Ontario Bolerama 2010 – Part VII [Epilogue]

July 18 & 19, 2010

…and so ends Bolerama 2010 – and I write with much embarrassment! I’m 3 months late with this post! Ouch!

On Sunday morning, the last day of Bolerama 2010 at Earlton, the campers who had remained for Saturday night began to break camp. Down came the rest of the screen tents and up went the awnings, and everyone made the rounds saying our good-byes. Our goal was to leave with Lille Hus by mid-morning and take a leisurely trip south via Hwy 11 through the many small towns and villages we had missed on our way north because we had taken part in the Poker Run into Québec (see Blog Post Part IV on July 16).

We headed south along Trans Canada Hwy 11 about 10:00. First: a drive through Earlton. Next: a stop at the Thornloe Cheese store. I wish I could buy all my cheese there! The goat blue cheese was spectacular! Then: at New Liskeard, we took a detour off Trans Canada Hwy 11 and headed for the western shore of Lake Temiskaming, driving south through Haileybury and North Cobalt – both of them clay belt farming communities. We travelled inland into Cobalt (known as Silver City) where some of the largest silver mines in the world once flourished. One of our Bolerama neighbours took a side trip down to Cobalt from Earlton and toured the mine museum there; she said it was excellent. We must go back someday.

 

Lake Temagami area

 

On the Trans Canada Highway again south of Cobalt, we travelled for many miles through beautiful northern Ontario wilderness – forests, lakes, rivers, rocky shores – stopping for a lunch break in the town of Temagami, Ontario, on the shore of many-branched Lake Temagami. Then we continued south toward North Bay, thereby completing the northern Ontario-Québec circle that had begun with the Poker Run on Thursday, July 15.

From North Bay, we headed toward Parry Sound on Highways 11 and 518. We had one more night to spend on the road before going home, so we decided to go to a campground we had last seen on our honeymoon trip in 1961! A few years before 1961, the Ontario Teachers Federation had purchased a tract of land surrounding Quinn Lake near Parry Sound, Ontario, and created a campground for members (and retired members!) of the OTF. It is a lovely spot surrounding a pristine lake. Camping is quite informal – you simply choose a spot with a picnic table and pitch camp – for a fee, of course. There are about 10 electric sites; otherwise, it’s “dry camping”, but there are washrooms and showers. Lille Hus found the best spot in the campground – on a hill overlooking the lake. Forty-nine years earlier, we had camped at Quinn Lake in a green Woods 9 x 9 centre-pole “tourist tent” (do you remember those?) and slept on the ground. Lille Hus, though tiny, felt like a palace!

The next morning we explored the campground and walked part of the trail that winds around Quinn Lake. Then we left and, aside from a brief stop at lunchtime in downtown Parry Sound, that was the end of our journey to Ontario Bolerama 2010.

From Parry Sound it was only a 3-hour drive home – back to the real world!

<Album of Photos: Quinn Lake, Parry Sound>

Ontario Bolerama 2010 – Part VI

July 17, 2010

Saturday was the last full day for Bolerama 2010 at Earlton.

A lot of spirited conversations were underway all day. There was much discussion about modifications to old Bolers and Trilliums. Many wanted to see what a new or nearly new Trillium looks like (surprised exclamations of “oh, that’s the same” or “I love the new sink/stove combination”). Others showed interest in the solar panels and generators that some campers were using for power when “dry camping” as we were all doing there. [See here for a forum discussion of dry camping and boondocking.] There was general discussion about maintaining connections with other campers and meeting again at next year’s Bolerama, wherever that might be.

However, on this morning, quite a few campers were already packing up their screen rooms and outdoor kitchens, preparing for their drive home the next day for work on Monday. Many of us who are retired or lived nearby, though, had another day to visit with each other.

