People have asked us if the site will stay up and yes! It will. We
won't post as often but will keep updating with VW related activities.
Back to work tomorrow. If anyone from work is reading this, go easy on
us our first week back... :)
We left around 7am after spending the night in a random parking lot in North Bay. We only managed to get about 5 hours of shut eye but hey, we are almost home.
Lucy's generator isn't charging again. Kinda funny how it's acting up in the same spot as on the way out. Kinda. Not really. At least this time we have the battery charger!
Ah memories...
The plan is to go to the apartment, shower and unpack Lucy a bit then head to see our folks and drop off the van in Embrun.
It was a blast. Thank you all for being there with us. I'll continue posting to this blog because we still have a lot of Lucy related events planned... camping, car shows and weddings this summer...restoration and mechanical work this winter.. Owning a Westie is a full time job :)
See you soon! :)
Stephanie
--sent from my iPhone--
We are hitting every single timmies we see on the 17 for a combination
of stretching and/or peeing and/or checking the engine.
We might stop soon because we are a bit paranoid the battery will die
leaving us without headlights.
Anyhoo expect us back tomorrow at some point!
I have been reading while Francis has been listening to his iPod. We
have been pretty quiet and once in a while one of us looks over at the
other and smiles. I really like how we can just sit there and not have
to feel like we have to break the silence.
I just asked Francis if he wanted to say something on the post and he
is being pouty and saying he wish we could turn around so the trip
wouldn't end so soon. Haha.
Is the forecast for Ottawa still rain for Sunday? Hopefully the
Volksfest is still on...
Today's goal is to drive all the way to Sudbury or in that area. Looks
like a sunny day so far so a great day for driving. We are sad tonight
will be the last night in the van. You would think we would be sick of
it but no...Both of us agree we could keep this routine going for
another month. Westfalias are a blast to travel and camp in.
You guys will get a bunch of updates all at once since there is no
reception here and probably won't be until the Soo.
Love you!
We figure we have around 1900 kms left in our journey (about 24 hours
drive). Seeing we want to get there Friday night that means about 8
solid hours of driving per day. Hoowie! The goal today is to pass
Thunder Bay and Nipigon and head either on the 11 (Hearst and Kap) or
the 17 (Wawa and the Soo) today. Google says taking the 11 is
slightly shorter but it's also not as scenic. Let's put it to a vote
then! What do you guys think? Small french speaking communities to the
north or amazing lakes to the south?
Woohoo I just saw Huskie the Muskie in Kenora!!! (no pictures though.
Damn! )
We are on our way to Rushing River Provincial Park. Good night!
The park warden was from Temiscaming and he was happy to speak French
to us. Nice guy. As a matter of fact everyone is extremely friendly
here. I think I said that already but it's quite obvious when you
cross from Alberta to Saskatchewan and even more so when you get to
Manitoba. Not that everyone is crusty in Alberta or anything... It's
just they tend to not talk to strangers as much.
We met a couple in one of the many A&Ws we stopped at and they started
telling us all about the trips they did together and how for their
anniversary they would like to find a bus like they had and go back to
where they had gone as newlyweds. This was all standing in line
waiting to order. Hee hee. Francis promissed we would just keep Lucy
that way we wouldnt have to find another 71 van in 50 years! :)
Speaking of A&W, Francis is extremely excited at tge number of stand-
alone drive thru A&Ws in the west. I'm just impressed at the lack of
other fast food giants. A&W has a monopoly here almost. No McDonalds
in the small towns. Besides, A&W is all about keeping things vintage
and supporting cruise nights in small towns so I don't mind them one
bit.
We just passed Foxwarren and are heading towards Winnipeg today.
Beautiful weather for driving. It's about 24 and sunny. More updates
later.. I hope the return to work after the long weekend wasn't too
difficult for you guys :(
We slept well in Saskatoon. It rained so we didn't go to the drive-in
as planned. Today is out first Sweatshirt and jeans day since we first
passed through Manitoba. It's actually nice to not stick to the seats!
Lucy is averaging 22MPG now. I think she likes the flatter lands.
