TRAVEL WITH THE BAYFIELD BUNCH:))

Thursday, August 12, 2010

BACK IN THE GROOVE:))

A GATHERING OF FRIEND'S AT GRAND BEND'S NEW BEACH GAZEBO

All of today's photos where taken Tuesday night in the small Lake Huron town of Grand Bend about 25 minutes south of Bayfield, Ontario. (more pics in Friday's blog)

BUOY MARKERS GUIDE BOATERS IN & OUT THE RIVER CHANNEL

It was nearly 9 o'clock when I got home Wednesday night after a long hot & miserably humid 10 & a half hour day. Seven of those hours were basically spent in the mobility van waiting for a person I had transported to a large downtown city hospital. The humidity was atrocious again & aside from a brief stint at McDonald's, Tim Horton's, & the Hospital Lobby, most of my time was spent in the steam bath van. A/C is not at it's best with just an occasional idling engine.

MANY GENERATIONS OF COUPLES HAVE STROLLED GRAND BEND'S PIER

By the time I got to the computer last night I was whipped. Figured I would just write a short blurb & throw in a couple of Tuesday night's pics. This is where the straw broke the Camel's back!!!! For the second time in a week the camera, the computer, & the Picasa photo program would not work together, leaving me sitting here with steam coming out my ears. I was not in any frame of mind to do battle with all that nonsense so in quick frustration I just typed 'Nothing' in Live Writer & hit the publish button. With that I went & flopped into my recliner in front of the mindless television, fell asleep & woke up at 5 this morning.......'still out of sorts!!' Didn't even go near the computer until nearly noon after doing a morning mobility van run in Goderich. Tried two camera downloads again & everything worked perfectly so I have no idea where the problem is occasionally occurring between the cams, the computer & the Picasa program.

A LIVELY GROUP AT THE END OF THE PIER

Tuesday night I was just feeling the need to do something different after supper instead of the blog so jumped in the Jeep & drove down to Grand Bend & caught the setting sun on Grand Bend's beach. I definitely think I need more beach time & less blog time.

GRAND BEND HAS DONE A MARVELOUS JOB REBUILDING THEIR BEACH AREA

Two additional drivers off Friday so I have an early morning start with a very busy day on the road tomorrow. Am thinking It may well turn into another 10 hour stretch but that's OK, I don't mind that. Sooner be challenged with a busy day than sitting around on my can doing nothing for hours on end. Only down side of course is this relentless hot, humid & sticky weather. Come on Autumn:)))))

SOFT LIGHTING ALONG THE BOARDWALK

Well, at least there was one positive side to my blog Wednesday. It unintentionally turned out to be my shortest blog ever & I'm sure that probably made some folks very happy out there. Can't say I don't try hard to keep on the good side of my fellow bloggers from time to time y'know:))

GRAND BEND'S RIVERSIDE MARINA

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A skunk sat on a stump and thunk the stump stunk,
but the stump thunk the skunk stunk.

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

"UNTIL ONE HAS LOVED AN ANIMAL, PART OF THEIR SOUL REMAINS UN-AWAKENED"

It's not the concept of God I have a problem with.......it's his fan club!!

OUR BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

AL'S SMUG MUG PHOTO GALLERY http://stargeezer.smugmug.com/ (a work in progress)

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

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

NOTHING

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Tuesday, August 10, 2010

CANADA'S BASEBALL HALL OF FAME

CANADA'S BASEBALL HALL OF FAME < click

Drove slowly through another sure sign of the soon to be changing seasons this morning. A heavy fog blanketed the roads in our area cutting visibility. I hadn't anticipated the fog so I was behind a bit for my first early morning pick up. Would liked to have stopped for some beautiful photos but it just wasn't possible. By 10 a.m. the sun had burnt off the fog & we were under the anvil of another crushing hot & humid day. By noon we had a real cooker going on. Not nice & I was glad to be home by 2 o'clock leisurely stretched out in my recliner with a soft fan blowing cooling air conditioned breezes over me. However, Wednesday will be a whole different story:((

