Fantasy RV Caravan - Day 5

Tuesday, 6 August - Day 5

We left you in the least blog post mentioning that there was a gathering planned for 7:30pm around the campfire.  About half the caravan-mates showed up at one of the fires, while another group gathered at another fire.  Pretty amazing as there is a burn ban in effect that no one told anyone about until we were an hour into the fire.  A very pleasant evening.  We were among the early departures at 9:30pm.

Today was designated a transit day - a whole 73 miles to St John.  With no other activities/stops planned enroute.  So Kris and Darrell decided it was going to be a golf day.  After researching golf enroute or nearly so, we settled on a golf course in Welsford, NB based on price (2 for 1 greens fees on Tuesdays) and apparent lots of available tee times according to their web site.

The caravan organizers scheduled a trip meeting for 9am - and we advised them last night that Fantasy 22 (our designated call sign) would be missing from roll call this morning.  Again.

We pulled out of camp by 7:45 for the 75 minute drive to Welsford.  We arrived just after 9am due to suite construction to find the parking lot was full, and a crowd of golfers waiting to tee off.  Undeterred, we went in to see if we could get on.  The staff said they were very busy today (maybe due to the holiday) and said the earliest he could get us on would be 10:30.  We thought that would work as we wanted to warm up on the range.  They did not have a range.  He then called the golf course in the next town over to see if he could get us on there, and found out they were just as busy.

Then he said they had no power carts available until 2:30.  So we got to walk the course for $35C for both of us, which is about $25 U.S.  For both of us.  He did say he would try and get us off sooner.

As we were putting, at 9:52 a fellow rolled up in a pickup truck and asked us our tee time.  We told him 10:30, and he said he wanted to swap as he had 9:54 tee time and his buddy was running late.  So we got paired up with Rick and Sandy who don’t play often.  

Kris and I set the tone for the day with nice drives, while Sandy and Rick struggled.  Kris hit the fairway, Darrell was only about a foot off on the left.  And Kris Drive was further than Rick’s.  We both hit good shots and shots we wanted do-overs.  Kris only lost one ball, while Darrell lost 4.  The greens befuddled both of us with inconsistent speed, and confusing breaks.  When we finished up, we each only had two pars each, and Kris had taken the day by 2 shots (the ones that she did not contribute to the hazards).

A quick check of Google Maps found several Starbucks in St John, including one near the Walmart where we planned to do some grocery shopping.  Sprinty navigated us to Starbucks where Kris bought.  In doing so, we learned that they don’t do Frappuccinos like we usually order, but Kris figured out their caramel swirl Frappuccino was something close.

After Starbucks, we made our way the two blocks to Walmart, and found the pat their grocery selection was more limited than U.S. Walmart’s.  Fortunately, we did not need much.  Then to the campground, Rockwood Park Campground located in Rockwood Park.  There is a golf course in Rockwood Park on the other side of the park from the campground, but their on-line tee times showed them to be busy today, with the first available tee time at 2:30pm.  And it was $90C/person as well.

And of our excursion, we were the last of the rigs to check in.  While our site is fairly short - probably could not accommodate more than 30 feet, it is very wide - wide enough for Sprinty to have a sleep over.  

And another Sprinty from Pennsylvania (Terry and Andrea with a gold Roadtrek Adventurous CS) are camping here tonight too.

Camp WiFi seems pretty typical - challenging to connect to, more promise than results.  We got connected, but it is slow.

After dinner and showers, we wandered the campground (it’s not like we needed a walk after walking 28 holes of golf today, over 7 miles), to see if there were any gathering of caravaners tonight.  Another two couples joined as as we went in search of gatherings.  We found none (maybe everyone is worn out from the 73-mile travel day), but we did make our way to the east end of the campground which overlooks the city of St John.

Sunset in St John: