Folksblogen

Folks Blogging from their Volkswagen

Home Sweet Hymer

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We just found out that Hyme in German roughly translates to a place (ie. house or a country) where one usually lives. (Thanks to our German friend Michael for sharing this translation!) So, suddenly Home Sweet Hymer makes perfect sense as a moniker for our new van.

We had an appointment at Erwin Hymer Group North American headquarters in Kitchener, Ontario on October 30th at 8am. Since Kitchener is a three-hour drive from Amherstburg we decided to drive to Kitchener the day before and camp overnight in their parking lot. Fortunately Hymer provides a reserved spot with access to shore power for this very purpose. We spent a comfortable night in the van enjoying leftovers for dinner accompanied by local beer from Abe Erb Brewery and a seasonally appropriate Netflix show.

From the moment we entered the building at 8am we were welcomed by Liz and Matthew, offered coffee, tea, water, a Discount rental car, accommodations at the Radisson Hotel and a tour of the plant by a character named Tupper. This plant, it turns out, is one of five in the Kitchener, Cambridge, Guelph triangle. It comprises roughly 8 acres of land. We were unfortunately not allowed to take photos during our tour of the plant. Tupper’s explanation of why not was something to do with flash cameras of days goneby. That was a bit lame. We wondered if it had to do with sharing proprietary processes though we were not witness to any such processes on the tour. It would have been great to be able to document the scale of this enormous facility and the volume of production. We saw the painting department, the water testing department, woodworking, plumbing, electrical, upholstery, to name a few. We were able to see not only Hymers in production but also Roadtreks like the Mercedes Sprinters SS Agile and CS Adventurous, the Chevrolet 190 Popular, the Ram Promaster Banff, and the Touring GT trailer. The Erwin Hymer Group North America currently has 25 different offerings in their portfolio.

We made the trip to Kitchener to have two warranty issues addressed:

  1. The moisture issue in the bathroom. The moisture issue was resolved very quickly. Turns out it required a new seal along the back wall. ✔︎
  2. The intermittent Sony radio/ head unit. The Sony radio/DVD/head unit which allows us to use our back-up camera was replaced. Now we have dependable use of the back-up camera! ✔︎

New Sony radio!

While touring the plant we met the person who supplies all the upholstery and mattresses for the Hymers and Roadtreks. We asked him what he would recommend since the mattress length interferes with the back screen to which he replied, ‘I will just give you a new one. We remedied the length of the mattress since your Aktiv left the plant. It is now 1.5” shorter and will not interfere with the back screen.’ ✔︎

Making the bed is so much easier now. And pulling down the back screen is a pinch.

While we there they offered to winterize the van for us. With winter rapidly approaching and no plans to head south until the new year we happily accepted their offer. This meant draining the water system – fresh, gray, Truma hot water, cassette – and then filling the system with a non-toxic pink RV anti-freeze. This means that while we remain in temperatures of zero degrees Celcius or colder we are unable to use the water. We have noticed that other owners of Hymers have found a work around for winter camping: they rinse the kitchen sink and cassette toilet using the anti-freeze in the system and keep a container of fresh water available for things like brushing teeth, boiling water, washing dishes (just like being in the VW). ✔︎

Prior to the plant visit we were feeling a bit of buyer’s remorse. We found ourselves comparing the Hymer to the simplicity of the VW. The Hymer, after all, has all the bells and whistles whereas the VW is pretty rudimentary. The problems with the VW are strictly mechanical whereas the Hymer’s problems are potentially myriad based on the nature of the chassis and the RV and how they work together and separately. We had, after all, just bought a brand new campervan that had issues from the get-go. However….our experience in Kitchener quickly changed feelings of buyer’s remorse to gratitude. The Hymer family not only addressed the warranty issues we brought to them but also a few more AND made sure we were comfortable while they did so. More than anything we found it extremely helpful to see how the vans are built. We would recommend a tour of the plant even prior to purchasing one of their vans! Guess you could call us Happy Hymer Campers!

What’s better than sharing a meal?

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We can’t think of anything.

When I (Julie) think of family this is the picture that comes to mind… everyone gathered around a table with plenty of delicious food……in this photo there also seems to be more than plenty of spirits!!

 

Are sunday night dinners the same as they were when you were a kid? Were they meaningful for your family? Are they a significant part of your weekend now? What do you eat on sunday nights? For host of the Sunday Night Dinner Podcast, Suzanne Hancock, her dinners while growing up included popcorn and ice cream which would seem like a dream to most kids.

Christian cooking over a wood fire at Picacho Peaks in Arizona on New Year’s Day 2015.

Note: Looking at these photos one might think Christian does all of the cooking!  The truth is that one of us seems to be able to cook and take photos! :))) Also! We travel with our favourite cookware: All Clad plus a Cast Iron Frying Pan.

