May/June 2025
May June Travels
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| Finally installed a new flag on our back yard flag pole. Thanks to Amie and Mitch for the help. |
We haven’t blogged for over a year now. This past winter we cancelled our trip to Arizona where we had reserved a spot for two months and actually stayed around Guelph for the winter. We did escape to Cuba for two weeks and enjoyed the sand and sun. We took a suitcase full of medical supplies to the local Hospital in Trinidad Cuba and Elizabeth wrote about that. I will include it here:
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Not Just Tourists
Take a Suitcase – Change a Life
by: Elizabeth Bone
Jerry and I like to travel. Since we retired and purchased our trailer, we have often been away from Guelph in our tiny home for four to six months. However, we decided this year that, while we would miss the Arizona climate, we were not going to travel south to the United States.
We still wanted some warmth and sunshine though while it was winter here in Canada and so we chose to spend a few weeks in Cuba. Prior to retirement, we’d visited Cuba several times. We always found the Cuban people to be warm and friendly and their culture very interesting.
When we aren’t travelling, Jerry is usually researching places to go and things to do. He discovered an organization based here in Ontario called Not Just Tourists (NJT). This is a volunteer based, non-political, non-religious, not-for-profit organization that collects surplus medical supplies from health care professionals, medical supply companies and institutions and sends them via travellers to small medical missions in need around the world. This sounded like something we could easily do and so Jerry contacted the organization for more information.
They were very happy to provide us with more details assuring us that the suitcase we would be provided would not contain any medications or drugs ... only needed medical supplies. In the past, many airlines would allow these humanitarian gifts on-board free of charge; but as with everything on airplanes now-a-days nothing is free. We felt that the amount we needed to pay for an extra bag was certainly worth being able to take some needed supplies to Trinidad, Cuba.
We also learned that Not Just Tourists was started in 1995 by a St. Catharines doctor, Dr. Taylor and his wife. After a trip to Cuba when they recognized the serious lack of medicines and medical supplies, they started taking supplies to remote areas of Cuba. Their efforts inspired others to do the same and the project expanded. Today, there are NJT volunteer groups across Canada and over 10,000 suitcases of medical supplies have been delivered to 82 countries.
It sounded like a pretty easy thing to do to assist a community near our vacation destination. We picked-up our suitcase and followed the instructions to unpack and repack it so we could honestly reply that, “Yes, we packed the case ourselves.” I’m just glad no one asked us what was in the case because I had no idea what the items were! Because we were travelling to a resort near Trinidad, Cuba, our suitcase was destined for the hospital there so the supplies were more surgical items. If we had been going to a place where there was just a small clinic, the suitcase would have held things like examination gloves, masks, bandages, sutures etc.
Theresa, a volunteer at NJT, said we only had to go to the hospital, give the suitcase to a doctor or health professional and get them to sign the form indicating receipt of the items. Pretty simple. We planned to incorporate our trip to the hospital into a tour of the UNESCO designated historical city of Trinidad.
Of course, we should have realized that nothing is that simple, especially not in Cuba! Santiago, our tour representative at the hotel, was a great help and explained that we would need to contact the doctor in charge of the hospital, have someone with us to interpret and make an appointment to meet with the head doctor. He explained to the doctor about the gift of supplies and also arranged for a retired English teacher to not only accompany us to the hospital but to give us a tour of the city too.
The morning of our adventure, our guide picked us up in a taxi. It was a 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air in amazing condition. We set off for the Hospital General Tomás Carrera Galiano de Trinidad, a surgical and pediatrics hospital.
To our amazement, we were greeted by 5 or 6 staff and nurses in the hospital lobby. Once we were introduced to the doctor in charge, her staff immediately began an inventory of the supplies with what sounded to me like excitement – we know no Spanish so we took the word of Anya and our taxi driver that everyone was very grateful for what we were able to bring to the hospital. Several pictures were taken, for us and for the hospital’s website. After the doctor signed the receipt form and indicated on the form what they would appreciate receiving if NJT were sending another suitcase (gauze, bandages, wound care kits, surgical instruments, masks and gloves), we were thanked by everyone - including our taxi driver for helping his community! It was a highlight of our trip to Cuba.
