Made it to Barrie for our bus, but it was running late.  We got on at 1:15, bus was full, so we sat across the aisle from each other, we made our connection in Sudbury around 6:00.  Then it was on to the Sault Ste Marie, we arrived there around 11:00 and were let off with our luggage.  Our bus and driver arrived around 11:30.  There had been a couple of road washouts on Hwy 17 on Wednesday night near Wawa and Montreal River, so our driver had to take a long detour through Chapleau the previous day, and was late returning to the Soo.  He said that there was one-lane traffic in these spots now, so we would be going the normal route.  There were not many people on this bus so we each got a pair of seats to try and stretch out on.   At one point during the night, the bus driver slammed on the brakes, to miss a bull Moose on the road.   We got to Thunder Bay around 9 am, and Teresa was there to meet us and take us to our vehicle at McKellar marina.  We went for breakfast at “stacked” and then it was the 7 hour trip to Winnipeg, arriving home around 6:00.

 We were kept busy during the week with errands, doctor’s appointments and visiting in our apartment building. I also was able to buy Kawartha Ice cream at Sobeys for the first time- KI 7,8,9 Yipee!

On Friday morning, we left by 9am for the 500 Km trek to Swan River.  We went to my sister Maxine’s place and had a visit,  for supper we met my sister Heather and went to the Timberland.  Town was busy as it was Rodeo weekend.  We visited with Heather at her condo and returned to Maxine’s for the night.  Saturday morning the 5 of us went to the rodeo pancake breakfast at the veteran’s hall.  Andy and I did some shopping in town, and returned to Maxine’s as we had to leave for the wedding by 1:00, as it was at Coral and Michael’s farm just inside the border of Saskatchewan.  It was a hot day with blue skies- perfect day for an outside wedding.

Following the ceremony, people moved to Michael’s parent’s property for some visiting followed by the reception and dance, which was being held in the machine shed for 324 people.   On several occasions during the reception- local home brewed tea was offered in shot glasses to those who wanted to try it, I sampled something called Lemonade, and Apple Pie. We sat with my nephew Chris and his wife Jen, along with Gord’s sister Wilma and her husband KD, and my nephew Craig’s (father of the bride) neighbors Mary and Blair Martin– who are related to our apt property manager- Small world!

We left around 10:00, but I’m sure the reception went on for many hours, I saw some videos a few days later of some Ukrainian dancing- so I believe it was a late night.

On Sunday morning, we left my sisters before 7 am for our trip back to Winnipeg.  Once home, we went to St. Vital mall, as both Andy and I were having MTS mail issues on our  devices- we have decided to switch to Gmail over the next few months.  We packed up the car for our next adventure- a road trip to Orillia.  On Monday we got as far as Marathon, and stayed at the Travel Lodge there.  Next day there was a lot of road construction between the Soo and Sudbury, so a little slow going, we did arrive in Orillia by 6:00.  Two long days of driving for the old guy.

 We touched base with the diesel mechanic, he said that the injectors on both engines needed parts, and that they had been ordered, but not yet arrived.  So,  we are in a holding pattern in Orillia, the engines are in pieces, so we can’t go anywhere, so KI 10 had to finish the tub in our freezer, to fill it up with meat.   On Thursday we decided to drive over to Buckhorn and check in with the marina, where we will be putting the boat up this fall, we then travelled to Bancroft and spent the night at Brian and Helen’s, and took  them out for their upcoming anniversary KI 11.  On Friday Brian drove us back to Orillia, and then took our vehicle to store for the next couple months.  Andy checked in with Steve, the diesel mechanic and learned that our parts were in customs—so we will continue to wait.  It is a long weekend, so the earliest the parts may be delivered is Tuesday.  We will keep busy by doing some jobs on the boat—touching up the teak railings, and cleaning the exterior, some time to explore and more KI 12 & 13 & 14.   It was hot before we left to go back to Winnipeg, so I invested in a rechargeable Blue & Gold camping fan—which is getting lots of use. It has multiple speeds, light and timer.

The mechanics did come to the boat on Wednesday August 6^th, and then again on the 8^th and will return on the 11^th– hopefully for the last time,  the injectors have  been re-installed, however there is a knocking sound coming from the Port engine so something isn’t right.  On Friday afternoon, Andy changed the oil in both engines, so that we will be ready to depart whenever the repairs are complete.

 On Business  has been sitting in slip A139 in Orillia since July 16^th—24 days and counting,  we have been extending our stay by 3 days at a time, as the special here is pay for 2 and get the 3^rd one free.   Didn’t plan on spending a month at the dock in Orillia!! But there are worse places to be—here we have power & showers, which has been useful as  the past two weeks have been in the upper 20’s and 30’s, and we had several days of thick smoke from the prairies.  There is also a Metro store and Legion  within a 5 minute walk,  the main downtown along with Wilke’s bakery is about 10 minutes away.  This weekend, August 8-10^th the Orillia waterfront festival is on- so lots of vendors and music in the park.

