Mid July to Mid August

The week of July 15th I played and practiced at Freedom Oaks for the upcoming Club Championship and attended my weekly card games. The 36 hole Club Championship was held on Saturday and Sunday, July 21st and 22nd. Given the small number of ladies, I decided to play in the Amateur division rather than the Senior. I was able to win, though I didn't play to the best of my ability. 

Nice etched glass Championship Trophy.

Something unique to the Niagara District of Golf Ontario is that they have their own Tournament of Champions, which the Club Champions of each age and gender division can be sent to by their respective clubs. The registration fee is part of your prize package. This year the tournament will be held at Rockway Vineyards on September 8th. Ron and I played "Rockway" quite a few years ago, as I recall it may have been the first item I bought on Groupon, when it first started. We drove over from Toronto and had a delightful round of golf followed by a wine tasting and nice dinner. The only negative on the day was it was early fall, the grapes were ripening on the vines and in order to scare the birds away from eating the grapes, they shot of guns quite frequently, which at first was startling and off putting, but for humans they were at a recognizable interval, so we got used to it.  

My birthday (54th) was going to be low key this year. I decided to take a break from golf and enjoy Dunnville on my own. I booked a massage for the morning, which turned out to be less therapeutic than I am used to although I though I gave the therapist a good idea of what I was looking for during my hour on her table (I won't be going back to this one.) I treated myself to a nice lunch, did some window shopping, then attended a seminar at the library about honey bees, followed by a bite of dinner. Throughout the day I received phone calls, emails and Facebook posts from my friends and relatives, so I was feeling the love.

The following morning I hosted a very small Ladies' Golf Club Reunion at Freedom Oaks as Mary Jane (former Head Pro) and Marion Chapman, a former member who happens to be living near Dunnville these days. Joan joined us, so that Marion could ride with her, while Mary Jane and I walked. I had tried to get Laurie Rybski to play, but she was not available. We had an enjoyable round. Both were pleasantly surprised with the course having never played it before. 

Immediately after our round, I left to head to London to stay with a Maria Reeves in advance of the new Four Ball tournament at Thames Valley. She is also an RVer and we had discussed the option of me parking my trailer in her driveway and staying in it or staying inside the house. I decided just driving over without the trailer for one night would be preferable. I arrived in time for dinner. She had a nice Greek (her heritage) meal of grilled pork, potatoes and salad prepared. Another girlfriend of hers was there as well. We enjoyed the back garden, it was a perfect evening for dining "al fresco." We had a few glasses of wine. It became an impromptu belated birthday party for me, as I was given this wine glass to use:

               

I was beginning to figure out Dawn's concern as Maria's language can get a bit vulgar (she works part time in her brothers auto mechanic shop) and they lit up a medicinal joint (to each their own) for "desert."

The following morning we got up, had a hearty breakfast and headed to the course well in advance of the 10:30 shotgun start. I was playing quite well, Maria not so much and as a result was cursing quite a bit. We were paired with ladies from the local league, so they were pretty much used to her verbiage. (I don't find it very becoming or a good trait to be so well known by.) We played well enough to find ourselves in a playoff for first overall. Due to bad weather in the area and a desire to move on with the meal, it was determined that the playoff would be on the up hill, basically blind tee shot to a short par 3 on the short course that we hadn't played. We lost out, but still won golf shoes! With Maria's help, I decided to go with a pair of all black shoes, something I have never had before, usually preferring lighter shades, usually with a contrasting "saddle." After the meal, we went back to Maria's place, I packed up my things and drove back to Dunnville. There was some rain and lightning in the area, but it was fine for driving. I'm not sure if I will choose to play with Maria again in the future. Perhaps I can support the tournament by introducing another golfer to it. 

