We're Home

We arrived "home" on Thursday night; and the first of many surprises began. Even though we had told everybody that we wouldn't be home until the end of May early June, nobody seemed to believe us. A few of the family had suspected that we might be home by the weekend, but nobody was expecting us on Thursday night. We showed up at Ken and Rosie's at 9:00 PM and totally surprised their son Calen. Rosie arrived shortly after and was also quite surprised to see us.

We spent the night at their place; and showed up at my folks on Friday afternoon. It felt good to get hugs from my folks again, as it had been a while. Saturday, the surprises continued; and we caught Dave and Anne off guard. It's not too often that we are able to pull off a good surprise; and we managed to pull this one off perfectly.

One of the reasons that we wanted to be back by the weekend, was a big family party in Blenheim. Mike's Uncle Leo and Aunt Marie were celebrating milestone birthdays; his cousin Ed is off to Quebec for the summer for naval training; and his brother Ken and nephew Calen are off to do the Mongol Rally this summer. It was nice to be able to see so many family and relatives all in one shot.

This last week has been spent dropping in on more friends and family. We have barely stopped since arriving; and by Wednesday, I was pooped! I also don't have much of a voice right now; and sound like I've swallowed a few frogs. We were back in Port Stanley late afternoon, where were staying with goods friends Sally and John; and went right to bed, slept right through til 9:00 the next morning. Guess I needed it!

Molly is doing much better and has improved a whole bunch! We are still giving her 2 glucosamines everyday and have added a shark cartilage to that. She still needs help going up stairs, but overall is much better! Thanks for all the good wishes being sent her way.

We are still looking for a place to call home for the summer; and will let you know where we are once we get set up.

Take a look at our pictures

A Visit in Dryden

One of the best things about this adventure that we're on, is the family, relatives, friends and new people that you meet along the way. We have visited people that we know from the East coast to the West coast; down to the Southern states and points in between. We have stopped in to see people that we know; haven't seen for a very long time; or have never met. We always seem to have a great time; and always manage to find something to talk about.

This was the case this past weekend. My Uncle Ted and Aunt Bonnie are from Thunder Bay, Ontario. A few weeks back, we contacted them to let them know that we were going to be passing through on the May long weekend; and to see if they were going to be free. They were, and suggested that we meet them in Dryden, Ontario instead. Bonnie's youngest sister Kim and her family live there. I hadn't seen Kim in over 25 years; and both Mike and I were looking forward to it.

We arrived at their place on the lake on Friday afternoon; and were welcomed with big hugs all around. Kim is exactly how I remember her from before - warm, friendly, inviting and always a big smile on her face. And her husband Gary and their girls, Alex and Tayler, are also the same. It was also great seeing Ted and Bonnie; and a great weekend was had by all!

We spent the weekend catching up, sharing old and new memories and lots of laughter. It was tough to leave on Tuesday morning, as not only was the company great, but the meals that they made for both breakfasts and dinners were truly delicious! They have extended an invitation back to us anytime; and we hope to take them up on that offer one day.

We got an early start the next day; and arrived in Thunder Bay with plenty of time to get a much needed hair cut and buy some Persians. For those of you who don't know this, Persians are a bakery treat that are only available in Thunder Bay. And boy are they tasty!!! Mmm mmm good! I had promised one of the workers from Living Forest, who was also from Thunder Bay, a package of them, so had to also find a Canada Post. She should have them by Friday. We may have 1 or 2 of them left by the time we make it "home". Hope that you all had as an enjoyable long weekend as we did.

Tuesday through Thursday were spent driving East along #17. Northern Ontario has always been a favorite place of ours to drive through. There is lots of nature to see along the way and the scenery is beautiful. Lots of little rivers and streams; and of course Lake Superior along the way, plus rock and forests. On Tuesday evening, we saw 2 fox, 3 moose and a bear. Most wildlife we've seen in the Thunder Bay area in a long time.

Take a look at our pictures

A visit in Alberta

The reason for stopping in Kananaskis was to do some visiting. My cousin Kelly came from Calgary with her 3 dogs on Saturday. She arrived early afternoon; and even though there were some rain showers, we still managed to have a campfire going. We enjoyed having Kelly for the afternoon and had a nice visit. The next day, my friend Sam and her husband Lou and their dog Barnie came for a visit. We were also able to have a campfire and spent the afternoon catching up; and learning about all the places we needed to see while in the area.

