I admit it… I’m a junkie when it comes to “connectivity”: my iPhone by cellular service or Wi-Fi with my weather services, news services, radio services; my computer and phone with email, browsing, mapping.

Then there’s the “CLOUD”, parking documents on Google docs, or in DropBox, both of which I do.

And then there’s that terrifying moment when it all disappears… you’re unplugged whether you like it or not.  OMG!  I can’t get that file!  I can’t see that calendar!  I can’t make the call! And the day my GPS stopped working:  “Where am I?  When will I get there?  How will I get there?”

The “cloud” is gone; I want my “cloud” back.

Fortunately, there are still a few pay phones around (though they don’t accept coins;  you’ll need some kind of a coded or mag-striped card to make the call OR you can always call collect!)  And there are still paper maps.  And there are still printed newspapers.  And you can talk to people, too.

Travelling through Northern Ontario will often disconnect you from all those wireless services.  BUT it will also re-connect you with the land, the people, and a more tangible, tactile way of life.

-from Peter

We pull into a private campground, or provincial park, or the parking lot of a major retailer, or someone’s front lawn and we’re home!  A couple of connections made (or not), a couple of switches thrown, and we’re set!  We can cook, we can shower, we can work, we can relax, we can sleep.

And we can dry off and warm up.  Two of us are riding motorcycles, two in the RV. And when it’s raining (as it did for four days of our trip so far) and cold (14C) it can get pretty uncomfortable.  It’s great when in just a couple of minutes you can be out of the elements.

We’ve seen lots of others in motorhomes: big bus/coach types – the Class “A” models (usually pulling a small car to get around while they’re parked at the campground); the van conversions, or Type “B”s, and the mini-motorhomes – Class C’s, like our CanaDream unit.  In fact, we’ve seen one-or-two CanaDream units every day… feels kinda like family! And there’s travel trailers too, some pretty huge “fifth-wheel” units pulled by pick-ups, down to some modest, cleverly designed mini trailers an pop-up campers.  And there’s Europeans in their own units that they container-shipped over.

We get it.  There’s no place like home.  And if you can take your home with you, it makes the adventure MUCH more fun.

-from Peter