The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Monday, October 3, 2016

Now *this* was a perfect boondocking spot!

First thing I did yesterday morning was to change Sherman's distributor cap and rotor. Should have been a simple half hour job from start to finish, but it didn't go that smoothly. The distributor cap is held on with two long skinny screws, about 3/4" long. One of them snapped in two taking the old cap off. That's not supposed to happen!

After pondering my choices (one of which was to wait until the world's smallest Canadian Tire opened it's doors at noon) I tried putting the new cap on with just the one screw. There's a guide on both sides of it, and it seemed to hold just fine with only the one screw. So rather than sitting and waiting for three  hours, we got on the road. I'll fix it properly in Ottawa.

Glad I changed the cap and rotor. Looking at the old one, it definitely needed replacing. Sherman fired right up, and ran better, but there is still something not quite right. I still say my original diagnosis of bad plug wires is the main problem, but the cap and rotor certainly didn't hurt.

New bridge in Nipigon, Ontario.

Highway 11 north, beside the lake. Beautiful.

Old church.

At the entrance to Lake Nipigon. It's a huge lake...but not a "great" lake!

Odd looking row of trees up the hill.

Lots of trees.

In the town of Beardmore, Ontario (pop 200), an old Dodge Travco motorhome.

The world's largest snowman. 
Can you still call him that even if he's not made of snow?

We stopped at MacLeod Provincial Park. They closed up for the season on September 25th, but you can still go for a walk there. A few people out walking dogs and we met one lady who said "good, there won't be any bears around then". She said that bears have been a real problem lately in the nearby town of Geraldton, getting into people's backyards and just generally being a nuisance.

But we saw no bears, and no moose. Not even any deer. No wildlife at all.

We went for a walk in the park.

Ruth, by the lake. 
She said the water was fine and if she had her swimsuit nearby she would have gone for a swim. Still too cold for me  though!

Me!

Us!

Back on the road. Not much traffic.

It came time to look for an overnight spot. There's a 150 km (93 mile) long stretch of basically nothing. No gas stations, no buildings, no cell service. Nothing.

But, there are a lot of lakes. And several access roads to get to some of these back country areas. And, because Trans Canada's natural gas pipeline runs half a km from the highway, there are a lot of access roads to get to the pipeline.

The problem is that a lot of these roads are overgrown. Some more than others, and some are definitely passable, but you don't know if there's going to be room to turn around.

So I had checked out a couple of possibilities using google earth. and saved the GPS coordinates. We stopped at the first one, and pulled in just off the highway. I went for a walk while Ruth stayed with Sherman. I walked about a km each way. There was one spot that looked not bad, but the road was quite rough and I decided we would carry on to the next one.

Again, I walked the route first...and couldn't wait to get back to tell Ruth what I found! We hopped in Sherman, and took off along this two lane track...

Sherman, doing some back country driving.

We're almost there!

Now this was a perfect boondocking spot.
GPS 49.79540, -85.79799

The view out our side window.

You could tell that people had camped here before. A couple of fire rings, and one that looked recently used. But no garbage or trash anywhere. If we had more time, we would have spent a second night here and gone for a kayak ride. Just a perfect spot. Except, no cell signal. So, almost perfect. Seemed kind of funny to be without internet. You do get used to it being there at all times.

Kevin, cooking us some burgers.

Yesterday's drive, 246 kms (153 miles).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What does this do exactly? Whatever it is, it's on sale today!





34 comments:

  1. A beautiful spot indeed! Maybe you should consider a separate tab on your blog with a list of coordinates of all you best boondocking spots. Nice job for a rainy day...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Great idea to list the coordinates.. Hope we can learn to use them! LOL

      Delete
    2. What a great idea! We will be travelling from BC to Ontario in spring next year and will be looking for overnight spots.

      Delete
    3. That is an idea and yes, it would have to be a rainy day project, more like several rainy days. We will think about it, thanks Peter!

      Delete
  2. That is so awesome.. Love reading your posts.. We cant wait to go full time again next fall...Have never gone to Canada.. might have to follow your route when we do.. our kind of trip..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Jackie! You definitely need to visit Canada, it has some amazing places, friendly people and beautiful scenery but then most countries we have visited offer these same things. Just try to come in the late summer or early fall, to us these are the best times to travel in Canada, less people and bugs! ;-)

      Delete
  3. We're heading into Canada this week to do the Lake Superior Circle tour (we live in Michigan). This looks like an awesome boondocking site. We just might have to take a look into this one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is the much more northern route (Hwy #11) than the Lake Superior route that you will be taking on Hwy #17.

      Delete
  4. I am enjoying the ride and photographs. Gene in Ohio

    ReplyDelete
  5. Perhaps time to write an e book (kindle books are easy to upload by the way to make side cash, I did it for our business) on the how-tos of Rving on the cheap. That was a fantastic boondocking spot.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Believe it or not, Kevin had started on one a few years ago but then we just got too busy so it is still sitting there unfinished. Perhaps one day Kevin will continue on with it.

      Delete
  6. It seems we r right behind you somewhere. Stayed in Vermillion last night at the accommodations you recommended, lol
    Peaceful and quiet. Thanks for blazing the trail...we r going to try and find that beautiful spot you stayed last night...stay safe !!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Walk it first...and you'll probably have to disconnect your toad to get turned around in there. The turn off the highway will be tight for you, but doable, I think.

      Delete
  7. Sometimes not having cell coverage does make it perfect! Nice just to turn the outside world off. Such a beautiful spot!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are right Grace, sometimes it is nice just to totally disconnect with the world and enjoy the moment and we did just that. :-)

      Delete
  8. Another awesome header photo! It looks so peaceful there, what a gem of a find! I really enjoy visiting your blog everyday and following along on your adventures. It's like a real time book, with each day a new chapter. The photos along the lake are so lovely. Canada is beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Lori! This is definitely one of our best boondocking spots, we loved it there.

      Delete
  9. Temperatures in Ottawa are expected to be above 20C (70F)all week. Unfortunately, Thanksgiving weekend will be cooler and some rain.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Just in time for our arrival, not that the weather people know what they are talking about that far ahead of time!

      Delete
  10. Great seeing your photos of Macleod Park. My parents ran the concession there in 1950.The beach you and Ruth were on was the swimming beach, and as teenagers we swam there on May 24, one year we had to cut through the ice to swim. The bridge over Kevin's right shoulder was known locally as "2nd Bridge" and had terrific pickerel fishing.I worked on the construction of the gas pipeline around Klotz Lake and that area in 1958.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is always nice to know that we are able to spark some good memories in people when we are going through areas that are familiar to them. I remember passing by Klotz Lake and thinking that it looked very pretty.

      Delete
  11. Another wonderful spot you found, enjoy.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Many restrictions on Boondocking on Gov. land in Canada?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Legally, there are different rules for different provinces, and different rules again for federal land. Realistically though, there are so few people trying to boondock up here that nobody would enforce those laws anyhow.

      Delete
  13. Definitely a fabulous spot. Nice work! I'm surprised that being in a no signal area is rare for you guys. Happens pretty often for us. Amazing how dependent we are on it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was a wonderful spot and we didn't mind being away from the internet for the night but yes, we have become pretty dependent on it. It has happened to us on numerous occasions but it usually isn't for any length of time so a day or two isn't too bad, especially if it is in a great location.

      Delete
    2. What cell provider do you use?

      Delete
    3. Sasktel...but it uses the Bell cellular network outside of Saskatchewan.

      Delete
  14. Very scenic drive and a great spot to stop-perfect:)

    ReplyDelete

There are more comments on our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/TravelwithKevinAndRuth

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.