FLA!

Well we have landed in Florida and welcome it's balmy weather, beaches and palm trees. So far we have stayed for week long stints in two areas on the east coast of the state. First up was Daytona Beach, home of an incredible 23 mile strip of sandy beach you can drive on, so we did. :)

Also we toured the famed Daytona International Speedway, home of the Daytona 500 race. It was really cool to see the place even empty you can imagine what a spectacle it must be to see. There were some practice  cars racing around the track, check out the video I shot.

Daytona Beach video

Next we moved about a hundred miles further south to a town called Titusville on the Space Coast right by the Kennedy Space Center. We took a day to tour all the exhibits which there were tons of. We could have easily spent a week seeing everything that they have on display. Amazing stuff.

We have been touring a lot of guy stuff lately so lucky for Anne there was a great wildlife refuge close to the space center and we made a couple trips there and she was able to get some awesome wildlife shots, so stay tuned on her blogs for those.

We move down to the Everglades National Park next and then on to the Keys for Xmas.

Click here for more pix

Georgia on our mind

We have spent a great couple weeks on the coast of Georgia. It is late November and the weather temps average between 15c and 25c daily, about like summer back home. The whole coastline is formed by barrier islands, usually with a beautiful sandy beach then a island with a mix of live oak and palm trees and a huge track of marshland behind. Needless to say there are many bridges needed to cross to the islands.

One of the highlights has been Jekyll Island, a barrier island that is mostly park land. We spent some gorgeous days walking and photographing the beaches. Also we rented bikes and explored the historical district where the rich and famous use to play in the old days. Many of the beach houses and the old hotel have been restored and are used today.

On the back side of the island is a huge marshy area full of birds and interesting vegetation like cactus plants and palm trees.

Overall it's been a great month in Georgia and we are sorry to leave but it's on to Florida!

South to Carolina

Well we have been beating a path south lately following the sun and staying away from freezing temps. After New Hampshire we drove down to New York state and boondocked at a Walmart near Bingingham. Next 2 days we mostly travelled to get into Virginia and explored Shenandoah National Park. Saw lots of nice autumn colors and scenic vistas. We followed the Blue Ridge Parkway down as far as Fancy Gap and stayed for several nights at a nice little mountain campground but it was getting cold and we were sick of fall and leaves so off to the coast!.

I saw online the Charleston was one of the best cities to visit in the US and the weather map said temps in the 70s and 80s so we made a beeline out of the mountains of Virginia down to the coast of South Carolina.

Charleston is indeed a beautiful city with tons of history and gorgeous beaches. We spent one splendid morning watching the sun rise at the famous Folly Beach Pier and another afternoon touring the historic downtown area by mule team in a carriage. Another day we checked out the USS Yorktown, a floating air craft carrier museum and got some nice shots of the new bridge. The Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge, also known as the New Cooper River Bridge

We are now travelling with the snowbird crowd, all the campgrounds are loaded with northern plates and I can see why the weather is great. Next stop is a little down the coast to Savannah, Georgia with maybe a side trip to the famous Hilton Head resort to gawk at the rich and famous.

More photos here

Maine and New Hampshire

Well we crossed back into the US of A at Northern Maine to go visit my fellow TV tech Brian who lives in Caribou, Maine. He was nice enough to let us camp out on his property. We hung out for a couple fun days of good food, drink and playing with his cool sheep dog Yoder. Wish we could have stayed longer as the leaf colors were looking great and it was fun to hang with a fellow tech but it was getting cold! And the trailer doesn't like freezing temps.

So we headed down to the coast to Acadia National Park, near Bar Harbor and were treated to a couple of nice warm summer like days and beautiful scenery. Then we drove across to New Hampshire and spent a couple more days viewing the famous fall colors, wow the trees sure put on a show.

Unfortunately though the trees are in full color, they are late this year and it's getting cold again so we are going to blast down south to ,Shenandoah National Park, Virginia where there still will be fall color but the temps will be better.

More photos here

Bay of Fundy

Well we returned from Newfoundland and headed down to Peggy's Cove for a few relaxing days. Peggy's and the surrounding little coves were very cute and postcard like and we were blessed with some calm sunny weather and a couple foggy mornings. Luckily next to our campsite was a place you could get lobster right off the dock for 8.50$ a pound so Anne and I ate our fill one night with a couple of 1.5 lbers yummy!

