This is the LAST phase of our year of travel - already! It is so hard to fathom that this year of adventures, that we’ve planned for so long, is already almost in the history books. Just as a recap, this is the break down of our travels through the year:
Sept: Sail around Georgian Bay
Oct-Dec: Europe Backpacking
Jan-Feb: Nordic Skiing in Ontario
March-April: Sailing in Florida
May-June: Van trip through the U.S. and Canada.
For this phase of the trip we are travelling in a new to us 1993 VW Eurovan CV Westfalia. We’ve settled on the name Nelly for now. It started as Smelly Nelly because when we purchased it, the smell of moth balls was overwhelming. My father did an incredible job of cleaning the whole van, replacing interior lights, finding so many mouse nests, cleaning the upholstery, filling the propane and so many other little jobs making things work and figuring things out (thank you DAD!!!!!) - so the name was less fitting. Then we hit Colorado, and realized that through the mountains, we regularly had to turn our hazard lights on as we flew up the mountain interstates at a blazing 50km/hr. Yep. 30mph. So….suddenly a sarcastic ‘Woah Nelly” sure made a lot of sense. And so Nelly has stuck.
Before setting out, we put new solar panels on the roof, as well as roof racks to carry our car top carrier so that we could stow things like bike helmets, hammock, bike saddle bags and chairs up top since we only use them when we setup camp.
Our Map Book! Our neighbour Mike used to drive trucks across the U.S. and Canada and he offered to loan us his map book for our drive. It has been amazing! (Don’t worry Mike, it is wet erase, we’ll wipe it all off:) ).
It feels a bit overwhelming to try to recall all the things we’ve seen and people and places we’ve visited so I’ll keep the recap quite short even though there are a lot of pictures below. As this year comes to an end, I am feeling something like satisfied, content, full. It’s hard to describe. We’ve seen so much and spent so much great time with our kids. The memories we’ve made have been incredible. We are constantly talking about all the great times we’ve had so far. Hiking in Scotland. Biking in Beaune. Skiing in Norway. Train trips and visits in and across the UK and France, Germany and Scandinavia. Sailing around Georgian Bay, crazy crossings and lessons learned sailing. Visiting friends on Manitoulin. Sailing in Florida and connecting with family there for some great visits. Meeting so many great people while exploring the gulf waters. And now this trip across our beautiful and diverse continent. We are excited to be home and reconnect with friends and reintegrate ourselves into projects at home. The memories from this trip will be with us for the rest of our lives, helping us with a broader perspective and appreciation and strong connection as a family, and with all the family and friends we’ve been able to connect with.
First and most important to talk about - all the people we’ve been so lucky to hang out with, catch up with or meet for the first time. I feel really fortunate to have had this time with all these people across the U.S. and Canada. To our kids, I’m sure the conversations all sound the same. We meet old friends or meet new partners. We meet their kids for the first time ever or meet them again after many years. We talk about kids, about highs and lows from past years, about how, why and where they live. We talk about about all the amazing school/park/community/environment setups they have. We talk about plans for the future. About their families and extended families and friends. About products they use or have found. About things they are growing or building. About the future and the environment and jobs and people. In some ways it is the same conversation, but in other ways there are little things that are shared or passed along that make you feel fulfilled to now be connected with another human. And though when we leave, we enjoy the quietness of just the four of us again, the visits with these people have been what has made it worthwhile and meaningful. So - we send our love out to all of our connections over the last 6 weeks.
Marc, Jenny, Claire and Ellen in Indianapolis, Indiana
Shawn, Lindsey, Liv and Windyn in Denver, Colorado
Kieran and Kai in St. George, Utah
Steven in San Fransisco, California
Cristi y Nando de Uruguay, who we met along the coast of California and Oregon
Bob (we missed Annette!) and their friends in Hoodsport, Washington
Chris, Elizabeth, Coady, Sarah and Evelyn in Victoria, BC
Tim, Kim, Benny, Cora and Tommy and their neighbours and community in Burnaby, BC
Jon, Sherry, Lucy and Penny in Squamish, BC
Rob, Jakob and Ellie in Cranbrook, BC
Mike and Angela in Cranbrook, BC and then in Crowsnest Pass, AB
Carey, Derek and Jesse in Cochrane, AB
Aunt Jean, Uncle Neil, Carey, Blair, Sharon, Mikey, Camryn, Milly and Nadine in Edmonton, AB
Uncle Kim in the County of Barrhead, AB
Next, some fun pictures from our travels. Hot and cold. Mountains and lakes. Trails and bridges. Biking, hiking, boating, wandering and highways, campgrounds, boon docking, state parks, provincial parks, crown land, blm and forest service land, gas stations and rest stops. Fundraising events, visiting houses and offices, pulling and setting crab traps, sunrises and sun sets. Running out of gas, looking for water. Following unknown trails. Using great apps to find trails. We “missed seeing” millions of things on our adventures but as with every other trip we’ve had, it has reinforced that it doesn’t matter if you saw all the “right” things, it was more important to just be present, enjoy conversations with people who recommend great things and appreciate the things you do see. These are a small number of some great memories from the past 6 weeks. We are now on our way back east across Canada and plan to be home in a bit over a week to enjoy being back in our smaller community again, with a newfound larger community to keep in touch with.
As for this blog, I feel mixed emotions. I’ve loved writing these as occasional updates as to what we are up to and part of me feels like I would love to continue as a way to communicate with friends and family about details of our lives. I think that I would love to occasionally have an email pop into my inbox that is only about one of my good friends or family. One that is not filled with adds, has not been created by AI, and is not trying to sell me anything. A way to learn about what new recipies people are making, activities or training they are doing, stresses or worries, challenges overcome and goals. An update from a loved one. I may change my mind, but for now - know that I have loved being able to share, and I thank you all for that. And if you decide to create a blog, I would LOVE to read about your life too. It’s a nice compliment to real conversations and in-person hangouts. Thanks for reading!
Enjoy the pics below!
❤️ Kathy
Ontario to Nebraska
Colorado
Utah
Nevada and California
Oregon and Washington
Vancouver Island
Greater Vancouver Area
Squamish and Surroundings
Interior BC and Western Alberta
Cochrane, Edmonton and Barrhead
