Parking at the Farm

August 18/2018  Weather - in general we are finding the summer of 2018 to be a hot and humid time; with too much hot and too much humid.  Funny.  It seems to bother us more than ever or are we just getting older?  Ok. ok.  Don't anwer that.  Billy feels we spending more of our winter months in the South West so we really gravitate to the dry warm weather and cool nights.  Definitely it is our preferred climate.  But who knows maybe the following pictures are part of the climate.  My Mom has had some amazing flower gardens and sad to say we are kind of downsizing them since she has moved to a senior residence.  It's just too much work!    We have moved some plants and such and we are so happy to have the blooms stopping us to take a second look.  Everything that blooms we take in to Mom for her room, which she totally enjoys.

no idea what this is called

Just have to share these pretty pretty pretty flowers.

hardy hibiscus

hardy hibiscus

Friday the 13th Rally

July 13/2018. Weather sunny and 90.  A hot one to ride to Port Dover for the bike rally.  We had to go, our 139,998 friends will be there!  Yes, 140,000 people did converge on the little fishing hamlet.  It was a zoo!  As we got on the highway bikes were on every road heading towards PD.  We got into town about a half mile out and found parking and walked down to the waterfront.  It is a bike watching day and a people watching day too!  People jammed into the streets, bikes lined up for miles and miles on every street in Port Dover.   Nothing to do but Enjoy and drink lots of water!  Others might be into the beer!  Haha.  Bands are playing everywhere, bars are full, restaurants are full, hotdog vendors will sell thousands today.    A little history is that a local biker named Chris and 25 of his friends decided that on every 13th of every month in every year since 1981 (it was November the 13th) they would invite friends to come.  Word of mouth started it all and it grew into a massive rally in the summer months when the Friday falls on the 13th.  

Summertime summertime

July 11 to 19/2018  Weatherman says July has had more days above normal heat, extremely hot and dry.  The days it is 90’s it feels like over 100 with the humidex factored in.  Luckily at the farm we are beside Lake Erie and it is usually about 10 degrees cooler than in the nearby towns and city of Chatham.   We sure could use a rain.
We are off to KW (Kitchener Waterloo) to see our son  A.J. and Nancy and baby bump !   Lil bump is due in September.  KW is half a million people but difficult to find a nice big pull thru campground.

Country Gardens RV Park entrance

Koi pond at Country Gardens

 We are staying at Country Gardens RV Park which is southeast of Kitchener in Petersburg.  The area is very pretty with rolling farmland and quaint Amish villages.   The RV park has only a few transient spots and not really Big Rig friendly.  We will squeeze in and out very carefully!  Cut off a limb, unhook the trailer and push it around and survive on 30 amp. We ventured well into the park for our site BUT not the next time we come.  Next time we will take one of the first three sites just inside the park where there is room to back in and get out much easier.   Does it sound like we were a little frightened of damaging our rig?  Ahhhh yeah we were and we got lucky.  The first 4 days we had trouble everyday with the power.  Our surge protector kept shutting down the power from the post to our coach.  Finally the owner had to move us two miles down the road to their sister RV park called The Landings.  Really big pullthru and the power worked ! Yeah!   

Our 100 ft pullthru at The Landings

Our site looked at the oool and swim pond 

We really like The Landings.  They have 3 huge pull thrus right by the entrance and overlooking the pool and swim pond.  It was great and we would never have found out if we hadn’t had trouble at Country Gardens.  Sometimes things happen for a reason. 

North of Toronto

June 13 - 20/2018 Weather - we had a record breaking heat wave day.....  most of the week was gorgeous travel weather but Fathers Day was 96 F and it felt like a 100!  Phew, lucky the pool was open at the KOA in Cookstown. 

We like coming  to Cookstown to setup our basecamp then go downtown TO to see our adorable grandson who was 6 this weekend!  Where did the time go?  They live as far into Toronto as you can get, just a few blocks from Lake Ontario.   We could not get our head around taking the motorcycle down there so we rented a car.  What a smart idea, once in a while we have a brilliant moment.  Haha.   Our rate was so reasonably priced that we could not possibly drive our own vehicle from the farm to Cookstown and back for the cost of the rental.
We always bring our motorcycle as the hilly terrain in this semi northern Ontario area is pretty country to ride in.  One day we rode all along Lake Simcoe, another day we rode along a river to the quaint town of Creemore famous for its craft brewery and another day we went spooking around the backroads of newly planted potatoes and rolling farmland.  The wildflowers are bursting in the road sides right now and the sweet smell of clover was heavenly.  Bottle that smell! 
Oh and gosh have a cone or cup or even the whole tub of Karwartha Dairy ice cream.  It’s part of the Ontario summer diet! The best part!!!😀

Here Kitty, Kitty

After a couple of days parked at Wildwood RV Park, Billy said "you better come look at the tire".  Oh Oh.  That does not sound good.

