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Comments
Erica and i were determined to camp this weekend. We each had our reasons for really wanting to go. We had a spot booked weeks ago. But, a forecast for a ton of rain made it look like that would not be any fun. So, our next thought was head north, for some winter fun, in April. But, we really did not want more winter, and we worried that travel would be simply dangerous, with all kinds of ice and snow forecasted. Environment Canada was warning of a "Potentially Historic Ice Storm." We continued to watch the forecast throughout the week, and decided to push the decision as late as we could. The forecast did not improve. What to do? Being in Southern Ontario, we can go North, East, or West. All those options looked bad within a five hour drive. So, we decided to consider an option we don't usually take. Head South, into the US of A.
We considered some logistics. Passports, check. Dogs; valid rabies shot. One out of two. Unfortunately, our Adventure Poodle would not be able to make the trip, as he got his rabies shot just days before our planned departure. The CDC wanted him to have the shot 30 days prior to entry. My parents were able to watch the Adventure Poodle though. We knew he would be happy, and well cared for; check! Food. Heavy restrictions bringing food into the USA from Canada. Ok, we can do some shopping across the border. Destination. To the Googles. We considered a couple options, and debated some pros and cons. We decided on Hickory Run State Park in PA. A journey with about 5.5 hours of driving and a border crossing.
We were able to take off around 3pm. Not ideal, but we've faced worse schedules. We dropped off Adventure Poodle, and headed to the border. It took around a half hour of waiting, but our crossing went smoothly. Hello America!
Since our plans were made a little last minute, we did not have everything meticulously planned. We knew we had to get some food, but had no idea where. We stopped at the first grocery store we came across. A "Save A Lot." It was a fairly small store, with the smallest produce section I've ever seen. Many of the brand names were unfamiliar to us. We circled the sore a few times, and left with a basket of food. Since it was nearby, and familiar to us, we grabbed a bite to eat at a Tim Hortons. We fueled up the truck, and we were rolling again. Up and down the hills of New York.
Most of our travels in Ontario are quite flat, and straight. Our drives are often uninteresting, and just about putting in time, in order to get to our destination. But, this journey featured a far more interesting drive. Hills, and curves! It made the drive seem like less of a chore, and more like part of the vacation. The truck sure got a workout on some very steep climbs. For the first time ever, I had my foot to the floor, was not accelerating, and was doing 50 in a 55. Huh. That's fine. I was 0% concerned. There were lots of other climbs that had the truck revving at about 4500 RPM, but it always held the speed limit. Night fell on our travels, limiting our views for the last couple hours. That just meant that we would have some fresh views for the return trip.
We ended up pulling into the park around 11pm. Oops. That's later than they want you to pull in. We did our best to be quiet, and not disturb any campers. The site was easy to back into, and nice and level. The temperatures were nice, and we were snoozing before long.
Even after driving many hours south, we knew that Saturday's weather would be great, but the forecast for Sunday and Monday was showing a high chance of rain. That's better than snow and ice, but still not as good as sunshine. So, we planned to make the most of Saturday. We even set an alarm, so we did not slumber for too long.
We started our day with the "Shades of Death" trail. It was an amazingly diverse trail, with waterfalls, green plants (refreshing this time of year), varied terrain, and good conditions. It was one of the nicest hikes we've done.
The weather was so warm, we could hardly handle it! We left our sweaters in the T@b, but even in light long sleeves, we were a little overdressed!
After the Shades of Death trail, we headed back to the campsite for lunch. We were both a little alarmed by how salty some of our selections turned out to be. We decided to have a little lay down in the T@b before heading out again. It was so warm, we even fired up the air conditioning. Refueled, and rested, we were ready for more.
We headed out to see Hawk Falls. It was definitely a popular spot, but not overcrowded.
Beyond the falls, we planned to hike a loop. We were expecting a challenging hike, and certainly found a challenge, complete with very steep, and slippery terrain. It was fun, grabbing trees, to keep ourselves on the trail, and not sliding down the steep slopes. But, eventually, we ended up losing the trail, and backtracked. We did not feel defeated, as we enjoyed the trek anyways.
Saturday was not over yet though! We still had time to check out one of the defining features of the park. The Boulder Field! I've never seen anything like it. So vast. So flat. Seemingly out of place. We were not sure how our Mini Adventure Mutt would handle it, but she skipped from boulder to boulder without missing a beat.
