Sun - Apr 29/12

Our final day on the road. After being away for over 4 months it is nice to get back home.

Leaving The Drummer Boy RV Park in Gettysburg, PA we saw that all the Class B Roadtreks had departed and their spots were now taken by trailers and Fifth Wheels.

As we passed through York, PA where a Harley-Davidson Factory is located it was fitting to see a procession of at least a hundred motorcycles passing on the other side. It must have been a fund raising "run" of some kind.

Stopped to fill up at the Flying J in New Milford, PA a few miles before the New York state border. State prices vary widely due to taxes. Pennsylvania is always lower so I fill here before entering NY state. This time the savings was about $0.25 a gallon compared to some NY state prices along the interstate.

Our next stop was at the rest area (lightly raining) on I-81 just after we passed Cortland, NY. The stop here was to phone my daughters to see if they had any last minute requests for items from the USA. Nick (Son-in-Law) wanted a 20 Ton (combo Air/Manual) Bottle Jack (He's an RV tech). I phoned Harbor Freight in Watertown, NY to see if they had any in stock. If they did not I would check with the Syracuse, NY store. Watertown had it  (easier to get to this store) so we motored on.

At Watertown, NY we parked at the Walmart SuperCenter which is a parking lot away from Harbor Freight as we wouldn't fit into their parking lot. We picked up a few items at Walmart and a few items at Harbor Freight. Then we walked to the Olive Garden for supper just down the street.

After supper we continued towards home. Although we leave by the Thousand Islands (Ivy Lea, ON) border crossing when going to Arizona, we return through the Ogdensburg, NY crossing into Canada. This way we stop at the Parkway (Valero) Gas Station. This is the closest stop to home when coming from the West that we can easily get into and fill-up both the RV and the Car. This usually saves us close to $1 a gallon.

Our final stop before entering Canada was the Duty Free Shop just before crossing the bridge at Ogdensburg. Two bottles of Tequila (considerable savings compared to the LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) prices and we were on our way over the bridge into Canada.

Just 45 minutes later and we were passing the "Half Way to the North Pole/Half Way to the Equator" sign. Our daughter's home is just a few hundred yards south of the 45th parallel. Our home is also close to the 45th; but 10 minutes to the East . We unhooked the car leaving the RV at their home. We will return tomorrow to unpack the RV and have supper at their house. This is always fun as we also distribute their share of items we bought for them while away. It's like a second coming of Santa!

Despite Charlotte's short stay in the Heart Hospital in Arizona the winter was great. The trip home was also a lot of fun. We have our reservations for next year at Canyon Vistas for January 1st. through until April 1st. We will once again plan something to use the whole month of April for coming home.

The RV will now be parked except for July (Wedding Anniversary - 43rd coming up), August (my birthday - 18 'til I Die), September (Charlotte's Birthday - 29 w/a few years experinece) and maybe October (Autumn Leaves Trip) when the RV will only be out for a about a week at a time.

May do a short blog for these trips. The main blog will start, if all happens as usual, on Boxing Day (Dec 26/12). So long until then!