Hey Kitty, Kitty

Not what I expected to see at all!  Where did he come from?   Well it must be someones cat here at the park, so we tried to shoo it away and it did not seem to want to leave.  How about a bowl of milk and bread? 
There is no possible way little kitty could have come for a one hour ride from the farm to the park right?    We stayed the week and after being back at the farm a couple of days.....   Guess what?  Oh yes, you guessed it.   Here Kitty, Kitty.   Time to buy a bag of cat food and coax that little kitty out of where ever it hides.   It was friendly and starving.  We fed it every day and moved it into the barn for a bit.  As it turns out the neighbours brought home a kitty a few weeks ago and thought it could be a mouser in the barn but after a couple of days they never saw it again......  Well it seems it went on vacation with us!

Wine Trail

May 22 - 30/2018  Weather is beautiful now for the week and we are headed to the end of Southwestern Ontario.  Our campground the last few years was in McGregor, near Windsor and we thought lets go for an hours ride and camp there for the week.  Catch up with our friends and our son who lives in Windsor.

Fore!  We parked far away from the balls this time.

Wildwood Golf and RV Resort is one of the nicest parks in Ontario.    Billy picked a pull thru spot close to the pool and not close to the fairways this time.
We did some nice motorcycle riding along the Wine Trail on the lake.

Lots of wineries along Lake Erie in Essex county

There are some beautiful wineries, tasting and bistros to stop and enjoy.   Every season there are new wineries and new buildings opening.  The road is slow and winding so give yourself the afternoon to enjoy it.  You can follow the lake for about 20 miles, lots of quaint cottages and always a view of the water.

Viewpointe Winery patio (great Sangria and cheeseboard)

North 42 Degrees winery just opened

No Spring Here in Ontario

April 20 - May 21/2018   Weather is cold...... Not frigid but just cold high 40's and 50's constantly.  Frosty mornings.  

site #1 at Farm campground :) 

The Weatherman says we are not having spring -  it is winter and then it will be summer!  Nevertheless;  we are camping at Lake Erie, near Blenheim.   A few years ago Billy put in a 50amp service at the shed at Mom's farm and it will be our "go to" site this spring/summer season in Canada.

Orioles

The Orioles and Hummingbirds are our new best friends.  We found a couple old feeders in the house and made the sugar potion and look who can't get enough!  Every day the two feeders are empty by morning.  Greedy greedy.  We wonder if they are so hungry because of the late spring?  Orioles usually get much of their nectar in the orchards nearby - apples, pears, peaches, and cherries.  With the blooms not out this spring we are doing our part to keep them fed.  

Hummingbirds

Billy thought since I am possessed with my quilting we should get a barn quilt for the peak of the shed.  He took me to Ilderton to a lady who makes them.  It was so hard to choose a design -  the shed was Dad's, the flowers on the barn quilt are for Mom and the quilting is my gig. 
Once we get caught up with all our chores and appointments we will take off for a week to keep our coach exercised.  It's good to keep the wheels turning.

Rosey's Barn Quilt

Last Call

April 17, 2018 Weather in Indianapolis is sunny, high of 53 and low of 35.    We are stopped for the night just to stage ourselves to travel north to Mishiwaka for an 11:30 am coach appointment.  Our camp for tonight is the KOA East Indianapolis, it is a large park so we did not bother calling ahead to reserve.  It is cold spring weather in the northern states. 

Indianapolis East KOA

April 18 & 19, 2018  Weather is still cool to cold high 48 or 50 and low of 30.    We left an hour ahead of the normal travel time to get to Mishawaka from Indianapolis.  Good thing we did.  Traffic was a parking lot on I465 bypass.  We had 12 miles and it took us almost 1 hour!!!!  Ughhh.  Tip:  next time we will go up to Elkhart area and camp.  It took us almost 4 hours to get there all because of the bottleneck in Indianapolis at work rush hour.  
Cummins Crosspoint is an Engine Service Depot only, nothing else on the coach.  Billy feels they are very well trained and competent so we wanted to stop on our way home.  After we stopped about 45 minutes away in lovely Shipshewana South Campground.  This time we did call ahead, not because we were worried about getting a site..... but that they would be open.  They open April 15 and it is weather permitting.  Once again we got lucky and they were just open and the water is on.

