MACGREGOR POINT MAY 4TH 2011

"May the 4th be with you!"

Left home about 11.15 am heading to Mac Gregor Point.  304321.  Arrived at 12.35 p.m.

Brilliant sunny day, although still cool. All set up on our favorite site #57, and lunch ready by 1.15 p.m.  Decided to sit outside in the sunshine with lunch, joined by chipmunks, squirrels, chickadees, nuthatches, sparrows and robins.  Turned out to be quite a gathering.  So no hurry with lunch.  Time to relax and enjoy the birds and animals who wished to entertain us.

Chipmunk trying to find his lunch.

Red Squirrel asking if we would mind sharing lunch.

                                                       Chickadee helping itself to lunch.

Took a walk around the Turtle Pond some time later where we met a really nice couple form Barrie On.   We chatted with them for a while.  They enjoyed the same type of camping as we did.

From there we headed to the shore line trail, where the wind off the lake was very cool.   So we just walked the trails sheltered by the trees.   Which made it very comfortable.

Hiked for a couple of hours, then headed back to site for "Happy Hour".   It was quite warm at the site in the sunshine.

Lit the campfire, had a nice BBQ supper and a great evening outside around the fire until about
9.30 p.m. 


Great to be back at Mac Gregor.








THURSDAY MAY 5TH

Great Morning, cool breeze but very sunny.   Just relaxed around the campsite after breakfast enjoying the sunshine.

The squirrels and chipmunks seem to think this is a great site to have too.

The chickadees, nut hatches, robins, blue jays and mourning doves all enjoyed it just as much.

After coffee we headed out to the Deer Run Trail.  Only 4 minutes for our site we saw the Deer (probably showing us the right direction to go).   This Deer was not at all worried about us out hiking.

The breeze had died down so it felt really good wandering along in the sunshine.  A few parts of the trail were very wet and muddy, due to the heavy rains we had a few days previous.   In the Orchard part of the trail we saw an Eastern Blue Bird.  He was so colourful, however we were not close enough to get a picture.
We made the most of the gorgeous weather and hiked about 12 km before heading back to the site for lunch.

After lunch it was nice to sit and read in the sunshine.

Our friendly squirrel  had worked out a way to get to the bird feeder hanging at the end of our awning.
Up until now the birds had really been enjoying it.

This afternoon we had  he usual crowd of birds we had since arriving joined now by Wax Wings and Cardinals.  We could hear the crows in the distance, but didn't see them.

                                               
Mid afternoon we took off on the trails again.

We did the usual walk through the trail to the Turtle Pond, Huron Fringe Trail and one of our favorite Shore Line Trails.

It was a beautiful afternoon to take a walk.

  

The chickadees are always ready for a snack round the Turtle Pond and were very happy to see us arrive there.


From there we headed back to camp and time for a snack ourselves.   It has been a great day for hiking.


Got  our fire all set ready to light after our BBQ supper.

When we sat around the fire we could see a few clouds rolling in over the lake.  Luckily not enough to hide the millions of stars.

Once again it was another fantastic day and evening.

FRIDAY MAY 6TH 2011                         304321                               11 a.m.
Have to pack up and head home today,  Truthfully, at this point we didn't mind too much as the weather had changed and it was cool again and raining.  That made the leaving a little easier.

Stopped for some groceries on the way home.  Arrived in Durham about 12 p.m.     304406

It had almost stopped raining when we got home.  Let's hope the weekend is good, our camping trip was excellent.

WHERE NEXT?

                                                                                



WEDNESDAY MARCH 16th 2011

Well - Mike called The Brewery to let them know we were back and he was ready for work.  Guess what, they had hired someone else while we were away, and did not even give him the chance to change holiday plans to accommodate them, or allow us to stay longer with our friends and family while away.   We thought they were our friends too!

Oh well!   We will see how things go.  Did find out they posted his job on the Job Bank the day we left for USA.  Do wish they had told us their plans, we would probably still been down there right now.

As for the TRIP - FANTASTIC.

Highlights - too many to go through.
 Loved being with family, especially cooking pasta dinner with my Granddaughter.  
Scenery, unbelievable, can't wait to do it again.
Spending time with Alison and Norman, wonderful.  Look forward to returning, if they will have us.
San Antonio - that was so exciting - will definitely do all that again.
El Campista - did a great job.  Just got a bit tired.  After all we did put it through HECK.  It did 6240 miles in  three weeks, and climbed many mountains, went through snow, rain, winds, tornadoes and even some beautiful sunshine.

OH YES!  THE SOUP CAN IS STILL WORKING LIKE A CHARM.

Will catch you all on next camping trip - may be sometime very soon after Easter.  Have to do a little more of the house renovations first.

TUESDAY MARCH 15th 2011 303381

Beware the ides of March!

Let's hope our "ides of March" was yesterday.

