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Blogs

Roadtreking Blog
 

The Great Lakes Shoreline Tour: Lakes Ontario and Erie

I always knew I was lucky to live in Michigan, the very heart of the Great Lakes. But until I started this drive along the shoreline of all five Great Lakes, I didn’t realize how fortunate I truly am to call this area home. I also didn’t realize how interconnected they are. From a hydrological standpoint, they are all intermingled and pretty much part of one system. The water that passes the rocky northern Superior shore in Minnesota eventually makes its way to the sandy bluffs of Lake Ontario
Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

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Melvin's Travels
 

Melvin is King of the mountain

Woke up well rested today to 70 degree weather and blue skies. After morning coffee, Ruth choose to hit the laundry mat. Yes we have a combo washer dryer on board, but this way she says it's done in 1 hour. That gave me some time to tinker, so I attached the tie downs to the awning and figured how to put the sunscreen over the windshield. The hardest part was figuring out the folding ladder. All done just as Ruth returned. We packed the car and took off for Acadia National park. ( less than 10
Castle3

Castle3

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Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

Life Onboard the m/s Paul Gauguin

We had two sea days on our way from Noumea, New Caledonia to Fiji. Both Louise and I enjoy the enforced relaxation of the sea days. There is plenty to do on the ship not the least of which is to just relax. Louise enjoys playing cards and I enjoy relaxing in the sun or shade of the upper decks. Our stateroom is on the lowest passenger level located mid-ship which is our preferred location. Being both low and in the center of the ship, we experience less movement than almost anyone else on
tbutler

tbutler

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Melvin's Travels
 

Melvin hits the bumpy road

6-18-14 Melvin At 6 AM I woke up to pouring rain. With visions of being stuck on this hilltop due to wash outs, I asked Ruth to get us ready to go. First time I got stuck prepping the outside in a downpour. Frankly that sucked. So, down the mountain we went. First gear only, frequent braking, and dodging trees that were drooping from hard rain weighting them down. What a relief to see that last turn. Water was running the ditches full and spilling onto the gravel one lane road. Next another
Castle3

Castle3

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Melvin's Travels
 

Melvin fixes Grace

6-15-14 Now that we've be traveling for two weeks, it was time to name our Monaco Windsor coach. Melvin decide on Grace after Princess Grace of Monaco. What else? After all the plate reads Castle3 ! Sunday (Father's Day ) was a total rain out. Ruth began our day by making blueberry pancakes for breakfast. The rest of our day was spent relaxing and watching movies. 6-16-14 We woke up to rain again. But it was a travel day, so we broke camp and headed out. Just after the causeway leaving Cape
Castle3

Castle3

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Melvin's Travels
 

Melvin fixes Grace

6-15-14 Now that we've be traveling for two weeks, it was time to name our Monaco Windsor coach. Melvin decide on Grace after Princess Grace of Monaco. What else? After all the plate reads Castle3 ! Sunday (Father's Day ) was a total rain out. Ruth began our day by making blueberry pancakes for breakfast. The rest of our day was spent relaxing and watching movies. 6-16-14 We woke up to rain again. But it was a travel day, so we broke camp and headed out. Just after the causeway leaving Cape
Castle3

Castle3

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Roadtreking Blog
 

Thinking of a Type B RV? Here Are the Questions You Should Ask

Buying an RV is perhaps the second biggest purchase most of us will make next to our house. In some cases, with kids grown and newly retired from our jobs, it becomes our house as more and more people embrace the fulltiming style of a life on wheels. And these days, Type B RVs seem to be at the top of the motorhome popularity chart. Many who bought larger Type A or C motorhomes are downsizing, or “rightsizing,,” as some call it, for the more mobile and maneuverable Type B-style campervan motorh
Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

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Roadtreking Blog
 

Of Rainy Days and Meandering

“Not all those who wander are lost." -- J. R. R. Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings. We love that quote because we love to meander, to take roads less traveled, off the Interstate. And as we are starting our Great Lakes Shoreline Tour that will take us 3,500 miles across eight states along the shorelines of all five Great Lakes, we are reminded again about the absolute joy of slow exploration. We’ve tried to explain it to non-RV people. Their eyes sort of glaze over. But you understand, don’t
Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

