This is the beginning of an adventure that has been a lifelong dream of mine. A dream that I have passed on to my family. I started talking about this seriously one year ago. I think my husband, Keith, thought if he ignored me, this would all go away. Nice try.
Let's start with the back story. About 7 years ago, we became boaters and fell in love with Georgian Bay. We started with a 26 ft Regal and we were hooked, even though our daughter, Abby was still in a crib. I literally spent the summer trying to get her to sleep - no exaggeration. I knew however, Keith was truly in his happy place, so I said if this was going to be our thing, we needed more space. We ended up with a 32 ft Bayliner (GREAT deal) and we were boaters. Except, I had this thing about wanting to show my kids the country via a motorhome.
So I had some work to do to convince Keith this is a great idea. In my mind, THIS is our summer - Parker is 11 and Abby is going to be 9 in August. How many more summers do I have when A - they want to spend time with us and B - they aren't working.
So I started planting the seed. I was met with a bit of heckling from the boaters and my husband. When Keith went to Kijiji to find another one of his amazing deals, I knew this was something he was going to embrace as well. He won't admit it, mind you. He'll tell you the Bay is where he wants to spend his summer. A few weeks searching and we were the proud owners of 30 ft of RV fun at a great price.
We brought Maje home last weekend and the best news was that she went up our significantly steep driveway! Wahoo! This means that prep for our trip will be easier than parking it off our property to clean and pack. Things were shaping up perfectly!
Perfect until the rains came last weekend and we discovered 2 significant leaks in our home on wheels. Keith didn't stop until he fixed those leaks. We shall see how well they are fixed when the rains start again this week. I'm predicting (hoping) that with all this rain, the summer will be warm and dry.
Being a teacher, I often have grand plans for summer and Keith has to remind me that he does not have 2 months off in the summer. Bummer. My dream was compromised when Keith informed me that he could not take a whole month off work. He's a plumber -
KAPA Plumbing
One week is the most I've been able to get him to take off in summer. He conceded to 2 weeks - which is a big deal. My dream however, doesn't fit into 2 weeks. I had a decision to make.
Scenario #1 Take a month, drive with the kids, Keith will join for a portion of the month
Scenario #2 Shorten the trip to 2 weeks
The decision was easy. In T-33 days, I am driving west with my 2 kids in a 30ft Majestic RV. Keith will fly to Calgary to meet us. We will then head into the mountains for 2 weeks and return to Calgary, put Keith back on a plane and head back home in the RV.
I can do this, right? Of course I can, despite the confused looks and questions like, 'why would you want to do this?' from many people.
The decision was easy - making the dream come true will be what will be documented in this blog. I'm sure there will be lots of fun to share with you. Stay tuned!
