Day 35 Summer 2012 Road Trip

 

We are heading home after 35 days on the road.  The summer is only half over, usually we are on the road for the full two months.  We don’t want to head home just yet, but we are both starting at new jobs with new companies.  Orientation and training begin next week.

We left Sarnia around 10am for the 5 hour drive home.

No photos today, we have done this drive so many times there is nothing new to photograph.

Day 34 Summer 2012 Road Trip

When we woke up this morning we decided that we have seen all that there is to see in this area. 

For being the Motorhome Manufacturing “capital” of North America, there really isn't much here for someone who is looking to buy a gently used Class A motorhome.  The recession has hit this area hard and 80% of the RV related businesses have closed.  We are also hesitant to buy something in the US and then have to deal with importing it back into Canada.  We decided to end our stay in Elkhart and cancelled the next few days of hotel reservations and aimed the car towards home. 



Karen had fun aiming the camera and photographing this crop dusting plane as I drove at 70 mph.

 

On I-69 North we entered into Michigan.

 

This part of Michigan, as with most of the country and even back home in Ontario has been hit with a severe summer drought.  Crops are failing and everything is tinder dry and scorched brown.  Some idiot oblivious to his or her surroundings must have thrown a lit cigarette butt out of their car window.  Here you can see fire fighters are putting out the fire that started by this persons negligence.   Maybe I shouldn't be so harsh on the cigarette smokers and cut them some slack.  It is so dry that a piece of broken glass from a bottle that some other idiot tossed out could have started this fire.  The angle of the sun and a piece of glass would be all that is needed to start a fire in these conditions.  A bolt of lightning didn't start this fire, so human negligence is the cause. 

 

We are going to cross back into Canada at the Port Huron / Sarnia border crossing.  We see the sign to Canada and the Blue Water Bridge is ahead of us.

  

Customs was busy and we waited about 45 minutes in the line till we got to the booth.  All went well at the booth.  They asked the typical questions.  “How long were you in the US” “Where do you live” “Do you have anything to declare” “Do you have any guns or weapons”  “Do you have any alcohol or tobacco”  Questions answered and we are back in Canada.

 

We could drive home from here.  It is another 5 hours, but we decide to stay overnight in Sarnia, well actually in Point Edward.  I guess you would say that Point Edward is a suburb of Sarnia.  We want to do some ship watching while we are here.  I like their town sign.



After checking into our hotel, we head down to the waterfront.  I have my “Marine Traffic” app up and running and see that the John D Leitch is northbound in the St Clair River.  I have so much fun with this app as I can see where the ships are and when they will be arriving where we are waiting and watching for them.   Point Edward has a nice waterfront, with several benches where you can sit and watch.  Across the St Clair River on the American side is the Fort Gratiot Lighthouse.

 

Here in this photo you can see the numerous park benches and the Blue Water Bridge.



Here comes the John D Leitch under the Blue Water Bridge.  This freighter was built in 1967.

  

The locals have found a way to cool off and watch the freighters.  There is a leisurely current flowing through the river from Lake Huron through the St Clair River and into Lake Erie, so the locals use this current to float in rubber tubes.  After they float down stream for a distance they hop out on shore and walk back up stream and start the process all over again.  That is one way to get up close and personal with a monster lake freighter.

  

The next ship wasn't due to pass by for a couple of hours and since it was dinner time we went to Paddy Flaherty’s for dinner.  This is an Irish Pub sort of a place, so we enjoyed a beer and some good pub food.  After dinner we went back to our same spot on the waterfront and watched as the “Spartan” a pusher tug come under the bridge.  It was pushing the barge.

  

A bunch of the local sailors had gathered for race night off the entrance to the St Clair channel, outside of the shipping lane.

  

Here I am enjoying the sunset, watching the river traffic and checking my iPhone app to see if there are any more freighters in the area.



I can see on my app that there is one more ship that will arrive before the sun sets.  “The Great Lakes Trader” barge, being pushed by the tug “Joyce L Van Enkevort” 

  

This does not look like a barge though, it appears to be a lake freighter.  However once it got closer I could see that it was indeed a lake freighter, but that it had been converted in the stern to accept a pusher tug.  I suppose the engines of this old laker were worn out and not worth replacing and it was cheaper to do the modification and still keep the ship intact and use it like a barge.

  

The sun was setting fast as we left the waterfront and headed for our hotel.

  

That was fun watching the ships going by.  Actually when the Spartan went by, I was thinking that we have seen that tug before, so I checked my notes and yes, we had seen the Spartan last summer when we were in Sault Ste Marie MI.

To see all of our photos from today, you can find them by clicking on the link to our FLICKR site.

Day 33 Summer 2012 Road Trip

Slept in a bit this morning and had a late breakfast.  Today we are going to visit the RV/MH Hall of Fame in Elkhart Indiana.   Karen and I thought this would be a good place to visit.  We can learn about and see various styles of rv’s and this will help us in our search for a unit for ourselves.

We arrived at 11am and wandered around the outside of the building.  Everything is nicely cared for and there is a very large parking area so that there is plenty of room if you bring your motorhome and wish to park.  I am not sure, but you may even be able to stay overnight here.

  

We took several photos around the outside.  Karen and I were looking at the patio bricks and all the names of people and corporations that have donated to the Hall of Fame and found a name we actually recognized.  We follow many blogs written by rv’ers, but one blog in particular that we read faithfully is a blog written by Nick Russell.  Nick often mentions his friend Al Hesselbart and there right in front of us was a brick with Al’s name on it.  We didn’t see any other names that we recognized.

  

We paid the $9.00 each admission fee and entered the building.

  

Ok, well the first thing we ‘discovered’ was this beautiful RV… so, lets just buy this one and we can get on the road.  I guess I was so excited that I blurred the photo, but you get the idea.. brand spanking new and ready to roll out onto the scenic by-ways of America.

 

Not in our budget though so we had to leave it behind and enter the museum part of the facility.  The Airstream reminds us of our vacation on South Padre Island TX where we rented and stayed in one very similar.

  

If we were to get a travel trailer, I am positive that we would get an Airstream, but we have come to the decision that a Class A is what we are looking for.

Continuing on with our tour, there are rigs of all ages and sizes.  This tiny airstream also caught our eye.

 

Karen liked this 1954 Shasta travel trailer but it is a bit to small for the two of us.  I liked this 1964 Coachmen Cadet travel trailer, but again too small and not a Class A.

 

It was very interesting seeing all the old styles of rv’s and we enjoyed our visit to the museum.

  

On the second floor of the building is a very large library.  Just full of every book, manual and brochure ever published about any make, model or style of RV.  This is a valuable resource to the rv’ers.

  

From the second floor balcony, y0u can look down into the museum.

 

That concluded our visit to the RV/MH Hall of Fame.  We made a donation towards keeping the museum out of financial debt and we bought some t-shirts and other souvenirs.  Now it was time for a late lunch.

For the rest of the afternoon we drove around to a few RV dealerships, but we weren't finding anything that we were interested in.  We did learn that since the recession, more than a dozen dealerships in and around Elkhart had gone out of business.  Those that were still in business were concentrating on selling travel trailers and fifth wheels.  We want a Class A so our search continues.

Back at the hotel, we relaxed, watched TV, worked on editing and naming photos and writing this blog.

To see all of the photos from today, you can find them by clicking on the link to our FLICKR site.