The Lower Mainland?

We spent last evening at Gallagher Lake Resort, it was a nice place, the wifi was excellent, property well kept and the staff very friendly. The lakefront is beautiful with a park bench to sit and enjoy some quiet time. 5 stars, but keep in mind we just started.

Deciding to take 'Bob' somewhere, we headed south and finally found this resort. This time of year we had our choice of spots. The boys were reminiscing and having 'life' conversations while I did some inside organizing (outside will be done after the inside). Finally managed to make room in the few kitchen cupboards we have for some food stuff.

While he was enjoying the time spent with us, it was clear that he would be more comfortable in his own familiar surroundings so this am we packed up the rig and brought him back to Vernon. Our plan at the moment is to stay here another day and head out on Monday am.

Brad read online that BC requires tire chains effective Sunday and as we have none we need to get to the other side of Hope, BC in short order. Not sure about this whole chain business, I mean I get the point and that but this entire concept is foreign to us, so... Lower Mainland here we come.

I found a place to stay south of Hope and also an RV park by the border which I would like to stay at for a few weeks. Not sure how this whole thing works in an RV, where can we go? What can we do? We don't want to head south too early... thoughts? suggestions?

Also, I woke up this am to find that someone had turned on the Inverter (likely bumped into it not realizing), and our brand new batteries were at 37%!! Holy Sheep S*#! When I finally sat down to my morning computer stuff, I had an email from Len who we met a few days ago and I emailed him to inquire if our batteries were hooped. Once Brad woke up I realized that the batteries were Deep Cycle and could withstand a rare screw up. Whew! Just as well because I haven't heard back from Len yet, I likely missed their morning computer ritual.

Anyway, we are back in Vernon now wondering where we should go from here...

Happy Birthday Brad! and Visitors

Today is the birthday of the bestest hubby in the whole world... I both Love and Appreciate you!

We arrived in Vernon yesterday and spent a few hours with Brad's brother (who I will call Bob, which is an inside joke so it works perfectly). We went for supper and had a good long visit and while he was hoping we would stay on his property, we found the land was too sloped and opted for the local Superstore.

We had been having trouble finding Propane, clearly we should have filled it in Calgary because there wasn't any in Lake Louise, hence why we didn't stay there and continued on to spend the night at a truck stop in Revelstoke. There also wasn't any in Golden which given there are still a fair number of RV's on the road was shocking to us. We stopped at the Superstore upon arrival yesterday in Vernon to dump our tanks at the free dump station in the parking lot and having a quick shower before going to Bob's.

Our dash said it was 31C yesterday... holy hot stuff, we're not used to the heat anymore and poor Robbie has very little experience with it so we're taking extra care with him..

I had just been in the Superstore to buy a more fitting (literally) garbage can and so we were sitting in the front seats chatting when shortly after we noticed a couple walking past. They stopped at the window and said, "Are you Rogue Less Travelled"... whaaa? "Yes"... And we spent the next few hours chatting with readers of the Blog. What a nice surprise that was.

Our first visitors, Brenda & Len

Brenda & Len have been full-time for 6 years, and they have solar so that got us talking about our solar issues and Len seems to have quite a nack for numbers and clearly knows his solar stuff. He agrees the issue is lack of batteries and we'll likely have to upgrade our wiring later on. He also offered the same recommendation as 'Handy Bob', the TM-2025 or TM-2030 monitor because the one that comes with the system doesn't tell you everything you need to know.

Now Brad wants to make me spend more of his money on batteries... (everything we do is always me spending his money - even though its really mine, its just a quirky Archie Bunker thing we do). New readers should check here for details on this reference.

I'm still in shock that people recognized us and had the gumption to come and say so. We had a great visit with them, really enjoyed it. And guys, we really appreciated that you made the effort and offered so much knowledge too. Thank you. We will be going to check their fifth wheel this morning and no doubt have another chin wag.