Walking over to the Mennonite Event Center

We are staying a couple of nights just to give Ontario one more day to warm up, pretty please!  Last night in Shipshewana it actually snowed at some point, when the sun came out this morning it melted away - Really Mother Nature, give it up..... please.

Shipshewana South Campground

Shipshewana South Campground is so convenient, nice long sites and big and quiet.  We have been here many times before and we can walk to everything, groceries, shops, restaurants and more in town.

Signs to caution you for the Horse and Buggy

This Amish town is so sweet and lovely.   Food is wonderful, and almost all the RV`s are built in the factories around here. 

Horse and buggy and Trailer on the main street

You will see horse and buggies or trailers on the roads everywhere.  It is a great spot to call our last call.

Record Temperature in Bowling Green

April 15, 16/2018  Weather 48/35 and then down right cold all day Monday our thermometer read about 34 when we got up and all day it did not get over 38. 
We are in Bowling Green, Kentucky at the KOA. 

getting close to freezing

It was tough getting out of bed this morning, the electric blanket was so warm and toasty!   So glad we have that plug in blanket.    As I turned on the coffee pot and jumped back into bed I said to Billy "look outside, what is that?"  
It is a four letter word......... Oh no.   We had snow flurries on and off all morning but it never stay on the ground. 

EEEEEEEKKKK  snow

We planned on getting Uber and visiting the Corvette Museum but neither one of us was in a hurry to leave the coach today.  If we left we would turn off our heat and then when we returned we would have to warm it up all over again.   We had a vote and decided lets come back next fall maybe and ride this area and see the museum.  It looks like a pretty motorcycle riding area.   
In the North,,,,, it appears Old Man Winter just does not want to go away.   Weather on local news tonight stated this was the coldest April 16 on record in Bowling Green, Kentucky.  Oh yeah!  

Pins on the Map

April 12, 13, 14/2018  Thursday in Texarkana, Texas then  Friday and Saturday in West Memphis, Arkansas.

Shady Pines RV Resort in Texarkana, nice clean long sites

Weather  on Thursday 81 and low of 66.   We set our alarm (leave by 8 am) and moved on and up to Texarkana trying to get ahead of high winds coming in later this afternoon.  Mostly it was behind us or to the side but not too bad.   We got in early by 1:30 and enjoyed the rest of the day under a tree at Shady Pines RV Resort.  We like this park as it is much quieter than others in the area located on the interstates.  It is also very pretty and clean, sometime we should stay here for a week and explore.

Radar shows its coming our way in Memphis, going to hit about midnight

Friday Weather - Extreme Winds behind and side of us, 80 and low of 65.... once again we set our alarm (leave by 8 am) to get ahead of a nasty storm that is coming with high winds and possible tornadoes.  It appears if we can get to Memphis and settle in early afternoon we can then ride out the storm as it passes thru.  Billy will leave all the slides in since the wind can damage the slide toppers.  Our coach is easy to live in closed as it has a central aisle and we can use everything.  We were parked and hooked up by 1:30 pm at the West Memphis KOA.  This is just an ok park but convenient for an overnighter.  We recommend you choose a site at the back of the park to avoid some of the road noise.  We booked in for 2 days since the following day would be us driving into the storm after it passes us.  We are going to sit and wait out the weather; you cannot beat Mother Nature!   It was high winds and rain for a good part of the night about 3 inches fell and the campground was quite wet in the morning.  No worries, we are just hanging around today.  Tomorrow will be another pin on the Map.

water at the W Memphis KOA after the storm

All But Lost Arts

April 11/2018  Today was a full day of events, first Magnolia Market, then Dr. Pepper and now just a couple of miles away from our  I35 RV Park a sustainable agrarian christian village.  Tip:  you will not find this village in the Waco Visitors Guide, we happened to have it in a Needlework Directory!  At the entrance there is a General Store and BBQ.  Continue all the way into the Village area parking and start walking the guided trails to the different buildings.

Each building is this quaint and beautiful

What kind of village is that?  Homestead Heritage Craft Village is set on over 500 acres of land where a Anabaptist community is based to live and dedicate their lives to recapturing and preserving the knowledge and skills for essential human needs.  Spiritually and Socially.  These craftsmen were so friendly and quiet.  There was no mention of anything religious.  We had to do some research to find out about the community beliefs.

the real corn brooms

So what is 'agrarian'?  Well it is any society whose economy is based on producing and maintaining crops and farmland.  I guess simply living off the land and their arts make them able to sustain without technology.
What is the meaning of 'Anabaptist' ?   Historically the Brethren grew from the  German Protestant Radical Reformations in the 16th century - today these communities are commonly known as Amish, Mennonites, Hutterites.  Baptism is given to only those who are adult and old enough to commit themselves to the way of life, thus no baptisms are performed on infants and children.
When visiting the Homestead Heritage Village we were impressed with the beauty, simpleness, care and knowledge.  From what we could gather approximately 50 families and under a 1000 people live in this community.
The community provide teachers for the "all but lost arts".