The afternoon of Saturday July 28th was the Brantford G. & C.C. Mixed event. My friend Phil Perry and I have played it for a few years, with varying results. Brantford is close enough to Dunnville that I drove there and back the day of the tournament. Over the years they have moved the date around and changed the format. It used to be closer to the first of July and was a Modified Chapman (where you both drive, hit each others tee shot and then choose the best and alternate until it is holed.) It is now a combined stroke play event. The weather was perfect and the course was in great shape. We were paired with a nice couple, Angie and Craig Anderson, though they weren't all that great golfers. To our surprise, we played well enough to win the event, which is based on Net scores, which with our low handicaps can sometimes make it hard to compete successfully. Being a mixed tournament, they sort of expect the team mates to be living together, which obviously isn't the case with Phil and I, so the prizes are mostly on of household items. Over the years we have alternated our prize selection. A few years back Phil selected a knife set with a block to store them in. When we didn't do so well, I got two strings of outdoor lights for the RV. This year we would get first pick! Phil didn't see anything he really wanted and I had my eye on a Six Quart Instant Pot electric pressure cooker. I had read quite a bit about these in the RV Facebook groups I follow. I was thinking I wouldn't buy one until my crock pot stopped working, but winning on was a different matter. Phil was happy to let me take the gift. We also were awarded an embroidered tea towel. I let him take that. 

Tea Towel

Champions dressed for dinner.

Saturday August 4th I traveled to Ft. Erie to play a round a Cherry Hill with Linda Burroughsford. She had arranged a surprise for me, which was that one of the Golf Ontario Rules Officials I knew, Anne Dobbs-Hebron was going to join us. She is a new member at the club seeing as she is working on moving from Brampton to Ft. Erie. The cat was let out of the bag, so to speak, as Anne was running late. We had an enjoyable round and visit afterwards, followed by Sushi. 

Thursday August 9th Lynn, Cathy Chenette, Pat Bradt (organizer) and I went to play a Ladies' Invitational Ladies Scramble at Greystone, a Club Link course in Milton. I had played the course before and the event seemed like a good idea and a good deal. They had a nice lunch before hand with a salad bar and gourmet style protein to top it with. Dinner involved a an antipasto table, passed hors d'oeuvres and then a plated chicken dinner. We shot only 3 under par, because none of us new the course very well. The winners were from Greystone and their score must have been embarrassingly low, because they didn't announce it. 

Sunday August 12th my brother Peter came to Dunnville to visit for the day. We went for a nice walk around the campground and I took him to all the usual nearby spots including the pier. I made a home cooked meal for us, seeing as he frequently cooks for me. 

I got up very early on Monday August 13th to attend my Credit Union's annual golf tournament. It has been quite a few years since I was able to attend, as it usually conflicted with a more competitive tournament I needed to play. I didn't feel too bad about it because I was more often able to attend the Credit Union's annual meeting (fondly referred to as the Credit Union Annual Dinner, because they have abbreviated out most of the business of the annual meeting), in early April, which is attended by pretty much the same crowd. I couldn't have ask to play with a better group: 

Nick Dmytruszko, the supervisor who hired me at Toronto Hydro, Dave Bell one of the supervisors I worked closely with early in my career and John Dolby another supervisor with whom Ron and I and his wife socialized with outside of work. John also caddied for me in some tournaments years ago. 

We didn't play our best golf, but had a great time reminiscing and catching up. I did win Ladies Longest Drive ( a gift card for Golf Town) and was picked in the raffle early enough to get a nice electric string trimmer that I needed to trim the grass on my site at Maitland Shores RV Park. 

Mid June to Mid July

June 16th I traveled to Columbus, Ohio, in order to try and qualify for the Inaugural USGA Senior Women's Open. It was a relatively easy one day drive to Columbus from Dunnville. I stayed at the fairgrounds, which when I arrived was very full, due to a country music concert that night. It was like a pop-up city in full swing, but there were still some spaces available for RV's. Unfortunately for the concert goers, it was interrupted and then cut short due to thunderstorms in the area. Sunday I played my practice round and Monday the qualifier, both at Scioto Country Club, 

Grand Entrance Gate

A typical hole on the old style parkland course.

where Jack Nicklaus started playing the game. The clubhouse is like a Nicklaus museum. 

A young Nicklaus with is trophy collection.

