Inverhuron is up north - Monday

Well, here's our extra day. More plunging temperatures at night, but bright and sunny during the day. That's what a keen north wind will do for your weather patterns.

Packing up day generally starts slowly with us, and today was no exception. We were putting off thoughts of co-ordinating four kids and two tents, I think. We never want to head home, either, because that means work; domestic and otherwise.

I took a quick spin down to Kincardine to put some gas in the car, a task that's much easier without a 28 foot aluminium tube attached to the back. Like their compatriots in Port Elgin on Saturday, the Canadian Tire gas station was curiously bereft of petrol. There was regular unleaded, but no Super or Premium, which was a shame because I wanted the Premium. Whoever plans for stocks over the long weekend needs shooting.

When we did get ourselves in gear, the older two were very good and dismantled the big tent quite expertly. It was wet underneath, of course, but we loaded everything that wasn't wet into the smaller car and sent them on ahead. The smaller tent was also wet but we had both drying in the sun and by the time it came to stow them in the Toadmobile, they were dry enough.

The two younger kids did a good job of staying out of our way while we packed up Towed Haul, which makes our task all the easier, and we were all packed and ready to go well within schedule. Check out time is 2pm at Provincial Parks and, as usual, we were rolling off the site 1.55pm which I always think gives us maximum value.

This being a long weekend and it being a full Park, the line up for the dump stations took about 25 minutes to negotiate. It was well marshalled by the Park's staff and apart from having to watch people struggle with what really is a very simple process, the wait wasn't unpleasant. We did glean a bit of information from one of the Park's workers when we asked what the Police presence was the previous evening, scaring our delicate large tadpole with lots of noise in the night. People, it seems, had been letting off fireworks, contrary to one of the (many) park rules and the Police had waded in to sort it out. I don't think there was a major issue but the noise had been quite apparent. Not to me, of course, I was asleep.

I rattled through the tank dumping far faster than those around me and we were out on the road and heading for home in no time. Once again, the traffic was light and the run southwards on Highway 21 was very enjoyable. The lake looked as blue as ever and the RCAF put on a nice display as a Hercules transport aircraft circled obligingly over Goderich before it came into the little airfield there.

The SatNav had a little upset as it consistently told us the trip would take an hour longer than it should. I deviated from its planned route to stay on the good roads around Bothwell and it suddenly righted itself; I have no idea why the lady in the sky was mistaken, perhaps she was recovering from a good weekend. We arrived home safely after a journey of just over three hours, having attained quite respectable gas consumption figures, averaging around 13.25 mpg (US), which is just short of 16 mpg imperial. That may sound a bit harsh but it's about right and certainly no worse than most other towing vehicles.

Inverhuron is quite different to the other parks we regularly visit in that it's deep in the woods and very rocky. That said, small though the sites may be, they're flat and clean. Yes, the power supplies are some considerable distance from the sites and the shower distribution is a bit chintzy for the busy weekends, but it's still a lovely place to visit. Then there're the three hours or more to get there, which is really going to keep it off our list, except for during the summer holidays.

The next short trip is already booked, so watch this space...

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