California

We've made it to California. I have to say that I'm extremely impressed with Oregon, but California is so-so thus far. Although we are finally in warm weather! Camping will be much more fun without having to wear a toque to bed.

So we left you all at the end of day one, a Sunday. On Monday we made it to a suburb of Portland where we met up with Mark’s aunt Barb and her three kids, who had recently moved back to North America from Bangkok. Uncle Dan was missing in action because he was in Brazil. We wandered around Lake Oswego with Barb and she showed us her new house from the outside. They had not yet taken occupancy when we were in town, but since the house was vacant we wandered around the outside and she described the layout as we peered in the windows. Their back deck has a slide attached to it, going to the ground in the back yard! Cool.

We then hung around the Portland area for about another 24 hours, trying to get in contact with our friends Taras and Ellen, who were supposedly due to arrive back in Portland (where they currently live) on the Tuesday. We had no luck whatsoever reaching them, and their suburb, formerly known as “Hillsboro”, will henceforth be called “HillsBORING”. We were not looking forward to another cold February night of Oregon camping, so on Tuesday afternoon, not having contacted Taras, we finally left town and drove on the CRAZIEST roads ever in an attempt to reach the coast. It was very hilly and winding – at one point the highway made a more than 180 degree turn as it wound down a forested hill. Then Karen, our GPS unit, took a fit and tried to make us turn onto a dirt road. No thank you, Karen. Man, she can be moody.

We did make it back to the coast that evening, and wouldn’t you know it, once we were a few hours out of town, Taras finally called us. Drat!! I’m sure we’ll see him again.

We drove ‘til after dark (I don’t want to do much more of that) and pulled over into our own private rest area, where we parked on a hill overlooking a spectacular sandy beach with huge waves. We listened to the waves all night and watched the sun rise from the beach the next morning.

On Wednesday we arrived in California! It was a day filled with more driving, more hanging out on spectacular beaches (similar to Long Beach in Tofino) and we went for a hike in some sand dunes in a state park or something. The sand dunes were neat.

Wednesday evening we UTTERLY FAILED to find a place to pull over for the night. Karen the GPS unit, in another fit of moodiness, let us drive towards a “safety rest area” for an hour, only to find out that it was perfectly empty, all the street lights in it were on, and it was closed and had boards across the entrance. Who closes a safety rest area? Again it was already after dark, so we drove to a nearby state park, decided not to stay because they wanted us to pay $20 for next-to-no facilities, and we got trapped in it and had to drive the entire length of the park in the dark because there was nowhere to turn around. We had failed at the rest area. We had failed at the park. We asked Karen to find us an RV park and the nasty thing took us to a mobile home community instead. Who knew it would be SOOO hard to park somewhere for the night? We drove around until we found a cheap-ish motel and finally settled down for the night. At least we were somewhere where we could shower, although inexplicably, the hot water only ever lasted for about four minutes at a time. Also, it was harrowing to walk around in the bathroom because the floor was soft and felt like it was rotting out from under the cheap linoleum. So far California is NOT as good as Oregon. But it's still pretty good.

Day One: Washington & Oregon

We left Victoria on a cool but bright February morning. We cleared customs without any problems and were on the Coho Ferry to Port Angeles, Washington that left town at 10:30am.


Day one was actually pretty uneventful. The weather was a bit cool but very nice all the same. We spent most of the day travelling because one of our few concrete appointments takes place tomorrow near Portland, so we had to get reasonably close to it before stopping for the night.

We took the coast highway through Washington and it was gorgeous. There were beaches that reminded us very much of Tofino and we stopped to wander around for a while.


We made it into Oregon, which is (so far) another charming state. We stayed on the coast, zipped through Astoria, and stopped for the night in the town of Seaside, where we found the glory that is Pig'n Pancake. Mmm, breakfast for dinner!


I'm having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that other people are now responsible for my dogs. I'm sure I'll worry the whole trip, but the longer we go without any incidents (yes I'm paranoid and yes the people watching my dogs are great) the better I will feel. I know it's not logical. I can't help it.

Anyway that's all for now. We had a string of very long and busy days in lead-up to our departure, and we are both pretty beat. Time to recharge and have a leisurely vacation!

A Going Away party!

