Day 1 (July 28th – Aug 1st): Campbell River to Golden
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Well, we sold our house and Mom, our new pup Bane, and I are now living in a camper van touring around Western Canada (making sure to still stay safe amidst Covid) until we get possession of our new house. So here’s the first of many updates and photo dumps detailing the trip.
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Pictured: Initial move with the cats to where my stepdad is living in Kamloops, the drive from Kamloops to Golden, and plenty of pics with the pup.
Day 2: Golden to the Saskatchewan border.
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We blazed through Alberta, stopping along the way for a quick, spur of the moment, socially distanced visit with 2 of my fav people and old roommates before setting up shop for the night on the Saskatchewan border. Got in a nice workout and then tried to awkwardly have a shower with my long appendages smacking the walls and head hitting the ceiling.
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1 fun speculative sighting: 2 cars meet at the Saskatchewan/Alberta rest stop. 1 from SK, 1 from AB. They are having a romantic picnic trist. Their love is forbidden, just like Romeo and Juliet. Let’s hope they have a better fate.
Day 3: Saskatchewan Border to Moosomin, SK
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It’s Saskatchewan… not a lot happened. But we did see a salt field that looked like snow, and we decided to actually get a proper campsite for the night so that’s cool.
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In case anyone was invested, Romeo and Juliet showed up again in the morning for what looked like another day of forbidden romanticism. I hope they find happiness, and I will think of them often. 2020 be real trying times, and I’m rooting for them.
Day 4: Moosomin, SK to the Manitoba/Ontario border.
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It was a very long day without much to get excited about. We drove thru Manitoba only making 1 stop in Winnipeg with the intent of buying a new tent at MEC. Long story short, driving in Winnipeg is a nightmare, and apparently a $600 purchase in Winnipeg is weird enough for my debit card to get frozen, so that’s fun.
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Mom couldn’t pull over when I was leaving MEC, so I had to run out of the store into 3 lane traffic to jump into the moving vehicle wearing flip flops
Day 5: Manitoba/Ontario border to Thunder Bay
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Been a long day and our little lake time got cut short from some rogue, off leash doggos that wanted to cause a ruckus (so we didn’t get any good pics out there), but apparently our boy Bane, an Akita, loves water. Our old girl Tala didn’t even like stepping in a puddle let alone a lake, but here Bane was lapping it up (literally).
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Today we saw identical twin construction workers holding signs at a roadside construction site, saw a Moose, and currently, our generator isn’t working, so that’s all cool.
Day 6: Thunder Bay to Sault Ste. Marie
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Got absolutely no sleep last night, and mom started driving at 4am, but we ended up havig a fun little beach break with Bane. He loves the water and the beach, but isn’t quite sure what to think about the waves. It took a lot of coaxing to get him in, and he absolutely shot out when a wave hit him in the face.
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Capped off the night at a campground to connect to some electricity and wifi (I had a lot of hockey stuff to catch up on).
Day 7: Sault Ste Marie to Parry Sound
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We didn’t do a whole lot today, and I had a massive headache and slept most of the ride, but feeling very grateful for being able to make the most of not only being without a physical address atm but a Covid era summer. Very lucky to be safely travelling across this beautiful country we call home.
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Also grateful for good conversations with friends, and hockey, tho I’ve yet to decide whether I’m happy that MTL upset PIT or sad that they lost out on the Lafreniere sweep stakes. EDM for another #1 pick?!
Day 8: Parry Sound to Sault Ste. Marie
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Picked up the Nan and Bane loves her. We’re not exploring ON much since we’re all from here, but there’ll be tons more content in future stops. In the meantime, enjoy pics of my Nan scolding me for who knows what.
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I also doubled up my money and won $2 on a hockey bet, so that’s cool. Also had some wifi to get in a healthy dose of tiktoks to keep me going for a while.
