2014 Trip 9: another season closes...and, more rain!

Cedar Cove Resort, White Lake, Oct 2014 Friday It seems that a Cedar Cove weekend represents two opposite emotions for us...the excitement of the start of another new Alto season, or the sadness that another Alto season is drawing to a close. Recently we have been communicating...

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2014 Trip 8: exciting times at the dumping station...

Sept 2014: McLaren Campground Friday This weekend is truly a get away. We felt because we have been away on our Seattle trip we wanted to catch up a bit on time in the Alto. This campground is a short drive from Ottawa, a perfect distance for a quick trip. It is just an hour...

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2014 Trip 7: dare I say more rain...

Sept 2014: Murphy's Point Friday The weather this week has turned a tad chilly, and as per usual the forecast is calling for rain Saturday. Camping at this time of the season is less about the weather and is about to getting out of the city and relaxing. We were in the city...

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2014 Trip 6: really...more weekend rain!!!

Bonnechere P.P. Friday Let's just start off by saying the weather is going to be crappy this weekend. The forecast and radar shows precipitation covering a huge area, right over where we are heading. This is the weekend we had planned for our friend Sandra to camp with...

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A Nifty Illuminating Idea

When we are just sitting around a night, we don't really want to have even one of the flourescent light fixtures turned on, as we do find they give off a lot of light, and they are in the cooler blue colour spectrum. We came up with the idea of using one of those battery operated...

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A Moose???

We found this really cute aluminum cutout of a moose in a funky design shop called Kikoto in Bloomfield. We just knew we would be able to find a spot for it in the Alto, and it became our new place to hang keys. ...

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LED Fluorescent Replacement

After our weekend where we drained the battery, we have become more conscious of our power consumption. Now to be fair, we really caused the issue by overusing the TV when not connected to power, and not realizing that the solar panels were not generating any power as the weather...

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Front Stabilizers

There is now an option on the Altos for the addition of front stabilizer jacks. I took a number of photos of the installation at the last RV show, and I knew I would be able to retrofit them to ours. I ordered the same jacks online, and headed over to my favourite metal supply...

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2014 Day 16: Saturday

We have decided to leave today instead of tomorrow, we would like the extra day at home to get everything to rights before heading back to work on Monday.  The sky looks good but the forecast does say a high probability of rain this afternoon. Our plan is good to get out...

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2014 Day 15: Friday

As we awoke we were greeted again by the sounds of the wind and the surf. Seems the wind has returned, but not nearly as strong as previous days. Another slow relaxing day, which is nice to have when you are on holidays. Went for another walk, we have discovered a nice circular...

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2014 Day 14: Thursday

Still quite windy today, but a little warmer. Power walk again in the morning, and pretty much hung around our site all day. The wind is just enough to make the water a little rough for paddling and sitting around outside only for the very hard...

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2014 Day 13: Wednesday

Lots of activity during the night, I could hear someone outside next door. The wind was really howling, and from what I could see, all the campers were outside tightening down their awnings and tarps. It was pretty chilly as well, with the temp dropping into the low 50'sF. The...

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2014 Day 12: Tuesday

Awesome day today, the temp was very hot. Power walk this morning got us going. There is quite the hill up from the water sites, so this made for a good leg workout. Walked over to the upper campsite section in the woods. We are so glad to be in the lower beach area, not only...

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2014 Day 11: Monday

Although feeling Riley's loss we decided to continue onto Driftwood as planned a day later since staying home the week would only make it worse and not bring our little guy back. Also by being away from the house out of his regular routine for a week may help Barley transition...

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2014 Day 10: Sunday

A very sad day today. Our plan was to head home early this morning to pick up the boys and bring them with us to Driftwood for the second week. Shortly after we arrived home, our little guy Riley suffered (what our Vet and we believe to be) a heart attack and passed away very...

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2014 Day 9: Saturday

Another fine day shaping up, which is great as it is our last day here. Hard to believe it has been eight days since we arrived. The boondocking experiment has so far gone quite well. There are a few things to be mindful of when you are without services for an extended period, the key ones being electricity and waste water....

