One year ago today! Good bye RBC (Royal Bank)…

Three hundred and sixty five days of being retired, and am I sick of it yet?  No way!  I am loving being retired… just tonight Judy and I were out for a walk around our KOA, and got to talking… the subject of reading came up, and this summer alone I have read 3 big novels!  I have never read 3 novels in one summer in my life… how retirement changes us… I discovered I love reading!  Guess now I know why my Daughter owns about 16,304 books! 

Never once in the past year have I felt bored!  There always seems to be something to do, someone to meet, someone to talk to on the phone, someone to email, something to fix, somewhere to ride the motorcycle, somewhere to ride the RV, and it just goes on and on… in a month and a half, Judy will retire from the Federal Government, and I hope she feels the same way I do about retirement… I think she will!

It was way to hot here to do anything.  This morning I sat outside and finished reading my latest book.  This afternoon I had a great idea and decided to take the motorcycle out and take a little tour of Bracebridge.  It is a quaint little Town in the heart of Muskoka.  

This first pic is of the falls, at the bottom of the Main Street, they are a bit of a landmark in this area.

This is the river downstream of the falls, and is very popular for boating and swimming… you can take your boat from here, right out into Lake Muskoka.

Every Town has a main street, and Bracebridge is no exception.  Lots of trendy shops that cater to the tourist!  (That means, inflated prices!)  They do a lot of business in July and August!

I took a drive out Beaumont Drive, that follows the Muskoka River, and leads to Lake Muskoka.  Santa’s Village is along the road, and today, Santa had the boat out as it was so hot.  Hey Jennifer, don’t forget to show this picture to Emmie, and remind her Christmas is coming!  Looked like Rudolf and Prancer leading the boat up the River today!  My favourite pic of the day!

This is my second favourite picture of the day, a typical Muskoka scene along the Muskoka River…

 

Well, here is hoping my second year of retirement goes as well, and is as much fun as the first year was!

Till tomorrow…

Back into the frying pan…

I don’t know about where you were today, but it sure was hot here in Muskoka.  Big time…  

Deb and Gerard hung around this morning and we enjoyed some fire and breakfast… sure had a great weekend with them, enjoyed every minute…

It was too hot here to do anything, but a bit of reading this afternoon, and took it easy tonight.  The heat kind of got to me today and sucked all the energy out of me… and they say it is going to get hotter tomorrow!

Too hot to blog, will try again tomorrow…

Welcome to Gizmojo, who is a new follower to the blog, good to have you onboard!

Till tomorrow…

Up the Creek without a paddle…

After we had breakfast out of the way this morning, it was time for adventure…   We had decided to go into Bracebridge and rent some Kayaks on the Muskoka River and get into some serious travel… first though, we have a pic of last night’s campfire, it was just a roaring and simply a great night to sit out to about midnight!

I want the pretty pink one…

 

Here is Debbie getting all loaded up…

 

Judy is all set, she has her Duckey’s on!

Here we go, we are off…

Great action shot of Gerard…

Yes, life in Muskoka!

Just a great day overall, and I am sitting by our fire in a can tonight as I do the blog!

Till tomorrow…

Wilson Falls Trail

Deb and Gerard made it by noon today on a beautiful day in Muskoka!  We decided to go on a bit of a tour of Bracebridge this afternoon, and found the Wilson Falls Trail.  It is a great trail that leads up to a set of falls.

Before we hit the trail we went to Santa’s Village to the tree top trails to check it out… to risky for us! Check it out!

Santa has a go cart track too!

We finally found the Wilson Falls Trail head.

I dared Gerard to walk out to the end, but he wouldn’t do it…

Lots of nice views along the way…

 

By far, my favourite pic of the day! Check out this shot of the trees and lots of weird sunlight!

 

Gerard is checkin out the falls…

Hey, how did I get into the picture???

Yes, this next picture is “Life in Muskoka”…. ya gotta love it!

It was back to the RV for refreshments and dinner after the hike, and we plan on a real camp fire tonight!

Till tomorrow…

Ready for “Blast off”…

Today was the big day… it was time to hook up all the toys and do a trial run for this up coming winter… happy to report, all is well and we await blast off.

