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So Chris and I have done a lot of traveling for the last few years, across Canada, Europe, Australia and Alaska. I love traveling (and so does Chris) but it is getting harder on us for different reasons. Myself, it is the vision. It frustrates me to no end that my vision and brain are not working as a team, it takes so long for me to scan what I am seeing and for my brain to decide it needs more vision to compute a picture, saying this means it has become increasingly more difficult to see. If you see a half of an apple, your brain gives you a whole apple. Simple really, most of us do this, we take our vision for granted and become complacent to what we see. We all know what a whole apple looks like so we really don’t think about it too much. For me, I see part of an apple, it looks familiar, but not familiar. I have to work harder to focus, blink my eyes (hoping that it helps, but doesn’t) willing my brain to work faster for me to see that whole apple. I guess this is difficult to describe. . I have missed so much of what others are seeing and by the time I see all the detail, is painstakingly slow. So in defeat, I move on to scan and view other things. The photographs I take really help me so see more details, architecture and landscapes than in person. I hardly used my cane, those cobblestones, fast cyclists and cars were just to difficult to maneuver with, but I did carry it and have used it whenever possible. All this wonderful exploring we did meant there was a new surrounding I had to adjust to every day. Very challenging indeed. I sometimes felt like I was in some Escape Room, trying to figure out all the clues before I can get out. This came with many bruises, some panicking, tears and yes, laughter. These frustrations encourages me to push on, I can’t let this part of me go, adventuring is in my blood. This summer we settled into Port Alberni, perhaps only for awhile - a familiar town with familiar people, simple, right? Wrong. This move was truly an eye opener for me - of course I didn’t expect to be like it was when we lived here before, but what were my expectations? Support, friendships (old and new) and familiarity of my surroundings. I knew I had lost some more vision, little blurry islands keep appearing in my central vision, my precious central vision, and hey, I even get strange people that aren’t there within my absent peripheral view. I think, woah, I see dead people! Haha, okay, this has only happened to me a few times and I knew what was happening, so it didn’t frighten me. It is called Charles Bonnet Syndrome and it is common with vision loss. Google it, if you are curious. I was running on a familiar route - one I have done many, many times, I remember the route perfectly...in my head. All I did was take one turn and I ended up somewhere else completely different. I did have my rungo app on at the time but it was the first time I recorded it so it wasn’t going to help me from getting lost. The only solution to this was backtracking, about 1.5 kms. How did I do that? Go so far and take that one turn and ending up somewhere else? Easy, I stopped to look at my phone - a text came through, so I responded and then looked up. Suddenly, I couldn’t figure out where I was. It was that simple. I still remember the route vividly, but the houses had changed, and this made my run a little more complicated. So I stand there on a corner of the street, looking both ways and my brain is only giving me the information of what I used to see on this route I have seen so many times before. Frustrating as it was, it made me realize that I can not just rely on my memory anymore, because things have changed as did my vision. Realizing this, I backtracked and made my turn where I should of gone in the first place and was running back on track. Whew, I was relieved that I found my way again - mind you, this run took a lot longer than I expected. On the bright side, I did 3 kms extra on that run! Now after nearly four months living here I am able to keep up my 3-4 days a week running. I have avoided busy streets and South Port as much as possible until recently. I got bored of the short routes and wanted to expand my distance - which meant going through some busy sections of town. Poor old Dudley, he does not like the traffic much, it intimidates him too. Normally he leans towards me so I don’t drift too far from the side of the road - he’s helpful that way. I guess dogs are like people, as we age we become less brave and adventurous so we stay within our own comfort zone. I shudder to think one day he will not be running beside me... More grief. Retinitis Pigmentosa, a degenerative progressive disease that takes away your independence and put you in full throttle with grief like an old clock. It stops (remission period), you rewind (adjustment and grief period) and then you keep on ticking (life goes on period) until it stops again. Sometimes you just want to throw that watch and stomp on it (just end this progression) and it will all be over. But, and there is a big but, having that little bit of vision is something I am grateful for. God, I remember when I had 20 degrees of vision left, I thought my life was over! Wow, little did I know and imagined that it would get worst, much worse. I did appreciate that 20 degrees, but grief did get a hold of me, like it always does. I get tired of it. I now understand what my dear friend said to me once about going blind, “I just want it to be over, I am tired of all this bullshit”. Chris and I went to a backyard party early November and as we driving to our friends place, the sun was going down and the sky lit up with beautiful hues of pink, orange and yellow, already my anxiety level was rising. It meant, it is going to be dark and I will be isolated in a chair, listening to the sounds of children running and people laughing. I was imagining myself standing laughing along with them. But I wasn’t. I felt like I was in a big puzzle with so many missing pieces, falling away from everything. What was left of the puzzle was sounds that I couldn’t decipher. I felt panicked, and I think Chris had sensed that my nerves were starting to unravel. It was time to go home. As we head to the car, my throat tightened and I was desperately holding back my flowing tears. Some time ago on FaceBook I posted that I was going to quit running due to vision loss and an aging dog...and yet, here we are still chugging along like a couple of old trains trying to get to the top of the hill. It is still possible to maintain fitness and I guess I will just have to keep figuring it out.
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I feel tugged here in New Brunswick, don’t ask me why? Maybe because I feel there are no family left. Since my Dad died in December, it felt as if the fabric of my family deteriorated to mere threads. Some friends and relatives don’t visit, instead they lurk on facebook just to check up, yes, I am still here and still happy. So why not move somewhere different? We have trains, planes and automobiles to reconnect. A good excuse to have friends come out and see other parts of Canada - the beautiful east coast. I want you to see what I see. After nearly a week of searching for our ‘new’ home, we left without one. So my mind drifted to other locations as the miles pass. Oh it is beautiful here, beautiful there, oh where oh where shall our new home be? Time was getting on and we needed to head back to BC (we are not prepared for winter; tires or clothes). We decided to drive to Edmundston stay one night and spend a little more time in Quebec City as we didn’t get there before. Well, we found an Airbnb just outside which turned out to be something of an awkward experience. We parked our car, in condo world where all the buildings looked the same in style and colour, even the curbs had no appeal. No creative flair