The Travels of the Agnew Family

Zaphod and

Caitlin chilling out.

One of the complaints with the GM was traveling any distance with four adults and two dogs. The two people in the back seat felt pretty squished after a ten minute ride let alone a few hours or a day trip. The front passenger was also squished as their seat had to be moved to the forward most position. With the new truck the front passenger can have the seat all the way back, and the backseat passengers are only squished when Zaph is sprawled out and laying on them or taking up all the floor space on one side of the truck. All in all a reasonably comfortable experience. To be fair the GM had been purchased to pull a fifth wheel trailer and to only carry 2 adults and one dog.

First stop was Boyne City, a cute town at the junction of the Boyne River and Lake Charlevoix.


There is a nice park at the water's edge. Leaving Boyne City we followed the western side of the lake only to find out that the ferry dock was under construction ... we turned around and drove back to Boyne City and up the east side of the lake finally arriving in Charlevoix. Can't really complain as both sides of the lake are picturesque.

First stop in Charlevoix is the "mushroom house". I wondered why we were being taken to a "mushroom farm" but soon found out what a "mushroom house" was.


Earl Young a resident of Charlevoix designed and built a number of homes that resembled mushrooms. The first house was built in 1918.


This house was built for Earl Young and his wife in 1946. There's an elf sitting on the stone on where the rock that starts the chimney meets the roof.


Another stop was Castle Farms. Built in 1918 by Albert Loeb who was vice president of Sears, Roebuck and Company. The farm was built as a model farm to showcase livestock in addition to new farm equipment that was sold by his company. Since then it has been used as an art studio, to host rock concerts and now it is primarily used for weddings.


Castle Rock is also home to a model railroad that provides a scenic journey through Charlevoix's history.

Leaving Charlevoix we drove to Petosky and enjoyed pizza for dinner on the shore of Lake Michigan.

Zaph was missing Catie, so we decided it was time to drive to Michigan to visit John, Carol and Catie. It was also a good test for the new truck.

Had an interesting border crossing today. The line we chose seemed to be moving slower than the other lines which worried me a bit. As I watched the car in front of us have its trunk searched for a second time, I said to Ed that this didn’t look good. We took our sunglasses off and had our passports ready as we pulled up in front of the custom kiosk. We were asked where we were going and to roll down the back window. When it was determined that we were traveling with a dog, the custom official asked to see our dog’s food. I had thought I was being efficient when we left home and had measured out 10 meals --- the 7 required plus three spares. As there was no bag to identify the ingredients all but 2 meals were confiscated. Guess we have to be thankful that 2 meals were left for Zaph and the containers were returned. In the future we’ll have to bring unopened bags of food and ensure that they don’t contain lamb or goat. Guess I should research why the US doesn’t like Canadian lamb and goat.

Also had interesting weather on the US portion of our trip. In the matter of minutes the weather would go from sunny to downpours so heavy the visibility was reduce to a couple of hundred feet then back to sunny. We made to John and Carols in time to enjoy a smoked rib dinner …. Yum.

The truck was very comfortable .... can definitely do long drives in it.

Today is a beautiful day .... sunny and warm but not too hot, perfect for driving around with the top down. Not sure why we needed a reason to drive the cars but we decided to use Explore the Bruce as our reason to tour the countryside. Explore the Bruce is something our local tourist bureau produces to encourage visitors. Each year geographic co-ordinates for 12 places in Bruce county are published in a brochure and you drive to the locations and punch your brochure. The first 1500 completed brochures receive a T-shirt --- our goal.


The Miata and the TR 6.


At Fishermans cove Rob and Ed had some fun.


One of the stops was Inverhuron provincial park. The punch was located on the bridge by this beautiful stream. I think this might have been the prettiest stop today but not by much.


Another stop was in Paisley by the Saugeen River. Again very picturesque.


Lockerby Mill Dam just outside of Paisley was also a picturesque spot though by six o'clock in the evening the mosquitoes made it harder to enjoy the view.

A couple of art shots from the dam.




It was a successful afternoon as we got seven of the 12 punches.

Deana and Jeff, our neighbours daughter and son-in-law, want to learn more about geocaching. As they were visiting our neighbour's cottage this weekend, we were invited to the cottage in Sauble Beach for the day.