We wrapped up the night with a campfire, fueled by nice dry wood from the camp store. We both felt we made the most of the insanely nice Saturday weather. The temperatures dropped sharply overnight. So much so, that even though we were using the A/C in the afternoon, I turned on the heat in the middle of the night, when I awoke feeling chilly.
On Sunday, we woke up a little tired from our busy Saturday, so we slumbered a bit later. I took the Adventure Mutt outside in the morning, and found the air to have a bit of a mist to it, making it feel much colder and damper than the day before.
After some oatmeal and coffee, we headed out for a quest to find a fire tower indicated on the park map. Somehow though, our quest failed. We did not find a fire tower. How can you not find a fire tower? I don't know. Poor map reading skills? Naw, can't be. They must have torn it down or something! lol
Anyways, we shifted our focus to the Fireline trail, and enjoyed some nice views, though we dressed much differently than the day before.
After getting out and adventuring a little bit, we did not feel guilty about spending some time relaxing in the trailer. Erica had a movie downloaded on the old iPad, so we watched that, and shared lots of laughs.
It was looking like rain was moving in for the evening, so spending time sitting around the campfire did not seem like a great plan. But, we still wanted to do something other than sit around. Fortunately, Erica is great at coming up with fun, spontaneous (or sometimes not so spontaneous) plans.
For a while now, Erica has been telling me about a chain of fondue restaurants called "the Melting Pot." She has been wanting to go for some time now, but they don't have any locations near us in Canada, although there is one near us in Buffalo. Erica found a location in Bethlehem, a little over an hour away from where we were camped. We had time, so we went for it. We took some more winding roads, and arrived at the restaurant, perhaps a little under-dressed, and a little dirtier than we normally are when we dine out. But, none the less, our waitress treated us very well.
Our night out was fantastic. The fondue and all the dippers were delicious. Also, our waitress even brought us a tasty chocolate maple leaf they drew up for us with our desert. She seemed excited that we came so far, telling us that she had never served any Canadians at the restaurant previously. I was a little surprised by that, but we were near 6 hours away from the border.
The drive back to the campground was very dark and rainy, but we made it safe, and tucked into bed.
Aaaand, we stayed there for a good long while. We woke to the sound of wind an rain. A lot of rain came down, so we slumbered, and listened to an audio book.
Eventually, come late morning, the rain let up. It was warm, an actually really nice for a few moments when there was a gap between the clouds. We both showered up. Feeling refreshed, we lit a fire, and roasted up some lunch, before packing up.
Perhaps the Adventure Mutt did not want to leave. She seemed to protest hooking up the trailer!
But, she did yield, and we hit the road.
Again, we enjoyed the scenery, as we made our way through the mountains of PA.
As we got closer to home, something bad happened. It started snowing! Yuck. As we got closer to Buffalo, the roads were getting kind of slushy. We passed one vehicle in the ditch, so I was sure to drive with care.
Fortunately, the borer crossing was quick, and we made it back home safely. I was pretty grumpy about the weather, but we were very happy we were able to escape it for a few days.
The overnight low was below freezing, so I made the call to winterize the trailer again for the night. Better safe than sorry I thought. I completed the task fairly quickly, having learned the process in the fall. Only one mistake. After I was tucked in bed, I realized I forgot to address the water pump. Whoops. I quickly popped out of bed, and drained the pump/lines, to avoid potential issues.
Waking up this morning, it is still icy and cool outdoors, but at least Erica and I have the memories of sunny and warm April days in PA.
Thanks for reading!
T@Bit@t 2015 S Max Outback, ‘18 V6 4Runner
The Adventure Mutt was not too happy to come back to reality, and share our attention with another dog. Oh well, suck it up pup!
Some people might think the amount of driving we do for such short adventures is a little crazy, but we do our best to not let distance stop us from having a good time.
TV: 2006 Chevy Avalanche LT Z71 aka: WhiteWolf, or 1972 Chevy Custom10 P/U aka: SnarlingWolf
Spokane, Wa.
Eric aka: Lone Wolf
Speaking of pups, did the border folks question you about dog food or bagged treats? Nothing requiring refrigeration though. Just curious.
Looks like you had a wonderful weekend!
