Toronto, ON
I was up early and off for a much needed oil change. I had booked the truck into a GMC dealership just down the street from my friends' home, but when I arrived they couldn't do the oil change as their big hoist was being used with an engine rebuild, I got back into the truck, googled a few oil change places and made a couple of calls. Mr. Lube couldn't do it as my truck wouldn't fit through their doors. I finally found a place. Oil Changers. It meant driving all over - on the freeway, over main drag streets and some smaller neighbourhood streets most of which were still covered in snow. But I found the place and they were happy to do the oil change and send me on my way.
Once back at my friends' house, everyone was gone either to work or school, I felt like I should get the last of my things and hit the road. But patience prevailed, and I chose to have a chill day just relaxing and making one more meal for my TO family. It was a good decision.
Here's a map of my travels so far.
After supper, my friends came for a tour of the truck. I think they liked what I have done with the cube van.
And no, I haven't found a name for her yet.
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
I was up early, again and on the road by 7:15 AM. So, rush hour traffic in Toronto in the morning is 16 lanes of traffic all going about 20 km/hour. It took me over an hour to get out of that crazy mass of lanes, ramps and people!
I stopped in St Catherines, partly because I had stayed in Ste, Catherine QC and Ste Catherine de Hatley QC...so, stoppin St Catherines made it a hat trick!
After St Catherines, I drove the QEW all the way to the border. It was actually quite pretty. Once at the border I barely had time to get my passport and identification out before I was talking to the border officer. No troubles, "Welcome to the United States, enjoy your visit." and I was off down the I - 90 West to Erie Pennsylvania.
I stopped at the Angora Rest Stop, this place was kind of cool. The food court area was on an island between the Eastbound and Westbound lanes of traffic, I found a place selling some really good Mexican.
Originally my goal was to get to Coraopolis, PA which is near Pittsburgh, but I was tired of driving and wanted to have a comfortable night in hotel. I stopped to get gas near Grove City, PA and there happened to be a motel behind the gas station. Done for the day!
Thursday, November 14, 2019
Up early and down the highway. I did a small course change...originally I was going to go through Pittsburgh, but once I looked at the map, and plotted my course I found that by going on the I - 80 to Akron, OH and then to the I - 71 to Columbus and Cincinnati it would be an hour shorter than going through Pittsburgh. I drove some pretty long hours, but I managed to get to Elizabethtown, Kentucky. I stayed in a hotel. The prices have been pretty decent or maybe I have been lucky in finding cheaper hotels.
Friday, November 15, 2019
Once again I am up early and heading out while it's still dark - predawn. Surprisingly, actually not, there are other folks out there warming up their vehicles, scraping off the frost and heading down the interstate. Elizabethtown to Nashville, to Memphis to Sheridan AR Again I found myself in rush hour traffic in Nashville. It wasn't horrible, partly because I was able to check out the new Mercedes-Benz Airstream Camper vans. They looked gorgeous from the exterior.
When I stopped at a rest stop, I realized I had no idea where I was going to stay, so I started googling "Cheap camping Little Rock, Arkansas" and I found Donna's Off Grid Camping. I found a website hipcamp.com it has an app too. It will show you out of the way, funky, free or cheap camping.
I paid $10for a night at Donna's on the website, and a while later Donna contacted me, we chatted about the condition and what had been keeping her from being at the camp. I made good time, except for the last 20 minutes or so, as GPS wanted me to take roads that had locked gates, but eventually I found my way to Donna's camp. No one around anywhere, it was a tad overgrown but Donna had explained she was dealing with family issues and just could not get out there. I was pressed for time when I arrived. The sun would be setting within the hour. First thing was to get the generator setup for it's first time running. Which meant filling it with oil and gas, figuring out which switches were for what and get it up and running. With everything operating I was able to watch some movies on my TV by streaming saved movies on hard drives through my laptop to the tv. It was great!
I had a little issue with my heater, I had to clean the pilot light area...looks like a bit of burned match had dropped into the space for air flow. Once I got that fixed I had lights, heat and my movie! Paradise. I found the generator noisy, but it is considered one of the quieter ones on the market.
Saturday, November 16, 2019
Arkansas Sun Rise.
After an early lunch I continued driving west on the I - 40 and found myself stopping in Sallisaw, OK. I hung out at the Walmart. I couldn't make my mind up - if I should continue down the highway or just call it a day. I ended up getting a hotel room - one reason was I have to download a letter from my insurance agent, print it, sign it and email back a copy to her.
My plan for tomorrow is to have a bit of a late start, and try to get closer to Amarillo TX. Tomorrow I want to go camping again. I am continuing to figure out some of the glitches and kinks in my truck. Nothing major, but currently I can't use the through the wall generator hook up because I need a special plug adapter to go from the 4 prong 30 amp outlet to the two 120V outlets on the generator. I have seen the adapters - just a matter of finding a Camping World Store or other RV store to get it. Might check at a store in Amarillo.
Chatted with my cousin, he's busy with a buddy next week so my options are to head to Slab City and set up my sewing projects and continue working on the camper conversion or just travel around Texas and Arizona for a week or so.
Again it was a long day. I have a bit of a sense of urgency to get further enough south that the night time low is above freezing.
Sunday, November 17, 2019
After getting a slow start to the day, my cousin asked me to meet him in Las Vegas tomorrow or early Tuesday so we could work on my solar power system. It's going to be a 1290 mile trip.
I drove through Oklahoma, Texas and finally called it a day at the Texas-New Mexico border. Crawled in the back and fell asleep quickly, even with big rigs idling and air brakes releasing.
Monday, November 18, 2019
Woke up at 4 and on the road by 4:30 . It was a long day. I made it safely to Las Vegas, and began to follow the GPS to my cousin's campsite. I was almost there when he drove past flashing his lights and honking. I'd made it to his camp. What a relief. Bed time!
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