Leaving the USA

On Saturday we crossed the border at Port Huron, MI to Sarnia, ON.

Indiana

We left Cave City, Kentucky at 11:00am after a leisurely breakfast at the campsite, and in less than an hour we entered the Louisville metro area.

Cave City, Kentucky

The drive from Elkmont to Cave City was uneventful. We passed right through Nashville on I-65, and the 11am traffic was heavy but moving well.

Elkmont, Alabama

We arrived in Elkmont yesterday, and set up for two days at Mill Creek RV Park, a couple of miles from the village.

Technical glitch

We have had a technical problem with our residential refrigerator installation.

Beach at sunset

We went to dinner at The Perfect Pig, located next to the beach. I had Crab Cakes, and The Navigator had the house specialty, broiled Grouper.

Eden Gardens State Park

Eden Gardens is a small state park located on Tucker Bayou, an inlet off Choctawhatchee Bay. It is about 10 miles from Live Oak Landing, our home while we are in Florida.

More Santa Rosa Beach

Wednesday, and the weather is perfect again. Another morning at the beach, after eating breakfast at a newly-discovered restaurant called The Perfect Pig, which is located across the road from the parking area at Ed Walline Beach. Breakfast was so good, we will go there for dinner to celebrate our 44th anniversary, in two days time.

Santa Rosa Beach

It is Tuesday, and finally, we awakened to sunshine. The weather today was wonderful; bright and sunny, almost no wind, 75 degrees, and lower humidity. Perfect beach weather!

Destin, Florida

Destin is a city of 12,000 people located about midway between Pensacola and Panama City Beach, on Florida's Emerald Coast. The population increases to 40,000 during the tourist season, which is May until November.

Live Oak Landing

We are settled in at Live Oak Landing near Freeport, FL. We have been coming to this area since we started RVing 18 years ago. We would come for a two week break over the holiday in December, and return to Ontario the first week in January. In those days, we would stay at Topsail Hill State Park.

Drive to Freeport, FL

Payne's RV Park in Theodore, Alabama turned out to be one of the quietest, most peaceful overnight stops we have ever stayed at.

Theodore, AL

We left New Orleans at 11am today, after walking into the French Quarter for a hearty Cajun breakfast at the Oceana Grill, the place we went for lunch yesterday. It wasn't raining this morning.

New Orleans

We left Robert, LA which is near the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, at 10:00am, and made a stop at a brand new Walmart in Pontachoula to pick up a good heavy-duty umbrella.

Robert, LA

We are taking it easy in the Yogi Bear Camping Resort near Robert, LA, which is about one hour's drive from New Orleans French Quarter.

Rural Louisiana

We are presently in a small park in Louisiana called Quiet Oaks RV Park.

Katy, TX

We arrived in Katy, which is a suburb of Houston, at 1:00pm. The park is called Westlake RV Resort, and it is surprisingly nice for a city park.

Boerne to Houston

We just spent three nights at Top of the Hill RV Resort, and tomorrow morning we leave for Katy, TX, which is a western suburb of Houston.

Boerne, TX

It was an uneventful 335 mile journey from Balmorhea to Boerne (pronounced "Bernie"). The Navigator drove for the first 120 miles.

Balmorhea, TX

The drive from Las Cruces to Balmorhea was very relaxing, except for passing through El Paso. I-10 is under major construction through the city, and we discovered a bypass route around El Paso that goes through Fort Bliss, the massive Armed Forces base.

Las Cruces, NM

As I write this, we are relaxing at Coachlight Motel and RV Park in Las Cruces, NM. Today's journey from Benson was another easy drive through desert terrain.

Tombstone, AZ

Tombstone is a historic town located about 30 miles south of Benson, quite close to the Mexico border.

Benson, AZ

We left Yuma at 9:30 on Saturday morning, and started east along I-8, destination Benson, AZ, a distance of 280 miles.

Yuma, AZ

We left Rancho California resort at 9:30am PDT this morning, and arrived in Yuma, AZ at 1:00pm MST.

Time to leave California

It is with some regret that we prepared our rig for travel, after 3 months in this beautiful resort in the high desert of Southern California.

Arriving in California

We left Benson, AZ and traveled west through Tucson, which always impresses us as a clean, well-laid-out city.

Texas to Tucson

We left Boerne, TX after an enjoyable 5 day stay over the Christmas holiday, and headed west on I-10.

Top of the Hill RV Park

Top of the Hill is located 5 miles north of Boerne, TX (pronounced "Bernie").

Texas

We left Vidalia, LA, and drove on Louisiana state highways southwest down to I-10. These roads were mostly in good condition, and the only tedious part was passing through Alexandria. We joined I-10 just east of Lake Charles, LA. Heading west on I-10, we soon entered Texas at Beaumont.

Natchez, Mississippi

We spent last night in a great Passport America park in Vidalia, LA, which is just across the Mississippi River from Natchez, which is the southern terminus of the Natchez Trace.

Natchez Trace Parkway

The Parkway is a 440 mile long two-lane highway that runs from just west of Nashville to Natchez, Mississippi, which is on the Mississippi River, 150 miles from the Gulf of Mexico.

Our trip has begun!

Our journey from Ontario to California began on Sunday. We pulled the rig out of our son's place after a very enjoyable two months.

Taste of winter

We have been having some unseasonably wintry weather here in Sutton, Ontario. Last night the temperature dropped to -11C (12F), and the daytime temperatures are staying below freezing.

Cold temperature living

We are currently staying in Sutton, Ontario, which is about 40 miles north of Toronto. The average night time low temperature here in November is 30degF (-1degC), but we are experiencing a cold snap for the next few days, with night temperatures down to 18F (-8C).

Moved to Sutton (pictures updated!)

We  moved out of Cedarwood on Friday, and drove the rig to Keswick, ON, where we parked at Walmart overnight. Early Saturday morning, we arrived at our son's house, and executed the trickiest backing maneuver I've ever done.

Slide topper awnings

Our Pinnacle has three slide topper awnings, which were installed by the factory when the unit was built. After three years of fulltime use, the original black vinyl fabric had deteriorated to the point that it was starting to tear at the seam where it went into the wall awning track.

The migration begins!

People are leaving Cedarwood, which officially closes on Wednesday.

Trailer tires

Background
The subject of trailer tires is hotly debated on any of the online forums. A lot of people have an opinion, and a good percentage have had tire problems at some point. In fact, if you haul a trailer or fifthwheel for long enough, it is not a question of "if", but "when" you will have a tire-related issue. I will discuss in this post, my own experiences with tires.

 

New compressor!

Bought a new air compressor today. 5 gallon tank, 1 1/2 HP, and it is capable of 135psi. I was on the lookout for a compressor that was able to inflate the H-rated tires that we installed on the fifthwheel last winter.