Go Time and Best Laid Plans

After all of the planning and research it was time to go. The fun thing about travelling in an RV is that you can not cast your plans in stone: There are way too many moving parts to control everything. Or maybe it was just because it was our first big trip and we had no idea what to expect. 

Finally, the big day was here!! 

I thought we would be getting away around 7:00 am but we took our time and made sure we had everything we needed before blast off. The car was one of the last things to be dealt with. We got it on the dolly and strapped it down tight. \when we started out Rick said he could not feel the car behind. I guess that is a testament to the power of the big block Ford engine in Meander but it was a huge stress factor as well. We could not see the car behind us either so we relied on shadows to tell us it was still there. In the early stages of planning the trip Rick had a nightmare about towing the car. In his dream the he felt a bump and crunch and then the car passed the RV. During the first part of the trip I think every time a little blue car passed us his nerves jumped! 

Our first change in plans happened almost as soon as we started on the road. We decided to avoid the Toronto traffic and take the exit to Lindsay/Peterborough. Once we got off the 401 and drove north for about an hour Rick asked me how to get to Perry Sound from where we were. I told him I had no idea....I had not planned that route. Our adventure is off to a great start!

We traveled up through the country towards Peterborough and Orillia and then to Parry Sound where we spent our first night. The trip was largely uneventful but I know I spent most of the day staring out the window looking for the car’s shadow. I did not take a single picture that day as my focus was not on what we were passing. I do remember a beautiful park on Lake Simcoe as we made the turn to go around Orillia but not much else.

 I also did not realize how dependent I was on technology. I keep everything on my laptop. Why print when you can store electronically? All of our trip plans, including directions to where we were staying each night, was on my laptop. Ooops! I knew we likely would not have Wifi for most of the trip so it was a serious over site. In my defense, though, our ISP cut off our service a day early so I had no service to do my final review. Sooooo at the start of our second day I realized I did not have directions to where we were staying that night Originally it was going to be at a Walmart in Sault Saint Marie Ontario and then we would cross into the US the next morning. We did stay at a Walmart that night, but it was in Sault Saint Marie Michigan. Since we had to get groceries once we entered the states, this was actually a better plan which put us a couple of hours ahead of schedule the next morning. So sometimes mistakes and over-sites are good things!