Kim's last vanbatical post

I had really good intentions coming back into the van to get the posts up and running again. I wrote that interview with Mike on the 3^rd night of being back on the road. But I just wasn’t as passionate about writing posts.  I started “vanlife then and now” and “yosemite to Joshua Tree”) and now they just sit unfinished on my lap top. Maybe I lost the interest to write about van life because really, I am not living in a van anymore, I am just visiting Mike. So given that the only blog post that is forming in my head is this one, it kind of tells me that it needs to be my last (at least last vanbatical post).    

So first off, I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who read the vanbatical blog. Whether you read all the posts or just a few, hearing about how you enjoyed reading it and just the fact that you wanted to know how we were doing and what we were up to warmed my heart.

Secondly, to update (and as I have mentioned in previous posts), I am spending the winter in Kenora and Mike is continuing his journey in the van with Dawson. Neither of us can say whether Mike will post more here or not but follow him on Facebook and you will at least get some pictures (usually of Dawson) and a short blurb about where he is. As for me, I would like to write more but am not sure if that becomes another separate blog or continuing to type draft blog posts on my lap top and saving them.

And lastly, although the long term van life wasn’t for me, I am so happy that I chose to take this year off, travel around with Mike and our dogs and then finish off the “sabbatical” back at home in Kenora. A year off work (or even 6 months off) really gave me new perspective on so many things. So if during any of your readings you had a thought of, wow I wonder if I/we could do that, I would really encourage you to think about it, talk about it and research it. We met a lot of people doing it. With kids, without kids, with dogs, with a cat, in RVs and cars and vans or on foot or on bikes. So you don’t even need to travel in a van (in fact you don’t even need to travel if you don’t want to) but I encourage you to at least entertain the possibility of the time off. I just don’t think it is something that people ever regret.

So signing off for now. Keep in touch via email (kimmowrey@yahoo.com).

On the Road Again

Las Vegas to Yosemite

Back in the air again. My 4^th flight in less than 2 months. Who knew a “vanbatical” required so much flying? This time, I am on my way to Vegas. On landing, the West Jet flight attendant is playing some Elvis Presley tune and telling us to behave ourselves in sin city. But after getting my suitcase (which I could barely close after Mike told me to pack the orange and black sleeping bag), I am not taking a cab to the strip but instead looking around the passenger pick up area for the van.

Making the decision to get back in the van after deciding to not finish off the trip in the van wasn’t easy. And even up till the day I left, I was looking for excuses to cancel the flight and stay. Not that I didn’t want to go and see Mike but I had kind of gotten into a nice routine in Kenora and leaving felt disruptive (remember that I like routine!). But once getting here, I was happy to be here and grateful to be touring some pretty impressive sights. The time frame of 3 weeks felt manageable.

So maybe not surprisingly, we didn’t spend any time in Vegas. Instead, we headed straight to Red Rock Canyon National Conservatory. This is still in Nevada and easily a 20 minute drive from Vegas. I am sure guidebooks will tell you that it is a great way to get away if you are feeling a bit over stimulated on the strip. There are many well marked trails in the park or you can just do a scenic drive through it (although if you are going to pay, you might as well stop and explore). Mike had already been doing lots of desert walking with Dawson but this was my first time back in it since Osoyoos. It wasn’t as hot as it was in Osoyoos when we had been there in June (in fact the Visitors Centre staff member we spoke to said temperatures were cooler than normal) and luckily the rain held out while we were hiking (yes it also rains in a desert – especially in winter months). Cactus and gnarly trees and red rock cliffs and climbers (who looked like lego figurines on those cliffs) were the sites of the day while Mike and I hiked the trails and got caught up on the past month apart. The nice thing about this park was they did allow leashed dogs on the trails (we were soon to learn that many parks in California do not want any dogs at any time on any of their trails).

After 2 nights in Red Rock, we moved onto Death Valley National Park and arrived in mid afternoon to +20 degree Celsius temperatures. This is a whole other level of desert. I think Death Valley is the 2^nd largest National Park in the US. And because it is so hot in many parts of it, nothing really grows very tall so you can see forever – cliffs and valleys and salt flats and more desert. And what are the salt flats? It is a huge area of the park that is 282 feet below sea level and made up of, well, salt. As I write this, I realize I should have paid more attention in the visitors centre but I seem to recall that since it is so stinking hot in Death Valley, the water evaporates that would normally pool here, leaving behind salt (although why the water is salt water and not freshwater is the part I should have paid more attention to).

As I mentioned earlier, since this is a National Park, Dawson wasn’t allowed on any of the trails. Although walking on roads isn’t what I imagined I would be doing in a National Park, one of my favorite “road hikes” was a winding switchback style road that led to a campground from where a 7 mile trail began to the highest point in the park (telescope peak). The road was fun as it had been recently been closed to vehicles due to snow. Snow in Death Valley where it was 20 degrees the day before? Yes, because Death Valley also has areas of high elevation (telescope peak sits at 11000 feet). So Dawson had a blast running through the snow (busted – we might have let him off leash here) and Mike and I were still rewarded with great views along the way.

From Death Valley we made our way to Sequoia National Park. This will likely be one of my highlights of this trip. Not because of any epic hike but because those Sequoia trees are amazing. They tower above you so high and their trunks are so wide and the bark is this stunning golden reddish colour. They are also brilliantly adapted to a very specific elevation (I think between 5000-7000 feet) and to fire. Their bark is actually fire resistant because they need fire to burn the forest floor exposing the soil so their seeds will germinate and also to open their cones Sequoia National Park is also a place of learning from mistakes. In the 1950s, it was a full of towns with multiple gas stations and hotels and roads and infrastructure but in realizing this was harming these magnificent trees, they took it all down. It is inspiring to see where Nature got to come first.