Our hosts, the Bélangers of Earlton RV, had offered to take campers on wagon tours of their bison herd. Pierre took three wagon loads. The first group was soaked by a sudden shower early on their ride but continued good-naturedly. Pierre described the herd and everyone enjoyed watching a stampede of buffalo. [See the link above for more information about Earlton RV.]

Tom Young of TrilliumRV, the builder of our Trillium, “Lille Hus”, returned to our camp mid-morning and he and Leo had lots to chat about over breakfast and, later for dinner. We didn’t go on the bison tours but enjoyed conversation with new friends, and relaxed, knowing that we, too, would have a long drive the next day. We also had fun spending my gift certificate in the RV store. Thanks again, Bélangers!

It was another good day at Ontario Bolerama 2010.

<  View Album with Photo Captions: Bolerama-July17 >

Ontario Bolerama 2010 – Part V

July 16, 2010

Here I am, back at last with a couple of wrap-up posts about our trip to Bolerama 2010.

The sad story of my old Toshiba laptop’s “death” and my need to buy a new computer, coupled with other summer activities, got in the way of writing. Buying a MacBook Pro after using a PC for many years didn’t help the situation because I can no longer compose my posts using Windows Live Writer (why, Microsoft, when I can still access your other programs?). I’ve had to force myself to find alternate ways of writing and posting. After a fitful start, I can again use Windows Hotmail (“Skydrive” from Microsoft) picture gallery for my photo albums. How to fit it all together is still not clear – but if you see this post and the photos show up in the albums, you will know I was able to put two and two together and at least come close to four.

"Wagons Ho" Logo by Donna Taylor

We left you in Part IV with a look at the Big Bison at Earlton RV, early on the morning of July 16. We took a number of pictures from under the buffalo, then wandered around the camping area, coffee cups in hand. Other early risers were already starting fires or propane stoves and preparing breakfast. We walked around the campground to see where we would be having bonfires (in a field beyond the restrooms), where the potluck dinner would be held (in a small pavilion near “Lille Hus”), chatted with some folks we knew from the “camp” at Wal-Mart in North Bay, then headed back to “Lille Hus” for our breakfast.

The early morning chores finished, we spent the rest of the day chatting with other campers, trying to erect a screen tent, watching Fred fly a big kite (he and Donna are experts, attending kite meets all over the country – see the photo album below for more about that), finding things to fix on other people’s trailers, and admiring the way some old trailers had been fixed up.

For the big barbecue that evening, the Bélangers, who own Earlton RV and nearly 40 years ago built Boler trailers across Hwy 11 from their RV facility where we were camping, had given our group a big box of bison burgers and sausages to grill. [The Bélangers, as well as running the RV dealership and repair facility, own a herd of bison.] Fred and his helpers rounded up enough camping grills – and cooks – to cook burgers (both bison and, for those who preferred not to try bison, beef burgers purchased in town).

The barbecue supper went very smoothly: burgers cooked on 8 or 10 small grills; bags of salad fixings in large bowls; and condiments and buns for self-serve. As usual at a big gathering, the hungry crowd began to line up, plates in hand, as soon as the first burgers were slapped on the grills and a long line wound its way among the chairs people had set up near the pavilion. After dinner, most folks stayed for a couple of speeches – the first by Fred, welcoming everyone to Bolerama 2010. Then Pierre Bélanger welcomed the Bolerama back to Earlton (it was held there in 2000) and presented Fred with an “Earl from Earlton RV” apron. Fred then surprised Pierre with a scale-model Boler just like the ones he used to build 30 and 40 years ago. The last presentation saw Fred and Donna receiving another model Boler from all of us. Fred then drew names for “door” prizes and I was lucky enough to win a $50 gift certificate to use in the Earlton RV store. Ceremonies ended with awards for “bests” in the Poker Run the day before, given out by Mike Audet who arranged the very successful poker run.

Later that evening, many folks gathered around a large bonfire, singing and telling jokes. Apparently they had a great time. We were tired so we retired.

