Finally Settled....I hope!

Well, we are finally settled in in our winter location....I hope! It seems that all of my careful, time staking, planning was absolutely pointless - as absolutely nothing went according to plan. I find it very, very, difficult to 'go with the flow' but that is just what we did - and it was just fine!

After one more day at our campsite in Canada - and a great day it was, with an attempted hike up to Bridal Veil Falls.  It was a beautiful walk through the mossy, fall forest even though a few steps prevented us from reaching the falls.

The hike turned out to be a beautiful farewell to Canada, as the next day we received the longer lift which we had had to wait for, and were able to cross into the United States of America!  The border crossing was pretty hassle free, considering all the horror stories I'd heard, the customs officers didn't look at any of the documentation I had gathered, and only confiscated some baby bell peppers!

We stayed near Seattle the first night as we had originally planned to spend a couple nights there, so I had had a parcel shipped to a mailbox there (can I tell you how nice it is to have an American mailing address!  No more Amazon error messages that "this item cannot be shipped to your location").  Seattle looks like a funky, fun city and I wish we had had the chance to explore it - oh well, there is always next time!

(on another thought I don't think I have ever used 'had had' so many times before....whats up with that?)

The next day we headed for Salem, Oregon for a LOT of tax-free shopping! Even with the exchange rate from Canadian to US dollars, we were astounded at the prices for many things! We outfitted our trailer with neat gadgets from Camping World, shopped for a bike for Hazel, a coffee maker for us, shoes and a jacket for Violet - so much that we had been delaying until we were in the USA.  One of our purchases was Halloween costumes for the girls - we took them trick-or-treating at a mall, and house to house.  It was a novelty to not have to bundle up in winter gear under/over their costumes! And the candy haul was a good chance to sample some candy that is only available in the States...not that we ate any of the kids treats, mwhaa ha ha ha.

The next day, we hit the I5 and headed south to our winter location. It was a much nicer, and more beutiful drive than we had been led to believe....until we turned off the I5 at Grants Pass and onto the 199.  While it was beautiful, through the mountains and redwoods, along a river....the narrow, windy, curvy road was INSANE!! No photos as I was gripping the door handle and closing my eyes.  As usual, my Superman, drove us safely through.....

We pulled into what we thought would be our home for the winter, the girls and I went and explored the very pretty river garden while Jose set up the trailer. We were surprised to find out that the campsite didn't allow children, despite their website which misled us to believe otherwise. The owner said she would 'give it a try'...

We had a great weekend exploring the area, finding a great playground, dog park and beach (where we were thrilled to finally get to test out my Power Chair's claim that it will drive through sand - IT DOES!!!!), despite the worry about whether our children were being quiet enough. 

 Thus, on Monday morning it was almost a relief when we were informed we couldn't stay.  After getting the kids schooling done, we headed out to check out RV parks in the area.  We settled on a park in the harbor area of the town, which we moved into yesterday.  We actually like this place better so far, the neighbours seem friendly and best of all - WE CAN WALK TO THE BEACH! As well as shops....like an ice cream shop much to my kids delight!

Please excuse the poor quality photo's, hopefully my new camera (Thanks for the early birthday present Mom!) will get here by the weekend!

The Best Laid Plans....

We should have been crossing into the USA right now.  We aren't and as a person who likes to plan things down to the hour (or minute, when possible....) it is driving me crazy - thank goodness for my better half, who has been repeating over and over "Chill out, it will be fine". And it will be.....

Trail near our hotel

After my last post, we continued our drive south to the Lower Mainland of BC, it was a beautiful day for a drive.  We love all the different environments in our province - it is such a diverse place (if I remember correctly BC is one of the only places with such a range of ecoregions).  The Cariboo region is starkly beautiful and an area I fell in love with when I attended university in the area.

After leaving the Cariboo, we started to wind down towards the Fraser Canyon (yes Stacy, I took the windy road photo for you) which is a spectacular drive, though a bit nerve wracking when towing a 36 foot trailer with a sheer dropoff to a river on one side and rocky cliffs on the other!