I failed to qualify as did other gals who were there that I knew from Ontario. It was still a good experience as the entry fee was only $250, which covered both rounds. The normal price for a round, for the guest of a member (if you happen to know one), is $300. I had lined up a female caddie for the tournament through their caddie program. She was quite helpful, having worked there for three years, though she does not golf herself. Unfortunately, that evening she came down with appendicitis and wasn't there for me on Monday. A male caddie was substituted, sadly, he didn't seem to be as helpful. I stayed over Monday night and left Tuesday morning. By then the fairgrounds was nearly deserted. I've never experienced anything like that before.  

On the way back I stopped in Fort Erie to have another sushi dinner with my friend Linda Burroughsford. 

One plate of all you can eat.

June 22nd I headed to Burlington to drop the trailer off in order to get the front cap repainted. When I bought the trailer I paid extra for a coating to be applied all over it in order to protect the finish. The front cap began to fade prematurely, but the company that manufactured the coating stood by their warranty and agreed to pay for it to be restored. 

Cap faded above the word Crusader.

The work was going to take one week to complete, so I scheduled it well in advance to coincide with the Ontario Senior Women's Golf Championship being held in Etobicoke. 

I spent Friday and Saturday nights with my brother in Dundas. Sunday I met up with my friend Enid Aaron for a round of golf and dinner. After dinner I went to stay with my brother and his wife in Oakville, pretty close to Markland Wood Golf course, the site of the golf tournament. The practice round was on Monday and the tournament was Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. 

I played quite well at the Provincial. I was fairly confident going into it because I was quite familiar with the golf course having played other tournaments there over the years and I like it. I ended up placing 5th, which I was really pleased with. My goal had been top 10, because I was thinking that they were still using the "old" method of selecting the Ada Mackenzie team from the top 10 at the Provincial and I had fallen short of that last year. I was disappointed to learn that over the previous winter they had decided to change the method of selecting the team, and had not really properly informed all those golfers who would be interested. Now it is based on the Provincial Order of Merit, a season long calculation based on your finish at a number of high ranking tournaments held literally all over the world. I was not happy with this change because I felt it would favor the very wealthy and retired golfers, who could almost spend their way onto the team. I would have to wait for the winter to find out if I made the team. Had I know this in advance, I would not have stayed around for the awards presentation as only the top 3 are recognized, with medals, golf bags and being named to Team Ontario for the Canadians. In the past the top 10, who were going to be on the Ada Mackenzie team had their pictures taken as part of the awards ceremony. 

Friday morning I had a wonderful massage with my regular therapist in Scarborough, then went to pick up the trailer and head to Silver Dove Estates, where I stayed last summer.  The trailer looked like it did when it was new, so I was very happy with the work that was done. 

I was not at all happy with the camp site I was assigned to at Silver Dove. It was in the new section, which wasn't really ready for camping on yet. They had temporary power set up and the site was not leveled at all. I had to use all my boards to level the trailer from left to right and the full extension of my landing legs to level it from front to back. It was so high up I had to use the step stool I usually use to reach to disconnect the trailer from the hitch as the bottom step to get into the trailer. This was the worst set up I have had to do in over two years of camping. 

Precarious set up with newly painted cap.

Thankfully, I was going to be there for less than a week. I was there to enjoy Canada Day weekend, where the park has a garage sale, decorated golf cart parade, a live band and events for the kids, including an appearance by some super hero's and these cupcake/cookie/candy treats:

I met up with my friend and steady golf partner from last summer, Dawn Harvey at Thames Valley, a city public course in London on July 1st for an unofficial practice round in advance of their Four Ball tournament on July 26th. She was surprised that I was going to be playing it with Maria Reeves, who I met, but didn't play with the previous summer, while trying out for the London District team. Dawn had met Maria when she joined their Ladies League this summer after deciding Wardsville was too far to keep driving to. It was good to play the course. Time will tell how the pairing will work out on the 26th. 

While planning this trip, I came across a 4-Ball tournament for Breast Cancer at Sarnia Golf & Country Club, which is about 1 hour away. 

They painted the inside of the holes pink, instead of white
 (the first time I have seen that done) and had Pink flags.

