By the time we got here from the Departure Bay ferry 20 minutes away, it was already quite dark, so we selected from one of the available spots, choosing #77, one of the sites furthest away from the water’s edge. I had thought it would be a good choice as, on the map seen below, it seemed to have a good bit of space around it and would be away from traffic, while everyone else would clammer to be on the opposite side, looking at the water.

We quickly pulled into the spot, got the jacks set up and finally settled into our Home On Wheels. We had made it over.

Come morning, we were able to check out the place in daylight; this did indeed turn out to be a good location. As nice as being able to park near the water’s edge may be, the view isn’t, at least to our minds, worth an extra $50 a month although it obviously is to others. Since neither the front window (the truck’s windshield) nor the back window (in the bedroom) are really useable, one being too low, the other being in the back and not really visible when in the main area of the RV, the only real views are out the sides of the camper. We get views of the forest, the next neighbour is a decent distance away and several feet lower, there are a few trees between us and the neighbour to the right… Perfect.

The Living Forest Campground is unlike most RV parks we have seen online or had stopped in on the way out. Situated on over 53 acres, there is a fair bit of space between most spots and they haven’t cleared out all the woods in order to cram several dozen more spots in. We don’t feel like we’re stuck in a sardine can here. When we move on, it will probably be rather difficult to find as well laid out a park for our next stop, I’m sure.

We arrived here on Friday night, Jan 7th. Although cool and with a little snow on the ground, it was nothing like the blizzardswe had just driven through. Next morning, when we actually saw the space in daylight, there had been a little bit more snow overnight, a couple of centimetres. That was fine, it was minimal and still no issue to get around. Besides, we didn’t have to shovel it. I went out and took a couple of photos before we went into town to stock up on essentials.

Pretty as this photo is, the next day we had 5 to 7 cm of snow fall. Going out to do some shopping, you would think it was several feet of snow – people didn’t really know how to drive in it and some stores were nearly empty – people were not going outside with all that snow!

Two days later, the temps were in the 15ºC area and sunny. Man, winter on the island is hard!

We booked our site for a full month with dibs on the following month as well. Since we are not yet ready to make a decision on where we will set up shop – or what “shop” will entail: job, business, permanent  location? – we want to keep exploring the island and possibly move the RV from one place to the other as we experience different locations and communities.

We have looked at a couple of businesses for sale on the island but none have jumped out to both of us as “the” one to get into. Good idea in a poor location, great idea but well outside our budget, nice place but not exactly familiar ground for either of us… There are a few choices but they, so far, seem to have a substantial problematic aspect. Like vanishing before we can get to them. Oh well, we don’t have a hard deadline at this point and can take some time finding the right “thing”.

Note: The first photo of the Living Forest sign and the park map are from the Living Forest website.

Right out of the gate the motorhome seemed to be having a hard time getting any speed up and the motor was roaring just to keep us up to 50-60 km an hour.  I was beginning to think we were having some sort of engine troubles then it dawned on me this is Southern Alberta after all and that there might be a wind blowing off the mountains.  I had Paul, the navigator, check the weather network on his iPad and it seemed that we were driving head first into a windstorm. 100 km + winds and a travel advisory against travelling around Pincher Creek and the Crowsnest Pass.  Exactly where we were headed. Undaunted we drove on. Needless to say our gas mileage for the first leg of the trip was the worst gas mileage yet.  At least the roads were clean and clear with bare pavement.  Eventually the snow started but nothing too scary and definitely nothing as bad as what we had driven through in Northern Ontario… at least, not yet.

We were almost to Creston when it started getting dark and we decided to find a place to stop for the night.  There was a fair amount of snow on the ground and amazing enough we found an RV park in Creston that was open all winter.  Scotties RV park and Campground was the first RV park we had found from Toronto to Creston that was opened in the winter.  Nice park, nice people and really decent facilities.  (Note: Photo to the right would be the park without snow; picture it with no leaves and about a foot of snow, in the dark.) Only 48 spots and it seemed like at least 20 were fulltime RVers.  Up to this point the drive had been ok but it was the next section that had me nervous, especially with a storm coming from the Coast.

Here is what British Columbia.com has to say about the next days drive. “Only intrepid travellers need apply to drive what is the highest-elevation paved highway in Canada, the Skyway. But you’ll want some time – and cooperation from the weather. During winter storms, avoid this route, particularly the stretch between Salmo and Creston.”