Sequoia National Park is attached to King’s Canyon National Park so we continued on to the smaller part of King’s Canyon Park that was still actually open in the winter. A friendly ranger at the visitors centre, recommended we leave the National Park boundaries and go into the national forest area (about 20 km away) so that Dawson could join us on a hike. King’s Canyon was also our first night of 4 nights camping at elevation. So although it didn’t go down to -7 degrees Celsius in the van that Mike experienced in Utah, it did go down to +3. This is where my frustration of having to stuff that orange and black sleeping bag into my suitcase back in Kenora turned to gratitude to Mike for ensuring that I packed it. And what is so magical about this sleeping bag? It is rated to -29 degrees Celsius and it definitely kept me warm when that temperature went down.

On to Yosemite. If I had to guess, this will likely be Mike’s highlight of this portion of his trip. With good reason. You are in this beautiful valley with shear 3000 feet rock cliffs surrounding you on every side. With cliffs like these, you can understand how rock climbing was born here and still captivates climbers like Alex Honold who solo climbed El Capitaine (one of those cliffs) documented in the recently released movie, Free Solo. The history of Yosemite is also pretty amazing. Although not the first national park in the US, it was the first area of land to be protected anywhere in the world back in the 1870s and sort of set the precedence for both national and state park protected public land in both the US and other countries. The famous explorer John Muir was then also instrumental in establishing Yosemite as a National Park in the early 1900s.

And where to from Yosemite and those cold nights at elevation? I hear the coast is warmer – let’s head there…

Interview with Mike

Hey everyone! I am back in the van with Mike travelling around the southern US for the next 3 weeks. Stayed tuned for more posts. For this one, my goal was to interview Mike about the last few months of his adventures (given that I had mostly been writing about me). So on night 3 of me arriving, Mike and I went to the bar, I bought him a beer, opened my lap top and start asking questions. Here is the interview:

Kim: Back in September, I talked a lot about my struggles being in the van and making the decision to leave. What was me leaving like for you?

Mike: I would say it was kind of bitter sweet. I was sad to see you go and sad to see you leave but I was also curious about how I would do by myself travelling solo. I was curious to see how that experience would be.

Kim: Tell me more about that experience.

Mike: It’s different. You don’t have to compromise on decisions but at the same time, you don’t have anybody to bounce ideas off and work through decisions. Since you leaving was near the end of our “6 months” where we had to get back to Kenora, it wasn’t too bad because I had a plan for the next 3-4 weeks in place - leave Vancouver Island, visit my brother, visit some friends along the way and drive to Kenora.

But yeah, when you are by yourself, you do all the work. When it was you and I, it was like an hour of set up/take down – putting the top up, putting the front cover on, swinging the bike. So initially after you left, I was overwhelmed with how much there was to do. I had to look after 2 dogs, I had to cook all the meals, do the dishes, set up and take down the van by myself. It was a lot of work but then I kind of started cutting out aspects of the set up and take down of camp to try and simplify things and reduce the work load.

Kim: So what are the highlights of those few weeks of finishing touring around BC and heading back to Kenora.

Mike: Biking with my brother (Steve) and his wife (Elaine) [in Golden, BC] was a ton of fun. I had done so much biking on the trip but it is different when you are biking with people who know the trails, know where to go and who are pushing your limits in terms of speed and skill. I really enjoyed hanging out with my brother, and visiting with him hanging out at his property.

Tofino was also super fun. Surf culture is so fascinating and it is something I have not been a part of but it is a fascinating culture and it is crazy how popular it is on Vancouver Island. Seeing all the vehicles driving from Victoria with surf boards on the roof was pretty wild.

Quadtra Island is also super cool. Kind of a typical hippie island (near Vancouver) where everybody is very community minded. They are very independent, almost a quasi self governance and they kind of rebel against capitalist society to some degree. For example, bartering is still a thing.

Kim: And then what was it like for you coming back to “out of the van life” when you got back to Kenora.

Mike: I definitely struggled going back into a regular house and a regular bed. One of the most difficult parts was not having everything I owned close at hand. So when living in a van, if I went for a hike, I would often decide at the trail head what I was going to wear and what I was going to bring. But when I wasn’t living in the van and had my stuff in the house and in the van, I would get to the trail head and think oh why didn’t I bring that or why did I bring this.

And then just not being on the move was hard. Being in one place for so long was kind of challenging. I missed waking up in a new place everyday, checking out new areas. As opposed to you, where you like your routine, I like the unexpected and the unfamiliar and unknown of what is going to happen each day.

Kim: So at the beginning of November, you left Kenora in the van with Dawson to head south. What has it been like travelling solo in the van with only 1 dog?

Mike: It is a little more simplified than travelling with 2 adults and 2 dogs. I don’t put the camper top up. I don’t put the sunshade on the front of the van. My meals are a lot simpler. I don’t clean as often. When you only have 1 person in the van, I have to do everything so I have cut out the unnecessary tasks.

Kim: (Cleaning is so necessary but continue…)

Mike: Well, I clean but having one less person and one less dog means the van doesn’t get as dirty as quickly. Plus I have a higher tolerance for uncleanliness than you do.

Kim: And what has it been like socially being on your own?

Mike: I think that your recommendation of taking Dawson with me has helped quite a bit. So Dawson kind of gives my day of bit of structure. He has to be fed and walked and taken to do his business so it allows me to interact with other dog owners or people who like dogs or miss their dogs because they are travelling and their dogs are at home. Dogs are a good icebreaker.

Kim: What has been some of the highlights of this leg of the journey?

Mike: Biking in Utah and Colorado is ridiculous. It’s a biking mecca. I can’t believe I waited until I was 40 years old to ride these trails. The trails in general are one of the biggest highlights but finally getting to see Arches National Park, Canyonlands, the Peubloan villages in Mesa Verde and Canyons of the Ancients National Monument was really cool. The whole desert environment is fascinating.

Kim: And how is Dawson doing on these biking and hiking trails?

Mike: Dawson is such a good trail dog. He stays close, he listens, he does really well meeting other dogs off leash. And meeting people. He is really chill in the van.

Kim: Does he sleep with you at night?

Mike: Yep, he curls up on the lower bed beside me because I no longer pop the top to sleep in the upper bed . He does really well but on cold nights, I wrap a sleeping bag around him to keep him warm.

Kim: So how cold are we talking about?

Mike: Below -5 Celsius in the van.

