Paint Your Wagon

Where am I goin'? I don't know Where am I headin'? I ain't certain
All I know Is I am on my way
When will I be there? I don't know
When will I get there? I ain't certain
All that I know Is I am on my way Read more

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Paint Your Wagon Traveler
Into the Land of 10,000 Lakes
August 24 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 66 °F
Leaving North Dakota, we made a lunch stop in Jamestown, ND to see the world’s largest buffalo. Jamestown is also Jill’s father’s home town so she remembers the buffalo from when she was s little girl visiting family. She doesn’t think any of the living cousins still live there. Just before this stop, we were passed by a dozen or more modern Chevy Camaros that looked to be traveling together in some kind of road trip as they all used the same exit from I-94. Just as we were ready to make a tight turn at the parking lot where we had stopped to see the big buffalo, all the Camaros roll in, making it difficult to make our turn. We continued on, through Fargo, crossing into Minnesota. Jill asked if we needed gas and began looking at the Gas Buddy app. Les said not Costco because they don’t have windshield washing tools. But then the Costco we just past was at $2.56 and most everything ahead is at $2.84. Opps, we will look for gas when we move on from Buffalo River State Park where we are staying at least tonight. On a side note, in North Dakota, we started to see some odd looking camp trailers. When they are on the move, they have a LOT of clearance above the tires, but when parked, they lower down and the skirt around the trailer sits on the ground. It turns out, that here in the far north where the lakes freeze and ice fishing is popular, these special trailers become ice fishing shacks.Read more
how cool is that? [shirley]
8/24/25Reply
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Mississippi Headwaters
August 25 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 64 °F
On our way to Bemidji, MN, we stopped at the Mississippi River Headwaters for lunch. Indy joined us on the trail to Lake Itasca and got a drink from the Mississippi River. We continued up to Bemidji and stopped at Walgreens to order medical refills. Unfortunately, one of Les’ medications could not be transferred out of Nevada. But he was able to call his doctor and get a new prescription sent to the Walgreens here and it should be filled in the next few days. Getting medical supplies is the biggest headache when traveling. We had a reservation for 2 nights at Lake Bemidji State Park, but when we checked in, we added another day because of the medication issues. This part of the country has very dense forests. The campground is less dense, but I was not going to set up the StarLink dish because I figured it would not work. I was shocked that it not only works, but is very fast. However, watching TV tonight, there are lots of signal pauses.Read more
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Paint Your Wagon Traveler
E-biking
August 26 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 64 °F
So Les talked me into biking again with our e-bikes. Is it cheating? I realized I ride my stationary bike at home which has power which helps me pedal..this has better scenery. We had great time on the “Paul Bunyan paved bike path” This state park is the start of this 115 mile bike ride…we did 5 miles out and back. That’s all my backside would allow. I still need to work on my stops almost ran into Les when he stopped to take a picture.

We had to take a detour around the park portion of the trail, as in June they had a terrific and tremendous wind storm (100-120 MPH) which knocked thousands of trees down. They are waiting for winter so the marshy ground gets hard to cut the lumber.Read more
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Blue Ox
August 26 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 75 °F
We were told that Les’s meds were going to be in Thursday morning. Jill was panicking, she forgot the coming weekend was Labor Day. After we looked at other state parks online (all full). So we quickly got another night here and three nights in the fairgrounds in Grand Rapids. Oops that is only 80 minutes away…. And then of course Walgreen texted his meds are in.
So we went to town, picked up meds and looked for bike goggles for Jill. We were next to the area visitor center, and you guessed it Paul Bunyan and friend. MidWest loves large animals!Read more
Traveler I like!
9/3/25Reply
Traveler Haha
9/5/25Reply
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2
Cloudy day
August 27 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 73 °F
It’s a cloudy day today, we opted to go do grocery shopping and laundry. We had been back at the motorhome for about 30 minutes and Les was sitting down with his soda when a large bird flew in and landed on the back side trunk of the tree 10’ from our door. It poked its head around the tree and Les got VERY excited. It was a Pileated Woodpecker. Jill quickly told him to get pictures with the phone. The woodpecker went down the trunk and started rooting around at the base of the tree. At that point it was behind our bikes locked to the table. Then Les spotted a second Pileated Woodpecker on the opposite side of the tree doing the same as the first. But its head was down and every time its head popped up into view, Les would take a photo, but there was always a delay and by the time the photo was taken, the woodpecker’s head was back down out of view. Finally the woodpecker moved into full view so Les could get some good photos. The woodpecker flew to another tree briefly and then flew off. Les added the woodpecker to his life list on his phone.Read more
Great bird for the life list [Angela Gatto]
8/30/25Reply
Traveler Two days ago, sitting on my deck in the Sierra, a Yellow-breasted Sapsucker landed on a tree nearby. but I wasn’t quick enough to get a photo.
