Two roads diverged in a yellow wood…. Robert Frost "The Road Not Taken"

Robert Frost was so right - we have seen so many roads we wished to take, and couldn't. We have looked back and thought - what did we miss?

While I can't say that we took all the roads "less travelled by", 

I can say that we took roads that led to fields of gold ands yellow, 

rivers and lakes green and turquoise 

and sky - big sky!

Signs soon become a blur.  Small towns a building caught by your eye - then - gone!

South of Winnipeg we stay in a mediocre RV campground that presented us with one of those great prairie sunsets.

We visit a friend at Black Sturgeon Lake and took a dip.

Along the way we reward ourselves with craft beers.

The Farmery Craft Beer from Neepawa still my Fav!  Oh Canada - what great beer you have!

In Kenora we stay at Anicinabe Park - A fantastic Provincial Campground!

The Next Day - Kakabaka Falls - just before we roll into Thunder Bay!

And the Next day - White Lake Provincial Park just a few miles past Thunder Bay!  A swim and - a craft beer!

Are you tired?

We have been moving along.

We are just starting to slow down - to truly understand we are retired and slow travel just makes sense!

We'll keep you posted on the next phases of slow travel!

Nancy and Brian

“There was nowhere to go but everywhere, so just keep on rolling under the stars.” ― Jack Kerouac, On the Road: the Original Scroll

 RIDING MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK

We sailed across Saskacthewan on fields of gold and green. Manitoba changed the view.  There were still the long stretches of golden fields but now we dipped and rose into beautiful lush valleys.  Trees became more dense and less scrub.  We rode the wave up to Riding Mountain National Park to one of the prettiest townsites we have seen in a long time.  Clear Lake sat behind the townsite - a giant looking in on the small, but beautiful encampment, built by men.  Louis Riel reminiscing - "My people will sleep for one hundred years, but when they awake, it will be the artists who give them their spirit back.".  And isn't true as we can see the influence of our indigenous peoples everywhere.  

Even on this short journey we have taken so far, we can see the beauty, diversity and vastness of this country.  We have sailed along, as if on a waking dream, participants, yet separate in this dream state - as we can't stop and see it all.  But we feel like we are participating in it.  I can feel Louis Riel beside me as we sail over the Red River in our Prairie Schooner "Shirley". 

BUY THE TICKET, TAKE THE RIDE. Hunter S. Thompson

Saturday, August 20, 2022 - The Birthday Party 

In addition to my Birthday, new celebrated my son Ryan, My brother Michael, my Uncle Erik who sadly could not attend, my son Sean and numerous others. I think the photos will speak for themselves.

While this is NOT a blog about family birthdays, but rather a 'travel' blog - this certainly turned out to be a main feature in the first part of out journey.  As a family, it seems hard for us to get together as often as we would like.  And so when we can get together it becomes a journey in itself.  We wish sister Barb and brother Marc could have also been there.  Next year!

August 21, 22 and 23

We travelled to Lacombe, AB, spent a wonderful night with Nancy's brother Jim and sister in law Katherine.  The morning for the 22nd early, we set sail for Saskatoon, really the first day of our journey across the country.  Nancy had promised to meet up with friends of long standing - and so we did, Loye and Pat.  We had a wonderful dinner and long chats about old times. No emphasis on the word old - it just maybe the place we are at.

Sadly we only spent one day and night in Saskatoon.  The city has grown immensely and looked very prosperous.  We missed an old car rally by a day - apparently 0ver a 1000 vintage cars from everywhere attended.  And, a terrific Picasso exhibition at the Remai Modern in Saskatoon.  I was particularly sad to have missed that.

Today on the 23rd we hit the road for The Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba.  Our first intent was to go up to Flin Flon MB but given somewhat tight time constraints that is going to haver too wait for another trip.

