Sweet Home Manitoba

Disclaimer: the following is a long post. No one is forcing you to read it. You know who you are. :-)

I am presently in nowheresville, Manitoba, somewhere between Winnipeg and Brandon (closer to the latter), taking a much needed break. It has been a long, long journey from Nipigon to here. Now, it's time to slow down and spend a couple of days at various strategic locations.

So, last you heard from me, I was about a 100 klicks shy of Thunder Bay. There isn't really anything of note between Thunder Bay and Winnipeg, so I decided to do a short haul to Thunder Bay to recharge my batteries, then undertake the very long haul to the Winnipeg area, from where I could slow down.

Since I was in no hurry on Tuesday, I decided to follow the signs promising Canada's longest suspended bridge. The road there was a bit scary in a motorhome, but the signs said that there were RV sites at the end of the road, so I took a chance taking Miranda down there and it turned out fine. I wound up on the bottom of gorgeous Eagle Canyon where a path took me up to the first of two suspension bridges.

I couldn't cross them. I have a touch of acrophobia and these bridges were too much for me. I made it a quarter of the way across the shorter bridge before I started to see red. I don't let my fear of heights stop me from living and I challenge it regularly, so I go easy on myself at times like these. I took some pictures, then followed the path down to the river at the bottom of the canyon, enjoying a brisk hike around a lake before returning to Miranda. It was a fantastic forty minute detour and well worth the 18$ access fee that is easily explained by the impeccable installation.



In Thunder Bay, I picked up two items that would make my life easier. The first is a coffee press. I can't believe it's taken me this long to discover these fantastic devices. I don't think I could go back to drip coffee!

The second item is a speaker dock for my iPod. This enables me to now have music or podcasts on the road. Radio stations have been far between and satellite radio is as huge a monthly expense as would be satellite internet! I can also listen to music in the evening without having to start up the iMac or use headphones. I went into FutureShop not really knowing what it was I was looking for and the clerk figured it out in two seconds flat. Ah, it's so lovely to be able to have something to listen to other than the cats meowing. :-)

I slept amazingly well in Thunder Bay, waking up refreshed and relaxed. It was cold in the rig (13 degrees) and it was great to get up around 6 to use the bathroom and be able to turn on the generator to get the furnace going, crawl back under the blankets, and just doze with the kitties for a half hour until the temperature inside rose to a comfortable 16.5 degrees!

Speaking of cold mornings, the temperature fell to zero the night I was in Nipigon. According to Environment Canada, that's the worst sort of night I can expect in the Okanagan Valley. If that's the case, I have nothing to fear this winter.

So, I was bright eyed and bushy tailed in Thunder Bay and decided to head back east for a minute to the Terry Fox memorial, which I'd skipped the day before.

Sunrise over Lake Gitchigoomie (Superior):



Terry Fox memorial:



One of the reasons I felt I could do an almost 800km day, as I was 'gaining' an hour:



Tabitha spends our driving time in the overcab bunk, staring out the window. Neelix, however, likes to be right in the midst of the action (he is SO CUTE!):



Just outside of Kenora, I stopped at the Dixie Lake rest area:



I stood in this spot three years ago almost to the day, overcome with emotion. I had left Winnipeg about two hours before, knowing that from that moment on, my life was about to take a very different path. These first steps back onto the Canadian Shield cemented my decision for me. The next time I would go through that way would be heading west, hauling all my possessions and aiming for a new life in Winnipeg. I gave myself a deadline: March 2009. And then I went to work making this dream a reality. That dream died the first week of this past May, leaving room for an dream so much grander that I couldn't have even fathomed it that September day in 2005. But, I did accomplish part of that initial plan, and six months early to boot. I felt almost like a traitor to Winnipeg today when I drove by her without stopping, hauling all my worldly possessions and zooming west, as though I was thumbing my nose at her and being ungrateful for all that she gave me these past three years. But I visited her in April and I remain convinced that she will one day be home to me. So, goodbye, but not farewell. I'll be back this way again.

At any rate, the rest of yesterday leaves me with mixed feelings. After ten years of driving Ontario's roads, I was pulled over by the O(ntario) P(rovincial) P(olice) for the first time, an hour from the Manitoban border, for going all of seven kilometres over the speed limit. Soon as the cop told me that, I relaxed, realising that he just wanted an excuse to pull over the young chick in the big ass RV. He spent about 10 minutes asking me questions about my rig, where I was from, and where I was going, and then he sent me on my way. Looking back, it was actually pretty funny. I need to get Miranda's odometre checked, though. According to it, I was doing 94 in a 90 zone, not 97. Okay, speeding is speeding, but who the frell gets pulled over for doing 97 in a 90 zone? LOL!!!

