Terri and Peter's RV Adventures

These last two days we’ve covered over 600 miles, mostly west. Leaving Renfrew, ON, just west of Ottawa, we followed two lane provincial country roads through thick pine forests covering spectacular hills, and occasional lakes and rivers. Unlike Newfoundland and other Maritime provinces, Ontario is more developed. There are what appear to be summer cabins and boat docks dotting many of these lakes. Campgrounds and small tourist towns are more common, about every 15 miles or so. While we were definitely in the country, it didn’t have the same desolate, remoteness certainly as Newfoundland and less so than New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

It wasn’t until we arrived at our campground for the next two nights that I realized we’re due north of Cleveland and a little west of Detroit. It put our location in perspective. The drive west has progressed much more quickly and painlessly than our drive east. Maybe it’s because we’ve spread it out with some two night stops and broken up the trip into 300 mile segments. It was surprising to be this close to what we think of as the midwest.

We are in a rustic provincial campground called Chutes, just outside the town of Massey adjacent to a roaring waterfall, gorge and the Aux Sables River. It’s a heavily wooded campground with very generous spacing among the sites. We have electricity but no water or sewer so we filled our RV reservoir and hope it will carry us for two days. If not, we can always hitch up and get what we need. This feels like old school camping. No wifi and minimal cell service. (Even our starlink is struggling to find satellites between the trees and the heavy clouds portending rain.) People are actually sitting around campfires, some for ambiance (it’s in the high 70s so not for heat) and to keep the considerable bugs at bay. I prefer Deet.

Trying to soak up all our Canadian experience over these final two days, we decided to pop into a Tim Horton’s (or, “Timmy’s” as the locals call it) for lunch. Tim Horton is named after a famed hockey star. They are as ubiquitous as A&W around here and as Waffle House is in the south. We had to try one just to see what it was like. Well, aside from the fact that they had nothing for me that was gluten free (no surprise–although the donuts looked spectacular), the menu was more varied than I expected; mostly sandwiches, pizza and coffee drinks (which was what I had). Overall, it was underwhelming but I’m glad we tried it. It felt like a very local thing to do.

The dogs were fabulous travelers once again, weathering a 7.5 hour span of travel. I always reward them with a big dog treat when we arrive and then look for a chuck it session for Lily. We found a grassy opening and then saw the falls and river. I followed the trail a little while but hope to explore it further tomorrow. With a late arrival, we needed to figure out dinner and eat before midnight.

Aside from the bugs, this is a very cool place. It’s private and quiet. It’s supposed to rain over night and into the morning. I’m not sure what we’ll do but relaxing, reading and finding a good hiking trail sound very appealing. Peter and I are already planning our next Canadian adventure. We’re going to miss it here!