It was time to say adios to our little haven in Sayulita. We spent a beautiful few days there. I really really loved it there and felt for the first time on this trip that i was on holiday. A wonderful mix of locals and surfers and cute little streets lined with interesting shops set in paradise. Inevitably though when somewhere like this becomes "trendy" the prices go up. So it was a bit of a shock when we went out for dinner to a little place on the beach the first night to find them charging around $20 American for a main course!

We aimed to get to Playa Azul by sunset today. Our lay over has meant we are cutting it close to get to Guatamala in time for school starting on 3rd Nov. On the map Playa Azul is around 600 kms from Saylita so we thought a big day of driving, somewhere around the 7 or 8 hour mark and we'd get there. Ha ha. That was until we drove along the coastal 200 road!

First we had to deal with getting through Puerta Vallarta. A giant tourist town, complete with giant cruise ships docked in the harbour and a crazy beachfront promenade. Of course it was here that Matty stalled the engine as we crested a narrow hill - and Dora decided she didn't want to go again! Nightmare. Horns furiously peeping at us, Spanish expletives thrown our way, and 2 hot and restless screaming babies in the back....it wasn't pretty. But the old solar boost trick worked again and we were back on our way in just a few minutes. We think its just the intense heat that's upsetting Dora.
So it took us about an hour to get from one side of PV to the other and as we climbed the hill on the way out of tourist central the stark contrasts were once again evident. We passed the swanky cliff top hotels and condos and luxury holiday homes with high end cars parked outside and once again within a few hundred meters we passed the locals' little village nestled on the edge of the city. Their one room brick homes, laundry draped outside in the baking sun, people wandering along the street having just gone to collect water, dogs barking, a few chicken scratching in the dirt, a horse tethered by the side of the shacks.....do the fly/sail in tourists even know this side of Mexico exists? Do they really want to come to Mexico to experience Mexico? Or do they just want to come to the sun, get somewhing of a wishy washy idea in their head about what Mexico and her people must be like based on what they see in downtown anywhere tourist city? A sanitised view of a wonderfully rich culture being eroded by just that. I suppose its the same everywhere. I've been to enough foreign cultures to know that a lot of holiday makers don't care what used to be standing on the site of their hotel on the beach or the restaurant that'll make them bacon and eggs for breakfast everyday, which ever country they are visiting.
Well enough of that, it upsets me. So the road down the west coast of Mexico - the 200 - isn't exactly going to make it easy for us to zip on down to Guatamala. It took us around 5 1/2 hrs to get to Malaque, which is about 5 hours north of where we were aiming for! Although we did lose an hour to a time zone change. (We're now on Central time.) Long and (very) winding, and up and down hills and full of topes (potholes). Instead of fixing them they tend to just put up some signs to warn you of their existence, although we did see some guys working on fixing a few along our way today.
Malaque is a cute little seaside town and once again we are parked up looking right out onto the ocean. The waves here are pretty thunderous when they break on the beach. Matty went for a quick dip to cool off his sunburned shoulders when we arrived and on his return said there'd been a few hairy moments when he'd been taken by surprise by their ferocity.
Freja and Eir made their way around the campsite introducing themselves. We're surrounded on all sides by fellow Canadians. Alberta, BC and Quebecers are all here. It seems that a fair amount of Canada does migrate south for the winter.
We went for a walk to find some food but most places were closed already. The ones by the water front are as usual over priced so instead we found a family run taco place where we all wolfed down chicken tacos utnil we were stuffed. We suddenly realised we hadn't eaten since breakfast time. Delicious - her homemade chili and tomatina sauces were amazing. 8 Tacos and a giant glass of coconut water between the four of us for $58 pesos......less than $6 American, now that's more like it!
Well Playa Azul is the aim for tomorrow......after a breakfast of bacon and eggs at Mr Tony's?.....haha

Well, where to begin. How about with the sound of the ocean, crashing waves into the beach of Sayulita as I sit in a lawn chair looking at stars. I must admit it feels kind of weird to be typing in a computer, surrounded by so much natural beauty. I think it would be more suited to write a letter on a palm leave and put it in a bottle of Corona for someone to find. But the times have sure changed haven't they. I was talking to an older fellow and he was reminiscing of the last time he did this trip and had to take a bag of mail to the Swiss Embassy to get in touch with his relatives. NOw we turn on Skype and can have a video chat, imagine that. Anyways, I believe we left you in San Carlos...

We left San Carlos in the early morning, said goodbye to the lovely man who ran the place. But before doing so rolled him a couple drum tobacco smokes (he loved them). It was here that I truly wished that my spanish was better because I'm sure that he had some incredible stories to tell and we weren't communicating much past simple pleasantries. Which is okay, but I would have liked a little more I think. Wow the waves are sounding pretty massive, I can't see past the computer screen glow. Anyways, we left our little campground by the beach, the place was called Mr. Moro's I think -I'll get back to you on that one- and headed down the road to Mazatlan. The drives are a little more difficult than we had anticipated, it's really hot. Dora really feels the heat being air cooled and all, so we've had to take it a bit easier than we'd like. Not to mention the girls in a pool of their own sweat in the backseat after a while. So after a few military and agricultural checkpoints and a tidy sum in toll roads we made it to Mazatlan. I guess this was our first real touristy destination and you could tell. Lots of Americans have bought property here and the beachfront is starting to be lined with retirement condo's. The R.V. park we stayed at was really nice and after getting unpacked we all had a dip in the pool to cool off. Freja finally got over her fear of swimming and was zipping along in her little floating tire thing. We ate some noodles around the computer, Skyping family and generally enjoying ourselves. It was another early morning and we got up, packed up the van again and headed further south. The heat was almost unbearable at times, but we managed. The coastal drive was nothing short of gorgeous and took us through some very rural areas, tobacco plantations, palm trees and lots of old men in Sombrero's sitting in the sunshine smoking cigarettes. We passed the tropic of cancer just north of Mazatlan and you can definitely see and smell the difference.

It's amazing to see such a simpler way of life as we drive through these areas. Little noys herding cattle on horseback, Dad's with their kids on motorbikes, roadside stands selling all sorts of fruit, jams and hot sauce. It's truly inspiring to see. You forget about most of the rest of the world that lives like this from the desk at your computer. A lot of the villages we've passed through probably don't even have internet access. It's so easy to forget. Anyways, we landed in Sayulita in the early evening, found our campground and went into the office to register.

