A Weekend In Goderich - Day One

After the exertions of our trip to Upstate New York, we decided a more local trip was in order. So on a fine Friday evening we loaded Toad Haul and headed north for Point Farms Provincial Park, nestling on the shores of Lake Huron, near the town of Goderich, Canada's prettiest town apparently.


The run was about 200 Kms, the first 120 of which took us across country, following the grid patterned roads between Chatham and Lambton Shores. It's fairly flat and apart from an annoying number of right angled junctions, quite an easy passage, even with the trailer in tow. We'd not even arrived in Thamesville, the first town out from Chatham, when the SatNav was suggesting a faster route. Well, being adventurous types we plunged off the main road and followed the man in the satellite. First we were caught up with some heavy transport, then a tractor, then some construction work; a faster route this most definitely wasn't. Still, we make reasonable time and our gas mileage was, according to the Toad Mobile's information screen, looking quite good. 


Once on Highway 21, the road that hugs the Huron shoreline, things improved as there were no turn offs and precious few Stop signs for the next 80 Kms. I selected the Automatic Gearbox, set the Cruise Control to 80 kph and let the Sienna do the work. The gas mileage improved and the presence of 7000lb of trailer on our bumper seemed to fade; I can't say we drove like Towed Haul wasn't there but the car pulled that thing with barely any complaint. It was a most enjoyable trip.


Arriving at Point Farms, we pulled into an empty gate area and went into the office to register, clutching as we did so, our bright yellow dossier, crammed with information relating to our trips from the licence plate details to the booking receipts. The young woman behind the desk, not your usual mouth breather I have to say, was most taken with our dossier and the organisational skills that it implied, even to the extent of telling her colleague about it. Apparently most campers arrive in some state of disarray and we were very much the exception. Of course, a lot of people would think us simply nerdy, but I could see that we were dealing with a fellow pedant!


Anyhoo, paperwork completed, we were directed to the dump station where we could fill the fresh water tank. Having pulled into the water bay I realised that we were facing the wrong way so set off out of the bay and down the road to turn around. Fortunately there was a space big enough to do a U-turn with a 28 foot long trailer but I really should have removed the anti-sway bars from the hitch because as I did the 180 degree turn I heard something ping. Although I didn't realise it at the time, it was was of the locking pins from the left hand sway bar, installed incorrectly by yours truly. I only discovered the loss when we went to unhitch at the camp site and I immediately remembered that pinging sound. I did go back to look for it but it was nowhere to be found; a trip to Canadian Tire was called for the next day.


Once watered, we found our camp spot and did a canny 180 degree turn using the the empty plot opposite and positioned ourselves facing the fire pit. The site wasn't large but it was on gravel, albeit that it was very wet underfoot. Unhitching and positioning is getting easier with each trip and we even had one side of the trailer up on a pair of leveling blocks; there's posh for you. 

Safely anchored at Point Farms

An exploratory walk was undertaken, before it became too dark, and then we settled in for our regular Friday repast of Baked Potato and English Heinz Baked Beans, which was excellent as usual. Ah, this is the life.