This entry is a consolidation of 4 days, 7/27/16 – 7/30/16.

We left Ottawa at 8:20 and 73 degrees on the 27th and headed for Huntsville, Ontario to visit our good friends Pat and Robin and spend a few days at their lakeside home. It took us about 4 hours to get there. The drive was mostly through the countryside…farms of golden wheat and corn fields in flower as evidenced by a yellow haze hovering over the dark green stalks. In a town called Renfrew we saw an unusual sight. Waiting to enter the highway was a black carriage being pulled by a beautiful dark brown horse. Inside the carriage were two women dressed in long black dresses with black bonnets on their heads. And we decided they had to be Amish. And it was clear that horses walked this roadside often because we saw a lot of horse droppings all along the shoulder of the road.

The last major leg of our journey took us through Algonquin Provincial Park, which is thickly forested and adorned by many lakes. Most of the cars and trucks were pulling campers and/or boats, either headed to or from the many campgrounds in the park.

We arrived after lunch time to Pat's smiling face on the deck above us. And the next three days were absolute heaven. The home sits high on the side of a hill with a steep walk down to the water’s edge and the view from the deck is wonderful through the mature pine and hardwood trees that protect the slope. The lake was smooth and glassy and peacefully quiet, only interrupted occasionally by a slow-moving pontoon party boat, always with waving hands and smiling faces. Pat and Robin have such a boat, so we were out on it several times during our stay, usually with wine, cheese, crackers and veggies…our prelude to dinner. And Beamer was excited and happy to be floating around in this wonderful weather, warm sunshine and just a nip of a chill in the air. It was glorious. These temperatures were ideal and, if in Florida, we would have been chilly, but up where the air is dry and clean, it feels invigorating and comfortable. Steve even went on a 3 hour canoe ride with Robin up the river and surprisingly, he was not sore at all the next day. Perhaps that is a testament to being in shape, or maybe just playing a lot of golf.

We spent one afternoon touring downtown Huntsville, where there are many artisan shops and a docking area where people can arrive in town in their boats rather than their cars. Pat and Robin were the best of hosts and we had a wonderful time just resting and relaxing…a nice respite from our travels.

This morning, we left Huntsville at 8:15 and 52 degrees. Sorry, Pat. Didn’t mean to get you up so early. Yes, 52 degrees and the electric seat warmer felt really good. We drove along Georgian Bay and the North Channel of Lake Huron for most of the day. The drive was pleasant. We passed through small towns with two-pump gas stations, small houses, general stores, and trading posts, and countryside’s with vast fields, thick woods, lakes, rivers and lots of campgrounds. Everything was going well until we got to a small town about 20 miles east of Spanish, Ontario. We stopped for gas and were told that route 17 was closed in Spanish due to an accident involving a death. The accident occurred around 9 AM and it was now 1:00 PM. After being told that there was no other route to Sault St. Marie except one that would take 8 hours, and after consulting a map that confirmed this…there just are no other roads along this route…none…we decided that after four hours, traffic had to be moving by now. So we drove on. Fifteen minutes later and five miles outside of Spanish, we came to a dead stop and we sat there for two solid hours during which we moved a total of, perhaps, half a mile. Traffic was coming toward us from the other side, and some may have been cars turning around, but we were not making any progress even given that some cars probably did fall out of line. We pondered how an accident could take this long to clear, and perhaps there was a large 18 wheeler blocking the road, but when we finally got going and passed the site, we saw only a U-Haul off the road and a car on a wrecker. That was it. Perhaps there were more vehicles that had already been cleared. So, we lost two solid hours and we were also looking at a border crossing, which could cost us a lot more time, given past experiences and given that this is a long weekend in Canada.

Well, fortunately, the border crossing went well and we made it to our hotel around 6:15 PM, a good two hours late. So we check into our hotel. We had reserved a king room, and had indicated that we had a dog. But we were given a queen. No amount of arguing with the desk clerk would change his mind. We had a dog and we had to take what we could get. None of the "dog rooms" had king sized beds. And nothing was done to compensate us, even though we paid for a king. In addition, they charged us for the dog. Now, I always do my homework, and nowhere did it say there was a dog fee. So…if you are in this area, stay away from America’s Best Value…or for that matter, anywhere you happen to be. This hotel is worse than Motel 6, the rooms are small, the bathroom is smaller than a closet and the bed is hard as a cement slab. Never, never again.

So…pour me a large glass of wine, I need to do some whining. Oh, I guess I just did my whining, now didn’t I. Thanks for listening Tomorrow, the upper peninsula of Michigan.