9/3/25Reply
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Paint Your Wagon Traveler
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Lost 40
August 28 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 75 °F
Les took another bike ride this morning, a little further on the same route from the other day. Returning to the camp, he got some wildlife photos. about mid morning, we headed out in the Jeep for the Lost 40. On the way, we stopped in the town of Blackduck for lunch and to take photos of the town's claim to fame. Yep you guessed it the world’s largest black duck according to google maps. We even saw the original, black duck! Midwest loves large animals.
We continuted out to the Lost 40. This is a protected area of old growth forest. Bare in mind that the vast majoriety of the forests in Minnesota have trees less than 16" diameter and they are VERY tall, The undergrowth is also VERY dense. No sign of “raking” of the forests to prevent forest fires. So back in the winter of 1882, the first forest surveys took place to begin logging operations. Due to the bad weather and rough terrain, the survey crew plotted Coddington Lake about a half mile further northwest than its actual location, thus concelling a virgin stand of White Pine and Red Pine that would have been logged. When this stand of trees was discovered, they were protected for their scientific and historic value. The largest red pine is 115" in circumfrence, 120' tall and 250 years old. The stand of trees is much more open than other forested areas in the state, and stands as an example of the way the forests used to be. It was interesting for us to wander through the stand on the trail system.Read more
Traveler A grand nature texture!
9/3/25Reply
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Dinning at Home
August 28 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 68 °F
So because I am on a low salt food plan, this trip is more dinners at our tiny home. This peaceful campground seemed to invited us to “barbecue/grill”. When planning for this trip we couldn’t find a gas grill/Barbecue which would fit in our small RV. So we purchased a folding two burner stove and a couple of grills… yeah it works see pictures.Read more
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Paint Your Wagon Traveler
A short run to Grand Rapids, MN
August 29 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 75 °F
It was a short trip, only about 84 miles to Grand Rapids. We have 3 nights of the Labor Day weekend at the Fairgrounds. After getting setup, Les took Indy for a walk-about on the fairgrounds. The camping area is really nice, but there is a dirt race track next to the campground and sure enough, there is a race scheduled for tonight. So it will likely be noisy tonight. Les took the bikes off the Jeep and rode over to the beginning of the Mesabi Trail. It look like a lot of fun…..tomorrow
morning.
6:30 pm update… and the race begins. Be sure to turn up the volume on the video after the pictures.Read more
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A Morning on the Mesabi Trail
August 30 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 72 °F
The morning was temp. was right for a bike ride. So we headed out on the Mesabi Trail from the main parking lot of the fairgrounds. The trail is 155 miles long all paved except for about 5-6 miles somewhere way north of here. It was not a Rails to Trails route, but mostly levelish with some mild ups and downs. That is what the electric motors are for. The trail wanders through birch forests and past lakes. Some of the lakes are reclaimed iron mines. We went out 6.1 miles to a road crossing where we turned around and headed back.Read more
Traveler Very clear water!
9/5/25Reply
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Paint Your Wagon Traveler
What a woman will do for Coffee
August 31 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 73 °F
Sunday morning and Les asked me if I wanted to go on a bike ride. Had a new bike seat and bike glasses, so I said ok but not going as far as yesterday. Got going, and realized had not gotten my second cup of coffee. Had to ride to the next town, Bovey! They were having Labor Day Weekend fair…but nothing was open yet. Went to the local market, no coffee…except a Starbucks cold brew in refrigerator. Any port in a storm.