Yikes.

In the morning I checked the road conditions on DriveBC.com and it said that the pass was having avalanche control taking place and to expect minimum 2 hour delays.   Shortly after leaving Creston the road conditions changed drastically.  The road was steeper, the snow was coming down heavier and the roads were slippery under the snow.  The grades were crazy steep and at times I was pressing the accelerator but we didn’t speed up, the tires were just spinning and with the ice under the snow we weren’t going any faster.  There was always a sense of relief once we got to the top of a mountain as I knew that for at least the next 15-20 minutes or so we would just be coasting down the other side.

At the top of one of the passes we came across a road block and we were stopped for an hour or so for road clearing.  The heavy equipment they used was amazing.  The snow blower had a huge rotary blade at least 15 feet high and it threw the snow with amazing force into the forest way above the highest pine tree.  The plows were equally as impressive and absolutely massive.  I didn’t mind the delay. It gave time for my blood pressure to lower a bit and I knew that the roads on the other side were being cleared of snow, or at least cleared of some snow.

The rest of the drive through the mountain passes continued the same…up, down, around a corner, up, down, up, down. We kept driving through BC with stops only for gas. Somewhere before Osoyoos the roads cleared up, the snow disappeared and was replaced with rain.  The rain was a welcome change from the driving snow.

Finally we got to Hope.  I was absolutely exhausted and stopped at the side of the road to decide what to do next.  It was dark and there was no way we were going to catch a ferry to the Island and I was feeling too tired to drive through Vancouver.  With just a few phone calls we found an Hotel/RV park nearby and pulled in for the night.   This was the first time that we were able to hook the motorhome up to running water, sewer and full 50 amp electric, ever.

After a good nights sleep I was ready to get to Vancouver Island.   The kids had taken the jeep into Vancouver the night before and they were meeting us at the storage facility in Vancouver where we are keeping our furniture.  Jasmines huge cage was shipped to Alberta in the Jeep and we needed to put it  in the storage as we didn’t want to have it on the island right away. Luckily the storage place is on the way to the Ferry.

The ferry was interesting.  RV get to line up with the semi trailers and the line up was much shorter than the cars.  As we were waiting in line I was hoping that the kids were able to secure a spot on the same ferry as they were planning on going off on their own when we got to the Island. Luckily we were all on the same boat and we met them on deck, they gave Paul the keys to the jeep and we all went our own way. Driving off the ferry was interesting as I was without my navigator.  I knew roughly how to get to the RV park but was not 100% certain.  It was almost dark and I remembered that I was to watch for a railroad bridge and an A&W.  Amazing enough, I drove straight to the RV park and was almost completely checked in before Paul arrived in the Jeep.

We had made it.

We arrived in Leavitt around 11pm December 2.  It had been an extra long day of driving and just as the end of the road was near we experienced the mysterious fogging mirrors.  We had stopped for fuel just outside of Lethbridge and there was a light fog but as we entered the city the fog thickened.  Visibility was poor and we were looking to find a turnoff to the highway to go to Cardston.  Minutes before we were to change lanes to turn I noticed that the rear view mirrors had all iced over and I couldn’t see a thing behind or beside us.

Driving a 30 foot motorhome through the city is hard enough but without mirrors it’s darn near impossible.  I didn’t dare change lanes so we just followed the road we were on until we were able to safely pull over to the side of the road.  It just so happened the first safe spot to pull over was completely on the other side of Lethbridge going the opposite direction than we needed to go.  When it was finally safe I pulled over and we scraped the mirrors, turned the rig around and headed towards Cardston, our destination for December.  The fog and the moisture was not necessarily a bad thing as it was the beginning of a chinook which was a nice break from the unbearable cold that we felt in Winterpeg.

We had decided to spend Christmas in the Cardston area and we were semi house bound until our jeep arrived. We had chosen to ship the jeep to Lethbridge rather than pull it behind the motorhome. Towing the extra weight would have added significantly to the fuel bill and after passing a few semitrailers in the ditch and another one upside down in a snow bank  around Kenora Ontario I was glad that we didn’t have the extra weight behind us.   The jeep was picked up by the shippers our last morning in Burlington but was scheduled to arrive in Lethbridge a few days after us.  While waiting for the jeep to arrive we stayed around my mothers acreage and basically just relaxed, taking it easy after the previous crazy weeks of tying up loose ends, packing, cleaning, and then driving half way across the country.