here. We were greeted by our host, he seemed friendly enough, but as we stepped inside, he quickly picked up his little dog in fear of any canine conflicts. Dudley ignored the shoebox sized dog (couldn’t describe what breed it was other than its size) while we were chatting with our host, going over rules, house key, etc. There sat his girlfriend at the kitchen table studying and was cool as ice, she spoke french and made no efforts to smile when introduced. Awkward for sure. We headed into our tiny little space of a bedroom and quickly unpacked our daily sundries and prepared for bed...it was only 8pm! Our hosts went out for dinner and we then quickly heated our prepared meals in the microwave, ate and showered. We were in bed before 9pm. Come morning, we quickly cleaned up, got dressed, and in a blink of an eye, we were gone. It was only 6:45am. We took advantage of the early escape to spend the day exploring old Quebec City. For 5 hours we strolled through the old cobblestone streets, marveled at the architecture, took in breathtaking views of the St. Lawrence River, Governors Promenade walk, Plains of Abraham, and of course stopped for lunch at a wonderful little cafe. While we dined outside the cafe, Dudley charmed the tourists as they strolled by, giving him a stroke or two along with compliments of his alluring beauty. By late afternoon, we headed back to our car and continued our journey towards Ontario. Weather started to turn, rain was pelting, thunder started to roll and lightning stuck a bolt or two. By this time we were scrambling to find a place to stay. We stopped in a little town called Lachute (not too far from the Ontario border). Chris found Le Lorraine Motel, parked and dashed into the office to see if he could get us a room. The thunder clapped again, followed by another clash of lightning, I anxiously waited for Chris’s return, this place gives me the heebie jeebies. At last I see Chris dashing back to the car. We drove around to the back of the hotel, and I thought to myself, at least we are not facing the traffic noise. Chris parked the car, dashed into the room to turn on all the lights. I soon followed him in. I don’t think we slept very well, it was raining and thundering all through the night. Well, this place is not getting a good review, that is for sure. Nothing has changed since 1953, I swear the linens were original as well. Nevermind, we got ready and got the hell out. The fog blanketed the roads and visibility was poor, I think I was leaning towards the dashboard hoping to see more of the road, I can’t imagine how tense Chris was driving under these conditions. As we approached closer to the Ontario border, we saw a sign that said “ferry”, so we made a spontaneous decision to take it, not knowing what to expect. Well, within 5 minutes the ferry came. Time was on our side, yes it was. This petite cable ferry glided towards us, I must say, I was surprised by this, it was nothing like the BC ferries. I think only 6 cars could fit on this thing, and was not even a 10 minute crossing. The fog wore off and it was sunny for our mini cruise which meant it will be a good day for driving. Judith (Chris’s sister) sent me a message yesterday asking about the casserole dish we made for them a couple weeks ago - the cheesy cornflake topping, so I responded “I will show you tomorrow”, her response was, “I’ll put the kettle on.” I think she thinks I was kidding, we were now only a couple hours away from Peterborough. We pulled into their driveway, and Judith was sending off the last daycare child. She looked, and looked again, her expression was priceless. Surprise! We ended staying with them for nearly a week and had a pleasant Thanksgiving dinner. It was the first time Chris and I were able to celebrate Thanksgiving as family since we have been together. We were more used to running a marathon in Victoria. Even Larry (brother-in-law and is allergic to dogs) was taken by Dudley’s charm. It gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling. So fuzzy, that we contacted a real estate agent. Unfortunately, we didn’t see a house we wanted to call ‘home’. After nearly a week in Peterborough, we had to get back on the road and with daily weather checks, going north west was still ‘safe’ from any threats of snow for driving. We did not want to spend too much time in Ontario, being a pretty big province our days of driving across was about 4 days. From Peterborough to Sudbury to Kapuskasing to Kenora, with many roadside stops and detours to capture the beauty of lakes, rivers and waterfalls. We passed Manitoba in a day's drive stayed overnight in Brandon at a hotel, the next day we booked into an AirBnb just outside of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. After a well rested night we head off to “Cowboy Country”. You guessed it, Alberta! We decided to stay for 2 nights in Edmonton. It was a good decision as Chris was tired from the long days driving through flat lands of Manitoba and Saskatchewan. We have never been to the well-known Edmonton mall and ventured out for a few hours. It was a monstrosity of a mall, I felt like we were lab rats in a maze. We saw the swimming pool, skating rink, hotel and some kind of miniature ocean park containing a couple of sad, bored harbour seals. We bought some coffee and a pathetic overpriced cinnamon bun that surely to put us in diabetic coma. All I can say is, we came, we saw and we left. Now I can say we have seen it. Would I want to make a special trip to see it again? No, a mall is a mall. I prefer eccentric, unique, ma and pa type shops and restaurants. After our 2 day break, we headed for Hinton, a bordertown near BC. We stayed at a AirBnB with a delightful young family, mom with 2 young kids that followed us into our room, up to the kitchen, down to the bathroom, and even upon waking up, as soon as we opened the door, they were on our bed chatting away like we were their long lost relatives. It was endearing and amusing. When we left, the young boy hugged our legs saying, I love you as we were leaving. Aww, those kids really grew on us during our 16 hour stay. They were such a nice little family. Dudley especially enjoyed the backyard running and playing with their two dogs, and it didn’t take long for him to bark at the door to get inside and away from the hyper dogs when he had enough. Next stop was Kamloops, BC. We were happy to visit our good friends once again. We spent all our waking hours chatting, laughing and enjoying each others company. As much as we enjoyed our visit for the last two days, we needed to continue our last leg of the journey. Our friends suggested the Sea to Sky highway as a scenic route back to the island. So glad we did this. All in a day we drove through the old ghost town near Cache Creek, Marble Canyon, to overlooking the mighty Fraser River running through the sleepy town of Lillooet down to the vibrant ski town of Squamish. In that days drive we also had every possible weather: sun, rain, snow, winds and from warm to freezing cold. Last stop for the day we booked into a little cabin near Squamish in a campground. We enjoyed this little gem of a cabin for four days. While enjoying this break from driving, we did much exploring the area. Highlight was hiking the Shannon Falls, riding the Sea to Sky gondola and the Skywalk. The views just take your breath away, I felt truly grateful being able to see the beauty, and having Chris beside me. I wanted that image to remain forever, stored in my brain so I can recollect it when my vision finally dims completely. My memories will be like the best picture postcards, those you will never find in any book. They are uniquely mine, forever to keep - the best part? I got to share all of this trip with Chris. I would not trade this experience for anything! I suddenly felt sad that our trip was nearing to an end. We decided to prolong it by taking a detour to the