Tuesday, August 28, through Wednesday, September 5, 2012:  Back to Michigan (and the Wheelers):

Tuesday, we finally left Canada and made the easy trip of 161 miles to St. Clair, Michigan---about 40 miles north of Detroit.  Getting through the border at Port Huron, Michigan, was a piece of cake.



Becky had made a list of fruits and vegetables we had on board and was prepared to hand it to the agent.  He never even asked what we were carrying.

We are staying at the Thousand Trails Preserve in St. Clair.  It’s a very nice place (especially for a TT preserve, some of which are getting a little ratty---e.g., Soledad Canyon).  Initially, we had difficulty getting TV reception, but moved the trailer five feet forward (out from under a tree) and the problem was solved.  Hurrah!

We decided to make a quick visit to Grosse Pointe, a northern suburb of Detroit, where I had lived in 1943 and 1944.  I had punched into our GPS what I thought was the address of our home, which I had not seen in 68 years, and before we got there I told Becky what I thought I remembered about the place---where it was, what it looked like, its location on the block, the appearance of the house next door, and the name of the cross street. 



I have no idea how I remembered the address or any of the other details, but I was right on the mark on everything.  Maybe it‘s senility rising.

The house is in a surprisingly nice neighborhood, and, just a few blocks closer to Lake St. Clair, the neighborhood gets even better.  Actual mansions.  And along the lakefront (in adjacent Grosse Pointe Woods) there are virtual castles.  Wow! 

We made the 152-miles to Marshall on Thursday in a short, uninterrupted trek.  It's located about halfway between Ann Arbor (the home of the University of Michigan) and Battle Creek (the home of Kellogg's, which, some years ago, closed its cereal plant there and sent 4,000 workers packing).  We are staying at the Tri-Lake Trails Campground, a 300-acre property with trees, lakes, lots of grass, corn fields, and big RV sites.  Very nice.

Bill and Pat Wheeler are from Marshall, and they have been back here for the last six months, taking care of Pat's 99-year old father.  We had dinner with them Thursday night at the Stagecoach Inn, a local pub.  I had fish & chips, their all-you-can-eat special.  Very good.  I ate too much, of course.

The restaurant is on Michigan Avenue in Marshall.  By law, all Michigan cities must name their main street Michigan Avenue.  Not terribly creative. 



A couple of weeks ago, the “Check Engine” light on our truck started coming on again.  And we started belching smoke again.  And we started losing some coolant.  It was time to give up and have the truck looked at.  I showed up at the GMC dealer in Battle Creek (DeMaagd Nissan/GMC) at 8:00AM on Friday.  There is a dealer in Marshall, but the service advisor there had already told me his diesel man was not as good as the one at DeMaagd, and he had recommended that I go there.  The service advisor at DeMaagd, Rob Taylor, was very nice and seemed very knowledgeable.  I left the truck in his hands.

Bill Wheeler picked me up in Battle Creek and we headed back to Marshall.  Bill stopped at Louie’s Bakery for some very sweet and gooey pastries.  Yum.

He then took me on a brief tour of the neighborhood. Marshall is a town of only 4,000 people but it has a history of having had a number of well-to-do people build nice homes there in the 19th century---which have largely been very well-maintained over the years.  There are a lot of places on historic registers. It’s an interesting place to visit.

An hour later, Rob called with the bad news.  The fuel injectors we had replaced previously need to be replaced again and we have a leaking water pump.  The former injector work was guaranteed for only 12,000 miles (we had gone 50,000 miles) or one year (it had been 22 months).  Ka-ching!!!  And the truck would probably not be ready until Thursday afternoon, six days later.

(The fact that Labor Day was Monday did not help.)  We were scheduled to leave Marshall on Thursday, so we will have to push our schedule back a day.  I spent the rest of the day a little depressed at all that news, but I bounced back.  Bill and Pat loaned us one of their cars so at least we didn’t have to rent one while we waited.

Saturday evening, we met the Wheelers at Schuler's, a 103-year old landmark restaurant in Marshall.  I had a delicious Winston Burger in the pub side of the restaurant.  (Winston "Win" Schuler, the now-deceased son of the creator, managed the restaurant for many years.)

Sunday was a lazy day.

Monday morning, Becky took her bike on a 17-mile ride to Battle Creek, where I picked her up.  We then tracked down at the Meijer Market a wine we had discovered at a winery (Good Harbor) in northern Michigan.  We had been told the market stocked this brand and this particular blend of red table wine.  The first store said they had it, but they did not.  The second store came through with 12 bottles, which we snapped up. 



