Last week I went to a workshop down in Kananaskis, a gorgeous little place in the Rockies. Because I was off to such a wonderful place, I was of course followed down by a crazy lady who brought four kids along for the ride, never mind the 8 hours or so that it takes to drive there.
By coincidence, we’d also been advised that the camper trailer would be available for collection in Edmonton (just in time for the snow of course) so we planned on picking it up on the way back to Fort Mac.
That was planned for Saturday. So after a couple of drinks with the McColls in Calgary Friday night, we retreated to our hotel and then planned our get away for Saturday. There were a few things on the agenda: Get to Ikea to buy a desk for the basement, get to Costco to bankrupt ourselves and of course get to Morinville to pick up the camper. All of this after the drive from Calgary to Edmonton.
There were some tricky logistics involved. Ikea is on the south side of Edmonton, Costco on the North and the RV place 20 minutes north of that. The biggest hassle was that we really needed the camper first so that we had somewhere to put the desk so that we could transport it. Especially because when we set off from Calgary, the wind was gusting in excess of 100km/hr, giving some of those nice big buses a good 5 degree list as they drove up the highway, shifting sideways a foot or so before being jerked back on course. It was great fun.
We finally came up with a plan at Ikea. They didn’t close until 9pm that night, so we ordered the desk that we wanted, then I dropped Caroline and the kids at Costco and went to get the Camper.
Other than the outrageous cost of the camper repair, all went well and I met them back at Costco where we had to put the camper up enough to squeeze in some of the shopping.
Now at about this time, Old Man Winter decided that it was time to give Dave a reminder of just what it was that he was in for and perhaps a little warning. Because as I made my way around the camper, stuffing stuff in it and trying to get it all back down where it was supposed to be (tricky with a chair in the wrong spot apparently) those 100km/hr wind gusts continued. And as if that ‘Old Man’, bastard that he is decided to have a little chuckle and add a little snow into the mix. And the joy of 100km/hr winds mixed with snow is that it means that it comes at you horizontally, right into your ear hole. So it was no surprise that just as I was finishing, I noticed that the bars that keep the slide out in the right place weren’t where they were supposed to be, so that meant another 10 minutes in the lovely fall weather. At least it stopped snowing.
But I survived and we got under way, went all the way back to Ikea on the other side of town, loaded the desk, grabbed some dinner and set off for Fort McMurray, wind be damned.
It was going to be a late night. Petrol consumption was high (though I did get a shock when I got a complete tank of gas for about $80! Can you remember the last time you got petrol fro 94c per litre?) and it was a bastard of a drive with the wind playing havoc. I was glad that it was just a tent trailer behind me and not a full sized caravan.
I’d had two real bastard drives up highway 63 prior to this one ... once due to heavy rain and the other because of a bloody blizzard that blew through. This one rated right up there with those bastard drives.
And because I’ve bothered writing this much, you know there’s something coming, don’t you? Well yes there is. We were around the half way mark from Edmonton, some 200km short of Fort Mac (which is the start of a 200km, stretch with no services) when something didn’t quite feel right with the car. I slowed down, concerned, but with the way that the wind had been moving the camper around, throwing us sideways, I’d been fighting it all the way and it didn’t really feel any different. So we continued on.
It wasn’t much further though until once again, things didn’t quite feel right. This time I decided that I really should stop and take a look. We weren’t in a great spot. I couldn’t get right off the road and we weren’t that far from the end of a bend ... far from the right place to be stopping. And when I got out and surveyed the trailer, my stomach lurched.
It wasn’t just that we had a flat tyre. It was the fact that we had NO tyre. In fact, not only did we have no tyre, the rim had collapsed as well. It was four letter worded.
Post traumatic analysis tells me that the first time I felt something, the tyre had blown and because the wind was so bad, the fact that I was then driving on the rim didn’t really register ... not until it collapsed and we were rolling on the drum.
At this point in time it was 11:30 pm (strangely reminiscent of the time of night at which i found out that it wasn’t going to go up prior to repair). And we were stranded. We were only 1km from the last point of contact with civilisation that we’d passed and we were 200kms from getting to real civilisation (haha, I just called Fort McMurray real civilisation, how funny am I?) Oh and it was at this point that having jacked up the camper, I realised that although the brace from the car would remove the nuts from the spare tyre, it was the wrong size to get the dead rim off. Oh shit.
Our options were limited: Call the CAA, turn around and drag the bugger back to Wandering River (1km back) or advance to a point where we could abandon the trailer and hope for the best). We called the CAA to discover that we weren’t covered for the trailer and so then faced calling a contract from a hundred k’s away at $250 (if they’d come) or some sort of abandonment.
We moved up the road to where there was an entrance to what we thought was a gas plant so that we could at least get far enough off the road to be a bit safer from the traffic. That was when we realised that we weren’t at the entrance to a gas plant, but to the very last farm house before Fort McMurray. And the lights were on.
So feeling like a depraved character from a b-grade horror movie, I walked up to this middle of the nowhere farm house, wheel brace in my hand to knock on the door. A woman walked out and spotted me and I received an appropriate, extremely cautious look as she went back in the direction that she’d come from. That was when a rather large guy in his boxers came to the door.
All I’d hoped for was a socket that would fit the nut. But he offered to pull on some clothes and bring his truck down for a look. I met him back down at the camper and we attempted to get the rim off, but it was free-wheeling and we couldn’t get enough purchase to turn the nuts. So up to the workshop we went, loaded up the compressor, pulled out the impact wrench and back to the camper. The rim was off in moments. That was when we could see the wire from the tyre that had managed to wrap itself in around the brake drum. That left us in a quandary ... to take it further and risk not getting to Fort Mac (and with no spare) or to abandon it.
