Cousin Maureen has a very big stick... and a very big caravan!

Maureen and Randy's fantastic rig

This afternoon we visited Randy and Maureen at the camp site where they have their ‘caravan’. They call it a trailer or a fifth wheel. It bears no resemblance to what we know as a caravan or, indeed, a motor home. It’s more a collapsible bungalow on wheels. I guess it looks a bit like a caravan while it’s being towed – by a pick up truck with a complicated hook up system in its flatbed which fits under the caravan attachment. But once it’s parked, and a few buttons have been pressed, the sides come out in several places like wings and it looks like a spaceship.

Inside there is a big living room with a gas fire, sofas, flat screen television and a dining area; a fully equipped kitchen with an island/breakfast bar; a bathroom with shower, loo and basin; a bedroom with room for a king-size bed and another telly. It has air conditioning and hooks up to mains water and electricity if the camp site provides it. 

Ashley Horlick, her boyfriend
Sasha, and brother Kyle

Fantastic vehicle. I’d love one. Maybe something a little smaller, and I still hanker for a motor home/camper van rather than something you tow, but Roger thinks that ‘if’ we had one (big ‘if’ at the moment but I’m working on him with my pension payout in mind in 2014) then a caravan is more sensible.

Billy with his beautiful grand
daughters Cassidy and Aubrey

We met up with Bill’s kids Kyle and Ashley, and their daughters Aubrey, a baby, and Cassidy, aged three, respectively. Interesting that what are more often boys’ names in UK are girls’ names here. And Ashley’s boyfriend Sasha. Kyle sees Aubrey when he can, but she lives with her mother, Sabrina. Kyle seems a very devoted and efficient dad. Cassidy lives with Ashley, but does see her dad Johnny more often now apparently. Cassidy is a very bright, very cute, very pretty little girl with amazing dark eyes and Aubrey is a beautiful baby. Cousin Billy is justly very proud of his grandchildren and they obviously adore him.    

Family round the camp fire

We all sat around outside the Rig, as Randy has named the caravan, and ate and drank and chatted for hours. ‘We’ being me, Roger, Marj, Diane, Rod, Shelley, Billy, Maureen, Randy, Ashley, Sasha, Kyle, Cassidy and Aubrey.

Later this evening Randy lit a camp fire. We toasted giant marshmallows on pointy sticks. And I did eat one. It was totally delicious – crispy on the outside and soft and creamy in the middle.

Cousin Maureen with her very big stick

When it got dark he lit an old Coleman lantern that I think we’d call a paraffin lamp or Primus lamp. We decided it was 35 years old, the same age as Joseph. Randy tended the camp fire with a large piece of wood that he says he’s had for more than a year. Not to be outdone, Cousin Maureen has found herself an even bigger stick so that she can prod the camp fire, too.

It's a groundhog, or a woodchuck, or are
they one and the same?

Apparently there were turkey vultures overhead today – Roger saw them but I didn’t. But I did catch a glimpse of raccoon tail as it tried to drag the rubbish sack from under the trailer. And for the first time ever I saw a groundhog. Still haven’t seen any skunks but smelled them this evening.

Sadly we said goodbye to Maureen and Randy. But Diane is coming over for breakfast in the morning. And we’re going over to see Rod and Shelley tomorrow evening to go out for a Thai meal. And we’re meeting Chip on Wednesday for brunch in Toronto before we fly off to Thunder Bay.