Kim: If it is -5 Celsius IN the van, what is the temperature outside the van?

Mike: How would I know? I am inside the van sleeping!!

Kim: Fair enough. So tell me more about that challenge (the cold) and any other challenges you are facing.

Mike: The cold nights when it is below 0 in the van makes it difficult to hang out because you end up just having to crawl into your sleeping bag to stay warm and when it gets dark at 5:00 pm, it can make for a long night in bed.

Decision making can be challenging. I don’t have anybody to bounce ideas off of and Dawson isn’t very good at giving input. But I guess the flip side of that is that I am not compromising with anybody on decisions. I am just doing what I want, when I want to do it.

Kim: Now I am here for the next 3 weeks but what comes next for you after I leave at the end of December?

Mike: It changes daily. So right now the plan is to stay in the van until March mainly in the US but maybe into Mexico. After that, I am not sure. Might go to Nepal to go trekking with a friend. I would like to do a long bike trip like the Continental Divide trail. And I would like to travel around South America at some point either by bike or by motorcycle but all these things depend on how much money I have left. There is still so much stuff I would like to do and time isn’t a constraint but money is. At some point I am going to have to go back to work. Blech!

Kim: Last question. But this one is actually a question you have asked me to ask you so I am thinking you have an answer prepared. What has it been like having me back in the van?

Mike: It has been good to be back together in the van and travel together. I have my partner in crime back again. It has been a bit challenging getting back into the routine and roles. When we started out back in May, we very quickly figured out the tasks we did rolling into camp and leaving. But then after you left, I took on everything. And I had 2 months of me doing everything so it was a bit of challenge splitting the tasks between 2 people again. And I kind of changed up some of the systems and routines in the van as a way to adapt to being by myself in the van so when you came back you had to ask “oh where does this go now, what do you do with this”.

So those are the challenges but it is great to share experiences with you and have somebody to talk to and have somebody to provide input into the decision making and to share the work load. And somebody to keep the van clean.

Mike: So how about you? What has it been like being back.

Kim: Oh don’t you worry. I will write a full length blog post about it and read it to you in 4-5 days.

Kim Mowrey is a wanna be writer who currently blogs at vanbatical.blogspot.ca. She is temporary living in Kenora, ON and is married with 2 dogs. This was her first interview/article style post.

Who says you can't go home?

I know, I know. You are really wanting to read a blog post from Mike and hear about his adventures in the US. Well you are in luck – there should be another recent blog post called interview with Mike. Check it out if you want more of the “vanlife” stories. In the meantime, my latest blog posts have sort of turned into part journal, part exploration of the places I am hanging out in (not living in a van) and part just wanting to blog because I miss it.

This one happens to be about Kenora. A small town in northwestern Ontario situated on beautiful Lake of the Woods. If you are taking a cross country trip from the west, you will drive through it to start your 2000 km journey through Ontario. If you have already driven through Ontario and think you are never going to reach Manitoba, it will be the last full service town on the TransCanada highway you can go through before you reach the Manitoba border (just be sure to head into Kenora rather than taking the bypass around it).

I grew up in Kenora (As did Mike). We went to school here and moved back here after Mike and I got married (only to leave again to move to Thunder Bay). And now here I am here enjoying the remainder of my “vanbatical” that is not in a van.

I have an interesting relatinoship with Kenora. The parts that I love include the this time of year (October/November). There is a kind of quiet here (especially in the winter) that you just don’t experience living in a city (even a small city like Thunder Bay). A Sunday morning walk with Maverick close to my parents home and I will maybe see one car driving. And yes, walking downtown as we get close to Christmas means things are bustling and busy but it still doesn’t feel as hectic as a city (that only comes in the summer).

I love it here because this is where our families live. My parents, Mike’s parents, Mike’s sister and her family. I have old friends here that I have enjoyed re-connecting with (in the last 6 years, visits to Kenora were a rushed weekend where there wasn’t really time to see anyone else but family) and I have friends who have recently moved here that I am so excited to see regularly.

Other highlights for me include volunteering with It’s a Dog’s Life again. This organization does amazing work and is where we adopted Jerome (2007-2015), Moe (2007-2014), Maverick and Dawson from. We also fostered over 30 dogs while we lived here. It was a really important part in our lives and something we truly missed when we moved to Thunder Bay and couldn’t find an organization we felt connected to.

I also admire Kenora for fighting back after being named one of the worst places to live in Canada by MoneySense in 2011. The MoneySense website doesn’t allow me to link to the article anymore but the phrase they used at the time to describe Kenora was “Cultural Wasteland”. However, being back here for the past 2 months, I have been to a Giller Prize night at the library, a ballet performance by the Royal Winnipeg Ballet professional division (brought in by the Lake of the Woods Concert Society), a local theatre production by Trylight Theatre and live music at the Lake of the Woods Brewing Company. There is a also now a permanent outdoor stage at Anishabe Park, continuous free concerts under the tent on the harbourfront in the summer, an annual music festival on Coney Island (although they still call it “maybe annual”), Harbourfest, a vibrant arts community (and currently in construction is a new arts centre) and the Seven Generations (in what was previously Lakewood School where Mike and I first met!) educational centre has been hosting a variety of cultural events.

My struggle with Kenora is some of the “rules” that personally affected me when I lived here with respect to environmental issues, leisure activities and health care processes (I am sure my friends and family have heard me talk about them many times). I won’t go into them now but just know that in trying to suggest new ideas for change I too often felt the answer was no, we do it like this rather than, “that’s interesting, tell me more”. I admire the people who continue to fight for change but I personally got burnt out by always hearing this is how it is. In hindsight, maybe there were different ways I could have explored making suggestions and maybe there were other battles that were easier and where change happened that I have forgotten but it so often felt like a struggle and when a work opportunity came up in Thunder Bay, I took it.

However being back now, I feel like I am making my peace with Kenora. There are great people here and yes there are challenges but these exist in every community. And maybe it is because I am not working that I am a bit removed from those stresses. Either way, I am happy to be here and grateful for the opportunity to live here again and be welcomed back even if just for a short period of time. So thank you Kenora. It is good to be home.

