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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 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 home 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, 9 am 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. 00 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 the movers were young, 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….but finally the house is empty.  Lori’s car was picked up and with an Uber back to the campsite, Lori is officially a nomad (she really wants to watch the movie…).

Now lets 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 animals when you were out. Incredible. Then there were just high end RVs, one we were really hoping belonged to Kevin Costner as he was in town to be the Stampede Marshall.

This stay was also the first opportunity for us to entertain. We invited an 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.

If we were not clear enough in our previous blog, our mechanical issues were rectified by the Brandon Manitoba posse AND ourselves. It took a little courage on our part to trust the consensus of the group on what to do, but we did and it paid off.  YEAH!!!  So the next morning we walked to McDonalds and grabbed some coffee and to Lori’s dismay there were no hash-browns! Yikes, our perfect morning had only lasted about 20 minutes. HOW in heavens name can a McDonald’s have NO hash-browns!

The drive fortunately, was uneventful and we arrived in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan in great time to find our Harvest Host (HH) location owned by the McMojo’s, a great big gated farm field. Met a lovely couple from Calgary who were heading east to Newfoundland and we exchanged ideas about great places to visit and stay.  They were on a 6 month sabbatical from work. Very cool!
Had a super night boondocking and 3 other units arrived.  It was surprising as normally HH locations limit to 1 or 2.  It felt very relaxing other than the mosquitos who were still very active here so we choose an indoor movie night.

The following morning it was rainy and super foggy.   We waited around for the fog to lift somewhat and had to wait even longer for our massive windshield (the one some of you have been making fun of, “you know who you are”) to clear up enough to see out of. We finally got that rectified and headed out.  It was supposed to be one of our longer days (about 5 hours of driving) and given the weather (lot’s of rain) we were on the road much longer.  We were thrilled when we finally arrived in Brooks Alberta to find our Harvest Host location The Back Forty, a working farm.  Going up the long driveway we came to a fork in the road, as one does in life, and we had a decision to make.  There was somewhat of a ‘disagreement’ as to which way to go.  When Barb said ‘You always go right….with a great big laugh…unless you are supposed to go left”.  We decided to go right and found the perfect parking spot and settled in. OK so maybe Barb was right….about going right… The rain finally stopped and we met the owners and purchased fresh eggs, sausage and of course BACON!  We went for a walk to visit the chickens and corn fields and once again ran back due to the swarms of Mosquitos! 

Early to bed as the next morning we had an 8am appointment at Brooks Lube, an AMA approved location for our pre-booked RV safety.  This of course is a requirement to get our RV licensed in Alberta.  Since the previous owner Bill had a safety in Ontario we assumed all would go well and we were not worried, well Lori was a little worried, Barb was cool as a cucumber. We popped across the street to the local A&W for breakfast.  NO HASH-BROWNS!!  The hash-brown shortage continues!!! Clearly this MUST be a nation wide issue!  Oh yah, and for the record, we were the youngest people in A&W by far. Welcome to early retirement!! Well at least we feel it is early seeing as how we are still so young 🙂

It was a ton of fun to watch the mechanics do their very thorough check of our RV from across the road. Two hours later, they called to tell us they were done and we went back for the outcome.  Great news we were certified.  However some new learnings.  The head mechanic shared he had called some government vehicle association to ask whether he could pass us as he is not to pass anyone without working air bags.  Now don’t misunderstand…it’s not that ours don’t work…our RV simply doesn’t have them! We had a holy shit moment until he told us apparently many RV’s don’t have them installed. Kind of hard to grasp in this day and age.  Anyhow we both acknowledged that our Wills and POAs are up to date, so we got back in the RV with certificate in hand.  As we were leaving the mechanic said he was super impressed with “our Rig” and also “highly intimidated” by our massive front window.  We had a huge laugh and Barb told him that was her very first thought when she initially saw the RV.  We now of course love it for the incredible views.  