Sunshine Coast staying in an AirBnB at Porpoise Bay. We explored a couple of trails hiking to the top of a mountain and a waterfalls, the name of which escapes me. As a reward for our calorie burning exercise we treated ourselves to a calorie inducing lunch at the best cafe in town (or anywhere for that matter) - if you are ever in Powell River go to the ‘Base Camp’ cafe, you will not be disappointed! Before embarking the ferry to Vancouver Island, we paid it another visit for coffee and breakfast to go. If the car breaks down, that would be okay. I wouldn’t complain if we got stuck here in paradise. It is now October 28th and our cross Canada trip is officially over. We are already talking about doing this all over again in the spring. Our trip is all heart and all vision. ...in the meantime, we are currently staying in an AirBnB up on the mountains north of Qualicum awaiting for spring to arrive. Ever have something that you swear you could not live without, and it changed your life? The ever fast paced world of technology changing and updating is making my life easier. Yes, easier. You can have a love - hate relationship with new technology. I choose to love it, even though I do not understand all of it, but I do understand it has been part of my life since 1967. I bet you are wondering, what technology was there in 1967 that could be life changing. Imagine being parents of a 2 year old child telling them that your child is intellectually challenged and must be put in an institute. That can be devastating news, but my parents believed otherwise. So after a year of many trips to Vancouver for testings, a doctor finally came up with a diagnosis that my parents could accept. I was diagnosed with severe hearing loss. In 1967, I was fitted with a hearing aid. My first reaction (and I still remember this) to the hearing aid was I pulled it out of my ear and threw it. I did not like it at first. It took a long time to adjust and while I was learning to adjust, my parents (along with several others) advocated to have the School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Then I was being taught sign language and learning to speak, my parents enrolled in a correspondence course from the John Tracey Clinic, a school in Los Angeles, California (Actor, Spencer Tracy’s son was deaf and this inspired the actor to start a clinic to help parents teach their deaf children to lip read/speak). It was a busy time for my mother, devoting many hours a day teaching me to speak, sound out words, and reading. Techn0logy was working and I was mainstreamed into regular classes in school shortly thereafter. Thirteen years later another diagnosis once again devasted my parents, I was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa (Usher syndrome - progressive vision loss and hearing loss). At the age of 16, RP has not affected me at the time, that came much later in life when I noticed the tunnel in my vision. I then realized, I was going blind. It wasn’t until 2011 that new digital aids changed my hearing world, it was a life altering experience. I could hear rain for the first time, it was a beautiful sound. Walking into a BOSE store, we were listening to music, and again, for the first time I could hear a flute playing amongst the symphony. I was never able to hear those things before. It is the little things that can make such an impact. Running with the #RunGoApp and #AppleWatch is another example of life changing technology. It may be a small change for some, but for me, it has given me my confidence back and keeps me running. It is a passion of mine: running and technology - a perfect catalyst for adaptation. Because of these wearable technology, it has given me new lease on maintaining an active life. Though I live with Usher syndrome (progressive vision loss/hearing), I do not fear it, for I have technology to help me along the way. I have many apps on my #iphone and #ipad that adapts to what I need to do in order to keep writing, reading and creating. I believe in the very near future technology will be so advanced that I will be able to maintain my running even with total vision loss. Imagine a world without technology - I would have been institutionalized, perhaps not able to communicate, to hear, to read or do any things that I love to do today. So yes, I choose to love technology. I have much gratitude to those who work tirelessly to improve our everyday life through technology. Curious minds creates innovative ideas that can have an impact in our lives, as it did for me. Check out the video below from RunGoApp . After a couple days stay at the Comfort Inn (Dartmouth, NS), we pack up our car once again. Dudley is always the first to be in, it is ritual that he carries his own leash into the car. He sits and waits patiently as we load up. I had noticed the night before my Zagg keyboard was wonky, Chris and I tried to fix it a couple times and realised it is beyond fixable. We had decided to go to the nearest Best Buy and get a new one. Chris bought me this fantastic Logi keyboard that instantly pairs with the iPad and needs no charging...ever! We are still traveling with no real plans, weather was also continues to be in our favour and that morning Chris says, “Lets go to Prince Edward Island!” So while we are driving, I check for accommodations on my #iPhone - we booked into a cottage near Charlottetown for 3 nights. Our host looked like a 70 year old Anne of Green Gables…I’m not kidding, she had fading red hair, freckles with straight cut bangs, wearing a pale green gingham shirt. All she needed was braids, straw hat and a pinafore. It was nice to be in a kitchen again, cooking our own meals. We prefer home cooked meals and it is hard to find decent accommodations with a kitchen that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. So we made Spicy Bean wraps enough for 2 nights. A big challenge with this trip is eating healthily and avoiding as much take-outs and restaurants as possible. Our first PEI adventure was a drive to Rustico Beach where did some beachcombing, looking for beach glass. Dudley was busy looking for people to play with, while we hunt for glass. A man came up to me and asked, “Have you ever seen petrified wood?” I looked up and said, “not for a very long time.” He showed me a piece he found on the beach, of course I was fascinated by it. He then asked me if I was looking for beach glass. I was surprised by this, especially after saying yes, he gave me his findings in a coffee cup. It was full of different coloured glass. I was like a kid in a candy shop. Now, there was a lot of people doing the very same thing as us, and of all the people on the beach, he chose me. I am flabbergasted by the kindness and friendliness wherever we go, especially in Atlantic Canada. The next day we drove to Anne of Green Gables, because you just have to when you visit PEI. We had a lot of fun there, walking in the trails, eating ice-cream and checking out the story inspired place Anne of Green Gables was written. Lush green hills bordered with vibrant coloured flowers and monarch butterflies fluttering from flower to flower. A serene place to be. We drove along some beautiful country roads nearly all over the island and made a few vista stops along the way. We had beautiful weather during our whole stay on the island. As per usual, Dudley was the first in the car ready for our next adventure. Our next destination was Cape Breton Island, we booked into a decent motel in Whycocomagh. We were neighbours to a couple from Waterloo, ON and sat on our outside porch and chatted about our adventures over a glass of wine. They mentioned about moving to Moncton when they retire because they loved the location (especially the Bay of Fundy/Hopewell area). We planned our couple days stay, first the Cabot Trail, then the Alexander Graham Bell Museum and Inverness (and a few side trips along the way). The Cabot