I heart Halifax

**photos courtesy of my Halifax friend


No, the van didn’t drive to Halifax. In fact, Mike currently has it down in Colorado. He is trying to catch up on blogging his adventures on Vancouver Island and in Golden, BC from back in October but if you want to know what he is doing now, I would suggest following him on Facebook to see biking and hiking adventures with Dawson in the US.

So what the heck was I doing in Halifax? A really great friend invited me to come visit so I flew out to the maritimes and lived in an apartment suite with running water, a shower, a bed, a kitchen, hangars for my clothes and a washer/dryer. Oh and did I mention the building was right downtown. And my friend’s apartment was down the hall. I was a long way from that van.

But back to Halifax itself which, if you haven’t been, is an incredibly fun city. The weather is warmer than northwestern Ontario at this time of year which means there are always people out of the streets going to bars or cafes or just walking and biking to their jobs and homes. It was +14 when I got there on November 6 and the coldest it got was +4 (although that wind was biting pretty good the day we drove out to Peggy’s Cove). If you have the opportunity to stay downtown when you visit (even for just 1-2 nights), take is as it is worth it. You can literally walk EVERYWHERE (well maybe not to Peggy’s Cove) but pretty much everything I describe visiting in the next paragraph is downtown and within walking distance. There is also a bus that runs from the airport to downtown every hour ($3.50 one way) and it is about a 45 minute ride. Super convenient.

Peggy's Cove

So staying downtown and being in Halifax for a week really meant I got to see and experience many of the toursity activities. The Maritime Museum of Atlantic Canada, the Citadel, the Art Gallery, Neptune Theatre, The Canadian Museum of Immigration (at Pier 21), the Discovery Centre, The Museum of Natural History and the Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame (which could probably just be called the Sidney Crosby exhibit). I also attended an author talk at the Halifax Library (unlike any library I have ever been in), went to the Wild Leek (a yummy vegan restaurant), checked out their recently opened refill store (The Tare Shop) and took the ferry over to Dartmouth to eat a chocolate croissant at Two If By Sea Cafe (thanks to a Thunder Bay friend who had recently been to Halifax and recommended it).

Walking everywhere in Halifax

Dalhousie University

It is a different sort of adventure when you are not living in a van for what you think is going to be a year, on a relatively strict budget with 2 dogs. Traveling in the van and moving pretty much daily means that a lot of energy and time is spent looking at maps to decide where we are going next, where we are going to stay the night, where are there public washrooms and where is a good place to walk the dogs. Add to that the weekly needs of trying to find clean showers, grocery stores, a laundrymat and wifi. So to compare that to my week in Halifax, (being settled in one place with all the amenities), I really only needed to focus on what I was going to do that day and had plenty of time for rest and relaxation and visiting too.

My highlights of the touristy activities:

1. feeling humbled and grateful in the refugee exhibit at the Canadian Museum of Immigration.

2. being moved to tears by Kent Monkman’s Shame and Prejudice exhibit at the art gallery.

3. seeing the courage of Haligonians at the Maritime Museum who picked up the pieces after the Halifax explosion.

4. being transported to a 1940’s Nazi concentration camp to experience the world of imprisoned gay men at Neptune Theatre’s production of “Kamp”.

5. being wow’d by the craziest lego creations of world famous buildings at the Discovery Centre (no they weren’t as tall as those buildings but the attention to detail was incredible)

6. Meeting Gus at the Natural Museum of history. Gus is a 96 year old tortoise who goes for daily walks around the exhibits so we can all say hi.

Lego replicas at the Discovery Centre

But the moments I will treasure the most from this trip was my friend’s generosity in having me there (I was week 5 of 5 weeks of visitors) and spending time with her beautiful loving family who welcomed me into their routines of daily walks around Halifax, drives to Peggy’s cove and movie nights. I got to build sandcastles, dance in the living room (check out the Greatest Showman and you will find yourself dancing too), sing songs in the car, and laugh. I did a lot of laughing. I am so grateful to have been able to reconnect with my friend and discuss the challenges and joys of our lives. And even though my list of places I went to on my own was long, it really didn’t matter where my friend and I went (although being outside on a warm fall day with golden leaves still on the tree at the Halifax Public Gardens was a great backdrop), it was filling my social cup with a good friend that was the activity (and something I had really missed in the van).

Building a sandcastle at Sir tanford Fleming Park

Halifax Public Gardens

So to be honest, I am glad the van didn’t drive to Halifax. This was my week to have a different kind of adventure. One filled with both introspection and education but more importantly with laughter and love.

What to do on your vanbatical if you have decided to no longer live in the van

Over a year and half ago, Mike came up with this crazy idea to sell all of our stuff and live in a van. We like to tell it that he caught me in a moment of weakness after a stressful day of work. But I think the transition happened when we started decluttering our house and getting rid of stuff. We had been hoping to downsize to a smaller house in Thunder Bay and even had a real estate agent. But then when the van idea came up, it just meant downsizing into a van rather than a smaller house. Mike actually has a draft blog post about our process of decluttering but he never ended up publishing it. There are tons of books, documentaries and podcasts on the subject but our favourites are Marie Kondo’s The Art and Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up and Caitlyn Flander’s My Year of Less.

But back to the trip itself, if you haven’t already figured it out by now, we called this year off our vanbatical. The plan was to take a year and travel around North America with our dogs. Looking back, I think a year travelling in a van was a bit ambitious for me. And had I known this (although how does anyone know until they actually start living in the van), we might have planned things differently.

So here I am almost 6 months into a year off and 6 weeks out of the van having decided that I am not going back into the van full time. Any sabbatical book will tell you the most important part of taking a sabbatical is to plan what you are going to do on a sabbatical BEFORE the time off starts. But because I was planning on being in the van for a year, I am sort of going to have to wing it (which sounds ridiculous to me – I am a planner).

First order of business – secure housing. This was a bit more challenging than I thought. Temporary housing that will take animals. Word of mouth got me a place in Kenora down the street from my parents starting in January. And they were fine with me having one or both dogs. Check.

