ROBBLOG #624

Time is fleeting!

Now as we get closer to the end of July we get closer to our departure date of Mid-August.
That's when we kick the tires, fire up Priscilla and start our monstrous 5,000 km journey through western Canada to our new home in The Cowichan on Vancouver Island.

We are excited to say the least but a little emotional too. We have been saying tah-tah for now to friends and neighbours. We have had dinner invites, coffee clutches and long days with old friends.
Last week we spent a day at our friend Sue's Muskoka Cottage on Clear Lake. Seven former Wardair employees laughed and reminisced with us. It was a wonderful day. Some of these "kids" I first met and trained back in 1986.
Cripes!
These are friendships that have endured and even though we don't see each other on a  regular basis, when we are together the years melt away.
Good times.

Friends for Life

Meanwhile at Pine Tree House the packing is moving along. Boxes are stacked on top of one another in two rooms. The garage is full of boxes. Some packed and others sitting empty waiting for odds and sods from various rooms. On August 1st we start packing larger items like our prints and pictures. We have special boxes and packing material to accomplish that job. Our home will look very empty when the walls are bare.

We made the decision to send our van west with Hansen's. We drop it off in Toronto at their Terminal in early August and it will arrive in Delta BC on August 21st. That should be the exact day we arrive in the Delta/Tswwassen area from our last cross country night in an RV Park in Sicamous- just east of Kamloops.

Priscilla at the Ready

 

Island Garden

If the van delivery- by Rail, is delayed a day or two, we'll sit it out in Priscilla for a couple of days. The final leg of our journey takes us from the ferry dock at Tswwassen to either Swartz Bay- near Sidney, or up island to Nanaimo. We haven't quite decided. An hour drive from Sidney or a 2 1/2 hour Ferry ride to Nanaimo. Our first destination is an RV Park called Country Maples just south of Chemainus where we'll set up house until our new home is ready on September 29th. Including the week from Orillia to The Island, we'll spend 7 weeks in Priscilla- our 30 foot RV.
It will be an experience to be sure.

In the meantime we are here in Orillia, Ontario passing time, packing and doing "things" for the last time. We know it will be tough to leave but it's the beginning of a new era. One we are looking forward to with great excitement.

ROBBLOG #623

5 1/2 weeks!

Nope. Not the name of a new movie coming out this Christmas. 5 1/2 weeks is the amount of time my Hubbie Tom and I have left before we blow this Ontario "popsicle stand".
Now, I mean that with all the love in my Ontario heart and winter a fond memory.

Just 5 weeks and a few measly days until we depart in Priscilla- our RV, for a warmer Palm Tree type Mediterranean Climate namely Vancouver Island and specifically the Cowichan Valley.
No -30c temps. No snow. No Patrick Brown and no regrets.

Our new home will be ready for occupancy at the end of September- we hope. There's been a delay of 60 days from the original possession date of July 29th. That move-in date would have been on my 66th Birthday- a present of sorts, however red tape and a plethora of "builder" excuses has necessitated a move-in occupancy at the end of September.

Vegetation on the Island

We've just come back from The Island where we picked interior finishes for our new build, rented a Canada Post box, talked to Mr. Roger's west coast employees about our mobile phones and found a nice RV park south of Chemainus where we will live with our two puppies and two felines for 6 weeks! It's not "real" camping such as our friend and soon to be "Islander" Karen is experiencing. She's travelling the country right now, heading west with only her wits, her Yellow Lab Hailey and a tent which- according to her, has an ensuite bath.
Nice try Karen!
Meanwhile we go "glamping" in an RV with a three piece bath, queen bed, central air, gas furnace and fully equipped kitchen. Trust me, to a Gay man that is still roughing it! A suite such as we had in Sidney's Best Western Hotel earlier this week is my kind of camping but I digress...

Maple Bay is 10 minutes from our house. That's Salt Spring Island in the distance.

The moving boys come August 14th and load up all our personal effects. The following day we slip away. I say slip away because we intend to depart Orillia, Ontario with little or no fanfare. Perhaps under the cover of darkness. Perhaps earlier than we are saying or later. I just want it to be Tom and I waving a fond goodbye to Pine Tree House our much-loved c.1882 Victorian house and our home for the past 25 years.

Lawrd knows that is going to be difficult enough and I'll be weeping all the way to Sault Ste. Marie our first overnight stop on our westward trek.

I will be blogging along the way. Forgive me if I don't bet back to this blog until then. There is lots to do. Lots to think about and to be truthful my stomach is already in knots. I know things will calm down- eventually- but with a move three time zones away, I believe Tom and I are handling it quite well...

Until the sobbing starts.