I went through my list of female golfing friends from the area and was able to get Suzanne Schiemann to go play with me. I had played the course quite some time ago, but not in this particular tournament. We arranged to meet at a mutually convenient location and car pooled the rest of the way to the club. When we arrived, I saw quite a few people I knew from the area. It was Suzanne's first out of club tournament, as it was for the two ladies we were paired with who were members of the host club. We did get to start on the 1st hole, which is always nice in a shot gun tournament. I played quite well and Suzanne had a few really good holes. Because her handicap is higher than mine, we were in the B-flight. We ended up winning Low Net of the flight and only missed 1st overall by 1 stroke. My friends Kathy Pilkey and Debbie McDonald, who are members of the club won the A flight. I was very pleased with our result:

We each got one of these.
I spent mine on a light weight long sleeved white golf shirt.

Overall, the tournament was very well organized and the meal afterwards was nicely prepared and served.  The entree was smoked pork chops.

The final event of this trip was to play the Wardsville 27 hole Women's scramble, which my team and I won last year. Due to our success, it wasn't hard to convince the same players (Enid Aaron, Linda Burroughsford and Cathy Koszman) to try and repeat our feat. It was a great day, and although we didn't score as well as the previous year, we still won! We each got $100 for the win and some skins money. I'm thinking that the local ladies aren't too happy about we outsiders swooping in and taking first place, but the owners of the club, who I know quite well are fine with it.  

The following day I headed directly back to Dunnville because the Freedom Oaks Member Guest was on Friday and Saturday. I chose to play this event with my usual mixed partner Phil Perry. He came up on Friday afternoon in time to play a practice round and enjoy the fried Lake Erie Perch dinner, stay over and play the tournament Saturday. 

Phil in Action

Monday July 9th I played in the Seniors league. 

Tuesday I took the truck to the Ford dealer in Welland (highest rated in the area) for an oil change, which turned out to be a much longer appointment than I had expected. First the service guy tried to use the pick up line, haven't I seen you around here before....Then more than an hour after my scheduled appointment time the truck was still where I left it. Then all the mechanics had to take their 1 hour lunch break....I ended up getting the work done for free, but I felt like it was hush money, not to give them bad reviews online. I received follow-up survey calls from the dealership, the service manager, the dealership owner and Ford Canada. I supposedly have a credit for $50 (about half the cost of my oil changes) on my account there, but I don't think I will go back to collect it. This was the first bad experience I have had with Ford. I used to jokingly say I should be a secret shopper for them, with all the different places I've had service done. 

Wednesday I met my friend and former Head Golf Professional from Ladies' Golf Club of Toronto at her new place, Lookout Point, which is the club hosting the Canadian Senior Women's Championship in August for an unofficial practice round. It was a great opportunity to catch up and for me to get some inside knowledge about the course. It was a great day. My former coach and Associate Pro from Ladies' Laurie, who is also working there now popped over for a little chat part way through out round as well. 

Thursday and Saturday I played at Freedom Oaks.

Late May and Early June Activities

Wednesday May 30th I went into Hamilton to play a round of golf at Beverly Golf and Country Club, where I started my golf career as a 13 year old. That evening, with my brother Peter, I attended a fundraising dinner, lottery and auction at Beth Jacob Synagogue, the one I grew up at. I purchased one of the auction items, a pair of tickets to the Labor Day football game between the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Toronto Argonauts in the new stadium (built on the same site as the old one, but with the field turned 90 degrees) in Hamilton, which I had not been to yet. An event to look forward to throughout the summer, which my brother agreed to go with me to. (Many moons ago, when I was a football official in Hamilton, I worked some high school games at the old Ivor Wynn Stadium.) I stayed over for a few days. On Saturday morning we went to synagogue. In the afternoon we went to the Busker Fest in Dundas 

This performer was from Israel.

A good juggler and unicycle rider.

Street artwork piece in progress.
(One of my old nicknames was Wonder Woman, so this resonated with me.)

and on Sunday we went on a hike at the botanical gardens in Burlington. 

We encountered a lot of very friendly chipmunks. It turns out that they are that way because despite the signs saying not to feed the wildlife, many people bring nuts and seeds with them, for just that purpose. 

We visited the Iris gardens.
These large purple ones were among my favorites.

