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Another great sunny day.  The drive from Creston to Trail BC was very beautiful with 1,700m of elevation which was not much of an issue.  The grades however were a totally different story.  We encountered many 7% grades in Northern Ontario and east of Creston. However, they are no match for the length of the 10-13% grades just east of Salmo.  Unfortunately because of this we had to use the brakes more, along with the tow/haul.  While we drove incredibly well (in our opinion) up and down and around the curves, the RV seemed to have had a mind of its own on the steepest descent and went into a 30 second shake event that we had never experienced, and hope we never will again. It was rough, loud, and unexplainable; we thought the sides of the RV were going to fall off.  There was no warning light of any kind. It was like your car ABS system kicking in x1000. Frankly this is the first time we went beyond nervous to concerned, and we admit we were scared.  We remember Lori saying when it started, “I don’t know what to do”. We stopped as soon as we could at a local gas station, as once again there were no shoulders nor runaway lanes on this stretch.  We did a walk around and smelled the tires and area to check if there had been any burning, but found nothing. We stayed for about 20 minutes for things to cool down and by “things” we mean brakes, our nerves, and the animals panting.

While it should have been an easy drive for the remaining 40km to our HH location at a local Kootenay Lake winery, we were still quite rattled.  As we pulled in, Barb recalled Lori had exclaimed right after the shaking incident, “This winery better have F#$% amazing wine!  After this we deserve it.”  

The property was beautiful with a lot of cherry trees! We had a ton of fun picking as much as we wanted, and we took a few bowls on the road with us. Our host Ben did warn us about the bears though, as they also love the “free” cherries. Of course there are bears around after the crap drive we had. UGH.

We had arranged ahead of time to have a charcuterie and wine tasting. Ben laid out an incredible spread for us to pair with his apparent award winning wines. He was extremely generous serving us 9 different whites and reds. We say ‘apparent’ award winning as, despite the awards up on the walls, the wine was unpalatable.  Can you believe that between the two of us we couldn’t find any wine worth drinking? Barb totally took one for the team after Lori very directly told Ben, “I can’t drink this. It’s terrible.” Barb said “I don’t know Lori, I like this,” and kept on downing glass after glass to be polite. Well….partially to be polite and partially to recover and hopefully forget ‘the death rattle’ experience.

We have decided, after discussing with Ben, that it would be prudent to seek out the Ford dealership in the morning to check out our brakes before we hit another steep mountain descent.

We have arrived in Creston BC at Scotties, which is a very nice small campground with lots of tree shade. Barb drove all day as she wanted the experience of mountain driving. We started getting anxious about our weight (to be clear not our weight but the RV weight) and how it would perform on the hills. Barb did an awesome job using the ”tow/haul” feature to keep the vehicle in a lower gear to provide stronger engine braking as well as improved acceleration. We got to Creston and had a glass of wine to celebrate our successful journey across Crowsnest Pass. What we failed to understand, and only found out the following day, is that Paulson Pass & Kootenay Pass are the higher hills, so we really haven’t done the big stuff yet, and it is now Lori’s turn to drive. Good grief.

We have been able to relax and enjoy our quiet time here in Creston, and we booked a private tour with a local company, Creston Valley Tour Co. This tour company, owned by Gillian Kemle, was just OUTSTANDING! They go above and beyond to make you enjoy your day. We were greeted with fresh fruit and water to start, then we moved onto fresh veggies and dip. We decided to go healthy and decline the chips and other treats available for us. If you are ever in Creston BC, reach out to Creston Valley Tour Co. Gillian also owns the Valley View Motel in Creston and it is NOT what you would expect!! It is a cozy gathering of quaint cottages that look out over the Creston Valley.

During the tour we visited Kootenay Meadows Farm (formally known as Kootenay Alpine Cheese), some orchards, and Baillie-Grohman Winery. Our favorite part of the tour was the Kootenay Meadows stop. This farm is state of the art and the dairy cows are looked after with kindness, comfort and all the perks of living a great life in the valley. Each cow wore a collar that told the owners everything, and we mean everything about the cow. When they are eating & sleeping, if they are pregnant, sick, giving birth, you name it! In fact it also monitors their milking (they do this themselves, the cows that is). We have to expand on the cows milking themselves as we found this fascinating. Apparently you can easily train cows. The collars they wear open up gates for them IF they are allowed in. So when the cow wants to get milked they go up to a gate, the collar signals to the gate to open and the cow goes forward to the milking machine. The back gate closes and the cow is in a small penned area. A laser machine identifies where the cow is, washes the underside of the cow with what frankly looks like a car wash, then the machine finds each teat and milks the cow. While this is happening the cow gets a treat of some sort of grain. Again the collar notifies the owners which cows have been milked and which cows haven’t. One cow in particular tried getting back in line 67 times in one day (she likes the treat of grain apparently) and the collar knew that the cow was not to be milked again so the gate didn’t open for her, so back in line she went to try again. Unbelievable!! The technology that is, the cow story is just damn funny. The cheese and milk production was also state of the art. We purchased cheese, milk, and cream from them. Can’t wait to dig in!!