We arrived in the middle of a game of Frolf (Frisbee golf) and Zaph was happy to join in creating a new "trap".


Occasionally he tried to help by moving Frisbee's --- unfortunately he usually moved the Frisbee away from the hole not closer.


Good form Rob.


Grandson Dustin enjoyed his first visit to the cottage and thought Zaph was pretty nice.

When half the group went geocaching the rest of us headed to the beach. Even though the water was cold, Zaph was happy to go in. We were surprised to see that the water level in Lake Huron is down as there has been a fair bit of rain this summer. What was even stranger was that the water dropped in the half hour we were at the beach. It made you wonder if a lot of people had turned their taps on and are slowly draining the lake.


Sosa wasn't sure about Zaph at first, but after Zaph ran around Sosa in a circle a respectable distance away, Sosa realized he was the boss and relaxed.


Can't celebrate a holiday weekend without sparklers.

A fellow we know started racing cars at the local track a few years ago. We try to get there at least once a summer to watch and this year it was today. Marvin donates all of his winnings to Easter Seals and he and his wife decided that this year they would start the racing season with a fund raiser. Family and friends were asked to come to the track, donate a few dollars above the admission price and watch the races together.


Here we are in our matching T-shirts by #37, Marvin's race car.


Car 37 is following close.


On another corner Marvin passes the car in 2nd place.

Pictures from a couple of other races. All in all a good night of racing.

Ed bought a few extras for the truck like step rails, a tonneau cover and truck window visors.


The truck looks extra pretty .... now we just need it to stop snowing. (remains of snow of hood and tonneau cover).

I'm a little late in posting this photo as I seem to forgot which camera device I take photos on and don't always harass Ed enough to get the photos downloaded in a timely fashion.


This isn't the best photo as I took it with the cell phone. In case you don't recognize him, it's Ed with the old truck and the new truck. I know I keep saying we bought a smaller truck but I guess I should be saying we downsized from a 2500 type truck to a 1500 type truck.

Ed keeps telling everyone that I bought a little sports car and indeed I did but it seems like he is grooming it as a geocaching vehicle and whenever we are in it together he gets to drive. Hope Ed realizes how much I love him that I let him drive my toy all the time.


Mia out geocaching for the first time.


Neat old bridge ... the cache was under it.


Yes, Zaph and I do manage to share the passenger seat though it is a bit of work loading and unloading the pair of us.

It's been a busy couple of days. Thursday we picked up Ed's new truck, Friday we drove to Burlington to stock up at Costco and visit my mom and today we picked up my new toy.


Faster than a speeding bullet......


One of the stops in Burlington was the pet store. Ed has been wanting to buy Zaph this ball for a long time. It was on sale and still a ridiculous price for a ball but I broke down and we bought it. Zaph seems to love it.


The new Toyota Tundra and the 2000 Mazda Miata. I've always wanted a little two seater convertible and decided it was now or never. Hoping for a lot of good weather this summer.


Spring has sprung this year. The flowers and the leaves on the trees all seemed to pop out overnight.

Spring has had a hard time getting going this year but Zaph has declared it officially here.


Second trip to the beach and this time he was able to get wet.


Happiness is.

April has come and gone. We have settled back into life here in Walkerton --- income taxes are done, barbecue and smoker are back on the patio and garage is cleaned (all the stuff from the trailer has found homes even if only temporary). Now it's time to open the hot and start working on the gardens.

Zaph has been to Sauble beach twice since we've been home, Ed and I have only been there once. One day last week I went to a funeral and Ed stayed home sick with a bad cold. The neighbours feeling pity on Zaph took him with them to their cottage in Sauble beach for the day. It was still quite cool so he didn't get to go swimming that day but he had a great time anyway.

Last summer Rob (our neighbour) and Ed rewired a lot of the cottage. One thing that was not completed was removing a breaker in the kitchen that controlled the oven and range top. Yesterday, the old oven, range top and breaker were evicted from the kitchen along with the cupboards they were situated in. New wiring was done and a beautiful, clean stove was put in. What a difference. Some new cupboards need to be built but Ellen is so happy with the new stove that she's willing to be short some cupboard space for a little while.