At that point, Tim (the farmer) offered to allow us to leave the camper behind and have his brother (who happens to be a heavy vehicle mechanic) take a look at it in the morning. We opted for option, “Sent by an Angel” and took off for Fort McMurray, sans camper.
We did finally get home at about 3am (despite the old man’s attempts, throwing snow and wind at us the entire way).
When I got up at 11am the next day, I called Tim to find out if there was anything that I would need to bring from Fort McMurray to assist. I was informed that it was all fixed. His brother had had it off, checked it out, made a minor repair to the brake and it was waiting for me to come and get it.
So after searching in town for a new rim and tyre, I went for a casual 2 hour drive to get it and tried to give his brother some money for what he’d done (I’d dropped some bills in Tim’s hand the night before). Barry adamantly refused to take my money with a ‘pay it forward’ Karma based attitude ... “some day i’ll be stuck out there and looking for someone to help me,” he simply said.
Another casual 2 hour drive back the other way and both I and the camper were home again.
And so that’s where I pondered what to call this one ... “Why Dave should buy a tent ...”? or “Blessed or Cursed?” Because I have to wonder if the camper and I should never be together, but we were truly incredibly blessed in terms of the location in which this occurred and the assistance that we received.
All I can say is that we’ve been looked after.
Oct 28, 2008
Oct 15, 2008
At the Cinema
We went down to Edmonton for the long weekend that just passed (Thanksgiving) with a couple of things on the agenda. First was to get some of our warm stuff (like my winter boots) from the camper (yes, it’s still down there) before it’s too late. There was also the fact that young Thomas had an excessive amount of money burning a hole in his pocket from his birthday, which meant Toys ‘r Us was unavoidable.
There was a potential trip to Costco – wholesale warehouse, where you buy your washing powder in containers big enough for boat people to swap continents and your candy in quantities to employ an army of dentists.
And of course there was the fact that we were staying with the Duells and thus a thanksgiving dinner was in order.
Oh, and perhaps a bit of shopping – after all, one can’t escape Fort Mac and not do a little shopping.
We got away Friday night without drama (always nice) and collapsed in St Albert around 11:30pm with the only disaster being that the DVD player decided not to work in the car on the way there and the only near disaster being a random elk that decided to wander across the road and cause me to go from 100 to 10km/hr in a short space of time. The next day we went to the RV repair shop, retrieved our stuff (and drooled over a few new Jayco vans) before continuing down into Edmonton.
After surviving Toys R Us, (if Thomas walking out with a nerf gun almost as big as he is is surviving) where we met up with Bob and Nancy and their girls for the Costco extravaganza. I must say that the control exercised by Caroline and I was quite remarkable and probably assisted most by the fact that we knew there was bugger all room left in the car after clearing out the camper trailer.
Part of the plan for Sunday had been to send Caroline off shopping whilst I took the four kids to the movies, but by the time that we got around to the movie bit, Caroline decided that she didn’t really want to do anymore shopping and so she’d go to the movies as well.
I think that the last movie that I saw in the cinema was Return of the King. Yes, the third installment of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. It’s been that long. So imagine just how much I’d enjoyed going through the now screening list to find a movie that all four of our children would sit through and at least enjoy a little. Think about how excited I was when the result of the search was, “Beverly Hills Chihuahua.”
But of course with Caroline going as well, Michael quickly seized on the concept of one parent going with him to see something he wanted to see and the other taking everyone else (or at least those that preferred) to see the dog movie. There was the briefest glimmer of hope that I wouldn’t have to be that second parent when Michael was quite firm on wanting to be accompanied by Daddy to the movie. Sadly, so were the other three. And of course majority ruled and I got to see the dog movie.
The funny thing is that when I was taking four of them, I was quite resigned to the fact that I was going to see it. But with an alternate option, a glimmer of hope emerged. A glimmer was quickly smashed against the rocks, reason dispersing it to the furthest reaches of the universe and dog movie it was.
Did I enjoy my first trip back to the cinema. Well, it wasn’t as bad as getting a needle stuck in my eye, but the fact that I had to pay so much to watch that movie …ouch. Now I remember why I love DVD’s and a home projector so much.
After the movie it was time for Thanksgiving dinner. Which in true Aussie style, meant a BBQ and good red wine. But then, thanksgiving isn’t really about turkey anymore than Christmas is (apparently) so we were lucky to get to share it with friends from home and to have escaped Fort Mac for the day. I’ll tell you about the harvest festival in a whole other tirade.
There was a potential trip to Costco – wholesale warehouse, where you buy your washing powder in containers big enough for boat people to swap continents and your candy in quantities to employ an army of dentists.
And of course there was the fact that we were staying with the Duells and thus a thanksgiving dinner was in order.
Oh, and perhaps a bit of shopping – after all, one can’t escape Fort Mac and not do a little shopping.
We got away Friday night without drama (always nice) and collapsed in St Albert around 11:30pm with the only disaster being that the DVD player decided not to work in the car on the way there and the only near disaster being a random elk that decided to wander across the road and cause me to go from 100 to 10km/hr in a short space of time. The next day we went to the RV repair shop, retrieved our stuff (and drooled over a few new Jayco vans) before continuing down into Edmonton.
