North Channel

It's been very hot and dry in Indiana.  The lake level at our house is so low that we had to pull our sailboat and ski boat out of the lake on the first day of summer.  So we decided to travel NOrth into Canada, and launch TONIC at Spanish, Ontario.  (N 46degrees, 11.036 minutes W 082 degrees, 21.602 minutes.)

As I age, my memory must be fading fast. For example, I'm still driving that piece of **** red ford diesel truck. My grandchildren call it "Clifford the big red truck"  because there's a "Clifford, the big red dog" in some of their books.  So I now call it "Clifford the big red dog turd."

We had planned to stop overnight in a Walmart parking lot in Gaylord, Michigan. I had programed in the address on Edelweiss Trail.  Just like in the movie "Summer Rental" the Walmart was actually on Edelweiss PARKWAY.  When we got to Edelweiss Trail, we were in the middle of an old run down mobile home park--full of old pick ups with gun racks in the back window.  Wouldn't you know that's when Clifford decided to loose power and start billowing out black clouds of smoke.  After discovering the error in my navigation skills, we were able to limp to the Walmart on Edelweiss PARKWAY.   We slept in the boat, and this morning, when the wonderful Ford truck wouldn't move at all, I took apart the EGR valve to find chunks of crud stuck in the valve, preventing it from closing.

We were able to drive on up into Canada, and launch at the Spanish Municipal Marina.  However, the truck is now blowing out white smoke.  Pam and I are taking a vote whether we want to give up this trailer cruising altogether, or get a different (Chevy) truck.  Right now, it's 1 to 1.  If we make it home, we can make a final decision then.

There's an overlook at the top of the nearby hill.  We're in the bottom left of this photo.

There's one of the first wind generators at the top of the hill.  We saw lots of new ones on the way up here.

I was down on Lake Monroe a few weeks ago, and was plagued by a snapping turtle.  Couldn't get in the water to swim because he was always right at the boat.  Looks like the same problem here.

Our phones and internet connections don't work in Canada, so our communication and postings will be limited to the times we can find a marina with wifi.  We plan to anchor out most nights.