Sketchy but it will have to do

Today’s objective was to get about seven hours of driving under our belts. So we selected North Bay,Ontario as our destination. Jill called campgrounds while I drove and we had to take the two star rated one but it did have a pull through spot so we wouldn’t have to monkey around with backing on the trailer.

Not wanting to totally miss out on any sites, we stopped at a well advertised cheese place and got a variety as well as some crackers for an in camp dinner.

When I was arm twisting Jill to give up her only free weekend this month and come with me, I promised she could study for her pain fellowship while I was driving. Part of her work included eight hours of continuing ed on pain meds to qualify for a nursing license in Iowa. Since I used to work in tech at a pharmaceutical company that had drugs like Percocet, I had some understanding of the subject. She would read out a scenario and we would guess which of the treatment options to select.

After a few hours of that, we had arrived in North Bay. As we are driving down the Main Street, I’m having déjà vu. We passed a hotel with an A frame lobby building and I remembered. I had stayed there one year when the girls and my friend Sharon drove to Minnesota from Delaware via Montreal. What are the chances?

We missed the initial turn for the campground but eventually pulled into a motel parking lot. This was even worse than what my dad used to call a “no tell” motel. Skinny, wary looking people stood around outside, unwelcoming to unfamiliar people. I checked in at the front desk and they directed us to drive behind the building where there were about 20 camp sites.

We got set up without issue except for trying to make sure we were on shore power and not battery. I never did get the fridge going but a huge block of ice kept things cool overnight. It was incredibly quiet and none of the campers were interacting despite some of them obviously having been there for awhile.

We had our cheese and snacks along with some beers we bought in Vermont. It was an early night and we both slept easily.