On the road never again

On the road again

Goin' places that I've never been

Seein' things that I may never see again

And I can't wait to get on the road again

We thought we’d like to try an rv adventure. It’s in no way exotic or romantic, but we thought the best way to see places and things we’ve never seen. We decided to rent a camper van which would be easy to drive and have room for the three of us. Gigi, Opa and Georgia. More importantly this tent on wheels had to have a toilet.

Our adventure included two destinations northwest of Ottawa. Combermere on the Madawaska and Mattawa on the Mattawa. Both private campgrounds.

The day arrived for us to pick up the van. We met the owner at his home and he gave us a lesson on using all aspects of the van. The van had a fridge,  a sink for washing dishes, microwave and two gas burners. There was a separate area for a toilet, a shower which was to be used in the same space as the toilet and a sink. This room was the size of a small cupboard. Then at the back of the van a bed. The van had two holding tanks, one for gray water and the other for black water, you can imagine what black water is. When the demonstration was complete we headed home to load up. Opa being most excited about the dumper on board. Arriving home we loaded up the van ready for next day departure.

I forgot to mention one vital piece of information, and that would be who Georgia is. Georgia is a 60 pound golden doodle lab, high energy, and suffers from car sickness. An hour before our departure we drug Georgia with gravol. The effect gravol has on Georgia is that it keeps vomiting at bay but unfortunately does not sedate her in any way. Also, Georgia loves her people and must have physical contact with them at all times.

Next day we were on the road going places we’ve never been, seeing things we may never see again. Soon after we were on the road, Georgia made her way to the front of the van and plunked herself on my lap with every intention of not moving. In addition to having 60 pounds crushing my thighs, 45 minutes outside of Ottawa we had to pull over. I don’t mean pulling over at a gas station or rest spot or even a Walmart, I mean literally the side of the road as nature was calling with great urgency. Just to note, nature wasn’t calling me. Thank goodness for dumper on board.

When you pull over on the highway, you are not on level ground, there’s a tilt to the vehicle, which makes sitting on a dumper in a space the size of a cupboard very challenging. In addition to that, the fumes permeating from the cupboard were deadly. All of this quickly eroded any bit of romanticism that I had when starting out on this journey.

Once more on the road again. I have to say the landscape as we travelled north was quite beautiful. This route is known to some as the Ontario Highlands. I only took a couple of pictures as it was proving difficult with Georgia on my lap, drooling on my feet. Anyone who has taken the scenic route to northeast Ontario knows the highway is very windy and at times steep. I felt at times when we reached a curve in the road we were going to tip over. Even though there were road signs warning of an upcoming curve, I had to make sure I announced an upcoming curve in the road and more importantly yelling slow down. I’m sure this was an annoyance for Opa as he told me so, but I felt the need to make sure he saw every curve in the road.

We finally reached our first campsite. We checked in, were handed a map and told how to get to our campsite. The location of the campsites were set back against a tree line. We weren’t waterfront nor did we have a water view.  We were surprised to see we were the only campers amongst 9 other empty sites. This suited me just fine as I was hoping for privacy and seclusion. We had to walk through an array of huge seasonal rvs (I guess this is known as a trailer park?) in order to get to the water. We couldn’t set foot on the beach as there were NO DOGS ALLOWED, so we admired from a distance. We walked a bit further and were able to look over a cliff among the pines (thus the name Pine Cliff Resort) to enjoy the view of the great Madawaska River. 

We walked through the resort in search of showers and washrooms. I wasn’t planning on using the dumper on board except at night when nature made that call. And I certainly wasn’t going to shower in the same space that was used as the dumper. Opa on the other hand had no problem using the dumper on board and not showering. When we found the washroom/showers I was somewhat pleased at what I saw and decided I could venture out in the morning and use the toilets for my morning constitution.

Back to the campsite for some relaxation and to prepare for evening dinner. I prepared much of our food in advance, so our first dinner was spaghetti and meatballs and a nice glass of wine. To clean dishes afterwards, the water heater had to be turned on about 15 minutes before and the water pump turned on when the water is used.  Washing dishes by hand to begin with isn’t pleasant and washing dishes in a sink the size of child’s sand bucket was ridiculous.

The evening soon moved to bedtime. The bed had the ability to transform into a double size bed or queen. Without a doubt we chose the queen size, and we brought our memory foam topper to improve sleep. There’s only one way in and out of the bed and that was rolling, climbing, sliding over the person on the outside. It was decided I would be on the inside and he on the outside due to the weight ratio. Now, if the van isn’t parked on level ground there could be a tilt on any one side of the van. For this particular campsite we were on pretty level ground so sleeping wasn’t a problem. However, if the person on the inside (being me) needed to use the toilet in the night, they had to get leverage from somewhere in the van to pull themselves up, over and down the other bedmates. This proved to be a challenge in so many ways. Bedmates being Georgia and Opa, Georgia in the middle. The nighttime ritual was repeated for a couple of nights. 

After a successful first time of emptying the holding tanks, we were on the road again. Going places that we’ve never been, seeing things we may never see again.

We were looking forward to the next campsite as we had a waterfront view of the Mattawa River, was much smaller, and not a resort. It was about a 2 and half hour drive north, once again Georgia had to be drugged to keep her breakfast down. This time we tethered her to the back of the van so she didn’t feel compelled to sit on my lap. Shortly after being on the highway, Georgia felt the need to be with her people, and tried to force herself forward. In doing so, she was choking herself, trying with all of her being to get to me. I had to unbuckle my seatbelt, untether her and sit with her at the back of the van. I know, I know, doesn’t sound safe nor practical but it worked.

Finally we arrived, not what we expected. There were campers all along the water, spaced like match sticks in a box. A disappointment for sure. We did love the view the campsite gave to us.

Opa had to back into the campsite. Even though there was a backup camera, I got out to direct him so as not to hit the tree and go over the cliff. There was a matchstick camper next to us, I said to him ‘we’re new at this’, he said without hesitation ‘I can tell’.  I said to him,   ‘Looks level right?’ He said ‘not at all’. So Opa had to drive further back to make the van sit on level ground.

We introduced ourselves to the matchstick camper and he invited us to join him later for a campfire. Rain was forecast so we said sure if rain held off. It rained, and that kept us inside. Next morning still raining and cold, that kept us inside.  Not much to do in a space the size of a shoe box.  The three of us on the bed, reading and napping, reading and napping. 

The sun came out in the afternoon, and we were so happy to stretch our legs as we surfaced from the van. We enjoyed sitting outside and enjoying the beautiful scenery on the Mattawa River. As evening approached, we joined our neighbour for a campfire and friendly banter.

The next morning we were greeted by a beautiful sunrise and mist on the water. 

 We decided this wasn’t the adventure for us, we enjoy and prefer cottage life so we packed up the next day and headed home.

On the road NEVER AGAIN!

If we were to ever hit the road again it would have to be in this.