Made it to Toronto

We started our morning in Tamworth and went to the “Big Breakfast” at the Legion.  Sarah stayed tucked in her bed.  Once we were able to drag her from under her warm blankets, we headed to Napanee.  Sarah visited with Nana and Papa while Ron and I went to a funeral.  A good friend’s mom had passed away.  Even though it was a sad occasion for Al, it was very nice to see Al and Donna’s kids.  They all had spent a lot of time at our house when our kids were young.

We picked up Sarah and got on the 401.  As we approached Brighton Sarah asked for a stop and so we pulled off at the Big Apple.  It had been years since we had stopped here and so we spent some time looking around and Sarah just had to get a Beavertail, which she shared with grandpa.

The Big Apple specializes in apple products (of course) and so an apple cider was a must for Ron.  The production line of pie making interested me.

As we walked out I took a picture of the sign of the many locations.

Nassau, here we come!

Time to fly

Yesterday was a full day!  We left our house around 6:00 a.m. and drove to Napanee in snow!!  We parked the truck and got on the Megabus to get to Toronto.  The roads were icy and we saw a few accidents on the  east bound and we were only a little delayed but didn’t have any major issues.

We were dropped at the airport around 10:30 and then we just had to wait.  We put some steps on dragging our luggage around the terminal.  Sarah pulled out school work and got quite a bit done.

The highlight of the airport’s long wait was that Sarah was able to get the biggest Starbucks drink ever and she sipped on it for hours.

On one of our walks we saw a little flock of birds that had somehow gotten into the building.  We watched them for a little while and saw how smart they were.  They would fly to a fountain to get a drink.  Where does the expression “bird brain” come from?

Around 4:30, we were headed down the ramp to the airplane.  I’ve got some pretty nice travellers with me.

At 5:00 pm, we were on our plane, headed west. We spent five hours sitting, eating, playing games, listening to music, watching shows and yes, Sarah had to visit the bathroom twice….remember that very large drink!

We arrived in Vancouver at 7:00 pm local time which would be 10:00 Ontario time.

It was about an hour later that we were able to get our luggage, find the shuttle and check into our hotel.  We talked to Stephen twice….we are a bit excited to see him and Kylie and their fur family.

We were ready for bed after a 19 hour day.

This morning while updating the blog…I had some extra help.

These guys go everywhere with Sarah!

Side note….thanks to my wonderful cousins for looking after us while we are gone…looking after our truck, house and back up if anything goes wrong.

Goal: Warmer Weather

We are on the move.  We packed our bags with bathing suits, sun dresses, shorts, sun glasses and sun screen.  As we left our house, the snow was coming down.  The roads to Napanee weren’t great.  We parked our truck and then waited.  Just after 1:00 pm, the Megabus pulled in.  Our luggage was transferred  from the truck to the bus.  We found our seats and took a deep breath.  

As we drove through snow, heavy traffic and a few stops on the way, we sat back relaxed.  It’s definitely the way to get to Toronto.  We got dropped off at the airport and then took the shuttle to the hotel.  We walked to Tim’s for a light supper and then snuggled into the hotel.  Our evening will be spent watching the Leafs hopefully beating the Canadiens! 🤞

Tomorrow will be an early start, shuttle to the airport at 5:30.  We will fly to San Juan, Puerto Rico where our goal of finding warm weather will be realized.

Oh My

Today we travelled from morning to night.  We went from Ontario, through Manitoba and into Saskatchewan.  We gained two hours by crossing two time zones.  We left Thunder Bay just after 7:00 a.m. where it was already warm and muggy.  

The morning was beautiful with a nice sunrise.

We crossed northern Ontario through lots of construction and even came upon a bit of an accident.  

The roads ran between rocks and trees.  

The clouds blocked the sun most of the day but we were treated to a rainbow along the way.  

Since we were trying to make time today, our stops were short.  Thank you Dave and Cheryl for supplying us with teas, coffees and a few pastries.

We drove into Manitoba and were immediately greeted with a much different landscape.  

We crossed through this province and into the “land of living skies.” The clouds hung low and we went through more rain.  

Even though it had been stormy most of the day, Saskatchewan came through with a beautiful sunset.

Ron continued to drive through rain.  The skies darkened and my eyes felt heavy.  After 1400 kms and over 14 hours of driving, we pulled into Moose Jaw.  

Thankfully, our day of travelling will be much shorter tomorrow.  We will be able to sleep in our own bed with the “For Sale” sign still in our front yard.

Day 2 - Sudbury to Thunder Bay

I do like travelling but it is definitely tiring.  We were up early and ready to leave the hotel in Sudbury before 7:00.  Ron started off driving since it was still dark.  

As it started to brighten up, fog hung over the trees and in the fields.  

There were still lots of maple trees which caused our journey to continue to be what we were looking for.

We stopped in Sault Ste Marie later in the morning for gas and picked up lunch.  I took over the wheel as we drove along Lake Superior.  The shoreline was gorgeous.  

The slightly curvy road around huge rocks along the lake gave us another beautiful day of scenery. We stopped to eat our sandwiches at a nice lookout.

We stopped in Wawa to take a picture of the goose. Fun fact… the goose is 60 years old and is made of steel.  I happen to be half Steele and am also 60 years old and have been called a silly goose. 

We continued down the highway and were getting a little tired but our goal was to get to Thunder Bay.  As our exhaustion settled in, our minds turned to Terry Fox who had to stop his journey in Thunder Bay in 1981.  

By the time that Terry had arrived in Thunder Bay, he had run 5,324 kilometres.  This young man died at age 22 but his desire to raise money for cancer continues to this day.  

Before we left the trailer, the kids were doing the Terry Fox Run at school.  Emma had read to us the information that she knew about Terry Fox. His run started and ended before Ron and I were even married and now our grandchildren know about his Marathon of Hope.  

We finally rolled into our hotel and ordered a pizza for a late supper.  Time to sleep and get ready for another day of travel.

From the Trailer to Sudbury

We started our long trip back to our unsold house.  We left the trailer around 8:30.  It was another beautiful morning at the lake but all good things must come to an end.  It was a wonderful September at the trailer. Dan and Barb were the best hosts.  

We had told everyone that we would start our trip back to Alberta when the leaves were at their peak for colour.  We did it!

Our destination was to go through Algonquin.  

As we started our drive through the park, we were thrilled to see the perfect display of fall colours.  We had already enjoyed watching the leaves change around the trailer.  We had also watched many leaves fall from the trees so we weren’t sure about our drive but we were not disappointed.  

We stopped at a trail and hiked with many others to the Lookout.  It was a beautiful view and we congratulated each other on picking the perfect timing to travel through northern Ontario.

We continued through the park , enjoying the views.  We stopped at Canoe Lake and snapped a few more pictures.

Once we were on the west side of the park, we put some miles on.  We arrived in Sudbury around 6:30 and settled in for the night.

Only about 29 hours to go….