Bald Eagles

About a 20 minute drive from here is a really good spot to see bald eagles. The eagles normally go south during the winter, not because the cold bothers them, but because it's easier for them to find food when there's no snow on the ground.

Laptop stuff

We don't do Christmas presents, but my mother gave us each some money to buy something for ourselves to put under the tree at Lindsey and Justin's.

So I bought myself an external DVD drive. Here's why...

Merry Christmas!

Well today is going to be a coasting kind of a day for us!

We made it to Lindsey and Justins place around 4:30pm yesterday. Relaxed for an hour or so, and then went to Justin's Mom's place about a half hour away. More driving! But at least I didn't have to do it. We had supper there, and then sat around and

Made it!

So we made it to the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia!

Some very variable weather along the way...

Nova Scotia today

Up early again today...probably another 8 hours in the car ahead of us, and then we can relax for a few days.

Looks nice enough outside though...temperature has warmed up to about 0C (32F).

Made it to Bangor!

After 12 hours in the car!

We were an hour late picking up Alex in Plattsburgh. Made it through the border into New York State and hit a blizzard. It snowed pretty hard for a couple of hours, and so between the snowplows and the overly cautious drivers, it was pretty slow going.

We're off...destination for tonight is Bangor, Maine

Up at 4:15am....ugh. On the road by 5:00am!

We'll try and put a post up tonight to tell you about our drive.

House sitting

We are currently house sitting here in Kingston, Ontario for 4 months while the owners are away. They wanted somebody to live here and look after things until they get back. So we shovel the snow, and bring in the mail, and generally make the place look "lived in"...because it is being lived in!

Driving to Nova Scotia...the trip plan

Well, 2 more days until we head for Nova Scotia!

The plan is that we'll leave here at 5:00am Wednesday and head for Plattsburgh NY to pick up our son Alex. We should arrive in Plattsburgh about 8:30am. Then we drive through Vermont and New Hampshire and the White Mountain National Forest, into Maine and to our overnight stop in Bangor where we are staying with a couchsurfing family.

Bought a new camera

I love getting a deal, which is why we always try and buy used instead of new. By buying used, you know you're going to save at least the 13% tax here in Ontario.

But I had been looking for a good used digital camera for a couple of months and hadn't been able to find what I wanted.

Ferry service to Nova Scotia

I see that they have discontinued the ferry service from Maine to Nova Scotia.

Ferry service cancelled

This particular route ran from Portland or Bar Harbor Maine, to Yarmouth NS.

Bay Ferries operates several other routes, including one from St. John, New Brunswick to Digby, NS.

Internet and wi-fi security...or lack thereof

We've been going over two years without any "anti virus" program running on our laptop. I've decided that there is very little possibility of having a virus problem, provided you use a little bit of common sense. I would certainly never pay for one, and I find that the free ones slow down my system.

First of all, never open an email attachment if you're not positive as to what that attachment contains.

Dreaming of Mexico

Today is the coldest day we have experienced in over two and a half years! I'm guessing that the last time we felt this kind of cold was in March of 2007.

This morning, the temperature here in Kingston Ontario is -16C (3F). Fortunately, Kingston is on the shores of Lake Ontario, and it doesn't get quite as cold here as it does in other nearby areas. Ruth is visting her Dad today, and she tells me it's -21C (-6F) there, and that's only a two hour drive away.

Free wi-fi internet access

Good news for motorhome travellers!

There are 14,000 McDonalds restaurants in the U.S., and 11,000 of them offer wi-fi internet access.

Starting in mid-January, internet access will be FREE. Canada is following the American's lead, however the rollout to Canadian locations will be sporadic, apparently starting with Metro Vancouver.

Buying an RV in the United States and bringing it back to Canada

We bought Sherman (our motorhome...he drives like a tank!) in New York State.

When we started shopping, I quickly noticed that prices in the U.S. were much lower than prices in Canada. How much lower? Well it depends somewhat on how much money you're planning on spending, but I'll use our experience with Sherman to give you a real life example.