Trouble with new glasses..can’t wear them over my actual glasses…they “smoothed out the path.” Also found that my bike and Les’s recount the mileage different…16.6 miles (on mine). Fun morning, lazy afternoon planned.Read more
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Paint Your Wagon Traveler
Superior
September 1 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 68 °F
Leaving the fairgrounds, we headed to the largest lake in North America, Lake Superior. We arrived at Split Rock Lighthouse State Park with a two day reservation in site 308. We decided to get a third night, but will have to move to site 310. We went to park in 308, but found it still occupied. Check out time in Minnesota State Parks is 4 pm. So we were able to move to site 114 which was open. It is up on the top of the hill with few trees. StarLink is working great! We checked out some hiking trails to the shoreline and got a view of the lighthouse. They light the lighthouse each year on November 10 in honor of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald made famous by Gordon Lightfoot. We went out to eat dinner and after getting fuel in the Jeep, Les headed back to the shoreline to catch the sunset light on the lighthouse.Read more
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Paint Your Wagon Traveler
A Rainy Day
September 2 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 63 °F
Les got up just before dawn and went out to take sunrise photos. That went pretty good, but then the clouds rolled in and it began to rain. It reminds us of all those years we were park rangers and could not take vacations from Memorial Day to Labor Day and we worked weekends. So our vacations were in the spring and fall. Our mantra was "If it is raining, it must be an Allert vacation!" So instead of taking a bike ride, we went to the lighthouse for a tour. There is a lot of reconstruction taking place, so the entrance fee was 35% off. After lunch we headed out with the Jeep to see art an hour up the road toward Canada. One of the places Jill wanted to see turned out to be a studio where people were doing art. The second place was an art school store. Les did not sleep well last night so he stayed in the Jeep and tried to sleep. The road was very rough most of the way and that tired him out even more. Jill bough fresh Trout for dinner and she drove us back to camp. We made a stop at Cascade State Park and we walked a short distance to a bridge over the river and les took a few photos. After dinner, the rain really cut loose. We had to turn the volumn way up to hear the news, which Les slept through.Read more
TravelerI love to hear about your trip; what a wonderful adventure!
9/3/25Reply
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Paint Your Wagon Traveler
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A Cold and Windy Day
September 3 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 52 °F
Several things were planned for today, including bike riding which did not happen. We did get our showers at the campgound shower house and it was very nice except there was no soap shelf in the shower. At 11 am, Jill had her scheduled zoom call with her Oncologist. And then it was time to move to a different site. We are now down in the hole, but Starlink still has a strong signal. Unplanned, but still needed was grocery shopping and clothes washing in the afternoon. On the way back to camp, we stopped for dinner at the world famous Betty's Pie Shop. It was OK, but not spectacular. Arriving back at camp we quickly unloaded the clothes and groceries and Les loaded up the large format camera and headed off to try an get the greatest sunset photo of the lighthouse. He set up the camera on the rocks to the west of the lighthouse and shot a few different angles. Deciding on the composition, it was time to wait. The clouds in the scene were moving through nicely, but the clouds behind him were intermittently blocking the sun. There were also some light sprinkles, but not enough to deter him. Approaching sunset, he got a couple of shots similar to what he wanted, but when it came time for the great shot of the lighthouse in great light and everything else shadowed, the sun had been completely blocked by the clouds. Some days just go like that. We will have to see what turns out when I develop the film when I get home.Read more
Cool pic! [Angela Gatto]
9/5/25Reply
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Paint Your Wagon Traveler
What State is this?
Sep 4–5 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 54 °F
Heading out today. Les caught a cold and wanted to stop in Duluth, MN for cough drops. I found a Walmart (for the large parking lot). Of course it wasn’t on our direction on US Highway 2. WAZE directed us, we stopped and shopped. Onward, Mr W, doesn’t like to backtrack, so he took us on small county roads, when we were getting close to Highway 2..”Road closed”. I wasn’t sure how to get back on track. Mr W…We literally travelled on county roads A-Z and C, K, D, E…left, right, south, north…all to get to US 2. Lots of farms, narrow roads and forests. Once back on track, we didn’t know we had entered Wisconsin. We stopped for Lunch at Northern Great Lake Visitor Center. A great Multi-agency visitor center, in Ashland, Wisconsin. Les took a nap and I walked through the center. We traveled East…we stopped late, due to our alphabet travels and time change…we are now in Michigan! We didn’t even see a “Welcome” sign.Read more
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Paint Your Wagon Traveler
Trees and more trees
September 5 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 52 °F
Awoke to more rain, took our time getting up, heading east. Highways in among trees. Waze took us on a couple of county roads, in a construction 🦺 zone they took off the road sign we wanted to turn on…. So far we haven’t had to unhook to turn around. Stopped for lunch at Michigan Visitor Center. Les took nap, I went in. Very friendly staff. He kept handing me more and more maps etc. They are very proud of their waterfalls and light houses. There was another bike path along Lake Superior shore. We will have to come back and do the Lake Superior loop…but today in the rain it’s onward. Three hour drive is our limit right now.Read more
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Paint Your Wagon Traveler
Two new Lakes
September 6 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 55 °F
Jill caught Les’s cold, she is not a happy camper. Rainy and cloudy good day to travel. Will have to come again to take boat trip to see Picture Rocks National Shore. Traveling on US 2 again, and we got glimpses of Lake Michigan. Has lots of “sandy beaches” and in places, sand covering road. Jill wanted to stop before going over Mackinac Bridge, but Google and what was on ground didn’t match. Had to pay to cross the bridge. Lake Heron on one side, Lake Michigan on the other. We saw a lot of Farm tractors going the other way on the bridge, not fast, slowing traffic to a stand still. Must have been a Farmer’s protest…for or against something but we don’t know what.