For an Album of our photos of some of the day’s activities:

https://cid-009c46752dd2b07f.photos.live.com/browse.aspx/Bolerama-July%2016

To check out photos from Earlton RV’s FB page:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=6446&id=116932745019214

…and from Fred’s “Ontario Bolerama #10” Flickr website:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21490150@N02/sets/72157624578048450/

If this works, there will be another post in a day or so!

Ontario Bolerama 2010: Interlude, with apologies…

At the end of Part IV, I promised you a post about a bison at Earlton and I promise that will come.

However, in the meantime I’ve had major problems with my nearly 4-year-old computer. In fact, at this moment my computer is halfway (at 5 hours) through a complete re-format of the hard drive, which deletes everything. We are unsure whether or not we can resurrect a dead computer but within the next day or so, we should know. Biggest problem in the resurrection? No Windows XP disk. Without that, no operating system and thus, no computer! (unless we fork out $$$ for XP for an old-model computer.) Otherwise, Staples or Future Shop, here I come!

I’m writing this on an even older desktop machine that hasn’t been used for anything much for at least 7 years. As soon as I get re-organized with my resurrected computer and find my picture folder backups, I’ll be able to upload the now-very-late last couple of posts about Bolerama 2010. Here, though, is a look at the EarltonRV Bison very early on the morning of July 16 with two early risers and their coffee.

[Click to enlarge photo]

Please stay tuned for Part V…

Ontario Bolerama 2010: Part IV

July 15, 2010

What is the best route to move a “rolling rally” from North Bay to Earlton? Answer: Make a detour into La Belle Province for a poker run.

The Wal-Mart campers had a choice: 1) head north on Hwy 11 to New Liskeard, about 160 km and 2 hours north, then go on to Earlton (another 30 miles) or  2) head north from North Bay on Hwy 63 into la province du Québec and then on to New Liskeard (about 215 km and about 3 hours or more) and then go on to Earlton. For “Lille Hus” there was only one answer: the Québec route! The fact that the Québec route included a poker run was incidental to our wish to see some of northern Québec.

Again today, Mike was in charge. He had researched a number of places where we could stop to pick up a playing card for the poker game; each place had something of interest to be seen (or eaten!). In order to keep the crowds at each stop small, we were divided into several groups, each group departing at different times. We were in the last group, leaving Wal-Mart at about 11:30 a.m.

In a light drizzle, we crossed the Ottawa river into Témiskaming, PQ,  after a 60 km drive on Hwy 63. Our first poker-run stop came soon afterwards at “Casse-Croute Rit [or Rita”?] , a chip stand. “The best poutine in Québec,” declared Mike.  To those who gag at the thought of French fries with cheese curds and gravy, that’s the way we felt – until we tasted “Rita’s” (or “Rit’s”) poutine. Maybe it was because lunch was late that day, but we both enjoyed our poutine immensely and wished we had ordered more. Unfortunately, the poker card we picked up was a bad start for our poker hand: a 2 of clubs. Our poker hand did not improve as the miles went on.

We spent the next 4.5 hours in La Belle Province, driving along Hwy 101 through the little towns of Laniel, Saint-Édouard-de-Fabre, Ville-Marie, Saint-Bruno-de-Guigues, and Notre-Dames-du-Nord, stopping several times to pick up 4 more poker cards. Though light rain continued for most of the journey, the scenery was gorgeous – a winding road, hills, the beautiful Ottawa River that soon morphed into Lac Témiskamingue, and a delightful wayside park with a dock and a few moments of brilliant sunshine.

At Saint-Bruno-de-Guigues, Mike suggested we keep our eyes open for a number of roadside crosses. He explained that in the days of French settlement of the area through which we were driving, crosses were placed along the roadside so people who had no access to a church would know that they had a place to gather for prayer. We were able to spot 5 of the crosses although Mike had said there were quite a few more along the roadside. 

