Planning for Barbados

Nine days from now, we will arrive on the southeastern Caribbean island of Barbados for a nineteen day stay. We haven't really got too much planned, because this is supposed to be a relaxing "vacation".

But most of you know us better than that!

10 years ago today!

It was 10 years ago today that we left Ruth's father's place in Galetta (Ottawa) for our very first big road trip with our new to us motorhome Sherman!

Our very first blog post was also 10 years ago today! You can read it here...

http://www.travelwithkevinandruth.com/2007/10/were-cookin-with-gas-now.html

A huge sigh of relief!

We received a text message from Kal Tire at around 5:30pm yesterday afternoon, telling us that Sherman was ready to be picked up. But we were quite far away, and they close at 6:00pm. So we stayed with our friends Jeff and Shelley again last night, and picked up Sherman first thing this morning.

Like I mentioned yesterday, we had no idea how much the bill was going to be.

Sherman is still at the shop

We didn't plan on being without Sherman for this long. This is day number eight that he's been in the shop. Part of the problem is that we just went through a long weekend here in Canada, so he sat for three days with nothing being done.

And the other part of the problem has been waiting for parts.

Back in Ottawa...

Well, we drove back to Ruth's father's place in Galetta (Ottawa) yesterday. From Hamilton, it was 500 kms (310 miles) which is far more than we typically like to drive in a day. But, we took a bit of a different route because we had a craving for Thai food!

Proof that you can justify anything you want!

Fun afternoon at Pelee Island Winery

We had a 12:00 noon reservation for the Pelee Island Winery on Sunday. But first, Heinz and Ulli made us a delicious breakfast. And then we left a few minutes early so that we could take a drive to see some more sights we hadn't seen the day before!

You would think that an island only 12kms by 6 kms wouldn't have much to see. But there's actually quite a lot!

Finally made it to Pelee Island!

Up at 6:00am yesterday morning, and on the road for 6:30. The Pelee Island ferry leaves from Kingsville, Ontario on the north shore of Lake Erie. At this time of year there are only two sailings per day, one at 10:00am, and one at 6:00pm.

But we had a 300 km (186 mile) drive to do. I figured I had done the math okay...at 100 km/h (62 mph), we should be there in three hours, right?

Just a quick update...

I'm writing this blog post on my phone! Who would have thought?! Anyhow, we're relaxing in the backyard of Ruth's sister's house in Hamilton, Ontario just west if Toronto.

Grocery shopping tip of the day

Rainy day yesterday, so we just stayed in and got caught up on a few computer things. We're doing a travelogue presentation on October 13th at the seniors residence where my mom lives, so I spent some time putting some of that together on the computer.

We're going to talk about our trip to Moldova and Transnistria last December.

Well, what a day that was...

Monday afternoon, I had called a Kal Tire franchise near Lindsey's place. They have a full service truck mechanical bay, and I had to find someone to do some work on Sherman that I wasn't prepared to do myself.

I don't mind doing the work, but I know my limits. And when I don't have the proper tools to do the job, it's better to pay the money and hand it off to someone who does.

Help, if you want to.

As you know, Ruth and I are leading an RV caravan through Mexico this winter, and the company that is operating the caravan is spearheading a small earthquake relief campaign on their own.

On October 5th, Caravanas de Mexico will personally go to Cuernavaca to buy groceries and other Items urgently needed for people suffering the consequences of earthquakes in Morelos State. The area was at the epicenter of the Sept 19 quake and the situation is terrible in several towns such as Jojutla and its surroundings.

Picked up the car rental!

We've got wheels again!

Yesterday morning, Lindsey drove us to Dollar Rent a Car near downtown Ottawa. We had a reservation for 10am, and got there right on time. I had booked the deal back in July when they had a special price on their "whatever car we have is what you get" deal.

September Expenses... one of our cheapest months ever!

Well September was a good month! I would have to go back into the records to check and see, but it may have been a record low month for us. We only spent $515 CAD ($415 USD)!!

The main thing we were trying to do this summer was to keep our grocery budget around the $550 per month mark, and we did a lot of stocking up in May and June, sometimes buying enough of a sale item to last all summer. So if you remember, we spent a lot of money on groceries in May ($929) and June ($726).

Too many rules

First of all, I got the new solar charge controller installed and working. And then the clouds moved in and I couldn't properly test it! Too funny. Solar energy works great... but only when the sun is shining!

Today is supposed to be bright and sunny (not a cloud in the sky so far) so tomorrow I'll give you an update as to how our batteries are charging.

I didn't plan that very well...

I found us a fantastic deal on a car rental a few months ago, and I booked it for three weeks during our time here in Ottawa.

Only problem is, I have it starting this coming Monday, October 2nd. I figured that Lindsey and Justin have two cars and that one should be available for us to use occasionally for a few days our first week here. But, it turns out that the one older car needs a major brake job now and it's not safe to drive the way it is.

So we've been without transportation these first few days.