The man who runs the show here is very kind and gentle. He saw the Saskatchewan license plates and immediately regalled us with a story of his time in Saskatchewan in the 1950's, how he slept in the old train station in Dundurn while visiting a friends parents. He is originally from Germany but lived in Canada for 10 years, before settling in Mexico City. I would highly recomennd a visit here if you ever find yourself in Sayulita. Upon our arrival and seeing our home for the night we immediately decided to stay for two. It's a well needed break from driving for Dora and the girls. Our campsite is right on the beach and for $20 a night, we couldn't argue not to.

So today we walked through town, Freja and Eir are a hit and everywhere we go people stop us on the street to speak to them. It's amazing to watch how they react to another language and how open they are to people picking them up and playing. Freja is quick to show off her recently found treasures, whether they be stones, shells or sticks, and her audience is always receptive and exhuberant. We spent some time in the water, I finally got Freja over her fear of the ocean and she giggled away as the waves would come crashing into us. Eir was having a ball sitting on the beach getting gently swept away into the water. We think our little stone was probably enjoying the sand getting washed into her outh more though. Shona and I are not really wanting to leave this little paradise as we've finally had a chance to relax. I got a lot of sun today and am being tender with my back as I sit in this chair, joined by SHona whos going through the days photos.

SO we're off tomorrow with hopes of making it to Playa Azul, a small fishing village about 600km south of here. Then we're off to Aculpoco and then through Chiapas to the border of Guatemala. So I'm off to play some guitar and perhaps take an evening stroll through the town and find other musicians to jam with, I hear drums in the distance through the hypnotic sounds of the beautifully warm ocean. I hope you are all well and happy wherever you are. Buenos Noche.

It seems as though Shona has taken to using this informative and entertaining record of our Central American journey as a public forum to discuss my sometimes forgetful nature. Yes, it's true I tend to be forgetful, we all know that. But if we're going to disuss these things in the blog I'd like to take this short moment (I'll write more when we have some time) to make you all aware of Shona's navigational skills. Since losing the GPS (no I didn't forget it somewhere, they don't have Mexico on file) the tension in the van has gotten heated at times. If I left all directions to her, some of you may be happy because we'd be back in Canada. There you go I said it. I still love her but if she's going to be tongue in cheek about my forgetfulness then I assume it's safe to do the same?

Ha. Anyways we're leaving Santa Carlos, Mexico today and heading down the coast. It's a lot longer than we thought and we're a little worried about time, but hopefull we'll make it. Anyways I have to deal with a baby that just fell of the backseat (again). More later...

I cried twice today. The first when I cracked the top of my head on the corner of the van door – so hard I though that I’d shed blood. The second when we discovered that what we thought was the only secure campground in Golfo de Santa Clara, Mexico was a members only establishment. We weren’t members, it was dark and we were miles from anywhere.

We woke up in Yuma, AZ to a hot, dry, windy desert day. After a quick pack up we all jumped in the pool to cool off (at 9am) and, if I’m being honest, to give our urchin daughters a well needed bath.

In the time it took Matty to re – wire the solar panel (his dogged determination finally paid off and we now have a fully functioning solar power supply) our swimming costumes and towels were dry in the sun. That being said we had planned a much earlier “Border Crossing Day” start. It was around then the first tears were shed.

So finally around mid day we were off and rolling. But this is The Powells, so there are always last minute bits and bobs to be done. A trip to the store to get coffee/water mugs, a few groceries and a solar shower (that wasn’t on the list but Matty can never resist a gadget or gismo) and then we really were heading to the border……well via a gas station and an ATM……ok now to the border.

Just as an aside – and also just to wind up my husband a little I should tell you why we had to go buy the new coffee mugs. He lost both the ones we left Saskatoon with. The first one didn’t even make it out of Canada. Actually there’s a list of lost property.
The gas cap fell by the wayside at our very first stop for gas. Remember the one when we ran out of gas? Well in all the excitement of the incident the gas cap got left on the pump.
His wallet, lost in Banff after a night of drinking and merriment with his brother at friend’s wedding ( thankfully returned by the wonderfully honest Corine, that could have been a real headache.)
The $100 bill, hidden in a cigarette packet for safe keeping, forgotten about and tossed in the bin. This ended in a cross San Diego dash when he realized. Luckily the bag of rubbish was still in the bin and we retrieved the money.
Freja’s play tent, strategically placed on the roof of the van overnight and forgotten when taking off to the garage in haste. It probably ended up in someone’s front yard – or front windscreen on the highway. That outing was also the last known observation of travel mug no2.
So not only did we cast off all our possessions before leaving, but it appears that Matty has developed quite the taste for liberating our possessions and continues to do so.

Anyway, I digress. We arrived at San Luis, AZ around 2.15pm. What an experience. We had no clue what to do or where to go other than what basic info we had in our literature.
It went something like this…..

Parked the van. We knew we had to get a travel visa for ourselves and a temporary vehicle import permit for the van. The first office we get to is for neither and the man kindly directs us to where we need to go. Go to the Banjercito, lady speaks some English, tells us to go next door to Immigration and get our travel permits first then come back to do the van stuff. Next door we go, fill in some forms while Freja continually slides across the floor and Eir is trying to grab anything she can get her hands on. Matty’s doing most of the Spanish speaking (haha – we knew diddly). So when we eventually fill out the forms and I point out that I’m British they want to keep my passport while we have to go back to the Banjercito to pay for the visas…hmmm…off we go. Get back and she tells us her system is crashed we have to walk to the next bank up the street and pay there (its blistering hot by the way). So off we go. Can’t find it. Back to ask where it is, walk back the way we came, it was where we had just been but 2 floors up. Pay our money. Back to Immigration. Stamp. Sign. Muchos gracias, adios. Then back to the Banjercito to do the van stuff. Sign here. Stamp. Sticker. Muchos gracias. Adios.Then I have to go back to the American port of entry to give them back the green piece of paper they put in my passport when I arrived. Wonderfully friendly guys they were too. No seriously they were really super nice. Then back to Mexico, quick nappy change and off into the unkown. The unknown with very few road signs at that.

Wow! what a completely different world. In the space of a few hundred metres the contrasts were stark. Needless to say we got lost pretty quickly, and after a few heated exchanges and a few frantic map reading moments we eventually succumbed to the “OK lets just ask someone” philosophy. My turn this time. All I managed to communicate to the kids in the shop we stopped at was that I was lost and then pointing to where we wanted to go on a map. They tried to explain in Spanish but I had no clue, so he kindly drew me a sort of map. We weren’t far off, just a left turn instead of a right. The last glimpse of sunlight was just disappearing as we arrived at the beach town of Golfo de Santa Clara, and I mean literally a beach town. All the roads and everything round about are completely sand.