Now, back to the birthday boy. Guess I'll have to make breakfast and coffee this morning... it's always something... LOL

No idea what we'll be doing today, likely just go to Bob's and spend some time. Bob is clearly having trouble getting around but insists on making the effort regardless, so we'll see where the day takes us.

Time to beautify and get the birthday boy out of bed (he was up in the night but I don't know for how long)...

PS Just realized I didn't update the blog about the solar. We replaced our bulging 2- 12V's with 2-6V's and it is working great, except we don't have enough batteries. Sorry for skipping that part, its been a long couple of days.

Solar Problems - Already!

Woody's RV in Red Deer advised us that the RV would be ready by end of day yesterday, so we packed up and left our hotel room. We paid the bill and off we went happy as clams.

We decided to stay at the Stoney Nakoda Resort & Casino for the night (Canmore proper is not overnight friendly) which would allow us to spend the entire day today in Canmore and eat some Rocky Mountain Flatbread before leaving for our next stop.

When we arrived at the Casino, I went about unpacking our things from the hotel excursion. Noticing our drinking water supply was low, I decided to reload the Berkey and get it dripping so I could refill our drinking water in the morning (personal preference, not really required).

Batteries at 100%. Turning on the water pump I noticed while filling the Berkey that the batteries had dropped into the 80% range, then suddenly it was at 9%. Holy Mother.... I turned the Inverter off, switching to the Converter and ran the Generator to top the batteries back up. No idea what the hell was going on I tried several different things even unplugging the TV and Microwave to ensure there was no significant 'ghost drain'.

The batteries have not passed 90% since. Clearly something is wrong... or am I just that blonde? I emailed a fellow blogger who I know also has solar to ask some questions but as I feared it was already too late in the day in Ontario... A Google search didn't really help me much either.

So we ran the Genny last night to ensure Brad's CPAP was working. After noticing in the Google search a link for 'Handy Bob' a lightbulb went off when I remembered Pippi Petterson talking about him. Why I didn't look him up before is beyond me...

Today we are going to Woody's RV in Calgary, hoping they can correct this issue. I'll keep you posted.

I will add the links to stuff later as we're in a hurry to get to the dealership this am.

Solar delay

We arrived in Red Deer Sunday night and delivered Ace to Woody's RV World Service Dept at 8am sharp Monday morning. They were able to suggest a dog-friendly hotel and we ordered a cab, specifically noting that we had a dog... the cabbie that arrived doesn't take dogs, so we had to wait for another, only about 10 minutes, so not too bad.

The suggested hotel - The Sandman on Gasoline Alley was very accomodating when I explained that we are living in our RV which is now in the shop, they were able to get us into our room as soon as we were able to arrive. Nice room too, we were half expecting something akin to Motel 6 and got more of a Sheraton, so we were very happy with that.

The Customer Service which we are not accustomed to anymore was so very appreciated given we are not from town, have a dog and had no idea what we would do until the typical check-in at 3pm.

Once settled into the room we had a nap, we didn't sleep too well the previous night, 2 hours later Woody's called to say they didn't have the inverter in stock and they were bringing it in for the morning which will cause a delay as the solar is a 3 hour install but the inverter takes 10 hours due to all the wiring, etc., after a bit of to do, because we did book this several weeks ago, they have reduced their shop rate to accomodate for the extra night in the hotel.

We walked over to Denny's for brunch and heading to Walmart for new shoes for Brad we walked past a Sears which is closing (thats a blog post of its own) so after stopping at Tim Hortons back we went to Sears, not knowing it was 6 days to closing and most everything was gone, except for stuff he wouldn't wear or I wouldn't let him.... leaving Sears we went through the mall enroute to the Walmart down the road.

Now there's a Saje store in that mall.... I love Saje. So I ran in to grab some Goddess which is hard to find because everyone else loves it too, they had it and within 1 minute I was back out in the mall with Brad nowhere to be found. Thinking he had kept on to the Hudson's Bay to check the shoe dept there I went that way, no Brad. Looked everywhere, wandered the mall, nothing...and I had both of our cellphones. Aargh! My own shoes were bothering me so I decided to head back to the hotel.