Trail was incredible, we did a little hike for about an hour and half. While we happily trekked along at a leisurely pace, a big black bear was spotted on the trail. We talked loudly to scare the bear away, and luckily it went off into the woods and was not seen again. That was a bit exciting. We spent the whole day driving around Cabot Trail; to our surprised it was all on roads, not wooded trails. After the Cape Breton adventure, we headed to the beautiful Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick. We saw the famous Flower Pots. Though I have seen pictures of it many times, it is never quite the same when you see it with your very own eyes. The natural sculptured red sandstones stood before us at such magnificent heights, while the evergreens on top happily bask in the glorious sunshine. I can see why they called it the flower pots, but you can also see something else. When you see the pictures (below) you just might see the mama bear and the cub wading in the ocean. This has inspired me to draw and I couldn’t wait to start. Back in Halifax again, this time we contacted a real estate agent so we booked an Airbnb for 4 nights at Charlotte Lake. Our room was actually an old motel from the 50’s decorated in 80’s decor. I am not going to bore you with the details but I will say this, “Do not stay here!” Our search for a new home seems to be fruitless in Halifax, out of those five days we saw 5 houses, none of which we really liked except one out on Porter Lake, drawback was no outlook and no yard. We knew it was time to move on, so we went back to New Brunswick, this time we stayed in Fredericton (Capital of NB). It was a pretty town, a lot smaller than I expected for a capital city. Airbnb has proved to be a great way to save money on accommodations and to meet people. We were only here for two days and spent our time here walking the trails along the St. John river and relaxing on the deck sketching, writing and actually cooking meals in our little basement suite. After our little break, we head headed to Quebec and stayed a night in Riviere du Loup. Very picturesque little town, a lot of well maintained old homes with rolling hills, old farmhouses and grazing cows. Chris and I went for dinner in a wonderful little Italian restaurant (Le Patrice) and enjoyed a bottle of Chianti, baked brie and pasta. After much discussion, we decided to go back to Moncton to look for a home. This has been trying times for both of us, being on the road had taken a toll us, especially Chris, he is driving long hours and being uncomfortable most times. It is frustrating to no end that I can not drive - I would love to drive. I think I would share the love of driving like my Dad did. It was not uncommon for him to drive to Mt. Baker (US) to ski the next day and drive back, or drive to Oregon to visit a friend for the weekend. He loved the drive to Ucluelet because of the winding steep roads all with a leaded foot. I envision that is how I would drive too. Back in Moncton, we connected online to a real estate agent and booked our stay for 5 nights with AirBnB. We were set out to look for our next home. We wanted a house big enough to have family and friends to stay with us when visiting...or possibly become AirBnB hosts ourselves. Why not? It would be fun to meet people from all over the world. This is our second stay at the same AirBnB host, we formed a friendship, exchanged contact details and cooked dinner for her and her friend using all fresh vegetables from her garden. Making friends here in Moncton is easy and I think we would fit nicely here. We will soon find out...Hi ho, hi ho, happy house hunting we go! VIP TIP: Ask for brighter light bulbs at the hotel or bring a package of 100watts energy saving bulbs. (Which I forget to do every time). AND carry a flashlight with you all the time. It sure comes in handy for those lurking dark corners searching for your things when packing up or for simple things like making coffee. Sept 1-12/2017 Saying goodbye to family is never easy, but after a week of family bliss we must continue our cross-country journey as nights are getting colder and snowy days is not too far away. On our way to Ottawa, we booked into another AirBnb for 2 nights in Carlsbad Springs. What a pleasant stay it was! Our host was ever so kind and looked after Dudley while we headed into the city to visit the Canadian War Museum and check out the Byward Market Square. Oh the smells of fries, fudge and baked goods filled my nostrils with delight while all the arts and crafts was a colourful feast to my eyes. Markets are a great place to stimulate your desire for creativity, which I really had lost touch with for quite some time. I have to thank my sister in law Lee for helping me find my way back to art. While in Peterborough, we were sitting on the deck, she was painting different colours of maple leaves on her little travel art pad, while I aimlessly doodled on an old canvas I had. It didn’t matter that I wasn’t really creating anything special. What mattered was the time we shared, talking about art. I thought to myself, at our next opportunity to get to an arts store, I am going to buy some paper, pens and pencils. Back to Ottawa, as luck would have it, we were able to have a nice visit with our friends George and Shelley catching up with all the events in our lives. After 2 nights in Ottawa we headed east to Laval, Quebec. Our first sightseeing stop was on Mont Royal. As we stood on the lookout overlooking the city of Montreal, I couldn’t help but wonder what my parents were thinking when they first arrived in Montreal, immigrating to Canada in 1956. What an adventure it has been for them, like it is an adventure for Chris and I now. Canada is beautiful, diverse and abundant - I can see why my parents chose Canada as their new home. Speaking of which, we have to choose a place, but first, let's see more of country. Montreal is an exciting and beautiful city, lots of architecture of days gone by. As we walk through the old cobblestone streets, there stood in old Montreal, the Notre Dame Basilica chiming her bells on the 12th hour enticing me to come inside. Chris knew that I had the desire to see inside this magnificent iconic church. He walked up to the attendant and explained that I want to see inside the church and need assistance (Chris had to stay outside with Dudley). The attendant told Chris that all three of us could go into the church, even though he told her that Dudley was not a service dog. I couldn’t believe it! We walked inside and after several minutes of adjusting to the dim lighting, I saw just how magnificent it was - starting at the floors, with detailed tiles, the walls had carvings on the wooden panels, the rich colours of stain glass windows, intricately detailed columns to the cobalt blue celestial designs on the domed ceiling. I truly felt the loss of my parents and the loss of familial ties with my brothers. Chris and I lit a couple candles for all those we loved and lost and to those who are struggling, including Chris and myself. Hope is why we are here, it is that simple. We are born to hope, we live in hope and die for all we hope for. Onward to New Brunswick we stopped in Edmunston, it was a long day of driving, I can’t imagine for one minute that all this driving is difficult for Chris. We try to stop every couple of hours so it can a bit more comfortable, whilst it is not always ideal, but it is the best we can do with the circumstances. Edmunston reminded me of Port Alberni, once was productive, busy city that withered to a town that just keeps on. Papered windows showing its vacancies, streets looking unkempt while the pulp mill stacks in the background puffing away slowly like a pipe signal sending for help. You see some people standing on the side of the road talking to their neighbours about glory days, local gossip and gas prices (like all small towns do...only