day and pull into a Wal-Mart. I am trying to come down from all the coffee I consumed to keep alert while driving so it is now 2:14 and when I am done this I will go and quietly crash in my bed........Z-Z-Z-z-z-z-z

This morning we decided we had outstayed our welcome with Passport America and packed up......in the wind and rain to head for the Wal-Mart in Waterloo Iowa. It is about 30 miles away from the dealership where we will be picking up the truck. It was disgustingly cold, wet and muddy as we pulled in the slides and hooked up the truck. We stopped part way and had a nice hot late breakfast which helped stave off the cold for a bit. As we were just outside Waterloo we saw the most dreaded sight of all.............snow on the side of the road....yuk! As we pulled into the Wal-Mart it was raining pretty hard and we again had an issue with our small slide not going out. We decided we could live with only the big slide out as Colin was not about to unhook the truck and fiddle with the darn thing yet again out in the rain,

We had dinner at a most interesting place........a Mexican Cantina by the name of "Carlos O'Kelly???? Now that was different. The food was actually quite good. No TV tonight so I think it will be an early night.

Since we will only get the cheap rate at this campground for tonight yet (7 day min.) we will be leaving in the morning.....Truck or No Truck.

Most of today was spent getting laundry caught up and stowing everything once again for traveling.
We found a most interesting place for dinner, called the "Iowa Beef Company" Their Wednesday night Special was 2- 14 oz. pork chops for $14.99, which included salad bar, baked potato and Texas Toast. We had just had pork chops the other day so we opted for the 28 oz. T-Bone ........... between us of course. They have a huge big grill and you are allowed to cook your own and pay a $1.00 less but we decided to let them work their magic. The meat was excellent and cooked perfectly.

After we got home it started to rain rather hard and the wind picked up so we were jostled around a bit through the night. I had a hard time sleeping just knowing that we would have to walk the dogs and pack up in the morning in the rain

We decided last night that we would leave the park we are in and move to the Wal-Mart 30 miles from the dealership. Unfortunately when we got up it was raining and everything had turned muddy again. We regrouped and decided to stay put for another day.....may as well be comfortable while we wait.

We spent the afternoon touring around looking for a "Slow Blow" fuse for the slide motor but were unable to turn one up. We blew one on the small slide and have been switching the one from the large slide back and forth when we have to put the slides in or out .

As the title says no truck yet.

Well it's Monday........and no truck yet! They tell us it has been red flagged but I still don't see it here. I just know that I will wake up tomorrow to a call from the dealership saying that my truck is there......come and get it!

In anticipation we fueled up the truck and picked up those things that we like to take back to Canada......butter spray and coffee creamer.

We had lunch at Red Robin, a great burger place. They have the most awesome Blue cheese Burgers ever! When we got back we took a walk around the Lake with the dogs. After that I gave them both a bath as they have gotten really grubby here, with all the mud. just in case we do end up leaving tomorrow we will be ready

It was a quiet Sunday. We decided to stay at the park as there really is not much to see and do on a Sunday afternoon in Des Moines. The weather was warm so we went for a nice 2 mile walk around the lake in the park and up and down all the campsite roads. Splash had fun chasing some Canada Geese but that was about the highlight of our day. Hopefully we will get news that the truck is on it's way tomorrow.

Our favorite Golf Course in the area............. (Mini Golf at the Park)
A Pioneer village we visited.........(the playground in the park)


Tucked in with our favourite monkey for a nap.


Mexi giving Daddy a hug.


Mexi enjoying the Spring Sunshine.


The Lake at the park in Des Moines


Splash checking out thethe Spring breeze.


So it's a beautiful Saturday morning and I have nothing to do except wait for our New Truck. The dogs were much happier this morning as there was hardly any mud at all and the sun was shinning.

I talked to our neighbor (a Titanium owner wanna be) and asked what there was to do in Des Moines Iowa on a Saturday morning. He suggested the Science Centre, the Museum or maybe there would be something going on at the State Fair Grounds. Turns out there was a Flea Market today and tomorrow there. We got the location and headed out. Looked like everyone had cleaned out there mother's and grandmother's basements and brought it all to the Flea Market. There were a few...very few craft items that were nice but everything else unless you were into Antique stuff was not interesting to me.

We needed to pick up a few things to make salad for dinner so we found a grocery store. They had a wonderful salad bar that you could buy by the pound to take home or pay 6.99 for an All-you- can-eat deal and have it in their little eating area. Colin ended up getting the all you can eat because by the pound he was over the 6.99. We were going to have dinner at home but by the time we were done we were both full so we will have dinner at home tomorrow.

We got back to the park in plenty of daylight to take the dogs out and then get ready for a quiet evening in.

I have included a few pictures of to days highlights!

Taking the dogs for a walk this morning was much better since the sun had come out and almost all the snow had disappeared. It was warm out too!

We phoned the dealership about the truck and found out that it probably will not be in till Monday now so we are here for the week-end at least.

We drove into Des Moines to do some shopping and check out what there was to see. We picked up a few things at Costco and then had dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. They were very good.

I was very tired by the time we got home and just didn't have the staying power to sit up through more than one television show so off to bed I went.

Colin filling the water tank up......in the cold!















The Trailer sitting in the winter wonderland!


We left Wal-Mart this morning planning to make it to within about 30 miles of where we are going to pick up the truck. Just one problem the truck didn't come in. There appeared to be a delay so we had to find a campground that was open. We found a beautiful place in Grimes Iowa that is open all year round, has an indoor hot tub and pool, exercise room and sauna and the best part is that it is a Pass Port America Park so it only costs us $13.75 a night. The only drawback is the snow......yuk! Also the frost is not out of the ground yet so everything is very muddy and wet. It really was not fun parking the trailer. We have water hook up but we have to disconnect after every fill because it is still too cold to leave it on all the time.

Poor Mexi tried to run away from the snow and then when that was not working she tried to pick up all four feet at the same time and that didn't work either. Splash took a different approach....."I'm just not going out there at all!"

We will wait here till we get word from the dealer that the truck is in.

Mexi sleeping peacefully between the seats.



We left our Wal-Mart camp site and got back on the road this morning. It is definitely colder here. At the first Flying J we topped up fuel, water and dumped our gray water. We also filled up our propane as we will be using the furnace from here on.

The weather was not as nice today......rain and alot of smoke from the range burning along the roads in Kansas. I tried to get a picture of it but it was dark and I just could not get the camera to focus.

I did however get a picture of the AWAC plane that came in right in front of us over the highway and landed on the other side. The picture isn't great but I did get it!

Our first day of travel went well. We were a little late leaving but were on the road well before noon. The only problems we encountered were heavy traffic and the requisite amount of idiot drivers. WE made it as far as Denton Texas which was a little farther than we had hoped to get. We have a lovely campsite in the Wal-Mart parking lot there. It is 1:30 now and time to hit the hay!