$10 free...from Amazon.com

I was just alerted to an oddball special that Amazon.com has going on right now.

Simply buy yourself a $50 gift card using your Amazon.com account, and Amazon will send you a $10 promo code valid until August 15th.

I just bought one for myself. Pretty hard to go wrong!

Leather Jacket Giveaway!

We're excited to bring you another contest giveaway. When we're sitting here in one place for a while, it's nice to be able to liven things up a little by giving away free stuff to our readers.

And this time, I think it's our biggest giveaway yet. We've partnered with Motorcycle House to give one of our readers a leather jacket valued up to $200!

I just about jumped out of my skin!

We have a few snakes slithering around here at the park, and especially now that things have warmed up a little bit they have come out of hiding and are enjoying the sunshine. They're just bull snakes, and they're not poisonous but they can grow up to eight feet in length.

And I don't mind snakes, but when they surprise you, it's still a bit of a shock!

You shouldn't be afraid to use the campground bathroom!

This weekend is the start of our six week busy season here at the park. We've been busy doing some improvements. Two of our newer bathrooms needed painting, so we did one last week when our son Alex was here to help, and Ruth and I have been doing the other one this week.

Our main bathroom has been under renovation for the past six weeks. How can it take that long? Because the construction guys that were hired don't put in more than about 4 hours per day, and that's when they show up to begin with!

We're hosting another giveaway!

It's been a long time since we have hosted a giveaway. Actually, we're hosting two more giveaways. It never rains, it pours! But I'm not telling you about the second one yet. I expect we'll get to that one later this week.

So first up, we're giving away two books.

Colombia's Lost City

Doing some research for our six weeks in Colombia this coming November, and I came across a hiking trip that we've decided we want to do. Only problem is...it's not cheap.

But I think it's one of those things that is worth it.

Happy Ruth!

She had been totally missing her Tilley hat and we hadn't heard back from them as to whether or not her old hat was repairable. So we were surprised when a package arrived yesterday. Apparently, the day they received her old hat, they inspected it right away and immediately sent out a new one.

Now that's good customer service!

The world's fastest RV

I happened upon an article the other day that described the world's fastest RV...they call it a motorhome, but that's a bit of a stretch. More like a campervan of sorts. But, it does have a toilet, sink, and stove and there is a sleeping area.

And, it's for sale...

The most interesting places we have ever camped

After seven years of RV'ing, we've overnighted in a lot of interesting places. The best and most interesting of them have not been in campgrounds. Isn't there a saying..? The best things in life area free?

Well not all of them have been free, but certainly a lot of them were.

Important Tips for Your USA Holiday!

When people travel to a destination like the USA, it’s rare that they worry about cultural differences, or even culture shock, as most of the world has been exposed to so much American culture through the media. However, despite all this exposure, there are plenty of quirks individual to the USA that you might not be aware of, so here’s a list of things to get you prepared for your holiday to the USA.

That went by fast...

We did our weekly run into town yesterday instead of today. Our son Alex has to leave tomorrow (that week went by quickly, didn't it??) and he's got a 3 hour drive back to Regina for his flight tomorrow so we figured it would give him today to relax before having to head back to Ottawa.

We're going to do some painting today. Two of our newer washrooms were built a few years ago, but they were never completely finished on the inside. So we've taken it upon ourselves to finish them. Plus, we have a helper (our son!) with us so it'll get done fairly quickly.

Saskatchewan's Regional Parks

In a comment on yesterday's post, reader Lori Gunter asked about our job here at the park and I think my post wasn't very clear regarding expenses and just how things are run. So I'll provide some clarification here.

We're all familiar with National Parks and Provincial parks...but Saskatchewan is unique in that we also have a Regional Park system.

Another weekend gone

Not a bad weekend here at the park. A little cooler than it should be...highs of only around 18C (65F), but there were still quite a few people around. A few more campers than last year, and I think we're ahead of where we were last year at this time with regards to revenue as well.

I do a tally of campsite, entrance pass, and firewood revenue twice per month and submit the receipts to our treasurer. So I get a good idea of how the park is doing. Today's the 15th, so I'll add things up this morning, but I have a feeling we're going to be higher than we were last year at this time.

Summer RV parking at schools?

Here's an interesting thing I came across. And if more school boards opened their minds to the idea, it might really take off.

Apparently, with schools being closed in the summer, that's the time of year when vandalism occurs. So the Anchorage School District started a camper host program so that there would be a presence at the schools, figuring that would discourage the vandals...

Can't win.

Yes, I know...we've been wanting rain. Haven't had any rain to speak of since May 2nd. Well, we  finally had a storm go through yesterday around dinner time. It gave us a solid half hour of fairly heavy rain so the ground got a much needed soaking.

