Back from Blog-Hiatus

Hello loyal followers! We last left you in Sayer Oklahoma as we headed home from our second big trip. We have been back in Ontario since mid April, finishing a house in Orangeville which is now sold. We are truly free now with CC Rider, our 34 ft Tiffin Allegro Motorhome, our home on wheels; as our only real estate. I will wrap up the tail end of our trip last April and later blog about my travels to Australia in May to visit my daughter.

       

We enjoyed our drive through Oklahoma with greening pastures, moist spring fog hugging scenic old barns, deciduous forests waving half furled leaves and everywhere, pink blossoms like candy floss, adding fragrance and pizazz  to the roadsides. We camped in the gorgeous Bennett Spring State Park Campground. The overcast day added atmosphere to the forests that crept up to the swollen milky river’s edge.

        

While the mating and nesting birds called above, the fisher folk cast their lines into the rolling river below where unsuspecting trout moved upstream. The park is host to a large fish hatchery. We walked along the wide troughs of various sized trout and threw feed pellets to the shadows below the surface. The water would suddenly boil with silver-scaled backs, tails and  froth. People came from everywhere to purchase a daily fishing tag which provided permission to claim 4 full grown fish per day. The gate from the hatchery released a prescribed number of trout into the river each day. Can’t tie your own flies you say? The park store has you covered!!

In a decades-old tradition, an intensely loud whistle blows at 7:00 am to start the twelve hour day of  actual fishing and later at 7:00 pm, to begin the telling of  inspired fish tales.

As we journeyed east, the spring rains and drizzle accompanied us. Heading home stirs up anticipation to see family and friends but with that, a bittersweet reality that our travels are soon ending for another year. Even though we feel saturated with adventure, new and different sights, sounds and tastes, we continue to enjoy the view out the window along the road home. The height of the motorhome and huge expanse of windshield provides a grand view of the world passing by. Even something as basic as a water tower can provide entertainment.

Unexpected sights pop up regularly…..

              

The last five days of our trip were very damp with plentiful spring rain, fog, winds and even snow. We had a hazy view of St. Louis as we again crossed over the Mississippi River. West to east this time,  later passing soggy farmlands with quaint and rustic barns and leaning farm houses. Our last couple of nights in America were spent at Elkhart Campground in Elkhart Indiana where we thought, more than once, that we were about to be delivered to Kansas courtesy of the high winds.

         

We gritted our teeth and prepared to tour one last museum: The RV/MH Hall of Fame in Elkhart, Indiana. We quickly restored our “tourist” energy when we entered the huge collection of Recreational Vehicles and Motorhomes and all the “paraphernalia” (is that not a fabulous word????) that go with them. We followed the winding road past the 1900’s Model T campers, to the 1930’s vans and up into the 1950’s and 60’s vintage trailers. As well as superb photography of the eras, there were many fabulous paintings and early renderings of sales promotion posters. This Museum is a must for anyone who has camped ever!

         

          

    

      

Saturday April 20, we headed north through lightly snow covered roads. We enjoyed our last campfire in the gorgeous Pinery Provincial Park on Lake Huron. A sunny morning  filled with spring energy guided us home beside rural farm fields…onward…homeward bound.