So as I mentioned earlier, we find the campground we are looking for but discover its members only, we aren’t members – and the folks weren’t very helpful to be honest. Even the American guy on his ATV cruising past us as we were scratching our heads gave us the ‘dirty hippy’ look and took off offering no advice. So now what? Tears round 2, the icing on a stressful day’s cake. Well to rub sand into the wound the van won’t start so Matty jumps it with the solar battery. Back the way we came and as we turn the corner there’s a few old RVs parked in a somewhat fenced area with a light. So after another Spanish exchange with a local (we’ve no idea what he said other than suggest we might get stuck in the sand) we decide just to park up. We’re still a little wound up as some hooded guy and his dog wander up and ask us for $20 for our spot. Eh? We weren’t about to argue. So we gave him $9 and he left reasonably happy. So, after a dinner of a tin of cold past stars between the 4 of us its bedtime. The stars are phenomenal (the ones in the sky, not the cold pasta ones – they were average). The vans locked up and tonight we fall asleep to the sound of barking dogs, Spanish music and general merriment in the distance, and the dessert breeze gently blowing through the sand and the trees…..

Still in San Diego, awaiting a mechanic to give Dora a check-up before heading across the border into Mexico. We woke up Sunday morning at our campsite at the KOA to all you can eat pancake breakfast for $4. So we started the day by stuffing ourselves with pancakes, Freja was in heaven. We played in the playground for a while and then decided to head into San Diego on the bus, then trolley. The downtown mission was kind of a bust, most of the stuff was closed and we basically walked around for a bit, got a sub and headed back to the campsite just out of town. We did some laundry, bought a few beers and spent the night chatting to people on facebook, taking advantage of the Wi-FI access while we have it. I'm not sure how many campsites in Mexico and the rest of Central America will have internet, my guess is none. Our campsite was attacked by ants over the two days we were there, and the persistent buggers found their way into basically everything in the van. Kind of a nuisance, but I do stand back in amazement at the organizational skills of the ant colony. It's crazy. So I have to give them credit where credit is due. They found their way into a van inhabited by small children who have a tendency to leave crumbs everywhere, smart. There will be one happy queen of that colony, and organic treats at that.

Anyways, we got in touch with a mechanic this morning and he was too busy to see us today so we've scheduled an appointment early tomorrow morning. Don't worry, there is nothing wrong with Dora we just want to get an oil change and quick tune up before the next leg. The mechanic's name is Randy and supposedly one of the best Volkswagen guys in the San Diego area, so we're in good hands. Depending on how the check-up goes we might try and make it across the border tomorrow, but we'll see.

So now it's ten thirty at night and I just finished a little guitar playing, Shona is chatting with our neighbours over a fire and I'm sitting in the glow of the laptop enjoying a bottle of Guinness. We went to the park today, Freja quite enjoyed the fountains and was extremely upset that she couldn't go swimming in them. It was a very cool area, all of the cultural experiences wrapped up in one park. The Zoo, the Museum, the Science Centre and a little Spanish village filled with artists in open to the public studios making pottery, paintings and jewellry. There was some amazing pieces of art there, I couldn't help but wish we had more cash to pick some up. Ahh, the joys of travelling cheaply.

The trip is beginning to feel real now. I don't know if it's the palm trees, the fact that we're twelve miles from the border of Mexico or that we're past the two week mark, but it definitely has begun to feel like we're not coming home for a while. I had a realization that we are extremely far from anything we truly know and are going further still, it's exciting and scary all wrapped up in one. I think we're all a bit anxious about crossing the border, for various reasons. The language barrier is going to start and until we've spent a few days getting accustomed to not understanding everything that is being said around us it's going to be intimidating.

Anyways I'm going to join the conversation at the fire. More later...

Phew. Where to begin. We woke up in San Fran yesterday to the sound of knocking at our hotel room door, those maid are always so eager to clean your room. I guess the majority of hotel guests do get out of bed before 9am, but hey we had a long days drive and were enjoying a little sleep-in. Anyways that was a good alarm, because our breakfast that came with the room was finished at 10am, and for the stupid amount of money we ended up paying for that room we were going to eat, and eat a lot. We rushed through our showers, got the girls dressed and headed down to gorge ourselves with eggs, sausage and pancakes. It was as much as we expected from a Holiday Inn Buffet, though it was food in our belly and after breakfast we headed out into San Fransisco. There was all sorts of different realities clashing on the streets, as you find in big cities. People driving Hummers by people begging for food kind of stuff, though there was definitely a cool vibe in the streets. We "had" to take the cable car down to the beach as we'd feel pretty stupid passing through without taking a ride in the infamous public transportation. Now I don't know how many of you watched "Full House" as kids, but I can assure you the cable car is not as footloose and fancy free as the intro to that beloved show may insinuate. I was being constantly reminded to not lean out of the cable car, which of course is most of the reason you go on these things. It was still pretty cool and Freja seemed to really dig being on the "train". I was quite impressed with the engineering of the whole system, so simple yet so useful in the hilly streets of San Fransisco. So after our ride down to the waterfront we sat and watched Freja build her sandcastles and I dipped my toes into the cold ocean water a bit. The funny thing about doing these kind of trips, is that until you get settled where you want to be for a while, it's almost as if you are a tourist on speed. Okay. Gotta do that. Gotta do this. Then drive. Then do this. It's fun in it's own sort of way I guess. So after another cable car ride with a much more pleasant driver we were back at the hotel to pack up Dora and start the next leg.

By this point it was pushing 5 o'clock and we knew we weren't going to get far, we set off anyways with no real destination but as far away as that expensive hotel as we could. Not again, my friends. We drove through the dark and Shona found an RV park in a place called Caramel. The park was called Carmel by the River. Secretly as I drove I was imagining chocolate covered palm trees and a river of caramel, but I kept those childish thoughts to myself. When we finally arrived at our camp for the night we very quickly realized that we were in Southern California. No not because of the weather of the famous people. Because an RV park can get away with charging $65 a night. Holy. We were too tired to argue, or find something else, so once again we paid the man and set up shop for the night. I passed out early with Freja and that was that.

The next morning we awoke to sunshine, had our breakfast and plotted out our days drive. We decided to go all the way to San Diego and see what happened from there. It was a long drive. The first portion of it was probably the steepest cliff drops I've ever driven on, not only that but the road was extremely windy. You can ask Shona about that, she was looking a little bit green after bravely trying to make sandwiches in the back. All that being said it was beautiful and I made sure that the line of cars behind me could appreciate the beauty as I was only going 30km/hour. He He.

