Fastest border crossing ever!

Well, we are back in the U.S. of A.

It's always interesting crossing a border. You never quite know what's going to happen. Are they going to inspect your RV? Are they going to pull you in for further questioning? Will they take away any food? Will you answer all their questions properly?

We've crossed a lot of borders... this was one of the easiest ones ever!

Last day in Canada, and a European RV for sale

Well, our time here in Southwest British Columbia is up! We're back on the road as of today, and heading across the border into the state of Washington. We're going to stay with friends in Bellingham for a night. I made our ferry reservation for Sunday after lunch to get across to the Olympic Peninsula from south of Bellingham.

We will meander our way around the Olympic Peninsula, and then head south along the coast and into Oregon.

Busy day visiting

Nice day here in southwestern British Columbia. Mostly clear skies, a little hazy, no wind, and highs of about 18C (65F). Not too shabby at all for mid October.

After breakfast, blog reader Shirley stopped by with her partner Richard. Shirley has been a regular reader of this blog since around the time we won a trip to Namibia.

Happy to be back in the motorhome!

Woke up to a chilly morning yesterday in Hamilton, Ontario. Breezy, overcast, and drizzly. Calling for highs of about 8C (46F). Nice day to be heading back to the west!

First thing we had to do was return the rental car. before 8:30am We drove out to the Avis location near the airport at 8:00am, dropped it off, and covered the bill. Hassle free. Total was $549 CAD ($425 USD). Not bad for a three week rental.

If we were in the motorhome, that would have been a three day drive!

Long drive today as we made our way from Galetta (near Ottawa) to Ruth's sister's place in Hamilton, Ontario.

We decided to take the back route, which we would probably do again despite the fact the it took about two hours longer than if we had taken the main highway. Really nice scenery, and not much traffic.

Getting ready to head back to the motorhome

Well, our time here in Ontario is just about done. Our flight back to British Columbia departs Wednesday afternoon from Hamilton, and we'll be back in the motorhome for Wednesday evening.

But we're still in Ottawa area! So we'll take the day Tuesday to drive back to Ruth's sister's place in Hamilton, and then spend the night there before heading to drop off the rental car and then to the Hamilton airport for our Swoop flight to Abbotsford.

Fun weekend with the boys.

Great weekend away with the boys. Always lots of laughs. We all ate too much, and drank just enough. Sill, managed to not kill too many brain cells. We do find that we're pacing ourselves a bit better as we get older!

We're all the same age, so the conversation tends to revolve around retirement, travel, and our aging parents. And reminiscing about some of the crazy antics we got up to when we were young. In fact, I did a slide show of pictures from a ski trip we all did way back in 1985. Too funny looking back on those days.

Looking forward to the weekend!

Well, today is the start of my annual cottage weekend with the group of guy friends that I've known since I was 16 years old. We all keep in touch throughout the year via email and facebook, but it's pretty rare that any of us get together otherwise. This annual event has become pretty important for all of us as we get older and realize that we're not going to be around forever.

In fact, one of the fellows isn't going to be there because of a family health problem. Not his, fortunately, but it still reminds us to enjoy life to the fullest as we don't know when our own number is going to come up.

Dripping with sweat!

Another warm day yesterday here in the Ottawa area. But it's the humidity that kills you around here. Same thing all summer.

After having spent the last five summers in Saskatchewan where there is very low humidity, we could never live in the Ottawa area again. So much more comfortable in Saskatchewan.

But, the humidity did not stop us from going out and getting some exercise. We drove down to the Morris Island Conservation area where there are some nice walking trails.

We didn't bring any shorts!

And we didn't bring any shorts with us on this trip, because we didn't expect the temperature to get up to 27C (81F). But that's what happened here in Ottawa yesterday, and when things get warm in Ottawa, there is usually fairly high humidity... so it gets muggy too.

But, we're okay with that. Still, it would have been nice to have a pair of shorts on instead of jeans!