We took all the backroads we could (and it seemed like in Sask and MB, they are all backroads).  passed through such iconic towns as Humboldt (sorry Mike couldn't find the socket stick); Yorkton; Wimmer; Foam Lake; Saltcoats; Waywayseecapo; and Birdtail. In fact, both the Sask and MB country sides were incredibly beautiful in their own unique way.  The golden fields gave way to greens of all 'voltages'; Prosperous looking farms were everywhere.  Hay was rolled and ready for hauling.  It seemed like we sailed through much of the countryside and we were given the most beautiful views from our position on the bridge of the SS Shirley. 

While we have only really travelled on this journey and slept overnight two times, we have learned a lot about organization and staying calm.  More on that next time.

All the best!

  

Journey

Sometimes A journey can be seen as a metaphor for life.  The destination is not the only goal. the trip and what happens along the way - and the way one deals with and accepts the things that happen - is all part of ones journey.  Like, when we started out at 655am the first thing that came up on my dashboard was this -

Needless to say I freaked out.  I had thought I had filled the tires the night before but clearly something was wrong - I DID SOMETHING WRONG AND WE WERE GOING TO PAY A BIG PRICE FOR IT 😱 - like miss our ferry.  As I frantically filled up at a stop along the way, the gods provided - a fellow who worked at Sidney Tire came to fill up and gave us advise - these RV's are finicky - we don't have to worry - but get it checked in Vancouver.  As soon as we hit the mainland we went to a Kal Tire.  Thet filled up the tires correctly and balanced the air in the front and back - and the warning light went away.  It was a stressful way to begin the Journey - but we handled it without fighting, crying or wailing - and learned something very important in the process - how the tire pressure system works in our RV.  Whew....😰.  And, we had no more for the next two days.

We spent the first night in a really lovely campground and 30km outside of Sicamous - The Yard Creek Campground.  A REALLY lovely spot - and practically no other RV's were there!  We camped 'off grid'.  The weather was terribly hot - 30+c during the day - but we were surrounded by beautiful tall fir trees that offered shade and a cooling breeze.  We spent a somewhat warm first night sleeping in our van and awoke to a beautiful cool morning.

Our main objective was to get to AB and get arrangements done with my AB Bro's and family for a giant Birthday Celebration and family get together. We passed through Golden and the unbelievable construction they are doing on the new road and have arrived safely in AB.

I guess our "real" cross-country trip starts once we leave AB - so hang on.  I hope to give you some real interesting 'stuff' in the next few days.

Brian and Nancy

 

THIS IS SHIRLEY

We are going to travel across Canada and the USA in a 20foot RV for 4-6 weeks.

Why the hell are we doing this and will we survive?  Those are good questions to which I really have no clear answers for, but.... for me, I am tired of the hassle of flying.  On the car road trips Nancy and I have been on together - we have totally enjoyed.  We are not waiting for the announcement of a cancelled or delayed flight.  Our desire is to see parts of Canada (and USA) that we haven't seen before, might not get a chance to see - and - we want to do it in a leisurely fashion.  Flexibility, spontaneity and trying to slow down and enjoy is our focus.  But the freedom of being in Shirley, going where we want to go, stopping when we want to stop and hopefully seeing things we might never get a chance to see and experience greatly influenced our decision.  Nancy has been a primary proponent of our trip and has jumped in with both feet to make this happen and I know we will both have a great time.

This is Shirley:

Shirley is a 2018 Hymer Carado Banff Class B RV.  She was built on a Dodge Ram Promaster chassis.  Shirley is a front wheel drive cargo van with a 3.6L V6 Motor.  When we acquired Shirley she had roughly 46000km on her and is in great shape throughout.  Shirley is fully equipped - air conditioning; hot water; propane stove; microwave; Refridgerator; lithium batteries and solar panels for off grid camping; a toilet and shower; awning; sleeping quarters of course (and of course - all in the same room 😊). So we will be camping (mostly) and maybe 'boondocking' along the way.  Though, in line with our flexible approach, when we need a good hotel stop - we will take it.

We will be staying at campgrounds with and without attachment to electrical or water (the benefit of lithium batteries and tanks of fresh water).  And I hope we will get a chance to spend time in places that this membership offers - Harvesthosts.com.  

I am going to post as often as possible and try to make it interesting. We hope you enjoy.

Brian and Nancy