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Update: it has taken us 45 minutes trying to figure out the bed situation. I am sleeping on the floor with the dog while the old ladies get the bed, and Nan has promised not to walk all over when she gets up to pee during the night. We’ll see how this goes.
Day 9: Sault Ste. Marie to Thunder Bay
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After “sleeping” on the floor last night, I was super tired and felt like garbage, and it was super rainy and thunder stormy during parts of the trip, but we managed to get a few fun moments into the day spending a bit of time with Bane at the beach again and seeing where the original Winnie the Pooh was from. Staying in a hotel tonight, so time to take some melatonin and clock out.
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Also, TO chocked in the playoffs again and CBJ is set to face TBL again in the 1st round and I think this is so funny.
Day 10: Thunder Bay to Winnipeg
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We all got good sleep last night, and woke up super rejuvenated, which was a good thing because we had a super long drive today. We made a few stops, such as the Centre of Canada, but we mostly spent the drive harassing and razing the heck out of each other, which made for a real fun ride (until Winnipeg that is. Man I have a strong dislike for this city), and I think Bane is tired of our craziness lmao. We also saw those identical twin construction workers again, which was neat. Oh and it was super windy. Like all day, no matter where we were. Was kinda crazy at times.
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According to my Nan, life is all about “pissing your pants and having a good time” and I think that pretty much sums up our trip so far with the amount of laughter going on, half of which doesn’t make sense to even try and explain on here let along in person.
Day 11: Winnipeg to Moosomin District Regional Park
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Well we did the stupid thing and stayed overnight in Winnipeg, which has got to be the worst city ever and we spent 30 some odd minutes trying to navigate out of the city as the gps kept saying to make an “illegal u-turn” when there was a grass median separating the 6 lane highway… buuut we ended up having a hoot of a day once out of Winnipeg – we taught Nan to play cards (she was never allowed to play cards) and were just all around goofs all afternoon and evening.
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Some fun highlights: Nan “smiling” after mom gave her crap for never smiling in pics (whilst I munched on a juicy peach), laughing at Nan for wanting to go to a “Butterfly Aquarium”, teaching Nan Go Fish, fixing her purse strap in 3 seconds that she’d been fighting with all day, her seeing and being startled by a “GIGANTIC Turtle” and me sitting on said plastic gigantic turtle, the massive Moosomin Park chair, and trying to fit in the bed horizontally instead of vertically (legitimately thought I broke my leg).
Day 12: Moosomin District Regional Park to the Saskatchewan/Alberta Border
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Well, to start the day, Nan and Mom decided to get up and going a lot earlier than I would have liked, especially given all of our lack of sleep. Mom even started to fold the bed up on me, of which I was not pleased. I slept a good portion of the day but we got stops in at the World’s Tallest Moose in Moose Jaw (the Prairie Dogs were going full Lion King 1 and 1/2 with all their scurrying, sniffing, and flinching) and the Red Lake Water Fowl Observatory (where Bane decided to start chasing Prairie Dogs – that was fun to reign in a puppy that weighs more than me) before making camp at the same SK/AB border rest stop as last week (we’ll see if Romeo and Juliet show up in the morning). Got in a good workout and am now more than ready for bed.
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Apparently Nan is certain she saw Sasquatch roaming in a wheat field on the drive, and who am I to argue with a semi blind, crazy old lady?
Day 13: Saskatchewan/Alberta Border to Canmore
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We woke up to 2 reasons to being cold this morning – the temperature, and our hearts full of sadness – I can only assume Romeo and Juliet have met their untimely death after not seeing them resume their romantic trist in the morning. All jokes aside, we got some much needed groceries, and continued our drive into AB, stopping off for some time at Dinosaur National Park where I almost stepped on a snake and a cactus in flip flops, made an accidental stop up Three Sisters Blvd where we encountered a herd of Elk, and ended up in a hotel where my eyes have barely left the screen from my first taste of watching 2020 playoff hockey.
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I need to learn what to do with my appendages when I’m not holding anything.
Tanya Packer 