We have no clue what the plan is for today. Just driving eastbound
towards Winnipeg and stopping when something is picture worthy I
suppose. I think we should be able to get to Manitoba today if we keep
a steady pace.
Be good!
The local who suggested we stay in the little alley showed us around
his place. He had planted a whole bunch of trees and bushes and I
tasted saskatoon berries for the first time in my life. They are a bit
like a mix of blueberry and plums as far as taste goes and look like
blueberries. I also saw an almond bush for the first time. They are
super fuzzy! He explained the farm life in his area and showed us the
solar panel that powers the water pump for the town. He says it cost
about 200 000 to build and they have enough power to actually feed
some back to the grid. He also explained how the little oil pumps that
we see everywhere work.
This is going to sound dumb but Delia was everything I thought a small
Alberta town was. The man who showed us around works in the oil
industry and was a big burly man with duspenders and a confidence and
warmth about him that was a bit like that of a trucker. The owner of
the cafe was an old Chinese man who had been around for 50 years and
knew everyone that walked in the door. It's crazy to think at one
point in his lifetime, he was discriminated against and slowly earned
the respect of his neighbours. After church, groups of people walked
in with their cowboy hats or coveralls and chatted around warm coffee.
They talked about the weather and how it affects the crops. The men
played with their long mustaches while they smiled our way knowing
quite well we were out of town.
When a man walked in with full cowboy gear and a handlebar mustache,
Francis and I both felt like the theme from The Good The Bad and The
Ugly should be playing. We spotted quite a few Canadian toxedoes there
too. (Jeans and a Jean jacket)
Anyhow we passed other similar small towns with funny names such as
Cereal and Chinook and just crossed the AB/SK border.
The strap is holding the poptop down OK. Phew!
- us leaving late because of pit stops at the groceries, gas and
Canadian tire
- how huge the bag of twizzlers is and how I was able to make five
knots in one licorice piece (it was exciting at the time)
- How there was a storm far off in the distance and it was cool
because we could see it approaching
But THEN, winds picked up and all went to hell. There are no trees
around here so it was impossible to see how bad it was at first. Then
out of nowhere hay starts flying and hitting Lucy at super high speeds
and Francis is struggling to keep her straight. Next thing you know I
look back and the poptop is up and the canvas is flapping around so I
tell Francis and he quickly pulls over and goes to the back and
struggles to bring it down. The winds were so strong it broke the two
rubber latches holding the poptop. Now Francis is literally hanging
on the handle trying to prevent the poptop from breaking off or the
canvas to rip and I'm just hoping the van won't tip. Yes, it was that
bad. So I make my way to the back and take Francis' place and pull the
poptop down with all my strength and Francis starts driving hoping to
find some kind of shelter. You have to imagine thunderstorms and hail-
like rain outside and grass rolling across the street. Anyway, we
drove for 10 minutes going about 60 and had a few scares along the
way. We pulled into a tiny town, tied the popup down with a strap and
waited it out in the local cafe. There were a few locals there and we
talked about the weather and Lucy and relaxed with barley soup and
green tea. They told us to avoid the campground nearby because there
was a wedding there with "lots of hippies". Haha. One of them told us
to go to a small laneway next to his place so that's where we are
camped out, next to silos and grain elevators. It's actually pretty
cool. :)
I just read the winds were up to 100km/h in some parts. I'm not
surprised. We had hay wrapped around the bumper!
I guess we will be using the strap to hold the top down for the rest
of the trip until we can order new tie downs from cip1. Thankfully the
canvas didn't rip except for a tiny hole in one of the panels.
Anyway, quite an adventure..the weather is messed up because of the
heat wave. Ok back to watching a cheesy 80s Sylvester Stalone movie
(guess who picked it out? Haha)
Night!
After our whirlwind tour we headed to Ben and Marc's place (just ten
minutes away) for a late game of XBox Tiger Woods. We went to bed way
too late so got up quite late too. Today was all about breakfast at
Perkins, car wash and bearing adjustment with Serge. Thanks for the
tour and the hospitality!
More from the road!
