Day 21, July 17, 2007

Day 21, Tuesday, July 17, 2007
You asked me two days ago how many License plate designations Willa and Tegan had seen, the number is 35 from different States and Provinces. I wouldn’t have thought that many. We got away about 8:30 this morning and meandered up the road. Our first stop is Elgin, Ontario. I had found a site on the internet that gave all the little towns along the Rideau Canal with walking tours of the old buildings and their history. So I ran the information off and we had this along for each town on the list. We asked at the school if we could park there, which was ok, then unloaded the bikes and did a bike tour of Elgin. Very interesting and you are talking the early 1800’s. We took about an hour and then loaded up the bikes and headed off again. Someone Willa had talked to said you have to stop at Smiths Falls and what a nice town it was.
So about 30-40 minutes after Elgin we are looking for a parking space big enough for the motorhome in Smiths Falls. We were going to the museum then to the library so Tegan can access the internet but ended up going to the library instead. I took my laptop and had hoped to get my diary posted to the blog but it would not connect so as of now you all may have to wait until I either get back or get it working before you can read it. Smiths Falls is called the Chocolate capital of Ontario because Hershey’s factory is right in town. So after the Library we did a tour of the plant and of course the gift shop (or should I say chocolate shop). You can buy any of the brand of bars they make, Kisses, whatever and for a very reasonable price, in fact according to Tegan most of it was 1/2 what you would pay in the stores. They had bags of Hershey almond bars big bags, no wraps, I think maybe seconds and it was $7.99 for about 5 lbs. Tegan said this was the highlight of the trip. She has said this quite a lot on this trip, kind of neat that there is always something new and better than the day before. When we first arrived we walked around the locks, there are three of them here. There are three swinging bridges and at one time the car traffic could be held up on all three roads when boat traffic was going through. In the early 1970’s a new lock was put in that went below the bridge and so eliminated one of the swing bridges. The town is divided by the Rideau Canal. Now this new lock is one of three hydraulic operated locks on the Rideau Canal system. To get the boats low enough to make it under the bridge the lock is much deeper than any we have seen so far. I would guess maybe 30 or 40 feet. I must say it does not take long to fill up. During our walk around we noticed a campsite on the south side of the Canal and walked over to check it out. It is a city run site with hookups for both RVs and boats. The boats have docks or other tie ups available to them. The price is reasonable at $30.00 per night with water and electricity. Half of the sites back on to the Canal and we were lucky enough to get one of those. The boats tie up a little further along, so we don’t have any boats right behind us and the boats don’t have any RVs next to them either. We got settled into the campsite after the library and the Hershey tour, had our supper then went for a bike ride around town which was very enjoyable. Packed the bikes up getting ready to move tomorrow although we may stay one more day and get some cleanup done on the motorhome, laundry, and also some maintenance done on the motor home. Nothing serious just tightening down a few bolts and nuts especially on the bike rack. It had taken quite a shaking with some of the roads we have come over but has worked well. The covers have kept the bikes clean and dry. Before supper Willa made a few calls back to Tammy and Jon to touch bases. Kathy, who works with me at the office, and I have had a few conversations over the past two weeks. She is handling everything at the office real well. She said she was loosing weight, because she doesn’t have time to eat, and according to her this was a good thing. Quite a load to put on to her but she is good at what she does. Hard to believe we have worked together for the past 9 years. A great person to work with. We set up a bank account with her that the three of us have signing authority for and she can pay any extra bills that may come up. Really looking forward to tomorrow. There must be 30-40 boats tied up for the night and a lot of them will go right past our motorhome to catch the locks heading south. It will be like a parade for us. Some of the boats are pretty nice, 40-50 feet and two decks with flying bridges. It makes me drool. You could spend years boating the Rideau Canal and still not have seen it all. I am so impressed with the Canal and historic towns all along its banks. To think we have only seen a fraction of what is here to see. So much to see and so little time and money to see it. I shouldn’t say money because the trip so far has not been all that expensive except maybe for gas but even that so far has been within the budget I had guesstimated when we were planning the trip. Now for a sleep and then watch the boats tomorrow morning. Life is goooooooooooooooooooooood.