Next we headed over to the Bay of Fundy and stayed in Fundy National Park. Here we visited Hopewell Rocks and experienced the super low and high tides the area is famous for. At low tide you can walk the beach where a few hours earlier there was 40 feet of ocean, pretty cool. We also had great weather with sunny skies and low 70 degree temps, also very little people. I love September!

More Fundy pictures here

Now we are near the Maine, USA border, back in Woodstock, New Brunswick. Time to start the trek south with the birds towards the Florida and the Gulf of Mexico.

Goodbye Newfoundland

Had a great time in Newfoundland but the weather is changing and getting cooler so it's time to start heading south. We had some nice hikes along the coastline and even came apon a couple of moose grazing in the forest.
We had quite the mix of weather during our stay, some days were sunny and calm and others were stormy as hell but it was so beautiful even the storms were cool.

More pictures here *click*

Landed on the rock, Newfoundland

Wow! What a ferry trip. We arrived at the terminal a couple hours early like they say to for a 3pm departure time,but the loading is delayed and we finally get on the boat about 4:30pm. It's suppose to be a 5 hour crossing to Port Aux Basque, Newfoundland.but the seas start getting rough and the winds howl 90 km/hr, so we can't dock until 2 am, arrrrghhhh! The doggies had to stay in the RV the whole time, but seemed to survive OK. Decided to overnight in the visitors center rather than driving as moose out number people on the rock.

 

Next day we drove up to Rocky Harbour, a little village tucked in close to Grose Morne National Park. The park is fantastically beautiful, rugged and untamed. The star attraction is a boat tour up a flooded valley called Western_Brook_Pond. You have to hike 3 km through marshland to a dock at one end of the lake and the boat tours you by huge granite cliffs in narrow canyons with waterfalls here and there, fantastic.

 Wanting to get a little closer to the coast, we found a national park site at Green Point and being September the place is deserted. Yay, for us, we snagged a site perched right over the ocean with a view of Green Point and a little fish staging area. I think we will spend a few days here and then maybe go look for icebergs.
More Newfoundland pictures here

Fort Louisberg

 While waiting for the long weekend to end so we can go to Newfoundland, we decided to take a day trip to Fort Louisberg.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortress_of_Louisbourg

Started out foggy but soon cleared up. We had a good time touring the fort and had a nice lunch of mussels, bread and cheese in a recreated old town inn complete with old fashion dishes.

Nova Scotia is stuffed with history and we have spent the week touring the historical places like where Marconi sent the first telegraph message to England. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marconi_National_Historic_Site_of_Canada and Miners Museum about the coal mining history of Cape Breton.

Cape Breton

We drove from PEI to Cape Breton and aside from the main TransCanada Hwy the roads are horrible. They have nasty potholes, cracks and heaves, poor Cougar, our trailer. One cabinet door came unhinged and most of Anne's undies were on the bedroom floor. Spent a few hours tightening and checking screws and bolts after our scenic side road adventure.

Cape Breton is beautiful of course, but not as impressive as I thought it would be. I guess because it is a lot like the west coast, a little different, like the stones on the beaches are a pretty pinkish color, but not much. The drive along the ocean on the bluffs is cool but after doing the Oregon, North California drive it was kinda underwhelming. Guess it would be better in the fall when all the leaves change. There are many little harbors, shops and restaurants to explore, we spent a nice day in a little town called Baddeck located on the large inland sea called Bras D'or Lake. I had more mussels, yum, can't get enough and Anne had a lobster sandwich.

We also stopped at the oddest display some guy named Joe made a scarecrow village perched right near the coastline. Check out the video, weird, hehe.

Currently as I write this post the wind is howling as the remnants of hurricane Irene blow through. Luckily the main part hit well west of us and it's only windy, no torrential rain. Very muggy out though, a very warm wind, you can tell it came from the tropics.

Next we are headed over to the Sidney, Nova Scotia area because that's where the ferry to Newfoundland leaves from. We will spend a week or so there till the Labor Day long weekend is over, before heading across. yyyayyyyyyyhhhhh!,,,,!!!! kids go back to school, peace in the campgrounds again. You would not believe the noise last weekend, whoa. more photos here

PEI here we are

Drove the Confederation bridge across the Northumberland Strait into PEI. Wow what a engineering accomplishment. It's a 8 mile link between New Brunswick and PEI. The longest bridge across ice covered waters in the world. PEI is beauiful!