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2014 Day 8: Friday

The wind has calmed down this morning, as well as the breakers. Not a cloud in the sky, so it should shape up to be a great day. No plans today, just see where the day goes. Biked up to the park store and picked up a paper, so reading it was our morning's activity. A nice...

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2014 Day 7: Thursday

This is the day that we all planned for Helen and Paul to come out to our campsite and spend the afternoon on the beach and later on dinner. The day is still windy, but lots of full sun and blue sky and the waves have calmed down a bit, perfect for swimming or floatin...

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2014 Day 6: Wednesday

Still quite windy this morning, and from the sound, the breakers are huge. As a result of the high winds along the road there are now numerous miniature sand dunes, formed by the constant wind overnight. The beach had all sorts of new dunes as well, and the entire surface was...

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2014 Day 5: Tuesday

Rain started around 6:00am this morning, not heavy, but very steady. Weather report calls for it to clear, but right now it looks doubtful. No power walk this morning, but we did head up early to the comfort station to freshen up. Had the place to ourselves, given the weather....

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2014 Day 4: Monday

Overcast this morning, those low clouds that don't seem to hold rain, but blanket the sky with drearyness. The wind is still up, but not as strong as last night. Temps have been hovering around 74F, comfortable, but not summer beach temps. There is no end to the clouds, so it...

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2014 Day 3: Sunday

Sunday Woke up early morning (4:30am) to the sound of raindrops on the roof. We scrambled out of bed, put on our head lamps and went out to put away the mats, folding chairs and items we had hung out to dry, then we crawled back to bed. So glad we did because the rain did not...

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2014 Day 2: Saturday

Saturday Another beautiful day ahead, not a cloud in the sky.  Put the coffee on, read a little, then went for a power walk around the campground. Lots of campers in, only a few empty spots. Walking through the forested parts we again realized the benefits of being more...

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2014 Vacation: Sandbanks/Driftwood

Friday Starting two weeks today. This year, rather than a big road trip, we have decided to spend a week in a couple of our favourite provincial parks. We are heading to Sandbanks first, followed by a second week at Driftwood. We have been road tripping the past four years,...

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A Kayak Cart Build

Not really a mod of the Alto, but given the number of kayakers amongst our Alto friends, I figured sharing how to assemble your own kayak cart would be a nice little project to share. Even though kayaks are relatively easy to transport, sometimes you are faced with an extended...

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2014 Trip 4: hard to get any better than this...

Rollins Pond S.P. - June 2014 Friday Off to one of favourite parks this long weekend, and it is a bonus weekend of 5 days. We mostly camp at Ontario provincial parks, but Rollins Pond NY State park is also a fave. Rollins is a great place, a quiet lake with most sites on...

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2014 Trip 3: a nice weekend away

Silver Lake P.P. - June 2014 Friday Headed out after work, looks like the weather will be great this weekend. Nice to get out again, as it has been a couple of weekends since our last trip. Traffic is light, although getting past Kanata always eats up time. Not many in...

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Why is the pump running???

We noticed late last season that the water pump would cycle on several times over a short period, for no reason. We kept an eye on this and it was a pretty regular event. It was like there was a small leak somewhere that was allowing the built up pressure to fall, and requiring the pump to come on. I checked all the lines and taps but all were good....

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2014 Trip 2: it's a long weekend, that means rain!

McLaren's Campground, St Lawrence Parks - May 2014 Friday: Sure enough, nothing but rain leading up to the long weekend as is generally the case. It is sometimes a little odd heading out when the weather is less than great, but this is made easier by the fact that we know we...

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2014 Trip 1: our fifth season begins, time sure flys

Cedar Cove, White Lake - May 2014 Friday: The much anticipated first trip of the season. We think about getting back out in our Alto most of the long winter. Pulled it out of storage last weekend, and spent the week putting all our gear back into it. Everything wintered well, although the only thing unexpected would have been mice, but we have...

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