Soon after leaving Notre-Dames-du-Nord, we returned to Ontario and Hwy 11 at New Liskeard. In a few more klicks we reached Earlton and joined the rest of the “eggs” for a 3-night camping experience at Earlton RV. It had taken us nearly 5 hours for the trip. It was well worth it!

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Having completed the “rolling” part of Bolerama 2010, we could now relax at Earlton under the gaze of the Earlton RV bison. “Bison?” you ask. More to come….

 

Ontario Bolerama 2010: Part III

July 14, 2010

A fine, warm day for a trip in a Trillium

After breakfast on Wednesday morning, and visits here and there with other Bolerama attendees, it was time to prepare for a short trip, eggs in tow. One of our Bolerama leaders, Michel (Mike), who lives in North Bay, had arranged for us to convoy to Sturgeon Falls at  the west end of Lake Nipissing to visit the A&W restaurant. The A&W manager was looking forward to a display of little  fibreglass trailers and vintage cars.

So, off we went, about 8 of us, behind Mike in his red 1956 Plymouth and  matching red vintage Trillium trailer (an much older “sister’” of “Lille Hus”. For the trip to Sturgeon Falls, we followed Mike with the rest of the convoy trundling along behind. It was a pleasant drive along Trans-Canada Hwy 17 with views of Lake Nipissing to our left.

At the A&W in Sturgeon Falls, we squeezed our group into the small parking lot, opened our trailers for visitors, and ate lunch. DH & I decided to share two of the heavily-advertised “Mini Sirloin Twins” and fries with, of course, A&W root beer. Many local folks were impressed both with the trailers and with the two vintage cars in our group. [see Album below for more photos]

Lunch over, we spent another half hour visiting before untangling ourselves in the parking lot. Mike led the way and this time we took “tail-gunner” position. As we approached a roadside look-out with a sign saying, “Vehicles with Trailers Do Not Enter Picnic Area”,  our leader turned into the picnic area! We all followed to view the expanse of water that is Lake Nipissing. Beautiful! [Photo here thanks to Google Earth Street View]

Back in North Bay again, Mike turned off  Hwy 17 and drove to the waterfront park and beach area. We parked our vehicles and strolled out on the huge pier beside the beach and wandered around the beautiful gardens. Some of us walked over to admire the two carousels and the little train, both of which are being lovingly restored by local citizens.

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Later, we headed back to Bolerama Central where we “shopped” for cool air in Wal-Mart and the mall and chatted with other campers for the evening.

Ontario Bolerama 2010: Part II

July 14, 2010

We awakened Wednesday morning to bright sunshine and an amazing sight: a mixture of Bolers and Trilliums, and a Surfside and a Bigfoot and some others we didn’t identify, about 40 in all, gathered around us in the Wal-Mart parking lot in North Bay!

Everywhere we looked were small (and a couple not so small) fibreglass “eggs”.  We drank our coffee in the morning sunshine, enjoying the variety of trailers around us and becoming acquainted with our nearest neighbour, Karen. Some eggs were painted to match their tow vehicles and often those vehicles were vintage models. Most trailers were vintage themselves since many manufacturers closed down during the 1980’s recession – but the trailers have either continued to live on as they were or have been rescued and given new life by new owners.

So, you may wonder, what is like to “camp” in a Wal-Mart parking lot? 

[An aside: Several RV Clubs & Camping groups have adopted the Escapees RV Club’s “Code Of Parking Etiquette” for overnight parking at Wal-Mart and other stores. Because our  space in the parking lot had been rented to Bolerama for the two nights, we excused ourselves from some of those “rules”.]

