MALLORYTOWN TO IROQUOIS:: ANOTHER SHORT DRIVING DAY AND WE WATCH 6 LARGE SHIPS EASE THEIR WAY THROUGH THE SINGLE IROQUIS LOCK

Our first quiet night’s sleep since leaving home.  A bit of noise from the nearby Parkway but without much traffic we were fine.  Morning’s air was cool enough for me to throw on a housecoat over my PJ’s when I stepped out with Pheebs.  A sliver of light in the East under a cloudy sky.  Fingers crossed for a cooler day.  No more humidity please.  Dressed warmer we had ourselves a relaxing leisurely walk around the Park grounds along the river.

EARLY MORNING FISHERMEN HEADING OUT

THIS STRUCTURE IS CALLED AN oTENTic AND HAS A WOODEN STRUCTURE COVERED BY A TOUGH VINYL SHELL….THEY GO FOR $100 A NIGHT

STRONG VINYL ROOF

AND THIS ONE IS WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE STEW:))

NICE WOODSY SETTING

WITH A RIVER VIEW AS WELL

SAW THIS TALL ODD SHAPED WOOD BUILDING NEAR THE oTENTics

‘AHA’ IT’S THE WASHROOM

HAD US A NICE NATURE TRAIL WALK

TALL WOOD STRUCTURE IS FOR ‘CHIMNEY SWIFTS, GREEN ROOF STUCTURE IS FOR BARN SWALLOWS AND THE BLACK BOX ON A POLL IS FOR BAT NESTING

NEARBY STONE BUILDING NEAR THE BOAT LAUNCH IS FOR PICNIC GATHERINGS AND BBQ’S

MORNING FISHERMEN SWAP SOME TALL TALES

THINGS JUTTING INTO WATER IS A BOAT LAUNCH WITH 3 DOCKS, WE WERE PARKED IN THE AREA ABOVE MARKED ‘P’ AND IT’S A PARKING LOT FOR BOAT TRAILERS…..AT THE END OF THE PENINSULA IS ‘CONTEMPLATION ROCK WHERE SOME OF TUESDAY NIGHT’S PHOTOS WERE TAKEN AND ALL THE FOLLOWING PHOTOS WERE TAKEN THIS MORNING

OUR OVERNIGHT SPOT
With no particular place to go except in a North-easterly direction we weren’t in any kind hurry to get up and go this morning.   Quite a departure from our usually hurried trip to the great American Southwest each year.  Nice:))

AND THIS IS ‘CONTEMPLATION ROCK WHERE THE RED CHAIRS SIT AND BY THE WAY THAT TABLE AND  TWO CHAIR ASSEMBLY WAS MADE IN STRATFORD ONTARIO

PHEEBS IS A TRUE ROCK HOUND

We finally packed up and rolled out around 11:15 resuming our slow journey Eastward.  Enjoyed the riverside scenery and finally said good bye to the wonderful Thousand Island Parkway just West of Brockville and re-joined the 401 for a short distance before getting off again to pop into a Walmart in North Brockville.  I had forgot my computer mouse and have been using Kelly’s mouse but sharing mouse’s is not necessarily conducive to harmonious travels and she told me I had better get me my own mouse or I would be in for some very mighty big serious trouble.  Knowing what would be best for me I got me a new mouse right quick.  We needed a few other things at Walmart as well and I said to Kelly, ‘this has got to be the biggest Walmart we’ve ever been in’.   It was easy to see an overall Walmart change taking place here.  There were 20 ‘self serve check-outs’ with 9 of them open.  Six regular ‘clerk check-outs’ with 3 of them open.  Walmart staff were walking around the clerk check-out lines trying to persuade customers to use the self check-out lines.  Bah-humbug I say,  I don’t even like having to pump my own gas let alone price and bag my own groceries.  Writing’s on the wall for a lot of Wal-mart staff.  For many of you ya all ain’t a gonna be there much longer………….