After surviving Toys R Us, (if Thomas walking out with a nerf gun almost as big as he is is surviving) where we met up with Bob and Nancy and their girls for the Costco extravaganza. I must say that the control exercised by Caroline and I was quite remarkable and probably assisted most by the fact that we knew there was bugger all room left in the car after clearing out the camper trailer.
Part of the plan for Sunday had been to send Caroline off shopping whilst I took the four kids to the movies, but by the time that we got around to the movie bit, Caroline decided that she didn’t really want to do anymore shopping and so she’d go to the movies as well.
I think that the last movie that I saw in the cinema was Return of the King. Yes, the third installment of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. It’s been that long. So imagine just how much I’d enjoyed going through the now screening list to find a movie that all four of our children would sit through and at least enjoy a little. Think about how excited I was when the result of the search was, “Beverly Hills Chihuahua.”
But of course with Caroline going as well, Michael quickly seized on the concept of one parent going with him to see something he wanted to see and the other taking everyone else (or at least those that preferred) to see the dog movie. There was the briefest glimmer of hope that I wouldn’t have to be that second parent when Michael was quite firm on wanting to be accompanied by Daddy to the movie. Sadly, so were the other three. And of course majority ruled and I got to see the dog movie.
The funny thing is that when I was taking four of them, I was quite resigned to the fact that I was going to see it. But with an alternate option, a glimmer of hope emerged. A glimmer was quickly smashed against the rocks, reason dispersing it to the furthest reaches of the universe and dog movie it was.
Did I enjoy my first trip back to the cinema. Well, it wasn’t as bad as getting a needle stuck in my eye, but the fact that I had to pay so much to watch that movie …ouch. Now I remember why I love DVD’s and a home projector so much.
After the movie it was time for Thanksgiving dinner. Which in true Aussie style, meant a BBQ and good red wine. But then, thanksgiving isn’t really about turkey anymore than Christmas is (apparently) so we were lucky to get to share it with friends from home and to have escaped Fort Mac for the day. I’ll tell you about the harvest festival in a whole other tirade.
Oct 7, 2008
Third Eight
So it would be wrong of me to let such an occasion pass unmentioned, even if I do happened to be five days late or so. Yes, on the 2nd of October, Thomas turned 8. And, although at risk of saying this upon the occasion of every birthday from this point on … “I can’t believe my little man is 8!:”
So how is Thomas at 8? He’s still a delight. He still struggles with his speech at times, but it doesn’t seem to be holding him back too much. Its mainly when he decides to go off on a whine that he tends to become les decipherable.
There were moments late in the last school year where we thought that the school was going to recommend that he stay back a year to ensure that his reading and hence his writing was up to scratch. We resisted on the basis that he’ll be spending 18 months in what ever school year he ends up returning to school in.
He’s reading has certainly come a long way … I don’t get the opportunity to compare him to his peers, but within himself he’s improved a long long way. His writing I can’t say quite the same for, but we’ll persevere and I’m sure that with effort he’ll get there. He is certainly showing an aptitude for math similar to his older brothers.
He retains his wicked sense of humour and is often smiling, wanting to keep up with the two older boys and at his most frustrated when he finds himself excluded.
He has an Aussie friend Harry over here that he has a lot of fun with, they’re both into starwars in a big way and share other interests as well. He’s playing ringette again this year, in Emily’s team, but sadly not Harry’s. That was almost enough for the commitment to the team to be over before the season began, but I think after scoring a couple of goals and realizing that he’ll be one of the power players on the team that he might start to change his mind.
One of the nicest things that can be said about Thomas at the point in his life is the bond he seems to have formed with Harry’s youngest sister, Bridget; who’s all of 2 and a half years old. If we happen to be sitting down and having a couple of drinks, Bridget is quite happy to go and plonk herself in his lap and he’s quite happy to have her there. It’s very cute.
So how is Thomas at 8? He’s still a delight. He still struggles with his speech at times, but it doesn’t seem to be holding him back too much. Its mainly when he decides to go off on a whine that he tends to become les decipherable.
There were moments late in the last school year where we thought that the school was going to recommend that he stay back a year to ensure that his reading and hence his writing was up to scratch. We resisted on the basis that he’ll be spending 18 months in what ever school year he ends up returning to school in.
He’s reading has certainly come a long way … I don’t get the opportunity to compare him to his peers, but within himself he’s improved a long long way. His writing I can’t say quite the same for, but we’ll persevere and I’m sure that with effort he’ll get there. He is certainly showing an aptitude for math similar to his older brothers.
He retains his wicked sense of humour and is often smiling, wanting to keep up with the two older boys and at his most frustrated when he finds himself excluded.
He has an Aussie friend Harry over here that he has a lot of fun with, they’re both into starwars in a big way and share other interests as well. He’s playing ringette again this year, in Emily’s team, but sadly not Harry’s. That was almost enough for the commitment to the team to be over before the season began, but I think after scoring a couple of goals and realizing that he’ll be one of the power players on the team that he might start to change his mind.
One of the nicest things that can be said about Thomas at the point in his life is the bond he seems to have formed with Harry’s youngest sister, Bridget; who’s all of 2 and a half years old. If we happen to be sitting down and having a couple of drinks, Bridget is quite happy to go and plonk herself in his lap and he’s quite happy to have her there. It’s very cute.
Sep 27, 2008
Fall is here again
I had to travel down to Edmonton and Calgary during the week and flew back into Fort McMurray as the sun was headed towards the other side of the world and I happened to glance out the window the plane.
It was a spectacular sight as the leaves have begun to turn and so instead of the varying hues of green that are usually visible out of the window, it was a much prettier view with the sun catching and reflecting off the golds and yellows and oranges of the birch leaves.