So after that windy road, it opened out to more of a beach landscape and it was here that Shona said something along the lines of "Look, I can't tell if thats loads of driftwood or seals on the beach.". We would find out shortly that it was in fact seals, loads of juvenile male elephant seals. Freja was so excited when we got out of the car she couldn't stop saying "Robby Seals, Robby Seals!". Why Robby? Two cartoons that she loves both have seals named Robby. "Pingu" and "The Little Polar Bear". So we hung out there and watched the seals for a bit, it was pretty neat. I couldn't believe it but a lady standing next to me actually asked if seals hatched from eggs. I tried really hard not to laugh and explain to her that they are indeed mammals and there is only one mammal that hatches from an egg and it is definitely not a seal. It was amusing.

So after that it was a pretty steady drive, driving through some beautiful country just before Santa Barbara and then we hit Mailbu. We were trying to stick to the coast all the way to San Diego to avoid any L.A. Freeways, but our luck was foiled as the street was shut. So off to the freeway our handy little GPS detour function takes us and it is within 10 seconds of being on it that I feel my blood pressure rising. I've driven the 401 in Toronto many times, even a few in a '78 Volkswagen bus, but that didn't even compare to what I experienced tonight. I will do my best to avoid driving on that freeway ever again. It's like war out there. You have people passing you left and right, speeding by, riding your tail, it's insane. If I had to do that drive everyday I would probably go postal and I'm sure that some people have. We made it through safe and sound though and now I sit in an KOA kampground in San Diego, writing this blog. Everyone is sound asleep and I'm going to join them right now. We're most likely going to stay here until Monday, get Dora in for a oil change and checkup and then it's into Mexico. The trip feels real now. Buenos Noche. Goodnight.

The Banana Peel in the title has no relevance other than that Freja and Eir ate lots of Banana's today. So I guess that means it does have relevance, but I didn't include it in the blog. But I guess now I did, so nullify this whole end section. I need sleep.

I can understand how a man would want to cut it down. He wants to tame this giant in front of him, to assert his strength over 1000's of years of growth. To put his stamp on the earth and say I took down one of these trees. Or perhaps it was out of necessity, a growing population, a bourgeuois that needed the finest of woods for their furniture, their houses, their carts, they'd settle for nothing less than the wood from the trees that survived the ice age. But most likely someone looked at these awe inspiring and fabulous creations, pieces of nature that renew your faith and humble your being until all you can say is wow, maybe they look into these forests and can't see past the dollar signs. How? How is it possible someone could walk into these forests and not feel guilty with every chop or chainsaw? How could they not sit beneath the branches of these bohemoth green canopies and write songs and poetry, have picnics with their loved ones, or heaven forbid... just sit?

I suppose they have families to feed, loans to pay off and jobs to do. And who am I to judge really. I just know one thing, I walked into the Giant Redwood Forest today not knowing what to expect and I saw trees that were seedlings in the middle ages. I'll never be the same. Even now as I sit in the 11th floor of a Holiday Inn in San Francisco, I'm reminded that I would still be in the shadow of those California Giant Redwoods climbing over 300 feet into the sky. And you know what, they can grow back without us. Buildings can't. Mother nature, you amaze me.

After a long, long nights drive through winding roads, and passing trucks with bright lights and engine brakes, we all have metaphorical flowers in our hair. Eir is fighting sleep at 2am, Freja is passed out and my eyes are heavy. Tomorrow we set out to the streets in search of memories and music, oceans and golden gates...

Until next time...

For Photo's....

I'm sitting in my new office in the van. The more nights we pack up for an evening of sleeping in Dora, the better we get. This time their is definitely more room, so much so that I've managed to set the little table up and not bend my back in awkward positions in the top bunk, desperately trying not to wake up Freja with the blue glow of the computer screen. Now I sit with the passenger seat turned around, table in front of me and a beautiful solar panel charged battery, running the computer, external hard drive and charging the camera's batteries. Awesome. Not only that, but I get to hear and smell the Californian ocean crashing around to my left. The same ocean I watched the sunset on as we crossed the border of Oregon

We are in a RV park in Crescent City, California, just outside the border of Oregon. It was a beautiful drive along the 101, steep cliffs, sandy beaches and wonderful sunshine. Apart from the few minor breakdowns of babies in the back looking to stretch their legs we were just fine. Not only that but we made fairly good ground, now sitting only 350 miles from crossing that infamous golden gate bridge.

This is a short one, more later I promise. I just wanted to post a little before heading off to bed. Everyone else is sleeping, which means I probably should too. Don't want to be the odd man out tomorrow and try and sleep in. All is well, Dora is running fine, I topped her up with a little oil today and we're going to bring her in for a check up before we hit Mexico, just to be sure. One thing I forgot to mention is that along with the salty smell of the ocean, we have the smell of freshly baked bread filling the van right now as Shona is using the breadmaker for the first time since we left Saskatoon, You know what that means? Fresh bread and ocean views for breakfast tomorrow. MmmMmm... can't wait. Mas Manana (more tomorrow)...

