Another job done!

When we took a walk around the park with some of the board of directors in the spring, we had been looking at various jobs that needed to be done. One of them was a big old tree stump by the beach that was pretty unsightly.

There had been a storm through here last year and a few trees had toppled over. They had cut them at the base, and most of them were okay to be left that way, but this one stump needed to go. Problem was, it was pretty big!

Finally, some peace and quiet.

We had another busy weekend here at the campground, but it went fairly smoothly. It wasn't sold out, but there weren't many empty sites.

Come yesterday evening though, the place feels like a ghost town.

The Top 100 Canadian Travel Blogs

There are literally thousands of travel blogs to be found on the internet. And there are lists of what are considered to be the top 100 travel blogs in the world, but there has never been a list that specifies the top 100 Canadian travel blogs.

Until this morning. And the most exciting part? We're on the list!

A facebook milestone for us!

We passed the 1,000 "likes" mark on our facebook page yesterday!

We know that many of you don't "do" facebook, which is why it's taken us a while to reach this particular milestone. This seems to be a generational thing and the number of facebook users declines dramatically over the age of 45. And most of our readers are between the ages of 45-65, so it's definitely a factor for our page.

What's wrong with this map?

Came across something interesting this morning, and it's going to be your geography lesson of the day! And, when we tell people we're going to Africa this winter, we really need to be more specific. Africa is a huge place...

Could be a busy weekend

Because we're actually having a stretch of summer weather! After nearing record cold overnight temperatures last week at 4C (39F), we've gradually warmed up every day and we hit 32C (90F) for yesterday's high.

And it's supposed to be warm again today. Quite a few campers showed up yesterday, and we're being told the lower campground is sold out for the weekend. We'll see. There always seems to be a cancellation or screw up that leaves us with a couple of empty sites and we haven't seen it totally full yet.

Help us choose the best hat!

We've always been "baseball cap" kind of people. In fact, I don't think we've ever owned a hat other than a baseball hat. Or a winter hat. We're from Canada, so of course we've owned a winter hat! But this coming winter, we're headed for a part of the world that is going to be sunny and very hot.

So when Tilley Endurables agreed to sponsor our African trip by supplying us with two of what are arguably the best hats in the world, we were pretty excited and looking forward to making our selection.

But there are too many to choose from. We've narrowed it down a bit, but we need your help!

Ruth's best gluten free bread recipe

A little off topic for a travel blog, but because many of you know that Ruth eats gluten free we're often asked about eating that special diet. When we're not traveling, Ruth makes a lot of food from scratch and bread is one of the more popular items.

Gluten free bread is often heavy, and falls apart easily. This is by far the best bread recipe she's found, and I like it too!

What to do with the little blue car?

With our travels from September 2013 to April 2014 basically planned out, one thing that we're not sure about is the future of the little blue car.

It's okay for this winter...we have a prepaid season of storage already arranged.

Another weekend gone

Seems we're back at the point where we're only going to be busy on the weekends here at the campground. Quite a few empty spots this morning as the weekend campers went home yesterday. We had a family reunion group up in the overflow area, but they were pretty easy to look after as they policed themselves and all we had to do was to drop firewood in two piles and empty their trash cans.

Trying different food

We've become pretty open minded when it comes to food and traveling. There are definitely some different "delicacies" around the world, and even though some of them sound a bit strange to us North Americans, the locals in these other countries don't think twice before popping it in their mouths.

So we're anticipating trying some different foods while we're in Africa. What's popular over there?

We're going to Cancun, Mexico!

Not until March of next year, but the flight is booked.

We knew that our return flight from Africa arrives in New York City on March 8. And somehow, we wanted to make our way back to our motorhome which is parked near Guadalajara, Mexico.

The strange things you see...

Yesterday was my day to head in to the thriving metropolis of Prince Albert (pop 35,000). Ruth goes in to do the grocery shopping on Wednesdays, and I go in on Thursdays. I usually go if there's anything that needs to be picked up for the campground and to fill the camp truck up with fuel. Plus, it simply gets me out of here for a few hours!

Quiet hours 11:00pm to 7:00am

What's so difficult to understand? Seems pretty self explanatory, yet this simple campground rule is the one biggest thorn in my side as a campground manager.

More Namibia trip planning

Exactly three months from today we will be in New York City boarding a plane for an epic four month journey to Namibia and Southern Africa. Lots of internet research going on during our (very little!) spare time here at the cabin!

Here's our Harvest Hosts contest winners!

Our contest last week was a resounding success. Well, at least for three of you it was! A membership to Harvest Hosts is a kind of a specialized prize so we thought that maybe not too many people would enter.

But we have lots of RV'ing readers, and 85 of you entered the contest. So, three of you have won a 1 year membership and we hope that the other 82 of you will take the time to actually buy one. For $40 a year it's money well spent and you'll enjoy the peace and solitude that comes with an overnight stay at a winery, farm, or orchard.

