AT LONG LAST….WE’RE READY TO GO:))

SPOTTED THIS GREAT BLUE HERON WINGING OVER OUR PARK’S POND THIS AFTERNOON
When we phoned about the ferry from Tobermory to South Baymouth about a month ago they said we didn't need reservations because this time of year it's not as busy as the summer.  Just to be sure Kelly phoned again this morning & it's a good thing she did.  We were planning on boarding the 8:50 a.m. ferry Monday morning & had she not double checked there wouldn't have been room for us.  Luckily we were able to reserve one of the last spots.  Seems like Monday morning is a busy time no matter what the season.  Lady on the phone said a lot of logging trucks heading north.  We will roll out of Bayfield Sunday afternoon maybe around 1 p.m. & head directly for the ferry dock parking area where we will spend the night in the lot & be lined up for boarding first thing in the morning.  Our plan on disembarking the CHI-CHEEMAUN (big canoe) at South Baymouth on Manitoulin Island is to drive 75 miles to the Islands westerly end where we will camp at a Marina camp ground near the MISSISSAGI LIGHT HOUSE for a day or two or maybe three depending on weather.  I may not be able to publish any posts while there because it sounds like internet signals are either very slow, sporadic, or non existent.  We will be traveling with a Bell Telephone modem while in Canada so we have our fingers crossed that will work for us in most places.  From previous long ago travels above Lake Superior I remember there being some fairly long stretches between civilizations.  Of course that was back in the early 70’s so who knows what it will be like now. 

 
A WATER LANDING & A GRASS STRIP TOUCHDOWN

In Friday's post I mentioned about Kelly doing a lot of cooking.  A reader wondered about getting that food across the border.  We plan to travel in Canada for the first 10 days or couple weeks before reaching the border somewhere in southern Saskatchewan so figure we'll have all our pre-cooked grub eaten by that time.  It seems the rules for what kind of foods allowed by Canadians to take across the border have a habit of frequently changing so it's always a good idea to either phone the border or just simply do not take any food with you to be on the safe side.

 
AND A COUPLE PICS TODAY OF OUR GOOD NEIGHBOR MONICA    


 

If I walked around the property to check & make sure everything was put away & secure I walked around the property a hundred times.  If I walked around the rig once checking all the bins I did it a hundred times & if I stepped up into the rig once & stood looking to see if everything was in order I did that a hundred times too.  And checking around the house before we leave constitutes another hundred walk-arounds.  It's just the way it is for our semi-annul 6 month departures from one country to another & back.

CHECKING BINS FOR THE UMPTEENTH TIME
I think today had to be the most perfect weather day of the entire year.  It was so quiet in the forest this afternoon I could hear single leaves falling through branches to the forest floor all around us.  Shafts of  golden sunlight made their way through the forests dappled canopy alighting softly along our trail as Pheebs & I walked quietly in thought.  Well I was in quiet thought anyway with the only thought on Pheebs mind being the hurried scrambling of an occasional Squirrel along the way.

 

Ready to publish this post now & my mind thinks ahead 24 hours to where we will be Sunday night at this time.  It will be the first leg of our 6 month adventure & I like to think we will be parked alongside placid Georgian Bay waters in Tobermory's Little Tub Harbor enjoying a mighty fine Lake Huron sunset.  The first of many sunsets & sunrises we will see in our travels.   Thanks to all my readers who managed to stick with me through the thick & thin of another long summer.  Happy to have you all back aboard once more for another up coming season in the great American South-West................:))

GROANER'S CORNER:((  The old man had died. A wonderful funeral was in progress and the country preacher talked at length of the good traits of the deceased, what an honest man he was, and what a loving husband and kind father he was.  Finally, the widow leaned over and whispered to one of her children, "Go up there and take a look in the coffin and see if that's your Pa."