Most of the Island is rural farm land filled with quaint little villages and marinas. The beaches are terrific. Most are red sand with some white sand and the water is warm for being so far north. Some of the beaches boasts the warmest waters north of South Carolina. The people are as warm and friendly as the beaches. Our favourite campsite was at RED Point near the eastern tip of the island. It offered a spectacular view of the ocean and it's own red sandy beach area. We did many day trips around the Island to take in the sites. The tourist area is called Cavendish where the Anne of Green Gables books were based and has many shops, restaurants and museums to explore. We dined at a local eatery and had our fill of lobster, mussels, oysters and clams, yumm!

THe beagles had a blast as dogs are allowed on most beaches here. Oscar got off leash on a beach for the first time in a while and ran as fast as he could which is quite slow as he is very old now. Angie ran and fetched her jolly ball and even went for a dip in the water. Anne also loved it, she adores the beach and sat out reading her books and soaking up the sun. So basically PEI was heaven for us BUT FOR ONE THING< GRRRRRRRRRRR>>>!!!!! MOSQUITOS, oh my god, the little bastards. There were very few ate REd point but when we moved west across to a campground called John Cabot on the MApleque Bay they were swarming. We all lost a gallon of blood and had to stay in the trailer most of the time. All in all though though it was a great time and would like to come back one day, now off to Nova Scotia. looking forward to spending a week or so in Cape Breton . Rest of the photos here

Borked Tranny

We stayed in New Brunswick a little longer than planned due to a transmission failure on the big blue truck. :( The torque converter started to slip causing the brain to put the tranny into limp mode. Was able to clear the codes by unhooking the batteries but on the next tough pull up a steep grade into wind it would do it again. So rather than have it melt down completely at an inopportune time we decided to get a full rebuild in Fredericton. Found a great shop Jensen transmissions and they put in some upgraded components and a heavy duty towing converter. Now she tows like a dream! Love the truck, everywhere we go people comment on it. They don't see many 1994 trucks in such good shape out east here, where they tend to rust out. On to PEI!

Relaxing on the banks of the St John river, NB

Made it into New Brunswick and snagged a great campsite along the ST John river about 100 miles east of Fredericton. We are going to spend a week camped here to avoid the crowds of long weekend campers invading the more well known tourist areas. Today Anne and I went to Kings Landing Historical Town, It was really neat. It had everyone dressed up in authentic clothes and acting like it was the 1880's . We toured all the recreated houses and shops and checked out all the old history of the place. We have made a local friend , his name is Ron and has live here many years, he is 82. I showed him how to hook up his TV antenna and he paid me in carrots fresh from his garden, we also got a night free camping because I fixed the broken WIFI, so I'm doing well here bartering my services! Meeting many people from BC here, when they see the licence plate they come over for a chat. Last night in this small campground of 12 sites there were 3 other bc'ers , one from Penticton, one from Comox and one from Campbell River. Other things we plan to do are see the biggest axe in the world, tour a potato chip factory and check out the longest covered bridge, Cheers for now ! Ray

Whale watching on the St Lawrence Seaway

Took a nice 3 hour boat cruise today to find whales in the St Lawrence. Was a great day for it sunny and mild and calm waters, boat was great and we saw a bunch of whales. There were a pile of Minke and Fin whales swimming in pods sometimes of 7 or 8 no belugas seen though, they were shy today.uploaded a short video and some pix, check it out.
Across the road from our campground is Santas House, Noel Au Chateau, it's pretty strange to see in July, I'll upload some pix of it. also the other night they had a Santa parade with elfs, Mrs. Santa , etc throughout the campground just like it was Xmas , very strange. it,s something they do here every year for the children.

Gonna relax tonight and head to New Brunswick tomorrow , Atlantic time here we come!

Quebec!

Well we made it across ontario and are into Quebec, yay! Ontario was so hot and humid with bugs that want all your blood, yuck, we drove from Michigan all the way to near Ottawa but got stuck in a little town 50 miles east called Renfrew because the tranny on the big blue ford went into limp mode, basically the computer sensed a problem and put it into a mode of self protection. Only problem was to get the trouble code so it could be troubleshot. It was Saturday and no shops were open, had to wait till monday. I found a way to get the codes using a ohm meter and I pulled code 14 and 62 which meant RPM ssensor and converter slippage, not wanting to drive it and make it worse I waited,,,......

While waitiing a massive thunderstorm hit, with small tornados and took out all the power in the area for 2 days, got the truck towed and to the local ford shop that had the old code reader and a decent mechanic that found it was only the RPM sensor but because of the power outage no computers were working so part ordering was delayed. Decent little shop though, they gave us a free loaner and I got the truck repaired for 100 bucks parts and 120 labour.

