Hi Folks.
Things have calmed down a little so I can take the luxury of updating this blog. Some of the blogs I read are actually updated regularly, daily even. Oh well, not me.
We left our home in Hastings on Saturday, Aug. 28, on what looked like a beautiful day. We were in no hurry, planning on stopping for the night at the Flying J just outside London Ont. About 20 minutes down the road I turned on the radio to get a traffic update for the 401(that's the major east west highway through southern Ontario in case you're unfamiliar with Ontario.) Seems there had been a major accident near Whitby and the 401 westbound was closed completely. We pulled over wondering what detour we could take. Our easy drive suddenly didn't look as good.
While we were stopped a gong sounded and a dash warning light came on. The battery charge voltage guage had dropped to 0. I stopped the engine and did what any man would do, I looked under the hood. Nothing seemed amiss. The engine still ran so we continued. We drove on thinking we would take Highway 2 from Port Hope. The radio reports kept getting bleaker and I was worried about that charging light. I did know the battery was on it's last legs and had planned on replacing it before winter. More warning lights came on so when we got to Bowmanville, we stopped at a Canadian Tire store but they were too busy to look at our problem, so I bought a new battery hoping that would help. And guess what? As we left the parking lot all the warning lights had gone out. The battery gauge read normal. Fixed, so I thought. We hadn't driven far before the gong sounded and the gauge sank to 0. By this time we were on the 401 traveling slowly but still traveling. We got across Toronto alright but I was still worried. I thought we might make it to the Flying J but instead pulled off at another Canadian Tire in Woodstock. They were close to closing but since the truck wouldn't restart they took pitty on us and had a look. Bad alternator, and of course they didn't have one in stock. And even if they could get one, they were closed tomorrow! Well Dean the service advisor made some phone calls and found the Canadian Tire in London was open tomorrow and they could get the part. The guys charged up our battery and after getting gas we were off again. (They didn't even charge us anything.) We got to the London CTC store and spoke to the manager about staying in the parking lot overnight.(He already knew our story as Dean had called) He suggested we would be safer in the Walmart parking lot around the corner so off we went again. The Walmart people said no problem so we stayed the night. It had been a long day.
Bright and early we made our way back to CTC to find it didn't open til 9:30 (We had been told 9). The part hadn't arrived yet so we waited. They told us to bring the truck into the far bay so we wouldn't have to unhitch, which was a bonus. Guess what? It wouldn't start! We just made it that far. No problem, they boosted it and they got started on removing the altenator. By about 10:30 we were out the door and on our way to the next tie-up.
Yes, there was about a 1 hour wait to cross the bridge from Sarnia to Port Huron. There was no real problen with the boarder and our GPS told us we could be at the Elkhart Campground by 5:20 if we didn't stop. We hadn't planned on being there til Monday morning but I gave them a call and they said come on down. We experienced some very poor cement roads but still got to the campsite by about 6:30.
Monday morning we had to stock up on most of our food stuffs as we have been warned to cross into the US with as little as possible. Seems the items that are forbidden change almost daily and you don't really want to get caught. A search of your RV can take several hours and things never get back where they belong,(so I've been told).
The Gypsy Gathering Rally started at 3PM.
The Rally itself was great. Very busy and of course we (I) didn't get to see all we (I) wanted to see. Almost every attendee won a door prize at some point. We won a pass for 2 to the RV Motor Home Hall of Fame and Museum. Haven't got there yet but I expect we will in the next couple of days. Did you know they are celebrating 100 years of RVing in North America. The first 50 years were pretty shaky but in the 60's getting back to nature took off, and not just the hippies.
Had dinner last night (Monday Sept 6) with Phil and Cindy, a couple we knew from the Escapee park in Alabama. They are parked right across from us. We talked til about 9 then got home to bed.
We took a tour of the Jayco plant today (where our trailer was born) and they are produceing 10-11 fifth wheel trailers per day. That's just one plant. They have several. There are parking lots stretching huge distances full of many different RVs waiting to be delivered. And that is just Jayco. We have a list of 17 RV manufacturers in the area, and those are just the ones offering tours. We met with a Technical Specialest after the tour and he was able to answer most of the questions I had.
Tomorrow we plan on going to Shipshawana. There is a big Amish flea market there and maybe the RV Museum on the way back.
Friday we leave for the ESCAPEE ESCAPADE RALLY in Goshen Indiana, just about 15 miles south of here. Not sure about e-mail so may have to wait till we get home to update again.
Sorry, no pictures. I wasn't in the mood for the first few days but have started again.
I will figue out how to include a map soon too.
Take care and happy trails.
P&C