Meadowlark Campground in Brandon Manitoba 

1. We can fit two men in the bathroom and a few more in the bedroom. 

2. We know where the fuse box and main electrical is 

3. We know how to recalibrate the slides 

4. We know how to control the hot water on demand……..kind of 

5. Mosquitos come in the trillions here

6. Everyone (so far) is friendly and helpful if you are friendly first  

7. The fridge works great if you are level 

8. One can live in the same clothes for 5 days and not shower, see #4 above, if one ignores the situation  

9. You can own too many flip flops 

10. Well we knew it all along, but this adventure is EPIC and we are only on Day 6

We learned more in the span of 4 hours than all the reading, YouTube videos and calls to the mechanics. What did it take? A small posse of men, all long time RVers curing their hangovers by the fire, with another few cans of Milwaukee & Michelob. Thank God for Lori’s dog Winston who always draws attention when we are out walking. This is the main way we get to meet people. We started chatting with this group and one of them asked us why the back slide wasn’t out. So we explained our situation, and the puzzle solvers couldn’t help themselves, and jumped into action. While there were multiple opinions on how to fix the slide, we intuitively both trusted Glen who seemed the most reasonable and experienced (maybe the least hungover). Glen taught us how to recalibrate the slide from the inside control panel, which was super easy and it worked!!!! Now onto the hot water situation. We have not showered yet in the RV as we couldn’t figure out how to get hot water to work in the shower. The 5 posse of men are now inside the RV, with 2 of them in the bathroom explaining how the hot water on demand system works. Once we understood the impact of water pressure, we were able to get hot water into the shower. It was as simple as running the water into the kitchen sink first to build up pressure and then turning the shower on. YAY!! We can’t tell you all how grateful we are for this group of people and the many others along our journey that helped us.

In fact another couple, seeing us flush our RV tanks at the end of the day with Barb in her full mosquito hazmat suit (YUP they do indeed make them for purchase) came over to give us a contraption to keep the buggers away.  While well intended it didn’t work but it was the thought that counted.

Today off to Moose Jaw Saskatchewan & then onto Brooks Alberta both HH. And yes, we have been staying at a lot of HH this week. Do you recall the previous post of the cost of gas? Of course we need to optimize some free night stays at HH!

Day 1 June 27 

We left Barb’s and headed off on our adventure!  Our first stop was a gas station south of Barrie (we both got hand cramps having to hold the pump so long), no surprise there.  Our second stop, a gas station LOL, which we thought was going well until we had a mechanical problem with the pump, which was realized when the gas overflowed and hit our running shoes.  OK to be fair, maybe we weren’t paying attention.  

Side note: the cost of gas the FIRST day was almost $800. At first we were panicking wondering if we have made the wrong choice given the expense. However we quickly consoled ourselves using “Montreal Math”. By our calculations, we made $20,000 when registering the vehicle, so really we’ve still made $19,200, giving us 24 more days of free travel at this rate. If you don’t know what Montreal Math is, it comes from a video on YouTube called “Shopping Math is the New Free”, a must watch for all over spenders. The Montreal piece came from Lori starting to use this math on an extravagant shopping trip in Montreal for her 50th.

Let’s talk for a moment about our first day driving. While we had driven RVs in the past we certainly weren’t expert drivers of a Class A. However in full female fashion we supported each other in our driving efforts. The passenger, is always a key part of the drive being the second set of eyes, especially to make sure we were not going over the “white line” on the side of the road. This is even more challenging the further north we drive, as Northern Ontario seems to lack adequate shoulders, and by adequate we mean NONE in certain areas. Oh, and did we mention the straight drop off the non existent shoulder into an abyss of forest? We are hoping we get used to this quickly, otherwise this is going to be a long and stressful journey!

The 549km road to our first overnight stop was long and stressful, with rain and construction, so we were very happy once we arrived to Serpent River campground in Spragge Ontario.  We had a smooth set up and a “winner winner” chicken dinner, which Barb brought from home, thanks Jim!  What we neglected to do however is check the weather.  We left Toronto and it was hot and humid, so why would any other place in Ontario be any different.  Hmm there is a new definition of “freezing your ass off” when you use the RV toilet in the chill of the morning, it was 5 degrees outside and not much warmer inside. Bloody Hell!