But, along with the rain came very high winds!

Big time surprise!

A couple of months ago, we pulled off a nice surprise for Ruth's dad's 80th birthday. Our son Alex was instrumental in helping us with that at the time, and I guess he really enjoyed the final moment.

Because he just pulled off another big surprise. On us!

Cellular data use

Because of our lifestyle, we're almost always on cellular internet. And because cellular data is expensive, we've grown accustomed to being careful with our usage.

I mentioned a while ago that I thought our iPhone was using a lot of data. And, the internet in general has become more geared towards high data use. All you have to do is look at the amount of video and HD graphics that  are used on a lot of websites now and you'll understand. All of that data adds up quickly.

RV storage ideas

One of the problems most RVs have is a lack of storage. With a very small kitchen area, and not many cupboards, where do you put all your kitchen stuff? Especially for someone who likes to cook. Ruth uses our oven a lot as well, so we don't use the oven for storage...we use it for cooking!

And, you don't want stuff rattling around. So Ruth has come up with some great ideas to fix that problem too...

Canadian Tire...the final chapter!

I had put in a formal complaint with Canadian Tire's head office because I felt that I was overcharged on the little blue car's inspection and wheel alignment a month or so ago. Yesterday, I was able to register a partial victory, and put the whole episode behind us.

I received a phone message from the local store yesterday morning. Strange, because I wasn't expecting a call from the store...I was expecting a call from the head office.

Turning up the heat

Hottest day of the year so far. At 8:00am this morning, the temperature is already 26C (79F) and they're calling for a record high 34C (93F) today.

It's gonna be a hot one!

Clothing, footwear, and eyeglasses

The three things that are not always easy to buy online. We've done all three, and we've been reasonably successful at it. And, we're happy enough with our purchases that we feel it's worth it to continue, especially when you're dealing with companies who really want to make you happy with your purchase.

Our most recent experience was with Firmoo Optical.

Hey Mister...wanna buy some hot sauce?

Sometimes there are funny things that happen during our travels that we never get a chance to tell you about at the time. Maybe because other things happened that particular day that took up the entire blog post and so the blog post gets too long with all of the photos and narration.

I looked in our fridge the other day and saw an unmarked bottle of hot sauce. This reminded me of a funny story that I had to tell you.

It's all in the numbers

Before we carry on, I wanted to bring up a very relevant comment from yesterday's discussion that was made late in the evening so you may not have read it. And I bring it up because all of this discussion about travel "safety" is relative.

And this comment gets across exactly what I was trying to. Although those who think we are "innocent travelers who have the blinders on" will probably never get it...

Colombia - More negative than Mexico?

As you may know, we are going to spend 6 weeks touring Colombia this fall.

When we announced this, the first thing my mother says is along the lines of "Can't you pick a friendly country?"

Well, I think one of the reasons that we want to visit Colombia is to dispel myths like this that are still floating around.

Ruth's famous gluten free pizza recipe

We had pizza the other night, and Ruth thought she'd like to share the recipe. This is exactly the same pizza that she makes when we're traveling in the motorhome.  Usually, she'll make it with lots of chicken chunks and peppers. Yummy!

Oh, no!

Ruth did a load of laundry last night, and tossed in her Tilley hat. She's been wearing it quite a lot while she's been working up a sweat out there cleaning up leaves and doing her gardening. They recommend that you wash your hat regularly.

This morning, she went to unload the washing machine, and I heard a shriek.

One month down

...four to go. I notice that I posted the exact same phrase last year on this day!

Well, the first month went just "okay". We're ahead of the game because we didn't have the water leak problems to deal with that we did last year. But we're behind on the leaf cleanup because it's been so windy. Most areas are actually done, but there's still more to do whereas last year at this time we were finished.

May Expenses

Not a bad month, all things considered. More than we'd like, but we had to get the little blue car registered in Saskatchewan, and with the rip off government mandated vehicle inspection it's not cheap to do that. But, we had no choice.

We spent a total of $1,143. (Note: These are all Canadian prices. Subtract 20% to get the approximate American equivalent.)

Go west, young man...

This phrase was first used in 1851 concerning westward expansion. The fertile farmland of the west was considered an ideal place for people willing to work hard for the opportunity to succeed. The phrase came to symbolize the idea that agriculture could solve many of the nation's problems of poverty and unemployment that plagued the big cities of the East.

My grandfather was born in Nova Scotia. When his older brothers became of age, every summer they hopped on a train to Saskatchewan to work the harvest. Eventually, it was my grandfather's turn, and he headed to Saskatchewan as well.

What's it like to visit a Middle Eastern country?

I had a note yesterday from our traveling friends Heather and Volkan. We had met them in March of 2014 in New York City after communicating several times by email. We only met for a quick hour and a half lunch at the time, but I know we'll see them again some day.

