It has been a bit difficult to get to wifi along our route, either because the wifi signals haven't been very strong, or have been so painfully slow that it made posting very frustrating. Here at the Carngie Library, it is still slow (just shy of painful) so I finally have the time to catch up on the blog.
Here's a run down of the past week:
Nov 23 - stopped at the border and not allowed to cross - the US border patrol really don't like you coming down to "wing it" for vacationing - they want addresses, names & numbers to reach you at. Oh yeah, they also want to know how much money you have in your bank account, your income tax return, your house taxes, your utility bills, your credit cards & sign over your first born child (ok, I'm just kidding about the last one, but they do require all the rest). We are told that if we come back with that info, they will let us through, so back to Regina we go to use the library to print off the info & stay the night there. We go to the swimming pool that night too, so we are in good spirits.
Nov 24 - they let us through with the info we provide - Hurray!!! The roads are amazingly clear, as if a switch turned the snow off as soon as we crossed the border. I find out the hard way the need to be careful when walking from the kitchen to my seat while the vehicle is moving. Ouch! Must watch that top corner.
Nov 25 - Spent the night in Miles City, MT. Our table had been on the verge of breaking when we bought it & finally gave. The contact cement Dan used to fix it was terrible, it was supposed to dry in 5 minutes, but kept running. despite efforts to keep it out of the way, all the kids managed to put their hands into the wet glue at least twice before the table was fixed. It works quite well now. It is Thanksgiving & we "cheat" (as the grocery clerk put it) by buying a tub of popcorn chicken, popcorn shrimp & wedge fries for dinner - but there is cranberry sauce, so we think this is ok :)
Monday, November 29, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
The Night Before Leaving...
...and all through the house,
the only one stirring was myself (where's my spouse?)
Ah yes, he was sleeping in bed with no care,
while I fret & worry about our trip there!
Ok - night time has a way of opening up some poetic weirdness for me. Everything in our house is in order - other than a huge batch of receipt scanning I want to get done so it's all ready for filing the income taxes when we return. Then early this morning - uh, make that later this morning - I just need to hop over to the bank to get a bit of US funds, cancel our internet at home for the season, pack the last of the food & toiletries, do a head count (very important when you've got 6 children) and away we go!
We couldn't get any chains in Swift Current for the RV (everybody local has to put them on order), so we will head into Regina first to get some, then top up the propane & head south towards New Mexico. Hopefully we won't have any trouble getting through the US border - that would really put a damper on things. Praying that the
Not sure how well things will go with getting wifi access, though we plan on trying to update at least once a week. Until then, happy trails ahead :)
the only one stirring was myself (where's my spouse?)
Ah yes, he was sleeping in bed with no care,
while I fret & worry about our trip there!
Ok - night time has a way of opening up some poetic weirdness for me. Everything in our house is in order - other than a huge batch of receipt scanning I want to get done so it's all ready for filing the income taxes when we return. Then early this morning - uh, make that later this morning - I just need to hop over to the bank to get a bit of US funds, cancel our internet at home for the season, pack the last of the food & toiletries, do a head count (very important when you've got 6 children) and away we go!
We couldn't get any chains in Swift Current for the RV (everybody local has to put them on order), so we will head into Regina first to get some, then top up the propane & head south towards New Mexico. Hopefully we won't have any trouble getting through the US border - that would really put a damper on things. Praying that the
Not sure how well things will go with getting wifi access, though we plan on trying to update at least once a week. Until then, happy trails ahead :)
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Tick, Tick, Tick
The clock is ticking and there's so much to do! I'm sure that I'm going to forget something important - that's what I keep telling myself. I've got the passports & birth certificates ready & packed. Have the extra insurance on the RV done. Benjamin, Zachary & Joel are packed, Nathan is half packed. The girls, Dan & I are next in line.
I've gotten all the spring booking order checks written up & sent off to suppliers for the bike shop. Dan is contacting Canadian Tire & Worker's Comp for funds that they owe him for parts & labor, as well as any other customer who's account isn't current.
We're waiting to hear back from the Watershed Authority for a brochure order that they need to approve so that we can get them printed before we go. I just printed off 30 menus for the local restaurant, 5 months of calendar blanks for the craft shop, and two other clients want Ben to make them business cards before we go. We are suddenly so wanted for printing projects!
So much to do, so little time....
I've gotten all the spring booking order checks written up & sent off to suppliers for the bike shop. Dan is contacting Canadian Tire & Worker's Comp for funds that they owe him for parts & labor, as well as any other customer who's account isn't current.
We're waiting to hear back from the Watershed Authority for a brochure order that they need to approve so that we can get them printed before we go. I just printed off 30 menus for the local restaurant, 5 months of calendar blanks for the craft shop, and two other clients want Ben to make them business cards before we go. We are suddenly so wanted for printing projects!
