Hiking in the forest and found an old plane crash...

Finally got out for some exercise yesterday. The forecast keeps teasing us by saying the sun is going to shine, but it wasn't very accurate yesterday. Still, Barry graciously offered his pickup truck to us to go back up into the mountains and do a hike, and we're glad we did.

It felt great to get out and get some fresh air!

Rainy day and Sherman has some new LED light bulbs!

Well it was a dreary, wet, miserable day yesterday. But we didn't let that stop us... we had fun anyhow! Sure glad that we weren't driving anywhere in the motorhome though.

Barry and Connie took us out for breakfast. Just a local diner. It seems everywhere we go, they bump into someone they know!

Tire fixed, and a long driving day....

Up early at the Walmart in Watertown, New York. No idea what the temperature had gone down to that night, but it was only 39F (3C) inside the motorhome when we woke up. We never leave the heat on at night. Nice and cozy in bed still, but boy you sure didn't want to get out!

Looked outside and saw this...

Not a smooth start to the trip...

Well it wasn't a great travel day. But, we are safe and happy in our motorhome, and sometimes you just have to roll with the punches. Today will be a better day.

How about I start at the beginning...

We got up at a half decent hour, with the plan to be pulling out of our daughter's driveway by 10:00am at the very latest.

New dinette table for Sherman... and we're off!

Sherman has a new dinette table!

We've always hated our dinette table in the motorhome. It simply looked cheap.

Our son in law Justin is a wood craftsman. He's actually a trained cabinetmaker, and he builds the nicest furniture. But he's always so busy, so we hesitated to ask. We told him we would pay him to build us a table, and he agreed. So before we left for Barbados, we bought some (expensive!) Peruvian walnut hardwood at a wood specialty shop.

And while we were gone, we let him work his magic...

What did it cost for 19 days in Barbados?

We always find it an interesting exercise to go back over our trip costs when any particular voyage ends. Of course when someone goes on a typical package vacation, it's a lot easier to add things up. The typical one week all inclusive is especially easy because for the most part you know all of your costs up front.

But with us, you just never know until the end. Of course we try and do things as frugally as possible within reason. But when you travel to a relatively expensive country like Barbados, you're pretty much stuck spending whatever it costs. I mean after all, you still have to eat!

Back in Canada

But it's going to be a whirlwind visit, mostly just to say goodbye. We need to do some last minute shopping (maple syrup, among other things!) and then we're heading into the United States on Thursday morning.

Our travel day was fine yesterday. Everything happened exactly as planned.

October Expenses

There was so much going on in Barbados, we never got around to telling you about our month of October expenses. So I've got some time to waste here in Toronto airport waiting for our flight to Ottawa.

October was an expensive month. Mostly because of repairs and maintenance to Sherman, but also because we always seem to spend more money visiting Ottawa than when we're out traveling!

Barbados rough north coast

Our last day touring Barbados and we finally made it up to the rough north coast. Cliffs and caves and wind where the Atlantic Ocean crashes into the rocks.

Our couchsurfing host Eric was headed out anyhow, and he gave us a drive up to Archers Bay where we could then walk to Animal Flower Cave and the cliffs along the north coast.

Scenic flight around the island of Barbados

Our couchsurfing host Eric owns one of the very few private planes on the island of Barbados. He tries to fly it regularly, just to keep in practice. And, perhaps a small plane is something like an RV... using it regularly is better for it than letting it sit!

Yesterday was a beautiful day here on the island, so he offered to take us for a flight around the island, and we were quick to take him up on that!

Out for lunch

Just a coasting day yesterday. Nothing wrong with having a coasting day in Barbados!

We've been staying the last two weeks with a couchsurfing host. He's a single guy, about our age who is originally from the UK, but has been living here in Barbados for about 11 years.

It's not really "normal" to spend 19 days with just one host when you're couchsurfing.

Fun times at the Mount Gay Rum Tour

Think of Barbados, and the first thing that might come to mind is beaches. But to some, the first thing that comes to mind is rum! Because Barbados is home to the oldest manufacturer of rum in the world!

In fact, Mount Gay has been making rum in Barbados for over 300 years.

The ruins of Sam Lord's Castle

Interesting story behind this part of Barbados history.

Samuel Hall Lord was a wealthy Barbados pirate who lived in a castle like estate that was built in 1820. Legend has it that Sam Lord would hang lanterns in the trees of the estate to look like the port of Bridgetown to lure unsuspecting ships onto the reef. He would then plunder the ships of their treasures.

The "castle" has had several different owners over the years.

Disappointing trip to Harrison's Cave, Barbados

We like to visit caves when we're traveling, and we've been to quite a few. I don't think that we are cave snobs by any means, but we have been to the magical Kartchner Caverns in Arizona, and the huge Grutas de Garcia in Mexico. And we've done the wild cave tour in both Mammoth Cave, Kentucky and in South Africa. Among others.

So perhaps it is because of these past experiences that we were quite disappointed in Harrison's Cave.

140 feet under water!

It's not every day that you get to go on a submarine.

In fact, it's taken us 55 years to get to do something like this! Not that it's an exclusive club. In fact, more than 12 million people have taken one of the Atlantis Submarine Tours that operate at select tropical locations around the world.

And we had heard that it's a really great experience, so we decided to go for it!