So, without further ado, here's our lucky winners...!

Campground fireworks show

Despite our water problems which continue this morning, it was a pretty successful weekend. The campground was pretty much full although we still had a few empty single night spaces, and even some for two nights.

But the weather was perfect. Sunny and slightly warmer than forecast...highs of around 25C (77F) so we couldn't have asked for better in that department.

And we topped it all off with a fireworks show last night!

No water!

Yesterday was our annual camp beach volleyball tournament. This is a well attended event and the players are pretty serious about it! We had 16 teams entered and the two volleyball courts on the beach were going all day. Also had a silent auction with the proceeds going to the campground, and a beach BBQ set up with steak burgers.

So with all of that going on, and a pretty much full campground...there were a LOT of people!

Wow...busy Friday!

But before we get to that, thanks to all of you medically inclined readers out there who expressed concern for my apparent wasp sting allergy. It turns out that here in Canada I can buy an EpiPen or similar device without a prescription...so no doctor visit is necessary.

But apparently I'm going to have to shop around! Initial research tells me that these devices sell for around $120.00! And there's no generic version because the patent doesn't expire until 2025. Going to have to explore this further, but yes...I will make a point of getting something like this.

Stung by a wasp, and dog sitting!

Kind of a messed up day yesterday.

Started off down at the lower wood shed getting some campers a load of firewood. All of a sudden I heard a loud buzzing near my right ear and then that severe burning pain when you know you've been bitten by a wasp. I never did see whatever it was that bit me.

July Expenses

But before we get to that...it's now August. That means we can say "next month we're outta here!"

Not that we're counting the days or anything. Well, actually we are!

Perfect weather!

For working or sleeping.

But not so perfect for the campground itself. It's been unseasonably chilly the last week or two, and even though it's still been busy enough on the weekends for campers, the day use area fees are way down. Nobody wants to go to the beach when the daytime high is only 17C (63F)!

Is Minneapolis worth a visit?

Has anybody been to Minneapolis, Minnesota?

I was looking at our upcoming drive (less than two months away!) from here to Ottawa in September and it wouldn't be that much of a detour to get to the city of Minneapolis. Has anybody been there who would like to offer their opinion?

Another giveaway!

That's right, we're hosting yet another giveaway, and it starts today!

This one will certainly appeal to all of our North American readers who own an RV...fifth wheel, motorhome, travel trailer or truck camper.

We've partnered with the good folks over at Harvest Hosts to give away three of their annual memberships valued at $40 each.

Busy day!

It's not quite over yet, but it seems this was a pretty smooth weekend. It was busy enough, but again not really warm enough to bring out the day use people, and it was windy yesterday which kept some people off the lake.

But there were still a few odd calls!

No cruise this year.

We had been looking at the options of how to get from Halifax to New York in early November in time for our November 6 departure to Windhoek, Namibia.

Thought it might be interesting to hop on one of those fall New England cruises that is heading south, and there was one that stopped in Halifax and did a 3 day trip before stopping again in New York.

But it is not meant to be.

Finally!

I've been waiting over a month for a load of gravel to arrive.

Because of our park status, we can get some fill materials delivered by the "rural municipality" and it's a lot cheaper than calling a private hauler to bring us some road repair material.

Food with Kevin and Ruth?

I think we might have to turn this into a blog about food.

We post something here every day, and at least once a day to our Travel with Kevin and Ruth facebook account. And of course both accounts have all kinds of statistics as to who reads what and how many times. And of course there are publicly visible statistics such as comments and facebook "likes".

We are often surprised by what becomes a popular post and what doesn't.

It's not only about the scenery.

Friends and family are our biggest problem with world wide travel. And it's something we're noticing more, the more we do it. Because as time goes on you meet more friends...and you have more family!

And you can't be everywhere at once.

Iceland on a Budget

I've been meaning to do this post for a while. We often talk about other countries being "cheap" or "expensive" when compared to our home country of Canada. But just because a country is comparatively expensive, doesn't mean that we don't want to visit it! So we wanted to explain how to visit a country and see everything it has to offer, and do it at the best possible price. We only have one real world experience at this.

Iceland.

Well that weekend was a bust...

We had been all prepared for a hectic weekend. The registration staff here at the campground had told us "we're all sold out" and "we're totally full".

But once again, it wasn't exactly a hot and sunny middle of July weekend.

5 ways to improve your photography

I'm not a professional photographer by any means, but I do understand how photography works and how lighting and composition affects the final outcome. Some photos that I see on other blogs and on facebook could be so much better by following a few simple steps.

A pretty good week.

After our not so great last weekend, we ended up having a pretty good week. Surprisingly not that busy here at the campground, and because the weather wasn't ideal, the day use area didn't get that much use either.

All of that makes both of our jobs a little easier. Ruth has not so many wet and sandy people wandering into her nice clean washrooms!