While I thought that our friends were busy, oh, say, dealing with disasters like this:

They were really planning a pretty elaborate going away party for us.


The first stop was Cafe Mexico, located in Market Square in downtown Victoria. Muy Bueno!




Who let the single girls sit together? You can tell from the looks on their faces that they're bad-mouthing men.


Mark is already looking a bit happy and goofy. He got so happy and goofy by the end of the night that he couldn't function at all the next day. Trivia: the guy sitting behind him is also name Mark Reed. Slightly different spelling than our own Mark Reid.


Okay, that's done. Where to now?


Stage two took place at Megan's house. Blender party!


There were sophisticated activities such as "pin the tail on the donkey". Here's a "before" shot of the winner.


Another before shot of someone who didn't win.


There was a Pinata! The boys got to know it a little better.


Everyone admired Megan's dogs. Our little Oliver will be added to the mix next week.



Time to bust the pinata. Mark broke his stick instead. That's one tough pepper.


But the tough pepper didn't stand a chance against a blindfolded hockey jock wielding a baseball bat. Take note of all the men cringing in the background.


Wait, is she saluting?


We had a great old time - our friends had all gotten together to make a video telling us how much they would miss us. It was very sweet and at times hilarious. (did you say "Bevin"? Do you hear choppers??) Callie's mom (you know who you are) contributed such a sweet and poignant clip that I was very glad for the foolish jokes everyone else's parts had. I guess we are supposed to watch the video again when we move to Nova Scotia, which will make us want to come out and visit all our friends in BC. I'm sure we'll get back again someday, but I'm also counting on everyone to come and visit us. Lobsters taste fresher closer to the source!

THANKS GUYS!! We know how much work you put into organizing the party, on top of the insanity of your own busy lives. We appreciate it, and we'll see you again.

FAIL

Today was our day of organizing all the stuff that will need organizing with outside people and/or companies. Here's the tally so far:

- get a charity to pick up our furniture: FAIL. (Nobody can come pick up until March 4th at the earliest. Today is February 4th.) We called every place in the yellow pages. Does everyone really book this stuff one month in advance? Really?

- get Arlo on a direct flight to Ontario: FAIL. There is ONE direct cargo flight from Victoria to ANYWHERE in Ontario per day, and he's not allowed on it because "it's too early" and the workers won't be there in time to load him. What is the use of a cargo flight that does not accept cargo at the departure point? I'm calling the head honcho on Wednesday to argue some more.

- call my mom because I couldn't talk to her yesterday: FAIL. Mom was not home. She called me yesterday when I was in the middle of moving furniture at a friend's house. I didn't recognize her voice at first, and then kept getting distracted by the chaos going on around me. I called her back this morning to actually have a conversation, and she's not home.

- Get the propane on the Yukon Ho certified: APPOINTMENT BOOKED! This is the first useful thing we've accomplished all day.

Not a great start. I hate relying on others. They disappoint.

The Solar Boler

The Yukon Ho has harnessed the power of the sun!!


Almost a month after of purchase, the solar setup is finally done. Or at least done enough to use. With a great deal of help from a friend, the panel has been mounted on the roof of the truck, and the rest of the bits and pieces have all been wired up.

The hardest part was drilling the first 3/8" hole in the shiny new truck canopy. Also, the second hole. And the third. And... well, all of them. Following the rule of "measure ten or so times, cut once", we managed to get the six holes aligned pretty much perfectly, and with a touch of silicone to seal the deal, the panel was battened down. It rained for four straight days after mounting it, so I can safely say that it doesn't leak.

Oddly, the typical RV mount for this type of panel relies on threaded rubber liners to put in the holes, but nothing on the inside to anchor the panel to whatever you've mounted it on. I kept having visions of the panel flying off while driving down the highway, so we ended up adding a bit more security by bolting a couple of large washers on the inside to guarantee that the panel isn't going anywhere.

Inside the truck, all the wires feed into a plastic box from Canadian Tire -- the idea being to keep everything neat and tidy. This is also where the voltage regulator and inverter are mounted. So far it's worked out beautifully. I even used solar power to drill the last two holes in the bucket. Very convenient.


I'd originally planned to set up a string of Christmas lights in the back of the truck, but unfortunately in our hurry to get rid of all our stuff, we mixed them in with a load of stuff we gave to charity. Oops... That'll learn me for giving.

