"Life" trumps "Vacation"

May 17, 2009
Kalispell, MT

Often, it feels like we're on an endless vacation when we're on the road. People sometimes think we're "on vacation" as well. In reality, you can't be on vacation every day, since life gets in the way. That's how it's been for the last week or so.

Geri did a bunch of laundry. I got half of the tires on the coach replaced before we head north. It rained and we did a bunch of rainy-day projects. We ate down the food on board and put a nice dent in the beer/wine supply in preparation for crossing the border. We watched a couple of DVDs. Nothing exciting, but definitely enough to keep us occupied.

We did do a couple of other things related to our trip: we loaded up on huckleberry stuff (and had another milkshake in the process) and we made a trip down to Polson to "visit" a an outlet store specializing in blankets and comforters made with goose down. So, now we'll have everything from preserves to pancakes, and we'll be as snug as a bug in a rug.

So, what's up with the trip? Well, we have good news and better news. First, we hit the road tomorrow morning. After a quick stop at the tire shop (they installed two of the wheels in a way that makes it tough to air them up), we'll be heading north on US-93 to the Canadian border. From there, we'll drive a few hours north to Fairmont Hot Springs, BC, where we'll "take the waters" for a few days.

And, for a bigger change, we'll be hooking up with two other couples that we've met in our travels who are headed to Alaska. The rendezvous will be around June 1 in Calgary, so we'll have some time to poke around after we leave the Springs. (I have a couple of ideas, but I'm keeping them under wraps until we make a final decision.) This change is really a great move, since we'll be able to travel with a small group (not alone and not with a larger caravan), and will be able to move at a reasonable pace (a hundred miles or two at a time, stopping as desired). We're looking forward to catching up with the Bahnson's and Rea's at the Fraser's in a couple of weeks!

It'll be interesting to see how connectivity works during this next phase of the trip. We changed our cell phone plan to one that covers the US and Canada - supposedly. It remains to be seen how it will really work. "Unlimited long distance in the US and Canada; airtime charges apply within the coverage area". Who knows what that really means? We're reasonably sure we can call US numbers from the US, and we think we can call Canadian numbers from Canada, but who knows about US->Canada and Canada->US? We've gotten a few conflicting opinions, but we'll know for sure once we try it out. I'll be able to log on and check the usage charges to find out.

Logging on, of course, will be more of a challenge since the air card doesn't have a US + Canada plan, and we'll soon be too far north to get a satellite signal. We'll rely on free (or close to free if that's all we can get) wi-fi as we travel, and all the guides indicate that availability is fair-to-good and getting better. On the bottom line, we'll still be in touch as best we can.

OK, time to make the burgers...