It's been a while since i've had a chance to put some thoughts and feelings down in black and white. I'm sitting downstairs as i like to call it, in Dora. My toes are wrapped in an extra blanket and the heater is on - its warmer than its been to date but still a tad chilly. Freja actually asked to go to bed tonight - she loves sleepng in "The Brown Van" as she calls it. As an avid Dora The Explorer fan, no amount of explanations will convince her that she is in fact driving along in Dora!
As we woke up in Olympia this morning - I'll admit i'm not a morning person and Matty bore the brunt of it before breakfast - the rain had stopped thankfully. Our motel breakfast left a lot to be desired but we filled up nonetheless and got packed up. Taking advantage of the bath and shower availability, we were all sprarkly clean and bright eyed and bushy tailed after a good nights sleep in our queen sized beds.
We hit the road and headed straight for the coast on the 101. It took a few u-turns, many detours, and a lot of telling Karen (our Australian tour guide GPS narrator) that she didn't have a f#&$^%& clue what she was talking about but we got the right route eventually. Karen has since been relieved of her position and Daniel (very British -must know what he's talking about) has replaced her, he's doing OK so far.
The road from Olympia to the Washington coast was quite a disappointment in that so much of it has been clearcut. Cancerous holes in the forest make for a very sad sight. Our eyes opened wide however when we saw the Astoria-Megler bridge across the Columbia River. It's the longest truss bridge in North America and links Washington State with Oregon. We stopped and had a picnic lunch just underneath it in Astoria, Oregon.
Then off again heading further south and excited to be seeing the Oregon coast so many people have told us about. I was driving, and after a few "what are you doing"?s and "where are you going?''s and "you're in the wrong gear!"s from my co pilot and navigator (i've only been driving 6 years more than him - what do i know?)we were putting along nicely meandering through the beautiful dense, vivid green trees, through quaint little immaculate seaside villages. There's a place actually called Seaside. The smell of sea and fresh green forest was intoxicating.
I had the huge realisation while driving along this route......WOW....we're actually doing this! This is real. We have friends and family all over the world doing what they are doing, living their lives, but this is my life, and i have my husband and kids with me in this van - our home - on this immense journey together. The realisation of what i was doing at that exact moment hit me square on in the heart actually and i felt it leap momentarily with excitement. Then my brain may have exploded a little as i tried to comprehend it all - will i ever?
And then we saw it! The most magnificent beach i think i have ever seen. From the top of our cliff vantage point, stretched out in front of us was a neverending coastline of beautiful calm blue sea, crisp white waves fawning onto a pristine golden sandy beach nestled at the bottom of an evergreen tree lined hillside, and the picture perfect arrangement of beach houses completed the perfect postcard scene. We stopped to breathe in the beauty - and had to try pretty hard to restrain an excited Freja from hopping off down the cliff face to build some huge sandcastles.
Then off again, we wanted to get as far as we could before the sun went down. Feeding 2 tired, hungry babies is tough at the best of times, but when they've been cooped up in a van most of the day and dinner is a la camping stove and you have to dig their bed out from under all your worldly possessions and do some nifty rearrangements in the dark..........daylight hours are precious. Not to mention the fact that the youngest one would gladly chow down on all the rocks from the carpark given half a chance under cover of dark......its most definitely a juggle. But when moments happen like the one this evening at the campsite when Freja picks up the American flag posted at the end of our campsite and yells ready set go and cheers with encouragement at Eir as she brings down the flag to start the race and Eir dances with joy....or to see both of them in hysterical laughter, rolling about hugging and kissing each other in the sleeping bags when getting ready for bed.....suddenly everything's OK and we're doing the right thing.
We're just south of Lincoln City, OR. We'll try for California tomorrow.

I write sitting in a hotel room, in the state capitol of Washington, Olympia. We’ve begun the trek south and said goodbye to Canada today. Our time in Vancouver was great. the The weather has been great (no rain except today), our hosts were amazing (Thank you so much Terry, Lana and family) and we've gotten some very important things done. So I guess I’ll recap on the last few days as it’s been a while since we posted. I worked at the construction site on Thursday and Friday, it was a nice refreshing change to get up at the crack of dawn and head out to the job site. Terry refurbishes old apartment buildings and turns them into very beautiful new suites. I had the job of putting hinges on the cabinet doors and cleaning and pressure washing the back deck area. It was a wet and messy job, but a lot of fun as well. We took a short day on Friday and I helped Terry out with his new vinyl cutter and software in the afternoon. I did some pretty cool stuff for Dora which you can see in the new pictures. I thought I would regret the Bob Marley on the back window when we crossed the border today, but it wasn’t even brought up. I found an open mic in Port Coquitlam on Friday night and played three songs there. Everyone seemed to enjoy it and I managed to sell three c.d.'s which was a nice added bonus. It's a benefit for a local hospice (Crossroads) that they do every second friday, with all the proceeds going to them. Linda is the woman who runs it, supposedly it's been going on for ten years. After the early show Terry Jr. and I headed downtown to meet up with Kellen at the club he was doing visuals at. A cool little place on Cambie street called "Bar 340", we danced the night away and stayed a little too late, missing the last Skytrain and the last night bus. Whoops. Where we're staying is in a suburb called Delta and it's a fair distance from downtown. Never fear though, we saw a cab and hailed him down, he wanted $70 for the ride back to Surrey/Delta from downtown and we both laughed. We told him we'd give him $40 and he said no way. Then he drove off, only to come back around the block two seconds later and say "Cash first, $40". Yes, the world of bartering. Then Travis (Terry’s other son) came and picked us up from where the cab dropped us off. Thank you Travis, considering it was five in the morning.

I crashed out in preparation for the big celebration on Saturday. Though poor Terry Jr. had to get up at 7:30 and head off to work on 2 hours sleep. My youngest daughter Eir turned one year old on Saturday, October 11th and we had plans to go to the aquarium during the day, with dinner and cake that night (thank you again Terry, Lana and Family). So after some more bartering about getting me out of bed -Shona and the kids got the better deal on that trade- I got up, had a shower and we hit the road. Myself, Shona, Eir, Freja and Terry's daughter Courtney. With some help from the GPS we made it to the aquarium and went to stand in line with all the other tourists.



I walked into the aquarium and was immediately turned off as once of the major exhibits is sponsored by Weyerhauser. So the same company that's polluting much of the ocean with the chemicals used in it mills, is sponsoring exhibits in the aquarium. The same reason that Orca's and other whales are considered toxic waste when they wash up on shore is generously from the good of their hearts funding the aquariums exhibit. The irony was not lost on me. It's not all bad though, as they are taking some species near extinction and giving them a chance at life. I really don't know which moral ground to stand on, though the $7.50 hotdog I ate makes me lean in a certain direction. They also served fish & chips, which I found to be oddly amusing at an aquarium but Shona ordered them anyways and was extremely disappointed. I say if you're going to make fish and chips at an aquarium, they better be damn good. Anyways it was a good day and the kids had a lot of fun which is the important thing. My favourite exhibit was the archer fish, a fish that actually shoots insects off of branches by spitting water at them. It was crazy to watch. Check out Youtube for a video of it.

Saturday evening was spent in front of the computer with Terry, teaching him the ways of Adobe Illustrator for his new vinyl cutter. I actually got quite into the world of sticker making and have been offered a job in Vancouver if we head back this way. Sunday morning the boys went out to the Flea Market at the crack of dawn. There was lots of interesting stuff there, from Banjo’s to Binoculars to Batteries. I didn’t get anything except for flowers for Shona. We had breakfast and then headed back to help with the thanksgiving dinner preparations. Shona went off to Staples to photocopy our documents and I stayed at home with the girls. Dinner was amazing, Turkey, Ham, Mashed Potatoes, pretty much everything you could want from a thanksgiving meal, and of course the pumpkin pie to finish it off. After dinner I went out with Terry again to see my little brother spin some discs and everyone else stayed home and played poker. Shona I believe came in 2nd at the poker game, but I think she won and is hiding the money away. Ha.

And so today, we packed up the van and said a tearful goodbye to our most gracious and generous hosts, and headed toward the border. We had decided to make the crossing at The Peace Arch, just outside of White Rock. The line-up wasn’t too horrible, probably about 20 minutes until we were seen. I was really apprehensive about crossing the border as I’ve heard stories about cars being ripped to shreds and all those kinds of things. We had nothing to hide, but I figured with the stereotypical hippie van they would give us some hassle. Nope, it was fairly smooth. Shona had to do a little more paperwork because she’s a british citizen, but other than that we were sent on our way. There is a definite change when you enter the states. I can’t really put my finger on it, but it’s there. It was at the first speed posting that we realized that our van doesn’t have miles on the speedometer, only kilometers. So I’m basically driving on a guess amd occasionally checking the GPS, which does have miles.