Canada's Baseball Hall of Fame is located in St Marys, Ontario. While in St. Marys this past Saturday I took a drive over there to take a few photos. Even though we had lived in the area for 7 years I had never been to the grounds before. (I'm just not a sports fan) Strangely enough though I was involved in an indirect way with Opening Day of the Hall nearly 10 years ago. I was a part time driver for the St Mary's Mobility Bus at the time & on opening day I was assigned to transport visitors back & forth to the site from a lower parking lot a fair distance away. A coincidental thing happened that day which involved another well known RV'er at the time. Some of you may know, heard of or read some of Peggy & John McDonald's books. They are a Canadian couple, long time retired from the military & long time full timers. RV LIVING NET They often travel the RV circuits & attend rallies all over North America with Peggy doing seminars on the various aspects of the RV lifestyle. We had briefly met Peggy at one of her seminars in London Ontario at an RV show many years ago but had never met John. On opening day of Canada's Baseball Hall of Fame I was sitting in the mobility bus between passenger runs reading my copy of the RV EXPLORERS CLUB GAZETTE (we were club members at the time) Peggy writes informative & educational articles for that magazine. A couple of fellows came aboard the bus & one of them noticed the magazine I was reading & introduced himself as John McDonald. I recognized him right away from the photos on their site. You will find a lot of helpful info on their website & they do go out of their way to help people with any & all RV questions.

A BENCH OVERLOOKS THE LARGEST OF 3 PLAYING FIELDS

THEY HAVE 3 LARGE BASEBALL DIAMONDS HERE.....(There was a whole gaggle of kids in the Hall of Fame so I didn't attempt to go in)

I have often heard of RV'ers having to install air bags on their rigs because of weight problems. We have never had to do that but K & D IN THE RV just had their # 2 Son (known as the mechanic) do that for them. If your wondering what an air bag looks like just wander on over to their site & have a look at the professional installation.

RUNNING LOW ON PICS SO DECIDED TO THROW AN ARMY TANK IN HERE....(Goderich Museum)

Came across another solo RVing blogger person living life on the open road & blogging about her experiences & travels. Say hello to Diana at LIFE ON THE ROAD. A full timing 10 year veteran Boon Docker with solar panels, satellite TV, cell phone & an internet card. She is on the move........

<<< WINDMILLS INSIDE THE GODERICH MUSEUM

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GROANER'S CORNER A Farm Kid Joins The Army & writes a first letter home......

Dear Ma and Pa,

I am well.. Hope you are. Tell Brother Walt and Brother Elmer the Army beats working for old man Minch by a mile. Tell them to join up quick before all of the places are filled.

I was restless at first because you get to stay in bed till nearly 6 a.m. But I am getting so I like to sleep late. Tell Walt and Elmer all you do before breakfast is smooth your cot, and shine some things. No hogs to slop, feed to pitch, mash to mix, wood to split, fire to lay. Practically nothing.

Men got to shave but it is not so bad, there's warm water. Breakfast is strong on trimmings like fruit juice, cereal, eggs, bacon, etc., but kind of weak on chops, potatoes, ham, steak, fried eggplant, pie and other regular food, but tell Walt and Elmer you can always sit by the two city boys that live on coffee. Their food, plus yours, holds you until noon when you get fed again. It's no wonder these city boys can't walk much.

We go on 'route marches,' which the platoon sergeant says are long walks to harden us. If he thinks so, it's not my place to tell him different. A 'route march' is about as far as to our mailbox at home. Then the city guys get sore feet and we all ride back in trucks.

The sergeant is like a school teacher. He nags a lot. The Captain is like the school board. Majors and colonels just ride around and frown. They don't bother you none.

This next will kill Walt and Elmer with laughing. I keep getting medals for shooting. I don't know why.. The bulls-eye is near as big as a chipmunk head and don't move, and it ain't shooting at you like the Higgett boys at home. All you got to do is lie there all comfortable and hit it. You don't even load your own cartridges They come in boxes..

Then we have what they call hand-to-hand combat training. You get to wrestle with them city boys. I have to be real careful though, they break real easy. It ain't like fighting with that ole bull at home. I'm about the best they got in this except for that Tug Jordan from over in Silver Lake . I only beat him once.. He joined up the same time as me, but I'm only 5'6' and 130 pounds and he's 6'8' and near 300 pounds dry.

Be sure to tell Walt and Elmer to hurry and join before other fellers get onto this setup and come stampeding in.

Your loving daughter,

Alice