KELLY TAKES THE MOTOR HOME FOR A SPIN

NICE AUTUMN DAY FOR ORGANIZING THE RIG

Some of you folks may remember my post a couple months ago, 'some days are diamonds & some days are stones.'  Well, I had myself a  bit of stone day on Wednesday & by the time I got to the computer I just didn't have enough creative spark left in me to pull a post out of myself.  Nothing serious, just another one of those days some of us realistic thinking people have.  I even broke my hat!!  I was so frustrated with myself.  I couldn't get the Jeep hood open no matter how hard I tried so in a fit of frustration I whipped off my hat & threw it on the ground.  No, I didn't jump on it but the metal clasp at the back of my hat did break & I ended up having to cut the useless strap off with a scissors.  Hat still fits fine but now I have to go around strapless:((  And yes, I did manage to finally get the Jeep hood open & no, nothing wrong with the Jeep......just me:((

  

BUSTED HAT & THESE ARE THE 3D GLASSES KELLY & WORE TO WATCH 'AVATAR' IN SIERRA VISTA ARIZONA LAST WINTER.  My review of that movie is here ..... AVATAR
We had a beautiful fall day going on & Kelly had some time off so figured it was a good time to acquaint her with the driver's seat in the Motor Home.  Kelly has driven school buses as long or longer than our rig so I
knew it wouldn't be much of a problem for her to drive the Motor Home.  Gas was low in the rig so we headed off for Goderich to pick up some fuel.  I am not a good passenger in anybodies vehicle regardless of who is driving so it's always a challenge for me to keep myself from screaming.  I have always
been a driver & not a co-pilot.  In fact I have habit of always hogging the steering wheel & doing all the driving.  I once had two friends physically remove me from behind the wheel of a pick truck on a Pennsylvania turnpike
because I was hogging the wheel & wouldn't let either one of them drive!!  
    
HEY LADY, THAT CELL PHONE STUFF IS ILLEGAL HERE IN ONTARIO!!!!

A couple of the roads we took today were very narrow with skinny shoulders so needless to say, I had my moments.  But Kelly did fine just as I knew she would.  We filled up the rigs propane tank & threw a hundred dollars into the gas tank.  I knew that would be enough to get us the 10 miles or so back to Bayfield:))

 
HEY, QUIT LOOKING OVER MY SHOULDER BUDDY!!

I spent the rest of the fine afternoon vacuuming the rigs bins & scrubbing them out with soap & water.  Did a lot of rearranging again  & decided to get rid of a lot of stuff we've been carrying around & never seemed to use.  Would you
believe I had a bag with 33 bungee cords in it & I had enough various ropes stored away to outfit a full blown 3 master sailing ship.

 

WHAT THE HECK'S WITH ALL THOSE ROPES             
The two tires we had put on Wednesday are BFG's (BFGoodrich) & I understand BFG is a division or is owned by Michelin.  Quite a difference in tread depth between the old & new tires.  The tire guys said our back tires will be just fine for another season.  Personally, I would have liked to replace
them as well but at nearly $400 a tire it was too cost prohibitive this year.

    

           

THE OLD GOODYEAR & THE NEW BFG

 

Our Motor Home is built on a Workhorse Chassis which means it has a Chevrolet V-8, 8.1 Vortec gasoline engine coupled with an Allison transmission.  As I understand it, the Workhorse chassis is a slight step up from the more traditional Ford V-10 cylinder engines with the Vortec having more power etc.  Anyway, there has been problems with the Workhorse Chassis brakes & a huge confusing recall has been going on for the past couple of years.  Within the last month & the last couple weeks it has finally become organized to the point where we can finally get our rig into a Canadian facility & have our potential Workhorse brake problem fixed.  We have never had a problem with the brakes but apparently they can fail without warning.  Kelly phoned a Workhorse authorized dealer in Sarnia Ontario this afternoon & the wheels are in motion for me to take the rig to Sarnia in a couple weeks to get the work done.  We've been worrying about those brakes ever since we heard about the recall so it will be nice to finally get that worry behind us.  The fix is free so that is a much appreciated bonus.