Remembering I had the phone number to the hotel in my phone I decided to call the room, nothing. He's still in the mall somewhere (spending my money!!!) I decided to hang out on a walking path where I could watch the 2 sides of the mall hoping to catch him if he popped out.

About 10 minutes later I hear 'OY!' and there he was on the other side of the road. Having sat down and waited for me to find him he finally decided to head back to the hotel.

We spent some time outside, Brad play fighting with Robbie before going to Moxie's for supper.

Plum tuckered out

Again, great Customer Service. Don't know how long it will take us to get used to that again. Brad had a steak and I had Sweet Chili Chicken on rice. Time for dessert, not our usual thing, but we thought we'd look and see what they had. STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING! OMG!

Spent the rest of the night relaxing watching TV in the room. My son texted to say he was driving back through this area so where were we. Thought he might get here late last night but he texted just as we were going to bed to say he was pitching a tent for the night and would be here for brunch.

I have less than an hour now to get myself beautified before he arrives and because I don't wake up looking that good, I better make an effort to be presentable. IF he has his truck and not his motorcycle, we'll ask him to take us to the shop so we can check on the progress of our solar....

Something about Alberta

I don't know what it is exactly but there is just something about Alberta that we both really love, and we haven't even hit the mountains yet...

We have both spent most of our lives in Saskatchewan so I find it odd that Alberta strikes us so well, maybe its the relatively smooth roads, low taxes, happy people... I don't know....

Brad noted it first as we were driving across but I felt it too, something... just something.

Not sure if its retirement or the RV lifestyle that allows you the time to think about the little things but its something I've never experienced before and I find it peculiar. Perhaps its just an adjustment thing, although we've both been retired for several years already so it must be an RV lifestyle thing. That swooning sensation as the wheels whirl across the asphalt that lulls you into deep thought.

Perhaps we just need to turn the radio on.

Anyway, we have arrived safely at Woody's RV World in Red Deer for our solar install tomorrow. We decided to go through Edmonton, technically (not RV) its an extra hour but the highway roads compared to backroads gives it that edge. In a car it would be faster because you can do 110 km/h (65mph) on the Edmonton highway and only 100 km/h (60mph) at best on the backroad. Likely its faster in an RV also but we keep it at 90 km/h (55mph) regardless.

So we left my brothers at 9am, went in to Saskatoon to dump the tanks and fuel up, left Saskatoon at 10:30am and arrived in Red Deer at 9pm. Long day but we find 90 km/h while a nuisance to other drivers no doubt, is very relaxing. I have always been a Type AAA personality and back in my working days 110kmk/h was too slow. Enough said.

Looking forward to a good nights sleep as tomorrow we will likely be in a hotel for at least one night.

Thanks for tagging along, see you down the road.

Last day in S'toon

We are leaving here tomorrow.

While we have enjoyed being around family, we didn't get much time with the Grandkids and that was disappointing but we're hoping to see them all today. Although, there is a step-family wedding out of town that I think has thrown a wrench into my plans. Should have gone earlier in the week, I think but time always seemed to run out.

Its my own fault, I knew about the wedding this weekend, its not like I wasn't told... but life sometimes gets away from you and here I sit having probably angered my youngest child who has provided me with said Grandchildren after my nagging him for donkeys years about my biological Grandma clock ticking away.

The advantage to this lifestyle is that we can come and go so much easier than being in a sticks and bricks and being reliant on a $1000 airline flight to see them. So we're hoping to see more of them in future as I think I mentioned in an earlier post.

Today we have nothing to do. Laundry is done and errands are finished. We are just going to chill out today, other than seeing the Grandkids there is nothing left on our list. I sent a text to my youngest last night and haven't heard anything back, so either he's angry at me or he was at a wedding shindig - only time will tell. Of course, I don't have a toad and they do have a car and could have come here... but hauling 3 kids around is quite a chore, I realize.