most here were speaking in French). I wonder what the rest of New Brunswick will be like? I booked our next AirBnb in Port Greville, Nova Scotia for 2 nights. We get up early, pack the car up readying for another long day of driving. Our first break was at Grand Falls, NB. We needed to get out and go for a walk, what better place to stop, to see the waterfall. After our little break, we drove on...the car droned on for miles and miles as we head further east, Port Greville was a long ways away. I think this was our longest drive yet. We finally pulled into the driveway of where we were to stay. The car bounced up and down, while the water jug sloshed and dishes clanged as we drove down the unpaved road on this dark rainy night. I had this vision in my head of us going to this place and never to return, like in a movie where suspense heightens as each minute passes and the hairs on your back starts to prickle. We see a little cottage in the corner all by itself waiting for us to enter. It was like a Venus Fly Trap waiting for us to come closer, waiting for us to be swallowed by its gaping hole. Okay, it is not like that really. It was a cute little vintage cottage welcoming us with lights showing us the way in. We enjoyed staying here, especially cooking meals in a kitchen and not eating in a restaurant. While staying in Port Greville, we explored in towns and parks such as Joggins Fossil Cliffs (part of the Bay of Fundy), Ottawa House by the Sea (park and beach), Bay of Fundy, FIve Islands Lighthouse Park, That Dutchman’s Cheese Farm and Parrsborro. While in Parrsborro, I picked up some art supplies. This time, I am going to try something new, ink pen drawings. Nova Scotia is a quaint, friendly and beautiful province. I love how it feels here. We have talked to so many people, wherever we stopped, for gas, groceries, parks and restaurants, people talked to us, and we enjoyed their stories as they enjoyed listening to ours. I have always heard about how friendly Atlantic Canada is. Well, it is true, the friendliest yet - I think it is a coastal thing. After a couple days stay in Port Greville, we head to our next destination Halifax/Dartmouth, NS. The drive to Halifax was magnificent, little communities lined the coast with adorable colourful houses on green pastures rolling alongside the coast, it was like a Norman Rockwell painting. Do you know why the houses are so tall with windows facing the ocean? I have been told they are Widow’s windows. Where the fisherman wives would go up to the top floor and watch and wait for their husbands to return from sea. Imagine those stormy nights while the wives anxiously waiting for their husbands return. Fog hauntingly forms ghostlike apparition hovering over their homes as if to protect them of what's to come. To pass the time, quilting feverishly, she looks out the window waiting for his return. What a hard life that must of been. Okay, back to reality, my imagination runs away sometimes (smiles) and find its way to another place, another time. Many years ago, I have seen a picture of a tall lighthouse sitting on rocks that looked like melted gray wax pooling and flowed into the sea. This place was Peggy’s Cove. Chris and I spent many hours at Peggy’s Cove, walking all over the rocks, crossing over cracks and crevices, listening to the waves crash as the sun sprinkles diamonds all over the water. It was such a beautiful place. It seems surreal sometimes when you see pictures of places you would love to see and finally years later you’re here. While visiting this quaint town, we decided to try a traditional meal that is popular in Atlantic Canada, that is the Lobster Roll. Not at all what I expected. I was thinking, hot lobster stuffed with something rich and saucy into a pastry roll. Uhm...no, it was just cold cooked rubbery lobster stuffed in an equally cold bun. Meh, I think I will leave this traditional dish right in Nova Scotia. I put that one down as ‘tried’ their iconic dish. Lobster rolls were EVERYWHERE, there was no escape from Lobsters here. Lobster stew, Lobster Roll, Lobster pizza, lobster, Lobster, LOBSTER! I swear I will never eat another lobster in my life. The next day we decided to explore downtown Halifax, so we walked along the waterfront, into the city and went inside the Parliament building. As we stood outside of the building, a security guard (named Chuck) came up to us and started to talk about the history of this old building and we were encouraged to go inside. Chuck looked after Dudley while we toured the Parliament building. Time and time again we experience the friendliness of Atlantic Canada. I can not believe how much I have seen in the last 7 weeks, Chris and I had planned to do this trip for several years and it is now happening, and in this journey, I bring my mom and dad with me, stored in my heart...creating memories. Onward and East we go... So here we are in Thunder Bay, giving camping a break, we booked a night in a hotel. It was nice not having to worry about organising the campsite and setting up the tent. Most times I find this to be difficult to adapt to constant changes of new surroundings. It has been many days since we have watched tv, and boy, we really haven’t missed much. The news seems to get more ridiculous and shocking. We would rather enjoy sitting outside next to each other talking about nothing, something and everything. Even in the hotel room we had the tv on and not paying much attention to it, well in fact, Chris fell asleep while I was catching up on social media. Driving can be so exhausting for Chris. We were ready for our next venture, heading East - Wawa, ON. A long day ahead of us, forecast was, WAIT FOR IT….RAIN! It seems like all we get is rain since we hit Ontario. First comfort break was just outside of the city, we visited the Terry Fox memorial. We stood there in awe, of how one person can make such an impact, I don’t think many of you know that Terry Fox helped me get through my first marathon. It was the Royal Victoria Marathon (my first, in 2008), I ran out of gas, my body decided I had enough, I was ready to give up. Then, Terry came into my mind, I thought of how he ran 42 km (26.2 mi) every day - I told myself, if he ran this distance every day, I can finish this one, and ‘my can’ do attitude found its way back into my body and made it to the finish line. I thanked him for getting me through it. As I looked up to the statue of Terry, my eyes started to sting and some tears fell. How can you not admire a young man who ran this distance for 143 days, 5,373 kms in total till the cancer forced him to stop - and lost his life. Because of him, 650 million dollars have been fundraised in his honour at the annual Terry Fox Run since 1981. Powerful. After our visit at the memorial, we hit the road, munched on trail mix and fruits while enjoying the beautiful scenery. Then we saw this sign, Thessalon - lots for sale, Chris made a spontaneous decision and turned off the highway and into Thessalon. We drove through a new little development, the view of Lake Huron took our breath away. We stopped at a park that was nearby. While Chris was feeding Dudley, I went to the washroom, and on my way, I saw a couple of families having a picnic. So I stopped and asked them what was it like living in this town. Community was the key word here. Whilst we made some friends in Nanaimo, we never felt it was a warm community. Maybe we could live in Thessalon, put up with the cold winters, maybe become snowbirds. Finally, after several hours of driving we hit our destination - Wawa. WA..WA..the heck is this town?! I feel like we were the last man standing in an old 60’s spaghetti Western movie. It was kind of spooky, not a soul stirring in the streets, businesses shut down, we were just waiting for a sundown duel springing into action..nope, no excitement here. Our next stop was in Chute Provincial Park in Massey ON. We