I hit Manitoba soon thereafter and that's where the day went to hell. I stopped at the tourist information kiosk to get directions to a dump station since I was planning on doing the Walmart thing again and was (am) still having issues with the black tank. I followed the woman's instructions to the letter. They were wrong. I took the turn she told me to take, on a paved road, and promptly came to a dead end. No way to turn around without making major damage to both the car and Miranda. No way to unhook the car. No cell phone service to call for help. No help to be had on foot for ten kilometres. Result: one crunched RV back bumper (merely cosmetic damage), one crunched front car fender that is causing a noise that makes me suspect I'll need to take it in for proper fixing, and one very disheartened and exhausted driver who isn't exactly sure yet how much of that was her fault and isn't convinced that she made the best decision.

Let's just say I was in a foul mood (depressed and tired, not angry) when I got to the Walmart in Selkirk. This store was out of my way compared to, say, the one in St-Vital in Winnipeg south, but I was trying to avoid Winnipeg. :-) They had never had an RVer stay overnight before! The manager was quick to give me permission.

Back in Nipigon, I had met some semi-timers who RV 6 months of the year, who said that they gave up on doing the Walmart thing because they feel they have to spend at each one, and end up spending more than they would have had they gone to a campground. What I've been doing is making a list of the things I actually need and picking things up bit by bit at each store. This way, I have a bag of merchandise to hold up when I ask for permission to stay, but I'm not spending money I wouldn't have needed to spend. Yesterday, I finally picked up a water pressure regulator, so tonight I'm hooked up to water for the first time (and to sewer also).

So, this morning, I took off in pea soup fog:



and stopped off at the first RV park advertising wi-fi (not free) and full service 30AMP sites. It's a nice spot in the middle of nowhere (60 klicks to the nearest grocery store) and motivation to stay home tomorrow and get some things done around the coach.

I got settled in quickly (backing up is so not an issue!), then took off towards Brandon to visit the reptile zoo I'd been hankering to see. The map to get there sucked and the GPS was no help, so I'm really glad I went in the toad. When I arrived, I didn't know what to think. The outside of the place looked like a dump! But it was open, so I went in, and paid the very reasonable fee of 5$.

The zoo turned out to be amazing and WELL worth the detour!!! I saw pythons and boas and anacondas, Nile crocodiles (the only ones in Canada, apparently), all manners of toads and frogs and turtles, big ass roaches, tarantulas, scorpions, geckos, and lizards, oh my! The owners need to do some major professionalizing of the place (especially when it comes to signage), but I can tell that the animals are very well cared for and that the owners are working on making the place look less amateurish.

Then, I made it to Brandon, where I got gas and groceries, then I headed home feeling absolutely exhausted. I immediately revised my plans for the next few days. I'm staying home tomorrow and will visit Brandon on Saturday (overnighting at the Walmart if I get permission).

Next, I'll be moving on to the Regina area. I'd like to find a location somewhere between it and Moosejaw to hunker down for four or five nights so I can do day trips with the toad.

I'm a week into my journey and have but three left to go. It's time to start pacing myself!

Oh, the Places You'll Go!

When last our heroine updated her blog, she was parked at the Canadian Tire in Val D'Or. She has done more than 900km since then... and not all of them have been above ground.

Not much happened on Saturday. I wound up boondocking outside the visitor's centre at the eastern edge of the city where I was told overnighting was 'tolerated', but I'd have to move to pay site or the Walmart for the next night. The only pay site in town was 15$ and that didn't include hookups or, at least, a view, so guess where I spent my second night in Val D'Or? :-)

At any rate, the sole purpose of my visit to Val D'Or was to see the gold mine at a complex they call the Cité de l'or. Other than outdoor sports, there isn't much to see or do in Val D'or. I therefore wouldn't recommend making a detour there just to see the mine, but if you just happen to be going by, then, please, don't miss it and pay the 40 bucks for the full tour!

The outside of the mine complex:



Here is a picture of what a gold vein looks like:



The white is quartz and the black is tourmaline. This is extracted and then processed to get the gold flakes inside. It takes about 5,000 tonnes of ore from this mine to get a single oz of gold.

There was nothing but wilderness around the mine site, so a village had to be built to house all the workers and their families. Imagine a whole neighbourhood of houses just like these:



The old mining village is just adorable and is a historic site, so current owners face strict regulations as to how much they can change the houses.

These houses offered excellent accommodation for the miners with running water, heating, telephones, and electricity. Miners were considered rich. They made about 35$ a week while a living wage was about 5$ per week! This is how they could afford such luxuries and pay the rent of 50$ per year for these houses.

