A SNOWY MORNING START, SLIPPERY ROADS, AND A FEW BRIEF BURSTS OF ENCOURAGING SUNSHINE

WE STARTED OUR DAY OFF WITH A COLD WET SNOWY MORNING

When out with Pheebs at 4:45 a.m. the weather did not look very promising.  An hour later looking up through one of our skylights Kelly said', ‘I think it’s snowing.’  Lifting the window blind beside my chair I was able to confirm she was correct.  With temperatures hovering at 32 degrees it was 7:30 when we rolled out of the Home Depot parking lot and up onto I-69 heading south.  Twenty minutes later we blew through Fort Wayne Indiana in a cloud of wet snow.  Highways were wet and salted but there were slippery spots.

ONE HAD TO BE ON TOP OF THEIR DRIVING GAME THIS MORNING

Snow flurries picked up north of Indianapolis and about 9:45 we began merging with big city traffic but luckily it was Saturday morning and light.  Indianapolis generally chews us up and spits us out and this morning was no exception when we missed a westbound ramp and ended up touring past Indy’s downtown skyscrapers.  That’s the second time this has happend to us and despite some choice words coming from the driver’s seat we made it through Okay and headed west out of town on I-70.

MAKING OUR WAY WEST THROUGH THE CENTER OF INDIANAPOLIS THIS MORNING

First rest area we came to we barreled in and shut things down for awhile to give our nerves a break.  Kelly rustled up a couple of tuna salad sandwiches and brewed up some coffee.  Still snowing but not as heavy and checking the weather map we could where we would soon be driving out of the winter weather mess we had been in all morning.  No problem with visibility so after a bit we were on our way again.  Traffic was still on the light side and the absence of many trucks was a welcome break compared to the norm.  Our destination today was Effingham Illinois and south a few miles to a little place called Watson.

STOPPED AT A REST AREA WEST OF INDIANAPOLIS AND I SURE  AM HOPING WE HAVE SEEN THE LAST OF THE SNOW

KELLY THROWS A STICK FOR PHEEBS

KEEPING IT BETWEEN THE YELLOW LINES COMING OUT OF THE REST AREA

I wrote the above 3 paragraphs at the Rest Stop we were at.  Minutes after we left there the snow stopped and another 5 miles down the road I was surprised to see the pavement totally dry.  Skies brightened up and we actually had the first of a couple dozen sun splashes all the way to just south of Effingham where this post is coming to you from tonight.

‘HOLY SMOKES’ SNOW FLURRIES HAVE ENDED AND WE ARE ACTUALLY ON DRY PAVEMENT AGAIN

SKIES ARE BRIGHTENING AHEAD

‘OMG’ LOOK CLOSELY ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE OF THE CAR AHEAD….THERE IS A SLIGHT SHADOW THERE AND WE ALL KNOW WHAT CASTS SHADOWS IN THE DAYTIME DON’T WE:))))))

OH NOW NICE TO BRIEFLY FEEL THE WARMTH OF SUNSHINE COMING THROUGH MY DRIVERS SIDE WINDOW

About 9 miles south of Effingham on highway 45 there is place we first overnighted at on our way back to Canada in late winter of 2007.  It’s called the Percival Airpark and it’s just south of Watson Illinois.  There is a small RV Park here as well as a Cafe only open certain hours and days.  Twenty-five dollars a night with full service.  Gravel parking with surrounding grass.  Reason we stopped here was to load up our fresh water tank and fire up the rig’s water heater.  In other words, to de-winterize the Motorhome.  We sure missed our ‘hot water’ needs for a couple days.  Can’t say our de-winterization went smoothly but never mind, we’re good to go now.  This was the first time we had to deal with this winterization stuff since February of 2007.

HERE’S OUR CHIEF PROBLEM SOLVER CHECKING OUT THE PESKY HOT WATER HEATER

Aside from some very messy winter driving today, our Indianapolis ker-fuffle, and our de-wintering fiasco I’d say we did Okay with everything considered but there was a time when we couldn’t get our water heater going I was about ready to charter one of the airplanes here to fly me home whereupon I would have had my friend Richard strap me into my recliner and not let me out of the house ever again. 

