What a wonderful visit we had

Wow, Patsy and Bill Chillin with Patsy  live on a piece of paradise and we had the fortune to be invited for a visit. First up, thank you again for your hospitality and we had not expected to be plugged into a 120 Volt power cord Bill had waiting for us. Benno had brought along our extra long-range gasoline fuel tank for the Honda 2000 generator to keep up with our electrical usage, but we didn’t need it.

Entrance to the property

Don't know how to make this picture smaller, Blogger problem!

Just about to pull into the driveway

Going up the long driveway

Durham and Hanover are charming little towns that are the immediate areas for shopping for Patsy and Bill. The property they are staying at is probably close to 4 acres and has two very large lawn fields in addition to other very well kept grassy areas that both of them keep in immaculate condition through their hard work. Part of the property and adjacent to it are ponds that attract geese in the springtime.

 

One of the grassy fields our dogs loved to run on

Here is Oreo in the far back just loving to run the field also

Benno brought his drone and took a photo of our setup

Kim & Ken to the left, us in the middle and on the right Patsy & Bill's 5th wheel

Bill is waving at the drone above him

Also there for a visit were Kim and Ken Journey with Ken & Kim who we had met down in Yuma, Arizona. Just as it was during our cruising time, it is always nice to meet up with friends again that we had met before and enjoyed their company. Next day we got to meet another friend of theirs, Keith, with his dog “Oreo” Keith’s hobby is also flying model airplanes and who is a member of the same club just as Bill and Ken.  Of course most of the time the guys were down where Bill has his little shop, aka “The Hangar” and cargo trailer with his many airplanes. It seems those fragile planes need a lot of adjustments and fixing when something brakes and Bill appreciated some expertise and input from these hobby pilots.

 

Ken and Benno watching as Bill is demonstrating

The big Telemaster plane

Two other planes of Bill's airplane fleet

Some serious engineering is involved here

Just so you get the size of the Telemaster I had Bill stand next to it

Bills cargo trailer

Keith is making something for Bill

Patsy, Kim and I were mostly in chairs at the sitting area around the fireplace in conversation, or having our noses buried in books. A nice distraction were the three little chipmunks that entertained us as they dashed around our chairs looking for peanuts. I enjoy watching birds and wildlife and so was delighted looking at the several birdfeeders and even spotted a rabbit that hopped into view probably curious of all the visitors. Every evening after supper we all would gather around the fire that Bill kept feeding with the logs he had cut from felled trees. It got cool overnight all the way down to 8C/46F, but we all bundled up around the fire and had a good time.

 

This was taken late afternoon with the tele lens

Chippy in his element

Peanuts in my hand that Chippy wants

Chippy is now pestering Patsy for more peanuts

We were expecting our mutual friend Suzie that we had also met down in Pilot Knob RV Resort with her late husband George  Our Awesome Travels She was not able to come up from Stratford to stay overnight, but made it out for a couple of hours on Friday afternoon. It was good to see her, touch base and hear about recent on goings in her life.

 

Happy Hour
Patsy, Kim, Suzie, Bill, Keith, Ken & Benno
the empty chair is mine

Meals were done to everyone’s own devices and tastes. Our travel trailer fridge was packed with all kinds of foods and precooked items I made in advance like Pesto Pasta Salad and German Potato Salad, because I did not want to do a lot of cooking while on vacation. On the first night I put Benno in charge to grill some Italian Sausages on our Weber Grill outside and on the second night he grilled a couple of Pork Tenderloins that I had marinated. Meanwhile I did some home fried potatoes on the stove inside. We had so much food leftover to eat the third night out that the Chicken Souvlaki didn’t make it to the grill and stayed uncooked in our fridge. Patsy surprised us with a couple of home baked Carrot Muffins topped with icing in honor of Ken’s birthday as a desert. Those were delicious and very much appreciated.

 

Benno is grilling Pork Tenderloin

All done and ready to eat

On Saturday morning it was time to say our goodbyes. The weather was again beautiful warm and sunny. Our return drive home we decided to be different than going up. We swung around Goderich, Bayfield and Grand Bend, following Highway 21 along the shore of Lake Huron. The marina in Bayfield was of interest to us and Benno took our travel trailer into the road of the marina. The place was hopping with boaters coming and going. Taking a travel trailer there on a Saturday in August might not be the best decision we have made and we were glad that we, or rather Benno, got the trailer turned around without incident, I must tell you it was a hair rising situation. The same traffic jam we saw in Grand Bend with so many tourists around trying to get into the Pinery Provincial Park. Did we see just one person wearing a mask? Nope.

 

Following 1 horsepower through town

Late afternoon on Saturday we pulled up into our driveway. It was hot and humid. The front lawn was totally dried out and crunchy under my feet. By the time I had emptied the travel trailer fridge and personal things to bring back to the house I was quite sweaty and Benno after positioning and setting up the trailer just the same. We had a wonderful three days of vacation with friends and hope to do it again some day. Thanks a lot Patsy and Bill and friends.