Before my tour of the mine, I walked through the village and was accosted by a withered wraith of a man who used to work at the mine! He spent about twenty minutes sharing his life story. I thought it would be a tale of woe, but not at all. He loved his time at the mine, saying that the work was hard, but that conditions were good and safe, and that unlike coal mining it wasn't that bad for the health as there was no dust. His job was to take core samples that would be analysed to determine which way the mine should be further excavated. When he retired from mining, he used his knowledge to found his own diamond drilling company with more than 150 employees. Meeting him proved to me that there are no accidents in life. I was sure my mine tour was at 1PM, but it was at 1:30. I therefore had time to kill, time enough to make an encounter that completely change how I felt down there, 300ft below the surface....

I really don't like enclosed spaces, so the hour and a bit we were underground was just enough for me. When we got back into the shuttle for the drive back up, I couldn't get out of there fast enough. I can't imagine spending a whole day in such a place, including a lunch break spent in a room like this one:



After the tour, I went to pick up Miranda at the Sears where I'd received permission to park her for the day, then we moved to Walmart. The store was closed, so I just set up for the night and treated myself to dinner since I couldn't get anything working at home. :-)

Sunday, I pushed off ludicrously early (around 7) and felt my mood change as quickly as did the kilometres beneath me.

I passed this very cool sign mid-morning:



The weather was (and is) gross, not motivating me to try to find a boondocking spot on Crown land as I'd thought I might, so I decided to make a push for the Walmart in Kapuskasing:



(I was just amused that I was driving through the wilderness looking for a Walmart).

I passed some very interesting towns, such as Swastika and Moonbeam, where I had to take a picture:



When I got to Kapuskasing (and was done with the whole dumping thing), I went to the Walmart figuring that it would be closed for the evening. Nope, it's open 7 to 8 seven days a week!!! So, I went in to ask for permission to stay overnight. The manager replied "Of course!" in a very friendly manner. I knew I would have a good night there: I had permission to stay and the OPP had a station literally across the street. Can't get any safer than that! I wound up sleeping the sleep of the proverbial dead and woke up this morning at 5:30 feeling very odd because I haven't slept that many hours straight through since I was a teenager!

Today was another big push as there is just about nothing between Kapuskasing and Thunder Bay. I was very glad to find this park. It's nothing special and not a place where you can set up your hibachi or awning, but it's perfectly adequate for a one night stopover. Tomorrow, I'm going no further than the Walmart in Thunder Bay! I have this site until noon and I plan to take advantage of that to get caught up on my housekeeping.

If there is one thing I will remember the most about my first days on the road it is that the world is not nearly as hostile a place as some people would try to make me believe. There has been at least one person per day who helped me in a way that might have seemed small to them, but which made me feel like I am not alone on this vast and open road.

Tomorrow is Thunder Bay. Wednesday will be my last night on the Shield. Thursday I'll hit the Prairies. And then I'll slow down properly as I'll be hitting new things.

There is no shortage of good days. It is good lives that are hard to come by. Good lives, I'm discovering, have no shortage of bad days, but they are measured by the sum of the whole.

I'm impossibly happy, in good spirits, comfortable in my rig, grateful that my cats have taken to this life as well as their mom, and have discovered that it's easy to be a morning person if your day is going to be filled with adventure.

Trials and Tribulations

I don't have any pictures to share at this time because my desktop computer isn't set up and hooking up the camera to the laptop is too fussy for the short time frame I have. So, enjoy all the bla bla bla and come back later for pics. :-)

Oh, I've written soooo much about the last almost week, but I need to save some material for a book! :-)

Here are some highlights from the past six days.


Friday August 29, 2008

-I successfully backed up into a busy street at rush hour as I couldn't very well sleep at my mechanic's. No one was injured during this impressive feat of driving. Thank you to David for stopping traffic!

-After spending several hours loading STUFF into the coach, I took off for a sports arena a few blocks from the house to spend my first night as an urban boondocker. The cats took to the RV immediately and slept good nights. Mom was too exhausted to fuss and had a good night, too. The arena wound up being quiet and dark. I didn't suffer for lack of 120V current and I really, really, really enjoyed being able to take a hot shower!


Saturday August 30, 2008

-Up at six, worked non stop, got the house emptied and the RV stuffed by noon, right on schedule.

-Was screwed over by Vidéotron one last time.

-Arrived at the campground absolutely drained and overwhelmed.