 On the brighter side- we submitted an insurance claim for our grounding on the shoal in Lake Superior last summer, and it has been approved, so will be getting some money back.   I’m hoping my next post will come from a different location—I’m ready for a change of scenery — would  rather be sitting at anchor somewhere in Georgian Bay.

July 18-24

Jim and Wendy, Loopers, who we had met in Delaware City stopped by after lunch.  In the afternoon   we went for a walk by the Canoe museum but it was getting ready to close so we didn’t go in.  We ended up at  Landsdowne mall  and only bought  a lemonade in the food court and then walked back.  We had previously had our Kawartha Ice cream fix for the day, so no more of that.We decided to stay an additional night at Peterborough Marina,

On Tuesday we walked up to Lock 20,  checked it out and then walked on to Lock 21- the lift lock.

We watched a boat get ready to go throughand then ran up the stairs and saw them arrive on top.We saw more red chairs, so another photo-op.We then went to the  visitor centre  and looked at the displays and the video on the making of the canal and another one on how the lift lock works.   On our return trip to the boat we stopped for lunch downtown and at the Boaters store.

On Wednesday we were at Lock 20 for the first lock through—we were in the lock with 3 other boats, one of which was a 52 foot Looper boat called Miss Ly.    We then went a ½ mile to the lift lock, where only 3 of us went up.  I timed the lift it took just 2 minutes and 17 seconds to rise 65 feet.   Here’s the Captain tied off and watching us go up. The lift lock works using only gravity and water and is like a see-saw. Once the boats go  into the lower chamber  it displaces it’s weight in water and therefore considered weightless.  The upper chamber has an additional 30 cm or 144 tons of water added to it and it causes the chamber to descend, because of gravity.  Thus the lower chamber rises up.  Amazing.

Following the lift lock our group of 3 followed  the waterway through the  countryside, passing Trent University and  through an   additional 4 locks- Nassau Mills, Otonabee, Douro, and Sawer Creek.  We reached Lakefield Lock #26, and went through it at 2:00.  Making our lock count 7 for the day.  We decided to stay and the other boats went on further.  We walked into town and checked out the Canoe bar, and the adjacent bakery Stuff’d that sold ice cream. We then walked to the downtown and checked out the stores,   Does this suit me?Saw this store a few blocks away- not sure if it is associated with the Bakery- but similar names.We  stopped at Foodland for a few supplies.    After supper, Andy returned to the Canoe pub for the Quiz night.  He joined up with the fellow transients at Lock 26, 2 canoeists that were in pup tents and a couple in a runabout that were also tenting.  Their quiz team name was the hillbillies, hobos and the rich guy.   They had a respectable showing, but weren’t the winners.

On Thursday morning, Andy cooked Pancakes and Bacon for the Quiz team, before we all set off for different destinations.    We left the lock wall at 9:30, as we were only going about 7 miles up to Lock 27 Young’s Point.   We were through and tied up by 10:30.   We checked out the Lockside Trading Company store- amazing store with furniture, clothes & gift ware, can you guess what we bought here?  It was a hot day, close to 30.  For supper we opted to go to the Old bridge Inn for supper.  It looked like we may get a rain storm, but only amounted to 15 drops of rain not enough to cool off.

On Friday morning we left the lock around 10, and went about  5 miles to Clear Lake.  We had been offered the use of Jim and Wendy’s dock  (Clear Lake Habour Hosts) for the night.  They have a lovely place called Cougar Landing. It was a windy day with some whitecaps, so it likely wouldn’t have been a good day for anchoring in Stoney Lake.    Wendy and I went to Lakefield, which was about a 10 minute drive to pick up groceries in the afternoon.  We had a lovely BBQ in the evening,and Andy brought out his inland river charts to show Jim, as they have not done that part of the loop as yet.  I tried to make friends with the cats, Martini and Daiquiri On Saturday, we decided to stay another day.  Jim and Wendy were hosting  a BBQ for the area home owners association – we helped with setting up and clean up and  lots of people from the area.  I think there were over 60 people in attendance.  It was another hot day, with a  little bit of a breeze.  Later in the afternoon the wind picked up and there was some chop on the lake.

Here’s the Lake early Sunday morning,  Here’s Jim and Wendy’s Looper Boat  Triple Threat , with 3 – 300 HP Mercury outboards.Andy went for a  swim  at 7 am  to check the props for weeds and nicks.   We are in less than 5 feet of water here at Jim’s dock and the water is so clear, it shouldn’t take long to do an assessment.  The water is also quite warm, as it’s been hot the last few days.  All is good.  We had planned to go to Buckhorn to have the boat pulled and the props checked, but we are likely going to cancel our booking.I think the tentative plan is to move to an anchorage on Stoney Lake today.  We are going out for supper with Jim and Wendy, somewhere across the lake, so they would pick us up at our boat.