blacksmith at work

Public are welcome to take classes for a fee.  Impressively it provides a Gristmill, Pottery, Fiber Crafts - Spinning - Weaving - Knitting - Sewing, Black Smith, Woodworking, Homesteading & Garden - Bee Keeping - Animal Raising - Fruit - Poultry - Culinary Herbs, Kitchen & Homemaking - Baking Breads - Cheese Making - Soap Making - Canning, Basket Weaving.

working on a weaving loom

pottery for sale

We took the time to wander into each building and watch people at work in their discipline.  Everything is available to purchase as you go along or a final stop in the Barn or Cafe Homestead give you a chance to find something special made  by hand.  Give yourself several hours to see all the buildings and enjoy some home cooking.
Cost of the courses is interesting.  Really learning a skill is priceless.  You will use it over and over again, even being able to pass the art on to your children, friends and other family.  If you do any hobbies or crafts you will also know the value of creating and crafting; it is personally rewarding.
Here are some examples of the classes:
Beekeeping $120
Soft Cheese Making $135
Blacksmithing 1 $135
Sewing 3 day Beginners $490
Knitting Mittens $80
Floor Loom Weaving Beginners $165
Woodworking Blanket Chest 6 day $1440
Woodworking Build a Guitar from Scratch 17 day $3200
and so much more available.
Truly a Treasure Trove of Skills.

hand made soaps in the Barn

Working on our Balanced Diet

April 11/2018  I forgot to mention that parking is at a minimum when visiting Magnolia Market.  We opted to pay $10 and park in the Baptist Church parking lot.  When we walked back to the bike we found out that the Dr. Pepper Museum is about one block away so we thought "why not, lets go".

delivery truck for Dr. Pepper

All under the company umbrella now - Dr. Pepper, Snapple, 7 up, Canada Dry, Crush, A&W, Vernors and more

Billy loves soda pop.  Yes he is a Pepper!  The museum (a 1906 bottling plant) is mostly artifacts and a memorabilia, there is quite a bit of history on the World's Fair that was interesting.  Dr. Pepper was first served all the way back in 1885 in Waco.  It is the oldest soft drink brand in America.....that we did not know.  As in most soft drinks the inventor was a pharmacist.  He was from Waco, Texas and   No his name was not Dr. Pepper!!!  haha.   Legend has it that he named “Dr. Pepper” after the father of a young girl he was once in love with.  There are other theories about the origins of the soft drink’s name.   One conjecture is the “pep” refers to pepsin.

7 up bottling line

After the museum you can visit the Frosty's Soda Shop and that is where we continued to work on our Balanced Diet for the day.  2 Rootbeer Floats please!

That hits the spot after the cupcake

Want to see "Your Fixer Upper?"

April 11/2018  Weather 81 sunny, low of 61.  Windy.
Our campground is just north of Waco in Elm Mott so we took some of the back roads into the city center.  It is all starting to fit together why the HGTV show Fixer Upper became an overnight hit refurbishing homes in the Waco, Texas area.  While driving in we saw many properties that need some loving....

has some personality, just needs some Fixer Upper

What a success Chip and Joanna Gaines have become!   They refurbished their biggest project for their own Magnolia Market retail store and bakery.  The property is formally part of a cotton seed mill - there are 2 large silos and a 20,000 sq foot huge barn in downtown Waco.   This is 90% Joanna's thing and 10% Chip.   Lots and lots of decorator items and then a corner for t-shirts and hats called Chip's Corner.  

Silo's Bakery - the line up goes down the block but it moves fast

Best part of the visit is to the Silo's Bakery.  The cupcakes are literally to die for!   Not cheap $3.50 each but worth every penny.  

So one chocolate and one strawberry?

Cupcake heaven

The housing refurbishment show is in its 5th and final season and this couple have so much more going on - baby number 5, Joanna releasing a cookbook,  a newly opened Magnolia Bed and Breakfast and newer still Magnolia Table Restaurant.  The restaurant is located where the historic Elite Cafe was in 1919.  Legend has it Elvis was known to have frequented while stationed nearby during his time in the army. 

Enter and let the shopping begin

Truly the Gaines couple have revitalized Waco.  The tourist center estimates 30,000 visitors stop each week  to take in the Fixer Upper extravaganza.  That is truly great for the City of Waco; and they are making a fortune!

My find at Magnolia Market - a recipe holder