After a few days of hanging around the farm the shipping company notified us that the jeep was going to arrive in Lethbridge around 10 pm Thursday night.  At the scheduled time we went to the prearranged parking lot and waited and waited.  After waiting for what seemed like hours in a deserted parking lot in the middle of the night, a car hauler pulled in with our pile of mud loaded on it.  Every inch of the jeep was coated with at least 1/2 inch of salty sandy mud.   Windows, mirrors, doors, roof, tires, everything was covered with a thick layer of mud. I tried to scrape it off but it was futile. This mess needed a serious trip or two through a car wash.  I thought the motorhome got dirty on the drive over but it was nothing compared to the jeep.

Milk River, Whisky Gap AB

With the jeep we had some freedom to explore my childhood haunts.  Our first road trip was to Whiskey Gap.  Whiskey gap is approx 20 miles South East of Cardston. This is where I lived when we first moved to the Cardston area.  Back in the days of prohibition it was a booming town involved in illegal trade between Canadians and Americans and the natives of, you guessed it, whiskey.  Today its a ghost town.

Entering Waterton Park

Our next trip was to Waterton Park.  Waterton Park is one of my favorite places on earth and we went there a few times through the month to just hang out.  The townsite is deserted in the winter and the deer literally take over when the people are gone.

“Everyone in Alberta gets their photo in front of these falls.”

Waterton Deer and “Brokeback” Mountain

The drive into Waterton is absolutely stunning.  Brokeback Mountain was filmed here. One of our trips into Waterton extended through to Pincher Creek and to the entrance of the Crowsnest Pass.

Pincher Creek is windmill central with literally hundreds of windmills surrounding the city.  Pincher is a perfect location to have windmills as the wind never stops blowing and its not just a breeze, its gale force winds, all the time.  The bad winds will be very apparent next month as we return with the motor home.

Just past Pincher Creek is the entrance to the Crowsnest Pass, the first pass through the Rocky Mountains.  We drove into Crowsnest Pass several miles to get a feeling for the road that we would eventually be travelling on our way to Vancouver Island.  It was encouraging to see the semi trailers coming though because I felt that if they could do it, I could do it as well.

Frank Slide, AB

Our only stop (besides Tim Hortons and A&W) on that day trip was Frank Slide.  Frank slide is very cool and kinda eerie at the same time.  It is a natural landslide off a mountain that covered part of the town of Frank in 1903.  To this day, the mountain continues to shift and it’s only a matter of time before the rest of the mountain comes down.  HUGE house sized boulders cover the area below the mountain – click the photo and check the size of the boulders next to the observation platform. Its interesting to see that in over a hundred years there is still almost no vegetation growing at all save a tree or two….weird.

While in Cardston we were able to attend some live shows and a few movies at the Carriage House Theatre.  Carriage House is a really neat community theatre in Cardston and Paul got a private tour back stage of the dressing rooms, the wardrobe areas, the green room,  and the props and sets storage areas. Travelling around the old stomping grounds was kinda fun and it was neat to see how things had changed since I had been there last, some places as long as 25 years ago.

The rest of the month was typical Christmas activities, reunions, eating, and eating some more.  Most importantly time was spent winding down from the past two months stressors of selling DeQuincy Gardens, packing and shipping and gearing up for the drive to the West Coast.

In a few hours, we’ve finished Manitoba and head into Saskatchewan. Nothing eventful in that last stretch to report; the roads were flat and it was cold.

Saskatchewan though was quite different: it was a bit warmer. The roads were still flat and we actually saw one or two slight curves. With a break or two for beverages and lunch, we motored on steadily.

This is what Saskatchewan looks like:

After numerous hours of the above or slight variations thereof (I swear there were one or two bends!) we eventually got out  of Saskatchewan and into Alberta. Alas, by that time the sun was down so I have no photos to post. There was also not very much difference in the roads until we got a little past Medicine Hat.

