Day 2: May 21 – Woodstock to Goderich, ON

Today would be a short drive across the arable farmlands of Southern Ontario.

After finally attaching the skid wheel to the trailer hitch of the campervan, we were ready to set off at about Noon. Mother nature had other ideas. Looking at the sky the thunder storm watch had turned to a warning and the clouds had been building quickly. The colours of the clouds told us that we should sit and wait for an hour or so before heading out. This was clearly the right call, as moments later the winds came up whipping trees about and the rain was driving sideways at a good 60km/h or more.

Lunch completed and our farewells said, we were off towards Tavistock, Stratford & then onto Goderich. Our decision to wait out the storm took only a few minutes to be proven as a good one. We passed many large tree branches that had been snapped from Maple trees lining the roads and blown into fields on the other side of the highway. Some were 6″ of so in diameter & would have severely damaged any vehicles should they have been in the way. Entire trees were uprooted neared Tavistock; however, as we drove on the dame soon subsided and we head left the path of the storm. (We would find out later in the weekend from news reports that the same storm had reeked havoc in and around Ottawa. Our thoughts are with those that were injured or have suffered property damage.)

In Goderich we were staying with Barb’s sister for a couple of nights and this first evening they took us into Goderich and to “The Old Saltie” Fish & Chip shack down near the harbour. It only sells fish & chips and only as takeout. Barb & I agreed that the food was fantastic!

After a short drive around town to see some long forgotten sites, we arrived back at the campervan to settle in for the night.

Day 1: May 20th – On the road to Woodstock, ON

9:15am and we’re pulling out of our laneway on the first leg of the trip. Destination today is Woodstock, ON to visit my brother and family. After a quick stop in Kemptville to fill up with gas ($2.046/l) we’re off down Hwy 416.

Time to go!

The van is driving very well on Hwy 401 and the first several hours pass without incident. Before we know it, we’re coming into the GTA where we stop for gas and lunch. Gas price in Ajax is $1.962/l which we think of As a bargain ?!?!

Toronto traffic is heavy as it’s the Friday before the long weekend and folks are heading home and to their cottages. Although slow, we make it through and traffic lightens a little for the remainder of the drive to Woodstock. We arrive at about 3:30pm.

The evening is spent catching up with my brother while enjoying some pizza and drinks. Sleep came close to midnight. The end of an enjoyable first day with hopefully many mor e to come.

T-minus 1 day: Final Prep

It’s almost time to head out on our cross-continent road trip. A few final preparations to complete ahead of tomorrows departure, we’re in good shape… we think.

We’ve been wanting to get a Class-B campervan for a few years and in 2020 we ordered from PleasureWay Industries of Saskatoon, Canada their OnTour-2.2 model. Based on the Ford Transit 350HD platform, the OnTour-2.2 comes complete with wet bath, galley and lounge/sleeping area. We picked up our van in October 2021, a full year after ordering.

Storing the van under a shelter in our laneway for the Winter was hard as we both just wanted to get out and travel, but van camping in Canada in the Winter is not how we wanted to learn about the ins and outs of our new van. So, we spent the time instead planning for our first retirement trip in the van.

And here we are…. After a long Winter of planning and preparing we are about to head out on a cross-continent trip that will see us leave Ontario, Canada and head to Indianapolis, IN to watch the Indy500 after which we will head West to Colorado and Utah before turning North to Idaho and finally Washington before crossing back into British Columbia, Canada. A couple of weeks later we will head East back across Canada arriving home in Ontario by early July.

It’s hard to believe that it’s all about to start!