Well that was a long way!

We left our home in Fort Erie, Ontario, for Fanny Bay, Vancouver Island, British Columbia exactly 6 months today. To think that on October 15, 2021 we had NO IDEA we would be embarking on a 6 month journey that involved a complete circumference of North America!

When we left Fort Erie on October 15th, 2021, we travelled 3,175 miles (5,109 km) to Fanny Bay, Vancouver Island British Columbia.

When we left Vancouver Island on November 28th, 2021, we travelled 4,295 miles (6,912 km) to our home in Plant City, Florida.

When we left Plant City, Florida on Tuesday afternoon we travelled 1,378 miles (2,218 km) and arrived today at 3:30pm - exactly 3 days from when we left Florida.

So the total miles and kilometres we travelled in Newman in the past 6 months were: 8,848 miles or 14,239 kilometres! WOW! What a lot of driving!

As we left Der Dutchman Amish restaurant in Ohio this morning, where we had boondocked in their parking lot last evening, we chatted about how we have made the most of having an RV during this time of Covid. Over the past 2 years we have been able to travel freely throughout Canada and the U.S., staying in our own ‘bubble’. One of the best things about having Newman is being able to sleep in our own comfy, ENDY memory foam bed every night wherever we stop. Last night we even had the heated mattress pad on while we ran our diesel generator for heat! We’ve also really enjoyed having our own food in our fridge and freezer, to be able to eat what we want, when we want! For me the best part of travelling in Newman is having my own bathroom! It’s nice not to have to stop all the time to find a clean restroom since we know we have one on board! RV life has been fun and we’re still not sure what Newman’s future is, but we really have enjoyed our last few years with him.

Last night after dinner, when we got back to Newman, we had to complete our ARRIVECAN application to make sure that we were all set to cross the border into Canada today. I had never used the ARRIVECAN app before, so I had a bit of work to do to complete the app. Richard kept getting an error message on his application, but after persevering he finally got the QR code email to confirm that his application had been accepted. Now all we had to do was do one more day of driving to get home!

As we got on the highway today we knew that we would have a shorter day of driving today than the last 2 days. The extra push we made last night to get past Columbus, Ohio was a great decision, so we could have dinner at Der Dutchman, and have a shorter drive today.

Ohio definitely needs to spend some money on its roads! Talk about a bumpy road we had today with Newman!

We briefly had to go through Pennsylvania so we decided to stop in Erie, PA, for some retail therapy, as it was around lunchtime, and Richard needed a break from driving.

Oh my goodness was it cold when we stopped in Erie! Of course with Newman we have to park far away from the shops and then walk to them. It sure was a cold walk to get to the stores! I don’t think my blood has thinned out from being in Florida all winter!

After we had a nice lunch in Newman of pastrami on rye sandwiches, we hit the road for home.

When we got to New York State immediately we were down to one lane. It looks like New York State is repairing the roads after the winter. The lane we were in still was very bumpy, but at least we know they are doing something about their bad roads in New York State!

As we got closer to Buffalo, where we would cross the Peace Bridge into Canada, it started to rain.

Rainy, cold Buffalo!

KeyBank Center in downtown Buffalo, where the Buffalo Sabres play.

Finally! Our exit to the Peace Bridge in Buffalo!

We are now in Canada! The view behind the flags is of the Mather Park Arch, in Fort Erie; a monument to the peace between Canada and the USA. This is the first time we have crossed over on the Peace Bridge since February 2020. Isn’t it crazy that we can see Buffalo, but have not been able to visit since 2020, because of the pandemic and a closed land border?!!

We had no issues at the border. We were not even asked to present our ARRIVECAN information but Richard said that because our Nexus cards are connected to the ARRIVECAN app, once we scanned our Nexus cards, everything was reported to the border officials.

We left Florida at 3:35pm on Tuesday afternoon and coincidentally that is exactly when we crossed the border and arrived home in Fort Erie!

Newman at home in Fort Erie. Alas, we lost Jerry, our tow car, along the way in Vancouver Island with a seized engine, so we are down a tow car, but frankly we haven’t missed him too much! Our driveway also doesn’t look like a used car parking lot with Jerry missing!

Richard the ‘bus driver’! Imagine…Richard drove every one of those 14,239 kilometres we did in Newman in the past 6 months! He’s a great safe driver and I wouldn’t have wanted to travel around North America with anyone else!

We spent the next 2.5 hours unloading all of the food and pantry items out of Newman.

It looks like a bit of mess but I’m ‘anal’ about my spices. The spices are organized in alphabetical order, so I’m sitting down so I can arrange them in alphabetical order in the two pull out spice rack drawers.

The spices are all labelled on top!

I got outside in our backyard to take a few photos to see how badly the storm damage was on our property last December.

We had some local students come and clean up our patio last week and they did a great job of clearing off the stones, so the pool company could open the pool. The old pier still stands in the distance. We often wonder when the next storm will hit it and take it away. When we moved to Fort Erie 10 years ago the old pier was still in one piece.

You can see where the storm washed sand up into our garden again this year. We’ll be hiring the students again to do some raking for us!

Our rocks and fill were moved again this year with the storm we had in December so we will need to get this fixed up again this year. Climate change is really nasty.

It is nice to sit and relax at home after the long 3 day journey home.

Thank goodness for a warm gas fireplace, and the LPGA from Hawaii!

We are both pretty exhausted after our 3 day ‘sprint’ to get home in Newman. We have a lot more to unload out of Newman, but we will take the weekend to unload and then figure out what chores we need to do around the house. PHEW! This being retired is hard work! While our golf course is open I’m not sure we will be in the mood for any golf until the weather truly warms up and the ground is a bit drier. I think we’ve been spoiled with Florida weather and golf! Hopefully our spring weather warms up soon in Canada!

Thanks for reading our travel blog again on this trip. I will update the blog from time to time, as the urge to write and share some photos hits me! Happy Easter everyone!