Tomorrow we are off to Trail BC.

July 13th we were off in the direction of Creston BC, stopping first at a HH horse farm in Pincher Creek Alberta, called Windy Coulee and run by Heidi Eijgel.  A little off the beaten path but well worth the trip!!  Heidi is a wonderful host and clearly LOVES the animals she has on the farm. She owns Canadian Horses which are a rare breed.  The Canadian Horse is the official national horse breed of Canada. Known as the Cheval Canadien, it was declared the National Horse of Canada in April 2002. This breed is famous for its strength, endurance, and versatility, earning it the nickname “Little Iron Horse”. It has a rich history, tracing back to horses sent from France in the 1600s. Heidi’s horses have been used in the Canadian show Heartland, which is pretty cool.

Heidi joined us in the RV for a bevvy which turned into a Q&A period with Barb asking most of the questions.  Good ones we might add.  As with all farms, you have livestock & you have deadstock (Jim Lindsay will appreciate that comment) so Barb was quite interested in learning if it is OK to bury a dead horse (obviously not a live one) on a farm that is deemed “Native Grasslands and Conservation Land”. Like all good farmers, the shrug of the shoulders from Heidi, and the “no big deal” attitude, let us know that the burial of a horse is just a way of life and it is okay to bury a horse on her farm.

As we travel it is important to us that we give back any way that we can. This time at Heidi’s, it was Winston who did the contribution of giving back. It just so happened that Heidi wanted a video of her Canadian Horses running (which is quite stunning) for her website, but she has never been able to capture this yet on film. SO, in comes Winston. The horses were quite interested in him and always seemed to run towards him when he came out of the RV for a walk. So we had Winston run along the gate (Lori ran ahead and Winston chased her) and the horses ran along side him. OK, for those of you who know Winston, it was more of a jaunt and gallop than a run, but it worked nonetheless. Barb caught this on video and lo and behold, we now have Canadian Horses running for Heidi. Well done Winston!

Heidi has placed a conservation easement on her land to protect the natural prairie and riparian habitats, ensuring a sustainable future for both the horses and the ecosystem. It’s clear Heidi likes both the land and the animals on her farm. Her heritage chickens were beautiful, sociable, and well taken care of. Heidi built an untreated wall of wood outdoors for Mason bees to nest and lay their eggs. This was well placed by her large garden of veggies and flowers. These bees are excellent pollinators. We had the opportunity to introduce Heidi to black garlic and traded it for some garlic scapes fresh from her garden, which Barb is excited to try. This is one stop we will not forget.

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.

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 McDonald’s 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 heaven’s 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.  That 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 chose 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 headed out.  It was supposed to be one of our longer days (about 5 hours of driving) but given the weather (lots 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 that 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 RVs 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 we 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 are 

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. 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 the hot water to work in the shower. The posse of five men is 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 on to Brooks Alberta (both HH). And yes, we have been staying at a lot of HH this week. Do you recall the previous post and the cost of gas? Of course we need to optimize some free stays at HH!

Day 1, June 27th, 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 was a gas station, LOL, which we thought was going well until we had a mechanical problem with the pump, which was how we discovered that the gas had overflowed and hit our running shoes.  Okay, 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 trip to our first overnight stop was long and stressful, with rain and construction, so we were very happy once we arrived at 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, was 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!

Our morning goal is to pack up and get moving 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 our neighbour saw that our back slide awning & cover did not retract properly with the slide itself.  So Barb pushed the slide out halfway 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, causing the awning to snap 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 heaven’s name would we need it in the first 6 weeks….) and went up, and lo and behold – it wasn’t just a few twigs but a damned bird’s 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 that was retracting slower.  Excellent work all around and we were OFF 2 hours later than expected, but with the slide fixed!

We travelled to Wawa Ontario to our first Harvest Host (HH) and boondocking experience 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 overnight stays. These are usually at wineries, 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 to give 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 and high season are NOT the times 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) had to stop for a safety certification for registration in Alberta; and (c) 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.

The morning of June 29th, we were travelling from Wawa 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, with Environment Canada warning 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 store, and uneven gravel/grass area for us to park on. That night we had a 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.

The following morning, 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, crosswinds. 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 30amp 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 for seeing what is behind us on the road.

Up early on July 1st 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 has been busy helping her daughter Vanessa plan her 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, having packed 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 are 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.

Once we had made the decision to purchase an RV and travel for a couple of years, we had to fine one! To start: did we want a Class A, a Class B? Did we need 1 slide, or two? What we did know for sure is that we needed separate sleeping arrangements and room to move around, especially because we were going to have Winston & Safiya on board. We also wanted light-coloured cabinets so the space would look bigger, and plenty of storage. So the search began!! 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 sized 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 we both wanted to get this particular unit.

Bill turned out to be 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!