We decided to aim for Olympia and spend the night here. We were planning on camping in the van, but the weather was awful and we thought it’d be best for the girls if we just rented a cheap motel room. Eir was getting restless and hungry in the backseat so we made a stop in Seattle at this giant mall, for food and buying diapers. It was a very posh mall (the baby change rooms had plasma screen T.V.’s playing cartoons), so we grabbed some chinese food, diapers and set off again. By the time we got to Olympia it was about 9:30 and my eyes were very heavy. A good nights rest tonight, a shower tomorrow and then we’re off again. We’re going to see the giant redwoods in Oregon and probably camp there for the night and then off to California. I heard there is a tree that you can drive your car through. Crazy. Anyways thanks again to Terry and Co. for the work, the fun and the conversation, it was a great visit and I’m sure we’ll see you again soon. Buenos Noche.

Patience. The first lesson in owning a VW Bus is patience. You learn this very quickly while driving in the mountains of B.C. constantly getting overtaken by newer SUV's and giant semi-trucks. At first it's an annoyance, especially the wind shakes you get after a big logging trucks pulls out in front of you. Then after a while you begin to take pride in taking your time. Almost laughing at the fact you're climbing a mountain road at 40km's an hour, taking in all the scenery as the van hums pushing second gear with all it's might. The second lesson you learn driving a VW bus, one that was practiced frequently on the last leg of our drive to Vancouver is what I call ten o'clock and 2 o'clock. Remember driving lessons when they say to always keep your hands at 10 and 2 on the steering wheel. You've probably got a bit relaxed about it now, and sometimes you may even drive with your knee keeping you inbetween the lines, cigarette in one hand, coffee in another. Don't do that in a VW bus. The surface area of these vans versus the weight of them don't match up. We had some serious windgusts that I felt my heart drop as far as we would have, had I not been white knuckling the steering wheel at our beloved 10 and 2 o'clock

So after a few sketchy moments inbetween Merrit B.C. and Vancouver, we arrived to a beautiful sunshine filled sky, painting the mountains and valleys a most vivid green. The kind of green that you see in postcards. We had not made solid plans as to where we would be spending our time in Vancouver, but decided to phone our old neighbour Mel's dad who lived in Surrey, just outside of Vancouver. We met at a mall near his house and he took us back to where we've been staying for the last 2 nights. It's been a great time spending time with Terry and his family and they've taken good care of us. I'm going to do some work with him for the next 2 days, which will be fun and help out with a little bit of cash.

Lastnight I met up with my long, lost little brother who I haven't seen in 6 or 7 years. He was DJing at some swanky nightclub on Granville St. and put me on the guestlist. It was amazing to reconnect and find that we still share the same tastes in lots of things. Ahh, genetics. Amazing things. The club was called Republic and it had been a while since I'd been to a real nightclub, sorry Saskatoon, The Overdrive doesn't count. It feels good to be in a big city again, I forgot about the constant buzz that is present in the big city. Good restaurants open late, more variety of food, more multiculturism, but also more traffic, pollution and noise. Can't have it all I guess...

Anyways, we've decided to spend the weekend here for Thanksgiving as Terry and his family have invited us for their Sunday evening Turkey feast, which is awesome. We've also decided that seeing as how Eir is celebrating her 1st Birthday on Saturday it would be nice to do something special and not be caged up in a van. So we're going to take the girls to the Vancouver Aquarium and probably have a BBQ that evening. I don't know how I feel morally about the Aquarium, but I suppose I'll make that decision when I see it for myself. That's all for tonight, working man tomorrow and should get a good rest.

I write from the top bunk of Dora on our first night of sleeping in her, Shona and Eir sleep soundly below while Freja lies next to me, comatose after a long day. It's 1:30 in the morning and I awoke after about four hours of sleep, and was unable to coax myself back into my dreams so I picked up the computer only to find that this little R.V. park in Merritt, B.C. actually has wireless so I thought I'd write some. I can't wait until my sleeping pattern get used to actually going to bed at reasonable hours and I can sleep through the night.

We left Revelstoke with no problems, packed up the van, had some bagels and Roastery coffee, double checked our little cabin and set off to get some gas ($1.359!!!) and head west. There is a law in B.C. now that requires you to pre-pay for all the gas you purchase, so after some bumbling at the pump and mixed hand signals from the woman inside, I finally managed to figure it out and went inside to leave some collateral as I wanted to fill the tank. Ay first I thought she was kidding about the law, but the next gas station was much of the same. Anyways, we filled up and headed towards Kamloops. The driving was great, Dora seemed to be happy to be back on the road and was purring nicely through the gentle slopes of the mountain roads. We changed our mind on route and decided to go through Kelowna instead which was a blessing and a curse all in one. We needed to get to a Canadian Tire for some supplies we realized we had forgptten or just not brought. I was also desperate to find out what was wrong with our solar panel set-up. We have a solar panel (graciously donated by Paul Bradley) mounted to the roof of the van, but for some reason the battery wasn't accepting the charge. I was quite proud of my handy work that went into mounting it and wiring it up, so I was anxious to get it running properly. This way we could have the slow cooker making us a nice stew while we drive down the sunny highway or even the bread maker baking us up a fresh batch.

I brought the battery with me into Canadian Tire and had one of the Auto Parts employee's check it out. Shona and the girls were off looking for a few things, one being the heater below me that makes the mountains a little more bearable at night. After a few minutes of diagnostics it did turn out that in fact the battery was toast and that's why our Solar System wasn't working. Luckily it was still under a warranty and we only had to pay half price for a new one. We got the heater, other bits and bobs and set off in search of a coffee shop in Kelowna. After some confusion (GPS and construction) we found a Second Cup and went inside for some coffee and muffins and to plan our next stop. It turned out the internet was $6 an hour!! I couldn't believe it, highway robbery if you ask me. We caught a few snags as we were trying to find a cheap campground to stay at near Kelowna but after a few phonecalls we realized we were looking at pretty much $40/night at all of them. This also came as a shock, considering you could get a motel for not much more. Completely unsatisfied and wishing we were in warmer and cheaper climates we decided to get in the van and just drive, opening ourselves up to the possibilities. It was about 6pm when we got on the road.