Border Crossing Stories

International travel is great, but crossing the actual physical border can be a nightmare. There's almost always some kind of ridiculous story to tell after the fact. Well we've crossed a lot of borders, and here are some of the better stories...

How to use Google Flight Search

Those of us who keep track of the latest travel news have known about Google Flight Search for quite a while. But many of you have not, and I'm sure you'll find this a fascinating tool, if only for dreaming about where you can fly, and how much it will cost!

Okay, first...some background...and then we'll get to the fun. Because we really do find it fun!

More to look forward to!

I (Kevin) have a group of friends that I've known since I was 16 years old. The bunch of us worked at a summer camp together in 1978 and 1979. There's actually eight of us who keep in touch on a regular basis. And over the past 35 years or so we've been through girlfriends and marriages (some more than one!) and children and everything in between.

Namibia change of plans!

We know our trip is still a few months off, but we want to keep you all updated as to our plans. It turns out that the little 4 wheel drive motorhome we had wanted is already sold out for the dates we wanted it!

So, good thing we are flexible.

That was a tough weekend.

Mondays through Fridays are not bad around here, but on a nice sunny weekend things get pretty hectic.

Especially when you have to deal with drunks, belligerent sober people, and people who don't seem to know how to use either a toilet or a trash can. Ah, the end of the weekend was a very welcome thing indeed!

There are moose in Saskatchewan!

We never used to think that there would be any moose in Saskatchewan, and we remembered being surprised when we found out that there is! We haven't seen any here in the area near the campground, although we are told there is the occasional sighting.

This post is for Judy at http://travels-with-emma.blogspot.ca/2013/07/i-wanted-to-see-moose.html because she drove a long way in the hopes of seeing a moose yesterday, but they remained hidden!

So, here are our travel experiences that include moose sightings!

Campground complaints

Fortunately, we haven't received too many complaints. Thinking about it from a camper or customer point of view, I'm trying to think if there is anything that would be a common complaint about a campground.

Most complaints I can think of would be something general about the campground itself. Like maybe the sites are too close together. Or a common one we hear and read about regarding "RV Park" type campgrounds is the lack of decent internet.

So I went to our monthly Board meeting last night to bring up any issues and discuss any problems. And, I heard about three complaints.

A little more thrilled...

When I mentioned yesterday that I wasn't "thrilled" with our new camera, it's mostly because I hadn't really tried it out yet!

So yesterday when I went in to town, I brought the camera with me for any possible photo opportunities.

New camera!

Ruth went in to town to go grocery shopping and picked us up a new camera at the same time.

I had seen it on sale at Future Shop (owned by Best Buy) and it was reservable in store so I had made a reservation online.

I posted a couple of weeks ago that I was looking at either the Canon SX50 or the Nikon P510.

Namibia trip update!

Okay, so we think we've got things worked out with our tour operator in Namibia.

As you know, our prize had included a one week ground tour taking in the major sites. They were putting us up in some pretty fancy places and with some nice meals included. But we really wanted to do some camping and RV'ing in Africa! So we asked if they would switch things up for us and they agreed!

So here's what we've got worked out...

Holiday Resort in the U.K.

Here's a fun opportunity for summer holiday time in the U.K.

Butlin's Resorts operates three family holiday camps located on some of England's most beautiful beaches.

What's it like being a campground manager?

Boy, we're half way through already. Approximately.

Here we are at July 9th. Our contract here runs from May 1 to September 30, so while that's a full five months, they said that it's entirely possible that we'll be out of here sometime between September 15th and the 30th depending on what the weather is doing at the time.

Results

Okay, two things to share with you today. First up, the winners from our magazine contest last week!

We are so happy that many of our regular readers were able to win! And you picked some great magazine subscriptions!

Here's the list of winners ...

Have you been on a cruise?

It's a little strange that we have never been on a cruise ship together.

When we were younger and had a normal working lifestyle, we used to do one week "all inclusive" getaways south to places like Cuba and Dominican Republic. One of the reasons was that we could get a good deal. Airfare, meals, booze...all included in the one price you pay, and it was so easy.

What do you think about ads?

We've received at least four offers for advertising here in the last couple of weeks. Five maybe.

Our popularity is growing and the internet shares this popularity with whoever wants to know via websites such as Alexa.com. So as we become more popular, advertisers start to notice.

Friday, already!

Wow, the weeks are just flying by. That's what happens when you're busy I guess!

We never did really tell you about our Canada day long weekend. Surprisingly, the campground was not sold out. But it was certainly busy!

This Namibia trip keeps getting better!

But before we get to that, there's something I've been meaning to post about for a while.

Our regular readers know that we've spent a lot of time at Hacienda Contreras RV Park near the town of Valle de Juarez in Jalisco, Mexico.

Well things are changing down there. And although it's not really better for the people who love to go there, it's better for the people who owned the park, our friends Barb and Sal. And that's what counts.