-Circled my loop, planned my entry into the site, came back, pulled straight into an empty site, and unhooked my toad, which is where:

Rae learns a very important lesson about towing

Watch where your feet are. The tow bars are heavy and purple toes are NOT a fashion statement.

Toes weren't broken, so I ignored the throbbing pain down there and moved the toad out of the way. Moved the coach back, forward, and back again, getting it into the campsite in one shot. Eyewitness testimony states that I seemed to have been doing it my entire life. Which is where:

Rae discovers that backing up perfectly (in one try) into a campsite is actually not the most important consideration at that time

As it turned out, I had circled my loop and reentered another one. I was in the wrong site. But, in my defense, both sites had neighbours with a blue tent AND both sites were of the same shape as I'd been told to look for!

A very nice park official checked to see if the site would be available for the five nights I was staying. It was. I could stay.

The coach was stuffed to the gills, I was overwhelmed, and just about burst into tears when I saw how much work I had ahead of me. So, I said *expletive deleted* that and went out for a nice dinner during which I formulated a plan of attack.

I slept the sleep of the dead. Never mind that the mattress is really too thick and that I can barely roll over. I was on my own mattress with my feather duvet and pillows. The cats were by my side. I could hear crickets outside. The wind was whispering a lullaby. I was home.


Sunday August 31, 2008

I slept so late I was disoriented upon waking up. I mean, the day is half gone by the time 9:30 arrives!

I hadn't been able to plug in my coach on Saturday since the prongs on my cord didn't match the holes in the electrical post. So, I just dragged the coffee maker and toaster out onto the picnic table.

A few hours later, as order begins to emerge from the chaos that was the basement:

Rae finds something that no longer makes it necessary for her to run an extension cord from her electrical post to the coffee maker set on a picnic table.

She believes it's a 'cheater adapter.' Possibly. Whatever it is called, it's an adapter. She now has 15AMP service!

One of the most useful things I did on Sunday was label a tote TOWING and put in it all the odd bits that I use for towing.

I took the afternoon off to get organizational stuff at Wal-mart's, then I head off to a friend's for a Labour Day BBQ. Her mom gave me a hibachi she had lying around in the shed and I am now able to char my own barbecue sauced bird!


Monday September 1, 2008

I was spending the day with a friend so I woke up early and attacked the basement. I got it so well sorted and organized that it is no longer stuffed to the gills!

At some point during this day:

Rae has a real light bulb moment involving a too highly chlorinated fresh water holding tank

"Gee the water is caustic. I can't wait to empty the tank and put in fresh water. Waitaminute. The tank is only a third full. Maybe I can use the new hose I bought yesterday at Wal-mart at a major discount and top up the tank with fresh, unchlorinated, water and dilute what's left?"


Tuesday September 2, 2008

WORK! I finalised all my files and opened cases and packed since I knew Wednesday would be a wash.

A separate entry will follow about the evening.

Which brings us to today, Wednesday September 3, 2008

I did some real work, spent some time on line, shed copious tears, received and gave a ton of hugs, and left the way I've always dreamt of leaving a place, with a tug of regret.

Crunch Time

I'm pretty much in melt down mode now (par for the course for me when I move), but am better than I was four hours ago.

When I picked up Miranda in July, I didn't have the tow pins, so I couldn't hitch up the car. The previous owner was going to be out of town for several weeks, so I set all thoughts of the pins aside until he got back. When he did, he questioned if the pins really belonged to me or came with the base plate. By the time I got an answer about that, and learned that no place in town has the pins in stock and they would all take at least two weeks to get some in for me (!!!), the PO was unreachable and... it was 4:30 today. I came up with several contingency plans for getting both Miranda and Pommette back in town by Saturday. None were pretty. Then the phone rang at 4:45 and it was the PO, out of town, but back tomorrow. I can pick up the pins at 5PM. Crisis averted. PHEW.

I woke up at 6:15 this morning in full panic mode and made up several more boxes before leaving for work an hour and a half later. I really don't have that much left to do, but it's all spread out and looks worse than it is. I've also essentially 'lost' an evening. Tomorrow, I'm driving out to North Gower to pick up Miranda, and I'll drop her off at the mechanic's where she'll undergo an oil change on Friday morning.

Friday afternoon, I'll go pick her up and drive her here to fill her up as much as I have time for. Then I'm going to a sports arena a few blocks from my place that allows overnighting in an RV at no charge!!! How convenient is that?! I was surprised to find not only this option, but also TWO Wal-marts within a ten minute drive. Ssh, don't tell Gatineau! They'll shut down that practise if they get wind of it.

So, Friday night I'll sleep in the moho at the arena with the catkids and be back here bright and early on Saturday morning. I'll have time to clean the house before my friend shows up to help me with the mattress.