pitched up our tent here for 3 nights, a welcome break for Chris. This is where I had my best runs (did 2 here in the trails using my #RunGo app and #applewatch. This time I made my own route because the trails were wide and well maintained. It was a hot day but running in these trails had a beautiful canopy of spruce, birch and cedar, and the edges of the grounds were bursting with colourful wildflowers of deep purples, yellows, oranges and whites. I felt so lucky to still be able to see such colours, such beauty. I will never forget this place, nor shall I forget my most embarrassing (to self) incident. Our first day here, maybe within the first hour of staying here, I went to the washroom. I walked into the disabled toilet, did what I had to do, grabbed the toilet paper and then I noticed the kiosk door was on the wrong side, I seem to remember that the toilet paper roll was on my right and it is now on my left. AAACK! there is a URINAL in here!!! At the moment of awareness, a man walks in, so I wait, I look at my shoes, good, I am wearing my birkenstocks, men wear them too so I can pass as a man from the shin down. But, not with nicely shaved legs and pink toenails. OI Vey! So I keep waiting, I am NOT going out there until I know it is safe to leave the toilet to wash my hands ever so quickly to dash out. A song popped into my head, so I sing (in my head, not out loud, that would be a dead giveaway that I am not a man) 100 bottle of beer on the wall, 100 bottles of beer…. After 79 bottles of beer on the wall, I escaped and ran all the way to our campsite laughing. From there on, we had a nice relaxing time here except for the last night. At around 1am, a loud crackling boom jolted me out of a deep sleep, I realized we are having a thunderstorm. The flashing and rumbling lasted for a few hours and the rain was pouring so hard that I actually heard it. I have never heard rain without hearing aids before. I kept thinking to myself, “I can’t believe I can hear the rain!”. We woke up to a very very wet campsite, and have no way of drying our stuff out before putting it into our car. We packed all the gear, dog and us as quickly as we could and drove off. it seemed like we were inside a snowglobe, minus the snow and the whole car smelled like wet dog. Onward East - after many hours of driving we finally hit Nobleton, ON (about ½ hour from Toronto). We stayed at a family home for 3 days and it was our first experience with AirBnb. Most of our time here we visited our friends in King City and enjoyed our time catching up with them in real time rather than in the chat room. The place we stayed at was next to some wonderful trails, so I took advantage of it and did 2 runs. With the cooler nights and wet weather, we decided that AirBnb might replace our camping, unless weather goes in our favour. We are on the road again, this time we are heading to Peterborough, ON. We plan on staying for maybe a couple days...which turned into 6 days! We enjoyed our time staying with family (and some also visiting from the UK). Chris and I both caught a nasty head cold which kept us from doing much exercise. While staying here, we thought it would be nice to get ‘hitched’ with family around us. So off to the city hall we go. Without hesitation we filled out our forms, handed it to the clerk, she checks it, I give her the form stating recent divorce. She said, “I’m sorry, that is not acceptable, we need the original copy.” Okay, we have a plan, we called Nanaimo Court house to explain the situation and the clerk there said it is here on file for some reason it was not sent out. Okay, no problem, we will call Purolator and have them send it to us here in Peterborough. After a few very long frustrating calls, we got it all set up and will be sent to us by noon the next day. Ten-thirty am rolls around and the courier truck showed up in the driveway, by this time I was feeling more relaxed. We make our second trip to the city hall, and apply for our license once more. The clerk, checks our application, my certificate was approved! Then she said, “I’m sorry, we need to have Chris’s original divorce certificate.” She didn’t even bat an eyelash, as if she enjoyed giving us bad news. Chris was then trying to explain why hadn’t they told us yesterday about this. It would've saved us money and a 2nd trip to the city. At this point I had to walk out, feeling discouraged, I started to cry. We drove back to Chris’s sister home in the countryside, They welcomed us as if a wedding was about to happen. After telling everyone what had happened, Chris’s sister created a mock wedding for us and presented us with a floral bouquet and boutonnieres - this moved me to tears. She made it all okay, I really felt that I was part of this family, which is something I miss so much since losing my dad recently. With the long weekend coming up, we decided to hit the road and try another AirBnb, this time in Carlsbad Springs, QC. I will sign off for now...toodle loo! Au Revoir! VIP: Buy a good quality flashlight and keep it with you all the time (use a carabiner and attach to to your belt loop so it doesn’t fall out of your pocket). Oh man! Can we have a redo for this week? It was late, we were tired and out of desperation we booked into the Super 8 Motel (a step up from MotHell 99 in Grand Forks, where we felt safer if we’d had slept in the car, never know when the Sasquatch may show up) outside of Pincher Creek, Alberta, in the middle of nowhere. We woke up early to get a head start on our drive to next destination: Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. It was about 8:30 when we hit the outskirts of Moose Jaw with a big sign welcoming us to the friendliest city. I thought to myself, we will see. We turned on to Cariboo street, just a couple kilometers away from our campsite, the car gave a clunk and a nudge and then there was nothing...the clutch went. So here we are at the traffic lights, people passed us and then two young men came up to help us push the car out of traffic and park on the side of the road. Chris called BCAA (and CAA) arranged for the tow truck to take us to the campsite. The time was now 10:30; it was pitch black and still yet to set up our camp. By this time we were both frustrated, tired and frazzled. We were lucky to have nice people from the site next to us help set up our campsite while one young man stood there holding a light so Chris and another fellow could see what they were doing. The next morning Chris arranged the towing company to take our car to the garage, we asked for the same company so we could return the lights to the driver. Chris went back into town with the tow truck driver to make arrangements to get our car fixed. As I was tidying the campsite, I felt some raindrops pitter and patter on my head, I look up over the trees and saw a big black cloud. I thought to myself, being out here in the prairies, I have little time to get all our stuff in shelter - all our belongings: clothes, electronics, documents and camping gear were about to be drenched if I don’t act fast. I scrambled to get the small tarp out, using rope and bungee cords I made a makeshift shelter to protect all our belongings. Chris came back and by this time the wind picked up and was pouring, so after a couple of hours of tackling different geometrical shapes or tarp origami, we settled for the pup tent style shelter - seriously, the tarp was bigger than our actual campsite! We were both damp and exhausted, we called it a day and hoped for a better tomorrow. Our bodies craved for some exercise, so Chris went for his walk and Dudley and I went for our run. Using the rungo app and the apple watch fully charged, I decided to do an out and back run on the Trans Canada trail - Moose Jaw Connector. It was already 30 degrees out, I managed to run just over 6K. I promised myself to start the next days run earlier in the morning. Already two days in