The cold spell we were driving through broke and, some 50 km out of Lethbridge, we ran into a more foggy situation. Now this caused issues. Because it was still quite cold but there was plenty of moisture in the air, our side mirrors iced up. We stopped for a re-fuel somewhere near Lethbridge, washed off the windshield and the mirrors but as soon as we left, the mirrors rather quickly went all icy again. To the point we could not see to change lanes, let alone navigate a somewhat convoluted turn off the main highway right smack downtown (Lethbridge is a sizeable city) and onto the highway down towards Cardston. We were somewhat forced to continue on pass right through Lethbridge and hope to find an easier road southward but this turned out to be quite problematic.

We were well past Lethbridge University by the time traffic was empty enough and the ability to turn safely was possible. Getting out credit cards, we scraped the ice off the side mirrors; this gave us a few minutes of clear vision, enough to turn around and head back into Lethbridge. We had to scrape the ice away again once or twice to complete the turn off and finally, we were on straight enough road. Soon, the fog vanished and eventually, the mirrors cleared and stayed that way.

From there we passed by a couple of Mark’s old home towns which he indicated while pointing into complete darkness; we’d get to check these out in daylight in a few days. Into MacGrath, we were on the lookout for random deers possibly crossing the roads – seems MacGrath was built right smack on a deer migration path and they expected the deer to change their course. They did not. Many a deer and many a car have regretted that decision.

Fortunately, we saw none, although there was a big red smear on the road at one point.

Eventually, at about 11 pm on December 2nd, after traveling through three provinces, we finally pulled into “Home Base” in Leavitt AB, and parked the RV at Mark’s mom’s house. We had made it to our first destination where we were going to hang out until the holidays.

The tight sleeping quarters were a bit of a problem; we had not planned that change of bed too well. Next time: more blankets!

After taking the dogs out for a quick pee and making sure the bird was secure, we went into Marathon proper, filled up with gas at a… SPG? (Swipe, Pump and Go) station, grabbed some coffees and muffins at the local Robins Nest and headed west for day three.

A note on the people we’ve met so far: Mostly gas station attendants and coffee servers but by and large a bunch of friendly and warm folk. For example, this morning getting into the gas station. Nice lady, even if gravelly of voice (probably smokes and beer) came out to help us with the gas card. Pointing out that the cards were typically topped off at $100 automatically, and showed us how to get a second fill from the same card. Lots of hon’s and friendly demeanour, even at 5 am.

With a light bit of snow falling, we now head off west towards Terrace bay, Schreiber and Thunder Bay. The radio man tell us that the Schreiber/Terrace Bay SkiDoo Association is offering this year’s winter permits at $50 off if you get them before midnight tonight. They are available at Mac’s Home Hardware which is open until 8 pm.

It is barely 6:30 a.m. when we zoom past Schreiber and I point out to Mark where Kim’s family lives, where his gran sold her little stone sculptures and how there was a burger shack back when where today there’s a KFC and a series of other shops. Schreiber is booming.

By the time the sun has risen we’re well on the way to Thunder bay where we are hoping to find a proper Trailer Dump site so we cn empty the water holding tanks. We carefully make our way through downtown TB to the back of the arena to find… the dump is closed for the season.  We’re having no luck locating an open trailer dump, this is the third we’ve hit, this one specifically because it was listed as open all year. So with trailer bladders still full, we head on back out. Another one is listed in Kenora.

Between Thunder Bay and Dryden, the roads are pretty hilly and a rather strong snowfall with winds made driving a little difficult. Although pretty to look at, not the fave conditions to be tooling around in an RV.

Mark shows off his reddened hands from steering the RV so tightly on a rather poorly cleared road and with transport trucks zooming by at high speeds. It’s interesting to see how long stretches of the highway can be cleared quite well, then the next is very rough and not well plowed. It seems to really depend on the plow operator’s willingness to do a fast or a good job. So kudos to those who make a point of clearing snow right down to the road and not just skimming.

It was during this stretch of the trip that Jasmine decided she would poop while gripping on with steel-like toes to the side of her cage due to the very rough and bumpy ride. It should be noted here that her cage happened to be right above the passenger’s seat. Where I was sitting. “Crap” said I. Both literally and figuratively. A quick hop back to grab a wet towel and I think I got most of it out of my hair and off the coat.

Dryden was uneventful, if nothing else but more of the winding and sometimes snowy and very bumpy driving. As we were approaching Kenora, it was starting to get dark. We were hoping our information was accurate: a Husky gas station there had both propane and a dump.

