Established in 1897 in Ontario, hun-


dreds of provincial branches meet monthly for personal growth and ed- ucation of its members. Shortly before leaving for the meeting, Suzie received a phone call from the Chairperson tell- ing her that the invited speaker, who had planned to talk about radical lifestyle changes, was unable to attend. Suzie asked whether we would be willing to “fill in” and talk about our recent life- style change to full-time RVing. So we did, to the apparent delight of the dozen or so members in attendance. Following our presentation, one lady


asked, “Do you feel guilty about always being on holidays?” “Not at all,” I re- plied, “we worked hard most of our lives and consider our extended holiday a well-deserved reward.” In retrospect, perhaps her question


was whether we felt guilty because, from her perspective, we weren’t contributing to a common good. Most in attendance were farmer’s wives, typically conserva- tive types, well rooted with strong work ethics. Although I didn’t take a poll, I suspect most either envied us or could not comprehend such a radical lifestyle change as we had made. In either case, if “Liking what you do is happiness,” we were happy campers, and hoped the same for these ladies. Tree days of rain had the truck’s tires


spinning in the slick grass when we tried to depart. No worries. Colin hooked a chain from his tractor to the front end of our truck and pulled our rig effortlessly off the grass, through a muddy field, and onto a gravel roadway. Aſter a round of hugs, we headed west to Kincardine on the eastern shore of Lake Heron, where we stayed overnight in the parking lot of a bowling alley. Further south, we visited the charm-


ing town of Goderich, described on their welcome sign CANADA’S PRETTIEST TOWN. Te town features a unique octagonal centre with trendy shops and restaurants, tree-lined streets, and over- flowing flower baskets hanging from decorative lampposts. We dry-camped for a couple of nights at a city park, while visiting another of Sandy’s cousins. All total, Sandy has 22 cousins living


in various towns in Ontario, and she planned to visit all of them. Fortunate-


ly, eight of the female cousins who were within easy driving distance met for din- ner at a local restaurant. While they were dining and chin wag-


ging, the guys all got together for beer and chicken wings at a local pub and talked fishing, hunting and football. Most were on a first-name basis with other patrons, so typical of small-town ambiance. Greg, the husband of one of Sandy’s


cousins, described his work at the local Siſto Salt Mine, one of the world’s largest salt companies. Every day, he takes an elevator 500 metres down and a rail car several kilometres under Lake Huron, where he operates a shovel extracting rock salt. Large cargo ships transport the chunks of salt to various ports of call in the Great Lakes, where it is further distributed throughout Canada and the United States. Siſto’s finer salt is man- ufactured in an evaporator plant and packaged for table use. We noticed later that we actually had a carton of Siſto salt in our trailer. London, Ontario, about 100 km


southeast, is where Sandy grew up and also where Elly’s puppyhood sweetheart – a Bichon Frieze named Toby – lives. Whenever we mentioned his name, Elly cocked her head from side to side and looked around expectantly. Aſter a 5-year separation, we fully expected them to have a joyful reunion. Arriving at our friend’s house, little Toby met us at the door with his tail just a-wagging. Surprisingly, Elly only gave Toby a cur- sory sniff and then proceeded to search the house for two cats that had lived with Toby back in Edmonton. Puppy love is so fickle! Since Elly doesn’t carry on this way


with our cat Buster, I wondered how long she would have to be exposed to these felines before the obsessive attrac- tion wore off … certainly longer than the 4 hours of our visit, which was how long Elly kept trailing aſter them when- ever they moved from their perches on the couch and kitchen chairs. Since most campgrounds in Ontario


close in mid-October because of cold weather, we crossed the US border — the longest land border in the world — at Port Huron, Ontario heading for Florida. 4


RVT 174 • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016 13


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