It was truly a reminder that fall is here again. That and the fact that once again, we’re seeing single digit high temperatures and in the mornings, temperatures that struggle to get positive.
It was a spectacular sight as the leaves have begun to turn and so instead of the varying hues of green that are usually visible out of the window, it was a much prettier view with the sun catching and reflecting off the golds and yellows and oranges of the birch leaves.
It was truly a reminder that fall is here again. That and the fact that once again, we’re seeing single digit high temperatures and in the mornings, temperatures that struggle to get positive.
Sep 17, 2008
Broken Rule
I went to work yesterday ready to prepare for a workshop that I was running in the afternoon. About 10am things started to deteriorate when it seemed like my digestive system was about to rebel and object to the food that I’d put in there for breakfast.
I soldieredon, swallowed a couple of tylenol and things seemed to improve somewhat through the rest of the day, though not quite to the point that I would have liked. My phone was happily vibrating away throughout the day as people tried to call me. The third time that it came up as ‘home’ I decided that I really should answer it and find out what was going on.
It was of course Caroline. She had rung me to let me know that she wasn’t feeling well and so would I be able cook dinner for the kids. By this time it was about 4pm and my health was taking a decided turn for the worse and so I knew that things weren’t going to be pretty by the time that I made it home.
Indeed, by the time that I did get home, I was aching, nauseous and less than happy. The difference between Caroline and I at that point was that Caroline had managed to make it to bed. I found at least 3 visiting children in the house so I quickly sent them off packing and then cooked dinner for the kids (if you can call pulling out some pre-cooked chicken out and boiling some 2 minute noodles cooking).
Then I clambered into bed.
I set the alarm so that I’d remember to put the kids to bed and when it went off, basically arranged for Michael to play Daddy and get everyone into bed.
Fortunately it worked. I can’t help but think though that one of the golden rules has been broken ... we’re not both supposed to be sick at the same time! Its supposed to be that one parent gets sick, the other works their arse off keeping everything afloat, then they get sick and the first one has the pleasure of picking up all that slack whilst they’re still trying to improve.
Both sick at once ... complete bloody rip off.
I soldieredon, swallowed a couple of tylenol and things seemed to improve somewhat through the rest of the day, though not quite to the point that I would have liked. My phone was happily vibrating away throughout the day as people tried to call me. The third time that it came up as ‘home’ I decided that I really should answer it and find out what was going on.
It was of course Caroline. She had rung me to let me know that she wasn’t feeling well and so would I be able cook dinner for the kids. By this time it was about 4pm and my health was taking a decided turn for the worse and so I knew that things weren’t going to be pretty by the time that I made it home.
Indeed, by the time that I did get home, I was aching, nauseous and less than happy. The difference between Caroline and I at that point was that Caroline had managed to make it to bed. I found at least 3 visiting children in the house so I quickly sent them off packing and then cooked dinner for the kids (if you can call pulling out some pre-cooked chicken out and boiling some 2 minute noodles cooking).
Then I clambered into bed.
I set the alarm so that I’d remember to put the kids to bed and when it went off, basically arranged for Michael to play Daddy and get everyone into bed.
Fortunately it worked. I can’t help but think though that one of the golden rules has been broken ... we’re not both supposed to be sick at the same time! Its supposed to be that one parent gets sick, the other works their arse off keeping everything afloat, then they get sick and the first one has the pleasure of picking up all that slack whilst they’re still trying to improve.
Both sick at once ... complete bloody rip off.
Sep 4, 2008
Nick of Time
The other night as I went upstairs to go to sleep, I was surprised to find that Thomas had decided to sleep outside of his room on the landing. I was just in the process of starting to move him when Emily came stumbling, sleep-eyed out of her own bedroom. I assumed that she was just going to go to the toilet, but she got as far as Thomas and then turned, headed back into her room. Just as she started to turn away though, I noticed a touch of ‘spittle’ between her lips as her cheeks puffed out just a little.
With no time to really think about it, I grabbed her arm and steered her into the nearest bathroom and managed to get her close enough to the toilet that at the point of expulsion, the vomit that I’d forseen predominantly went straight into the bowl. Talk about intervening in the nick of time! The Thought of what we’d have been dealing with had she managed to eject the contents of her stomach over her carpet and toys in her room really is just too much to think about.
She spent the rest of the night asleep on the floor of our ensuite bathroom, which she wasn’t overly happy with, but it also proved to be a prudent move later in the evening when she wasn’t quite aware of where the bucket was. Fortunately by that time we weren’t talking large volumes of vomit.
And of course, the real tragedy was that the following day was to be her first ever night of Gymnastics, which she was oh so excited about, to the point that about the first thing that she said to me as I cleaned up the bathroom was, “Daddy, do I still get to go to Gymnastics?”
I’m sure she’ll make up for that disappointment when she get’s there this week.
With no time to really think about it, I grabbed her arm and steered her into the nearest bathroom and managed to get her close enough to the toilet that at the point of expulsion, the vomit that I’d forseen predominantly went straight into the bowl. Talk about intervening in the nick of time! The Thought of what we’d have been dealing with had she managed to eject the contents of her stomach over her carpet and toys in her room really is just too much to think about.
She spent the rest of the night asleep on the floor of our ensuite bathroom, which she wasn’t overly happy with, but it also proved to be a prudent move later in the evening when she wasn’t quite aware of where the bucket was. Fortunately by that time we weren’t talking large volumes of vomit.