THINK I'LL TAKE A DIP, OOOH WATERS TOO COLD....I'M OUGHTA HERE!! 

Welcome to blog supporter JOE64  Nice to have you aboard Joe.  I don't understand the German language but I do get the gist of your site & I did recognize photos of Ontario.

Kelly whooped up a big Thanksgiving turkey dinner tonight which was totally delicious.  We don't normally have big meals like that but my birthday today may have had something to do with it.  I generally try to keep it a low key day but it somehow squeaked out again.  A big thanks to all the Facebook folks & others for their best wishes.  Awwwww shucks..................

  SUMAC SHADOWS ON THE RIG >>>>>

 
GROANER'S CORNER:((  A man who'd just died is delivered to a local mortuary wearing an expensive, expertly tailored black suit.
The female blonde mortician asks the deceased's wife how she would like the body dressed. She points out that the man does look good in the black suit he is already wearing.  The widow, however, says that she always thought her husband looked his best in blue, and that she wants him in a blue suit. She gives the Blonde mortician a blank check and says, 'I don't care what it costs, but please have my husband in a blue suit for the viewing.'  The woman returns the next day for the wake. To her delight, she finds her husband dressed in a gorgeous blue suit with a subtle chalk stripe; the suit fits him perfectly...  She says to the mortician, 'Whatever this cost, I'm very satisfied.. You did an excellent job and I'm very grateful. How much did you spend?'
To her astonishment, the blonde mortician presents her with the blank check. 'There's no charge,' she says.  'No, really, I must compensate you for the cost of that exquisite blue suit!' she says.  'Honestly, ma'am,' the blonde says, 'it cost nothing. You see, a deceased gentleman of about your husband's size was brought in shortly after you left yesterday, and he was wearing an attractive blue suit. I asked his wife if she minded him going to his grave wearing a black suit instead, and she said it made no difference as long as he looked nice.'
'So I just switched the heads.'

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

Until one has loved an Animal, part of their soul remains un-awakened.

OUR BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS

http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

AL'S SMUG MUG PHOTO GALLERY http://stargeezer.smugmug.com/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.

HAVE A NICE DAY

TOUCHDOWN FOR GOOSE SQUADRON

Took the Motor Home to a local tire shop this afternoon & had 2 new front tires put on.  Rather than totally bore you with the rest of my mundane day & the details of how many crappy magazines I leafed through in my two hour tire wait I'll just wrap this up by saying we had a nice sunny Autumn day........10-4!!

ME & MY CHIEF EDITOR

GROANER'S CORNER:(( 

Two red heads are walking down the  street. One notices a compact on the sidewalk and leans down to pick it  up.  She opens it, looks in the mirror and says, "Hmm, this person looks familiar."  The second red head says, "Here, let me see!" So the first red head  hands her the compact.  The second one looks in the mirror and says, "You  dummy, it's me!"

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

Until one has loved an Animal, part of their soul remains un-awakened.

OUR BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS

http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

AL'S SMUG MUG PHOTO GALLERY http://stargeezer.smugmug.com/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.

KELLY PUTS THE JEEP THROUGH IT'S PACES

I can always tell when Thanksgiving is approaching.  Kelly comes home a few days ahead with a dead turkey under her arm.  Not one of those big walloping 300 pounders mind you but just a small enough bird we
both can lift by hand into the oven.  Generally just the two of us here for the week-end because it's a busy time for Kelly at Deer Park Lodge & this year I will be working the whole week-end as well.  
      
GOLFING GROUNDS OF THE MAITLAND COUNTRY CLUB 
We slipped down to Mitchell this morning to visit my Uncle Harry.  He is doing fine but was getting a little concerned that his hair was getting too long & he didn't want the other residents calling him a long haired hippy.  Kelly took her trusty scissors along & soon the deed was done & Harry was looking like a million bucks again.

