REST IN PEACE, PRINCE PORKETTA

It is with a very heavy heart that I have to report that Prince Porketta lost his long battle with pulmonary fibrosis today.  He was my brother and he was a good, good man.  He had a terrific sense of humor, and he had a huge heart - he truly cared about his family, friends, and co-workers.  Although his disease put him through hell, he never complained.  His standard answer to any question about his health was "I'm good". 

From childhood, he had a thirst for adventure and his first reaction to any suggestion was "let's go".  He would lead me into trouble (ummm....adventures) - everything from bidding on (and almost buying) a calf at an auction, to jumping off the roof of a barn and spraining both ankles, to hiking miles from home without telling our parents (we didn't sit for a week after the searchers found us - a well-deserved spanking!).  He was the first kid on the block to own a motorcycle - and the first one to crash it.  He took up skydiving and only quit because he had emergencies 2 out of the 3 times he jumped….. he was adventurous, but he was no fool. 

 The Prince is the reason I bought the Beast.  We had often talked about RV ownership but, other than looking at them, I hadn't thought seriously  about it.  Then, when his health deteriorated after his Vegas adventure, he told me he'd always wanted to see Mount Rushmore.  So I told him I'd buy a motorhome and take him, if he'd show me how to drive the thing.  And that was the start of last summer's adventure.  His doctor told him it was a bad idea….. but the Prince just said "let's go", which is exactly what we did.   We had so much fun that, again defying his doctor, he and his family decided to go back the way we came in September!  This summer, we planned the Tour D'Ont - a 2 week tour of eastern Ontario which led us to the areas our ancestors called home before moving to Markstay.  He didn't even tell his doctor about that one!  In between these trips, he also headed to Florida every winter for "spring training" (i.e. sitting by the pool with a cool adult beverage).

 We had a ritual.  When we arrived at a campground, he would put down the jacks and get the slides out.  I would go out and hook up the electricity and water.  He would then come out with 2 cans of beer and we would make a toast to our location.

So, Prince, I continued the ritual tonight.  Just because you got to the destination first is no reason to mess with tradition.  Here's to you, little brother.  I will miss you forever.  Thank you for everything!

 

 

 

 

 

A Little Close to Home

There are times when I have thought it would be nice to simplify and go back to camping in a tent.  Not today, though!  My friends Mike and Louise are camped across the street from me.  This morning, Mike was outside enjoying his coffee when a large black bear wandered onto his campsite.  The bear apparently didn't see Mike because he got within arm's reach of him!  At first Mike froze, but when the bear kept coming, he started to yell.  Instead of running away, the bear actually stepped closer.  Mike said he was so close he could have smacked him on the snout.  By this point, Mike was heading for the door to his camper.  The bear moseyed away towards the beach and wound up scaring the heck out of other campers further up the road.  The rangers have spotted 6 bears in the campgrounds so far and there were 13 sightings today alone. 

On further reflection, simplifying doesn't sound like such a good idea.  I'm sticking with the Beast!

Been There, Done That

Day 13…we think.  The Beast is still in one piece and is going to get to rest for awhile.  We made it to Grundy in record heat and humidity.  We plugged in and, within just a few short minutes, managed to blow the circuit breaker on the air conditioner.

It was like old home week in the trailer park.  Within minutes we were saying hello to fellow campers Bonnie and Wayne, Mike and Louise and Syd and Lynda.  Syd is really excited about finally getting his 3 bags of Montana dirt, which Nui has been lugging around since last summer.  Just for the record, for those who follow Nui's weather archives, the temps have dropped and it rained last night. 

 And just so Prince doesn't think there's no drama at the park, we were told today that all water in the park has been shut off so the faucets and bathrooms are off limits.  Thank heavens for Class A's.

Prince's wife will be happy to learn that Prince will be returning in almost pristine condition….  a few scuffs but no dents.  The same can't be said of the Beast.

The final task for the trip is to get Prince back to the city since, it turns out, he really doesn't enjoy camping.  His motivation is more geared towards finding ways to get Nui into trouble….I mean adventures.  Staying in one place just takes all the challenge out of that.

You Bet We're Having Fun!

The last stop on the Tour D'Ont took us to Orillia, to visit our youngest sister, Jackie.  We left Oshawa under sweltering heat, which only got worse when we reached Orillia.  Nui has been heard to say that she would never use air conditioning.  She just about tore Prince's arm off getting the thermostat down to 60 when he wanted to cap it at something like 72.  "My Rig, My Rules".  It got so cold that we had to keep the adult beverages in the fridge to keep them from freezing.

This morning Jackie treated us to an awesome buffet at Casinorama.  The food was delicious…. And there was so much of it that none of us could eat again all day, with the exception of a couple of popsicles.  This is good, since it was too hot to cook.

 We made our monetary contributions to the casino gods and headed back to Jackie's beautiful home (which needs a/c and her pool re-filled {eh, Jackie…nudge, nudge}) for a nice quiet evening of TV watching, which has been a rare treat during the tour.  TV is a good thing, since neither of us are particularly interesting.

Tomorrow, we're off to Grundy and putting down roots for the summer.  Prince is looking forward to returning to the city and his wife and family.  Nui is looking forward to swimming in a lake that isn't radioactive.