And of course, the real tragedy was that the following day was to be her first ever night of Gymnastics, which she was oh so excited about, to the point that about the first thing that she said to me as I cleaned up the bathroom was, “Daddy, do I still get to go to Gymnastics?”
I’m sure she’ll make up for that disappointment when she get’s there this week.
Sep 2, 2008
Sproing
The weekend just passed was a long weekend (Labour Day) and so we decided that whilst the weather was still somewhat passable, we’d take the opportunity to snap the camper on the back of the car and take off for a couple of nights.
We opted for Jasper because although it’s a long drive (let’s face it, everything worthwhile is from here) it’s in the Rockies and worth visiting every now and then. Friday night, I rushed home from work ready to put the camper down and get underway. In the process of putting the camper down, I thought to myself, “don’t forget the little safety lock that you put on to show Dad when he was here.”
Of course, I promptly forgot. That wasn’t a big drama, it just involved winding it back up to undo it. That’s where things didn’t quite go according to plan. You see the place where this lock was is on the opposite side of the camper and so as I wound it up, I was unable to see that part of the safety lock managed to hook one of the pulleys for the lifting mechanism. It wasn’t until I went back around there to release it that I found this out of course. And by that time, it had not only caught, but bent the lifting arm. It didn’t look good, but I did manage to get the camper back down again.
Then we took off on holidays, and found the rain. We had planned to stop the night in Athabasca, but when we got there, there was sufficient rain that the prospect of standing in it and trying to get the camper up without all the bedding becoming sodden was a little more than we cared for. So we drove on, hoping to find the other side of the storm, watching as lightning lit the sky all around us.
The rain stopped and it seemed that things were taking a turn for the better when we found a lovely little camp site to stop at. We detached the camper from the car, put all the jacks down so that it was close to level and then started to wind the camper up.
Somewhere in this process was where I heard it, “Sproing” and at that point noted that not all of the camper was winding up. At that point, just a little despair set in as I figured that I had managed to snap one of the lifting mechanism’s cables. At 11pm on the Friday night of a long weekend, several hundred kilometers from anywhere likely to be able to help us.
I swore a bit. Caroline was a trooper. I swore some more.
We hitched the camper back on and started driving on towards Edmonton where we were likely to be able to get help.
As we drove through Morrinson, we saw a sign – RV CITY – BODY SHOP. We checked the door. It appeared that they’d be open in the morning. One could only hope that they’d be able to help with the cable.
We drove on to St Albert and found some room in a motel before driving back to Morrison in the morning. At the first mention of ‘Tent Trailer’ and ‘Cable’ I believe the response was, “oh, that’s gonna be ugly.” Fantastic, what a perfect start to a conversation.
The first impression I got was that we were about to run into some ‘typical’ Albertan customer service when the woman basically responded that there was no way that they’d be able to help (though I think she was really referring to their ability to fix it on that day). Being somewhat desperate though, we hung around and suggested that maybe we should be heading further into Edmonton to their competition. About that point we started to talk to one of their technicians who turned out to be about as helpful as someone could be under the circumstances.
It took about 4 blokes to assist in lifting the roof to a point where it could be propped up sufficiently so that we could get in and retrieve our stuff and also at that point to see the damage that had actually been done. Turns out that there was no snapped cable .. just a pulley wheel that had come off where it was supposed to be and some significant damage to the lifting arm. Nothing that I was happy to see.
The end result of our inspection was that we needed to leave the camper behind so that they could repair it for us. That meant that we had to cram everything that we’d taken with us in the camper had to be crammed into the car and go with us (and we didn’t even have the luggage pod on top of the car). Not so squeezy? Considering that one of the greatest joys I’d had from our first trip was finally having somewhere to put all of our stuff and being able to remove the pod from the roof of the car, this was just a little disappointing.
So packed to the rafters, squashed back into something a travel mode that though accustomed to, we thought we’d left behind, we were left to travel on and attempt to find some accommodation in Jasper. On that last, good weather long weekend of the year. It turns out that we were unable to find any for the Saturday night and so stopped just outside of the national park in Hinton. We had been hoping to catch up with the McColls around the campfire Saturday night, but with those plans dashed were pleased that we managed to get a room in the same hotel for the Sunday night.
Turns out that the hotel that I’d booked over the phone for Saturday in Hinton had a swimming pool … and a waterslide. That meant for happy happy kids and an enjoyable stay. We went for a drive to some hotsprings (can’t remember the name just now) and although we didn’t partake in the overcrowded bathing, we went for a walk to the source of the springs where Caroline and the kids dipped their feet. I predicted that with kids crossing the creek someone was bound to get wet and was almost proven wrong. Almost, because both Sam and Thomas managed to get one foot dunked in the water on their way back.!
The following day we took off for Maligne Lake and Canyon and met up with Jim, Annie and their kids Emily and Angus for lunch at the Lake. We did the Maligne lake boat tour to the ‘famous’ spirit Island which was fabulous. The weather wasn’t quite postcard perfect, having snowed on us as we got out of the car in the carpark. Yes, that’s right, it snowed on us … in August! But the place was so beautiful that even without the sun’s warming touch, it was a magnificent sight.
Following our visit to the lake and a walk down to the canyon (well worth seeing) we headed back to the hotel where we dined with the McColl and then set about working out how we could manage to have a drink with our kids in separate rooms some 20 metres apart and around a corner.