In the afternoon, the Wheelers stopped by and we had a Labor Day barbecue.  The RV park was jumping.  There were people everywhere.  That night, there were fireworks nearby.  Very festive.

Tuesday was another day of rest.  Wednesday, we got word that our truck would be ready in the afternoon.  Hurray!  We can leave on Thursday, as originally planned.  We picked it up, gave Bill his "loaner" back, and headed back to the RV park. 

Wednesday evening, we met the Wheeletrs for dinner at Applebee's, where I had a tasty Fiesta Chicken Chopped Salad.  We then said goodbye to them---until we meet again in November in Palm Springs, California.

This ended our Michigan adventure.  

Sunday, August 26 & Monday, August 27, 2012: The last Stop in Canada:
Sunday was a very long day.  First, the trek to Milton, Ontario, was 239 miles, more than we usually like to do.  Second, along the way we discovered that the plastic underbody cover on our trailer came loose

(probably from all the bouncing on the rough Canadian roads we had encountered) and was dragging on the pavement.  That meant a foot of it was worn off across the entire front edge.  I was able to tie it up temporarily so we could finish the drive to Milton.

Third, because Monday was going to be devoted to fixing the underbody problem, and also because rain was predicted for Monday, we decided to run into Toronto (40 miles away) on Sunday afternoon.

Toronto was very interesting.  It’s Canada’s largest city (5.5 million people).  We first drove along the waterfront (Lake Ontario, naturally). 

Very pretty, with lots of beautiful, and, I’m sure, very expensive, high-rise condominiums.  We then drove by Rogers Centre, the domed home of the Toronto Blue Jays (and other sports teams),

and then we hit some of the worst traffic imaginable in the center of the downtown area.  We thought Sunday would be a good time to see Toronto because everybody would be at home.  Wrong! I think all 5.5 million residents were out---walking, riding bicycles, and otherwise cutting in and out of traffic. 

There are, however, some magnificent buildings, old and new, in the city.  Getting out of the city by circuitous routes, we passed through some lovely residential areas.  We finally got “home” just before 7:00PM.

We are staying at the Milton Heights Campground, a nice place, with, however, too many trees for our satellite dish.

We will have to suck it up and go without live TV for two days.  Although the RV sites are small, the property is huge, with very large grassy areas.  Very pretty. Very calming.  Ramsey is in Heaven.

Monday was the day to fix the underbelly problem.  It involved only three trips to Home Depot: The first to get a piece of plywood (cut to size) and a bunch of screws,

the second to get an inch cut off the piece of plywood I had just had bought, and the third to replace my electric screwdriver/drill that decided to die with three screws left in the project.  But, it all turned out well, and we will be on our way back to the U.S. on Tuesday without worry.

Friday, August 24 & Saturday, August 25, 2012: Back in the States Temporarily:
The trip to Clayton, New York, was an easy 186 miles, mostly on the TransCanada Highway. 

Our border crossing near Clayton was easy because our border folks were very efficient in managing and processing the line of cars.  It was very different from the other day near Niagara Falls where we had to wait more than two hours to get through the border.

Clayton is in the 1000 Lakes area, just a few miles from where the St. Lawrence River meets Lake Ontario.  It’s a summer vacation area.  We are staying at the Merry Knoll Campground, an old, funky place right on the water. 

It’s OK, though.  Plenty of grass.  The people who own and run it (Jim and Joanne) are very nice.  They’ve been here for 30 years.  That’s a loooooong time.

We’re here just as a stopover on the way toward Toronto, which will be our last stop in Canada.

The first order of business was to take Ramsey to the vet primarily to update his shots.  The vet determined that Ramsey had been invaded by a tick, probably some months ago in Washington.  She gave Becky some medicine to counteract the effects, which were mild in any event.  Otherwise, our little boy is terrific.

Saturday, we ventured to nearby Alexander Bay (“Alex Bay” to locals) to hop on an Uncle Sam Boat Tours boat for a two-hour tour

of a part of the 1000 Islands area.  (By actual count, there are 1,864 islands.)  It was actually more interesting than I expected.  There are some magnificent homes along the water, both on the U.S. side and the Canadian side.

And the islands themselves are interesting---some as small as a few feet in diameter.  (To qualify as an island, it must have a height of at least one foot above the water at all times and contain two kinds of flora, one of which must be a tree.)

There are a couple of old castles built during the days of incredible wealth and non-existent income taxes, one of which is now a destination island of its own, operated as a part of the New York state park system.  The place was never quite finished, then was abandoned for many years after its owner‘s wife died, and was finally sold to the state for $1.00, after which the state spent $35,000,000 refurbishing it.  It’s still not finished.

