Once settled into the Calgary West Campground in Alberta we quickly grabbed an Uber to Lori’s house to relieve Betty & Bob Mahar from their pet sitting with Winston & Safiya. How fun to be ‘at home’ with Lori’s 85″ tv, where Barb was introduced to the series Bosch. OMGosh Barb is hooked! Good thing there are 7 seasons and a new one called Bosch Legacy. But alas, we had real work to do. With Lori’s house sale closing date fast approaching, we had a week to choose and pack everything for the RV and then prep for the movers to come and pack everything else. Sounds simple, right??….. Well day 1 we made some headway and packed up the car and drove to the campsite only to find that the top lock on our door was jammed! We couldn’t get in, and of course being the diligent people we are we had locked this puppy up tight as a drum so there was no way in. What does one do now? Call a locksmith of course. Sunday morning, 9am on the Calgary Stampede opening weekend……it took a while but we found a guy who came out and saved the day. He also had worked until 2am the night before dealing with Stampede “issues”. We also got a great discount with our premium AMA RV card, but it still cost us $163. BUT…..Montreal math….we have still made over $19,000 so feeling great! Into the RV to continue rearranging and packing for the next couple of days and we introduced Winston and Safiya to their new life onboard.
For the next two days we continued to pack and move stuff to the RV, and then the movers showed up to finish the job. First off they were young, and the lead mover was very nice. However, while being really diligent in their packing and wrapping it took them forever! 22 hours later….Lori hopes she is not paying by the hour….finally the house is empty. Lori’s car was picked up, we Ubered back to the campsite, and Lori is now officially a nomad (she really wants to watch the movie…).
Now let’s talk about the campground. Given this was the Calgary Stampede week, and the first stampede after COVID, the campground was packed. The Stampede seems to bring all sorts of people to the city. We had a caravan of RVers from the U.S. doing a trip to Alaska. These people were travelling with a company that handled everything: route, repairs, stays, tickets to events, tours, dinners – you name it. They even had people looking after their animals when they were out. Incredible. Then there were the high-end RVs, one of which we were really hoping belonged to Kevin Costner, as he was in town to be the Stampede Marshal.
This stay was also the first opportunity for us to entertain. We invited former colleague Geoff Biddell over for dinner. It was fun to catch up and talk about the possibility of us meeting him in Palm Springs California where he enjoys golfing each winter.
Lori, while excited to be on the road, will miss her neighbours Janine, Andrew, & Theo who were her Covid bubble family.