Now I don't know how many of you have driven the 97 from Kelowna to Merrit before, but I would highly recommend doing it in the daytime. After what seemed to be at least a 20km steep climb into the mountains -which a VW bus can mostly only do in 2nd gear- we were enveloped in thick, dense fog. It was actually clouds that were so dense you could barely see in front of you. Couple that with only being able to go barely 50km and you have one white knucked Matty Powell with his 4 way flashers on praying that the semi's flying past him can see poor little put-put Dora, doing her best to climb the hill. Which she did an amazing job of in the end. Shona was sitting next to me holding her breath as all we could imagine was how high we were when you'd get a tiny glimpse over the railings into the blackness. After about a half hours worth of that, we finally were able to see the signs we passed and decided to find a campground near Merritt (30kms away).

We still weren't done with the hills though and I could tell that Dora was getting tired. We coerced her with promise of a nice neutral, downhill coast into the town of Merritt and she seemed to soldier on. We pulled around a corner and were inundated with the lights of this little town, Shona had likened it to the relief of coming into land on an aircraft. After a little bit of searching, we found the R.V. park that we're in now. It wasn't as dear as Kelowna, at only $27/night and that includes a 2 for 1 breakfast at the local hotel, which we passed on our way here. It looks like something straight out of an old western, I'll take some pictures. We parked for the night and had our first attempt at sleeping in the van. This is always a bit difficult at first until you work out a solid system of rearranging your stuff. You see the back of the van which is filled with stuff is also one of the beds that need folded down. Throw some car seats back there and you have yourself some creative re-packing. After about the 3rd or 4th time you usually have it cased so I'm not too worried. Anyways, I guess I'm going to try and get back to sleep. We'll be driving to Vancouver tomorrow, and hopefully doing a couple days of work, to make up for the little bit of luxury in Banff. Until next time...

It's 5:30 am and I'm sitting outside on the little deck of our quaint little cabin in Revelstoke. It's cold in these mountains at night, I haven't been up this early in a long time, a combination of a lost hour and an early bedtime I'm sure. Everyone is still asleep in the cabin as I sit with a camel cigarette watching my icy breath disappear into the cold dark sky. It's so quiet, I feel miles away from anywhere save the sounds of a few passing trucks on the nearby highway. I should probably stay up and watch the sunrise, take advantage of an early morning which I'm most used to seeing as a result of a late night at work. This is where the adventure really begins I guess, no true destination until our rendezvous in Guatemala on November 3rd to start spanish lessons. There may be a few days of work for me in Vancouver with our old neighbours stepdad, a well needed little influx of cash will surely help. I wonder what time the sun comes up in Revelstoke, there is definitely no sign of it yet. Losing my wallet lastnight was a temporary high-stress situation, that was relieved as logged into facebook to find a message from someone saying "Do you live in Banff? I found something that may interest you..." So I drove down to meet the good spirit in front of Mac's Milk and retrieved my fully intact wallet, complete with the Canadian Tire money that we'd accumulated from a gas cap purchase in Calgary. There is still good people in this world I guess. Thank you Corine.

I don't know where we will get to today, I'd like to try and make it to Vancouver, but I won't be bothered if we don't. Gas is $1.35.9/Litre in this little mountain town so it's going to be quite painful to fill up before we head out this morning, but what can you do? I read the Globe and Mail lastnight and it seems the whole world is getting shaken up by this $800 Million bailout our good ol' friend G.W. signed the other day. I can't help but wonder if this is it, the beginning of the end of the world as we know it. When financial institutions start to fail I'd like to think that the opportunity for better things will grow through their crumbling sidewalks, much like the flowers that find there way through the pavement of a abandoned parking lot. Anyways, I think I might try and get a bit more sleep as my eyes are begin to feel heavy again and my fingers start to feel numb from the frosty air. Spanish C.D.'s for the rest of the drive.... Buenos Dias mi amigos...

Sunday morning. I must have just collapsed and passed out last night when i was putting Eir to bed so after a good long sleep with only a few minor rumblings from the babes i felt somewhat refreshed today. Matty and his brother Jason however awoke with somewhat fuzzy heads after a night on the town celebrating a friend's wedding. A lost wallet returned by a kind and honest soul named Corine restored some faith in the human spirit.
After a bite of brunch with Jason and Gran Fran another teary eyed farewell as the journey continues. Somehow it felt a bit more real - and a little more scary this time - no destination in mind, no one meeting us at the other end, who knows where we'd end up, now its just us and infinite possibilites.
The road from Banff winds its way through the most beautiful majestic mountains and icy blue rivers. Following the train tracks a lot of the way we were commenting on how we felt as if we were little figures in a model railway, just waiting for a giant hand to break through the clouds and pick up the car in front or place another matchstick in the bridge we were about to cross. An idea of just how tiny and insignificant you feel when all around are the towering, rugged, snow capped mountains.
We stopped briefly to watch a pair of Elk feed right beside us. They didn't seem totally oblivious to the presence of the 4 or 5 vehicles stopping to gaze and admire but certainly appeared very indifferent to being photographed by so many.
The weather was good to us the whole journey, with only the tops of the highest peaks being engulfed in dark rain clouds.
As Freja and Eir slept longer than we had anticipated, we made the most of the extra few hours of peace and quiet and kept on the road, deciding to aim to overnight in Revelstoke.
Passing through our first time zone we gained an hour so arrived at the campground somewhere around 630pm. We stayed here on our last driving adventure. It was here that I first saw my husband without a beard as he appeared back after a shower sans whiskers a little over 3 years ago. I almost didn't recognise him, all of a sudden he looked about 10 years younger - a little un-nerving it has to be said as he was only 24 at the time.
We thought we might try to sleep in Dora tonight, but its pretty cold and damp so instead we opted to rent a wee heated cabin instead. We were given a free pass to the local swimming pool/aquatic centre (it has water slides) when we checked in so after quickly laying out our sleeping bags to take the chill off them we piled back into Dora and headed for the pool. Turns out its a salt water pool which felt much less harsh on the skin.We splashed around for an hour, Matty climbed the angled climbing wall over the deep end and i sat in the hot tub with the girls. Nice and relaxing after confinement of the long drive.
After a quick trip to the grocery store we got back to the campsite and i cooked our first camping meal on the stove in Dora. Butternut squash stuffed pasta with tomato basil sauce. (not from scratch i hasten to add - it was really just a heat up job) but it felt - and tasted good none the less. Wee Eir was starving bless her and she wolfed it down, but Freja ws too excited about her top bunk bed to eat anything. I don't know how we're going to get the princess down from her loft castle tomorrow...
As i lie on the double bed writing this, Freja and Matty are snoring in the top bunk (his turn to fall asleep putting babes to bed) and Eir is cosied up in her sleeping bag on the bottom bunk.
I've just been for a walk outside and its so quiet here, a world apart from the busy summer season hubub. I think we may possibly be the only folks here. Its so still, no wind just the faint noise of drizzling rain, the occassional rumble of the train going past and then silence. The outdoor pool's been drained and is littered with leaves, but the squealing and laughter of summer's children rings in my ears. The picnic tables have been rested on theire ends against the fence, but i was sure i heard cutlery rattle on the wood. The eerie creak of the washroom door as it echoes, and every rustle in the bushes seems magnified a hundred fold......"who's there?" . The pond is empty except for the stone statues of a peeing Cupid and an owl, but cupid's all peed out. I got the feeling though as i walked past that as soon as my back was turned they were both looking round at me watching me walk back to the cabin, the owl's head swiveling as its huge yellow eyes glint in the faint light, and cupid may well have started peeing again.
Sleep beckons.