Monday, we drove North; and started out at Johnston Canyon. The day was beautiful; and off on the hike we went. We finally ended at the falls; and were again awed by mother natures beauty.

After making our way back to the truck; we continued on to Lake Louise. Unfortunately, this early in the spring the lake was still frozen, but the mountains surrounding the lake were still beautiful. Guess we'll have to come back here in another season to see the emerald colours of the lake.

Next stop was Banff. We spent roughly an hour driving around Banff, with stops at the hot springs and then the gondola. We didn't actually use the hot springs, as it was getting late in the day; but it wasn't anything like how I remembered it as a kid. And because we had just taken the Peak 2 Peak Gondola at Whistler, we decided to pass on the Banff Gondola. It was pretty overcast and we wanted to get home to Molly. Monday night we decided to burn up the rest of our fire wood; and plan our route home.

We left on Tuesday and by the time we stopped at the dump station, we were only the road by 10:30. Kelly had told us of a by-pass for Calgary, and as we try to avoid most big cities; we paid close attention to her; and found the by-pass easily. We ended up only seeing the backs of homes and the downtown skyline in the very far distance.

Within a short period of time the landscape had changed drastically. Behind us the Rockies were quickly disappearing and ahead lay the Canadian prairies. The temp was hovering around 17 again; and mostly sunny. The Trans Canada highway is a great highway to drive on. It's a divided highway and a lot of the time you can't even see the west bound lanes. Nice not having to have lights in your eyes, or have traffic bunching up behind you. However, there were quite a few areas that are in desperate need of repair.

We ended up just East of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan and found a Husky Truck stop to spend the night. The next morning we woke up to SNOW!!! BRRRRR it was freezing! And after filling our tank, we were soon on the highway again. The price of diesel has drastically dropped in price and the lowest that we have seen it for was 69/litre. It's a darn sight better than the $161.9/litre last summer. We hope that this trend continues, and of course we had just filled up for 73.9 when we passed the 69. Never seems to be in your favour. But were still not complaining!!!

Mike was driving at this time; and all I had to do was take pictures; especially the one that said Welcome to Manitoba; well, don't you know, I missed it! But trust me, we were there. We seemed to breeze across the prairies; and last night we found a truck scale with a lot for truckers right at the Manitoba/Ontario boarder; so that's were we spent the night. And boy was it cold! I don't think that Mother Nature has gotten the memo that it's spring yet. Sure hope that it warms up soon.

And today, we are currently in Kenora, Ontario. We have been invited to some relatives/friends in Dryden for the long weekend; and we thought we would hang out here for a day; and rest up from the long drive. Molly is glad to be out of the truck; and we're glad to have warmth again. Nice hot showers, and then off to the Walmart to send this blog. As the Internet is also not working here. Canada needs to "kick it up a notch" as far as Internet for travellers goes.

Take a look at our pictures

A drive through the Rockies

We finally left Vernon late on Thursday afternoon. The pocket book was roughly $2500.00 lighter; but the truck was much quieter! The park that we had been staying at was right on the highway; tight small spots; and the Internet wasn't very good either. We were quiet happy to see the end of Vernon.

We drove for 2 hours up the Okanagan Valley, with breath taking beauty all around... again. The Canadian Rockies were certainly giving us a beautiful show right out the front window. Most of the mountains are still snow covered; and that just made everything prettier. There are tree covered, rounded, jagged, snow covered and a mix of all; and it didn't seem to matter which direction you looked, there were mountains... nice!

We arrived just East of Revelstoke around 7:30 and found a truck stop to spend the night. We had an open view of mountains all around; and after having supper, we were all in bed shortly after 10.

The next morning, we were up and on our way shortly before 6:30 am - yes I said am, I know that doesn't happen too often, but once in a while we manage to get up with the sun.

The drive from Revelstoke heading towards Alberta put the WOW factor in overdrive! Around every curve, and in my estimate we went around a gazillion curves (give or take a few) the words wow, oh wow, holy wow, unbelievable, beautiful, etc, came out of our mouths for most of the day. This is where one of the rigs with the big windows would have been nice. Oh well, maybe one day. Because of the easy navigation, were heading #1 East; Mike was able to do his other "job" while I drove. Picture taking - and believe me, he took lots of pictures - roughly 150, but don't worry, not all will be in the album :)

The very first day we drove with the rig (almost 3 years ago); we passed another rig and the driver waved to us; since that day I have waved to all RV's when we're pulling and sometimes you get a wave back but a lot of times you don't. On this day, I got a triple wave. One from the passenger and driver, plus the driver of the big truck that was right behind.