We settled for sitting in the corridor whilst we had a couple of quick drinks but ran into something of a problem when we exhausted the limited supply that we’d brought with us. A trip to the bar downstairs addressed the immediate shortage and enlightened us to something that we simply wouldn’t have suspected. Hotel deliveries. A quick phone call to one of the local bottle shops and a little later … alcohol delivered to us sitting in the hall. Not a bad night at all in the end.
Monday was just a simply 9 hour drive back to Fort Mac. Oh and we’re still waiting to hear about the bloody camper repairs … one feels that it could be staying South for the winter. I might have to call it The Goose from now on.
We opted for Jasper because although it’s a long drive (let’s face it, everything worthwhile is from here) it’s in the Rockies and worth visiting every now and then. Friday night, I rushed home from work ready to put the camper down and get underway. In the process of putting the camper down, I thought to myself, “don’t forget the little safety lock that you put on to show Dad when he was here.”
Of course, I promptly forgot. That wasn’t a big drama, it just involved winding it back up to undo it. That’s where things didn’t quite go according to plan. You see the place where this lock was is on the opposite side of the camper and so as I wound it up, I was unable to see that part of the safety lock managed to hook one of the pulleys for the lifting mechanism. It wasn’t until I went back around there to release it that I found this out of course. And by that time, it had not only caught, but bent the lifting arm. It didn’t look good, but I did manage to get the camper back down again.
Then we took off on holidays, and found the rain. We had planned to stop the night in Athabasca, but when we got there, there was sufficient rain that the prospect of standing in it and trying to get the camper up without all the bedding becoming sodden was a little more than we cared for. So we drove on, hoping to find the other side of the storm, watching as lightning lit the sky all around us.
The rain stopped and it seemed that things were taking a turn for the better when we found a lovely little camp site to stop at. We detached the camper from the car, put all the jacks down so that it was close to level and then started to wind the camper up.
Somewhere in this process was where I heard it, “Sproing” and at that point noted that not all of the camper was winding up. At that point, just a little despair set in as I figured that I had managed to snap one of the lifting mechanism’s cables. At 11pm on the Friday night of a long weekend, several hundred kilometers from anywhere likely to be able to help us.
I swore a bit. Caroline was a trooper. I swore some more.
We hitched the camper back on and started driving on towards Edmonton where we were likely to be able to get help.
As we drove through Morrinson, we saw a sign – RV CITY – BODY SHOP. We checked the door. It appeared that they’d be open in the morning. One could only hope that they’d be able to help with the cable.
We drove on to St Albert and found some room in a motel before driving back to Morrison in the morning. At the first mention of ‘Tent Trailer’ and ‘Cable’ I believe the response was, “oh, that’s gonna be ugly.” Fantastic, what a perfect start to a conversation.
The first impression I got was that we were about to run into some ‘typical’ Albertan customer service when the woman basically responded that there was no way that they’d be able to help (though I think she was really referring to their ability to fix it on that day). Being somewhat desperate though, we hung around and suggested that maybe we should be heading further into Edmonton to their competition. About that point we started to talk to one of their technicians who turned out to be about as helpful as someone could be under the circumstances.
It took about 4 blokes to assist in lifting the roof to a point where it could be propped up sufficiently so that we could get in and retrieve our stuff and also at that point to see the damage that had actually been done. Turns out that there was no snapped cable .. just a pulley wheel that had come off where it was supposed to be and some significant damage to the lifting arm. Nothing that I was happy to see.
The end result of our inspection was that we needed to leave the camper behind so that they could repair it for us. That meant that we had to cram everything that we’d taken with us in the camper had to be crammed into the car and go with us (and we didn’t even have the luggage pod on top of the car). Not so squeezy? Considering that one of the greatest joys I’d had from our first trip was finally having somewhere to put all of our stuff and being able to remove the pod from the roof of the car, this was just a little disappointing.
So packed to the rafters, squashed back into something a travel mode that though accustomed to, we thought we’d left behind, we were left to travel on and attempt to find some accommodation in Jasper. On that last, good weather long weekend of the year. It turns out that we were unable to find any for the Saturday night and so stopped just outside of the national park in Hinton. We had been hoping to catch up with the McColls around the campfire Saturday night, but with those plans dashed were pleased that we managed to get a room in the same hotel for the Sunday night.
Turns out that the hotel that I’d booked over the phone for Saturday in Hinton had a swimming pool … and a waterslide. That meant for happy happy kids and an enjoyable stay. We went for a drive to some hotsprings (can’t remember the name just now) and although we didn’t partake in the overcrowded bathing, we went for a walk to the source of the springs where Caroline and the kids dipped their feet. I predicted that with kids crossing the creek someone was bound to get wet and was almost proven wrong. Almost, because both Sam and Thomas managed to get one foot dunked in the water on their way back.!
The following day we took off for Maligne Lake and Canyon and met up with Jim, Annie and their kids Emily and Angus for lunch at the Lake. We did the Maligne lake boat tour to the ‘famous’ spirit Island which was fabulous. The weather wasn’t quite postcard perfect, having snowed on us as we got out of the car in the carpark. Yes, that’s right, it snowed on us … in August! But the place was so beautiful that even without the sun’s warming touch, it was a magnificent sight.
Following our visit to the lake and a walk down to the canyon (well worth seeing) we headed back to the hotel where we dined with the McColl and then set about working out how we could manage to have a drink with our kids in separate rooms some 20 metres apart and around a corner.
We settled for sitting in the corridor whilst we had a couple of quick drinks but ran into something of a problem when we exhausted the limited supply that we’d brought with us. A trip to the bar downstairs addressed the immediate shortage and enlightened us to something that we simply wouldn’t have suspected. Hotel deliveries. A quick phone call to one of the local bottle shops and a little later … alcohol delivered to us sitting in the hall. Not a bad night at all in the end.
