Still homebound. Now I have the “contraries”. The “contraries” are when you get into a bad mood for what seems to be no apprent reason and nothing anyone says or does is right. It’s like getting sand in your clothing or a pebble in your shoe — no matter which way you move, you are irritated. I have come to recognize the “contraries” and warn my husband when I get them. He laughs, but gives me lots of space. Being on the receiving end of someone who has the conrtraries usually starts with an argument and escalates to who knows what!!
I recognize the contraries now and have come to accept them. I will get out of them eventually but I know to think through everything I say and do because my first intention is usually hostile or wrong. I have also learned to identify what has brought the contraries on and sometimes just knowing that helps get me through them.
This bout of contraries is because I am still homebound. Not only am I still homebound, but it seems like everyone around me is going on vacation. My parents are on vacation at the Jersey shore for a week. My daughter and grandson are on vacation for two weeks. They are going to be on the Oregon coast. The kids in my neighborhood will be on summer vacation starting next week. The teachers at work will be on summer vacation starting next Friday. (I am an administrator, so I will continue to work throughout the summer.) And my August vacation is still 50 days away. Yes, I am counting!
I have discovered that an antidote for this particular bout of the contraries is discovering new places to visit and planning possible trips. Johnnie and I have talked about visitng Niagara Falls and then going into Canada. I started by investigating the KOA campgrounds near Niagara Falls. There are two in New York, but since we haven’t been to Canada, I started looking at the KOAs near Niagara Falls in Canada. 17 out of 18 KOAs in the province of Ontario are close to Niagara Falls. The KOA that calls itself Niagara Falls KOA actually has shuttles to the Falls on a regular basis (every half hour or so). It also has a recreation trail for walking, hiking, cycling that runs 56 kilometers along the Niagara River. I never thought about Niagara Falls having a river; it just seemed like an entity in itself. Johnnie and i travel with our bicycles so the recreation trail is a definite attraction for us. Thinking in kilometers is new, but I think that it is about 35 miles of trail. That’s great!
We could also visit Toronto which friends have told us about. Since we will tow our dinghy, a Jeep, we can visit places nearby without changing our location or needing to worry about the suitability of roads and parking for our 40-foot motorhome.
Our normal 18-day vacation typically covers 5,000+ miles. What would a similar trip in Canada look like?
So I looked for KOAs in the province of Quebec. There are 3, 2 outside of Montreal and 1 in Quebec. We could visit Montreal which also has been recommended by friends.
Deciding to run parallel to the Canada-US border, I wondered about New Brunswick. There are no KOAs in New Brunswick, so I looked for National Parks, one of my favorite places to visit. In looking at pictures, I found one where people are cycling on a paved trail. Kouchibouguac National Park. It looks like our kind of place. I am excited about the possibility of staying here for a few days enjoying my favorite activities: cycling, bird watching, hiking, photography, possibly canoeing.
Wait! Isn’t the Bay of Fundy with its incredible tides in this area, too? We could visit there, then come back into Maine and visit Acadia National Park. My travel juices are flowing and at least for the rest of the day, the contraries have subsided. When they return, I can just look for more places to visit. This is what I love about RVing and looking at the US and now the US and Canada as my backyard. Any place is possible!
Views from the Rear Window 