Sunday, August 19, through Thursday, August 23, 2012: Five Days in Eastern Canada:
It was an easy 169 miles to St. Philippe, Quebec.  We crossed into Canada just outside Champlain, near the New York/Vermont border.



The agent at the border was very accommodating.  That means he believed Becky when, in response to his asking whether we had any alcohol on board, she said we were carrying only a couple of bottles of wine.

We are staying at La Cle des Champs (“the Key to the Fields“ ?---my French is very bad) RV Park, a very nice place in the middle of nowhere.

We are surrounded by corn and soy bean farms.  The closest city is Montreal, which we will visit on Monday.

On the way here today, I realized that, while in the rest of Canada the signs are in both English and French out of respect for the French Canadians in Eastern Canada, the signs here are only in French.  Rather rude.  But that’s the French.

The visit to Montreal was very interesting.  After driving by the main Olympic Village area (the ‘76 Summer Olympics)

which had a few dramatic building designs, we stayed mostly in the “old port” area---next to the St. Lawrence River.

It has many beautiful old buildings, some large not-so-beautiful new buildings along the shore, cobblestone streets, and lots of shops.  The centerpiece is the Place Jacques Cartier, lined with restaurants and other typical tourist shops, and featuring a memorial to Lord Nelson.

The guide book suggested that the restaurants at the Place were neither cheap nor good.  We tested the theory by having lunch at Le Fripon

which was indeed not cheap, but the food was excellent.  (I had mussels and fries.)  And we enjoyed watching the passing parade of tourists from our table at the edge of the sidewalk.

We also stopped at the lovely Notre Dame Basilica, which had a large crowd assembled outside---just to enter the building.  We passed.

And we drove by a demonstration at the City Hall, but we could not decipher the signs so we have no idea what was being protested.

We also walked through the Bonsecours Market, a series of upscale shops housed in a huge, beautiful building that was the Montreal City Hall in the 19th century.

The parking guy at the port decided that our pickup truck deserved being treated like a real truck, and charged us a flat $20.00 instead of the much cheaper hourly rate applicable to cars.  Rude!

By the way, the streets in and around Montreal are uniformly awful---the worst we have driven on anywhere.  I’m surprised we have any suspension left.

Tuesday was another travel day, this time another 169 miles to the Quebec City area.  We are staying at the Camping Transit RV Park in Levis, a suburb of QC, just across the St. Lawrence River.

It’s a nice park, not as fancy as the last one, but the sites are wider, there’s a lot more grass, and it has a more open feeling. We visited Levis Tuesday afternoon,

walking (with Ramsey, of course) along the riverbank in a nice park.  The city, itself, is nothing special, but it has hills that I didn’t expect and has, therefore, some nice views of the river and QC across the way.

Wednesday, we took the Pierre Laporte Bridge over to Quebec City.  We stayed mostly in and near the (old) walled portion of the city.  It's the only city north of Mexico City on this continent that is walled. 

How's that for a significant fact?  We visited the Fairmont Chateau Frontenac, one of the old super-deluxe hotels built by the Canadian Pacific Railroad (as were the Banff Springs Hotel and the Chateau Lake Louise, which are now also run by the Fairmont people).  It's huge, fabulous, and much too complex. 

Not an easy place to enjoy wandering in, therefore.  It's purported to be the most photographed hotel in the world.  I have no basis for disagreement.

On the long boardwalk along a palisade below the hotel, there are musicians, great views of the St. Lawrence River ("Fleuve St. Laurent" in French), and gazebos with people just hanging out.  Very pleasant.

We "hiked" the Governor's Promenade, a recent addition which takes you from the boardwalk up to the grounds of the Citadel---the old fort area.  The Promenade has 310 steps to climb on its more than 750-yard length. 

The city was founded by Samuel de Champlain in 1635, and the old part has a distinctly French flavor.  It is just charming.  Along the Grand Allee, which takes you into the walled part of the city, there are an unbroken series of sidewalk cafes/restaurants on the ground floor of stunningly beautiful apartments and hotels.

We decided to take the ferry back to Levis.  It was a quick ten minutes.  That saved about a half hour of driving.  A very good idea.

That was it for Wednesday.  Tomorrow we head back to the Montreal area for a quick stop on our way west.

Thursday was another 169-mile day back to St. Philippe and La Cle des Champs RV Park near Montreal.  We were assigned the site right next to the site we had earlier this week.  It was like being home again. 

We took advantage of the proximity to a nearby Costco to load up on stuff, again.  It had been a while.

Tomorrow, we will be back in New York for a brief visit.