Second order of business – what the heck am I going to do? Go back to work? Volunteer? Continue to write a blog? People tell me that it is so exciting to have so much freedom but just like the vanlife sounded exciting, I actually find the uncertainty and lack of structure really hard. I like routine. I like to plan and organize my day and I have a lot of guilt if I haven’t “done” anything that I consider meaningful that day. These are very similar issues to those I had when I started the van trip so I am not sure why I thought being out of the van would make this part easier.

Third order of business – maintain a happy marriage. The year off was supposed to be this great opportunity to travel with my husband and share the experience of exploring North Amercia. But my choice of leaving the road and his choice to stay on the road means we are going to be apart now more than we are together. So the new challenge - how do we keep our relationship strong and support each other in our different journeys.

Side note: I booked a flight to Las Vegas in Decemberand will actually spend 3 more weeks in that van down in southern California. So stay tuned for “back in the van” blog posts.

Fourth order of business. Self development, self improvement, self discovery. Call it what you will but I have been reading Brene Brown’s books lately and really thinking a lot about shame, perfectionism, vulnerability, wholehearted living, gratitude, social connection, and life. It’s hard stuff but good stuff and I have some work ahead of me.

Fifth order of business. Reconnect with family and friends. I really missed spending time with people (other than my husband) who I loved and who loved me while travelling. Conversations with strangers on the road is fun but for me, it is not enough. Now I feel like I appreciate even more time spent with people where there is a deeper connection.  

So what is a vanbatical when you are not living in the van? It is a work in progress but it is also feeling grateful for this opportunity to have the time to focus on a few orders of business.

Taking a Break From the Road

After 126 days (18 weeks), it is fair to say Mike has embraced van life (although I think he embraced it from day 1). He loves it. He loves the driving, he loves talking to strangers (especially people in nice vans), he loves finding beautiful free camping areas (even if it means travelling to 2 or 3 not so nice camping areas first), he loves creating amazing dinners on a camp stove, he loves mountain biking and hiking and spending hours watching whales and bears.

I had a harder time with the transition. I left a city I loved, a job I was good at, a routine of activities that kept my calendar full, close friends who I saw regularly and a home that didn’t move around every day. I think those first few weeks on the road, I had to grieve all those things that I missed. I also struggled with the lack of purpose – what was I going to do today if I didn’t have work to go to, a house to clean, a garden to weed, a hockey game to play, books to pick up at the library and meeting up with friends.

I eventually found my rhythm. I learned to embrace quiet mornings when I got up early and Mike slept in. I appreciated warm (not hot) sunny days and hot (not warm) showers more than I ever had before. Little things made me happy – cooking bannock on the fire, my dogs running off leash on a beach, finally getting to the top of a long climb on my bike (often hiking said bike – and then writing a blog post about it).

But it certainly was challenging. There was that heat wave in Smithers and the rain in Alaska (and now in BC). There were long waits in ferry lines only to not be able to get on and there were the times we drove a long way down a road to check someplace out and kind of regretted it afterward. And there were the meltdowns (mine) that happened around 7:00 pm when I was hungry and tired but we were still driving around looking for a campsite that 1) was within our price range and 2) felt okay for us to stay in.

So after 126 days, I am ready for a break. It came to me when we got to Vancouver Island and I was no longer excited by cute coastal towns or another rain forest hike to a waterfall. I feel like you do when you’ve walked around a really big amazing museum and there is so much information but you just can’t take it all in and after 3 hours, you leave because your brain is full. Canada is like that really big museum and although Vancouver Island is full of places to explore, the fact that I can’t appreciate it tells me it is time to go home for a rest.  And yes, you don’t need to remind me that I don’t actually own a house anymore (or furniture for that matter). But my amazing parents are going to pick me up at the airport in Winnipeg and take me to their house (which when you are with your family, is always home). I will have some time out of the van and Mike and the dogs will explore Vancouver Island a little more and eventually make their way to Kenora to meet back up with me (the plan was always to come back to Kenora in mid-October so the van could fulfill its insurance obligations of being in Ontario every 6 months).

So...what this means is the blog may not have any posts for a few weeks. But I have hope that Mike’s new experience – semi solo van life (him and the dogs) - may re-inspire him to write a post or two.

Rainy Days on the Sunshine Coast

The Sunshine Coast

The Sunshine Coast had actually been quite dry all summer. In fact they were on pretty serious water usage restrictions because of it. But that was not the case when we got there. It rained almost daily for the entire week.

Gibsons – We arrived at this pretty (and busy) seaside town after taking the afternoon ferry from Horseshoe Bay/West Vancouver. At this point, it had been a week since we had showered so Mike and I beelined to their aquatic centre for a swim (with our new $1 thrift store goggles), a hot tub and a shower. We then made our way to a provincial park a bit further up the road which unfortunately meant that we didn’t back track back to Gibsons to actually spend any time there.

Sechelt – This was our central point for exploring the south Sunshine Coast. We also happened across their farmer’s market and an electric car event on the same day. We spent way too much money at the farmer’s market buying things like rose hip jelly and blackberry honey but also got some delicious apples, tomatoes and bread.

We hiked a really beautiful and really well marked trail just north of the Sechelt called Hidden Grove. We are talking maps at every intersection and coloured poles so you knew you were on the trail you wanted to be on. There were also some really unique trees and plaques explaining some of the crazy things that happen in a rain forest. 

Powell River – We stayed 3 nights in this really lovely community. The last night we splurged and got an actual beach sight at the campground and watched whales doing their thing in the ocean (which was super exciting for the locals who said the whales hadn't been around much in the last 5 years). On this north part of the Sunshine Coast, there exists another well marked trail but this one is a 180 km backcountry trail with 13 back country huts that you can sleep in. This means not having to carry a tent in your backpack whichs cuts down on a lot of weight (although if you are going to do 180 km, you are going to need a lot more food). Some of the huts are even winterized. We did a 12 km portion out to one of the huts and it was great – clean, simple and out of the elements. The work that likely went into building and maintaining the trails and the huts really speaks to how much this area of Canada loves hiking.