Mark was reticent about getting into mid-town Kenora as he’d been there the past summer and in a small rental car found driving through this town difficult. Trying to manoeuvre an RV in winter was many times worse. The roads were not well cleared and narrow roads were even narrower with snowbanks. People seemed somewhat careless in their driving and walking. A kid on a skidoo nearly clipped us as we were tryingto get into the gas station.

And of course, there was no dump. “Used to be, not any more”. But they did have propane which we’d been hunting for for a fair while. With the cold nights, the heater was on pretty much consistently to keep the inside of the RV warm enough (even if cool) for Jasmine.

Filled with propane, gas and still full of dump water, we wrangled our way through downtown Kenora without killing anyone or even denting anything. From here, it was a bit more hilly, snowy, winding roads as we headed to the Manitoba border.

Then like magic, we hit the Manitoba border. We had to do some minor instant repair to the generator exhaust which had broken a strap during the bumpy ride (a little MacGyver attitude helps in these situation, as does a metal coat hanger) and off we went into this next province. And somehow, they had gotten rid of all the mountains.

Literally, as soon as you hit the border, all the up and down and sidewinding we’d been doing since Marathon stopped and the road was flat and straight. It’s like the two provinces decided on completely different topography.

With the smoother ride beneath us, we soon got to and beyond Winnipeg and carried on to a little trucker’s gas station (around Fortier, I think). We decided to stop and grab a bite, have a pee break for both humans and dogs and settle in for a few hours shut eye.

Stepping outside, it was bitterly cold, around -18. Without a plug for the block heater, the engine would need to be turned on every hour or so to warm up as it was going to get even colder overnight.

So equipped with more blankets, we got us some shut eye and hoped the RV would stay warm enough for the bird and us.

We easily make it up to Sudbury and zoom by it.

Our next stop: Sault Ste. Marie. We stop at Wal*Mart (yes, sorry) and I run in to grab some McFood. 45 minutes later(!!), I emerge with a couple burgers. We chomp it down and we are off again, this time heading north along Lake Superior towards Wawa.

We note a sign saying “no more gas for xxx KMs” and look at the gas gauge – we won’t make it. So after about 10 minutes, we finally find a spot to turn around and head back towards the last gas station we saw. We fill up on Premium, the only kind they had there (they were upgrading their pumps) and head back up. Word to the wise: fill up in Sault Ste Marie where the gas is a tad cheaper if you are low.

About halfway up, we stop at a lookout spot and see a striking view of Lake Superior near sunset.

Lake Superior looking westward

This spot is called Alona Bay Lookout.

And that’s our first actual photo of Glinda, the motorhome’s unofficial name as well as Mark, the official pilot.

(Technical note: You can click on pretty much any picture on this blog to see a larger sized version.)

We get back in after this brief photographic break and keep going towards Wawa. By the time we get there, it’s rather late, completely dark and we can not find any places to park for the night. So we decide to head on further.

So much for the “casual, meandering pace” we had talked about. However, we wanted to take advantage of the fairly good weather we were encountering and cover as much distance as we could.

We carried on and finally chose to park at a Tourism Info booth in Marathon. There was just one 18 wheeler there so we parked away from him a bit, decided to not sleep in the bed at back but pull out the sofa into a (somewhat tight) double bed which meant less heating required.

We make pretty decent time on our way to the first potential stop, Barrie, but as we got there at about 8 p.m., Mark felt ok to carry on so we headed onward towards Parry Sound.

We went a little further past Parry Sound to a spot near Horseshoe Lake where there was a truckers’ rest stop. This is where we set up for the night. At this point, there was a fair bit of snow that had fallen, not much traffic and only a few rigs in the parking lot. Signs posted there said “2 Hour maximum” but we hung out for about 6. It was about midnight when we stopped and let the dogs have a pee. We went to bed in the back of the RV on the actual bed, although the slide was closed, and after a few hours’ sleep, started off again.

Pretty good distance for what was a half day.

At 3:30, Mark goes to the lawyer to pick up The Cheque and drop it immediately in the bank. When he comes back, we are going to try and make sure all is in its place and tucked away. The bird’s small cage is Velcro’d to the shelf above the passenger’s seat, the last of the laundry is dropped on the bed, we just need to get everything organized and battened down and ready for actual movement.