A LITTLE OFF THE TOP PLEASE
Until today Kelly hadn't driven the Jeep so decided to drive back from Mitchell.  She did very well & it wasn't really a problem for her.  I told her there would be a noticeable difference when she drove the Santa Fe again.   Compared to the Jeep, the Santa Fe seems sluggish & spongy.  The Jeep just has a way of winning people over with it's quirky little bouncing ways.
              
THE JEEP WAS NO PROBLEM FOR THIS GAL
GYPSY has herself a bubbling pot of excitement brewing over there in Sacramento, California.  Not only did she finally sell her 5th wheel trailer a few days ago but this morning she kicked her problematic AT&T out the door, signed up with Verizon & set herself up with a complete new Mifi system.  Last I heard she had to get a seat belt installed on her computer chair to keep her safely secured during her new high speed internet surfing.  Seems like Gypsy went from the stone age to the jet age in a matter of hours:)) 

JUST HAVING A GOOSE OF A DAY
I see we have two new blog supporters.....or do we!!  First let me welcome msucheermom.  Thank you for taking an interest in the Bayfield Bunch & I feel confident you are a true blog follower.  I'm not so sure about our 173rd follower though.  Is this a true supporter??  I am always a little leery when things are not written in English & looking at this person's site I suspect it is a young person.  RVing is generally not of interest to young people.  If you are on the up & up adriane, then I welcome you to the Bayfield Bunch:))
 
THE MENESETUNG RR BRIDGE ATOP IT'S TALL TRESTLES as seen from near the point where the Maitland River flows into Lake Huron

GROANER'S CORNER:(( 
Little Johnny's neighbors had a baby. Unfortunately the baby, was born without ears. When the mother and new baby came home from the hospital, Johnny's family was invited over to see the baby.
Before they left their house, Little Johnny's dad had a talk with him and explained that the baby had no ears. His dad also told him that if he so much as mentioned anything about the baby's missing ears or even said the word "ears" he would get the spanking of his life when they came back home. Little Johnny told his dad he understood completely. When Johnny looked in the crib he said," What a beautiful baby."
The mother said, "Why, thank you, Little Johnny."
Johnny said, "He has beautiful little feet and beautiful little hands, cute little nose and really beautiful eyes. Can he see?"
"Yes, the mother replied, "we are so thankful. The doctor said he will have 20/20 vision "
"That's great," said little Johnny, "cuz he'd be crap-outta-luck if he needed glasses."
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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
Until one has loved an Animal, part of their soul remains un-awakened.

OUR BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS
http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
AL'S SMUG MUG PHOTO GALLERY http://stargeezer.smugmug.com/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.

TRAVERSING THE MENESETUNG BRIDGE OVER THE MAITLAND RIVER

THE SHIMMERING MAITLAND RIVER OFFERS A BACKGROUND TO AUTUMN'S COLORFUL SPLENDOR

When I have to shove my hands into my pockets to keep them warm on our morning walks I know Autumn is slowly making it's way towards winter.  Frost advisories will soon be in the weather forecasts & I just made a note to myself to put an ice scraper in the Jeep for scraping that early morning frost off the windshield.  The season is marching on.

I AM HEADED FOR THAT RAILWAY BRIDGE IN THE BACKGROUND...I will then turn left into that forest of trees & make my way along the north shore of the Maitland River ending up at that Salt Mine complex by the lake.

IT WAS A DARK, COLORFUL FOREST

I have been aware for some time that the muscles in my legs have been getting soft from not being used or exercised this past summer so with that thought in mind I threw the cameras in the Jeep & headed off to Goderich for a hike along the Maitland River.  A cool sunny morning lent itself to a fine Autumn day for photos.  But, I made a classic photography error.  I always carry a polarizing filter in my bag but seldom use it because I normally forget I have it.  This morning, I remembered that filter & new it would be a good day to use it for color saturation.  It simply screws onto the front of my lens & it was here that my absent mind made it's mistake.  I forgot I already had a filter on the lens.  It's standard practice to use UV (ultra violet) filters on lenses.  Helps cut down on haze but more important than that, it protects the front element glass lens from scratches or being broken.  Much cheaper & easier to replace a $20 filter than a three or four hundred dollar lens.