So much to do, so little time....
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
The Countdown Begins
We have an unofficial departure date on November 22th, and the plan was originally to head west to Vancouver to visit my MIL & brother, then hop over to Salt Spring island to see my college buddy Jane, then possibly hop onto Vancouver Island to see many more friends & my folks.
That plan looks like it is going to change though, as a severe storm front that has hit Western Canada & Montana. We'll just have to wait it out & see whether it is safer to head south first or keep to our current plan. Until then, the countdown begins and I've got to get back to organizing this house before we go.
Today I have to get a set of keys cut (accidentally threw my spares into the town's paper recycling bin - don't ask), return everybody's library books & dvds, call the utilities, & clean, clean, clean! My oldest 3 are in town with Dan, helping him with the inventory count at our store. Hope that Dan remembers to get the oil change done. Hmmmm, I think I better phone to make sure!
That plan looks like it is going to change though, as a severe storm front that has hit Western Canada & Montana. We'll just have to wait it out & see whether it is safer to head south first or keep to our current plan. Until then, the countdown begins and I've got to get back to organizing this house before we go.
Today I have to get a set of keys cut (accidentally threw my spares into the town's paper recycling bin - don't ask), return everybody's library books & dvds, call the utilities, & clean, clean, clean! My oldest 3 are in town with Dan, helping him with the inventory count at our store. Hope that Dan remembers to get the oil change done. Hmmmm, I think I better phone to make sure!
Saturday, November 13, 2010
The Unofficial Beginning
We'd bean hoping for this moment for years - dreaming really - that we would one day be the owners of our own RV.
I think it really all started back when Dan & I only had 2 children, Deborah & Ben, and were in the position to finally get out of apartment living and buy our own home. We had gone on walks through the Fort Victoria RV Park that was near my parent's place, and had often oohed and ahhhd at the beautiful motorhomes that were there. We talked about how we "hadn't done things right" by buying into the common mentality that you move out from home into an apartment, then save up for many years until you buy a house, only to be bogged down with a mortgage for the rest of your life.
The very idea of being tied down to one location seemed the anti-thesis of who we were - we loved to travel & meet new people! How was it that we missed this better ideal - to live full time in a home that you can take with you just about anywhere you wanted to go? So we started looking seriously at the different models that were available, scouting out ads in the classifieds and making numerous trips to RV dealerships. We were very close to settling on a Prowler 5th wheel with 2 sets of bunks in the back and a queen bed in the front, when I found out I was pregnant again.
That got all our close friends & family "concerned" because I had a history of problematic pregnancies and guilt placed on us that it was going to be too difficult to raise our children in an environment like that. And so we were talked into getting something more "stable", such as a mobile home (a poor name for a wood & plaster box that doesn't go anywhere!) Rachel was born a couple of months after we settled in to our home in Sooke. We had only owned that house for a year when Dan was bit by the traveling bug again and had us move to California.
I was really quite upset about this upcoming move for the first few months. This wasn't just going for a local mystery tour or a vacation to head back home again from. It was more like leaving my heart behind - my family and friends and everything I knew was going to be so far away from me - and for all I knew, it might end up as our permanent residence. Needless to say, I was pretty grumpy and miserable - oh yeah, and pregnant with child #4 too!
Dan had to make sure everything was in place for us to have health insurance cover the cost of having a baby in the US (the delivery would have cost us $30,000 if we didn't have coverage - and that's without complications!). His work visa was in order and our apartment was supposedly ready for us, so we left in December for sunny St. Helena.
It wasn't a good start when we showed up with all our family at the apartment with all our goods in the moving van, only to be told that the tenants that were supposed to be gone were still there and that they didn't have anything for us (despite the fact that they already took our first month's rent & damage deposit).Thankfully, some quick thinking on my part to write down the phone number of tenant's rights association suddenly inspired the landlady to accommodate us with a different suite.
All of us soon grew to love our St. Helena home, including me. But what's not to love? Warm weather in winter, beautiful coastal views, lots of fun activities for the kids, and on and on. Who knew that the fresh oranges we bought in Canada tasted so different from ones plucked straight from the tree? Bliss! My parents gave a surprise visit in January, and my Mom came again in April after Joel's birth. We had another terrific visit with them in fall and saw the San Francisco Zoo together. It felt as though we may have found paradise on earth.
It was too bad that the wonder of it all was not to last, as we hit tragedy after living there for just over a year. Dan had renewed his work visa with a different company, the owner of which often payed Dan with bad checks. Having a financial crises start due to our rent & bill payments bouncing was bad enough - then we got the news that my Mom's lung cancer was now untreatable - that I needed to get there as soon as possible to say good-bye. Unfortunately, I didn't make it in time - she passed away while we were halfway on our drive there.