Left Washington PA  at 10.45 am.  Not too bad for the weather, but very cool.

We did see snow appearing along the roadside, and frozen ponds towards Grove City and through into Erie PA.

Did our usual supplies shopping around Fredonia.

Good ride into Buffalo NY.  Weather really not too bad around here.

No snow around this area.

Crossed the Border at 5.30 p.m.  We were the 6th vehicle in the 6th line, lets hope that is a good omen.

Yes it was, didn't take much more than 10 seconds to clear and be on our way towards Fergus to collect our "Killer Budgie".

There was a fair amount of snow around Guelph, but it was a good ride through. 

Stopped for a visit with Natalie while we collected "Joey" the Killer Budgie.

Then good ride to Durham..  Still lots of snow in our yard.   
10.00 pm.  304081.

MONDAY MARCH 14th 2011

Cool day.
Phoned few places to try to get camper repaired.  Finally got dealership, literally, across the road from the motel, and all booked in for 1 p.m.

Got it to the garage safely, then took off for lunch and a wander around the area.  Not to much to see, so headed back to garage waiting room and watched TV - not very exciting at all!

All finished, and back on the road at 5,15 p.m. and several hundred dollars out of pocket.

We had a good ride through to KOA in Washington PA.   8.15 p.m. 303381.

SUNDAY MARCH 13th 2011 302915

Quite a cool start to the day.  After breakfast called Natalie to wish her Happy Birthday.  Hope she has a good one, we will celebrate with her next weekend.  Got to chat with Danny too.

Yes, Kayleigh and her team did get a medal at the Science Fair.  Good for you Kayleigh!

                             Very pretty ride, as usual through the mounntains and tunnels.

We do seem to have a problem with our little Camper. The slight vibration we had previous to Charlotte was now getting to be a 'Good Vibration', and nothing to do with the Beach Boys.  This was a bigger problem than we needed..  So to be safe we stopped in Summersville to check it out.

Lucky we did.  The U.J. was about to break.  Small town, Sunday - no camp grounds around, no garages open, however Super 8 right next to Walmart and Auto Zone.

Yes, we checked into motel. Spent the afternoon doing some of the blog and watching TV.   Our room had microwave and fridge so we got our supper from the camper and ate it in our room.  Really not too bad at all.

Have no idea where or when this will be repaired.   Have to wait and see what tomorrow brings.

Did e-mail Neustadt Brewery to let them know we may be a day late getting back.

I think we both need a drink right now!!

SATURDAY MARCH 12th 2011 302647

There was no rush to leave today as we had decided to just take our time as far as Wytheville, and not do as many miles in a day as we had been doing.

Spent some time with Vince before leaving.

Left Charlotte in brilliant sunshine about 10 a.m.
302647

Lake Norman as we leave the Charlotte area

Hope to be back next spring.

We had a good ride to Wytheville.  Did stop in town, and a very nice town too, for supplies. 

All set up at KOA Camp about 1.30 a.m.
302915

Still nice bright and sunny.

After lunch, although now quite windy, we walked around the pond area, then hiked the mountain trail.

It felt so good to be camping like this, with time to spare to exlpore and enjoy the trails and camp.  This felt more like our type of camping.

Sat outside for a while before the wind got very cool.

Had BBQ supper, but there was still a fire ban here due to the high winds and dry bush, so once again no camp fire.   Too bad, the forecast for tomorrow, for the Pittsburg area, is for showers and cooler weather again.

Chatted with Natalie through the evening.  Did wonder how Kayleigh got on at the Science Fair, but they were not on Skype.

Played dominoes - I WON!!!  Then watched a great 50's/60's show on TV  before bed.   Night Night.

FRIDAY MARCH 11TH 2011

Nice bright sunny morning.   Kayleigh went off to school and Barb went off to work.   Vince had some work related items to contend with, so we had quiet relaxing morning, which was very welcome.   Mike checked a few things on the camper, we did have slight vibration on the right front, but he could not see anything out of order.   That gave me some free time to get some of the blog caught up.  It was so good to have proper WIFI hook up.

Later in the afternoon I went with Barb to meet Kayleigh from school.  I had not seen this school previously as Kayleigh started "Middle School" in September.  Very nice looking school.

Tomorrow Kayleigh will be attending a "Science Fair" at the Charlotte University.We all helped Kayleigh put together her "Construction Junk Box".   It all had to be packed into a specific size box, with specific items of specific sizes and amounts.  It was all quite intriguing.  Unfortunately we will not be able to go to the fair, as we will be leaving through the morning.  Mike has be back to be at work for Wednesday Morning.

After a good BBQ supper, we all sat around and chatted about everything and nothing, just another "family time" - heaven!

Unfortunately we will not see Kaayleigh or Barb in the morning as they have to leave home about 6.00 a.m. to be registered at the Science Fair.  Let's hope Kayleigh and her team do good.