Glamping Days

About half the folks left today, so it was pretty quiet. I booked my site for next year & visited with the folks who were left. Most of the people with trailers are very generous sharing ideas & knowledge. A guy I've been seeing here & at other rallies since 2021, showed me the setup I need to better control the temperature of my electric heater - not too exciting for folks without a trailer, but something I'm looking forward to getting.    At another trailer, I checked out the cover for their shore power plug; mine needs to be replaced.   Friends outside the fiberglass trailer cult often ask me what we do at rallies, & it's things like this, in addition to trading info on places to see & places to camp.

Saturday is the main day of the rally. In the morning, we put out one of those blue plastic tarps, & folks put out any camping related items that they aren't using, & anyone who wants those items can take them. Then it's open trailer time for several hours, where folks wander around & look through each others trailers; it's a chance to see how folks use their space & exchange ideas on modifications & upgrades. Often, folks who are wanting to buy a trailer come to look ate different trailers. The day is capped off with a potluck dinner.   Blanche left after dinner. 😞  Though this evening's campfire was spiced up with some bourbon tasing, at least one attendee wasn't excited by the proceedings. 

On another walk along the river today, we crossed this lovely creek & saw these beautiful horses. We enjoyed a lovely lunch at the Lighthouse Restaurant, which overlooks the river. This is a low-key rally with few organized activities. The Friday evening campfire was the only "event" today. 

I ran into the town of Fort Erie this morning to run a couple of errands. The part of town I saw was fairly nondescript, but this character stood out. Not sure what this guy was doing hanging out in Canada.  I met Blanche on the Queen Mary 2, sailing to the UK in early June. She lives near Toronto, just an hour from Niagara Falls, so we arranged for her to come to come stay with me at the rally for a couple of days.  We enjoyed a lovely walk along the river this afternoon, where we found this historical marker.

One trailer, the rally hosts, arrived on Monday, I came on Tuesday, then today 3 more trailers & a tent arrived. As is our tradition on the Wednesday before the rally, we all went to a local restaurant for dinner. Two couples & the tenter (daughter of the hosts) are from southwestern Ontario, a couple & another solo traveler are from New York state, & I'm from PA.  Tomorrow, a friend of mine from Toronto is coming to spend a couple of days here with me. We'll take some pics to post here as we walk along the river. 

After driving several hours & crossing the border, I arrived at Riverside Park Motel & Campground just outside Niagara Falls, ON - a day later than planned.  The hosts of the upcoming rally arrived yesterday. Since I was the only other early bird for the rally, we had a nice long visit this afternoon.  * * * * * Addendum: The lady I mentioned meeting in yesterday's post was most interesting. She captains a tourist paddle boat in July & August, so she knows a lot about all things relating to boats on the Great Lakes. This boat, really a barge, went by as we talked. She pointed out that the white tower at the rear of the barge is actually part of the tug boat which is pushing it along. The second pic shows the tug inside a cutout in the back end of the barge (hard to see because of the lighting). Many things about the RV lifestyle appeal to me, but the chance to sit a bit & talk to an interesting person might be my favorite; the laid back atmosphere in a campgrou...