For us in the Bolerama group, camping at Wal-Mart was not much different than camping in a group campground anywhere. We ate under the sky or under an awning or in our trailers; some folks cooked on grills, some on camp-stoves. We slept in our Bolers, some on a converted dinette, some in a permanent bed. One family had two kids and “Dad” mentioned that he slept in their van because the nights were hot. One couple travelled with 6 small “rescued dogs” who slept comfortably, we were told, on the front bench in the trailer.  Occasionally we made a trip to Wal-Mart for “certain activities” and when Wal-Mart closed for the night, we made use of the portable toilets our organizers had rented for the occasion – or we used our own small portable potties (Too Much Information?). Showering is not possible in such small trailers, though, so many of us made our way to the nearby Y.M.C.A. where we were welcomed to the showers there.

Of course, if you have camped only in a beautiful Provincial or State park with a campfire grill and lots of space full of trees between yourself and your nearest neighbour, or in a commercial campground with multi-activities, you might find Wal-Mart to be a less-than-enjoyable campsite. However, we enjoyed ourselves there. We were well-treated by Wal-Mart and its other Northgate Shopping Centre partners who knew that we were using their lovely air-conditioning (ohhhh, but it was hot those two days!) but they welcomed us nevertheless.

We didn’t just sit around for two days, though, twiddling our thumbs. We all had plans for North Bay – there are parks and museums (especially @Discovery North Bay) and two beaches, one on Lake Nipissing with two carousels and a miniature train nearby and one on nearby Trout Lake. There is a tour boat, the Chief Commanda II, which takes visitors for various trips on Lake Nipissing. There is shopping in the mall. Best of all for us, there were people nearby with trailers much like ours: conversations about the joys of little trailers were full of “how did you do this?” and “what do you do about that” and “where do all those little dogs sleep?”

 Our area in the parking lot at Wal-Mart in the Northgate Shopping Centre in North Bay.

On the second day in North Bay, a number of us took a side trip with our “eggs” to Sturgeon Falls at the other end of Lake Nipissing. More about that in the next post.

[Click on pictures to enlarge.]

Ontario Bolerama 2010: Part I

July 13, 2010

Wagons Ho! We’re on the way!

July 13, 2010 was the day we towed “Lille Hus” (pron. Lil-le Hoos) out of our driveway and started north for the 10th annual Ontario “Bolerama”, a rally for small fibreglass trailers like “Lille Hus”, a 2009 Trillium. The goal for the rally was to drive to Earlton where “Bolers”, another type of small fibreglass trailer, were built for about 12 years. There we would set up camp with many other little fibreglass trailers. First, we were to meet the other little trailers in Hunstville’s Wal-Mart parking lot to be sent on our way up Highway 11 to North Bay, the first leg of the trip.

We spent a few days preparing “Lille Hus”. She needed cleaning and polishing. We removed her carpet from most of the floor area and installed cork tile. We gave her new 11 lb. propane tanks to take some of the weight off the tongue. Two extra batteries that we added would, we hoped, keep the 12-volt refrigerator cold for as long as we needed. Bedding, clothing and food for a week were loaded and the water tank filled with home water. Time to go!

The 4-hour jaunt to Huntsville, 250 km north, went smoothly and we arrived there about 2:00 p.m. Our wonderful leaders, Fred and Donna Taylor, sent us off for the next leg north on Hwy 11 to North Bay. We had expected to be part of a long convoy of several little trailers, but we were sent on our way almost as soon as we arrived.

Surprisingly, we didn’t see even one little trailer along the way until we had nearly reached North Bay about two hours later. There we entered the parking lot of the local Wal-Mart, greeted by a sign with “Wagons Ho” written on it. We parked in an area of the parking lot that had been reserved for all of us for a two-night stay. A strange spot to begin a camping trip? Yes, but it was fun “dry camping” in town! We were local curiosities! To see the local newspaper’s item, click this link.

Below Left: Our “campsite” in North Bay     Right: Coffee “at home” the next morning                                                    

[Click on pictures to enlarge.]

Home: IN, MI, & ON

May 4 & 5, 2010

“Tomorrow we’ll be home! Only about 600 miles to go! We can do it today.”

“Not! Going! To! Happen!”

