Monday 15 July 2013

The Six Nights Away Run - Day 6

Cameron Lake
 
Well, we had our quiet day. A very slow start was achieved as we watched people pack up and head home, albeit that there are quite a few stayers on the site, it being school holiday time.
The sun was getting a bit scary by midday and the temperatures were up above 30 degrees celsius as we retreated inside Towed Haul and enjoyed her air conditioning. These aluminium trailers are not great at keeping either warm in winter or cool in summer, despite their white painted roofs; you'll all recall your school physics lessons on the heat conductivity of metals I'm sure. Still, it was much hotter in Florida and we managed perfectly well when we where there. What we haven't had is rain, apart from on the first night of this trip, so we're already one up on Florida!
Eventually we jumped into the (air conditioned) Toadmobile and went north again, this time to Red Rock Antiques, on the road between Bobcaygeon and Fenelon Falls. On the way there we had a bit of a senior moment when we looked up the opening times of the antiques place only to find that it was closed on Monday. Mrs T was all for calling ahead to see if they's open up for us when we realised that the day was, in fact, Sunday and the place was open. Doh! That's what happens when you spend a week out of your normal routine.
Red Rock Antiques consisted of two barns full of old furniture (mostly) and a few other bits and bobs. None of it was particularly well presented and neither did they have much that we might have liked, but it was good to rummage around in there. The owner (who's name escapes me just now) turned out to have been born and raised in Chatham Ontario, went to the same school that the Tadpoles attend and lived about two streets away from where we live. She hadn't been back in many a year but she and Mrs T had a few mutual acquaintances, not least the lady's mother who Mrs T remembers working at Rossini's Restaurant and to whom she'd spoken! Sometimes it can be a small world.
We left Red Rock with a $12 olde worlde hole punch for the "Desk Of Many Treasures" at home, then went on a mini road trip to Balsam and Cameron lakes. We hoved-to at Lock 35 on the Trent-Severn Waterway (yes, the TSW again), on the short stretch of canal that links the two lakes. I have to say that it was most pleasant sitting in the shade and watching boats work the locks. I say boats but it's actually Parks Canada staff that operate locks, all resplendent in their green shorts and khaki shirts. We being highly respectable toads did turn our noses up at a couple of very noisy power boats that went through, crowded with youngsters. I suspect that they were heading for Sturgeon Lake where they could open up the throttles on the two long stretches of water there. We preferred the more sedate boats, each running at a couple of hundred thousand dollars a piece I reckon; we have rich tastes.
Then it was a gentle run back to Emily, via Kawartha Lakes and Omemee. I was looking to get some gas and saw one gas station on the opposite side of the road near Kawartha Lakes but thought I'd look for one on our side of the road. Well, we traveled all the way to Omemee and our turning up to Emily and didn't see a single gas station in all that way, not even on the other side of the road. Mrs T wisely suggested heading towards the large town of Peterborough rather than heading north again and sure enough, we came across an Ultramar place (on the other side of the road) about 3 Km further on. It was a particularly wise decision by Mrs T as the gas was $1.179, which was a huge improvement on the $1.339 we paid last week down near the Big City. My dad would have been pleased.
We wound up the evening with microwaved mushroom lasagne, one of our few meals in this week, and settled down to watch a DVD, "The Snapper", based on Roddy Doyle's book. I fell asleep within the first ten minutes and retired soon after, me being the gadabout that I am. Party animal or what?
Tomorrow is moving day for us, heading home again. The weather looks set fair so let's hope it all goes without a hitch. Or rather with a hitch, because we can't tow the caravan without one!