Finally we were back on the road just as the hottest day on record was coming, around 110 degrees with the humidex so I told Anne lets drive at night and out run the heat. We left at 8 pm and drove through Ottawa and headed toward Montreal, stopped for gas and food at one side of the city and cruised through it at Midnight still was 80 degrees out.
Found a nice little truck stop near Trois Riverie and crashed for 4 hours. Back up at 5 am and drove straight to Quebec City and got a nice site close to the city and away from the heat in the east.


Quebec City is really cool, we did a walking tour and learn the history of the place, much of it dates back to the 16th century, felt like I was in europe, now we are 150 miles east of there in a little town called Riverie du Loupe.
It is very french here, I know very little french, the west of canada is totally english speaking, so its really interesting.
The town is right on the St Lawrence river and tommorrow we have a boat cruise booked to go whale watching, we have that in Victoria but here they have beluga whales and it will be neat to get out on the river.

Thats the update, having a great time, I highly recommend this no working stuff,

Oh and the stinking beagles got a bath too!

 we are on the shore of Lake Superior, travelled yesterday over to Munising, Michigan still on the shore of Superior. Now crossed 3 times zones! Going on a boat cruise tonight to view the Picture Rocks
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pictured_Rocks_National_Lakeshore

Crossing over at Sault Ste Marie then heading to visit Ottawa and Quebec before we make it to the Maritimes for the rest of the summer.


Trip Map:
http://www.travellerspoint.com/member_map.cfm?user=Raytronx
Trip photos,blog and videos:

https://picasaweb.google.com/electrontv
http://blog.amckinnell.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/Raytronx

Travel Map

Currently in Bayfield, Nothern Wisconsin on the shore of Lake Superior, still hot and muggy 92 degree today, thank god for the fifth wheels AC. added a travel map showing the stops see in signature. 90 degrees was a lot more tolerable in Montana where it was dry
Trip Map:
http://www.travellerspoint.com/member_map.cfm?user=Raytronx
Trip photos,blog and videos:

https://picasaweb.google.com/electrontv
http://blog.amckinnell.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/Raytronx

New Pix

Got some new pix up.

Badlands was really cool looking and we made a trip to America's number 1 roadside attraction Wall Drug
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Drug
, very over the top cheezy but fun anyway. 

 We left Badlands national park this am and headed east on I90 expecting to get maybe as far a Minnesota State but 90 degree weather and a heavy head wind caused us to get too hot. Had to run at about 50mph and keep the revs up so the truck didn't over heat and also turned off the AC. But the old beagle oscar started getting too hot so we pulled off at a little town called Kennebec, South dakota to spend the night and hit the road early before the heat.
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=kennebec&hl=en&sll=43.325178,-99.558105&sspn=4.874461,14.128418&z=14

Happy 4th of july

Happy 4th everyone, currently in a campground near Hot Springs , South Dakota. It's right at the south end of the Black Hills. This is a very cool area so we have been here a week and checked out all the sights, Devils Tower, Mount Rushmore, Custer State park, Wind Cave National Park. Seen tons of wildlife like bison and pronghorn antelope. Great scenic drives in the Black hills I can see why all the bikers come to the Sturgis Rally.
Heading over to the Badlands next for a few days they east.

Got lots of pix and vid clips to process and upload but there is to much to see and do now so will have to wait for a rainy day. Just wanted to pop in and say hey, Happy 4th from a canuck.

Blown Tire

Left Glacier today and overnighting at a try truck stop in Great Falls, Montana. Had a bit of excitement on the road as one of my back dually tires decided to let out all it's air in a rapid fashion, it was like gee what's that weird noise, being a dually I didn't relize it was a blowout at first. luckily I was able to find a spot to pull over quickly and throw on the spare. The bizarre cause was one of my own decorative metal lug nut covers was the culprit, ack! Stuck right in-between the tires it cut into one.

Anyway Im sure it will be an upcoming blog post for Anne as she had fun snapping pix of me changing the tire.

Cheers Ray

Trip underway

trip is underway! So far we headed across Washington state and stayed at a campground on the snake river and explored the palouse hills then drove up to Glacier National park. so far the rig is handling great, only problem was had to stop near the top of a pass in Idaho because the heat was getting high but other than that it tows great. Internet access has been spotty so far but some pics so far here,

https://picasaweb.google.com/electrontv/PalouseAndGlacier

headed down to the Badlands in South Dakota next,