I DON’T THINK WE’RE IN CANADA ANYMORE TOTO

At the time of posting this tonight temperatures are dropping but no snow is predicted and roadways should be bare and dry tomorrow.  And visibility is good with a high light cloud cover.  Weather map shows no storms ahead of us for Sunday so basically we’ll simply be trying to stay ahead of the massive cold front coming down this way from the frozen North.  With a bit of, or a whole lot of luck we just might bounce off the west side of Memphis Tennessee and ricochet off in the direction of Little Rock Arkansas.  Well that may or may not happen so we’ll just have to wait and see how it goes.  And thanks to all the folks for their well wishes on our travels.  We have crossed the first of several time zones so my posts will be appearing at different times now and I noticed Google Analytics has determined ‘Travel With The Bayfield Bunch has turned over the 6 million page views mark.  Now how the heck did that happen anyway…………………………….

OUR SPOT TONIGHT AT THE ‘PERCIVAL SPRINGS AIR PARK’ AND YES THAT IS ACTUALLY THE SUN YOU SEE TOP LEFT

GROANER’S CORNER:((  An old blind cowboy wanders into an all-girl biker bar by mistake…He finds his way to a bar stool and orders a shot of Jack Daniels.  After sitting there for a while, he yells to the bartender, ‘Hey, you wanna hear a blonde joke?’  The bar immediately falls absolutely silent.  In a very deep, husky voice, the woman next to him says, ‘Before you tell that joke, Cowboy, I think it is only fair, given that you are blind, that you should know five things:         1. The bartender is a blonde girl with a baseball bat.                                                                             2. The bouncer is a blonde girl with a ‘Billy-Club’. 3. I’m a 6-foot tall, 175-pound blonde woman with a black belt in karate.                                               4. The woman sitting next to me is blonde and a professional weight lifter.                                        5. The lady to your right is blonde and a professional wrestler.  ‘Now, think about it seriously, Cowboy…. Do you still wanna tell that blonde joke?’                                                           The blind cowboy thinks for a second, shakes his head and mutters, ‘No…not if I’m gonna have to explain it five times.’

=================================

BAYFIELD ONTARIO TO AUBURN INDIANA…..THE WEATHER ADVISORY WAS ‘MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING’ AND WE HAD US A GOOD DRIVING DAY

It was 5 a.m. when I apprehensively parted the living room curtains to have myself a look outside.  Everything again was covered in a layer of new fallen snow.  Earlier I had heard the big snow blower go by so knew there had to be a substantial amount of snow to bring the snow blower driver out.  By 6 I was outside with my snow shovel clearing a path to the Motorhome.  We only had about 2 inches on the ground and with no wind whipping it around I figured Thursday’s weather advisory was ‘Much Ado About Nothing’.  By 8 o’clock we had everything loaded up and off we went.

‘COME ON PHEEBS WE’RE HEADED FOR CALIFORNIA’

‘BUT WILL THEY HAVE DOGGY TREATS IN CALIFORNIA MOM’??

‘WELL OKAY AS LONG AS THEY HAVE LOTS OF EXTRA DOGGY TREATS FOR ME’

IT WAS 8 A.M. WHEN WE HAD THE BIG WHEELS ROLLING

Turns out the worst of today’s snow was right at home in our driveway with roads only being partially snow covered as far as Grand Bend.  By the time we stopped in Forest Ontario for coffee’s to go roads were bare and drive with only skiffs of snow in the fields.

STOPPED AT TIM HORTONS FOR A COUPLE COFFES TO GO PLUS A SMALL BOX OF TIMBITS 

PHEEBS ESCORTS MISS KELLY BACK TO THE RIG

With Christmas being so close I figured we’d be in for a long line-up at the border so imagine our surprise when there were only two cars ahead of us.  We skipped across that international line in about 2 minutes and the day just simply got better from there.  Could hardly believe the absence of traffic on I-69.  There were times when I looked in my rear view mirror and there wasn’t a single vehicle to be seen.  Stopped at  a Rest Area and there were only 2 semis there.  Truckers must be home for Christmas.  The interstate remained bare and dry.  No wind, no rain, no snow, and cloudy skies even brightened a few times.