Regardless of anything, today is a day to relax for us. I still have 2 coolers (Smirnoff Ice) in the little fridge in my brother's garage and I intend to make light work of them later today.

Tomorrow we head off to Woody's to have the solar and warranty work done to the rig before making our way to BC to see Brad's brother.

Big thanks to my brother and sister-in-law for putting up with us these past 2 weeks and to all of you for taking the time to read and comment. I love knowing that I'm not talking to myself...

PS Curtains closed and no condensation last night. Bonus.

New Heater Update

Picked up a Honeywell 23" Ceramic Tower from Walmart yesterday.

We awoke this morning to nothing on the windows. YAY!! We left the curtains open last night except for the kitchen blind and even the kitchen window is clear so tonight we will try closing the curtains around the rig and see how that goes. Likely we will put something on the dash to keep some warmth flowing up in there.

We have only today and tomorrow here before moving on to our Solar install and there is still so much to do. Today Brad will finish up at his Mum's and I will be looking at her computer stuff for her while I get some laundry done.  My brother arrived home late last night and may need to get his own laundry done before heading off to work again, I don't know how long he is home for as I haven't spoken to him yet, so I'll get it done while we're out.

As nice as its been to see the family and have the familiarity of Saskatoon, we are excited to be heading off on what is really the beginning of our adventure. After all this, I sure hope we enjoy it.

I have to admit, I am a bit concerned about the enjoyment level without a toad to get around but we'll figure it out. Between bikes, bus, trains and feet I'm sure we'll manage.

Dehumidifier or Heater, thoughts?

With the weather cooling off we are beginning to have condensation on the windows and I have to crank the heater to remove it.

Keep in mind we are trying to run on 480w of Solar Power...

The question now becomes should we get a dehumidifier for $200ish or a heater for $50ish?

Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated as we are buying something today!

We tried to buy a dehumidifier yesterday but were unable to find anything reasonable and now I think a heater would be better as the furnace truly only heats the bedroom, just not enough of it pumps through to the main living area to keep the windows clear overnight.

I will be inquiring about this next week at the dealership. In the meantime, I am running on the assumption that its simply a summer RV and blah blah blah...

Any thoughts or suggestions from some not-so-newbies would be greatly appreciated.

Dentists. One Evil, One Good

Went to a Dentist yesterday because I had an infection in my gums, turns out my last dentist pulled 2 teeth quite possibly without need and it caused an issue with another which then became infected and required being pulled also. So I am now missing 3 teeth on one side of my mouth. Really not good! So angry.

The good dentist explained that I could have an implant put in for a measly $4000, I didn't have the heart to tell her I already knew it was $200 in Mexico... I looked it up after seeing it on Carolyn's RV Life shortly after the evil dentist took 2 of my teeth.

Upon returning to my Brother's I went to lay down and rest only to discover that our furnace was not operating. Wanting to have it sorted before it got too cold, the nap was forsaken and the tools pulled out. Apparently this particular model of furnace has a history of stopping when it gets wet, perhaps they all do, I've no idea. After a lot a Googling and trying simple solutions we pulled out the hair dryer and set about drying things out in hopes that that would resolve the problem. Still nothing, but now it was dark out so we left it for the morning. Then suddenly about 30 min later while sitting at the table the furnace kicked in for longer and longer periods until finally it was going as per usual.

This morning we woke up to a lot of humidity on the windows and will now be going hunting for a dehumidifier today. We also need to do a dump run because everything is full, why oh why didn't we think to do that 2 days ago when we had the RV taken down and on the road... newbie mistake.

Today we have an easy day, just the dump run, humidifier and supper out with Brad's Mum.

RV Life so far seems great, though we are visiting family at the moment and have a house right beside us so not sure we are getting an accurate feel for it. After we leave here on Sunday, we will have the Solar installed by Tuesday then the real journey will begin I suppose. Sure wish it was even a month earlier in the year as I've read on other Blogs that snow is expected/occuring in the Calgary area which we need to drive through to get to Brad's Brother before heading further West or South or both.

