*Start* West trip to BC

Yes, we're hitting the road again, heading to BC. Once again, several reasons we shouldn't, but the overriding reasons we are: because we want to and still can (we think!). Only through Canada of course.

We had a gorgeous day to start. Later than our normal since we waited for our weekly garbage pickup, but were away to Goderich by 8am. First stop after a Goodwill dropoff was a Sausage McMuffin combo at the Goderich McDonalds, kind of a tradition of ours for the start of a trip. Nice that they are on as a $5 Value Meal right now.

Heading north, lots of power-generating windmills. It always seems like there are more windmills than last time, but maybe the sun angle helps to see them:

Many farm fields are lovely right now, the greens being very green, and some crops starting to bloom already:

Sheep in the meadow

  

Luckily no cows in the ripening canola

 

Along the way it looked like a fire ahead, maybe a farm building. Luckily we could see it was planned and under control when got closer. Perhaps a small farm building once:

 

Then we stopped at a Mennonite market at Conn, just north of Arthur Ont. Local products, nicely displayed.

Part of their outdoor selections

 

Nice easy driving on these rural roads. Of course the GPS wanted to get right over to Hwy 400 to head north. We did get there eventually, but mostly via secondary roads (pavement being the only requirement) to north of Barrie.

When going this way we have to stop at our previous house, just to make sure all is well. It's looking good, and a nice door on the detached garage looks much better than the mesh tarp we used when it was ours:

Then a stop at Parry Sound Canadian Tire for our first diesel fillup of the trip. Some time ago (maybe a couple of years now?) Canadian Tire gas bars switched from Shell to Petro Canada fuels. Diesel was "only" $1.99.9 / ltr here, and we get about 3 kinds of points and CTC money for a fillup. It would be really nice if this was the most expensive fuel for the trip, but likely not.

We were heading for an early stop at Killbear Provincial Park, just a few kms north of Parry Sound. It's a fair way off hwy 400, with several construction delays on Hwy 559 along the way:

Drilling for rock blasting

Blast mats to contain the explosive debris

 

No problem getting a site at Killbear, lots of choice. It's going to get chilly tonight so we opted for an electrical site:

Unfortunately I couldn't get any electrical outlets to work, and after discussing with other campers found out that there is no power at most of the sites.  So why, you may ask, did they sell us an electrical site when they knew the power was out, and not even mention it to us? Good question. 

A couple of hours later and the parks are still dark. Luckily not a major problem for us. Refunds are doubtful apparently, since they only refund once power is out for 24 hours. So we'll just enjoy our camp,  carry on tomorrow and not worry about it.