Living On the Street

We bid the Cornwallians goodbye and headed up Hwy 2 at a leisurely pace, admiring the scenery and almost taking out a kid on a bike.  Apparently, the kids in some of these small towns have not learned that, if you want to show off for a girl, you shouldn't do it a) on a highway and b) less than 10 feet from a moving RV.  I'm sure we took 5 years off that kid's life.

 We arrived at our sister's house in Bath, just outside of Kingston, where (surprise, surprise) more food was awaiting us.  Carm served us a delicious spaghetti sauce, reminiscent of our youth.  And the next day we got enough BBQ's ribs to serve an army camp.  Carm lives in a country club estate, so we were quite surprised that they tolerated us living on the street for 2 days.  I'm sure they were glad to see us go…. We didn't add any value to the properties.

Then it was suck it in, suck it up, pull it out and off to Oshawa to visit our aunt Mary where we had a lovely time.  Even better, she had really great air conditioning, which came in handy because the temp was in the mid-30s, humidity was high and the humidex was at 40.  Even Nui was hot and it turns out that smog and pulmonary fibrosis don't go well together.  We parked for the night at Darlington Provincial Park, which shares lake frontage with a nuclear power plant.  We observed some oddities, such as mosquitoes with large butts, fles with four wings and green glowing mini-bugs that bite really hard.  After a few minutes of these critters, we retreated to the safety of the Beast.  More surprises were In store.  Even though we are only a few miles from Toronto, the internet doesn't work well out here.  On the other hand, we are getting really good radio reception from the fillings in our teeth.

Update:  cell phones don't work out here either.  Plus, we keep hearing the theme from the Twilight Zone.  Jackie….CALL US!

Hopelessly Lost but Making Good Time

Day 6 of the culinary…I mean ancestry tour has come and gone.    We started our day with a visit to

our cousins Tom and Virginia where we had a wonderful lunch consisting of a choice of 2 home made soups and delicious sandwiches.  We dined on their patio overlooking lake St Francis which is part of the St Lawrence seaway.  We would have liked to see the rest of their property including the labyrinth that they built but it was just a little too far for us to trek. Maybe next time.

 Full of food and the same pioneering spirit that fuelled our forefathers, we were off to follow the ancestral trails.  This is not easy as towns around here appear to have 3 or 4 names that are used at random and none appear on google.  A government conspiracy?…we don't want to go there. For example, Lancaster appears to be Glengarry, until you pass Lancaster and arrive in Alexandria, which is also Glengarry.  And not to be fooled, Glengarry becomes Fassifern, which we're sure is a name they just made up today.  The sign did look new.   We never did find Glen Robertson, although we are told that it is Alexandria which is, of course, Fassifern or Glengarry.  Even with all of their trickery, we managed to find two of the churches that members of the Prieur family were baptized in.  One of them, St. Raphael, burned down in 1970 but the ruins are spectacular.  It was built by Scottish settlers in the 1780's.  We then  
went looking for St. Alexanders in Lochiel, which is of course both Glengarry and Fassifern….maybe.  We managed to find it, but only because we took a wrong turn.  By the time we found it, we just had time to take a photo of the church and turn around and head for home which is in Lancaster/Glengarry/Cornwall/ Summerstown/Charlottenburgh and may or may

not be in either Ontario or Quebec.  Glen Nevis remains lost in the mist of eastern Ontario…. Some have seen it, but it seems they move it a lot, because it is never where they left it last time.  Someone should look into that. 

Tomorrow we are off to find Prieur Honey, which is sold but we have no idea in what town or even in what direction.  Then it's off to visit our sister in Kingston.  We're pretty sure we know where she lives.

This Ancestry Work is Fattening!

What a great couple of days we've had.  On Monday, we visited our cousins Pat and Gaetane in their beautiful new home in Rockland.  They feasted us with bbq'd pork, potatoes and broccoli and, since it was Gaetane's birthday, we also enjoyed some really great birthday cake.  Pat's brother Raymond came by later to say hello and we had a fun evening getting caught up on all the family events.  There was even a phone call from "matante GoGo", Pat and Ray's mom who lives in Sudbury.  Motorcycle buffs will drool with envy when they hear about Pat's garage, with a specially made ramp leading to an enormous basement workshop.

Oh yes, we also stopped along the way to do some ancestry stuff.  We found the church we were looking for, which has been renamed.  Makes it a bit tougher, but hey, we're tough people.

 

Yesterday, we were in Cumberland to visit friends Andy and Francine.  Another spectacularly beautiful home with a gorgeously landscaped hot tub/pool.  We spent several happy hours, bobbing in the warm salt water, enjoying some adult beverages.  All of that was followed by dinner of steak and lobster, asparagus and finally fruit flans for dessert.

 

This morning, we were off to visit another cousin, Sue.  We spent some time catching up on family events and said our goodbyes as we had to pursue still more ancestry stuff this afternoon…or so we thought.

 All of that came to a screeching halt, when the Beast got mired in several inches of bog, at the campground we selected in Cornwall.  It took a couple of hours and a tow from a large backhoe, to get us unstuck.  Once we were, we immediately headed for the nearest provincial municipal park where we managed to get a gravel pad, although it is all uphill.

Needless to say, dinner tonight was a bit of a let down…. Kraft dinner.  Ummmm…….KD!

Once installed, we called still more cousins, Tom and Virginia, who came out to see us for a couple of hours and have invited us for lunch tomorrow.  Yay!  The eating continues.

 We're beginning to think that the focus of the Tour D'Ont should change from ancestry to culinary.