Nice quality time spent with my oldest brother.

Monday June 4th I played my first Mixed Seniors Golf league round. Registration was $10, which covers a season ending banquet. Each week is an additional $1, for prizes. They play closest to the hole on a par 4 and a putting game, where you have to predict how many putts you will have in the round and then match it with your actual performance. It didn't take me long to figure out it was better to predict a higher number, so that you had wiggle room towards the end of the round, as opposed to using them all up with several holes left to play. 

Wednesday June 6th I played my first night of Euchre at the Dunnville Legion. They have a good group of very serious players, much more serious than the Monday game at Lowbanks. They have a few different rules and give more points for lone hands than what I am used to, but the adjustments are easy to make.  

June 8th I headed to Kingston for the annual Cataraqui Golf Club Field Day (Invitational) and Eastern Provinces Match Play. The plans were the same as last year, when I also went with the trailer.

One of the prettier green complexes at Cataraqui.

View from my campsite, close to the river.

I played pretty well in the Field Day, shooting 81, and the fact that my early season play at Freedom Oaks in difficult scoring conditions helped to elevate my handicap a bit, allowed me to win Low Gross, worth $100 in the pro-shop and qualified 5th in the Match play. 

I was able to win my first round of match play rather easily. In the second round I lost a very close match. My opponent in that match went on to loose in the following round. They are planning on making this event into the Provincial Match play championship going forward. I'm not a big fan of that idea. Time will tell if I decide to continue playing in it.

The folks camping next to me were newbies and needed some help with setting up, packing up and dumping their tanks. I was able to help them a bit as the few moments I was around was when they seemed to be in the greatest need of help, so it wasn't like I had to go out of my way to be nice. 

Late May Plumbing Issues

On Monday May 28th, while I was cleaning up from dinner prior to heading to Lowbanks for Euchre for the first time the hot water tap of my kitchen faucet decided to break off! This sent a stream of hot water upwards reaching the ceiling. As the trailer plumbing system is not equipped with in line shut off valves, thinking quickly I realized that I had to run out the the water tap at the post to shut the water off. Until this problem was resolved I would not be able to use any water, because it would leak out of the opening. I didn't want to miss Euchre so I quickly cleaned up the mess, wiping off the ceiling, counter top, cabinets and floor and headed out. 

I arrived at Euchre a few minutes later than I had originally planned, but not so late as to not be able to play. Thankfully one of the ladies I played against mentioned that her husband was a plumber. She gave me his contact information.

When I got home from Euchre I filled a pail with water from the hose at the post to use to "flush" the toilet and used bottled water I had on hand for other needs. I would be able to make due, under the circumstances, until morning. 

First thing Tuesday morning I went to the local Home Hardware store and with the help of their plumbing expert purchased new faucets (l figured I should replace the bathroom sink faucet at the same time) and all the fittings (including shut off valves for hot and cold water lines on each), I thought I would need, half way thinking I could do the repair myself, but then thought better of it. I called the euchre players plumber husband and the local mobile RV repair shop. I decided to go with the plumber as his hourly rate was half that of the RV shop and was able to get there several hours sooner. 

Within 20 hours the job was completed at a total cost of about $350. Part of the repair likely would have been covered by my RV extended warranty which had a $100 deductible, but going that would have taken longer and been more inconvenient, so I'm fine with the way I handled it. 

I'm really glad the faucets have been replaced with better quality ones than the original and that the shut off valves that should have been installed originally are now in place.  Hopefully these changes/upgrades will allow me to have no or few further problems with these components of the trailer. 

Getting Settled Near Dunnville

Maitland Shores does not yet have regular weekly activities organized to the extent that they had them at Silver Dove Estates or Tucson Meadows for that matter. At Maitland Shores most of the activities are for the kids, like wagon rides and games. On long weekends they have a pot luck dinner (where the owners provide the main protein and a side) and live band one of the nights and fire works if appropriate.  My first full weekend there was the May 24th weekend, the official start to the summer in Ontario. The meal was to feature hot dogs and hamburgers. I arrived on time, the others arrived fashionably late (about 30 minutes.) I met a couple of seasonal campers, but generally the group weren't that welcoming/friendly. 