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Melvin's Travels
 

Melvin goes to sea

6-14-14 We were up early today and off in Lucy by 8:30. The weather on the web had forecasted a cold rainy day, but as we woke there were patches of blue sky. So we took a chance and drove to Englishtown so we could take a boat ride to Bird island. Sometimes we just make really good choices. Within 10 minutes of leaving the pier, we spotted an eagle. Then the first mate threw a fish into the water. Almost at once the eagle swooped down and grabbed the fish. GREAT photos of that and about 5 more
Castle3

Castle3

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Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

Noumea: Capital of New Caledonia

Noumea is the capital of New Caledonia. It is the largest city in these islands and has many multi story buildings in the business district and also condominiums and apartments in buildings up to ten stories high. Located on the island of New Caledonia is a large port with shipping facilities as well as docks for cruise ships. We were within walking distance of the city center. Within sight of our ship was the major portion of population and in the opposite direction a large nickel smelting
tbutler

tbutler

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Melvin's Travels
 

Melvin goes to Alexander Bell museum

6-13-14 The only exciting thing that happened yesterday was paying over $5 a gallon for fuel as we drove from Halifax to Baddeck. Today we ventured out to the Alexander Gram Bell museum. I. Learned enough trivia to win Jepordy. However,I was disappointed by the meager display of inventions and prototypes. I had also anticipated taking a tour of his home here, but that is privately owned by a Bell descendant and not open to the public. Oh well, the view of lake Bras d-Or, was quite pleasing to
Castle3

Castle3

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Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

Isle of Pines

New Caledonia is a French colonial possession. The entire country remains under the control of the French. There is a pending election scheduled for 2018 which could result in the independence of the country. The Iles de Pins (French for Isle of Pines) was named by Captain Cook who was impressed by the tall pine trees on this island. Our ship, the m/s Paul Gauguin which operates out of Tahiti is a small cruise ship, 320 passengers plus a crew of about 200. Its small size and shallow draft a
tbutler

tbutler

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Roadtreking Blog
 

The Great Lakes Roadtreking Shoreline Tour

We’re about to set off on a 3,500-mile trip that will take us farther than if we drove across country, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. And although we till visit eight states, we will never really leave the Midwest. We’ll be driving much of the U.S. shorelines that touches the five Great Lakes. I’ve wanted to do this trip for years. ow, thanks to Verizon Wireless and in partnership with Pure Michigan, we’re about to set off, starting from the Lake Ontario shoreline near Otswego, NY, and the
Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

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Melvin's Travels
 

Melvin visits relatives in Berwick NS

6-11-14 Another beautiful day in Nova Scotia, so we took a drive to Berwick about 90 miles from our campsite to see Dorothy and Jimmy Sheriffs. About four generation back, her grandfather Hussey is the same as Ruth's. James Hussey settled in Aylesford less than 10 miles away. It was very interesting to learn about the area and hear about the farm James owned. After a few hours at Dorothy's home we took them to lunch at a nearby restaurant. When our visit ended, we took off for Morden on the Bay
Castle3

Castle3

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Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

New Caledonia

By evening on Wednesday the seas had calmed somewhat and the ride to our next stop is much gentler than the previous days ride. Our route took us further west and south. The day was cool with light winds. The captain informed us that we were cruising at a relaxed 7 knots, down from the 12 knots of previous days. We had plenty of time to reach our next island paradise, Lifou, part of the Loyalty Island group. On Lifou, we toured a botanical garden and vanilla farm. The botanical garden t
tbutler

tbutler

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Roadtreking Blog
 

Cape Cod: Where All of America is Behind You

I confess to being a bit of a snob about the east. My journalist days often took me up and down the eastern seaboard, mostly to big cities where crime, decay, overcrowded neighborhoods and a general malaise of discontent seemed to be the chief characteristic of the people and places. Such is the danger of journalism. Seeing bad news makes you skeptical. Seeing too much bad news makes you a cynic. And being cynical is not a good way to live. So it’s good to visit the east now in an RV, where we
Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