Then, it's off to the municipal dump to get Miranda weighed, the grocery store for supplies, and, finally, the campground for some well deserved downtime and BEER.

This is my seventh move in ten years. One would think I'd have such an event down to a science by now, but I'm not. Each move has been very different. I'm just so tired of it and hope that I can RV for a few years.

Things are so rushed right now that I have to remind myself that this time next week, I'll be trying to wind down in preparation for the big departure the next morning. I might not feel ready, but "There is a time for departure even when there's no certain place to go." (Tennessee Williams)

Eight sleeps left!

There's Not Just Me To Think About

I brought Tabitha and Neelix to the vet's this evening to get their shots up to date. I need a valid rabies vaccination certificate for them if I want to cross into the United States. Both were due for their shot this year, conveniently enough, and the certificates are good for three years so I don't have to think about this again for quite some time. Even though both of them are microchipped, I was advised to get them collars on which to put a rabies tag provided by the vet, which is traceable back to them. So, if either one of my kitties (ie. Neelix) manages to escape, I have double protection since it's not just anyone who can read a microchip, but anyone can call a number on a tag.

Decisions, Decisions

I went back to the storage place last night with a friend so I could show off Miranda and also get her opinion on which bed to rip out and replace with a desk. My friend also wound up hauling boxes, but that was not my intent for bringing down there, LOL!

So, I wanted to rip out the bed on the left. The bedroom isn't symmetrical and the left side has a wider wall. I felt that I could tuck both a desk and a chair away and have them not be visible from the kitchen, as evidenced in one of my pictures on Flickr.

Also, the right-side bed has a drop down table, so I felt that it was conveniently set up for use as a couch, even if the electrical plug and heater are on that side.

The previous owner told me that, having lived in the coach for six months, she felt that the right-side bed should be the one to go, pointing out the wider wall and the electrical outlet. I didn't find her arguments convincing.

My friend also suggested I take out the right-side bed, telling me that I won't have guests often, but when I do, the wider wall of the left side will make a sort of alcove that will offer much needed privacy in such a small space.

That settled it.

Another decision to make is where to put the litter box. I am seriously considering giving up the space under the 'sofa' and dedicating it to the cat box. I had hoped to be able to put the box in the basement, but there are no convenient places in which to do so. My other option is to put it in the storage space below the wardrobe, but that would require removing a door. I think that making a discreet hole in the base of the 'sofa' makes more sense. The final option was to put the box in the cockpit, either between the two seats or at the foot of the passenger seat, but that area is carpeted and will remain carpeted, so I don't feel that's a good idea.

I had hoped to be able to remove one of the lounge chairs and the bar at some point to replace them with a credenza/bookcase. The chairs are bolted down and I couldn't immediately see a way to remove them, so I might have to live with them.

Then, I discovered that the material covering the chairs and dinette benches also covers the ceiling of the cockpit. I've decided that I therefore have to live with this material. That said, I still want to remove as much of the sage green curtains as I can (I used to love that colour, but now I just see my cubicle!!!) and play up the other colours in the fabric--there's blue, pink, gold, and peach, so I know I'll be able to do do something I can live with. I'm also pretty sure I'll need to replace the mini blinds at some point since Tabitha and Neelix will surely destroy them.

Finally, I feel that the space above the fridge was poorly designed, so I'm going to spring for a cabinet for up there. I'll be unable to match Miranda's woodwork, so I think I'll go for open shelves and use the space for books.

Truly Wondrous Technology!

Just how have I traveled all these years without a GPS unit?!

Today, I drove out to the only RV storage place I contacted that felt my request for about six weeks of storage was worth a reply. It's forty minutes away, but an easy and lovely drive. I paid up till August 31st (105$ plus a 20$ key deposit) and was told that I can bring Miranda up any time after Monday, so that's another thing resolved.

I let the GPS unit direct me there. It was nice to just let 'someone else' take over and to just drive. When I was ready to leave, I asked the GPS to take me to the nearest gas station, then to the nearest Loblaws grocery store, then to home. I really enjoyed the disorienting feeling I got at the gas station when I realised that I had literally no idea where I was! Of course, this told me that I will still need to carry maps in case of GPS failure, but otherwise I was free to enjoy the sun and scenery and let the GPS do the hard work.

A kilometre to home, the unit got a name: Majel. After Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, who did the voice of the computer on the various Star Trek shows and also played Nurse/Doctor Christine Chapel. Hmm... Now would be a good time to point out that Neelix came with his name, which he responded to, and therefore I'm not responsible for that bit of geekiness!