NJT is 100% volunteer run, they operate without a budget and do not accept nor solicit financial donations. If you are interested in finding out more about Not Just Tourists:
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Now, back to "Glamping"
May 24, 2025
We set out in late May for a few weeks adventure in the trailer with our new cat "Mia."
For the “shake down” portion, we went about 30 minutes away to Highland Pines Family Campground at Lake Belwood. We hadn’t been there before and it is a nice camp. This allowed me (Jerry) to flush out the water systems and check that all systems were working. Minor maintenance and all systems go. We also had two friends (Hanneke and Greg) who are interested in buying a trailer, stop in for a chat and see our rig.
We met friends Mark and Marilyn Sears there with their RV and had a great few days of chatting, playing games, sharing meals and trail cycling/riding. They have new Bike Friday bikes and we took them out on the nearby Cataract Trail. That was fun.
In this video you will hear some "chatter" as Elizabeth and I communicate using our helmet intercoms.
Friends Bryan and Monika stopped in for coffee and a chat. This is a lot of socializing for Elizabeth and I. We have not had so many folks around at “the trailer” before (not counting family).
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| Rideau Acres...beautiful view |
and then to Sleepy Cedars Family Camp, a nice camp where we have stayed before. Sleepy Cedars is near Manotick Station south of Ottawa. There are transient sites, seasonal and longer term sites. It is owned and operated by a small group (9-10) of RVers who live at the camp, operate the camp for the season, then have homes or mobile homes down in Florida for the winter.
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| This fellow kept Wood peckering a dead tree beside our trailer. Mia was fascinated. |
On Monday we rode the Osgoode trail to…Osgoode and had coffee and homemade soup at the No Go Coffee Company/Roaster's and discovered a unique venue that we will return to on Friday evening for live music.
We rode further on the Osgoode trail on Wednesday (when it was 31C) but it petered out at the end, changed to rough gravel and then pretty well stopped. We spent Thursday on maintenance and fixing a few things. Friday we visited with my nephew and his wife Erin and Adrian. They stopped by the trailer and we had a nice chat.
In addition, we were able to visit with some of Elizabeth's cousins for a nice BBQ at their home.
Friday night we went back to No Go Coffee and took in a couple of sets with singer song writter Sam Wood. His music was entertaining and sounded great. Unfortunately it was a very small crowd and funded by a tips jar. I feel for these artists trying to play their music for peanuts.
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Elizabeth perfected a maneuver that made it easier for the trikes to pass so I didn't have to lift the bikes on the way back.
One day, on our cycling trip, I could hear in the distance what sounded like a Tuba. Turns out it was a Busker playing a euphonium (I believe). Quite entertaining. It was fun to watch and listen to him with his backing tracks (bluetooth) playing through three JBL speakers.
We also stopped at a fair wage coffee shop and had lunch and a chat with the operator. There was a room to the side and being nosey, I wandered in to discover a small stage. He was having difficulty obtaining his liquor license and so couldn’t afford to pay for live music. He was hoping that he would be able to bring music to that room once he could have liquor sales. So that of course was a good discussion all around. He pays everyone who works at the cafe a fair wage and there is no tipping.
We rode along the canal and Memorial Park which had a few sculptures to view. Also we had to cross the locks just outside the park.
On Wednesday we rode about 40km round trip on the paved Rotary Greenway Trail beside the river and past Trent University where we got on the Lakefield gravel trail. We stopped for lunch at the Nutty Bean Cafe. On the way back, we passed a garden full of interesting sculptures. The fellow mowing the lawn invited us in to see his yard full of these unusual works. He explained his process for creating the sculptures using metal, expanding polyurethane foam and marine paint. Elizabeth really liked them. The artist is Don Frost. www.donfrostsculptor.com
We arrived back home in one piece. We are finding the preperation to go and return requires a lot of energy. Next trip is late July and August when we will adventure into Near North Ontario…see you then!
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Jerry, Elizabeth, Mia, the guys, Miss Adventure Too and Clifford the big red truck.
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