Alright, yes, we closed the blog delinquency to only 2 1/2 weeks a bit back, but have since then fallen behind.  We’re on it, and only have three posts to make after this one and we will be completely caught up.

The Distance:  Our biggest month in quite some time: 1,980 miles.  We expected big mileage in July as we worked our way around Nova Scotia and then west though New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario, but our late decision to sprint down to the Midwest Geo Bash in Ohio really wracked up the distance.  Total for the year: 5,540.

Places:  Our love for Nova Scotia is clearly revealed by how much of our Canadian stay we spent there: 24 out of 34 days, to be precise.  We started the month in Tatamagouche, one of our favorite NS towns, headed up to Inverness on Cape Breton for sea glass hunting and much more, then returned to Tata for a couple of days before heading west.  We visited the quaint and touristy seaside town of Shediac, then, after an overnight stop at a Walmart, spent a few days in Quebec City.  From there things got interesting as we raced through the rest of Quebec and Ontario to reenter the US in Detroit.  After three overnight stays in Walmarts and a Cracker Barrel we attended Midwest Geobash in Waseon, Ohio.  Finally, we visited Key West friends Deb and Steve in Lansing.

We stayed in private parks for 17 days, public campgrounds for 7 (3 provincial, 4 county,) parking lot camped for 4, and in the homes of friends for 3.  We had full hook up services for 6 days, electric and water only for 18, dry camped for 4, and were in a house for 3.

Budget:  We completely blew the budget, ending up nearly 37% over.  Three modest markets for the month and a few free nights in parking lots just could not overcome $1,061 in gas (most of it purchased in Canada,) a couple of hundred in medical bills that caught up with us, and higher than average RV park fees.  Of course, it didn’t help that we denied ourselves little, hitting the brewery tour and restaurants whenever we wanted.  Unfortunately, the scope of our busted budget means that we are a bit over for the annual budget now.  August should be a complete turn around: we will be in one region (the U.P) the entire month and have big plans for a lot of markets. 

The Drama and the Improvements:   Nothing to report, though we are nursing a few things along: our house batteries don’t hold a charge nearly as long as a year ago, the automatic stairs occasionally need a reset (unplug and replug one of the connectors) and the hydraulic system remains a bit troubled: the rear slide sometimes slowly works its way out, and the leveling system still frequently refuses to acknowledge that it is full retracted.  As long as we are paying attention, these are all minor annoyances, so we will wait until we are back in Florida to have Bill at Mr Mobile RV work on them.