Sure enough, once the tire was off the ground, I could wobble the wheel / tire back and forth. Hub bearings are toast. Great. Well, at leas it did not leave me stranded. Good thing I listened to that voice inside my head telling me to check it. And, it was only Wednesday night, so I knew there was a good chance I could get it fixed before our planned Friday departure. I was frustrated though. It was a another hassle to deal with, it is an expensive repair on my vehicle, and I don't really have a relationship with any mechanic close to my new job. I'd have to call around and solve that problem in the morning.
Though flustered by the truck issue, I moved my shaken focus to de-winterizing the trailer. I connected the hose to the city water connection to fill the Alde, and the rest of the water lines. Well, that is what was supposed to happen. Instead, I flooded the trailer under the galley kitchen sink, because I had not yet re-connected the water pump hose. Can I get a break here? I got the water turned off as quick as I could. Fortunately, the trailer was tipped tail down, so water did not spread through the whole trailer. After drying that out, I quickly completed the de-winterizing task.
In the morning, I found a shop that said they could fix my truck that day. Good. They found a few other items needing repair, and a mislabeled box from a part supplier meant I would have to pick up my truck on Friday instead. Ok, that still works, it will just delay packing a little bit.
So, Thursday night, we got the trailer packed, and Friday evening, I drove my truck home from the shop after work. The truck was now way quieter, with far less rattling and such. Good. We loaded the truck, hitched up the trailer, and were on our way. The drive went as well as expected, and we reached our lakefront plot in Presqu'ile Provincial Park. Before long, we were tucked inside the T@b, with all four of us (two people, two dogs) fitting in fine. I thought the addition of the now larger Adventure Poodle would make the trailer feel cramped, but it did not bother me one bit.
Saturday morning came, and we were both awake fairly early. As I expected, it was cool by the Great Lake Ontario, so we started with a walk, and a hot oatmeal breakfast. We spent much of Saturday relaxing, enjoying the view, playing with the dogs, and getting in a high quality nap.
Since we were up early, there was still plenty of time in the day for a little exploring. So, we headed to the Marsh Boardwalk Trail.
The marsh was still waking up from a long winter, and cool spring.
The boardwalk was lovely. It was well constructed, with nice composite deck boards, and wound through the marsh. Remains from a previous edition of the boardwalk remained as well.
Having explored enough to not feel like we wasted the day, we went to bed, excited for the next day, which was forecast to be warmer, and have a special Mother's day visit from my wife's mother.
From my first step outside the trailer on Sunday morning, I knew it was going to be a good day weather wise. The sun was warm, the winds were calm, and although there were tons of bugs, they were of the non-biting variety.
We had a nice calm start to our morning, and then our special guest arrived. We got all caught up, and had a nice lunch together, before heading out for a bike ride.
It was a wonderful day to ride though the park. Much of our route featured one way roads, and wide bike lanes. Perfect. Another interesting feature of the route was the small barriers along the side of the road, to restrict reptiles and other small animals to using small tunnels to cross the road, rather than risk their lives in automobile traffic.
When I hopped off my bike for a closer look at one of the tunnels, I was greeted by a Painted Turtle. What a treat. Clearly, the tunnels work.
We wrapped up our time at Presqu'ile by enjoying the visitor centre by the lighthouse. This provided an opportunity to learn a little bit more about the park. It also had a nice model of the lighthouse inside.
The full sized lighthouse was an impressive display of, well, scaffolding, as it gets some refurbishment work done.
With smiles on our faces, we headed home, knowing our next trip was not far away.
THE END.
Well, actually, not quite. I wish it was the end, but I've got more to ramble on about.
The drive home was going in typical fashion. A few slowdowns here and there, but we were making good time overall. Then, I got a very slight clue that maybe something was wrong. I noticed a very minor vibration in the steering wheel. Maybe it was just the road surface. It was not worrying, since it was not as bad as when I've experienced tire balance issues in the past. However, very shortly thereafter, fairly suddenly, I heard noises that made me say to Erica, I think we have a flat tire, I we need to pull over. Very quickly, the noise became more and more severe sounding. I quickly scanned, to see a very narrow shoulder on the highway, but an off ramp just a few hundred meters away, with a wider shoulder.
