Airstream Camping 2025 - To Conclude the First Trip

We awoke to dry weather. Again. This despite the dire warnings of storms overnight. I guess we've been lucky.

Packing up day is always a little sad as there's not enough time to do much constructive, but plenty of time to think about the end-of-camp process and all the laundry it produces. Still, the weather was fine.

The previous evening, a group of young people took over the two sites opposite. They had three tents, fours cars and eight people. I admired the precision with which they erected their tents and amalgamated the two sites for the group gathering, this was obviously something they'd done before. They were quite noisy, too, but it was just friends, or possibly family, having a good time, and celebrating a birthday, too. They were equally as noisy this morning as well, but to my great surprise they started packing up their gear (with the same precision they'd set it up), and I overheard one of them tell a passerby that they were packing up because of the forecast rain. I wondered if that was an altogether wise decision given the imprecision of the weather forecasts.

We had our lunch before starting to prepare to leave, and again I was surprised at how easily we do this now, especially compared to when we started camping. A place for everything and everything in its place is a good maxim. Hitching up is easier as well, and in no time at all we were easing off the site and making our way to the dump station. 

There was a bit of a line up at the dump station, but no one was using the alternate side to the dumping area. I went to speak with the person ahead of me and asked if he minded me going around him to use the other side. It turned out that he was waiting to fill his water tank rather than dump, so I suggested that he use the alternate side of the water point for that, too. So, I went around, and he followed, and the line up evaporated - more camping experience coming into play.

As I was dumping our tanks out, I started to chat with a man who was using the regular side of the dump facility. I detected a British accent, but failed miserably when I accused him of being English; he was was, in fact, Welsh. I apologized profusely, because that's an awful mistake to make, although perhaps no worse than people accusing me of being Australian. Anyway, he turned out to be from Swansea, and he lived in Chatham, so we bonded over the poop as it flowed into the underground vaults. Nice to meet you, Anthony.

So relaxed was I as we headed home, north up Kent Bridge Road, that I didn't realise I was only doing 60kph, and not the 80kph limit. In these here parts, speed limits are the minimum speed you drive at, and I'd collected quite a line of cars behind me, so I thought I'd better step on it a bit. It was windy, too, although still hot and dry. I was glad that I'd firmly tightened the anti-sway bars because the crosswind was tugging at us a fair bit. People always assume that towing uphill is a problem, when in reality going downhill is harder, as is driving in any kind of strong wind. The Airstream is more slippery than all other travel trailers, but you can still feel crosswinds and headwinds quite markedly.

Back home it was hotter than at the lake, and it was seriously sweaty work unhitching and unloading, but you have to do what you have to do. 

We went on this trip to unwind from the excitement of a month in England, and I think that aim was achieved. We were also quite glad to be away from the campground with the Canada Day weekend upon on us, there wouldn't have been an empty site in the whole place. The weather looked set fair for the eager campers, so, Happy Canada Day one and all! 

Airstream Camping 2025 - Still Here at Rondeau

Thursday dawned, still dry, still storm free, and this despite every weather forecast known to man saying we were in for a deluge. I'm not complaining of course, and I think we were very lucky to avoid a big one today after everything went misty and quiet for a while in the afternoon, which is a sure sign of an impending storm. But no, the mist lifted, the wind picked up a little and the sun continued to shine. Excellent.

It was another quiet day. Reading, tooling around on the Internet and generally recharging our own batteries. Lots of people left their sites today, and for a while it was comparatively deserted here on the South Campground, but come the witching hour of 2pm they started rolling in, all set for the long weekend. We've long known that folks like to arrive for the weekend on a Thursday, which is great if you can get the time off work I suppose. I'm still wondering how we managed to snag Site 16 for the week that included the Thursday night. When you camp here, you're supposed to put your camping "ticket" on the post at the entrance to your site, and that says when you're leaving. I've been quite surprised to see so many people here at the start of the week are booked through until after the long weekend. They either have massive fresh water and waste water tanks on their campers, or they're using the campground's facilities, because we can only practically go three nights without a top up and a top down. I'm grateful that Ontario Parks have a stay limit of two weeks, otherwise the selfish people among us would book these places solid for the summer.

We did take a couple of run-outs, though, one to get some crisps from the convenience store at the park's gate, and another to drive up to Craves Poutinerie in Blenheim, for what is known in certain parts of the UK as a "Chippy Tea". Chips (fries) and Poutine, eaten in the car while we idly watched the people watching the baseball in the park opposite. Actually I liked the idea of a chippy tea, not only because I like my chips, but because it was all so spontaneous. Of course, the not very defrosted Gumbo in the fridge also influenced our decision. We can have that tomorrow.

This being the Canada day weekend, it stirs up some mixed emotions. We're not flag wavers and never have been, despite both being naturalized citizens of this country. I like it here, and I'm happy to be a Canadian, but this nation was formed on the backs of the native people, under colonial rule which, to this day, marginalizes the indigenous nations within Canada's modern day borders. Treaties are still broken and land still stolen, so it can be tough to celebrate around the flag. But this past year, our orange friend south of the border has done a great job in uniting Canadians, including us, against his ridiculous imperialist claims over this country. Even Quebecers, not normally great believers in the nation of Canada, have slipped in behind the flag and are presenting, at the moment at least, a united front on all things Canadian. So this year, while not flying the flag, we may just have a thought or two about being Canadian and about how fortunate we are not to be the 51st State.

The day ended in an odd way for me. I was feeling a bit sleepy, so at about 8:30 I went to lie on the bed and read a while. At just past midnight I woke, feeling seriously groggy, and discovered that DW had done the same thing on the sofa. What a pair. Still, I guess that's what this trip is all about.

Packing up tomorrow, and heading out before the serious rush. Happy Canada Day!