HEADING OVER THE BLUEWATER BRIDGE FROM CANADA TO THE UNITED STATES ABOUT 9:45 THIS MORNING

AND THIS IS WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE WHEN YOU ARE NEXT IN LINE AT THE BORDER…..THE PERSON SITTING IN THAT BOOTH UP THERE HAS TOTAL CONTROL OVER WHERE YOU ARE GOING TO SPEND YOUR WINTER……BEFORE ONE GETS TO THAT BOOTH ONE RUNS A GAMUT OF ELECTRONIC SURVEILLENCE EQUIPMENT…..NO WONDER WE ALWAYS GET BUTTERFLYS IN OUR STOMACHS AND YES THAT CORRIDOR AHEAD IS EVEN NARROWER THAN IT LOOKS

DON’T THINK I’VE EVER SEEN A REST AREA WITH SO FEW TRUCKS IN IT

STOPPED SOMEWHERE IN MICHIGAN FOR A LEG STRETCH

We haven’t traveled this route for quite awhile so it was nice seeing old familiar names of towns going by.  We both tired early so decided to call it a day around 2 p.m. which is almost unheard of for us.   We knew there to be a couple Cracker Barrel locations ahead with one being in Auburn Indiana and the other in Fort Wayne.  We figured the Auburn location would be less busy so that is as far as we went today.  Cracker Barrels are always located very close to the Interstates and this one was so easy to reach we were almost in the door before we knew we were in Auburn.  We like doing over-nighters at those crackling of barrel places because they are usually quiet, have grassy areas for Pheebs, and we like their food.  Now having said all that, we are not exactly at Cracker Barrel for the night…..we are at Home Depot just a couple stones throw away from Cracker Barrel.  We could not find an acceptable flat spot in the CB parking lot so slipped over to Home Depot and set up camp in their flatter lot.  From there about 3:30 this afternoon we walked back over to Cracker Barrel for supper.  Kelly had their Fish-in-Chips special while I had an open face roast beef sandwich with mashed potatoes swimming in gravy.  We sure do love our Cracker Barrels and the only times we ever go there is when we are on the road traveling.  No CB’s in Canada.

THIS IS HOME FOR THE NIGHT

BET Y’ALL KNOW WHERE KELLY’S HEADING FOR

YEP IT’S CRACKER BARREL ALRIGHT

MADE SURE TO GET THERE BEFORE THE AFTERNOON RUSH AND THIS IS HOW WE LOVE TO SEE OUR CRACKER BARRELS….., EMPTY AND FREE OF NOISE

The Motorhome ran flawlessly today and it was nice being back on the road again.  As usually happens we left all of our angst of these past couple months behind and with each mile traveled our life and times and concerns in Bayfield slipped further and further away.  It has always been that way for us and I knew once we transitioned into the Motorhome we would pick up right where we had left off 10 months ago and feel much better for doing so.  Sometimes the hardest part of getting out for a walk is getting off the couch.  Oh, and tomorrow we may have us a time zone change so my published post will possibly occur in a different time frame depending on where you are.

KELLY FOUND IT A LITTLE CHILLY SO HERE SHE DOES UP HER COAT BEFORE WE WALK BACK TO THE RIG OVER AT HOME DEPOT

GROANER’S CORNER:((  As we were putting out cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve, I accidentally dropped one.  'No problem,' I said, picking it up and dusting it off before placing it back on the plate. 'You can’t do that,' argued my four-year-old.
'Don’t worry. Santa will never know.' He shot me a look. 'So he knows if I’ve been bad or good, but he doesn’t know the cookie fell on the floor?'

=============================

WE WILL HAVE THE BIG WHEELS ROLLING IN THE MORNING DESPITE SOME SNOW IN THE FORECAST

WE’RE AT THE STARTING GATE:))

We were up and on the road to London by 8 this morning.  Highways were bare and dry and we even had us a smattering of sunshine along the way.  Dropped Kelly off at University Hospital for her Cat Scan about 9:20 and headed on over to Henry’s Camera Store and waited for them to open.  Luckily my Sony camera problem was not the camera at all but the battery charger.  Walked out of Henry’s with a new battery charger for my Sony Exmore.  Pheebs and I buzzed around Masonville Mall until my Smart Phone rang.  Kelly was ready to be picked up so over to the hospital we went and scooped her, grabbed a coffee to go at McDonalds and pointed the Jeep’s nose for home.

