Well, we actually did it; we are now full time RV’ers! We
made the decision last year and once we got back to Edmonton we got into high
gear.
Our return in the spring was not what we expected, we had to
winterize the motorhome in Taber and suffer through the nasty “white stuff” and
some very cold temperatures, but we did get to spend Easter with the kids and
grandkids.
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| southern Alberta on the way home in the spring! |
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| Easter at our place |
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| Easter egg hunt |
We got back into our usual spring with visits to the family,
selling our wares at markets and some camping. Then we started making lists of
everything we needed to do to make this dream a reality, starting with buying a
40 ft. seacan. I was ready to try full timing but not ready to get rid of
everything we own, so the plan was to store the “most important stuff” in the
seacan. Once that was settled we began
to declutter the condo – trying to make it “perfect” so we could list it. The
hardest part was taking down our many, many family photos gracing all of our
walls! Everything that we weren’t keeping then went up for grabs – first to the
kids, then to several assorted charities (it’s surprising how little of your stuff
your children are interesting in owning!). The “good stuff” was taken out to
the seacan via the car, quite a lot of trips.
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| helping with garage cabinets |
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| market in Sherwood Park |
Some painting and
cleaning and we were ready to list our townhouse. We first thought of trying
ComFree, but decide to go with a realtor – listed May 15. Not a great time to
sell, we dropped the price a couple times and finally got an offer June 29. We
had to sweat it out till July 12 when they removed the conditions and then we
went into high gear! We gave a possession date of July 25, but decided to
actually move out on July 21 when we could rope in a couple of our kids for the
heavy lifting! A very big U-Haul, dropping some things off for Shane and Scott
then on to the seacan – and we were officially homeless! We bought the condo 18
years ago, all of our kids have lived in it, and us for the last 5 years, so it
was a bit difficult to leave. But onward to a new adventure!
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| For Sale |
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| moving day, July 21, 2018 |
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| the moving crew |
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| SOLD! |
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| pizza lunch |
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| our seacan |
Our first night was spent in the RV in the storage lot where
we kept it, then on to a favorite spot, Black Nugget Campground. We spent a lot
of time trying to fit everything into the RV, then trying to remember where we
put it. After a few days we stopped at the condo to say a final goodbye, check
the mail and pick up our large collection of plants in pots.
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| celebrating the sale with Baja lobster |
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| Black Nugget campground |
We had a reservation
near Hinton, Cougar Creek campground with plans to meet up with Adam, Jen and
the grandkids, and several members of Jen’s family; we stayed a week, the clan
arrived for the weekend, minus Adam who had to work. Quite a nice place, lots
of trees, fun playground for the kids, campfires, good food and good company.
And birthday cake for my 61 birthday and for Jen’s uncle Joey!
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| Cougar Creek campground |
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| playing in the creek |
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| fire starting with a magnifying glass |
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| Joey, Mexican birthday candle |
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| 61st birthday |
Since we were close to Jasper, we had to visit – a quicker
trip Sunday for a hike and then a dip in Miette hot springs – the hike we chose
gave us good views of the area but terrible signage, we almost took a wrong
turn for a much longer trek! Summertime so Miette’s hot pools were busy, filled
with tourists speaking a collection of languages.
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| Jasper National Park |
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| Punchbowl Falls |
We headed back to Jasper, first to do the Valley of Five Lakes
hike – a 5.5 km. hike through the forest, passing 5 gorgeous blue-green lakes,
each a different hue, stopping for a foot soak in one. Excellent walk in the
woods, thoroughly enjoyable.
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| Valley of the Five Lakes hike |
A short lived
thunderstorm and the sun shone again, so onwards to Maligne Canyon – a hike
along the canyon above the river, Robin stopping to play in the pools of water
on the pathways, draining them where he could. You are never too old to play in
the puddles! We were lucky enough to see elk, a momma and 2 calves as well as 2
bull elk with magnificent antlers. The males were along the hiway, right where
a busload of Asian tourists had just gotten off, all barefooted, ready for a
walk in the Athabasca River. They foolishly rushed much too close to the
animals, thankfully the elk were more interested in eating than causing a
problem!
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| the reaction to Robin's elk call! |
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| Maligne Canyon, Jasper |
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| crazy tourists! |
Our week came to an end; we packed up all of our flower pots
and headed to Grande Cache for a short visit with Adam and family for some
hiking and playing in the mud.
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| excellent weather for mushrooms |
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| more playing in the mud |
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| helping to hang doors |
Now we are set up at
Elk Island Retreat, a small campground east of Edmonton.
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| Add caption |
The plan is to remain
here for at least a month, continuing with our markets – Miller Crossing
Farmers market, plus the odd other vendor markets - Robin selling his “birdhouse with a twist”,
and carvings; me selling sea glass jewelry, jewelry, sun catchers and mobiles.
I think we have enough supplies of sea glass, sea shells and driftwood for
quite some time, all we need to stock up on is cottonwood bark for Robin’s
carving, perhaps a trip northward to rectify this. I actually managed to create a Facebook page
for our crafty “business”, K & R Creations, we enjoy doing this, and we
just needed to sort out where to store all of our supplies, still a work in
progress!
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| our wares |
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| set up at Miller Crossing Farmers Market |
We took in Heritage Days, but forgot the phone in the car, so no photos! We continue our regular pop ins to the kids, always a great time!
So far we love this new chapter in our lives, being
“homeless” or Full Timing seems to work for us! The "house" may be a bit smaller, but the front and back yards are endless!
We continue to Live the Dream!