After I got all hooked up,(yes, it takes a while to get all hooked up…) I headed down Gravenhurst Parkway, and stopped at the little turn around for a photo opportunity…

The big test was to see how the RV handled the Jeep and the Burgman loaded on the back of the Jeep.  The test went well, the Jeep tracked very well, and thanks to GM’s Duramax Diesel Engine in the RV, lots of power to spare… it is an awesome engine… I think I could pull an old German Tank behind the RV without a problem!

Debbie and Gerard coming to visit this weekend, should be a blast!

Watch out folks, August is almost gone!

Till tomorrow…

Hard at work…

After I delivered Judy out to the Prison for her day at work, I headed back to the RV and spent the entire day working on moto-tote. (yes, again)  I worked on the wiring as I wanted to get the lights all working and ready to go.

It worked out very well! 

When we purchased the Blue Ox Tow package, the dealer installed a complete separate set of light on the Jeep, to be used only during towing.  These new light were incorporated into the existing rear lights on the Jeep.  Today, I spliced into the wiring of this system and made my own wiring harness. 

Now, when the Jeep is being towed, all the lights work on the back of the moto-tote.  Also, if we are driving the Jeep without the motor home, we plug the moto-tote into the trailer harness on the Jeep, and you have lights again on the moto-tote!  Perfect!

It took all day, but I took my time and did it right!  I also soldered all the wire connections, and there were many! 

Tomorrow, is a big day.  I will hook the Jeep and the Burgman, behind the Motor Home, and see if the Duramax is able to pull it all.  I want to see how it will all handle.  Not to worry folks, we are within weight limits on the towing, this I make 100% sure of. 

We have Debbie and Gerard from Waterloo coming to spend the weekend with us on Saturday.  Looks like the weather is going to be excellent for a good visit!

Till tomorrow…

Where has August gone???"

Judy and I were talking tonight before dinner, and I realized it was August 25th.  OK, so where did August go to???  It will not be long till we fire up the big rig and head south again! 

Lots to do before we head out, but it will all get done! 

So I bet you are all sick and tired of hearing about my moto-tote… but it has certainly been high on my list lately.  Today was a good day and I got quite a bit done.  I had to do some drilling to enable the carrier to be attached properly to our Jeep receiver… this is now done.  It prevents the carrier from moving once you get it attached to the Jeep. 

After I got the hitch all fixed up, I started to work on installing lights on the carrier, as when the bike is on the back, you cannot see the Jeep lights at all from the rear.   The first picture is just as I was getting set up to work on it…

Below is the finished product.  You can see the wires hanging out of the bottom of the two light, but tomorrow is another day, and that is when the wiring will be done!

 

Just to get us in the mood for heading south, Rincon RV Resort in Tucson sent us a brochure inviting us to come again!   We had a blast at that park and would certainly recommend it to anyone and go back again ourselves! 

Glad to get an email today from my friend Jim C. who has been working on his Gold Wing after the problems he had down in Ellicottville, New York this past summer.  He did the work himself and reports all is working well at this time!  At least there is lots of summer and fall left this year, he should be able to get some good riding in. 

Bob H. left a comment on last nights blog about needing a camera to keep an eye on all the toys stacked up behind the motor home!   Yes, Bob, I have a nice camera system at the flick of a swith, in living colour no less to keep the eagle eye out for any trouble!  Hope you can find a good one for your 5th wheel!

Till tomorrow…

 

The preparation starts!

It is good to hear Al from the Bayfield Bunch is feeling better today, he has been under the weather for the past couple of days but is on the mends!

He reminded me in his blog tonight, about work that is required to be completed to our RV before we leave for the South West again this fall.  There always seems to be lots of work to do, and new projects to complete.  

One of them is our Moto-Tote.  I did a bit of work with it today and got it installed on our Jeep.

The first couple pics tonight are of the ramp itself.  The first one shows the side ramp you use to load your motorcycle with.

We have to take the spare tire off the Jeep before we can load the motorcycle…

 

There we go, we got the bike loaded… it was a bit of a challenge to do the first time by myself, but I got through…

If you look to the right of the bike, down by the muffler, you will see where the ramp is stowed while you are driving… a spot for everything!

Judy is all happy the Burgman is the same colour as the Jeep, you have to stay co-ordinated you know…

There are still a number of things I have to do, such as put light on the ramp, as well as paint it… so the work is not done yet!