HOOKED UP AND READY TO RUMBLE IN THE MORNING:))

Needless to say it was a busy afternoon for both of us as we scurried about with all the last minute things needing done.  Doesn’t seem to matter how organized one is there is always that last day spasm of mild panic.  Moved the Motorhome out about mid afternoon and hooked the Jeep up.  It had been about 9 months since I had last hooked it up so I had to go slow and pay very close attention to what I was doing.  After checking things over about 32 dozen times I fired up the Motorhome and took the Jeep for a spin around a couple country blocks.  Jeep never fell off so guess all those double checks of mine paid off.

Weather at this end is definitely not looking good for us in the morning but we’re not about to throw the towel in at this point.   The stormy cold front coming in is only going to intensify here in these parts and we’re not going to sit around waiting for a picture perfect weather day.   Below is the weather statement for our area and as I type this tonight snow is already falling.   

HERE’S PHEEBS OPENING ONE OF HER CHRISTMAS PRESENTS TONIGHT

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT:  Issued at 08:54 Thursday 21 December 2017.  5 to 10 cm of snow tonight into Friday.  Snow is forecast to begin falling late this afternoon with general snowfall amounts of 5 to 10 cm by the time the snow begins to taper off Friday morning into afternoon. The snow will also become mixed with freezing drizzle Friday morning and afternoon.  Motorists should be prepared for reductions to visibility and poor winter travelling conditions this evening into Friday. The Friday morning commute could be particularly slow and messy.

It was sad today when we read one of our fellow RV Bloggers has passed away.  We all knew her by the name of Sassy and she rode a Harley Davidson.  In fact she drove a big class A Motorhome Toy Hauler as well and in the back of that Hauler is where she kept her Harley.  We first met Sassy one day on a highway north of Yuma Arizona back in early February of 2014 and it was a fast 65 mph meeting too.  Probably one of the greatest chance encounters I’ve ever experienced.  You can read about what happened that day in my post entitled, A 65 MPH Encounter.  The story begins about two thirds of the way through my post.  We met Sassy and her dog Bennie a couple times after that.  She was quite a Gal and anyone who ever met Sassy will always remember her and if you hear some thunder overhead from time to time, not to worry cause it’s just Sassy and her Royal Blue Harley Davidson kicking up some of that there good old cloud dust high overhead……………….

Soon as we cross the border at Sarnia-Port Huron our Verizon internet service kicks in and quite often there are start-up bugs so in case you don’t see a post from us Friday night it’s probably due to some of the usual Verizon glitches in getting on line.  Or we could be stuck in a snow bank south of Grand Bend somewhere or maybe even north of Indianapolis tucked in behind a Cracker Barrel till early Spring.

GROANER’S CORNER:((  The Smith family was very proud that their ancestors had come over on the Mayflower, so they hired best-selling author Frank McCourt to look up and write a book about their family history.  Horror of horrors! They discovered that great uncle Fess had died in the electric chair for committing a murder. They were devastated. They didn't want that in the book, but they didn't want to leave him out either. McCourt said, "Leave it to me."  When the book came out, the section about Uncle Fess read like this:  "He was a man who occupied a great seat. He was attached to his position very firmly. His death came as a great shock."

================================

WE’RE STILL PLUGGING AWAY AT GETTING THE RIG LOADED

With temperatures dropping below freezing overnight Tuesday’s rain turned into Wednesday's ice and walking was treacherous.  Carrying things to the Motorhome had to be done slowly with great care.  Because of the damp air it felt very cold and of course it was totally cloudy all day again.
I DIDN’T GET AROUND TO TAKING ANY PHOTOS TODAY