So, we still had two days to travel from Terre Haute but decided to drive more than halfway home on Tuesday so we’d have a shorter drive the last day. We started out on I70, switching to I69 in Indianapolis. The entire route along I69 was amazingly unsupplied with campgrounds or other RV parks. Using all the tools we had (Woodall’s, AAA/CAA CampBooks, Streets and Trips “Places” feature, and the Internet), we found Lansing Cottonwood Campground. We decided that would be our “home for the night”.

We took some pictures again but now that we were in “the north”, we saw views much the same as on the last few days, so the shutter clicked less frequently. We hurried along the highway: more woods, more farms, one big city (Indianapolis) to drive right through (and once again, to get momentarily lost!), Fort Wayne to bypass, and another state line to cross (into Michigan). Then, mid-afternoon, we reached  Lansing and the campground. It was in a pleasant, country-like setting near the edge of the city of Lansing.

After another good night’s sleep, we awakened just as the sun was rising, prepared Lille Hus for the road and started the last leg of “the journey to the Grand Canyon and home” that started nearly a month ago in Fort Myers, FL. We crossed the Canada/U.S.A. border at Port Huron, MI/Sarnia, ON and Lille Hus had only 140 miles to go.

Along Highway 402, then 401, then 24, then 6, then home…and greeted at the front door by our Bergemia in full bloom!  What a grand welcome home!

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After thought: If you have managed to get to this point [i.e. the end of this blog], would you please let us know? We have no idea whether or not any of you out there had enough interest or stamina to travel so far with us. As you can tell by the dates of this blog entry and the date of the post, you can see that it has taken us a while after getting back home to finish what we started. You can comment below this post or tell us when you see us!

…until next time!

Homeward Bound: MO, IL, IN

May 3, 2010

Leaving Springfield, MO, at 8:30 a.m., we drove onto I44 in bright sunshine.

Our morning internet news had told us about major flooding yesterday in Nashville caused by the same storm we experienced in Flagstaff, so we were not surprised to see very heavy, dark clouds to our right (looking southeast). Once again today we would be driving parallel to that huge storm.

In Missouri’s countryside we saw cultivated fields and corn stubble from last year as well as new growth – perhaps spring wheat? Nearing Mile 175, for the first time at an elevation below 1000 ft., we started seeing more hills and rock cuts surrounded by grassy areas.

When we arrived in St. Louis, we wanted to see “The Gateway to the West”, so we headed downtown to the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. The parking area for RV’s was crowded so we didn’t get out of the car. However, from the car the Gateway Arch looked stunning, as did the levee nearby, the bridges, and the busy Mississippi River. 

Leaving St. Louis and and the state of Missouri, we drove across the river on the Poplar St. Bridge into Illinois. Signage at the ramps was confusing so finding our way onto I70 heading to Indianapolis and points north caused us one of our few navigation errors but we lost only a few minutes. Streets and Trips was a huge help getting us back on track.

We had to drive only about 150 miles on I70 in Illinois to reach Indiana. About halfway there, we came upon the “Tallest Cross in North America” at Effingham, IL. Similar to the 190 ft. cross we had seen in Groom, TX, this one is taller by 8 ft. Tens (or hundreds?) of churches (with billboards saying “Truckers Welcome”) snuggled up to I70 throughout this area, confirming that we were still in the Bible Belt. Through Illinois we were chased by dark clouds  – from the west now – but we still kept our eyes on the storm clouds in the southeast.

We lost an hour at 4:15 (5:15) as we crossed the border into Indiana which uses Eastern Daylight Time. Now on “home time” we found a KOA on the northeast side of Terre Haute, IN, where we spent our second-last night in a “kampground” full of huge trees, perhaps cottonwoods.

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As my father used to say when a trip was nearing its end, “The horse is heading for the barn.” That’s the feeling we had here in a part of the U. S. A. that closely resembles “home”: time to gallop to the barn!