We spent 4 nights in Echo Bay, and had a visit with Don Allin and Barb on Salut, when they pulled into this anchorage on their sailboat September 3rd.
On the 4th we moved to Henry Fish place, so that we could top up our batteries, as the MPPT charger was still not charging on days when we had sun. Don and Barb dinghied over from Echo Bay, and we had lunch with them at Henry’s and more visiting. On Saturday morning, we moved up into Shot gun Bay for two nights—there were only 6 boats, we expected it to be a lot busier for the last long weekend of summer. On Monday morning, we moved about 15 miles to Monument Channel and anchored near Bernadette Island.
We had planned to go to the Beausoleil area for Tuesday, but weather on Wednesday was calling for 100% rain and high winds, so we called Wye Heritage to see if we could get a slip a day early. We got a yes, so we left Monument channel and set off for Midland , tying up around 2:00 in the same slip, that we had on our previous stay. For the next 3 days, Luc Dubeau, a boat electrician, was working on the boat, working on the Garmin system as well as all the components of our electrical system including getting the MPPT controller working. On September 12th, we left around 10:00 and headed for Port Severn and the Trent Severn waterway, we locked through and were tied up at the dock by 12:10. On Sunday we left around 10:00 and continued through the Big Chute and Swift Rapids lock. We tied up in the early afternoon, we opted not to get power, as we wanted to test out solar panels and controller. We decided to spent a second night, so on Monday we did pay for a power hookup, so that we could plug in a heater. Tuesday morning it was cold and raining, we left Swift at 11:30 and headed for Lock 42- Couchiching. We locked through and were tied up by 2:00. Enroute, I got a call from our credit card company, and was told that my master card had been compromised, and that a new card will be mailed out to me. This is the second time in 2 years it has been compromised; I rarely use the card—may have to switch to cash only. On Wednesday we left around 10:15, and went the mile to the train bridge and waited an hour before it finally swung open at 11:30—we arrived at the Port of Orillia around 2:00. I did several loads of laundry, and dropped off any excess books in the boater’s lounge .On Thursday, Luc arrived around 10:00, to continue with the electrical work. I walked up to Wilkie’s bakery and bought some Chelsea buns, and had a butter tart. I then checked out some other shops. I returned to the boat, and shared the buns with Luc and Andy. Luc worked until 4:30 and then left for home. We will be seeing him again in the spring somewhere. On Friday, Andy and I went to the Trail Walk Café for breakfast—it is located in the nearby Royal Canadien Legion and is only open Fri/Sat and Sundays. In the afternoon we walked over to Metro and picked up a couple things. We are trying to use up everything in our cupboards, freezer and fridge by the end of next week. We left Orillia, just before 8:00 and crossed Lake Simcoe, we arrived at the swing bridge at Gamebridge just after 10:15. We were through the first 3 locks, Gamebridge, Thorah and Portage fairly quickly but had to wait at Talbot for about 45 minutes, once through it we moved on to Bolsover, and once we were through, we tied up at 1:15. We were joined later by a sailboat on the grey line. On Sunday, we left around 10:00 and headed East, through Canal Lake, Kirkfield lock and Mitchell Lake, we then crossed Balsam Lake and went through Rosedale lock and tied up at 12:45. It was a cold morning, with Frost warnings for the area. We left Rosedale around 10:00 and were through the Fenlon Falls by 10:40, we then continued across Sturgeon Lake and arrived in Bobcaygeon by 12:15. We tied up with power, in the afternoon we checked out the stores on Bolton street. We stopped at the Foodland, and picked up a couple items, including Kawartha Ice Cream, as it is made right here in Bobcaygeon, and it was too cold to have Kawartha Dairies in a cone.
On Tuesday we moved to the Buckhorn and tied up at the lock at 12:10. This was the 67th night that we had used our mooring pass, so it turned out to be a great deal- only costing us less than $7 per night to stay at a lock. Great Value!! Once we were tied up Andy changed the oil in both engines, so the boat would be ready for 2027. We then BBQ’d for supper to use up more of the food in the fridge. On Wednesday we moved the boat to Buckhorn Yacht Habour, and tied up near the fuel dock. We started packing up stuff and moving it into the car. We went to the Cody Inn for supper that evening. On Thursday we continued with the packing and took a trip to Lakefield to do laundry, on our way home we picked up pizza from Pizza Alora. Friday morning, we finished packing the car, and I defrosted the freezer and turned off the fridge. We travelled to Bancroft where we were spending the weekend with Brian and Helen. That evening we went to a fundraiser at the Bancroft Curling Club, and I came home with one of the door prizes—this huge potted Mum.
That evening, I started having a tooth ache, so didn’t sleep that well. On Saturday Brian took us on a road trip around the Bancroft area to look at the changing leaves, we went up to Barry’s Bay, and had supper in Wilno at a Polish restaurant. By this time my tooth issue had become worse- so I could only eat soft food—so I had mashed potatoes, a perogy and one cabbage roll. On Sunday, I wasn’t feeling much better- so Helen suggested I go to the hospital and see a doctor. After a 4 hour wait, I was prescribed an antibiotic for an ear ache- not a tooth ache.
On Monday we left Bancroft, headed for Oshawa, with a couple stops—we went to the grocery store in Campbellford for some pea meal bacon to take home. We also stopped at Steve and Dodie Sharpe’s place for a visit and lunch— they are boating friends who live on the Trent River, so we have passed by there place many times while traversing the TSW. We arrived in Oshawa, at Rick and Linda’s around 4 PM. Andy presented them with a sign he had made for their pool, and then we spent an hour walking around in the pool while we visited. On Tuesday morning, they introduced us to 10 minute Tai chi workout that they do everyday which helps with balance and flexibility—something we both need. That evening while the guys were watching sports, Linda showed me some of the quilts she is working on for outreach or veterans. I watched as she put a binding on one.
On Wednesday we left and continued on to Guelph, where we were going to stay with Cait and Christina for a couple of nights. For lunch we met my Uncle Wayne, at the rise and shine restaurant, and had a great visit with him. That evening we met Jaimie and Jay for dinner at their place in Guelph. They had purchased a freeze drier, so we tried some of their recent experiments- ice cream, skittles, and other candies and fruit.
On Thursday we met some other boating friends- Tom and Peggy for lunch and a visit, and then took Cait and Christine to State and Main for supper. On Friday we were on the move again, headed to Sault Ste. Marie for the night, traffic wasn’t too bad, and we arrived by 4:00. The next morning, we headed around the North shore of Lake Superior– leaves were changing on the trees, and all shades of yellow, orange and red were present.
We arrived in Thunder Bay around 3:00, and visited with Maureen and Teresa, and the pets. We left around 8:00 on Sunday morning and arrived home at 2:30. We were both happy to be back home. After 4 days at home, it was time to go on another road trip. I really wanted to go up to Swan River to see family and see the damage from the summer rain storms. Spent time with my sisters, and learned a couple of new games- tile rummy and hand/foot/toe canasta. On Saturday we visited the cemetery- hard to believe that it was 5 years since Mom passed. Gord then took us on tour of some of the worst places for flood damage, and we saw roads that still hadn’t been repaired from the July 1st flooding.
On Sunday, we had Thanksgiving dinner with 15 members of the family—so got to see all the great nieces and nephew except for Crystal, who goes to university in Tennessee.
We left Swan River on Monday morning at 9:00 and arrived home at 3:30, it was cool only about 6C, and rained most of the way home. No more travel plans for the foreseeable future, will keep busy with the activities in our building for the winter months. Andy is going to spare for stick curling- but I’m just happy to do things at home.
Hope everyone had a Great Thanksgiving!
