2011 Trip 2: Hail !!!

Silver Lake PP - May 2011

Long weekend...gotta love em!  Heading back to Silver Lake PP, same time as last year, but on a different site.  Nice day today, the rainy week seems over, at least for when we would like it to be. Traffic was suprisingly light, kinda unusual, perhaps a side effect of the risng gas prices.

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How cold is it outside?

We needed to find a good spot to mount the remote temperature sensor for our digital clock/thermometer.  Ordered this gizmo from REI, it displays the time as well as in/out temperatures. Pretty handy. I needed to figure out where to mount the sensor, under the Alto, so that it would be protected out of the elements, but still exposed to the ambient air.  I settled upon mounting it on the side of the slide-out step supports.  Here it will be out of the wind and spray while travelling, and well protected if it rains while we are set up. I then made a shield for it out of black coroplast, to protect it from any spray the wheel may kick up while on the road. Unless you were looking, it is not a noticeable installation.

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2011 Trip 1 - Opening the cottage...

Cedar Cove, White Lake - May 2011

Certainly much easier than the old days...although opening the cottage was an exciting event that started the summer season, it did involve a large degree of work to get it all going. From raking leaves to starting the water system to putting in the dock, a lot of work.

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Powering the Tivoli

We added a 12v power jack next where the Tivoli sits. The Tivoli is our awesome radio, which fills the Alto with amazing sound given its size. Check it out here... http://www.tivoliaudio.com/products/portables/the-pal-black.html Ours is a funky green colour, not readily available any longer.

I made up a couple of plastic mounting plates for the jacks, then screwed these to the walls. The wire between the jacks ran along with some existing Alto wiring. The whole idea being the jacks will be powered by either the AC adaptor or the 12v outlet on the front wall, and no clutter of cords. Looks sweet and works well.

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2010 Trip 11 - Wrapping it up...

McCreary's Beach, Mississippi Lake - Oct 2010

Well, looks like the last outing of the season is upon us. This fall has been very cool and wet, so we decided that Thanksgiving weekend, weather permitting, would be the time to get the Alto ready for winter.  Luckily, the weather is fabulous this weekend... still a little cool, but there is not a cloud in the sky and the brilliant sun is making the day feel warmer than it is. We have made reservations at a private campground just this side of Perth. We want full hookups this time, as we plan to flush the tanks and get them as clean as we can. Having a sewer hookup at our site will certainly help this task.

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A place for the Mags

Lots of stuff accumulates on the little table...mostly maps and paper. We (Dale) saw this magazine rack in the Solutions Store, and figured it would be perfect to create some storage holders. It was metal, the right size and colour, and easily hacked apart. It yielded 3 separate racks. One went on the side of the microware cabinet and the other 2 on the front wall behind the table. They do a great job with the clutter, and offer secure storage while on the road.

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2010 Trip 10 - Campfire = Heat...

Bonnechere Provincial Park - Sept 2010

Headed out Friday afternoon. On the road by 4:30, and as usual, the traffic was heavy. Took us a while to just get outside the city. We are going to Bonnechere this weekend, and our friend Sandra is coming along to pitch a tent on our site. She is waiting for us to go by her while she sits on the side of the Hwy 17. She will then follow us up. Pretty hard to miss us. It is about a 2 1/2 hour drive up there, so we are hoping some daylight will be left. Given the time of year, it will probably be dark. Staying on the same site we had in June, a good spot, being close to both the beach and the comfort station.

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2010 Trip 9 - Outdoorsy Girls Weekend...

Fitzroy Provincial Park - Sept 2010

In early summer I (Dale) and Nancy thought up of arranging our annual girls getaway weekend using our two trailers to go camping.  We picked Fitzroy Harbour because of it's closeness to Ottawa and that it would be an easy reach for both Jim and Drew (Nancy's husband) to drive out with the trailers and set them up for us.  The guys are critical for the pulling & setting up stage...since Drew was out of town on business, Jim could have done both but it ended up with Jim needing to just set up just ours.

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2010 Trip 8 - Bike rack...what a great idea!

Bon Echo Provincial Park - Sept 2010

Long weekend, yippee! Although the Labour Day weekend usually bookends the wrong end of the summer, there is still lots of weekends left before the Alto season is over. On the road Friday night by 6:00, sort of on track. Pissed down the rain shortly before we headed out, and now it is only off and on. Traffic heavy as expected, seems to take forever to get out of the city. Once we got past Carleton Place, it moved along quite nicely, with the occasional a-hole driver just to keep things interesting.

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2010 Vacation Day 14 - Heading home...

Pulled out around 8:00. Coffee to get going, then a quick breakfast at Timmy's in a near by town. We are heading cross country to Sherbrooke, then will hop the 10 into Montreal. Our penchant for traveling off the main highways has provided us with some amazing sights along the way, from the scenic to the quirky.

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