Canada Day Weekend in Ontario

Our motorhome had 2 lithium coach battery failures about 2 weeks before our planned departure for our summer trip. The only way to have them replaced before our trip was to have the warrantee work done at the Roadtrek factory. Therefore we left 3 days early to have the batteries replaced on Friday June 29. We arrived at the factory at 8:00 am as planned. However at 8:10 the service manager advised us that since we have the 4 battery system, they needed to completely replace ALL the battery wiring to correct a design flaw that was causing the batteries to fail. It would require 2 days’ work to accomplish the repair. “CANADA DAY” is a major holiday occurring on Sunday July 1 and Monday then is also a holiday and therefore work could not be completed until late Tuesday afternoon AT BEST. Roadtrek rented us a car and put us up in the Radisson Hotel in Kitchener. By necessity we “enjoyed” an unplanned, hot weekend in Kitchener!

Of course while in Canada we were contending with liters, kilometers and the currency exchange rate.

St Jacobs and the Mennonites

Shortly after the American Revolutionary War a large group of Mennonite farmers from Pennsylvania settled near Kitchener and established the village of St Jacobs, now the center of a very prosperous farming region. Their busy Farm Market, held on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, offers a great selection of local food, crafts, and early season fruit.

Farm Market

 

Waterloo Region Museum

 This living history village recreates 1914 farm life in the Kitchener/Waterloo area. Special events for Canada Day included musical entertainment by local amateur groups and costumed docents in each of the craft shops and farm building. The typical farm house of this time reminded me of the farm house I lived in in Iowa in the 1950s that  in winter heated the unstairs bedrooms with stove pipes.

   

Bedroom heater pipe                                                           Weaver at work

Beginning Our Planned Itinerary

Amish Quilts

 Shipshawana, Indiana is home to one of the largest Amish communities in the world. The roads here have wider than normal shoulders to accommodate horse drawn carriages and bicycle rider. Beautiful quilts, good cheese and sausage also.

   

  Amish Country Quilts

Quilt Garden

 
Mall of America

 How could we pass through the Minneapolis/St Paul area without stopping briefly for some exercise (walking) in the MOA. At this huge mall complex, all of the usual retail stores and food chains circle around a three story collection of amusement park rides which, except for its compact size, challenges Disneyland.

    

Fun for all at MOA

Exploring the Local Food and Drink

Yes we have discovered a variety of craft brews both in Canada and the US, including a very nice Charcoal Porter and several stouts. We also could not pass up the sweet treats available in the dairy country of Wisconsin.

    

Peanut Butter Porter – Just one of 18 flavors on tap

 

We are moving west now through North Dakota and Montana following Lewis and Clark along the Missouri River.

  

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