Even though I determined to just go on living my life (kind of have to when children need to be looked after), I definitely felt the impact of losing my Mom. I would even say that I went into a depression, though I think I hid it pretty well. Easy to do when the bad employer situation meant we had to start looking at moving back to Canada & all the stresses that entailed. That and by the time we found a place in Saskatchewan to call home, I was expecting baby #5 in a couple of months.
The move went well, I was happy to be back in Canada, even though I was still far from family and friends and everything went well with Zach's birth (though I got very sick just a few weeks before, probably from all the pent up stress from the previous year). We settled in fairly well, but after a couple of years of -40ºC, the whole family began itching for a change in scenery.
The financial difficulties that we had accumulated in our last few months in California had compounded here in SK, simply because all the kinds of work Dan knows how to do are not in demand in this area. Seemed like a great time to open up a bike shop - lol! :) I think we were very scared of this decision at first (ok, I was terrified, but then, I'm the worry-wart around here), but it turned out to be the best thing Dan could have done. It was like igniting that fire to be adventurous once again.
The first year of business was over, we hadn't ended in bankruptcy, and our sixth child Nathan had been added to the family. We started talking about how it would be so nice to get away for the winter (did I mention that I really hate -40 weather?) Perhaps if we could scrape together just enough money we could get an RV and go back down to California for 4 months and not be cooped up with everybody in the miserable cold. It was a lovely, lovely dream!
We carefully weighed out the costs of living in our house with all the bills associated with it and life in an RV - oddly, they are pretty close to the same. So when the question came up of "Do we stay here & freeze, & not see Grandma Dianne (who's health has not been great), or do we go see as many family & friends as we can & enjoy a warm winter?" it was no contest! Soon we were searching furiously on the internet - Craigslist, Kijiji, Ebay & RV sales sites.
One thing we decided early on was that we didn't want all of our money to be thrown away on poor gas mileage. The Class C style caught our attention - I liked it for safety reasons, Dan favoured it for fuel economy. After a bit more research, Dan felt that a Toyota chassis would fit the bill, as they typically get 16-24 mpg. But they are hard to come by in good condition, if at all, in Canada. Our other alternative was to find a motorhome that ran on propane. These motorhomes are easier to find, though gas stations that sell propane are hard to find.
This past week we narrowed our choices down to just a handful to look at; after phoning the owners, it was narrowed down to just two: a 21" Toyota Oddyssey and a 21" Ford Vanguard. Both had pros and cons to them, but Dan felt that both were also asking more than they were really worth. As he was humming and hawing between the two, I found another RV available - and it was right here in Saskatchewan!
I phoned the number right away and had a good feeling about it when I talked to one of the owners on the phone. She told me so much detail, that you could tell that it was a cherished home, not just some junk they were trying to get rid of. Their only reason for selling it, I was told, was that they had the opportunity to buy their dream RV - one with a queen bed in the back. Otherwise, if that opportunity had not come along, they would be using it for many years to come.
Dan made an appointment to go see it yesterday and was blown away by just how great the condition of it was. So we are now the proud owners of a propane powered 23' Ford Scamper! :) :) :)
I think it really all started back when Dan & I only had 2 children, Deborah & Ben, and were in the position to finally get out of apartment living and buy our own home. We had gone on walks through the Fort Victoria RV Park that was near my parent's place, and had often oohed and ahhhd at the beautiful motorhomes that were there. We talked about how we "hadn't done things right" by buying into the common mentality that you move out from home into an apartment, then save up for many years until you buy a house, only to be bogged down with a mortgage for the rest of your life.
The very idea of being tied down to one location seemed the anti-thesis of who we were - we loved to travel & meet new people! How was it that we missed this better ideal - to live full time in a home that you can take with you just about anywhere you wanted to go? So we started looking seriously at the different models that were available, scouting out ads in the classifieds and making numerous trips to RV dealerships. We were very close to settling on a Prowler 5th wheel with 2 sets of bunks in the back and a queen bed in the front, when I found out I was pregnant again.
That got all our close friends & family "concerned" because I had a history of problematic pregnancies and guilt placed on us that it was going to be too difficult to raise our children in an environment like that. And so we were talked into getting something more "stable", such as a mobile home (a poor name for a wood & plaster box that doesn't go anywhere!) Rachel was born a couple of months after we settled in to our home in Sooke. We had only owned that house for a year when Dan was bit by the traveling bug again and had us move to California.
I was really quite upset about this upcoming move for the first few months. This wasn't just going for a local mystery tour or a vacation to head back home again from. It was more like leaving my heart behind - my family and friends and everything I knew was going to be so far away from me - and for all I knew, it might end up as our permanent residence. Needless to say, I was pretty grumpy and miserable - oh yeah, and pregnant with child #4 too!