Heather and Volkan don't have a blog, but they send out regular emails to their family and friends and they've given us permission to share their last email with you. I think it's really interesting. They're in Paris now, after having spent three weeks in United Arab Emirates. We love visiting different places, and middle eastern countries are certainly different. UAE is very  different, and Heather's email details their visit to this world of indoor ski hills and Lamborghinis. So, without further ado, here is Heather...

Canadian Tire - The saga continues...

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about our unpleasant experience having some work done at Canadian Tire's automotive service department. You can read about it here.

This was all because Saskatchewan has government run auto insurance and requires a vehicle safety inspection before an out of province vehicle can be registered and insured in the province. The little blue car needed front brake pads, so I changed them the other day. But, I had to bring the car back to Canadian Tire for a re-inspection so that they could see that the front brake pads had been changed.

Slept in...

It seems our alarm clock needs a new battery! We have to have the little blue car in for it's re-inspection at 8:00am this morning, so we have to leave in 20 minutes and haven't even had breakfast yet.

So this is all you get for a blog post today. Sorry!

Just an update...

Reservations for our busy season continue to dribble in. Busy season for us essentially lasts from June 27th (the day after the kids get out of school) until August 9th. About 6 weeks.

 I was comparing to last year, and we're definitely taking more reservations for the week before the July long weekend, and the week after the August long weekend. And August long weekend will again be sold out this year, in fact there are only six full hookup sites still available.

We're approved!

I'm disappointed. I expected more response to yesterday's post. I figured that you all were a technologically advanced lot who would have hundreds (or at least tens) of suggestions of exciting apps for our smartphone. But, maybe you all use these fancy devices simply to make phone calls. To those of you who did leave a comment, thank you!

We're often surprised by what topics engage people and which ones do not.

Show us your apps!

Okay, so I'm slowly getting used to our iPhone. One thing I'm learning is that it seems to use an awfully lot of data. It's always wanting to update something or other. Same with iTunes, so I don't let it update on the laptop either. And because we are on a fairly expensive pay per use cellular data supply, I now don't even turn on data for the iPhone here at the park. I wait until we go into town for grocery shopping and let the free Walmart wi-fi download all of the updates. One of the mapping apps we use needed to do a 78 MB update!

If you don't keep track of these things, it adds up really quickly.

It's that time of year

We would have thought that the lack of rain would have translated into a lack of mosquitoes. Or at least we hoped that it would have, but that's not the case. Unfortunately, the little buggers are out in full force!

Maybe we shouldn't have watered the grass so much.

Using your GPS - Hints and Tips

When I read stories from people who say that their GPS sent them this way, or sent them that way, or made them turn their vehicle into a corn field, I have to shake my head. Seriously? It made you turn into a cornfield? It's like they turn on their GPS, and turn off their brain.

Your GPS device is made to be used as a guide, not meant to be followed blindly.

Saskatchewan gets a bum rap

Most people who tour Canada don't put the province of Saskatchewan anywhere on their list of "things I want to see". Even Canadians! I think that's because people envision flat prairie land and they think that all you'll see is fields of crops growing.

Don't get me wrong...you will definitely see fields of crops growing! But there are pockets of beauty in Saskatchewan, such as our very own Cabri Regional Park.

Stuck in the mud

We finally had a beautiful and fairly calm day yesterday. The wind had been really bad for at least a week, and it was sure making our clean up operations difficult. And frustrating! It'll be nice when we're done all of this cleanup and we can concentrate on other projects that are on the agenda.

The forecast for the next week looks gorgeous though. Highs of around 24C (75F) and sunny!

Frozen

We had an abnormally cold night, and woke up to -4C (25F) yesterday morning. Almost a record low for this area. Some of the campers had frozen water lines, and a copper line that runs on the outside of our office building had split. Things warmed up quickly though, and soon that split line was pouring out water. Easy to turn the water off to that line, and I fixed it later in the morning.

And, I had purposely left a few of the water sprinklers on because things have been so dry. Didn't plan on things getting that cold though. No harm done, but the picture is kind of funny...

"Which country is your favorite?"

One of the most common questions we are asked is... "Of the countries you've visited, which one is your favorite?"

And it's a tough question to answer.

First of all, we've only been to somewhere around 23 countries. So considering there are around 195 countries in the world, we really don't have that many to choose from. However, it's still a valid question.

Slightly busier this year

Last year we had a total of 20 RV's for the May log weekend. This year, we have 28. Part of the reason it's busier is that spring is a little early here this year and many of the local farmers have finished seeding operations.

It's certainly not busier because of our long weekend weather. We've never seen it so windy here as it was yesterday afternoon and evening.