With a home base and golf membership taken care of I began to check out what else Dunnville had to offer.  I went to town and found the local library branch. They have 4 computers you can use, WiFi throughout (useful as the campground doesn't have any, and with my phone plan I am supposed to be limited to 1GB per month of roaming, which Dunnville is considered, but in reality I am able to use more), lots of materials available to borrow, including a good selection of movie and TV series on DVD's, which would come in handy because over the antenna I wasn't getting a very wide selection of TV channels. I found a study carol, in a well windowed corner with a power outlet nearby. This pretty much became my spot. 

At the library I saw postings for other events in the area like church run fundraising dinners and charity bingo games (Tuesdays and Fridays at the Optimists Club.) 

I visited the local Chamber of Commerce where they provided me with a welcome package (a handbook listing business and services in town) and a copy of the weekly local paper called The Sachem.  Through the paper I learned about a Euchre game in the nearby town of Lowbanks on Monday nights. By playing at Lowbanks, the other Euchre aficionados put me on the the games on Wednesday nights at the Dunnville Legion and the last Saturday afternoon of the month at the Presbyterian Church. 

Dunnville is a big enough town, population around 6,000, that it has enough stores and restaurants to meet the majority of my needs, though the locals I met often spoke of making trips into Hamilton to shop, to me that was a little farther than I was interested in going just for shopping, but also shopped when I would go to Hamilton to visit my brother. There is certainly more in Dunnville than there was last summer in close proximity to my campground in Appin, Ontario. There is a Canadian Tire, a large Home Hardware, a couple of drug stores, Liquor and Beer Stores, Sobeys, Food Basics and Giant Tiger. In the downtown there are quite a few small boutique types stores and several banks.  A local coffee shop, trying to be like Starbucks, a Tim Horton's, a McDonalds, a Subway, two Chinese restaurants, two Pubs, several Canadian style family restaurants, one upscale restaurant, one Italian restaurant and several pizza places, a couple of fish and chip shops. There are government offices for drivers licenses and health cards, police and fire departments. A very safe feeling and easily habitable place, without traffic jambs

My typical weekly schedule while in Dunnville would be:
Monday morning Mixed Seniors Golf
Monday evening Euchre in Longbanks
Tuesday evening Bingo occasionally.
Wednesday evening Euchre at the Legion.
Last Saturday afternoon of the month Euchre at the Presbyterian Church. 
The other days of the week I would play golf, go cycling and go out for dinner occasionally. 
When I needed to go into town for groceries or other activities, I would generally visit the library for an hour or two. 

Moving To Near Dunnville Ontario

When I left Ontario for the winter, I was planning on returning to Silver Dove Estates for another summer. I had spoken to the owners about my intentions and had offered to leave a deposit, which they said was not necessary. In April, I emailed them to reconfirm my intentions and the response I received was that they had "rented my site to other people," and had no other sites available in the spring, but that they would have new sites available July 1st. I believed that those sites were the same ones that were supposed to have been ready the previous April, when I first arrived at the campground, so was not prepared to wait for July 1st, because of their unreliable track record and my need for a campsite well before that date. There was no explanation as to why they did this, and it was surprising because they had said on several occasions that they liked me and liked having me in the park because I didn't cause any trouble and I added a touch of class to the place. I suppose I fell victim to their poor management and organizational skills.  

It was at that point that I started researching alternative places to spend the summer. First off I realized that there were no other campgrounds close to Wardsville Golf Club, where I had played the previous season, so relocating would require finding both a golf course and a campground. 

One of the focal points of my summer in Ontario was going to be playing in the Canadian Women's Golf Championship, which was to be played at Lookout Point Country Club in Pelham, Ontario. Pelham is in the Niagara region, an area I had spent some time in in the past and held some appeal as it is closer to Hamilton and Toronto than Appin. So, I got to thinking that I could be really well prepared for that tournament if I played the course all summer and I knew that the Pro and Assistant Pro from my former club, Ladies Golf Club of Toronto, were working there, so if would be familiar. They had offered a one year trial membership program the previous season, which proved quite effective, so they didn't need to repeat it, to my detriment. But, there were other options like an out of town membership or a 10 round package. With this in mind I started looking for a campground nearby. I learned that there were three, but sadly two were completely full for the upcoming season and one had only one site open, but it was too small for my trailer. So, I started to pan out from the Pelham area trying to find a solution to my accommodation and golf needs. I was feeling there was a bit of an urgency to settle on a place.