June 28th  

Our morning goal is to pack up and get moving onto our next destination by 8am.  Seems simple enough, unhook from power & water, retract stabilizers & slides, and do your final check around the unit to make sure all is well.  Well all was not well, as the neighbour saw that our back slide awning & cover did not retract properly with the slide itself.  So Barb pushed the slide out 1/2 way and Lori crawled onto the roof from the RV ladder at the back of the unit.  There were twigs in the awning/cover unit of the slide and Lori thought she could just remove the twigs and voila the slide would fix itself.  So Lori is up on the roof removing twigs and the awning snapped back quickly, but thank God she has lightening reflexes and was able to get her hand out in time.  Whew! So we thought we had the problem fixed.  NOPE the slide is now going in crooked! This is NOT good. So we pushed out again, and recruited the neighbour Aldo and the local handyman Brian to help two damsels in distress on DAY 2!!! Brian got his ladder (because we chose to leave our ladder at home because why in heavens name would we need it in the first 6 weeks….) and went up, and low and behold it wasn’t just a few twigs but a damn birds nest, including a dead bird!  Brian did a great job cleaning out the mechanical motor and we were able to finally get the slide in with the help of Aldo and Brian pushing the one end in that was retracting slower.  Excellent work all around and we were OFF 2 hours later than expected with the slide fixed!

We travelled to WaWa Ontario to our first Harvest Host (HH) and boondocking experience was at a blueberry farm. For those that are not familiar with either term; boondocking means parking with no electricity & water etc. typically not on an official RV or camping site. Harvest Host is an RV membership that provides unlimited no fee RV overnight stays. These are usually at winery’s, farms, golf courses, or personal properties. Our drive to the HH Algoma Highland Wild Blueberry Farm and Winery was relatively smooth however we were rattled by the rough start of the day and arriving late at our destination.  Thank goodness our location for the night was excellent and the owner Trevor was welcoming and over the top accommodating even willing to go into the winery outside retail hours giving us wine for the night because all was NOT well with the back slide…… 

As we started pushing it out for the night, it pushed out crooked.  SO in it went and we decided quite wisely to not use it again until we got it fixed.  What does that really mean other than Barb’s king bed doesn’t open and she needs to crawl in and sleep sideways against the window. We also have NO access to clothes.  No socks/shorts/tops/pants/underwear etc.  All locked in their wonderful closets and drawers blocked by the slide.  Now for those RVers out there, yes we should have put stuff in the overhead cupboards, but we were saving these spots for when we landed in Calgary and really loaded up from my house. Ah well, the things you learn on the way.   

We started making phone calls to find a place that would fix our slide out and we quickly learned two things. 1. Dealers take care of their preferred customers first. This means in the spring, people who have bought units from them get priority treatment. The places we called all told us it would be 2-3 weeks before they could get to us because of this. 2. Holiday weekends or high season are NOT the time to have issues requiring repair. This created a lot of stress for us as we a: only had a 10 day permit to travel to Calgary b: we had to stop for a safety for registration in Alberta and c: we had to have Lori’s house packed up by July 11th. Under this pressure we decided to call a place that was days ahead of us in a larger city after the long weekend, and pleaded with them to get us in to fix our slide. We managed to get a spot booked in Brandon Manitoba.

June 29th 

From WaWa we will be traveling to Dorian Ontario staying at the HH, Canyon Country Co-Op store.  We had a good sleep in WaWa but woke up to heavy fog, and environment Canada warnings of extreme danger and to stay off the roads. We got on the road an hour or two late as we waited for some of the fog to lift, but the day went from bad to worse.  We had torrential rain and low visibility, construction, multiple bridge constructions with NO advance warnings, and NO SHIT there were guys with stop signs jumping up and down and waving them in the middle of the road to stop people! Unbelievable.   

SOOOO we arrived late yet again at our HH destination.  Super sketch location on the highway, dumpy story and uneven gravel/grass area for us to park on. That night huge rainstorm and we were certain our tires were going to sink and we would have trouble getting out in the morning.  Good times. Still no change of clothes and no bed for Barb.

June 30th 

We got up and left Dorian thinking this would be a better day because frankly what more could go awry??  Well hurricane force winds for one………the drive for both of us was “HAND CRAMPING” as we had a death grip on the steering wheel, like the hand cramping at the friggin gas pumps!! Well shit! New terminology for us, cross winds. Wind gusts of only 25 km per hour do feel like 100 when you aren’t used to the full brunt of a wind push against your large vehicle.  Another long Friggin driving day!!! LOL Why did we think this was a good idea?