View from the one of the huts on the Sun Coast Trail near Powell River, BC

Oh and if you are still wondering how things are going composting on the road, we have only had to dump our veggie scraps once this whole trip. It has mostly been community gardents (see composting on the road post from June) but since arriving in this southwest area of BC, we have found recycling centres that take our compost/organic waste. This includes Whistler, Sechelt and Powell River. So as much as we came across some really nice community gardens on our travels (and even met some really lovely people who gave us free vegetables), it is great to be able to drop off our vegetable scraps (and our recycling) at these centres. Why other communities in Canada are not doing this is still a mystery to me.

What We Listen to on the Road

We recently just hit 20 000 km of travel on the trip odometre. As expected this is our longest road trip ever so this blog post is about what we listen to on those long stretches of highways?

1. Sirius Satellite Radio
Unfortunately whenever we were driving north (or were in the Yukon or Alaska), it really didn’t work all that well. When it does work, we listen to CBC Radio 1, The Verge. CBC Radio 3, Lithium, The Spectrum and The Coffeehouse. Funny how there are hundreds of channels on Sirius and yet we only scroll through six. 

2. FM Radio (Mainly CBC)
If we are near a town, we try and tune into the local CBC Radio station. This comes in handy for local weather because neither of us have a cell phone so the radio is one of our main sources for a weather forecast.

3. iPOD classic (seriously it is from 2005)
Prior to the trip we updated it with all the music we owned from CDs and iTunes. However, we actually haven’t listened to it all that often this trip. I think this is mainly because Mike does most of the driving and can drive listening to whatever is playing. When I am driving, I need something to sing to to keep me from getting tired and asking Mike if he could drive again.

4. Podcasts
Mike and I have sort of different tastes when it come to podcasts. For some reason, I like the true crime ones (even though I rarely read true crime novels) whereas Mike likes the adventure ones (which sometimes drive me crazy if there are questions like “If you were having a party, who would you invite, what would you serve and where would you be?”). Here are a list of some of the podcasts we have listened to in case you are planning a long road trip:

a) True Crime

Someone Knows Something (SKS)
A CBC podcast where the journalist looks into unsolved disappearances and murders. I liked Seasons 1 and 2 the best. I think they are currently working on season 5.

Missing and Murdered
Another CBC podcast which again looked into an unsolved murder (season 1) and a missing young girl (season 2). They do a really good job of not only telling the story of the person the podcast is about but also all the history that goes with it. Both seasons had really heartwrenching stories.

Serial
I think this one kind of kick started the whole true crime podcast genre. It was pretty popular both in US and Canada and there may even be some books about the case now as well. The case being a young woman who was murdered and the host looks back on the case and spends a lot of time interviewing the person who was convicted for the murder but continues to claim he didn’t do it.

b) podcasts for entertainment

My dad wrote a porno
We actually listened to this one before we left on this trip when we were back and forth between Kenora and Thunder Bay. The first couple of episodes are really funny but it starts to get a little old towards the end.

Because News
This CBC radio program is broadcast on Mondays at 11:30 am (I think) on local CBC stations but is also available as a podcast. It is a quiz show with comedians talking about the news. I used to watch This Hour has 22 Minutes all the time so I think this is now my 22 Minutes fix.

c) Adventure Podcasts

Wild Ideas Worth Living
This is the interviewer who asks questions about what kind of party would you have and what banner would you fly at the end of her interviews which are not my favourite quesitons but she has interviewed some intereresting people so I have been okay with Mike queuing her up.

Women on the Road
I think Mike subscribed to this one for me to be inspired about women travelling. We have only listed to a few episodes and they have been decent so far. 

The Rich Roll Podcast
We just started to listen to this guy and it is pretty good. Rich Roll is a decent interviewer and there are some interesting people he interviews.

d) Miscellaneous podcasts

Alone: A Love Story
Yes, I am a CBC nerd. This is another CBC podcast about a woman’s journey of falling in love, getting your heart broken and being alone. I binged listened to both seasons. I just find her storytelling really captivating and I love the music.

10% Happier with Dan Harris
I finished Dan Harris’ book 10% Happier book as well as his How to Meditate (for fidgety skeptics) book. This podcast is mainly Dan interviewing people about their experiences with meditation. There are also some guided meditations as well.

Financial Independence (FI)
We listened to a few of these until they made me a crazy person about our trip budget. They are basically about saving money now so you can become financially independent earlier in life (like not waiting till the normal retirement age).

Down the Sea to Sky Highway

Williams Lake to Horseshoe Bay

After some restocking of supplies in Williams Lake, we started heading south. Highway 99 is a really pretty drive though canyons and cliffs. Unfortunately the rain caught up with us in Pemberton. I actually think it rains fairly frequently here and people just get out and enjoy the outdoors regardless. So we tried to follow suit – gearing up in our rain gear but then taking it off once the rain let up or just being patient for a break in the clouds to go biking knowing the rain could start again at anytime. We stayed at Nairn Provincial Park just south of Pemberton which had great access to both hiking and biking trails. We also had another random encounter with a former Kenora resident on a popular walking trail near town.

After Pemberton, we headed south to Whistler. Mike was drooling watching the mountain bikers on their souped up down-hill bikes but if it was raining in Pemberton, it was pouring in Whistler and those bikers looked pretty dirty. Being wet and dirty is fine if there is a warm shower and dry clothes back at home or in a hotel but wet and dirty in a van isn’t very much fun) so he didn’t go but I have a feeling he may be back in this area again. Instead, we walked around the very walkable touristy area, found the recycling centre (that took our compost too!) and then headed to a BC Rec Site just south of the town (so we could pay $14 to camp rather than $50 – welcome to Whistler).