Moose Jaw, we walked through the historic downtown and did a little bit of groceries. After calling the garage, more bad news fell onto our laps, the part for our car has to be ordered and should be in by Friday (we arrived Monday, with only the intention of staying for 2 nights). By the third day, we had to make arrangements to move our tent and equipment to the next site because our site was reserved for another camper. Just as we were about to make breakfast, we ran out of propane. So we called different stores and garages (within walking distance) to see if they have any disposable propane bottles. All we heard was, “sorry, no, we don’t have it”. Chris found a place and set out to walk into town while I stayed behind to wait for the office to open and arrange for our new campsite location. After about an hour later, the office opened (hours of operation was 12pm - 8pm), I walked into the office and guess what I saw on the floor...yep, you guessed it, disposable propane bottles for sale. So back to the campsite, I dragged the picnic table, about 50 feet to another site, set up camp and everything looks all organized and tidy. My gut had a sinking feeling so I decided to check the site number and I set up our stuff on the WRONG $% SITE!!! AAAAAHHHHH!!!!! So back at it again, I double checked where our site was supposed to be and marked it with our lawn chairs so I have a focal point. By this time, Chris had been gone for at least 3 hours, I started to feel panicky and worried, I tried calling him and no answer. Anxiety was building, took a lot of effort Back from our exercises, we decided to eat brunch, Chris started to prepare our food and as he was about to cook, the propane tank was empty! Have I told you yet, that I love camping?! After many phone calls we found a business that sold propane canisters. Chris, like a true trooper set out for his walk into town to get our fuel. I stayed behind so I could register for another night of stay. Finally, noon rolled around and the office was open. As soon as I walked in to the store I noticed they sell propane canisters, OH NO! We had to move to the site next to us as the one we were in were already reserved. After about an hour of resetting up our camp I sit down, looking quite proud of the neat and organized area, my gut feeling invaded my peaceful moment. I had this sinking feeling that I should check our site number, so I got up to look, oh F**K!! I just dragged a heavy wooden picnic table about 80’ across the campsite, along with all our worldly possessions and gear only to have to do it again! By this time, nearly 3 hrs passed and Chris was still out there, it was a very hot day and I began to worry, so I called him, no answer. I frantically moved our campsite to the right one. I checked first before dragging the heavy old table. Once I moved all the stuff over, I looked around our chaotic grounds which looked like a tornado swept through. I quickly put our site together, just moments before completion I fell over some low boxes and cried out in pain, Chris walked into our site and I fell apart. Pain, worry and emotions just overwhelmed me. I was so happy to see Chris, I was crying from the pain, even felt sick. Chris went to the office to ask for an ice pack...he came back (they had insufficient first aid kit - which was nothing) with a pack of ice. After a few hours, I was able to walk again, which is good because I actually thought I cracked my tibia - turns out just to be a nasty bruise. So much for running the next day. So long Moose Jaw, back on the road again. We stopped in a sweet little town called Wolseley, SK for a bite to eat. It was what I call a one street, drive through town. Local folks would sit outside and reminisce of days gone by, watching the paint dry, and eyeing us with curiosity. Everyone had to say hello to our dog, Dudley as we sat outside to wait for our lunch. Onward to Manitoba, we drove by the fields of gold stretches as far as the eye can see. With a few text messages, we made. arrangements to visit our friends at Bird’s Hill Provincial campsite. It was nice to see Leslie and Burnie (they too, are doing the cross Canada road trip), we had lots of fun sharing meals, wine and touring Winnipeg. We visited The Forks Historic District and the Human Rights Museum. I must say a few words about this incredible museum. This is a must see museum (we were in there for 3 hours and still not enough time to see it all), it left us with inspiration to help, to speak up and to act on doing more for our communities, near or far. The museum was accessible for all, I was so impressed how they had tools for those that are deaf, blind, deaf-blind and partially deaf-blind. I took advantage of the smartphone like gadget that had options of voice-over, earphones, or hearing aid compatible audio which describes the exhibits and floor plans in the museum. After 2 days in Winnipeg, we went our separate ways, our friends going West and us going East. After several hours of driving we are finally in Ontario - we stopped at Aaron Provincial park and camped there for 2 days. Enjoying the rest from driving, we did some exploring around the park and yes, I did manage a little run through the trails and around the campsite using the RunGo app. Always enjoy running off road, no traffic, no people - just me and my dog. Every time I run in the trails, I think of Chris, imagine that he is beside me - telling me funny stories, or telling me to duck, left, right, no everybody else’s right, and stopping to look at the most beautiful waterfalls and wildflowers. He fights for every beat of his heart, while I fight for every sight I see. Funny how we are here now on a journey that takes us across Canada, knowing we may never do this again. So here we are, now in Thunder Bay, Ontario, we asked ourselves the question during dinner, ‘What is our destination? Where are we going?’. We both looked dumbfounded, still no answers - time will lead us to where we are meant to be. I will bid a good night to all, we have a long day ahead following where the wind may take us. August 7-17th Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario I actually feel comfortable with the idea of having no home...for now, it is early days after all. How is this for a start, the freaking engine light goes on in our car - Chris and I both agreed that we needed to have that dealt with before heading out on the road, luckily Canadian Tire had an opening at 8am that morning (July 31). Six hundred dollars later, it is fixed creeping into late afternoon. No such thing as a perfect plan, so without a plan, we head south, towards Victoria, as we had an appointment to go to the following day in a beautiful seaside town. Without thinking, we did not make any reservations at any campsite or hotel. It is a real challenge when you have to look for a place to stay and is pet freindly at the last minute. Hungry and irritable we were. Desperately looking for something healthy to eat is like....forget it! A & W it is. We always regret those choices, and yet we never learn. After a few phone calls at the restaurant we found a place to stay for the night. Let's just say it was an expensive day, but hey, its all good! Because of this day, I made sure we had a campsite for Saturna Island - 5 days was booked. Chris and I had to go to the southern tip of Vancouver Island (keeping you all in suspense, not revealing location as of yet) to talk to the architect/project planner of our possible new home. We want to spend the rest of our days looking at the ocean on the deck, reading good books, painting, writing, sipping wine and making new friends, this place may have all of this for us. We had our meeting and time was ticking on, I check the ferry schedule once more and in a panic, I said to Chris that our ferry was for 3:20, it was already 2:40 and we were not going to make the ferry, it was at least an hours