A Few Days all in One!

I'm catching up a few days of journaling. After Cobakonk we headed back to the Midland area for a special two year old's birthday. We had an awesome day at the Penetanguishene waterfront park/splash pad and I had a surprise visit from a few friends! Next we caught up on a few mechanical chores. We needed to replace the transmission coolant line and also swap our spare tire (which was being used on the bus) for the tire that matches the rest of them (that was mounted on the back where the spare tire should be). After getting all of the chores done and a surprise visit from my daughter we skipped town once again. It was rainy and overcast but we still managed to get a hike in at Killbear Provincial Park between the rain showers. This park is absolutely gorgeous and it's really too bad that the weather wasn't a little nicer. There is a 6km trail here that I would have loved to check out. While we were hiking the Lighthouse Trail Michael had spotted a few deer in the distance and when we were almost back to the bus I spotted them again. I left Michael on the trail with his camera in hopes of getting better pictures and took the dogs for a ride over to the closest campground where I totally took advantage of the hot showers. By the time I was done it was raining again so I quickly went back to pick up Michael and we were off! We did stop at a nearby fish and chip stand to enjoy an awesome plateof fries but then we continued north. I was disappointed that it was raining as we passed the exit for Grundy Provincial Park. I would have loved to explore there but I guess we need to leave some places for future trips. We needed to find a place to spend the night and I really didn't want to miss out on French River Provincial Park. We ended up pulling into the Visitor Centre parking lot and calling it quits for the day. 

Cobakonk

I woke up early and noticed that we were surrounded by fog and fell back asleep. When I woke up later the fog was below us and it looked like we were up above the clouds! After breakfast we decided to head toward Balsam Lake Provincial Park. On the way we stopped at this amazing place that sold carvings. There were giant tepees bear carvings right down to small wall pieces. He have huge custom fireplace mantles and everything was priced very reasonably. We wondered how many hours of work had gone into each piece. At Balsam Lake place was packed but we still managed to take the dogs for a good walk and let them swim in the lake before hitting the showers and topping up our water. Next stop was another Provincial Park that was just minutes away. Indian Point Provincial Park is a big strip of wild lands on a peninsula in Balsam Lake. There are no amenities there and the trails we hiked in on look like they were made with ATV's. There were no maps or signs so we just chose the trail that we though would take us to the shoreline. We got to the water but it wasn't a pretty beach like I hoped for and the trees were so thick along the shoreline that it was hard to veer off the trail to follow the shore. We turned back and chose another trail. This one led through a fried and past a few apple trees before heading into the woods. At the next trail junction we again chose the one leading to water. The water was perfect and I went in but when I turned around I noticed that Michael (who never gets bit) was fending off bugs so I cut the water time short and we headed back. The second I was on the shore the mosquitoes were after me! We raced back through the shady woods and back to the sunny field where we were safe. Back on the bus we decided to check the nearby town of Cobokonk out and headed towards a grocery store there to resupply. We parked at the back of the lot which was edged by a field and trees and after shopping decided to stay there while we made dinner and ate. While we ate a truck pulling a flat bed drove in and people started setting up band equipment on the flat bed. Cool! We ended up parked at the town library for the night right next to the river. Tonight we live down at the river on a bus! Good night World!