At the Rec Site, a very nice German couple knocked on our van door and asked if we could give them a ride to either Whistler or Squamish (whichever way we were going) the next morning so they could have access to a bus that would eventually take them to Vancouver. They were backpacking around the area but didn’t yet have back pack covers or an umbrella and so they didn’t want to chance walking and hitchhiking and having all their stuff get wet (again it was pouring in Whistler). We invited them into our van that night for hot chocolate and they taught us Tutto (a German dice game very similar to Farkle). The dogs were thrilled to cuddle with new dog loving friends who didn’t mind a wet dog sitting in their lap. We gave them a ride to Squamish the next morning and ended up spending 2 more nights in the same campground as them so there was more dog cuddling and sharing of information of where they might consider going for the rest of their time in Canada.

In Squamish we did a pretty rainforest hike at Alice Lake Provincial Park. We also drove back towards Whistler to check out Brandy Wine Falls which was a neat area not only for the falls but for the lava rocks (although not as prominent as in Nisga’a). After 2 nights in Squamish, we drove the rest of the sea to sky highway to Horseshoe Bay. You could definitely feel that we were no longer in northern BC anymore. Fast highways and even faster cars that come zooming up behind you out of nowhere. Initially, we were going to head from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo but the Sunshine Coast was also an option. It is “mainland” per se but only accessible by ferry. In discussion with friends doing a Vancouver Island trip themselves (and who we met up with in Squamish), we decided to give the Sunshine Coast a try and hope that it was true to its name as we were continuing to get rained on every day. Doing the Sunshine Coast would still allow us to head to VAncouver island but this time we would cross in Powell River (over to Comox) rather than at Horseshoe Bay (to Nanaimo).

**No pictures here – Mike’s camera broke back in the Yukon and during this stretch of the journey, he was having issues with his phone not taking pictures. So where is my camera? Where it always is, in the van. I have just never been much of a picture taker. So even when I do remember to take it, I never use it. Mike thinks he has his phone fixed so stay tuned and hopefully we will have pictures on the next stretch.

Sleeping on the Road

After 16 weeks in a van, I think our sleeping situation has been pretty good. Sure, there are the nights where you toss and turn but you have these at home too. And yes staying in campgrounds can sometimes get a bit loud. 2 examples come to mind – one was a night at a Territorial campground in the Yukon when a guitar jam session that was easy to tune out with ear plugs got quite a bit louder when they decided to add a saxophone to the mix. The other example was a small private campground in Prince Rupert where someone arrived late (around 1:00 am) and was backing up his trailer in a tight spot with his diesel truck in the pitch dark for what felt like 45 minutes. But for the most part we have had relatively quiet nights where even traffic or rain is just white background noise that is sometimes even nice to fall asleep to.

So we sleep in the top part/tent area of the van (after the roof is raised up). There are 2 foam mattresses on plywood that stack on top of each other when the top is down and that we pull/slide out when the top is up to make the bed. This means that every night we are putting our bed together basically from scratch (the only thing that stays on the foam mattresses is the fitted sheet) and every morning, we take it apart again (unless we are not moving the van anywhere during the day - which is rare). One of the main things we consider each night as we are getting the bed ready is what the system of blankets are going to be. This is dependent on how cold it is outside that night as well as how cold it was the night before. We have got caught a few times when we think it feels fairly warm at 9:00 pm when we are getting ready for bed only to wake up at 4:00 am freezing.

So for our blanket system, we have been using some combination of the following:
fitted cotton sheet (always on the bed)
top cotton sheet
top fleece sheet
2 quilts (which are really nice for afternoon naps when you don’t want to make the bed with the top sheets)
2 sleeping bags (+3 degrees Celsius and -3 degrees Celsius) which zip together to make a comforter (and also came with us on the Chilkoot trail)

When we were travelling through BC in June, it was fairly warm at night so we would just use the cotton sheets and the quilts. As we got further north towards the Yukon, it was a bit cooler at night (or at least when the sun finally set) so we would either add the fleece sheet or use the sleeping bags instead of the quilts. And then when it got colder still (ie up in Dawson City in August or right now), we started sleeping with the fleece sheet and the sleeping bags and also kept our toques on.

Our last night in the Yukon, it was really cold. I was in fleece pants and my down jacket just hanging out in the van so I was dreading getting into pajamas and climbing up into that cold bed. But Mike (also known as Mike-Guyver) already had the solution to a cold bed – a heated blanket that plugs into a cigarette lighter (which can charge from our “house batteries) that has a timer! Brilliant. Not only can we pre-warm the bed before climbing in but we can also press the button if we wake up at 4:00 am freezing (and then it will just shut itself off after ½ hour). And although I think Mike did this so he doesn’t have to deal with “Mi-ike, I’m cold” at 4:00 am, I think he secretly turns it on at 7:00 am after I get up in the morning so he can sleep a bit longer with the warmth.

And where do the dogs sleep? They would love to climb up to the top bed with us but luckily haven’t figured out how to do that. One is on one bench and one is on the other bench (their own beds – lucky dogs!

There's Bears in Bella Coola

Williams Lake to Bella Coola

When I was in high school, English was not my strong subject. Reading Thomas Hardy novels, trying to understand Shakespeare and writing essays about it all was not my thing. But I did like grammar. It had rules that could be memorized and applied. So I do find it funny that to this day, I still say “There’s bears in Bella Coola”. And I don’t think I am the only one. I remember in grade 7 or 8 English class having a discussion with the teacher about “There’s bears in the woods” being grammatically incorrect and having a classmate getting worked up about the whole topic and exclaiming “But there IS bears in the woods!”

Anyway there ARE bears in Bella Coola all of the time, but right now the salmon are running and so the grizzly bears have made their way down from the alpine areas to feed on the salmon.  So why did we hesitate in going? It is a 450 km side trip to Bella Coola and the ferries were all booked to go from Bella Coola to Port Hardy on Vancouver Island so we would have to turn around and drive 450 km back the way we came. We stopped at the Williams Lake Visitors Centre to get more information and were told the wildlife viewing platform (that is there to safely view Grizzly Bears) would be open starting September 1. Given that it was August 31, I think that was the clincher for us to make the trip.