Last night we decide to spend 4 nights in Michigan Wilderness State park, so we can pick up meds in Cheboygan on Tuesday. We both can use a break from traveling . We used Michigan’s reservation system. $48. per night with electricity. Not bad. What they didn’t say was that you had to pay a vehicle day use fee of $11.00 per motorized vehicle RV+tow rig., when you get there..yep $22.00 dollars a night! We got annual passes, which really didn’t save us much, unless we stay in another park. Why does a motorhome, have to pay more than a trailer! If we felt better we might have left…there is probably a charge for cancellations! The park is lovely though. We pulled in, set up. We both just took naps, traveling is hard when you’re older.Read more
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Paint Your Wagon Traveler
Another Lighthouse
September 7 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 59 °F
We visited the McGulpin Point Lighthouse this morning. Indy was with us, but could not tour the lighthouse. Jill sat outside in the sunshine with Indy, while Les took the tour. When Jill took the tour, Les walked Indy around the outside for a few minutes until it started to rain, hard. They took shelter in a nearby building that was open with displays until Jill came out and the rain stopped. We ate lunch out in Mackinaw and then drove down to Cheboygan to look for a new scratch pad for Cinnamon. The pet shop we found open only had fish and reptiles, no cat and dog supplies. So we went over to the Super Walmart and shopped and returned to camp, Exciting?Read more
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Doing the tourist thing: Mackinaw Island
September 8 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 64 °F
We played tourist today. Took the Shepler Ferry to Machinaw Island. We had a choise of either taking Indy for free or the bikes for $20 each. Indy had several new experiences, riding on the ferry and riding on a horse drawn tour trailer. The tour charged us for Indy as our child. The only motorized vehicles are emergency vehicles. You have three choices for transportation on the island. Horse drawn carriages, bicycles or your own feet. Eighty percent of the island is a State Park that was once a National Park. The National Park consisted of a Fort that dates back to the Revolutionary War. The park ranger duties were handle by the soldiers. When the fort was deactivated, the land was turned over to the State to be used as a State Park. Much of the rest of the island is occupied by hotels, VERY expensive houses, and tourist industry businesses. It has a resident population of about 500 and more than 500 horses. This island has the largest herd of working horses in the world.Read more
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Paint Your Wagon Traveler
Yet Another Lighthouse
September 9 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 70 °F
We got a late start today, so we went out to lunch. We split a Pastie, a traditional miner's lunch. Then we went to the "Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse" for a tour. Jill sat outside and sketched the lighthouse. Les took the tour and learned a few new things. While he had noticed that every lighthouse was different, he did not realize that it was by design so that ship captains can easily identify which light house they were looking at. They also use different light flash sequences and colors to differentiate the lighthouses from each other. In addition, those lighthouses with fog horns use a different soundings and spacing between sounds. This lighthouse was built after the McGulpin Point Lighthouse located a few miles west of this one. This lighthouse is distinguished by having a red roof, tan brick, black top and a castle roof element. It also has a fog horn and can service about 30 degrees more area than the other. This lighthouse was decommissioned after the Mackinaw Bridge was built, because the Bridge now has lights and fog horn. After the tour, we headed back down to Cheboygan Walgreens and picked up a perscription for Jill and Les' speciality med had arrived through UPS at Walgreens. Yea!Read more
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Paint Your Wagon Traveler
Freeway Day.
September 10 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 68 °F
Boring day travel day, we just headed down I-75. Stopped early at Bay City State Park on the shore of Lake Huron. Most places we have camped at, the rangers tell you not to park on the grass. We noticed at Wilderness State Park, the extra vehicles were all parked on the grass. Here at Bay City, the sites themselves are grass. We guess nothing kills grass here. We drove to a vet hospital to see if they would refill Indy’s Dasuquin prescription. They would, but that would involve an office visit. We said no thank you and left. We will try Chewy.com. We picked up a pizza on the way back. After dinner we took a walk over to the shore of Lake Huron and walked the beach. Returning across a large open grassy area, we found a Frisbee ring. Indy thought that was fun to chase.Read more
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Paint Your Wagon Traveler
Into the Heart of Car Manufacturing
September 11 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 77 °F
Driving into Southern Michigan, we are seeing names of cities we have only heard on the News or in TV shows. We are trying our best to avoid driving into big cities, but being able to connect scenery to a place name is interesting. We drove past the GM proving grounds on our way to Camp Dearborn. This is a city owned recreational area. Looks like a really nice campground. No trees around our site, so StarLink has a great signal. We are also back to summer clothing after wearing winter clothing to the north. We has mostly clear skies and temperatures in the 80’s. Heading out to do laundry soon.
