Canada 2011

Canada was a cool trip this year, we did something a little different. Of course we went to Wawa again but we took a different route. First we went to Frankenmuth, Michigan for a Blue Bird Rally where we had 21 Blue Birds and tons of interest from the other campers in the park. After our breaf stay in Frankenmuth we headed to the Canadian Border at Port Huron, MI with John & Nancy Hall fellow birders. John & Nancy own a 1988 PT40 and have owned it for 4 years and have nearly driven the wheels off it, they are like the rollin stones. From Port Huron we went up the Bruce Peninsula and stayed our first night in Canada at Point Farms Provincial Park near Goderich, On. Goderich is a cute little town midway up the peninsula and while we were there at the park a severe tornado storm hit the town and did alot of serious damage. Fran & I were at the beach in the park when we saw the water spouts heading toward the town, we got pelted pretty hard by hail; no damage to us but Goderich got hit hard.

From Goderich the next morning we headed up to Tobermory, Ontario and stayed the night at Land's End RV Park, if we ever do the trip again we'll head to the ferry terminal and spend the night there for free. $62 bucks for a one night stay in a nowhere desitnation is a little steep no matter how cute the place may be. Our trip on the ferry was for only 2 hours but it was an adventure. From the ferry we traveled across Manitoulin Island and up to Canada 17 and headed toward Sault Saint Marie then on to Pancake Bay PP. Our onenight visit and PBPP was what we needed for us to push on to our Northwest Ontario getaway sight northwest of Wawa. Fran & I discovered this little mecca (Wawa) about 12 years ago and have been visiting it if only for a day or two for the last 11 years. Traveling the back roads, fishing, picking blue berries, hunting mushrooms and visiting our Canadian friends is what we do and look forward to it just about every year. This year was special because we got to share our special spot with our friends. Canada 2011 Trip. Click the link to view our photos, sorry for the order but I hope you enjoy our trip through our photos.

Spring & Summer 2011

This year we have been trying to survive the sweltering summer heat so we haven't been out in the bird all that much. We have taken a couple short trips to our local state park, Charlestown State Park. May was fun we went to Berrien Springs, MI for the GLASS Rally and met up with 7 other bird friends and had a good time. We did have a lot of rain but with good company we did not let the rain dampen our sprits. We spent a few nights at the Indiana Dunes State Park just outside Gary Indiana and it was nice. On a clear day we could see Chicago across the lake. After the rally we went up to Grand Haven Michigan and spent a couple nights at their state park. The sunsets over Grand Haven was nice. Back in June we met John & Nancy Hall and went to General Butler State Park, Carrollton, Ky for a few nights and it was warm there. August may not be any better but we will make our annual run to Canada. I'm watching the Canada weather and it looks to be cooler and we are looking forward to being there.

Quartzsite, Arizona

I know it has been awhile since I last posted on the blog and we have taken a few short trips. Fran & I went to Pine Mountain, Georgia back in October for a few days and Hershey, PA for a few and then there were several weekend trips to a local state park, but I went off on a 3 week getaway with my friend Shane Fedeli. Shane & I went to Quartzsite, AZ back in January; it was a 3 week trip. Shane's wife Kelly said last year she had enough of Quartzsite and Fran told me one trip for her was one too many. So Shane & I came up with this bright idea if the wives don't want to go then us men must look upon this as an opportunity to get the hell away. So we did.
Shane departed his house around noon on Jan 16 and drove to Columbus, Ohio, spent the night and drove on down to our house by 11:00 the next morning. I had an auction that morning and I got home by noon, we were off again and on the road at 1 PM. We drove 17 hours from my house to Forth Worth, TX about 900 miles.
The next morning which was about 3 hours later we departed again with our friends Rick & Rosie Archie in their bird and Michael Cain, his dog in his bird and we drove another 700 miles in about 14 hours until we reached the Cattleman’s Steakhouse near Fabens, TX just a few miles east of El Paso, Tx. Spending the night at the Cattleman’s has become a tradition with Birders; anyone and everyone with a Blue Bird Motor Coach traveling through South Texas have stayed at the restaurant overnight. Dinner at the Cattleman’s was great but boy did it get cold, it was spitting snow that morning when we left towards Gila Bend, AZ. Now driving a Blue Bird bus and being with 2 or 3 others one will stop at a Wal-Mart a time or two along the way but with this group of folks I think we hit every damn Wal-Mart in South Texas, New Mexico & Arizona before we made it to Quartzsite. It's a good thing we did because the nearest Wal-Mart from Quartzsite was nearly 40 miles away.
Quartzsite Arizona if one has never heard of it or been well let’s just say it’s a different place. The average population is about 3000, but during the winter months there are about 100,000 recreational vehicles that land there. Once you top the hill heading into Q you can see the reflections off the windshields of RVs for nearly 20 miles in both the north and south of I-10.