However, at 4:30, the new owner’s moving van shows up and they want to start unloading. Right now. Mark comes back from the bank and we scramble to stuff the last bits in wherever we can. We still haven’t found a place to empty the black and grey tanks, there’s no fresh water in the main tank, the new owner (nice lady) arrives, apologizes for being too early but the somewhat surly movers are already at it so no sense making a huge deal of it.

We pull the motorhome out of the driveway and park it a bit further down the street. A few last minute good-byes to the neighbours (including our awesome, single neighbour Gail) and we take off, even if a little frazzled from the very quick and slightly too early exit.

But we are officially gone. On the road and heading west for a future unknown.

Paul & Mark

Once upon a time, there lived a couple of middle aged guys, Mark and Paul, who were doing the daily, expected type stuff, working to pay the bills, the mortgage, hoping somehow to get to the end without too much hassle. They had a house in the suburbs, two great dogs, a bird and decent health even though the occasional aches and pains reminded them they were no longer youngsters.

And in case you were wondering, yes they were gay and had been together for nearly 15 years. Although this fact enters the story, it isn’t the primary point at all.

Life wasn’t really bad, in fact it was alright but it certainly wasn’t awesome. Working at jobs that had long lost any pretence of interest, they trudged along on a somewhat ho-hum road.

Although both had their own particular hobbies which could elevate them for a while, one gardening, the other baking bread, these seemed to still be unable to overcome the general sense that the wheels were spinning but there wasn’t really much movement. Time was marching on and things weren’t really changing a whole lot.

Then in early summer of 2010, Mark was sent out to teach a new product (he represented a medical equipment manufacturer) to hospital staff on Vancouver Island in British Columbia for a week or so. He was quite thrilled as Vancouver Island was somewhat renown for it’s great weather and beautiful gardens. On his time off, he could check the local horticulture and get ideas he may be able to transplant back to Southern Ontario. Another bonus was that the hospitals were spread over the island so he would also be able to check out several areas and not be stuck in once city for the entire duration.

Island Highway

So visits to places like Butchart Gardens and the tropical feel of home gardens in Tofino were highlights of the trip. The work while there was, well, same-old same-old.

A month or two later, Mark’s work required another trip out to Vancouver Island which happen to very conveniently start right after the Labour Day long weekend. Seeing the opportunity, Paul and Mark decided to make it a mini three day vacation, flying in a few days ahead to really look around the island, check out areas and property with the idea of eventually moving and, maybe, starting up their own business.

With their time rather limited, they hopped from here to there to get a feel of several locations, checked out available houses and considered where they could set up shop. They went through several scenarios, from opening a coffee shop to starting a yurt-based B&B. Although none of the houses they were shown was a perfect fit, even though a couple were wonderful if overpriced (as were several bad ones) by the end of the weekend they had decided that moving to BC was decidedly in the realm of possible.

Lake Cowichan

Once they had both returned home, more thought was put into the project and, after several total changes of plans, it was decided that they’d get themselves a recreational vehicle (a.k.a. an RV), pack up the ‘kids’ and house and just get out there. Mark’s job was a contract position nearing its end and he had no interest in renewing the contract; Paul’s cleaning service business was ok but not worth holding them back from this bold move.

Now the question was: “Do we make the big jump?” Selling off as much as possible and basically just dropping out of what was a somewhat comfortable and quite predictable life would not be the typical thing to do. But after just a little pondering, the answer was a definite “Yes!”.

It was time to get off the hamster wheel and make their own path.

After a little searching and visiting RV shows and dealer lots, they found what they hoped was a great motor home, a 2004 Glendale Royal Classic which was shortly christened “Glenda, Princess of the North”.

Putting the house up for sale and finding a buyer in only 8 hours was a big boost to the plans; it meant they could head out sooner which was good as they were getting into late fall and would in fact start their trek across Canada in the last few days of November.

They packed as much as they could into a moving and storage pod which would then be sent separately to live in storage in Vancouver, got their papers in order and researched the cost of shipping their cars out west. After a flurry of paperwork and some restless nights, they were just about ready to hop into their RV, dogs and bird safely in their respective cages, and drive off the driveway for the last time and head on out.

And that’s just about where we start this blog…