The drive out to Bella Coola is quite pretty – you drive through the prairie like valleys (the Chilcoutin Plateau) which is surrounded by boreal forest but with those tall jagged mountains in the background. There is also evidence of the 2017 Williams Lake area forest fire where many people lost their homes. There also seems to be lots of ranches in both the plateau as well as down in the valley. I am not sure the deal with the fencing in this area because we saw cows on the side of the road many times.  Once you get to the Bella Coola valley, you are in the coastal rainforest, with the lush green vegetation and those beautiful spruce trees and giant ceder trees. And although you think your adventure will be the bear viewing it actually starts at “The Hill” to get over Heckman pass and down to the Bella Coola valley. I looked up the info in the visitors guide to write this (as I was not counting on the way down or up) and there are 11 switchbacks with short grades up to 18% and no guard rails. I wasn’t driving but my palms were sweating. What’s even more crazy about “the Hill” was it was the will of the townspeople of Bella Coola to build it. Back in 1952, the town hired a bulldozer that started working its way east carving a road in the side of the mountain. The province eventually gave them some money but it still sounds like it was mostly funded by the town and volunteers provided the labour. They hired another bulldozer to come from the other side and in September 1953, the 2 bulldozers met. Even now, I think it is actually the townspeople (not the province) who maintain the road.

We spent a total of 3 nights in the area. Most of our time was at Tweedsmuir Provincial Park alternating between the wildlife viewing platform and the Fisheries Pool campground. The viewing platform is an area by the river that is surrounded by electric fence where 2 park staff are present from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm and then it is closed at night. There are a few picnic tables so the 2^nd time we went, we were better prepared and brought a book as you sort of need to hang around and wait for the bears to show up. The Fisheries Pool was previously the site of a salmon hatchery but is now a park campground and day use area. It is also beside the river. There is no electric fence and although the park staff come by fairly often, they are not there all of the time. There is an “area” that park staff tell people to congregate in if the bears are close so that you are a group of people rather than one person (which is more intimidating to the bear who can't see all that well). We saw a total of 6 different grizzly bears at both the viewing area and the campground as well as one bear that was walking along the highway. In the morning at the Fisheries Pool the bear was literally 20 m from us (so we were definitely in that “group area”). Now as many people know, I have always had a fear of bears. When Mike and I backcountry camp, as soon as the sun goes down, I start thinking the bears are hiding behind trees waiting for me to get out of my tent. So here it was interesting to see them up close doing their thing which was to catch and eat salmon. And yes they knew we were there but they weren’t hiding behind trees waiting for me to get out of the van.  Is my fear gone? Probably not but it was good exposure therapy for me!

Eventually we started making the long drive back to Williams Lake and stopped at a really pretty rec site on Tatla Lake for the night. We were the only ones there so we hadn’t closed the curtains in the van and our lights were on (as it now gets dark around 8:30 pm). Mike saw movement outside the van and for a moment he thought it was a bear...but nope – it was a cow with another following behind. They were just standing there and staring at us through the window. The dogs eventually caught on that we were interested in something outside the van and started barking.  The cows promptly took off from wherever they came (probably to go hang out at the side of the road again).

The Pools (and Bakeries) of Northern BC

Watson Lake to Williams Lake (via Alaska highway)

Making our way down from the Yukon towards Williams Lake/central BC, we got rained on pretty much every day. And not that we are complaining, BC needed and needs rain with the worst forest fire year in history. So with the rain, we toured some community swimming pools (which were actually quite nice!)

Our first “pool” was Liard Hot Springs which is probably the most popular stop for anyone traveling the Alaska highway in BC. And it is so worth the stop. It is a really beautiful natural hot spring area managed by BC parks (so it is reasonably priced). And those pools are HOT. I definitely did not make it to the warmest part of the pool but did have a lovely soak in the cooler side of the hot pool.  Unfortunately the 2^nd pool area (and unique garden area) continues to be closed due to an “aggressive bear in the area”. Mike read it has been closed since 2013 so I am thinking the bear soaks in this pool daily.

From Liard we admired the views of Muncho Provincial Park and Stone Mountain Provincial Park but rain kept us driving with stops only for fresh bread and cinnamon buns in those “towns” that seem to be made up of only one little lodge/campground/gas station. These little places do often have great baked goods.

Our second night we stayed in Fort Nelson, BC which is home to is a really amazing and HUGE indoor swimming pool (especially considering the population is only 2000 people). There was a big pool for lane swimming, an accessible walk in “learn to swim” pool as well as a ramped hot tub. Not to mention a water slide and sauna as well. And the lane swimming pool was warm! Mike tells me that a warm pool is not good for competitive swimming but it is definitely good for me who just wants to kick with my flutter board for a few laps and then go sit in the hot tub.

Our 3rd and 4th nights we stayed at provincial parks (first near Fort St. John and then just north of Chetwynd) and although we did not swim in the city pools, we were set up right next to some very pretty lakes where we got to enjoy lovely sunsets after it stopped raining. We did not make it to mile 0 of the Alaska highway in Dawson Creek as we took Highway 29 from Fort St. John through Hudson’s Hope to Chetwynd. This Peace River area will look different for anyone who drives it 5 years from now as the “Site C” dam is being planned that will flood many of the farmlands and roads that we drove on.

Oh and Mike has just reminded me to talk about the chainsaw carvings in Chetwynd. I think they have over 150 carvings in their town and every June there is a competition. The carvings are quite something. We mostly just walked along Carver’s Alley to see the 2018 submissions but you could probably spend a day finding all of the carvings.

As we continued south along highway 97 towards Prince George, we took a side road to MacKenzie, BC as we heard there were some nice hiking and mountain biking trails there. However, literally as soon as we arrived, it started raining again and didn’t stop until later that evening (only to start again the next morning). So we ended up at their swimming pool too (which was smaller than Fort Nelson's but still quite nice). MacKenzie is a friendly little town situated on a pretty lake with a municipal campground that is free to tourists for 2 nights. Due to the rain though, we left in the morning after a stop at….yep, the local bakery for some fresh bread.

After a drive through the still somewhat smokey Prince George and south, we found ourselves back in Williams Lake trying to decide our next route – south to Vancouver Island or a side trip to Bella Coola…(for those of you who follow Mike on Facebook, you will already know where we ended up).