Richard's turn to drive this morning so at 8:30 we headed out and grabbed a couple coffees, a T-Biscuit and a carrot muffin at Tim Hortons in Clinton.  With the necessities onboard we were off out into the countryside.  Noticed most of the snow in farmer's fields had melted and if the sun had been out it would have looked and felt like a nice early Spring day.  We were back home by 11:15 and Richard reminded me it would only be about 10 weeks before we would be home and it would be coffee time again.  Yay team:)) 
----------------------------------------------
Kelly worked away at getting things organized in the rig this morning.  It was so cold in there she had to turn the furnace on.  I kicked on the generator for awhile this afternoon and we plugged away at things.  I think there is always a lot more work for the female side of the team with all the cooking prep and food organization, etc.  Kelly is an expert at that sort of thing and I’m sure raising 5 children years ago had a lot to do with that.  With all the driving ahead of us my busy days will ramp up beginning Friday morning when I pull the Motorhome’s gearshift into ‘DRIVE’ and we get the big wheels rolling on down the road.
------------------------------------------------
First thing in the morning we head for London's University Hospital an hour and a half drive south of us where Kelly will have her Cat Scan.  Pheebs and I have a few errands to run with one of them being Henry's Camera Store where I have a few questions about one of my cameras.  Soon as my 'smart phone' rings I will head back to University Hospital to pick her up.  Probably grab a quick McDonalds coffee to go and make fast tracks for home where we will have the pedal to the medal for the rest of the day with all the last minute things to be done that can only be done on that last day of loading.  One fly in the ointment however may be our weather here overnight Thursday.  Weather people are advising of a snow front rolling into our area possibly starting Thursday afternoon.   We may not get out of here until Saturday depending how bad that weather front coming in is.  We’ll make that decision Thursday night or Friday morning I guess.
-------------------------------------------
And thanks to fellow RV traveler, friend, and author, Donna Blanchard McNicol for selecting one of my photos for a Christmas greeting on her Facebook site.  It’s the one you see at the top of this post and it was Donna who added the ‘Merry Christmas’ wish.  We first met Donna and Stu in Arizona’s Kofa Mountains one day in February 2010 when a bunch of us had ‘A Get Together In The Desert’.  Donna (D.B. McNicol) is the author of, ‘The Klondike Mysteries’ as well as the ‘Lia Rules Series’.  Thanks for the offer of a place to stay if we should ever get ourselves over your way Donna and thanks for all those Facebook ‘Likes’ over the years:))

STU AND DONNA  (SORRY ABOUT THE POOR QUALITY PHOTO BUT I COULDN’T FIND THE ORIGINAL)
GROANER'S CORNER:((   A kindergarten teacher handed out a coloring page to her class.  On it was a picture of a duck holding an umbrella.  The teacher told her class to color the duck in yellow and the umbrella green, however, Bobby, the class rebel, colored the duck in a bright fire truck red.  After seeing this, the teacher asked him, "Bobby, how many times have you seen a red duck?"  Young Bobby replied with "The same number of times I've seen a duck holding an umbrella."
------------------------------------------
- “Circus dogs fly through the air with the greatest of fleas.”
- “Did you hear about the lost sausage? It was the missing link.”
- Women are the quickest to learn the three R’s. This is R’s, that’s R’s, everything’s R’s.
===========================

FOR PHEEBS AND I IT WAS OUR LAST COUNTRY ROAD JEEP RIDE OF THE YEAR

PHEEBE WAITS PATIENTLY BY THE WINDOW FOR KELLY’S RETURN FROM GODERICH TODAY

Out with Pheebs at 5:30 this morning it was encouraging to see a few faint stars in the sky, but only a few.  At 9:18 about 4 hours later while out in the Jeep we caught us a brief 20 seconds of full sunlight before it disappeared for the rest of the day behind this Winter’s seemingly ever present cloud cover.  But ‘Wowsers’ was that 20 seconds ever wonderful.  Actually, skies did somewhat clear a bit later in the afternoon and how nice to see some sunshine in our front yard again.