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Melvin's Travels
 

Melvin visits Spring Garden

6-10-14 Our morning began with French toast on the stove and bacon from the grill. Both were delicious! After a bit of tidy up in the coach, and putting away some laundry (imagine a washer/drier in the coach), we headed Lucy back to Halifax. First stop was the Spring Garden. Ruth and I took a 45 minute stroll and loved every part of it. I added some pics if the WiFi lets them through. Melvin posed for a few selfies. In the afternoon we visited the Nova Scotia archives to do some research. Fou
Castle3

Castle3

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Roadtreking Blog
 

The Making of a Roadtrek: The Movie

If any of you have been to the Roadtrek factory in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada for a tour, you would have an idea of what it takes to build a Roadtrek, how busy the manufacturing floor is and how passionate everyone there is about the product. For those who have not been able to make the trip (and we highly recommend that you do), we are happy to present a video tour for you on what it takes to build the #1 selling Class B Motorhome in North America. Jennifer and I spent two weeks in Kitch
Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

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Melvin's Travels
 

Melvin see's maritime museum and attends Mass at St Mary's Basilica.

6-9-14 Staying at a KOA near Halifax. Free WiFi, you get what you pay for. It's slower than a modem and works when it feels like it. I see last nights blog never uploaded. Here it is again. Today started off with another blue sky. Later in the day it got a bit cloudy, but no rain. After our Blueberry muffin breakfast we. Headed for Halifax. After driving by St. Mary's, to get the times for Mass, we headed for the Maritime Museum. Many displays of Canada's naval history, the story of the 191
Castle3

Castle3

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Roadtreking Blog
 

RV Destination: New York’s Letchworth State Park

One of the nicest state parks we’ve found anywhere in the country is the 14,000 acre Letchworth State Park, 35 miles southwest of Rochester and about 60 miles south of Buffalo. Often dubbed as “the Grand Canyon of the East,” Letchworth offers easily accessible and spectacular views of a deep, 600-foot gorge carved out of the limestone and sandstone shale by the Genesee River. Suggested to us as we were making our way from Michigan to Cape Cod by Roadtreking regular W. Dan Hulchanski, Jennifer a
Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

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Melvin's Travels
 

Melvin joins the RCMP

Woke up to blue sky today. After a review of points of interest on Garmin we decided to head for the water front. Melvin has been good, so we took him along in Lucy. The pier was bustling with activity. Musicians, brake dancers, and vendors in the beautiful 70 degree weather with a gentle breeze. When we stopped to enjoy a solo bag piper,Melvin had a spiritual moment. As amazing grace was played, he decided to join the RCMP. IN NO TIME AT ALL HE WAS IN FULL UNIFORM! To celebrate the occasion we
Castle3

Castle3

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Melvin's Travels
 

Melvin breaks wind on way to Halifax

6-7-14 Today started off by wakeing up to partly cloudy skies. Ruth and I had breakfast and set about securing everything for our next leg to Halifax. I learned you can't put the front side in if one of they storage doors are open. 5 minutes of panic before I figured it out. Hooked up Lucy and off we went. Today's driving lessen was all about strong cross winds and very bumpy roads. I did a bit of zigzagging before I got use to it. Ruth however had a tough time. Her brake peddle did not work a
Castle3

Castle3

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Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

The Cruise Begins

This is the cruise that started the whole trip to New Zealand and Australia. We signed on for the cruise and later decided to make it part of a longer trip. Now with our exploration of New Zealand and Australia behind us we are exploring another part of the world. Our cruise started in Fiji on Saturday, May 31 in Lautoka, Fiji. Leaving Lautoka at sunset we sail for a day and a half to the island nation of Vanuatu. Once known as the New Hebrides Islands, this group of many islands is sparsel
tbutler

tbutler

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