Anyways, the past few days have been gorgeous and sunny (very strange for this time of year), so our battery is topped right up. I started out with a free battery, but it turned out to be beyond rescue. I saw a used car battery out back of Canadian Tire, so I asked the parts-dude if he would mind if I took it. He said "yes", which wasn't exactly what I'd expected... Apparently if someone brings in a battery to be recycled, they feel some kind of moral obligation to actually recycle it. Julie pointed out that #2 in the "three R's" is "Re-use", but alas, I didn't think of that argument at the time. The lesson here is: Don't ask. I ended up buying a new marine deep cycle battery instead, which should work a lot better than a car battery anyways.

I'm waiting on one more part from the solar supplier - a shore power transfer switch - and I have yet to install a mysterious button that came with the kit. I think it initiates the self-destruct sequence. Other than that, it's all done!

It's the FI-NAL COUNT-DOWN

WARNING: Skip this post if easily bored. Nothing too exciting here. Maybe just look at the random "Vancouver Island" pictures I've put in.


We have a month left before we leave British Columbia. I will miss my job at the SPCA and we will both miss our island friends, but other than that neither of us has any regrets.



Suddenly there is lots to do and our departure looms closer every day. A few days ago Mark installed our solar panel onto the truck's canopy. We opted not to install it on the "Yukon Ho" (the Boler's name, remember?) because, well, Boler roofs are round and solar panels are flat. It wouldn't have worked out so well, I don't think.

We are awaiting our travel insurance documents, which are in the mail, and have already received our WWOOF membership and info book. I have four pages of instructions written out for the care and feeding of our dogs while we're gone, and the flight for Arlo is turning out to be sticky, but we're figuring it out.

We have started to pack up our belongings and sort them into three piles: the "mail to Nova Scotia" pile, the "garbage" pile, and the "give away to friends or charity" pile.


If anyone living on Vancouver Island wants some furniture, kitchen appliances and/or utensils, et cetera, et cetera, give me a shout. We've got lots to give away. We got rid of all our books at a charity book drive this morning.

Our friends have informed us that they are throwing us a non-surprise party the weekend before we leave. I feel loved!


I'm putting some pictures of the island in this post - a sort of a salute and farewell to this place we've been living in. It's really beautiful.

holi-daze

Almost exactly one year ago we were visiting friends and family in Nova Scotia, and realizing that we'd made the RIGHT decision when we decided to move back east. We were surrounded by people who are important in our lives, and yet we hadn't seen most of them in a very long time. We drove familiar roads that led to familiar doors and soaked in the feeling of personal history that the province holds for us.

Fast-forward to the present moment. It is a few days until Christmas, and I am scheduled to work at the animal shelter Christmas day. I think it will make for an introspective holiday among the homeless dogs, knowing that they do not have a family to love them on a day that, for me, represents family and love above all else. Mark is planning on coming with me to give the dogs some extra attention while I clean their kennels.

In actual travel news:

Mark has found an "in" with a guy who can get him a good deal on a solar kit for the Boler, so he's going to get that done sometime in the near future.

Also, from here on in "the Boler" will now be referred to as the "Yukon Ho". That's definitely its name now. Maybe.

We've also firmed up a few dates for the first part of our trip (the part that goes from Canada, down the western part of the U.S., and then to Mexico) and made some exciting plans. This trip is going to be super-fantabulously fun!

Now we've got to do all the little finicky things. Get travel insurance, arrange flights for the dogs, forward mail, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

failing to quit

Mark "came out of the closet" so to speak at work this week, concerning our big trip south and the fact that we're not returning to BC after it's done.


On Monday, the first work-day in December, Mark was all set to give notice at his office. He tried valiantly, but alas, he is still employed for the foreseeable future.

However, this is the deal: He will significantly reduce his hours starting in January while we make our preparations for our trip, and then have a leave of absence while we travel, and when we arrive in Nova Scotia his employers want him to work remotely for them. This is as good a situation as we could have hoped for, in that he will still have a source of income, but he is not obligated to anything so we are still free to make any necessary changes if it doesn't fit our lifestyle.

I think he's relieved that everyone finally knows. After a few years, having to be careful what you say about the future gets kind of irritating.