moonstone
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Re: Camping Around Georgian Bay
You don't need to take the toll road (#407) across Toronto, there are many other roads to use. You can take the QEW Hwy from the Niagara Region to Hwy 401 to Hwy 400 to go north. Many of the smaller Provincial Hwys are also good, although probably not as good as the US State Hwys. They are not divided highways. In the Georgian Bay area there is Awenda Provincial park (book early) or further east Six Mile lake Provincial Park. The Ontario Camping guide (pick up at a tourist info ctr) will list many private campgrounds.426Views0likes0CommentsRe: Corn on the cob in microwave!
donn0128 wrote: Better, well at least for us. Husk the corn, wrap in plastic wrap. Microwave 5 minutes. Unwrap, butter, salt to taste and eat. As long as you are using plastic wrap that is safe to touch food while microwaving. Many aren't due to the plastic emitting dangerous chemicals when heated. Check the box for precautions. It is probably better to place cobs in a deep casserole dish or bowl (so cobs are 3-4 inches below rim) with a bit of water then seal dish with plastic wrap1.4KViews0likes0CommentsRe: Going to St Augustine FL
Your Google directions are pretty good, there isn't really any way around Jax that doesn't involve a lot of traffic, unless you exit 295 and take US17 south on the west side of the St John's river. Take 17 down to SR16 at Green Cove Springs, then take 16 all the way over to St Augustine. If you don't want to get off 295 onto 95 Southbound, stay on 295 for 1 more exit and get off at US1 -its a nice road and nicer scenery (IMHO) than 95. Take US1 (also called Philips, then Old Dixie Hwy) all the way down to St Augustine. Take San Marco Ave to May St/A1A (an old carousel at the corner?) and go left/east towards the Vilano Causeway/bridge. Go over the bridge then left again at the coast on A1A up to the North Beach Campground. Vilano beach is quite built up (from when we started camping near there 40+ yrs ago) and there is a Publix grocery store and several restaurants at the corner. As an alternate scenic route exit off US1 just south of 295 at the Nocatee Pkwy and head east to A1A then south to the campground. We leave in 4 weeks for St Augustine Beach but since we are approaching from the north (Ontario) we take 95 to 295 on the east side of Jax down to Hwy 9B then cut over to US.1 then over to A1A. By the time we get to Jax we have had enough of I-95!422Views0likes0CommentsRe: How to hurry
If you have more drivers than vehicles it is always nice to switch drivers every few hours. Hubby is a relaxed driver & loves driving so our non-camping road trips are always a marathon. When we drive to our condo in Florida (from north of Toronto) we do the 20hrs of drive time in a day and a half. We like to start early (4-5am) and stop around 9pm on the first day, or later if we are not near any decent accomodations. We do as hubby calls them 'all-in-one-stops', that is gas-eat-pee, now that we dont have children travelling with us. I pack a small(ish) cooler with cans of pop/soda with caffeine, a couple of frozen water bottles and some snacks. I try to avoid sugary snacks as they will cause a blood sugar spike followed by a crash & sleepiness. As someone mentioned vegies, with or without dip, are good, as is cheese & slices of Kolbassa with crackers and some nuts. If it's a multi-day road trip I pack some freezer ziploc bags to fill with ice for the cooler for subsequent days. A few years ago we were in Florida and our son phoned to ask if we could drive home to his place(near Toronto), pick-up his truck & work trailer and then drive it to Calgary (a 3350 mile trip) ASAP! We left FL early the next morning, stopped at his house to get his truck, then at our house to drop off our car, unpack & repack and hit the road again. Talk about a numb bum! Thank goodness we didnt have to drive home again -his company flew us home.520Views0likes0CommentsRe: Florida RV registration?
As I posted on another question. If you don't plan on moving the trailer why does it need to be plated/registered? Many years ago my in-laws bought a used trailer (from a private individual) at a campground in St Augustine that also had a storage facility. The trailer never moved off the property so it was never plated. I seem to remember that dad didn't have an ownership/registration for the trailer since the people he bought it from were going to tell the DMV that the trailer was scrapped.1.4KViews0likes0CommentsRe: Is this possible?
Agree that a park model might be best if you don't intend to move it from place to place. Years ago my in-laws got tired of driving their MH back & forth from north of Toronto to Florida. They found a nice, reasonable, used 30ft travel trailer (not park model) then found a campground with storage. They never plated the trailer since it never moved off the campground property. As far as I know there were never any tax implications with either country, both when they bought it and, over a decade later, when they sold it.580Views0likes0CommentsRe: Keeping warm using air mattress
When our boys were in Scouts & did a few winter camps (in Canada) we found the "foil' survival blankets worked well. They used them under the sleeping bag with another blanket under the 'foil' blanket next to the air mattress. Of course the Scout Leader advised against using air mattresses at all for early spring/fall/winter camps as they are the coldest thing to sleep on but our boys didn't like the thin foam pads. We have friends with a tent trailer & they have 1/4" sheets of styrofoam on the plywood, under their foam mattress as well as a 10-12" high strip of it along the 3 outer sides of their bed, against the tent sides. They covered the styrofoam with vinyl stickey-back wallpaper/shelf liner from the dollar store to protect it. They said the foam makes a huge difference on cool nights. That wouldnt work on top of an air mattress but maybe the insulating material people are using for winter trailer camping would help.2KViews0likes0CommentsRe: Going to Florida
Well we ended up taking our usual route (95-26-77-19-79-90) home from Florida a few days ago because the weather looked good. There used to be a map of Interstate driving forecasts on the web. It had the interstates colour coded depending on the road condition & you could change the date until about 5 days out. It seems to have disappeared and now this https://www.theweathernetwork.com/maps/us-highway-forecast/ is all I can find. The only trouble we had, aside from the many miles of construction on I-95 & I-77, was a long detour around the Bluefield tunnel on I-77. We stopped for gas at a truck stop in Wytheville & a kind trucker saw our ONT licensce plates and told us he had just come southbound & saw traffic at a standstill for miles due to a big rig roll-over south of the tunnel. It was a scenic detour (on US-52) and added over an hour to our trip but at least we weren't stopped on the interstate (hubby hates that)!422Views0likes0CommentsRe: Going to Florida
We have taken 219 (from Buffalo) a few times when we wanted a leisurely drive. Even though it is the shortest route it will take hours longer. You will pass through many small towns and at times the road is quite hilly & winding with narrow or no shoulders. I would not take it in the winter months. We have been driving to FL at least twice a year from near Barrie ON and have been taking the I-79,SR-19,I-77-26-95 route since it was completed nearly 40 years ago. As previously mentioned there are some pretty big hills (one is 7 miles long on I-77 in VA) through the mountains in WV & VA and the roads are not always cleared well or right away. If you must travel at that time of year and especially if towing an RV I'd take I-75 or even I-65 for a flatter run even though they are a few miles longer. We are currently in FL and will be driving home in the middle of November. Even though we are in a car this trip, Hubby is considering taking I-75 home to avoid any bad road conditions. ~Diane422Views0likes0Comments
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