Monday was just a simply 9 hour drive back to Fort Mac. Oh and we’re still waiting to hear about the bloody camper repairs … one feels that it could be staying South for the winter. I might have to call it The Goose from now on.
Aug 28, 2008
And then they were gone
We have been very spoilt for the last 3 weeks or so in having my parents visiting from back home. (I started this at least a week ago ... but have taken a long time to get around to finishing it).
If there's one thing you learn from such a visit, it is of course the old adage that you don't know just how much you miss something until it is gone. Having Mum and Dad here in our home for a week was too short, but additionally wonderful. It was great for the kids to have the chance to spend some time with Nanny and Poppa.
It all fitted in very well and it was incredibly nice to have some help with some of those little jobs that I haven't seemed to find the time to get to, not to mention the fact that they were here every night when I got home from work.
Of course it was always going to be a short term thing and the Sunday upon which they left came around way too quickly. There were a couple of stand out moments on that final day for me that cause a welling of tears, threatening the barriers that held them back.
We went to church in the morning and as always, seating is something of an issue. We don't exactly get there early enough to have a pick of seats and with 6 of us we often struggle to all sit together so with 8 there was no hope. We found 5 seats with 4 in front and so Caroline and I sat down and were promptly joined by all of the kids. Thomas was sitting next to me but of course Emily was most indignant that she wasn't next to Daddy.
I suggested to Thomas that he might like to move but he wasn't going to until I pointed out that it would be his last chance to sit with Nanny and Poppa at church. he was off like a shot and i don't think i'll ever forget the look on his face as he stood quietly by his Poppa's side, gazing up and waiting for Poppa to notice that he was there. The exchanged look when Dad did notice won't be leaving my memoray any time soon either.
Later in the day we were back at home and Sam had taken out his home made kite to see if he could fly it. I, being the doubter than I am, didn't think that it would ever fly and was inside busy loading photos onto a digital photo frame for Caroline's Mum and Dad. Well the kite must have flown a bit because later on Dad came in asking if I had a ladder other than that which was my grandfather's. The kite was stuck up a tree, beyond reach and unlikely to come down any time soon with it's tail wrapped around several branches.
We investigated various ways of reaching it, but it looked like a lost cause to me. I had written the kite off. But Dad had managed to understand Sam much better than I had and had picked up on the fact that the kite was one that Sam had made at school in Australia (where as I thought he'd made it locally). Dad persevered and the kite was salvaged, with Sam showing due pleasure. It was a lovely moment to have had Poppa do that for him.
The final moment that sticks with me was at the airport where we finally had to say goodbye. Thomas came up to me and said with glistening eyes, "I'm going to miss Nanny and Poppa." As I relayed this to Mum, we both fought back tears.
The drive home was hard, something to do with unseasonal levels of moisture under the eyelids and that night was strangely quiet.
Now we're left counting the days until our next visitors get here (105 as of this moment)
If there's one thing you learn from such a visit, it is of course the old adage that you don't know just how much you miss something until it is gone. Having Mum and Dad here in our home for a week was too short, but additionally wonderful. It was great for the kids to have the chance to spend some time with Nanny and Poppa.
It all fitted in very well and it was incredibly nice to have some help with some of those little jobs that I haven't seemed to find the time to get to, not to mention the fact that they were here every night when I got home from work.
Of course it was always going to be a short term thing and the Sunday upon which they left came around way too quickly. There were a couple of stand out moments on that final day for me that cause a welling of tears, threatening the barriers that held them back.
We went to church in the morning and as always, seating is something of an issue. We don't exactly get there early enough to have a pick of seats and with 6 of us we often struggle to all sit together so with 8 there was no hope. We found 5 seats with 4 in front and so Caroline and I sat down and were promptly joined by all of the kids. Thomas was sitting next to me but of course Emily was most indignant that she wasn't next to Daddy.
I suggested to Thomas that he might like to move but he wasn't going to until I pointed out that it would be his last chance to sit with Nanny and Poppa at church. he was off like a shot and i don't think i'll ever forget the look on his face as he stood quietly by his Poppa's side, gazing up and waiting for Poppa to notice that he was there. The exchanged look when Dad did notice won't be leaving my memoray any time soon either.
Later in the day we were back at home and Sam had taken out his home made kite to see if he could fly it. I, being the doubter than I am, didn't think that it would ever fly and was inside busy loading photos onto a digital photo frame for Caroline's Mum and Dad. Well the kite must have flown a bit because later on Dad came in asking if I had a ladder other than that which was my grandfather's. The kite was stuck up a tree, beyond reach and unlikely to come down any time soon with it's tail wrapped around several branches.
We investigated various ways of reaching it, but it looked like a lost cause to me. I had written the kite off. But Dad had managed to understand Sam much better than I had and had picked up on the fact that the kite was one that Sam had made at school in Australia (where as I thought he'd made it locally). Dad persevered and the kite was salvaged, with Sam showing due pleasure. It was a lovely moment to have had Poppa do that for him.
The final moment that sticks with me was at the airport where we finally had to say goodbye. Thomas came up to me and said with glistening eyes, "I'm going to miss Nanny and Poppa." As I relayed this to Mum, we both fought back tears.
The drive home was hard, something to do with unseasonal levels of moisture under the eyelids and that night was strangely quiet.