I took the Jeep out for  a spin with the bike on the back, and all went well.  You can feel it on the back as it weights just over 400 lbs.

I am not sure what to do about my licence plate on the Jeep, you cannot see it from the rear… any thoughts anybody???

Till tomorrow…

 

We will have the “best of both worlds”…

It is a good thing I am retired, because I do not know how I would get everything done in a day and have to work too… I know I did it for 37 years but…

Regular RV duties occupied the morning and then this afternoon, Judy and I went down to Orillia to celebrate the life of Elva Francis, who was the Mother of our good friend Debbie.  Elva was in Her 90th year and had a good life!  Debbie delivered an amazing Eulogy in tribute of Her Mom!

After the Celebration, Judy and I headed down to Scarborough, to find a place called Ontario Cycle, that had a used Moto-tote for sale, on Kajiji…  It was exactly what we were looking for so we bought it!  It was too late for me to take pictures of it when we got home, but I will add a file picture for your reference.  It will allow us to bring Judy’s Suzuki Burgman with us, behind the Jeep this winter as we head through Arizona and California!  Or, as I like to now say, will give us the best of both worlds, having our Jeep and one of our motorcycles with us.  We will be 3 months staying at Desert Hot Springs, and it will be put to good use there. 

We were able to put it on the back of our Jeep prior to buying it, and  it was exactly what I was hoping for.  It sits high, and we put 400 lbs on the lift, and the Jeep hardly moved down!  Perfect.

This is a file picture from the Moto-Tote web site of the exact model we bought today.

I will repaint the lift, as well as I will build a custom set of lights to go on the rear of the lift to warn following traffic, just like hooking up a trailer.

I am in the mood for a bit of a work project right now, so this is just what the Dr. ordered!

Till tomorrow…

Looking for MOTTO-TOTE

 

For the past few weeks, we have been trying to figure out a way to be able to tow our Jeep down to California this winter, along with one of our motorcycle….  MOTTO-TOTE…

Motto-Tote is a device that will carry a motorcycle of up to about 500 lbs. on the back of a vehicle,(if your vehicle can handle the weight)  Our Jeep came with a trailer tow package, and is capable of towing 5,000 lbs.  We will be able to carry Judy’s Burgman on the back with a motto-tote hopefully with very little problem.  One thing nice about the Jeep, is they sit nice and high, so the bike will be up in the air.  Judy’s Burgman only weights about 400 lbs so this should be our solution I hope!

The picture above is taken off the Motto-Tote website and show someone with their Suzuki on the back of a minivan.  Cool

I have found a motto-tote on the internet for sale down in Scarborough and hopefully it will be available for sale still this week.  It would save me some money and not have to order it from the States. 

Dull day today weather wise… this evening we enjoyed dinner with one of our latest blog followers… David and Angela (AKA Gatormanone)  Welcome aboard!

Till tomorrow…

Welcome to the “Dock Side”…

Yes, this weekend Gravenhurst has turned to the Dock Side…

Every year a festival is held down on Muskoka Wharf, and this year they decided to combine Steamship Days, (annual sidewalk sale) on the same weekend.  This is a shot from the main street, the blue trailer in the foreground, is call the Rotary Wheels.  The Club sells hot dogs and sausage all weekend and makes a pile of money from it!

 

Judy and I did a tour of the main street, and it takes a while, as in Gravenhurst, you meet just about everyone you know on the street as it is a nice small town!

We drove down to Muskoka Wharf, and toured the Dock Side Festival… This is a carved wooden bear that announces Regatta’s Restaurant on the Wharf…

The venders set up in Centre Square at the Wharf…

Judy was checking out some of the goodies for sale.

There were quite a few artist with product for sale… they were not cheap…

These canoe bookcases are very popular with the cottage crowd here.  The miniature replicas of the Seguin sell for $400.00…

Of course last Wednesday night, this same square was full of custom motorcycles…

I thought this chair was kind of cool…

and I liked this idea, of buying 3 paintings, to make one view…

I was kind of overcast today, so not too many boats out… both events were pretty well attended thought…

We were supposed to go motorcycling this morning, but the poor weather stopped that.  Does not look much better for tomorrow…

Oh well, till tomorrow…