From September 25th – 28th 2018 the Ontario Sunrisers LTV Chapter held our Fall Rally at Riverwood Park in Lindsay Ontario. We had 7 RV’s with 14 people attending plus 5 special guests. On Tuesday we arrived we had a potluck appetizer meet and greet in the campground recreation hall. After a long travel day, many retired early so we saved the campfires for the following nights.
Wednesday morning we put out coffee, cakes, and fruits but it was a real challenge to avoid the midge bugs that seemed to know cooler weather was coming. Ann had a very unique way to avoid the bugs with her Lee Valley Insect-a Hide Pop-Up Shelter;-)
In the afternoon several people went to the Olde Gaol Museum in Lindsay and were lucky enough to get a private tour. The museum had switched to winter hours but there was a volunteer inside and he offered to let us in and he even played a Karn Organ for us. The exhibits included the history of the area, some of the actual jail cells used, model trains, and an art exhibit by W.A. Goodwin.
Following the museum, we visited the Pie Eyed Monk Brewery to taste some of their local craft beers. That evening we had a lovely LTV sponsored dinner in the Recreation Hall with Roast Pork, Tequila Lime Chicken Breasts, hot vegetables, and salads, followed by really delicious Chocolate Raspberry Birthday cakes since 3 attendees had birthdays this week.
After dinner, we enjoyed a campfire complete with Mystical Fire packets that yielded amazing colours in the flames.
On Thursday several people socialized by the campsites while others went biking on the local trails in Lindsay, and some went to the see the Kirkfield Lift Lock on the Trent-Severn Waterway. That evening we had a delicious potluck dinner where everyone contributed dishes and we even had 6 different desserts! We took our group photo that night so anyone that needed to leave early in the morning could do so. We followed this with great conversation and storytelling about our travels by the campfire.
It was time to head home or on to our next adventures on Friday morning after saying goodbye to our fellow LTV owners. Our small group really enjoys the social occasion of getting together somewhere in Ontario and we even had a few new owners who joined us at this rally. We haven’t locked down our plans yet for 2019 rallies but I’m sure they will continue to be as much fun as we had in 2018. Safe travels wherever your LTV takes you.
In May (22nd – 25th) the Ontario Sunrisers Chapter held our Spring Rally at the Kenorus Campground & RV Resort in Port Elgin Ontario.
We had 7 RV’s with 14 people attending (plus one special guest). On Tuesday we arrived we had a potluck appetizer get together in the campground recreation hall since it was unseasonably cool for May. After a travel day, some retired early while others had a shuffleboard match before calling it a night.
On Wednesday once the weather warmed up some people went on a driving tour along the Lake Huron shoreline seeing Port Elgin and Southampton beaches, while others explored the area by bicycle. That evening we had an LTV sponsored dinner in the Recreation Hall of Roasted Chicken, Potato Wedges, Salads and desserts. We watched a beautiful sunset as we gathered around the campfire in the RV park common area.
On Thursday some people toured Bruce County and went to several stops on the “Explore the Bruce” passport program including a good lunch at a local dairy (lots of Chocolate milk) while others enjoyed the opportunity to socialize in the campground. That evening we had a delicious potluck dinner where everyone contributed dishes, great conversation and storytelling about our world travels.
It was time to leave on Friday morning so we had our daily coffee/tea, fruit and cakes and took some group photos before saying goodbye to our fellow LTV owners.
We had a great combination of regular rally attendees and some new owners attend this rally and everyone seemed to enjoy the small group setting. Our plan is to have another rally in late September and we’re researching the location for that rally now. We’ll try to pick something in the Eastern half of the province of Ontario to allow others to attend.
Editor’s Note: Joel and Sharon are members of LTV’s sponsored content team, The Leisure Explorers. Do you own a Leisure Travel Van and enjoy writing? Learn more about joining the team.
We started off week 1 of RV’ing by going from Winnipeg to Narcisse Manitoba to see the snakes. Luckily the weather got much warmer so they were back out in the dens doing their spring mating. The snakes are red sided garter snakes and they believe there could be upwards of 70,000 snakes that hibernate in the dens through the winter and then come out in the spring to mate before dispersing to the surrounding area to feed for the summer. There are 4 dens in the park but the most snakes were out in Den 4.
It was amazing to see how large the females were in comparison to the males and the writhing balls of snakes were fascinating to watch. We even had a small ball come out on the walkway and go across our shoes!
After Narcisse, we headed up to Hecla Provincial Park but we couldn’t find a place to stay so we asked at the Lakeview Resort and they allowed us to boondock in the Golf Course parking lot for the night.
The next day we hiked in Hecla Park at North Point, did the trail to Sunset Beach, hiked out to the old lighthouse, picnicked at the Quarry stop, did part of the Grassy Narrows Marsh Trail, and stopped to see the lighthouse where the ferries used to come in to Hecla Island (now there is a causeway). What a spectacular day we had in Hecla.
We had the same problem finding a place to stay that night but luckily a seasonal RV park owner felt sorry for us and let us use an empty spot for the night with a full hookup in Winnipeg Beach for $20.
The Provincial Parks in this area of Manitoba were all closed until the May long weekend and the RV parks either said their insurance didn’t start until Friday or they didn’t take overnight visitors! The next morning we headed back to Gimli and visited the really well done Icelandic Museum. We even got to dress up as Vikings;-) Then we went to the Diageo Distillery where the Crown Royal Northern Harvest whisky of the year 2016 is made but they didn’t offer tours at this time of year, we could just smell the whisky fermenting. We carried on to Winnipeg Beach and in turn to Grand Beach (only 1 other person on the entire beach). At one time Grand Beach was one of the top 10 beaches in the world. The sand was amazing, very fine and white. Again we spent a couple of hours trying to find a place to stay and couldn’t so we went on to Powerview where they had an RV park that was open.
On Friday we worked our way along the Winnipeg River seeing several Hydroelectric dams including Powerview which was right by our RV park. We stopped for lunch at the Seven Sisters Falls picnic area which was quite the adventure. First we had to navigate the 2 km dirt road filled with pot holes and washboard surface.
When we got to the end we followed a track only to realize that we couldn’t turn the RV around. Some of the pot holes on this track were 3 feet deep and on either side were trees hanging out trying to scratch the new RV. I had to back out about 150 feet with Sharon giving me guidance! We eventually made it out ok and then found the falls and they were spectacular! There were tons of Pelicans catching fish beside the falls and there were no people around at the picnic area. We had a beautiful lunch spot and did a bit of hiking before heading out.
We decided to take the 307 and 44 roads to get to Falcon Lake as it looked more scenic but it was also scary to drive. The road was extremely narrow with no shoulder and the RV was rocking back and forth as the road was uneven the whole way. If any road was going to test the RV to its fullest potential this was the one! Along the way we also stopped at the Bannock Point Petroforms and saw fish, turtles, and snake rock formations. We arrived at Sharon’s parents cottage after a 6.5 hour journey and the triptik said it should take 2 hours to drive, note for future planning of our travel pace;-)
We had dinner and watched the close to full moon. The next afternoon Brian and I put the dock in and the water was a balmy 62F, far better than when we put our dock in at home.
What an amazing first week with the RV, boon docking, learning how to use the inverter, how to fill the fresh water tank, how to empty the black and grey water tanks, and how to use the audio visual systems in the rig. In addition phenomenal sites that we saw across Manitoba. A good sign for the many adventures ahead!