The girls and I figured out how to do 'school' in the truck...as best as we can anyhow.  It is a good time to memorize times tables, poems and Spanish words as well as reading aloud (even Hubby got into The Land of Stories) but not such a good time to write essays!  As long as it gets done in the end.....right?

We dropped the trailer off at Sidewinder Conversions (a truly great vehicle conversion shop) and headed to our hotel where we hung out, got lots of school done, and the girls swam and swam (I swear they are part mermaid). On Thursday, we saw my aunts and uncles who live here, and picked up an umbrella that mounts to my chair (www.mobilitymount.com <-- GREAT PRODUCT ) which will be essential for winter on the West (wet) coast.

Thursday night was when a very, very stressful 24 hours began..... starting with getting stuck in a traffic jam for 3 hours! It was nearly midnight before we got back to our hotel, we were still excited because we thought that the trailer lifts were done and we would be heading across the border on Friday afternoon.We checked out of the hotel (major stress there, story to come later.....)

Well, despite an amazing amount of hardwork, and patience, from the guys at Sidewinder, it turned out that the lift they were trying to install wasn't long enough to lift me from my outside chair to my other chair inside the trailer. MAJOR BUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not only would we not be heading to the States that afternoon, we couldn't until Monday (hopefully the longer lift arrives as promised then) and would have to stay in the Lower Mainland for 3 extra nights <-- not in the budget!  Thankfully, the amazing guys at Sidewinder were able to make us a temporary ramp/platform which enabled us to camp in the trailer for the weekend.

We are at a very nice RV resort (Camperland at Bridal Falls) and have had a much less stressful day, getting some much needed laundry and organization done.

Well, we are settled into a hotel (I can't get into the trailer until the lifts are installed later this week) after our first 500 km of this journey.
The drive was uneventful....A Gorgeous fall day! Even managed to get some school work done on the road - eye spy with the 5 properties of matter works well but writing essays isn't as easy!
Topped off the day by some truly excellent backing up by hubby... Hard to believe that just a few months ago he was a new bee at it!
We are looking forward to the next 500 km tomorrow, when we will drop off the trailer to get the lifts installed. Then we can finally cross into the States and start our adventure.

The first 500 km

Well, we are settled into a hotel (I can't get into the trailer until the lifts are installed later this week) after our first 500 km of this journey.
The drive was uneventful....A Gorgeous fall day! Even managed to get some school work done on the road - eye spy with the 5 properties of matter works well but writing essays isn't as easy!
Topped off the day by some truly excellent backing up by hubby... Hard to believe that just a few months ago he was a new bee at it!
We are looking forward to the next 500 km tomorrow, when we will drop off the trailer to get the lifts installed. Then we can finally cross into the States and start our adventure.

Hasta la vista

Well, this morning we cleaned our 1200 square feet for the last time as we prepared for a 'hasta la vista' party. Many of our dear friends took the time to drop by and say goodbye until spring. And to enjoy a yummy cake (thanks Mom!)...it says 'adios amigos', and other yummy goodies!

We were sad to say goodbye, but excited to get on our way! One last day of last minute packing...

Canadian Winter....

I feel a bit like a traitor, leaving for the winter.  I always felt proud to be able to survive a real, northern Canadian winter - all 5 months of it...but I must admit that I am looking forward to missing it this year!
I will miss the beauty and peace of fresh fallen snow though, especially when the evening light falls across it...(at 4pm.....)

Anyhow, this post was spurred by this interesting graph that came across my FB feed

We live on the 54th degree....

Down to the Nitty Gritty

WE ARE LEAVING IN FIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DAYS...... My list now fills only 3 post it notes, instead of 3 pages. We packed what food we could, I got my hair coloured, planned for 2 weeks of schooling the kids on the road, and now it is down to the last few things - and days!

I can't quite believe this dream is coming true!!!!

Looking forward to hitting the road (I can never say that without thinking of Amelia Bedelia - need to get my kids those books) and having adventures to post about!