I forgot the tires

Yesterday was quite a kerfuffle. There was a life snafu at my brother's and on top of that the water pump went (acerage, remember). So I was to watch my nephew who had woken up sick on what was to be his first full day at school. Fortunately, his other Auntie had the day off and came out to look after him.

Then we found out Fountain Tire had a spot to fit us in but only as long as we could 'take down' the rig and get it to the city within the hour...

Take it down we did and arrived just as that hour was ending. Suffice to say, I didn't give any thought to getting a picture of the old tires. Damn. Anyway, we have shiny new tires on the front of her now. Originally, I had wanted to replace them all at the same time but when we checked the rears they were still plenty good so we just did the fronts. Its pouring rain outside so I don't have a picture of that either. You'll just have to trust me. :)

Fountain Tire gave us excellent service and I couldn't praise them enough, it wasn't cheap mind you but we knew that before even calling around for a shop. They even left a little card in the cab when they were done to remind us to re-torque in 100km which I thought was a nice touch.

While the tires were being done, Brad went for his weekly massage (military injuries) and I went to Sherwood RV to check the price on LED bulbs to replace the GR921s we have inside the rig that make the lights crazy hot. They had them - 6 of them for $60! Fortunately I had already checked Amazon and so I just ordered them from Amazon on my iPhone - 20 for $60, they are due to arrive tomorrow. After picking Brad up, we went back to Fountain Tire and waited while Jordan did the wheel alignment then it was off to Brad's Mum's for supper. Its was getting dark when we left.

We didn't have time to get any tidbits done while we were there and as it was we had to set the rig back in its spot in complete darkness. I backed my brother's truck (that we have been driving since we don't have a toad (I tried to tell Brad we'd need a toad...) ) so that the headlights light up the corner of the house as we are parked precariously close to it. Brad managed to get the RV in without any trouble.

Incidentally, when I was searching for quotes for the Solar I sent a request for quote to Sherwood RV and they still to this day have never responded. I had even called them on the landline and after being transferred 3 times and listening to elevator music for 15 minutes the line just went dead. I was so angry about it I even sent them an email about that and never heard anything from them. The only reason I stopped there for the lights was they were the only RV place in that part of town.

Today I have a dentist appointment and Brad has Eyes and Hair appointments.

Family visit

We are not actually in Saskatoon but on an acreage just outside. The internet out here is appalling much like I expect Campgrounds to be from what I have heard, so I haven't written a Blog for a few days because, frankly, SaskTel doesn't have its *%!$ together.

We are definitely far too reliant on internet in this day and age (OMG, I'm old!) from the kids who walk/text/gethitbycar to restaurants filled with tables of people on their phones typing to others instead of talking to each other, but this is not the point of my Blog - there really is no point actually.

The past few days we have been doing some home maintenance stuff for Brad's Mum, a little babysitting of my nephew, running around doing odds/ends.

My oldest son noticed that our front tires are hooped. Part of our errands has been to find new tires and arrange for replacement of same. We have decided on a supplier/putteronnerguy shop and will be calling to make the necessary arrangements tomorrow. I haven't taken a pic of the tires yet but I will.

We also managed to get a doorknob, though I couldn't find the right colour and spent quite awhile going from shop to shop - this one had the colour but not the lock, that one had the lock but not the colour, etc. until Brad said 'the old set is still good, you just need the inside (latch) bit. So I bought a Brown set and thats what we did, just threw the knobs out and voila.

Finally managed to see my youngest son and  2/3 of my Grandkids today. The oldest was at her Mother's so I wasn't able to see her but hopefully this weekend, all things being equal.

Otherwise its been quite relaxing, just chilling out and getting some stuff done in the RV. Today we finally got to remove the dining table and pull the bed out so that I could see what kind of storage we have in there, not much but some. Refilled the fresh tank yesterday and I cleaned the mirrors and a few windows that had the dogs nose art on them.

