Bancroft

We have landed full time in Bancroft and will be here until November when we head south again. For our friends south of the border, who believe all of Canada is white and frozen, I'm beginning to think they're right. Here it is the middle of April and it looks like the middle of January outside. Remember, parts of Ontario are as far south as northern California, but the weatherman here doesn't know that. Our castle is frozen to the ground, and we are looking forward to staying indoors this weekend when we visit family and friends for Easter.

Can you see that little building off in the distance? No Mike, that's not our house, but that is where we will build our house this summer.

Our castle, frozen to the ground, cosy and dry on the inside.

Looking down our driveway, waiting for spring to arrive. Has anyone seen her?

Tuesday it was warm enough to work outside and that meant clearing and burning brush; Mary's favourite job.

We now have a "911" number, much easier to find our driveway. Are you coming up this summer?

This is what we like to see........... blue skies, fire burning, trailer safely parked, ......our home in Bancroft.

Let us know if you are planning to drop by this summer. We will have to work visits in around our construction schedule.

Home and on Line

We arrived in Bancroft April the 17th., surprised to discover that winter was still here.

Looking down highway 28, heading north towards Bancroft.

Finally the snow stopped and the sun came out as we reached Stringer Dr. It felt good to be home but we weren't expecting all the white stuff.............. this is the middle of April.

Our trailer has seen it all from hot desert storms to snow and freezing rain and we drove through it all.

If the sun shine tomorrow I'll post more pictures.

Cleaning Windows

Sunday was a warm, quiet day here in Jackson Center, Ohio,  so decided it was a good time to clean windows. Rather than just simply spray and wipe we decided to remove the windows so a thorough cleaning job could be done.

Taking the windows completely off turned out to be very easy; just remove two screws and lift the window off its hinge at the top.

The window frame was rubbed down with steel wool, wet cloth and window cleaner.

Here I am supporting the frame with my head while removing the screws that hold the window in its track. It really was much easier than it looks.

Before replacing the window, Mary rubbed the gasket with coconut oil; you could also use silicone spray. This will help to preserve the rubber and keep it supple.

I caught this picture of a trailer leaving for home yesterday. He was driving back to Burlington, Ontario, with one wheel missing. Apparently his axle was cracked and the factory couldn't get one for 3 weeks. Hope he got home safely.

Can you see the missing wheel?

Today we are back in Canada and  looking forward to seeing family and friends.  It may be a few days before we next report. I need to renew by "Bell" contract so we can get internet service while in Bancroft.

Safe travels and we hope to be back writing soon.

Almost Home

We arrived in Jackson Center, Ohio about 6 pm yesterday and are camped at the Airstream factory with two other campers from Ontario.

Once off the Natchez Trace Parkway we stopped at the Mammoth Caves National Park for one night. We didn't tour the caves but enjoyed talking with the campers in the park. There were a lot of young families with children. It turns out that the Michigan schools were off on their spring break. Here you see one problem with solar power....................shadows. Look closely at the base of the tree and follow the shadow, yep, right up and over our panels. That one shadow cut our solar production by about 50%

Here's a better view.

Mary wanted to attend the International Quilt show in Cincinnati, so here we are approaching the downtown core.

This was as close as I got to the show. Mary took lots of pictures but I can't download them to my computer. Looking at her pictures, I thought Mary's quilts could have been on display too.

You have all heard of the "Golden Arches", we drove across them. This bridge crosses the Ohio River.

Saturday was  cold and we had rain for most of the day. Stopped here for lunch then decided to do our first Walmart overnighter; even spoke to the manager and got permission to camp in their parking lot. About 4, the clouds parted, the sun came out and we decided to drive to Jackson Center, another hour north.

We are now camped where our trailer was born, the Airstream factory in Jackson Center, Ohio. Just think 26 years ago, our trailer was sitting here waiting for shipment to Canada. These trailers have all been returned for repairs or updates. The factory here does a remarkable job of refurbishing or fixing old trailers.

We always enjoy stopping here. We can camp right at the factory for $10.00/night, full hook-ups. Not sure if Greg's trailer would qualify.

Time for our morning walk.

Safe travels

Views from the Trace

We expect to reach Cincinnati later today and spend 3 days there while Mary attends an international quilting show. I thought you might enjoy a few pictures taken as we travelled the Natchez Trace Parkway the past few days.

On the Trace

We reached the Natchez Trace Parkway about 4 pm on Sunday. Our destination was the Rocky Springs Campground at mile 58. The Trace is a very pleasant drive from Natchez to Nashville a distance of 444 miles. There is no commercial traffic allowed on the parkway and there are no traffic lights or stop signs.

Rocky Springs was jammed packed; not a site left for us. This is the season the “Snowbirds”  begin to head north, back to Canada and I think we are in the middle of the pack. We decided to stop for supper in the information parking lot and if no one complained then just stay put for the night. That’s what we did and had a very peaceful sleep. In the morning we walked the campground, but still no vacancies. You are allowed to camp here for 14 days. Did I mention that all 3 campgrounds along the Trace are free?

Jim, from Cambridge, stopped by to chat and after he left we decided to have breakfast then drive further north in hopes of getting a site at the Jeff Busby campground. Then Jim showed up again, and said he had parked his car in site 14 when the people left. This meant we had a site for the day and decided to take it. Unknown to us at the time (we can’t get internet along the Trace) there was a severe weather watch for north of Jackson, the area we would have travelled through if we had left.

We have to be in Cincinnati by Thursday so we are back on the road, moving north and enjoying the signs of spring as we drive. Enjoy the pictures and I will write again whenever we get internet service.

Camping in the visitor parking. Campground was full.

Site 14. We were able to move to this site in the morning. Jim saved it for us by parking his car here. Stayed an extra day because of severe weather watch north of Jackson. Saw trees down the next day along the Trace.

Breakfast.

All free campgrounds along the Trace were full so we pulled into Davis National Forest site, 20 miles south of Tupelo, Mississippi. We were right on the water; could have stayed a week but Cincinnati calls.

Keep in touch and safe travels.

First Day of Solar

We are now able to live "off grid" very comfortably. Our shore power has been turned off and we are learning what works and doesn't as we embrace this new technology. One problem we had was the high drain on our batteries whenever we turned on the "inverter". Checking the literature we should be drawing less than 1 amp/hr but we were using about 30 amps/hr. What was the problem? All lights were off, no coffee maker on, couldn't figure out what we were doing wrong. Sent an e-mail to Paul, explaining the situation and asking for help. Paul wrote back and said to .......... unplug the refrigerator. No more problem. Our refrigerator now runs on propane and the   batteries are much happier.

Our trailer in full sun, panels down and facing east. I was too lazy to detach the legs so just left them dangling over the side. In full sun we are getting 22 amps/hr from our 3 - 135 watt panels.

About 3pm I tilted the panels to the west to catch more of the sun's rays as it began to set for the evening.

In the early afternoon the ski became quite cloudy and the smell of smoke was in the air. We were concerned that we might be in danger but soon learned the firemen were doing a controlled burn in our area.

Last night it rained and this morning it is very overcast. We are still getting 1amp/hr from our panels, even without full sun.

Any questions about solar, don't hesitate to ask.

Safe travels