July 12, 2016

The Trent Severn Waterway (TSW)  is 240 statue miles long and zigzags west  through rivers and lakes  from Trenton to Port Severn on  Georgian Bay.    Water depth in the TSW is approximately 6 feet, so it is necessary to stay within the marked channel.   Speed limit is 10 Km/h, and there are 44 locks which have to be traversed.

We left the marina at 8:20 and proceeded to mile 1.8– Lock 1 of the Trent Severn Waterway.

We made it through with 2 other boats by about 9:20.  When we arrived at Lock 2 only ½ mile up the river, there were now 4 boats, and for some reason only tie up to the cables is allowed on one side.  Because we were the 4^th boat in we had to raft with a 34 foot Meridian. Seemed strange as we were the largest boat in the lock and instead of tying up to the wall we had to attach ourselves to another boat.  At Locks 3, 4, 5 and 6, the same 4 boats locked through but we had now switched to tying off on the wall in the 3^rd position, and a smaller boat Harmony rafted to us. We had met Steve and Vera on our way up the Rideau and then connected up again in Ottawa; they boat out of Queen’s Cove marina in Victoria Harbour, where Andy had started our Loop adventure.  We arrived at Lock 6 Frankfort at 12:10, and three of the boats dropped off as this wall had power.  We decided to go on to Lock 7- Glen Ross, and went through this lock alone.We tied up on the upper wall at 1:25. It’s been a hot day in the mid 30’s, lucky for us there is a convenience store nearby that sells double scoops of ice cream for $2.50. The owners of the store are originally from Transcona- small world.By nightfall there were 5 boats on the wall here.

July 13,

We left the dock just after 7, to go the 11.4 miles to Lock 8- Percy Reach so we would be there when they opened at 9 am.  We then proceeded through Locks 9, 10 and the combined flight   11 & 12 at Ranney Falls, which we were through by 11:10.This lock was huge!There were lots of cottages and trailer parks along the canal.We arrived at Campbellford at 11:30.  We had only gone 17.2 miles and 5 locks today, but it was suppose to be one of the hottest days of summer (> 32) – and we wanted to get tied up and connected to power, so the AC could run. We are in Old Mills Park, and are located next to this giant Toonie.The park is very safe, we were told this by the OPP officer that came around to all the boats on the dock.Once we had checked in at the Chamber of Commerce and paid our fees for the night, Andy was approached by a senior asking if he would like to play Euchre at the senior centre starting at 1.  He agreed and went and played, while I worked on the write-up for selling the boat.

When he returned we went to the Church Key pub for a cold one,  this pub was next door, which we thought Dave, our neighbor  would like.We then walked over to the No frills store. Tonight is Melodies at the Mill (in the park) from 6:30 – 8:15 with the featured singer- Victoria Pearce and we have ring-side seats on our aft deck.  Her first set was Patsy Cline songs while her second set was other favourites.

July 14

It’s a cloudy day, hopefully with only a couple of short showers.  Before 8:00, we trekked across the bridge to Dooher’s Bakery, where we bought a sampling of fresh baked goods including butter tarts and whole wheat bread that was still warm.  Andy just snagged our fishing rod that had fallen over the side yesterday, so we have 2 rods again.  Brian and Helen arrived from Bancroft for the day so we can do some other touring in Campbellford and the  surrounding area.  Our first stop was Ranney falls- our last lock from yesterday.  I had seen the Parks Canada Red Chairs and wanted to get our pictures taken in them.  We had only seen the red chairs a couple of times on the Rideau- but they were never that accessible.

We next went to the Suspension Bridge which is over the river.  Here’s the view from the boat yesterday, and here we are on it today. Next stop was the World’s Finest Chocolate factory outlet store, where we bought nothing.  Wrong !We bought  a pound of dark chocolate and milk and almond bars.Next we were off to the empire cheese plant, which was several miles outside of town.Once again, we couldn’t leave without buying something– Old Cheddar with Hot Whiskey Mustard,  Cheddar and Mozza with Salsa,Mozzarella cheese with Red Chillies– you have to get some veggies with your dairy products – who wants to eat boring cheese?

As we were driving along the countryside, we could see the soy and corn fields as well as the winter wheat, already golden, but not harvested as yet.We then went to Stirling for lunch.  Afterwards Helen and I did some shopping– I found 6 balls of Patons Melody yarn for $10.    The colour was called Fantasy- but it is a deep purple.  Once I’m back to work, I’ll be looking for knitting lessons from one of my friends.  Not sure what I’ll be able to make.On our way back to Campbellford, we encountered these animals in the field.which  I learned were Water Buffalo.  They looked hot as it was close to 25 again today, and I didn’t see any water.Back at the marina, entertainment was again happening in the park- but this time by fellow boaters- Steve and Vera from Harmony.  Great songs!We went back to the Church Key bar with  Lynn and Brian, other boaters, for yet more beers.

The night ended with more beers on  the boat in front of us, with  Canadians– Ken and Diane, who live in St.Lucia, and operate Lost our Marbles Sailing Adventures.