The mountains. I’m always in awe of the Rocky Mountains, ever since my first time snowboarding down their slopes as a rebellious 16 year old. There is something strangely humbling, yet empowering about standing in the shadow of the famous peaks of Mount Logan or Rundle. Empowering because of the sense of wonder seen in Freja’s eyes as she gazes up at them. Empowering because they make the cheesy souvenir shops filled with tourists look like little models waiting to be crushed by an overzealous 2 year old. Empowering because of the sense of accomplishment you feel while standing at the top of their peeks looking at the world below. Humbling because they could take your life in an instant with an avalanche or a mis-step.. Humbling because they are some of the most beautiful, breathtaking and inspiring things in the world, yet the human race had nothing to do with their creation. Humbling as you watch mountain goats traverse the sheer thousand foot drops with ease and no climbing ropes, while you clumsily try and find solid footing for your walking stick. A distant train whistles in the background of a dimly lit hotel room as it winds it’s way through the paths cut by many under-paid and under appreciated immigrant workers. I wonder if they knew I’d be listening to the echo of their blood, sweat and tears sitting in a hotel room with two beautiful daughters asleep in the loft, camera’s clicking through the days photographs and a cheap Bow Valley Lager beside me. I wonder if they knew that years later their ancestors would be riding those rails, gazing out the windows and snapping pictures of the same terrain that they cursed at everyday on their way to work where they never knew if they would make it back to camp that night. I’d like to thank all of the Chinese immigrant workers for letting me get lost in the beauty of a train whistle blowing through the cool mountain air tonight…

The mountains. And all the creativity and beauty that they inspire in me….

We named the van too, she's called Dora...

I don't think I"ve ever left for a trip on time. Unless of course I'm on a plane going by the airlines schedule. And the beginning of this trip was no different. In fact we actually left a day later than expected, which I think is the longest delay I've had for a road trip. We brought our 1980 VW Westfalia in for a routine check on Monday and that check turned into a cheque for $1700 and new shocks and rear and front seal replacements. Needless to say we didn't make our departure date as it was a 2 day job. Yogi at Prairie Autohaus was probably quite frustrated at the amount of phonecalls he recieved from us, much like a kid sneaking down to catch a peek at his presents at christmas but with a lot more stress. It was Wednesday before we got the van back in the late afternoon and after a lengthy discussion about all that may possibly go wrong with the van I left feeling relieved and scared. Ideally we would have packed the van that night, but we ran out of daylight as I worked wiring up the stereo system and we had to wait until the next morning.

Sleep was tough, as I knew it would be a hard day of goodbyes tomorrow as if the last week of goodbyes and parties wasn't hard enough. We don't really have a solid plan return strategy so I think people are wondering when they will see us again. I awoke dreary eyed and wanting just to lie on the couch for fifteen more minutes but knew there was to much to do so I slowly got out of bed to start the flurry of activities for our departure. I went to the roastery for one last coffee and then Canadian tire to finish my toolkit for the van (I have a secret plan to be a professional mechanic after this trip). I also picked up a few more things to wire up the solar panel on the roof. If you want a solar panel on the roof of your VW I'm now a seasoned professional and if I wasn't driving to Costa Rica, I think Paul and I would start up a business.

Anyways after packing up the van, which wasn't as laborious of a task as I thought, we set off after some tearful goodbyes with more space than we anticipated. Hitting the highway was a mix of emotions. The sadness of leaving and the excitement of going balanced eachother out. After learning that you can't always trust a GPS system we finally were on the open road. First rendezvous, Banff. It was here that we would meet up with my Brother and Mum to spend some quality time among the mountains and tourists. The van was running great, the solar panel was charging up and the girls in their car seats in the back were sleeping soundly. So I threw on some music and watched the highway, the GPS and Shona reading beside me. We're Off!

You'd think that if there was any province in Canada that had a plethora of gas stations it would of course be the Oil Rich Alberta. This is not the case. We stopped in Kindersley to make a quick phonecall and get some water and I contemplated filling the half full tank. We were in a slight rush and I thought I'd wait until the next town. Bad idea. The nest three towns only had cardlock gas and it was about 15km's outside of the town with a fuel pump that our little VW came to a slow and sad stop. Hmmm.. what to do now? Two fairly content babies in the backseat, a beautiful sunset on the horizon and no gas. The irony of it all us that we were basically across from oil derrick, happily pumping away...

Shona waved down the first car we saw and a lovely women named Tracy agreed to give me a ride to the next gas station where I would fill up a couple jerry cans and try and hitch a ride back to the van. It all went very smoothly. In fact when I was paying for my gas and regalling the clerk with my woeful tell I ended up inadvertently getting a ride with a trucker who was in line behind me. It was pretty neat being in one of those big rigs, I didn't realize how high class they are and have a new apprecition everytime I see one on the highway. We found the van on the highway, Cliff the trucker came to a stop and we got out and said goodbye which was accompanied by a big pull on his horn as he drove off to pick up more barley for another run. It's harvest time in the prairies. I filled up the van and we were off, way later than we thought we'd be but with more adventures and stories to share. Which are way more important than time if you ask me.

We blew through Calgary where I realized that I left the gas cap at the Cactus Corner Rest Stop, luckily Canadian Tire was still open (for 2 minutes) and I managed to get another gas cap to get us into the rockies. My eyes were tired for the last hour to Banff but we made it safe and sound and now it's morning the coffee is brewing, the bacon is grilling and the sun is shining through the window as I look at the majestic Rockie Mountains and type this. We're treating ourselves to a cabin here, to spent some quality time with my Brother and Mum, but after this no more treats.

It's begun and I'm happy. It's weird to have your house on your back, but strangely freeing. I can get used to this....