Laundry done, but when Jill checked with Walgreen about a prescription refill, no one could find the prescription. Looks like this one is going to fall through the cracks yet again! The next issue is to find a pet sitter for Indy. We have some touring in the area and Indy will need to let out regularly and we don’t know how long we will gone.Read more
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Finding Daycare
September 12 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 79 °F
Started with a bike ride around the campground et al, four miles not bad. This place is big, with all kinds of things. Puttputt golf, lakes, small cabin camps, tent cabins, more lakes and a real golf course. Stopped at the office, and asked for recommendations for a doggy day care. We want to go to the Henry Ford Museum and village tomorrow but no dogs allowed. It is an all day thing, can’t leave Indy in the RV. So went and checked Club Pet it was nice, this will be different for him. We explained he has separation anxiety, and will bark/sing the whole time, also doesn’t get along with other dogs in his space. They said ok just bring him back in the morning. The town of Milford is cute but busy on a Friday, we did some shopping. Then Jill sat on hold with the nearby Walgreens for an hour, never did get in. Oh well more Walgreens are ahead.Read more
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Paint Your Wagon Traveler
Greenfield Village
September 13 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 79 °F
We got up early today, ate a quick breakfast and took Indy to Club Pet. From there we drove to Greenfield Village which is part of the Henry Ford campus. Les was thinking about gointg to the Museum of American Innovation, also on the Ford campus, but Jill wanted to be outside. The village covers 80 acres and contains a huge collection of American buildings and equipment with important historical significants, We started with a ride on a steam powered train that travels around the outside edge of the village. We got off at the train area. Les pushed the locomotive turn table half way arround. It weighs 40 tons. Inside the engine house, the largest engine is Engine 45. This is a huge Atlantic style 4-4-2 engine designed to pull passengers. The drive wheels are just over 6' in diameter.
We also visitred glass plowing, print shop, weaving shop, the Write Brothers Bicycle shop where they built their airplane. We visited too many interesting places to recount and we didn't see everything there was to see. We ate lunch at the Eagle Tavern and finally took a ride in a 1914 Model T through the town. By 3pm, we were pretty much warn out, so we retrieved Indy and returned to camp.Read more
TravelerI love Greenfield Village & the Henry Ford Museum - truly the best! Enjoy!
9/14/25Reply
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Paint Your Wagon Traveler
Oh Canda, Taking a Shortcut
September 14 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 72 °F
At last nights stay, we met Lola, a twin sister to Tatanka. We had a good conversation with Lola’s owners, comparing likes and dislikes about our Vista 26 P motorhomes.

We left Milford and headed through Detroit and across the bridge into Canada. This effort was very confusing. The signing and Google Maps both were not helpful. We were led into a massive gas station where some guy in an orange vest guided us through to what we assumed was an unmanned toll booth. Les tried several times to reach out the motorhome window and down to the card reader to swipe the credit card with no success. Jill finally got out and used her card and the gate finally opened. We got over the bridge and to the port of entry for Canada where they were changing people for lunch. A little wait…no hard questions, except how many nights we are staying?

We hope this will be a shortcut to avoid several large cities and their traffic to the south of Lake Erie through Ohio and Pennsylvania. We gassed up at a truck stop ($1.39.9/Liter or around 6 dollars). There was an A&W at the truck stop, so while Jill made up a tuna salad, Les went to the A&W to get a root beer float. Since it was not listed on the menu, he asked the guy if they made the float. THEY DON’T MAKE THEM ANYMORE! So Les bought a root beer and made his own float with the Cookie dough ice cream in the RV. That’s part of the fun traveling in an RV.

We stopped for the night early at Rondeau Provincial Park. Since it was still early, we took a 8 mile bike ride out to the end of the peninsula. The park is located on a peninsula between Rondeau Bay and Lake Erie.Read more
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Just Pas'n Through
September 15 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 79 °F
Today was a traveling day, passing through a lot of Canadian farm lands. The 401 seems to be a major truck route. We were able to avoid the big cities and traffic of the south side of Lake Erie. But the truck traffic was heavy. We camped on the outskirts of Niagara Falls. Decorations are being prepared for Holloween.Read more
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