I ended up landing upon Maitland Shores RV Resort and Marina, who said they only had two seasonal sites available at that point and Freedom Oaks Golf Club 

on the basis of their websites, a few phone calls and google maps, I pretty much committed to both site unseen. 

I arrived at the campground on Mother's Day (not my favorite day of the year, since my Mother passed away and I am not a Mother), Sunday May 13th, the ground was a bit soggy, but I was happy with my campsite, which was a corner lot at the far edge of the property, next to some woods and a farmers field. Being on the corner makes it easy to get into and out of, which I tend to want to do a few times throughout the season. I was able to level the trailer quite easily and hook up to the services, all of which were not the most conveniently located, but I had enough cord, hose and sewer pipe to reach them all. I soon met my immediate neighbors, who were all very welcoming. 

The following day I went to the Golf Course. It was less than 10 minutes away, all on paved rural roads, a very stress free drive. I was initially encouraged to take a cart and drive around the course to check it out. I had a look at the east portion of the course, which looked fine, though wet and I was disturbing golfers already out playing, so I cut the tour short. I then went back to the clubhouse with the plan of playing a preview round, even though I was already in my mind committed to joining. The round was fine. The west part of the course is a little more interesting than the east. Freedom Oaks was going to suit my golf needs. 

The owner of the course who looks after the pro shop, Pete, suggested that I get in touch with Lynn, who often walked the course (my preference) playing by herself. 

Lynn

She used to work in the clubs kitchen, but was now retired. We arranged to play the following day, and as kindred spirits became friends quickly. She helped to introduce me to a number of other ladies in the club, including Ella, Kathy, Joan:

Joan

Pat and Anna Loraine one of the owners who plays with her dog Darla, along side. Lynn suggested that I join the Monday Seniors League, but not the Tuesday Ladies League. Lynn and I typically played together two or three times a week when I was in Dunnville and did other things together, like going to play Euchre and having dinner together at each others places or at nearby restaurants as she was recently separated and had no interest in dating.  

Back In My Home Province Spring 2018

For those that aren't all that familiar, Ontario is a very large province. The population is over 14 million and the land mass is 1.076 million square kilometers. People generally consider Texas to be a big state, but Texas is only 695,662 square kilometers, which means Ontario is 35% bigger than Texas! The provincial health care people require Ontarian's to be in the province a minimum of 5 months of the year in order to maintain the provincially financed health care coverage, or as the Americans refer to it, "free health care." I want to keep my health care, so when I was planning on entering back into Ontario from the west side and quite far north, I figured I could do a considerable amount of touring around, while I complied with their requirements. I should also point out that I am usually pretty meticulous about my planning for these trips, but I hadn't done much in advance for this portion. I think I was lulled into complacency by the fact that this place is my home and shouldn't be that difficult to navigate.

My first stop in Ontario was the Wabigoon Lake RV Park, appropriately named as it is on the bank of the lake, the night of May 7th. It is a very small campground but well laid out and well run. Easy pull through sites. If I was going to open a small campground I would use this one as a model, though I would want to build it in a location where campers were likely to want to visit 12 months of the year. If I had know what was ahead of me, I would have stayed at least a second night, even though it was right next to the Trans Canada Highway, so there was some traffic noise all night long. 

My next stop was Thunder Bay. I saw the Terry Fox Statue as I was entering the city, but didn't stop because it seemed like it would be difficult to navigate the area with the trailer. The Provincial Park I had hoped to stay in was not yet open for the season, so I ended up staying in the parking lot at Walmart. I got dinner from their "steam table"  and had breakfast a the in store McDonald's. (1st night without an electrical hook-up.)