Now we're left counting the days until our next visitors get here (105 as of this moment)
Aug 21, 2008
Turn that way ... no, the OTHER WAY!
In the last couple of weeks, we’ve managed to drive from Toronto to Montreal, to Quebec City, to Lake Placid, to Rochester and finally to Niagara Falls. One of the things that I’ve been meaning to buy whilst we’re away is a GPS unit. Until I actually manage to do so however, we have been reliant on maps and the good old combination of Caroline navigating and me following the instructions.
Now at this point, you’re probably expecting that there’s likely to be some criticism of the navigational portion of that equation, but the reality is that Caroline is actually a great navigator. Its my inner sense of doubt and apprehension that probably gets us into more trouble, because I hate nothing more than the feeling that I don’ t know that I am headed in the wrong direction. And so I would have to say that as many of the u-turns that we’ve enjoyed were my fault as opposed to navigational error and the navigational errors tended more to be the result of a lack of a map of appropriate detail or scale than directional misfortune.
It all came to something of a head last night after a couple of hours of hurried outlet shopping in the US as we tried to find the right bridge to get us across to the Canadian side of the falls whilst paying the least amount of toll possible.
It was about the point that we were trying to head the right way onto the 104 that things went wrong. The main reason they went’ wrong was because again, there wasn’t enough detail on the map and I made an assumption that we needed to go one way and Caroline only looked up to tell me that I should have gone the other way at the point that we were committed to going where we shouldn’t.
Not to worry, you simply take the next exit, get off and then turn around and come back the way that you came. Unless you’re me. Then you get off, get back on and find yourself back on the road that you wanted to be on, but still going in the wrong direction. Another exit fixed that and we eventually found our way back to the point of the first error.
But by this time, Caroline was seeing the funny side of a situation to which I was far from amused, resulting in her being in a fit of giggles and me being, well ‘a grumpy bastard’ probably understates it.
All things come out ok in the wash though and we managed to take a slow, scenic route, run a red light and finally make our way onto the bridge that brought us back to Canada. We even found the hotel.
I still intend to buy the GPS unit though, even if I do get it at a point where I really only have one option to travel by on the way back to Fort McMurray!
Now at this point, you’re probably expecting that there’s likely to be some criticism of the navigational portion of that equation, but the reality is that Caroline is actually a great navigator. Its my inner sense of doubt and apprehension that probably gets us into more trouble, because I hate nothing more than the feeling that I don’ t know that I am headed in the wrong direction. And so I would have to say that as many of the u-turns that we’ve enjoyed were my fault as opposed to navigational error and the navigational errors tended more to be the result of a lack of a map of appropriate detail or scale than directional misfortune.
It all came to something of a head last night after a couple of hours of hurried outlet shopping in the US as we tried to find the right bridge to get us across to the Canadian side of the falls whilst paying the least amount of toll possible.
It was about the point that we were trying to head the right way onto the 104 that things went wrong. The main reason they went’ wrong was because again, there wasn’t enough detail on the map and I made an assumption that we needed to go one way and Caroline only looked up to tell me that I should have gone the other way at the point that we were committed to going where we shouldn’t.
Not to worry, you simply take the next exit, get off and then turn around and come back the way that you came. Unless you’re me. Then you get off, get back on and find yourself back on the road that you wanted to be on, but still going in the wrong direction. Another exit fixed that and we eventually found our way back to the point of the first error.
But by this time, Caroline was seeing the funny side of a situation to which I was far from amused, resulting in her being in a fit of giggles and me being, well ‘a grumpy bastard’ probably understates it.
All things come out ok in the wash though and we managed to take a slow, scenic route, run a red light and finally make our way onto the bridge that brought us back to Canada. We even found the hotel.
I still intend to buy the GPS unit though, even if I do get it at a point where I really only have one option to travel by on the way back to Fort McMurray!
The Falls
We find ourselves tonight at Niagara Falls. Wow. It’s hard to describe the beauty of this place and the wonder that it inspires. Despite the hordes of tourists around the place and the gaudy Vegas-like entertainment strip, the falls themselves are worthy of the visit. I don’ think verbal or written description can truly do the falls justice, they are simply amazing.
We went for a ride on the Maid of the Mist this afternoon, the boat that takes you right up to the horseshoe falls (there’s actually two major components to the falls) and the sheer volume of water that pours over the cliff every second is mind blowing. I simply can’t imagine what inspired some bloke to go over the falls in a barrel. In about 1901 none-the-less. And he survived. Some kid actually survived falling over the falls in nothing more than a life vest at some point early in the same century and if it was your kid that you saw going over, you’d have to think that it was the last time that you were ever going to see them. Its just a monstrous amount of water.
Its 9pm at the moment and apparently they light up the falls at night. Hopefully once Mum and Dad come back from their walk, Caroline and I will get a chance to go out there and have a look ourselves and see it.
We went for a ride on the Maid of the Mist this afternoon, the boat that takes you right up to the horseshoe falls (there’s actually two major components to the falls) and the sheer volume of water that pours over the cliff every second is mind blowing. I simply can’t imagine what inspired some bloke to go over the falls in a barrel. In about 1901 none-the-less. And he survived. Some kid actually survived falling over the falls in nothing more than a life vest at some point early in the same century and if it was your kid that you saw going over, you’d have to think that it was the last time that you were ever going to see them. Its just a monstrous amount of water.
Its 9pm at the moment and apparently they light up the falls at night. Hopefully once Mum and Dad come back from their walk, Caroline and I will get a chance to go out there and have a look ourselves and see it.
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