5/19/2009 Kingston, Ontario Cool, sunny, one tiny shower.
This was a hectic day. Up onto Hwy 401 and away to the east in the midst of a herd of trucks. It turns out last weekend was a 3-day weekend, so everyone had Monday off. Today, Tuesday, they roared back into action.
We almost bypassed Toronto. Canadian friends told us to use 407, which parallels the 16-lane 401 some distance to the north. It's a toll road without toll gates - cars are issued transponders that log their travel on it and bill the user. There is also video technology where cameras decipher the license plate number and use that to bill the user if they're from another province. I don't know what they'll do to bill us with our Florida plates; if they bill us, it was worth it.
But at the east end of 407, one has to go south and get back on 401. We did and immediately got into a hassle. Five lanes throttled down to three, with a large backup and lots of merging. Then the traffic went slow-and-fast-and-slow for a while for no known reason. After some number of miles, things settled down. But there was still a lot of traffic, and much of it was trucks. The speed limit is 100kph, about 62.5mph, and most stayed within 10kph of that. The result is that it took a long time for anyone to pass another vehicle. Patience (of which I have little at times) was required.
The 401 passed within a mile of the KOA, so we hopped off and set up rather quickly. I borrowed a ladder and went up it to replace the cap from yesterday's story. There were *two* vents missing caps, so another one went away somewhere.
We went to two RV parts places. The first supplied us with bulbs for the trailer back lights, which have been giving us trouble. The second supplied us with another vent cap and a latch that holds open a compartment door when you want that.
Then we went downtown to dinner at Amadeus (recommended by KOA lady). D had weiner schnitzel with riesling and I had Warsteiner Dark with my rouladen. Both were good and quite filling.
We took a short tour of the downtown, but it was rush hour now and there were cars everywhere. So we returned to the KOA.
I installed the latch and found a loose ground lead on one trailer rear light. Put new bulbs on both sides and tightend everything I could find. Take that, you.
Now we're back in the trailer, settling in and doing small things....
5/20/2009 Kingston Ontario Cool, Sunny. Up to 75*F finally.
Up late, breakfast, into town to the tourist center. There we purchased tickets for the "trolley" ride around town to get acquainted with the place.
Dave was our guide on the tour. He never stopped talking about his town (he graduates from Queen's U here in a couple of weeks). Local limestone makes up many of the buildings here, so they call it the Limestone City. The tour encompassed Fort Henry and the Canadian National Military College, plus the U and many local landmarks. One could spend a week or more exploring this town of 117,000. Nice place.
We lunched at the Kingston Brewpub. D had lamb shank with the house fruit wine, I had fish and chips with my dark lager.
We walked around a few blocks near the waterfront and around the visitor's center before we hopped into the truck for a ride. Up the Rideau Canal toward Ottawa. This old canal connects Kingston with Ottawa, making shipments less vulnerable to United States interception in the various border wars and scirmishes over the years.
We stopped and inspected a few locks, still in use by pleasure craft and small barges.
It was a nice ride of 130 miles.
We came back to the trailer and found our neighbors, Dale & Mary-Lou Dillenbeck from Nepanee, Ontario outside. We chatted with them through three or four beers. They were both laid off from the same furniture firm last December. They've given up the house and apartment and are living in the trailer here.
They like Bluegrass, so I gave them some of my recordings of the Ray Davis show on WAMU-FM. They've been in Florida, but not our part.
We exchanged cards and will try to keep in touch. Nice people.
Then back to the little house to scrounge a light dinner and settle in....
Made in RapidWeaver