PHEEBS ATOP CONTEMPLATION ROCK

THERE IS A LOT OF NICE ROCK ART HERE


From Walmart we slipped east on Parkdale road about a mile or so then picked up Sharpes Lane heading south to highway 2 again.  Hung a left and continued following the St. Lawrence River on it’s journey to the sea.  Highway 2 is also called the Heritage highway along here.

PATIENTLY WAITING FOR US TO COME OUT OF WALMART

GEEEZZZZZ, CAN THEY MAKE SOME OF THESE CONSTRUCTION LANES ANY NARROWER

I THINK WE ARE RIGHT HERE

NOTICED TODAY SOME OF THE LEAVES ARE BEGINNING TO TURN

NICE SCENIC DRIVE ALONG THE SHORES OF THE ST LAWRENCE RIVER
Rolling up to the small town of Johnstown we saw the big international bridge leading to the United States and the town of Ogdensburg.  This bridge played a roll in Kelly’s life as a small girl growing up in her hometown of Spencerport New York.  Kelly’s Dad was an avid fisherman and liked to bring the whole family north across this bridge into Canada fishing.  At that time the Knapp family consisted of Kelly’s Mom Gene, her Dad, Frank and two sisters, Rebecca (Becky) Cathy and brother Peter.  And yes Peter Knapp, Canada and American customs here at the border have been notified about you smuggling Canadian fire crackers across the border in the bottom of a Kleenex box.  The sister you vowed to secrecy 60 years ago spilled the beans this morning:))

AHEAD IS THE INTERNATIONAL BRIDGE FROM JOHNSTOWN CANADA OVER TO NEAR OGDENSBURG U.S.A.  CANADA IS ON THE LEFT

From Johnstown we continued along the Heritage Highway to a little place called Iroquois.  On the phone today Kelly’s Mom told her about this place having a lock and dam here so we thought we’d stop in for a look see.  It’s a large Park like setting beside the lock with a big parking lot.  Despite maybe 20 people showing up to watch the ships go through today we soon found ourselves all by ourselves by 4 p.m.  Hmmmmm, wonder if we could get away with staying here for the night, and signs about overnighters.  We gave it a try and……………….we did:))  I had really been hoping for a photo break today in order to catch up our boat cruise photos but alas along came not one but six big ocean going ships and that put a quick end to that.  Now I not only have boat cruise photos to catch up on but a whole whack of ship photos too.  Tomorrow I am going to get Kelly to lock all my cameras in a bin and not give me the key for at least 3 days until I get things caught up.  I will leave you with just one photo of each ship tonight though.

It always amazes me how fast we always adapt to our surroundings and change of routine.  It’s like the flick of a light switch as we transition from our stationary house living to our traveling lifestyle.  Oh there’s the odd thing we have to figure out and get used to but over the years slipping from one to the other has become easier.  We haven’t turned the television on since we left Bayfield.  And we’re not likely not to turn it on anytime soon either:)) 
Our Monday boat cruise Part 2

Sun never did make an appearance today which was Okay and this is the first day in a long time with no humidity in the air.  Both Kelly and I are very thankful for that and hope the remainder of our travel days remain humidity free.  As I type this tonight at 7 p.m. it is 61F and noticed when I stepped out with Pheebs skies are clearing so we may have a sunny day Thursday. 

GROANER’S CORNER:((  You might be a Redneck if:: 
You think you are an entrepreneur because of the "Dirt for Sale" sign in the front yard.
You're still scalping tickets after the concert is over.
Your house has a kickstand.
You drive around a parking lot for fun.
Your girlfriend has ever called YOUR parents "Ma and Pa".
You have to duct tape your gloves on.
You've ever pruned your trees with a shotgun.
Someone says they spotted Bigfoot and you go buy tickets to the tractor pull.
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“Some say I eat so much fruit that I must be going bananas, while others think I'm already plum crazy. I respond to those people by giving them the raspberry.”
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Me: What's your job? Him: I'm an assassin. Me: Good pay? Him: I make a killing!
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