Day 6

Here we are finished Day 6, at my place of birth, the city that raised me. How odd it is that we are currently staying in Shan's house that she grew up in. We're stopped in Medicine Hat for about 10 days to celebrate my Dad's 60th birthday and to also help create some renovated space downstairs. Hopefully I can make Mike Holmes proud.

We stayed two days in Calgary with our gracious hosts "The Corkums", and managed to get around to a few "lucky" friends, to share some dinner and laughs before we left. Unfortunately, we missed seeing many people, as our proposed five day stay in Calgary got condensed into two days. I know you will forgive us, as you are those types of friends we cherish. Liam was very happy to see his old pals and is still talking about visiting them. I got to experience the fish shopping mecca known as Outdoor World, "a magical land of retail" that was somewhat reminescent of the fabled StuffMart. Calgary has certainly outgrown my capacity to tolerate the traffic, the construction, the hustle and bustle of the big city. For whatever reason, I kept wondering were all the water was? Oh yes, Alberta doesn't have any.

Back to the Hat. Our three hour leg of the journey East went smoothly, too smoothly on that straight, flat road. I was glad to be done driving such a small stint, however, I know that the stretch coming up will be just as flat, just as straight, and longer too! I'm hoping Shan can get some fun in while were here, as I'll be tied up with framing, electrical, and other DIY items that are long overdue.

I feel somewhat out of place right now, and I'm sure Shan and Liam feel the same way. It's one thing to long for the home you have when you are away from it, but what about when you don't really have a home? There is one waiting for us in PEI, but it doesn't seem real to us just yet as we haven't experienced living there. As much as your parents make you feel welcome in their home (by giving up their Queen bed for a futon...crazy!), it's just not your home. We've had these feelings for the past year, settled but not really settled enough to call it your own. I'm sure much of these feelings are from visiting people in the homes they've built, worked hard for, or perhaps it's from driving by our very first home in Calgary. I hope that there is some place in Canada that one day, we can call our own again.

I'll likely give a reno update or two, but not much will come of this blog until we hit the road again. 'Till next time, God bless.

Travis

Day 1 (of many)

Day 1 has come to an end, or is should this be called day 5? We were originally planning to leave for Alberta last Friday, but "things" started getting a bit squirrley. After confirming a place in Prince Edward Island to call home 5800 km's away, we only allotted ourselves a week to pack our belongings, sell off a vehicle or two, buy a cargo trailer (because we previously purchased the only vehicle U-Haul won't rent a trailer to), get everything in order including mail holds, healthcare, insurance, and the list goes on. Is it possible to just pick up and go anymore? I'm thinking "No". I would like to thank Shan's Mom for helping us out with her Super-packing abilities the entire week...we could not have done it without her help.

We made two previous attempts at leaving Kelowna, but always ended up back at the Brewsters' staying the night...usually because we ate up the day getting our "stuff" together and by the time we tried to leave it was too late for the little ones. Yesterday's attempt, we made it all the way to Vernon but decided that our Explorer wouldn't be up to the task of towing our loaded trailer the distance we planned on going. In hindsight, I think I packed the trailer wrong (too much weight up front), or perhaps it's packed too full (*cough* 2200 lbs of stuff!). We weighed the hitch on a weigh scale in Vernon and it read 410 kg (quicky conversion = about 850 lbs), and our Explorer has a max hitch capacity of 300 lbs. Real safe! We left the trailer in Vernon and headed back to Kelowna. My mind was nearly made up, we'd head to the Ford dealer where I test drove a F150 about a week prior and buy a truck, one capable of towing, if the price was right. After all, we had originally planned on selling both vehicles to buy this one anyway, but this type of thought process is dangerous. Anyway, we did end up buying the F150 and now have vehicles scattered all over the Okanagan valley. So, later yesterday evening, we take the truck back, with a standard towing hitch and the back end still sags almost 4" with all the weight of the trailer on it. Obviously I know nothing about towing because in my mind, bigger truck means better towing. Nope. Quality truck with the right hitch means better and safe towing. Grandpa Gloer suggests we need an equalizing hitch to counter the overloaded hitch weight. It's 9 o'clock by this time, nothing is open, and too late to continue our journey, so back to Kelowna in the truck with trailer in tow.

Let's just say, that I now know everything there is to know about hitches and towing a trailer. Do not cheap out and try and do this yourself. Let a professional install your hitch, it will save you almost half a day of thinking you can do it yourself for cheaper. I think we now have the Grand Poobaa of all hitches now. The trailer rides nice behind the truck, and the best part is that all the cargo that used to be mere inches from the kids in the Explorer, is now tucked away in the bed of the truck under the canopy. A much safer way to travel for the occupants in the cab of the truck.

So, we made it all the way to Revelstoke, BC on day 1. The kids are bathed and asleep, cuddled up to Mom & Dad, each in their own queen bed. Liam now understands that we are going on a longer trip to see other people, and not just driving to Vernon and then back to the Brewsters' for sleep. Our plan for tomorrow, pancake breakfast and a casual drive straight to Cowtown for a long-awaited visit with the friends we left when we moved.

We'll keep you posted.