The following day I drove a couple of hundred miles along the North Coast of Lake Superior. The views were quite nice. I spent the night in Marathon, which is such a small town, they don't have a Walmart, so I stayed in the shopping mall parking lot as once again the campground was not open. I had dinner at a Mom and Pop restaurant in the mall and breakfast at A & W. (2nd night without an electrical hook-up.)

Unfortunately as it turned out it was an old fashioned winter, not as mild as some of recent years, so the campgrounds were not going to be opening for a couple more weeks. They were gearing up for the May long weekend which this year was May 18th to 21st. 

The following day I drove about 250 miles along the East Coast of Lake Superior. Once again the scenery was quite nice. 

I don't usually stop at touristy spots along the highway, but I made an exception for Chippewa Falls. It wasn't planned, however there was some road construction with a signal person just past it, and I had to stop for that anyway. There also appeared to be public washroom there, but as it turned out they were not yet open for the season (there is a theme developing.) I was thankful that I travel with my own washroom, so went in the trailer to look after nature's call. Thus relieved, I was able to hike a short ways up the trail to the waterfalls, which were flowing rapidly with the aid of the snow melting up stream: 

There was interesting signage close to the parking lot, firstly about how this was roughly the halfway point on the trans-Canada Highway, and secondly about how members of the group of seven artists had enjoyed painting in this area. I enjoyed this brief educational stop and then carried on to Sault-Ste Marie, where with no campgrounds open I got permission to stay in the parking lot of the OLG Casino. 

When I arrived at the Casino, the battery in the trailer was showing that it was quite low. Not driving very far the last couple of days and needing the battery power for my CPAP machine, the furnace fan (the nights have been pretty cold), water pump and some lighting were taking its toll. I was pretty sure I needed to stretch the power out for at least one more night, so rather than use it all up and be really inconvenienced, I decided to not use my CPAP that night. I knew I would not likely sleep as well, but at least I would no likely wake up in the middle of the night without any heat available. I had dinner in the casino and breakfast from Tim Horton's. (3rd night without an electrical hook-up.) 

The following day I drove about 250 miles along the North coast of Lake Huron towards Sudbury, another place I had visited in the past but not fully explored. This leg of the trip also marks the point at which I have been on the coast of each of the five "Great Lakes" with my trailer. I arranged to stay overnight at Timberwolf Golf Club, where I had played a tournament several years ago, and which had opened for the season earlier that week. It was pleasant enough and there was enough daylight left to play 9 holes. I had dinner in the clubhouse before retiring for the night. Once again I opted to forgo the CPAP machine and thankfully made it through the night with heat. (4th night without an electrical hook-up.) 

The following day, before heading out of town I visited Dynamic Earth Museum, home of The Big Nickel:

Inside they have displays about mining and minerals. The highlight is a tour through a portion of a mine, which depicts the evolution of mining, from the early days of men with picks and axes and donkeys pulling ore from the mine in small carts, through more modern times with mechanized equipment. Now I have a better understanding of the confines and concerns when there are reports on the news of miners trapped in mines. 

My last stop "on the road" was at the KOA in Barrie, Ontario. It was quite busy there, somewhat surprisingly, on Mother's Day Weekend, which most Ontarian's would consider to be a couple of weekends before the official start of camping season, and I would think most Mothers given the choice would prefer to be at home rather than camping. It was nice to be back in a campground with full hook-ups, and I was able to get a discount using the membership card I had purchased in Cedar City, Utah. I stayed there just one night.  

And finally on Mother's Day, May 13th, (not my favorite day of the year, since my Mom passed away) I arrived at my "home" for the summer, Maitland Shores, RV Resort and Marina near Dunnville, Ontario, on the shore of the Grand River, just before it enters Lake Erie. 

If I had decided to purchase a portable generator earlier on in my RVing career, I could have hung out a bit longer in Northern Ontario during this cold spring, but for the few nights I really could have used it, I don't think it was worth an investment of a minimum of $1,000.00 and then the worries about where to store it so it wouldn't get stolen, having fuel on hand for it, and maintenance on it. (A solar system has its limitations and expenses as well.) The last few days of this trip were a bit stressful, worrying if my batteries would hold up and sleeping without my CPAP, but I survived.