So far we are finding this RV to be a good fit for us, not too big and not too small. It is comfortable for our needs at least so far. I know we need to do some re-arranging/organizing to better accomodate our stuff and create a bit more space, I had hoped to get to it while we are here but that doesn't seem likely to happen so it will wait until further down the line. Everything is put away for now at least so its really just a matter of using the space we have more efficiently.

Coming to Saskatoon is comforting in that it is familiar, we used to live here and so we know where everything is and how to get there (enjoy that while it lasts). Our favourite all time restaurant The Lebanese Kitchen that we thought was gone has reappeared and Brad noticed it on the first day as we were driving somewhere else. We have since gone for lunch and fully intend to go again before we go, next time for a sit-in meal since the owners remember us and want to have a coffee and talk world affairs with Brad which he loves. Our other go to restaurant is The Broadway Cafe (its everyones go to on the weekends), if you go be sure to tell Nicki that Brad & Katie sent you. That reminds me she wanted to get together before we go, hmmm. Gotta try to fit that in...

Moving into this week we have a few more tidbits to do at Brad's Mum's and we are having supper there tomorrow, my nephew starts Kindergarten tomorrow, coffee with Nicki, world affairs, new tires, Grandkids, we need a toaster and distilled water, aye aye aye...

I haven't taken many pictures during this visit mostly just enjoying the family, but I did catch one of Brad and my brother doing the dishes today.

I will try to do better.

Family territory

Thought I'd post a quick blog now because later today we expect to be in family territory and likely won't have time/energy to write a blog.

After 12 days of dawdling across the country, well not actual dawdling but its dawdling for us, we are on the last stretch today and Robbie is super excited to see Grandma...

For us who have driven this route several times in 3-4 days, taking 12 days is like a summer stroll across the country. We made several stops along the way, did a bit of shopping at roadside attractions and the like, even spending 3 days at campsites and we're ready to chill out with some family.

We haven't seen the Grandkids since May when we spent a week or so enroute home with our shiny new RV so we're looking forward to seeing them again. They'll be driving in a blink, getting married off and life will take over. Having lived so far away from them for most of their lives already we hope the RV will provide us more opportunity to get to know their little personalities better and watch them grow.

Okay well His Lordship is nagging me to get beautified (like I'm not already!) so I'd best get on with it. We spent last evening in the parking lot of Painted Hand Casino in Yorkton, SK which was not listed on www.overnightparking.com so I sent them the details to be added (could take a month the website tells me) for others in the future.

I will post again in a few days... family bound... bring it on.

Dryden Walmart

After spending the night at a truck stop in Wawa, we were only going to drive 4 hours to our next stop but once we got there.... it was only 2pm so we decided to keep going... and ended up driving to Dryden, Ontario which was a 10 hour day! Far longer than we had planned and we kept stopping at 'the next stop' but whatever overtook us just kept us going.

I promised Brad that I would mention on this blog that in Wawa we discovered that I (someone, but I'll take it) locked the bathroom door - on the way out! Had to break the damn thing off since the little hole button thingy wasn't working...

So here I sit having showered and beautified (I don't wake up this good looking, ya know?!) at the Walmart in Dryden. Let me tell you if you don't already know - You haven't lived until you've showered in a Walmart parking lot! LOL

I will be going in to the Walmart for a cutting knife and a hair dryer. I know, of all the things to forget - my hairdryer! Good news is there is a Tim Hortons across the road - Bonus.

We have an RV Park booked for tonight and tomorrow in Manitoba.

We won't normally be travelling this fast but we are trying to get to Saskatchewan where we will visit with family and then on to British Columbia to see Brad's brother who is ill.

Camping on the beach

After several days on the road we decided to stay at a Campground last night, which of course allowed us to get some laundry done as well. We sat on the beach and had a relaxing drink while watching the sunset over Lake Nipissing. 

I tried to get Robbie (dog) to go swimming in the lake like Champ... even tossing his ball into the water - Nope, no way Jose... I had to go in the water to get the damn ball myself. Not impressed. Eventually we'll get him in the water. His cue word for bath is beach... so when he watches Champ swim in the water we call that swimming in the lake... trying to differentiate the two for him but he doesn't seem to be buying it.