WITH THE AMOUNT OF SNOW WE HAD I WAS REALLY SURPRISED AT HOW MUCH OF IT HAS ALREADY MELTED OFF FARMER’S FIELDS

It again was a short snort of a Jeep ride for Pheebs and I because I knew there was a ton of stuff to do at home before we roll out Friday morning.  Kelly headed off to Goderich with her own list of last minute errands and things to pick up.  We are so fortunate right now to have these milder 38 degree temperatures upon us.  Snow is melting fast and I’m happy I didn’t have to shovel pathways to the Motorhome or dig out behind it yesterday or today.  And the last remaining snow on the rig’s roof has now melted off.  Yes indeed what a lucky break this short milder weather break has been for us.  We’re keeping a close watch on weather patterns for Indiana, eastern Missouri, Arkansas, and Texas.  We will be traveling our old tried and true route again as far as Texarkana Texas and it will depend on weather ahead as to where we go from there.  I see the likelihood of rain ahead of us and that’s Okay because it will be good for getting the salt off underneath the rig.

OUR DRIVEWAY IS ALMOST CLEAR

A few readers have suggested we go to Florida to visit Aunt Jean.  In my December 6th post I wrote the following, 'Sometime in mid to late February we plan to head East to see Aunt Jean in Florida and be back in Bayfield sometime around March 20th’.

AT LEAST THESE FELLAS WORKING ON A POLE BARN HAD A REASONABLE WEATHER DAY

It was one year ago today we left our Congress Arizona house for the last time.   My post for that day was entitled, 'Yahouie Louie' It's Official, Our House Is Sold And We Are Already 92 Miles Away:))  Two years ago today we had just landed in Borrego Springs California.

IT’S GETTING TO BE A WELL WORN PATH TO THE MOTORHOME

Friends and fellow Canadian RV Travelers Gord and Cathie have dusted off an old blog, re-vamped it and have decided to begin posting about their past and future RV travels.  They have a Mercedes Benz Sprinter Cargo Van and Gord plans to write about how they acquired it and how he has decked it out himself for traveling.  You can find these fine folks at Travels with Gord and Cathie and they are on our sidebar as well.

ALTHOUGH A BIT SLIPPERY AT LEAST WE DIDN’T HAVE SNOW PILED UP ALONGSIDE THE COACH

I didn’t realize until later this afternoon that this morning’s Jeep ride with Pheebs was the last one of the year.  Thought it would have been Friday but had forgot we moved our departure day ahead because of possible bad weather.  Those daily Jeep rides with Pheebs has become the number one thing I look forward to about coming home in March.  Richard and I moved our semi-monthly Thursday morning country coffee tour up to Wednesday so we’ll be hitting the road in the morning getting each other’s head straightened out until we meet again next Spring.

THAT’S QUITE THE ELEGANT WHITE CHRISTMAS HAT THIS LITTLE MOURNING DOVE IS WEARING

It’s funny as I sit here at my computer tonight I find my mind wandering to all the things I will miss once we leave in a few days.  Our cozy sunroom about tops the list of course.  Gonna miss my comfy recliner in the living room and our big walk-in shower plus laundry facilities and the list goes on and on and on.  But here’s the kicker…….I am already missing these things yet I know from years of Snow Bird traveling that the minute we walk out of the house Friday morning and pile into the Motorhome I will hardly give any of the pre-mentioned things another thought until we walk back in the door next March and I think to myself…….’that’s it I’m never leaving home again!!’  But of course for the past dozen years we do leave home again.  But not before missing everything before we leave of course.  Happens that way with me every year.

THIS IS WHAT CHRISTMAS LOOKED LIKE AT OUR CONGRESS ARIZONA HOUSE IN 2012

AND NO THAT ISN’T SNOW ON THE ROOF, WE JUST HAPPENED TO HAVE A WHITE ROOF

I know I posted some of the following Christmas photos a few weeks ago but can’t remember which ones so I’ve decided to post them all because I have no idea where we will be Christmas Eve or Christmas day.  These are our Christmas photos for 2017…………………..

GROANER’S CORNER:(( An elderly gent was invited to his old friends' home for dinner one evening. He was impressed by the way his buddy preceded every request to his with endearing terms-Honey, My Love, Darling, Sweetheart, Pumpkin, etc.  The couple had been married almost 70 years, and clearly they were still very  much in love. While the wife was in the kitchen, the man leaned over and said to his host, "I think it's wonderful that, after all these years, you still call your wife those loving pet names."  The old many hung his head. "I have to tell you the truth," he said, "I forgot her name about 10 years ago."

==================================