drive.. So in a scramble, we gathered all our papers and left in a haste. We will just have to settle for the next sailing time. We drove into the paying booth and the BC Ferries cashier said the next ferry was for 8:10 pm. We have 4 hours wait before we get on the ferry, just as well, we had to get some food to feed us for the next few days. We drove into Sidney and got groceries and wine. We are all set. Just minutes after boarding the ferry, the sun was sinking into the horizon. You can see the affects from the fires, (Southern BC) turning the skies into a smokey haze leaving the sun shining like a bright garnet stone. Even in disaster, there was beauty. After 2 hours of sailing past 2 islands (Pender and Mayne) we finally docked at Lyall Point, Saturna Island. It was pitch black! Chris turned his head to me and in a voice nicest way possible, said, "Rose, it is going to be dark, and we will have to set up camp in this so we have to be patient, and not to get frustrated, and get angry, we just have to do the best we can." I nodded my head in agreement, "yes, we will do our best". We drove off to the ferry and miss the campsite right away...GPS gives us a little drive around some country roads for about 2 kms. - apparently, our GPS garmin does not do U turns. We found the campsite...unfortunately we can't drive out this time because it was the only campsite on the island and everything else is shut down for the night (10:30pm) OH WHY DID I BOOK FOR 5 DAYS!?! Well, whether we like it or not, we had to set up camp. Remembering what Chris said earlier, reminding myself to be patient and not get frustrated, this assembly under the midnight moon will put us to the test. Chris set up the tent while I set up the air mattress, with our car parked right in front of our site and left the headlights on so Chris could see while putting together our tent, me, with my super bright flashlight I searched for extension cord, adapter, pump and air mattress...so far so good, no cursing or falling over. As the air pump whirs into action, some zombie woman dragged herself to our site and mumbled something, "Pardon?' I said, she mumbled again, "Sorry, I didn't hear what you said." She then waved her arms like she was swatting flies and trudged on back into her tent. Oh, this place is like something out of the movie, Hills Have Eyes. Good news! We set up camp without any choice words, and by 12:30am we were lying in our lilo (the Brit lying next to me calls it that, we Canadians call it air mattress 🤣) We woke up to brilliant sunshine, slinked out of our bed into the warm pacific breeze and had a good look around the campsite. First thing Chris said was, "it looked a lot better in the dark." I totally agreed. The site was tiny! Our view coming out of tent was the fence showing the back of some dilapidated trailer, grounds were littered with tinder dried leaves as if the grounds were never kept, lined with boulders as markers for the tent sites. What a visual nightmare! To our right, there were two one man tents side by side and just steps from there, a shower shack and a pit toilet. Lovely, it looks like we are camping in some one's back yard. We decided to use this day to explore the island and get the heck out of here tomorrow. We hit some beautiful spots on the island, East Point, Thompson Park, Shell Beach and Winters Cove. We walked a lot; it was a hot, slow meandering kind of walk. The smoke was coming in from all directions and it got worst as the day wore on. As we walk through the old Salish trails of Winters Cove, the salal showed off their emerald green leaves bordering the 2nd growth firs, while the wind softly whispering stories of the past (okay, we read the signs in the self-guided tour). Running again is proving to be difficult with this heat wave and poor air quality from the BC fires - and it will get worst as we head East tomorrow. Our plans of eating heathily and exercising regiment basically went out the window. This is going to be a real challenge. Especially now that the poor air quality index is rising at a rapid rate. We decided that we seen the main attractions on the island and 2 days of camping here was fine and we will move onto the mainland. So 2 ferry sailings later, we landed in Tswassen and drove on to Hope (orginal plan was to go North, at this time there were road closures due to fires). What do you do when your tired? You book into a motel - really nothing to write about here. We had an unexpected visit with our friends whom just moved to Kamloops (and within 48 hours, they hosted 6 evacuees from Williams Lake fire), and we ended up staying the night. We had lots of laughs and enjoyed the quails gather in the nearby sagebushes and mountain sheep grazing lazily up the hills past their front yard. We bade our farewells to our friends, packed up our car and drove off onto the ribbons of asphalt, heading East. Next stop, Grand Forks. We really liked this town the first time we visited, 2nd time? No. We left Grand Forks and spent the most part of the day drving, by this time it was nearly 5pm and we stopped in Fernie, BC. What a beautiful town, we drove through it and stopped at the Information center and cooked our dinner in the park. Realizing that now is the time to look for a place to stay...called the holels, motels and campgrounds from Creston to Sparwood, NOTHING was available, all booked! What the heck?! What is happening in these small sleepy towns? Finally, we found a place to stay for the night in Pincher Creek, Alberta. This week is now officially done. Still, have not ran, it has been 35+ degrees outside, to dang hot to do anything but drive on in an air conditioned car. Perhaps our next destination will be a relaxing few days in a beautiful campsite not too far away.
After several years of talking about it and a few life hiccups along the way, we are finally going to do it, we are going on a road trip, destination - Canada. We have the 2nd largest country in the world and we have seen very little of it. We sold our home in Nanaimo, BC. That was the easy part. Now packing up, throwing out, boxing, taping, donating, cleaning and storing, what an overwhelming task this is. We managed to store our home in a 10x20 storage locker. I look at the stuff and think, 'WOW, we still have a lot of stuff!' I swear that one third of the stuff comes from our kitchen, I am guilty of buying a lot of kitchen gadgets (which I am very proud of the fact I didn't rush out to buy the InstaPot). Now, packing the car is another thiing...we still haven't decided whether to get a trailer or camperized van, perhaps after a week or so of tenting, we will find the solution to our dilemma. So we stuffed our Hyundai Sante Fe with our suitcases, cooler, tent and other camping paraphenalia like there is no tomorrow...oh and our dog, Dudley.
The purpose of our journey this summer is for two reasons, Chris - after last years health scare and myself - rapidly losing more vision than I care to admit. We live in such a beautiful country and it would be a shame not to explore from west to east, starting here in British Columbia. With this trip I am taking my #apple watch, iPad Pro and #RunGoApp. With my vision loss, exploring will be a big challenge, so I hope the app will help us, if anything, not get lost. But getting lost is not such a bad thing either, some of the best hidden gems are found this way, by accident. So this blog will be my journey, our journey, and I hope the wifi Angel will be with us so we can share our experiences with you. We will explore Canada like we never lived or seen before. Stay tuned... Oh by the way... if you have done tenting, RVing or other forms of mobile living for several months, leave a message! We would really like to hear your experiences, pros/cons and advice! STAY TUNED! |
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January 2018
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