Dan had to make sure everything was in place for us to have health insurance cover the cost of having a baby in the US (the delivery would have cost us $30,000 if we didn't have coverage - and that's without complications!). His work visa was in order and our apartment was supposedly ready for us, so we left in December for sunny St. Helena.
It wasn't a good start when we showed up with all our family at the apartment with all our goods in the moving van, only to be told that the tenants that were supposed to be gone were still there and that they didn't have anything for us (despite the fact that they already took our first month's rent & damage deposit).Thankfully, some quick thinking on my part to write down the phone number of tenant's rights association suddenly inspired the landlady to accommodate us with a different suite.
All of us soon grew to love our St. Helena home, including me. But what's not to love? Warm weather in winter, beautiful coastal views, lots of fun activities for the kids, and on and on. Who knew that the fresh oranges we bought in Canada tasted so different from ones plucked straight from the tree? Bliss! My parents gave a surprise visit in January, and my Mom came again in April after Joel's birth. We had another terrific visit with them in fall and saw the San Francisco Zoo together. It felt as though we may have found paradise on earth.
It was too bad that the wonder of it all was not to last, as we hit tragedy after living there for just over a year. Dan had renewed his work visa with a different company, the owner of which often payed Dan with bad checks. Having a financial crises start due to our rent & bill payments bouncing was bad enough - then we got the news that my Mom's lung cancer was now untreatable - that I needed to get there as soon as possible to say good-bye. Unfortunately, I didn't make it in time - she passed away while we were halfway on our drive there.
Even though I determined to just go on living my life (kind of have to when children need to be looked after), I definitely felt the impact of losing my Mom. I would even say that I went into a depression, though I think I hid it pretty well. Easy to do when the bad employer situation meant we had to start looking at moving back to Canada & all the stresses that entailed. That and by the time we found a place in Saskatchewan to call home, I was expecting baby #5 in a couple of months.
The move went well, I was happy to be back in Canada, even though I was still far from family and friends and everything went well with Zach's birth (though I got very sick just a few weeks before, probably from all the pent up stress from the previous year). We settled in fairly well, but after a couple of years of -40ºC, the whole family began itching for a change in scenery.
The financial difficulties that we had accumulated in our last few months in California had compounded here in SK, simply because all the kinds of work Dan knows how to do are not in demand in this area. Seemed like a great time to open up a bike shop - lol! :) I think we were very scared of this decision at first (ok, I was terrified, but then, I'm the worry-wart around here), but it turned out to be the best thing Dan could have done. It was like igniting that fire to be adventurous once again.
The first year of business was over, we hadn't ended in bankruptcy, and our sixth child Nathan had been added to the family. We started talking about how it would be so nice to get away for the winter (did I mention that I really hate -40 weather?) Perhaps if we could scrape together just enough money we could get an RV and go back down to California for 4 months and not be cooped up with everybody in the miserable cold. It was a lovely, lovely dream!
We carefully weighed out the costs of living in our house with all the bills associated with it and life in an RV - oddly, they are pretty close to the same. So when the question came up of "Do we stay here & freeze, & not see Grandma Dianne (who's health has not been great), or do we go see as many family & friends as we can & enjoy a warm winter?" it was no contest! Soon we were searching furiously on the internet - Craigslist, Kijiji, Ebay & RV sales sites.
One thing we decided early on was that we didn't want all of our money to be thrown away on poor gas mileage. The Class C style caught our attention - I liked it for safety reasons, Dan favoured it for fuel economy. After a bit more research, Dan felt that a Toyota chassis would fit the bill, as they typically get 16-24 mpg. But they are hard to come by in good condition, if at all, in Canada. Our other alternative was to find a motorhome that ran on propane. These motorhomes are easier to find, though gas stations that sell propane are hard to find.
This past week we narrowed our choices down to just a handful to look at; after phoning the owners, it was narrowed down to just two: a 21" Toyota Oddyssey and a 21" Ford Vanguard. Both had pros and cons to them, but Dan felt that both were also asking more than they were really worth. As he was humming and hawing between the two, I found another RV available - and it was right here in Saskatchewan!
I phoned the number right away and had a good feeling about it when I talked to one of the owners on the phone. She told me so much detail, that you could tell that it was a cherished home, not just some junk they were trying to get rid of. Their only reason for selling it, I was told, was that they had the opportunity to buy their dream RV - one with a queen bed in the back. Otherwise, if that opportunity had not come along, they would be using it for many years to come.
Dan made an appointment to go see it yesterday and was blown away by just how great the condition of it was. So we are now the proud owners of a propane powered 23' Ford Scamper! :) :) :)
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