We landed at The Ranch in Laclu Ontario which is NW of Kenora. This was another HH with a beautiful lakefront property with 30 amp electricity and worth the stress getting here. The owner Don was awesome and owned a security company. He was very impressed with the security system that Bill had installed on the back of our RV. What type of security you ask? We have motion sensor lighting on the back of the RV in case of undesirables. Extra cameras, which we viewed on displays mounted on our dashboard. They are super helpful for backing up and to see what is behind us on the road.

July 1 

Up early and heading off to Brandon…..where we hope we will get our slide fixed on Monday.  We also hope for great WiFi so we can provide further updates on the slide “issue” and…….yes we are driving on the Friday of a long weekend! Stay tuned.

Well its been a while since we posted anything since we purchased the Motorhome. What has happened since then?

1. We have purchased items for our new RV
2. Lori went to Scotland for a month
3. Barb is in the midst of planning her daughter Vanessa’s backyard wedding celebration
4. Lori has sold her home in Calgary and must vacate by July
5. Lori arranged for RV insurance because we decided to register the vehicle in Lori’s name alone. This saved us $20,000 in taxes, as pre-owned vehicles in Alberta are not taxed the way they are in Ontario
6. Barb’s air conditioning dies the day before the wedding. Barb pleads with AC supplier (she does squeak out a tear for effect) to come and fix it. And……….he does!
7. Lori flew back to Toronto to help with Vanessa’s backyard wedding, as well as get the 10 day travel permit to go from Toronto to Calgary
8. We picked up the RV on Sunday June 26th, brought it back to Barb’s and filled it with leftover alcohol from the wedding
9. Monday morning June 27th, exhausted from cleaning up from the wedding, packing the RV, Barb being hungover from doing shots at her daughter’s wedding (Lori was good for a change, shocker I know!) and lack of sleep we headed out. But DAMN we were excited to start the trek towards Calgary to load up the RV from Lori’s home before the movers come and pack everything up!

Stay tuned for updates along the way. There are sure to be be misadventures in the midst of the big adventure!

WHAT A RIDE!! We thought our first post should be about ”how” we ended up with our 2021 Entegra Coach Vision, and the wonderful individual we purchased it from, Bill Wereha.

Barb was relentless in looking daily for RVs in Auto Trader/Facebook, and a few days into Lori’s retirement we heard from a former colleague Taniya Sweet, who sent us one from facebook marketplace. It was perfect! UNDER 30 feet, white farmhouse cupboards, great layout and a nice size shower. It also had plenty of storage! But we had to act fast! Barb called the seller who lived quite close to her in Stoney Creek. We would say we patiently waited, but that would be a lie. We were panicking that it would be sold before we could talk to the owner. After what seemed like an eternity (It really was probably only a few hours) Bill’s daughter reached out to Barb. We were IN and Barb set a time to meet the owner and see the RV. We also arranged for Lori to be on FaceTime while Barb was going through the Motorhome so Lori could see and experience everything in real time. Needless to say, seeing this on FaceTime really solidified the fact that Lori wanted to get this particular unit, and she could tell Barb did as well.

Bill is a very generous and kind individual. There were other folks calling him while Barb was there, but Bill had made up his mind that he wanted to sell to us. Bill had made a lot of safety upgrades and felt that we would be perfect new owners being two women traveling around North America. Barb and Bill shook hands, we made a down payment (by we, we mean Barb), and became the new owners! We haven’t taken the baby beast, our new name for her, out for a tour yet because Barb is planning her daughters’ weddings. Also Lori is away touring Scotland with our great friend Elaine Reid.

This has been a dream that we each had separately for many years prior to retirement. Barb retired in Feb 2020 and had to put this dream on hold as the COVID pandemic had just begun. By the time Lori was planning her retirement for May 2022 travel was once again possible, and we started discussing doing this together. Now that we’ve purchased an RV, we are excited about the months ahead. We can’t thank Bill enough for taking the time to really make sure we know how to run everything and that we will be fine on the road, or will we……….lol?

We will begin our journey at the end of June!