The weather for most of the day was around 17c and once we passed the rain clouds, the sun was shining. Just an absolute perfect day to spend driving through the Rockies! We arrived in Kananaskis, about an hour west of Calgary, on Friday afternoon. We booked in at the Bow Valley Campground for 4 nights. Nice big private sites, with plenty of trees around. In fact, from our site, you couldn't even see the mountains that were all around us.

Trying to be optimistic, we thought that the glucosamine was making a difference in Molly. But in reality, it doesn't seem to be. We now help her into the truck and rig with a sling. We know that "the day" is coming soon; but with all the travelling that we have coming ahead of us; we're hoping that she can make it home. We keep her as comfy as we can; and give her lots of TLC.

We haven't had the Internet since leaving Vernon; so will post another blog next chance I get.

Take a look at our pictures

A layover in Vernon

We left Osoyoos yesterday; and drove North along 97 heading towards Vernon. Beautiful drive through the Okanagan valley with mountain views all around.

A few days earlier, our truck started making strange noises. It's never a good thing when your vehicle starts making strange noises. And it turns out, this wasn't going to be an exception. After getting set up yesterday in our new park in Vernon, Mike brought the truck to the local Ford dealership.

Turns out that one of the cylinders is leaking at the exhaust manifold. They've been working at this since yesterday afternoon; and are having quite the time getting the rusted bolts off. One of the bolts was giving them quite the hassle; and had to be sent to a machinist to get it off. The bill, so far, is roughly $2500.00 - ouch!!! Hopefully, with any luck, this will be the last thing needing fixing for a while - wish us luck. We're hoping to be back on the road again tomorrow.

Molly is doing okay though. She still needs help getting in and out of the truck and the rig; and she doesn't get very far very fast; but she seems to making small improvements on a daily basis. Hopefully the glucosamine and aspirin will only continue to help. Thanks for all the warm wishes being sent her way... now can you also pray to the truck gods for us... and the lotto gods... thanks.

No pictures today.

Onwards to Osoyoos

I know that it's been a long time since I posted a blog. So I'll fill you in on what we've been up to. After leaving Sqaumish, our next destination was Chilliwack. The reason for this stop, was to have another visit with Mike's brother Rob, before we left the area. The park itself was crammed in tightly and overpriced and right on the Trans Canada, so very noisy; but the visit was great. There were also nice mountain views all around, but we were happy to pull out on Monday morning.

We took the Crowsnest Pass, Highway #3 heading East towards Osoyoos. Very little traffic; and the views all around were again breath taking. Didn't matter which direction you looked, there were mountains.

We arrived early afternoon; and were enjoying the hot tub and heated pool, shortly there after. Very nice park, well layed out; lots of trees in between sites, and a lake out the back window - pretty nice! The internet however, wasn't the strongest; and that contributed to the long blog delay.

Tuesday was a pretty rough day. Molly isn't doing very well these days - the arthritis in her back legs has gotten worse; and she having a tough time getting in and out of the rig. And going for walks is painfully slow. We made a few phone calls to local vets, to see about having her put to sleep; but when she looked at us with those big brown eyes, we both melted and neither of us had the heart; so off to the pharmacy we went instead. She's now on glucosamine sulphate and an aspirin. It's been almost a week; and even though the improvements are small; she does seem to be improving.

Thursday found us heading East on #3 for a day trip. The "hill" heading out of town is the Anarchists Highway; and even with just the truck; it was a workout. But once at the top... you guessed it, breath taking views all around, with Osoyoos spread out below. There was barely a cloud in the sky; and you could see a long way. Including our campground. From there, we continued on a gravel road up towards Mount Baldy. The skiing is done for the year and most of the snow is gone. On towards Oliver, and then back to the park.

Another adventure on Friday, this time the Desert Cultural Centre. Spent some time in the centre; and then off on the hike we went. I haven't mentioned this yet, but Osoyoos is in Canada's Senoran desert. And very reminiscent of our time in the south west.

Another day drive on Saturday and a hike on Sunday. The weather turned out to be pretty nice this past week, low 20's and mostly sunny and it was great to be out and about doing things.

Take a look at our pictures