OVERHEAD, A TALL CANOPY OF TREES

By screwing my polarizing filter on top of my UV filter it extended the filters out too far.   When shooting at an 18mm wide angle setting, vignetting occurs & you can see the result of that in some of today's photos.  The wide angle setting actually catches the rim of the filter & that is the dark round corners you see in the photographs.  Same result can happen with an ill sized lens hood as well.  I should have caught the double filter error in the view finder.......but I didn't!!

FIERY SUMAC'S ALONG THE TRAIL

My hike took me across an old railroad bridge high above the Maitland River which enters into Lake Huron alongside Goderich's Sifto Salt Mine complex.  The bridge has been completely refurbished & connected in with the Maitland trail on it's north side.  Wooden planking has been laid down along with railings on both sides of the bridge. 

From high atop the trestle one has a scenic view of a nearby golf course below, fishermen in the river to the east & the Goderich Salt Mine complex backgrounded by Lake Huron.  To the south are the Church spires in the town of Goderich & to the north lay the early changing colors of Maple & Oak trees lining the river banks & rising a hundred feet up a sloping densely forested hill.

 

GODERICH'S SIFTO SALT MINE COMPLEX AT THE MOUTH OF THE MAITLAND RIVER

With camera's in hand I sauntered across the bridge taking a few photos & enjoying the brisk wind coming in off the lake about two thirds of a mile down river to the west.   Made a left turn onto a forested trail at the north end of the bridge & headed in the direction of the lake.  I was immediately aware of the comforting hard wood forest smells.   Forest leaves in the Autumn have a smell all their own which is just as pleasing to the senses as the visual aspect of the colored leaves overhead.

 

THIS WOODEN WALK WAY IS BUILT ALONG THE RAIL BED WHERE TRAINS USED TO RUN

A LONE FISHERMAN IN THE MAITLAND RIVER

The hard packed earthen trail led through dark stands of Cedar trees, tall Oaks, Maples & Beachwood trees.  Occasional glimpses of the Maitland River below to the left gave me an opportunity for a few creative photos.  No people on the trail so that made for a most enjoyably quiet walk.  

Upon reaching the lake I was surprised to see a complete inland Marina area for docking boats.  Just hadn't been aware of boat docking facilities on that side of the river before.   I just love coming across things I have never seen before. 

             (click pics to enlarge)

A SAFE & SNUG HARBOR FOR SMALL CRAFT

While taking some photos of landing flocks of Geese I could hear men shouting on the other side of the river at the Salt Mine complex.  Couldn't figure out where the voices were coming from until I looked up along the roof line of a very large building.  Workman were on some kind of platform putting on what appeared to be a vinyl or rubber roofing material on a very, very, steep roof.  It was the men shouting back & forth to the ground crew I had heard.  Sure takes some kind of special person to do a dangerous job like that.

LOOK CLOSELY ALONG THE ROOF LINE

    

NOPE, NOT MY KINDA JOB!!!!

Took me about 40 minutes to get my tired legs back to the Jeep but what a great feeling it was to be out along a new forest trail again.  I am so glad the heat of summer is gone & outdoor activities are once again back in the realm of feasibility:))

SIFTO'S SALT MINE ABOVE GROUND COMPLEX.....Kelly & I were actually fortunate enough to tour this underground salt mine back in the mid 90's & it is actually bigger underground than it is above ground.  This Sifto salt mine is the largest in the world.

Salt mine links...

SALT MINE LINK 1..... SALT MINE LINK 2

GROANER'S CORNER:((  And a few words about aging.............

- I'm retired....I was tired yesterday & I'm tired again today!!

- Senility aint' bad....I wrap my own  Christmas presents & never watch re-runs.  I can hide my own Easter eggs & I get to meet new people every day.

- I am young at heart.....& slightly older in other places.

- Goodbye tension.....hello pension!!

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

Until one has loved an Animal, part of their soul remains un-awakened.

OUR BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS

http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

AL'S SMUG MUG PHOTO GALLERY http://stargeezer.smugmug.com/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.