I brought the truck and trailer to a stop, narrowly off the road way, near the start of the off ramp. I got out of the vehicle, with Erica urging me to be careful. I did a walk around the truck, but to my confusion, I saw no flat, or even low tires. Huh? I got down on a knee. No fluid under the truck either. Trailer tires? They look fine too. Front steering and suspension? That looks fine too. But, something was definitely not fine. The shop had the front wheels off for the earlier repair work. Lug nuts? Fine on passenger side. Driver side? Uhh-oh. One is missing. Let's take a closer look. The stud has sheared off too. And, the rest of the lug nuts are mostly un-threaded. Holy ****! I could only think of one explanation for that. The repair shop did not torque the lug nuts properly. I was so mad. I've done my fair share of tire changes, and never have I had a problem with properly torqued lug nuts loosening off.
Erica urged me to get off the road, and call a tow truck. But instead, I pulled a little further off the road, and tightened up the 5 remaining lug nuts, and checked the other side, which was sufficiently tight. We then rolled along the off ramp, and headed to the nearest parking lot, where I re-torqued the lug nuts again.
I then took a few minutes to take some deep breaths, and collect myself. I may sound dramatic, but we were very close to a terrible accident. Had that front driver side wheel come off on the highway, I would have lost control of the truck, and we would have very likely been hit at high speed. We could have lost our truck, trailer, and maybe even our lives. Deep breath, slow exhale. Repeat.
I decided that 5 of 6 lugnuts is good enough to get us home, but I did not want to be stupid about it. I decided we would drive at highway speed for about 3km to the next exit, and check the lug nuts again. After doing so, I found them all to be sufficiently tight, so I decided we would proceed home. I was still so mad. We did not talk too much on the remainder of the ride home.
Thanks to our guardian angel, we did make it home safely. Yikes.
Happy camping, and stay safe everyone.
Draco dormiens numquam titilandus.
2023 Tab 400 / 2022 F150 XLT Sport 3.5EB
Traded in - 2018 T@B 320 S/2019 Toyota 4Runner SR5
About the lugs.....A similar thing happened to my Dad and our family. I was 11 yo maybe? New Year's Day (a Sunday), heading back from a week in Florida at Grandma's. Tha-thump, tha-thump! Mom yells at my Dad over the din of 4 little girls and windows open "Something's Wrong!"
Dad was hard of hearing then (he's deaf now). "Wha?!!!!?"
Mom screams the same thing. Dad pulls the International TravelAll over on the side of the road and kicks all 4 tires. They are solid. Dad hops in and says nothing is wrong. "hrmmmmm", says Mom.
Same noise, only louder and louder. NOW Dad can hear it. We are in the middle of nowhere on a Sunday and New Year's Day. Dad pulled the hubcap off the driver's side tire and there were two sheared off studs, one missing lug on a bent stud, and the other lugs were working their way off. We weren't rich and Dad wondered what we were going to do. Dad tightens the remaining lugs and we limp down the ramp to a tiny town.
Thunder and rain start. We stopped by a tiny restaurant that was open and Dad asked if there was a chance there was a mechanic. Cue 4 cute little girls that looked a wee more than shell-shocked. A mechanic was found and opened his shop for us. We lived happily ever-after (we all hated that TravelAll). This all before safety equipment and no mandatory seatbelts. I'm not sure we could even find the lap belts in the back seats. Sometimes it's not just one angel, it's the entire choir!
@rkj__, I'm VERY glad you arrived at home, safe and sound. Also, the shop owner seems to be making things right.
Great pictures and great adventure!
TV: 2006 Chevy Avalanche LT Z71 aka: WhiteWolf, or 1972 Chevy Custom10 P/U aka: SnarlingWolf
Spokane, Wa.
Eric aka: Lone Wolf
2023 Tab 400 / 2022 F150 XLT Sport 3.5EB
Traded in - 2018 T@B 320 S/2019 Toyota 4Runner SR5
Thanks for the feedback.
T@Bit@t 2015 S Max Outback, ‘18 V6 4Runner
I too too enjoy living vicariously through the journeys of others sometimes.
Love following your adventures!
Pulled by a silver 2017 Chevy Silverado
Leaves on T@bventures from Spokane, WA
T@Bit@t 2015 S Max Outback, ‘18 V6 4Runner
Pulled by a silver 2017 Chevy Silverado
Leaves on T@bventures from Spokane, WA
@rkj__ your posts are delightful to read, and the pics are great, too! I hadn't seen a Columbia tent/shelter before. I'm off to google it! Thanks!
Pulled by a silver 2017 Chevy Silverado
Leaves on T@bventures from Spokane, WA