Our neighbours at this campsite are Americans heading home to Florida. They do not have internet access and only knew there was a hurricane but didn't know how bad it was (Hurricane Irma), they were trying to get cell service so they could call their (grown) kids and check in and we offered them our cell phone but (understandably) they wanted to do it on their own phone and managed to connect to bell for $5 CAD/day. Not too bad and similar to what Bell offers us going south also. As of right now they are still here at the campground but I suspect they will be heading off shortly. Not sure how close they will get with the evacuations going on down there but at least they will be doing something to keep their minds occupied.

This campground is quite literally at the waters edge and is mostly filled with permanent trailers but they had this awesome spot and we took it. $40/night for full hookups.

First Boondockers Welcome Stop

When we bought this RV in May and were driving it home, we contacted a couple in Ontario who were hosts on Boondockers Welcome and arranged to stay the night in their driveway. Unfortunately, the drive in the RV was longer than we had anticipated and I had to message them that we would not be able to make it to their place and we had to stay in a truck stop somewhere I don't even remember.

So when we knew we were going to be in the Ottawa area again, I sent them a message to see if they were home and had a spot available. Fortunately, they were and they did.

Once we had arrived and set up the rig, we sat on their front porch for some great conversation and a nice offering of cheese and crackers as a midnight snack was a nice touch. Now as I mentioned in a previous blog, Brad was quite unsure about this whole sleep in someones driveway business. In the end, he quite enjoyed the experience (thank you for that Jenne and Marcel), not sure how long I should wait before suggesting Boondockers Welcome again, but I will, unfortunately there aren't any along our journey for the next few days.

Their home is in a lovely, quiet neighbourhood and we were able to get a great, much needed sleep. While we are able to sleep in truck stops its not ideal and the quiet peacefulness of their driveway was much appreciated.

I am not linking directly to them for obvious reasons but suffice to say they are in the Ottawa area and we highly recommend them. They had read our blog (nice touch) before our arrival so they had some familiarity with us (not fair :)), and of course being RVers also we had plenty to talk about. In hindsight perhaps we should have stayed another night... next time.

We've gone Rogue!!

Well, we've done it. We've gone Rogue. So far, so good although we've stayed at truck stops for the last 2 nights. Its been quite a relief just to get on the road. I'll be making more of an effort to find some back road areas for boondocking but I don't quite know how yet. I've been on Google Earth and found a couple but ... any suggestions for boondocking in Canada are welcome.

We are in Quebec at the moment and entering Ontario today, we have a meeting to attend and then we will be staying with a 'Boondockers Welcome'  couple tonight. This will be our first experience with Boondockers Welcome and Brad is a little unsure of it so I hope it goes well.

We will then be off to the Great White North of Ontario... there are a lot of campgrounds in Northern Ontario and I assume it is because of this that most possible stopping spots are designated 'no overnighting'. We noticed this when we were driving the rig home a few months ago. We will see how it goes... During our journey, once we have left a spot I will be publishing the stop on the map at the top of the blog so you just have to click the map to see options for boondocking (or staying at least).

After the last few weeks, we have really been taking time to unwind. I've seen some beautiful scenery but just couldn't bring myself to take pictures. I don't know why really, just needed time to get back to ourselves I suppose. Feeling much better now so expect to start posting pictures on Instagram and the like.

There are a few odds and ends that we want to rearrange in the rig and hope to get at that this morning before we head off through Montreal! Let the morning traffic pass is my thought, although anyone who's ever been to Montreal knows that doesn't happen...

It will be so awesome to talk to fellow RVers tonight and get some of their insight into this racket. Quite looking forward to that. They did say though that their driveway has a slight slope and after an experience we had in Nova Scotia last spring, that makes me a little nervous but we'll see how it goes. Our rig almost fell over because the jacks went too high. It was quite a fright, I must say.

Anyway, time to get His Lordship up so we can get on with it today....