The Rideau River at Burritt's Rapids, Ont.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Cancun, Mexico on November 11th.

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Yup, this will do for a couple of nights!

Knowing that it's still winter in Canada, we made a conscious decision to stay here in Texas as long as possible where the temperatures at this time of year are more suitable for human habitation.  If that means we have a few long driving days in the last week of the month, then that's the price we are willing to pay!

But, we still did some driving north yesterday.

We slept great at Schriener City Park in Junction, Texas. Woke up to a bit of an overcast day and didn't see much in the way of sun the whole day, and the temperature was cool, at about 65F (18C). But, it never rained.

We drove up to and parked outside the Junction library and used their free internet for a couple of hours, then headed north on route 83. I had in mind a few different overnight possibilities, and we just figured we would stop at the first half decent one.

We didn't have to drive very far!

Yesterday's drive,  a whole 32.5 miles (53 kms)!

The first town north of Junction is Menard. I had read of a county park there that has reasonable prices and a pretty setting by the river. But they also do long term RV parking, and I've seen where places like that aren't that attractive. But it was only a mile off the highway, so worth going to check it out.

Driving in, it looked pretty busy. But, we don't require hookups so that gives us more flexibility. There was nobody at the office, so we went for a walk around. We saw a great spot by the river, and hoped that they would let us park there. Back at the office, I was just about to call the number on the sign out front when a car drove up.

A nice lady got out and asked if she could help. Turns out that she's the manager, but it's a kind of a self serve type of place where you just put your payment in an envelope and drop it in the box.

But, can we park down by the river?

"Sure", she says. "But there's no services down there, so it'll be $6 a night the same as the tenting rate."

Great!

Sherman, at his spot by the river at Menard County Park.

We had some lunch, and then went for a walk. There's a dam at one end of the river close by, but it looks like we could put the kayak in the water today and go for a little paddle. Not sure how far upstream we can go, but it looks worth checking out.

There's Sherman parked by the river.

Ruth, on the dam and spillway.

Great blue heron.

There's Sherman again!
GPS 30.920261, -99.798046

 He looks pretty happy there!

Yup. This will do for a couple of nights!

And a big bonus is that this county park has decent free wifi. And a washer and dryer, although we didn't check prices. The park itself is pretty busy, but the lady told us it's because they're doing windmill generator installations near here and so there are construction workers staying here right now. Hardly anybody around during the day though. 

For $6 a night, we're staying two nights. Today, we woke up to blue sky and sunshine and they're calling for a high of 75F (24C). 

Absolutely perfect. The kayak is definitely coming out this afternoon!

This fellow landed right in front of the motorhome!

Roast pork dinner.

What a great meal. And, that was leftovers! Ruth had done a pork roast the night before, and it was good the first time around. Leftovers were just as good!

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And in Canada...





32 comments:

  1. We agree; stay in TX for awhile. We came home on 2 April. We spent the mar 31 st in Billing and they got 4 plus inches of snow so we had rough spots on I-90 and I-15. We had hope to go from Billings to Havre MT and onward to Med Hat. However, after 2 hours of real bad conditions we had to turn around and go back to Billings.

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    1. Yep, we plan on staying where it is warm for as long as we can and then we will have to make a run for the border. We have had issues twice going north where we have had to sit a wait for a day or two because of closed roads due to a snow storm or because of an approaching storm. Hopefully we can get all the way north without that happening but with the cold and snow not wanting to give way to the spring it may be difficult.

      Glad that you eventually made it home safely.

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  2. Lovely camping spot and great price. Enjoy your stay and kayaking today!

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    1. Thank you! It is a nice spot and at a great price. :-)

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  3. Is this like, "Living in a van down by the river"?
    Couldn't resist.

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  4. Can't beat $6.00 per night. Awesome dinner!

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    1. Free will beat $6 but then again $6 is almost free! ;-)

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  5. Replies
    1. It was a perfect spot! We really enjoyed our time here. :-)

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  6. Yes that is a nice spot and like you said don't hurry north, tasty looking dinner too.

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    1. Trust us, we are in no hurry to get back to the cold and snow that just doesn't seem to want to go away!

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  7. Food looks yummy - many times leftovers are better the next day!

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    1. It was a delicious dinner. We love leftovers and yest sometimes they are even better the second day.

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  8. What a nice spot! And you are right, it's still winter in the north and will be for awhile yet. You've got lots of time to meander in that direction. Happy kayaking!

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    1. We do have a fair bit of time but we still need to be back in Cabri before May 1st so with any luck spring will finally be showing itself by then. Until then we will try to stay south for as long as we can.

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  9. Haven’t posted in a while. I enjoyed reading your trip in Mexico but it would be too fast for us. We like to linger at stops along the way and doing maybe 30/ 50 klm in a day. Love your photos and glad that Sherman is getting back to full health. Safe journey north. Nora.

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    1. We agree, the Mexico trip is much quicker than we would normally travel either. Like you we enjoy taking our time and checking out all the little places along the way. Unfortunately that isn't always possible in Mexico but still if we had it our way we would make the trip longer so that you have more time to explore each area that we stop at.

      Yes, Sherman is getting back to full health. We will be stopping a little further down the road to hopefully get a few things done to him to make him even better.

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  10. Boy, does that new table look nice! Really pretty spot by the river.

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    1. Thank you for noticing the table, it is a beauty and we really do love it.

      It is a really sweet spot here by the water! We love being self sufficient, it means being able to get some great spots like this. :-)

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  11. I've read about this place for Boondocking not too far from you 31.329807,-100.638656.
    No hurry to come back to Canada, spring is not here yet and no signs of it either

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    1. We are headed that way today so we may check it out the only problem is, is that we are headed for the San Angelo State Park and this is a bit of a distance from it and going in the opposite direction. But we will see, maybe will we stop there for the night and then check out the park tomorrow.

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  12. Looks great, have a good time on the Kayak!

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    1. Thanks Karen, we did have a nice time in the kayak and at the park. :-)

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  13. Perfect spot! Not to mention the super price. Enjoy.

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    1. Yep, pretty much perfect and "almost" free! ;-)

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  14. You bumped into a Spanish Fort nearby! Nice! http://presidiodesansaba.org/index.html

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    Replies
    1. Yep, the ruins are almost directly across the river from us. :-)

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  15. What a beautiful setting! And I'm sure you're aware, but there's another big snowstorm in the northern tier of the US, in the winter that won't end, so you are smart to stay south as long as possible. We are in Florida, and the cold fronts have been coming through even here with regularity. Another one due in Sunday night/Monday morning. We keep hoping this will be the LAST!

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    1. Yep, we are very aware and trying to stay south for as long as possible. We may actually have to do a few days of longer driving but it will be worth it if we can stay away from miserable weather like that. Right now we are having to contend to the wind and that isn't much fun either but it beats snow!

      Hopefully spring will come to those that need it most. :-)

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