When Suzanne asked us to be guests on her podcast we immediately thought of cooking over an open fire to share with her how we approach cooking and eating while travelling and living in the van. We don’t often cook over an open fire but when we do it is special. We had camped at the Glen Rouge back in June when our friends Jess, Andy and Braden were camping there. So we decided the Rouge would be a perfect location for the podcast. Our site happily overlooked the Rouge River on what ended up being two of the warmest days of the summer. Luckily there was a lovely breeze along the river and a canopy of trees which shaded the campsite.

While preparing, cooking and eating Suzanne asked us lots of questions about Sunday night dinners on the road and about dinners with our families while growing up. We also talked about our experiences working on the Canadian Chefs’ Congress from 2007 to 2014 and how it influenced our relationship to food. The experience of travelling on the Congress bus – a converted school bus with a professional kitchen and dining room turned bunks for eight by night – from Ontario to Nova Scotia and back in September 2012 was, in retrospect, the precursor to vanlife.

Have a listen. Not just to our podcast but to all of them especially the one where our friend, Chef Michael Dixon, makes classic French Onion Soup. But seriously, listen to ours first. 😉 Here’s the link: http://sundaynightdinnerpodcast.com

Thank you Suzanne for sharing Sunday night dinner with us on a Monday afternoon!

Saint of a River

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I choose to listen to the river awhile, thinking river thoughts, before joining the night and the stars. — Edward Abbey

We left Toronto at the end of July bound for Québec with Nova Scotia in our sights. We didn’t make it to Nova Scotia. We followed the south shore of the Fleuve St-Laurent to the Bas-St-Laurent to the Golfe du St-Laurent all the way to the Gaspé before crossing over to the Côte du Nord where it became the Route des Baleines (the Whale Route) at Les Escoumins (an Inuu settlement dating back 9,000 years). We followed the St. Lawrence all the way back to Lake Ontario never veering too far inland and always camping as close to the water’s edge as possible.

We know how we feel in proximity to the ocean. Now there is scientific evidence that proves that even just a view of the ocean can boost a person’s mental health. Dr. Wallace J. Nichols explained in a Ted Talk that water holds vast cognitive, emotional, psychological and social benefits. “Nature is medicine – a walk on the beach; a surfing session; a stroll through the woods heals us. It fixes what is broken inside of us. Nature can reduce our stress, it can make us more creative and bring us together.”

We spent hours trying to describe in words, the smells, colors and feel of the river, particularly once it became tidal, beyond Québec City. The ocean and the tides feel and smell like home to us, like a cleansing breath, the Fleuve St-Laurent lifted our moods and filled our heads with creative energy. An endorphin shot that had us hungry for more.

Our route was not planned. When we travelled through the Gaspé three years ago we concentrated on Forillon National Park and Percé Rock. We visited neither this time round. We did, however, return to two campgrounds which we loved just as much this time, both, of course, overlooking the St-Laurent.

What did we do and love this time?

Farm Stands – we feasted on the summer harvest from Saint-Mathieu-de-Beloeil to Riviere-Madeleine to La Malbaie and back to Toronto.

Ciderie St-Nicholas – we tried two kinds of cider, sparkling and crackling, and we loved them both!

Basque Cheeses and Smoked Fish – the Basque were the earliest Europeans to make their way to the St-Laurent (unfortunately to hunt whales) and left their culinary mark near Trois Pistoles on the south shore.

Signage for Laitiers and Casse-Crôutes – giant ice cream cones for the former and boxes of giant fries made using two by four pieces of lumber to represent the fries for the later. Kitsch folk art in the best way.

Le Vieux Moulin in St-Flavie – makers of everything honey. We visited without expectation and left smitten. We are not Mead lovers but their dry honey wine was a winner as was the tree sap honey…imagine sitting in the middle of a boreal forest with your eyes closed and drinking in the sweet scent of the surrounding trees.

The smoked fish dips from Atkins et Freres in Mont-Louis.

St-Fabien-sur-mer – we learned quickly to follow any sign ending in sur-mer! There we enjoyed a simple Basque lunch on the beach.

The Alpine Cottage style bath houses at the municipal campground in Trois Pistoles. Adorable!

The croissants at Pain d’Exclamation in La Malbaie! Still wondering why didn’t we stop to restock on our way west???

Campsite 19 at Camping des Érables in La Malbaie. Complete privacy in a terraced site with a perfectly stunning view of the St-Laurent.

We were invited to stay at the most perfect 100-year-old cottage in Cap d’Aigle. We watched an incredible thunder and lighting storm from the safety of the ample porch overlooking the St-Laurent. We scaled the cliff down to the shoreline and watched Minke Whales dance in the surf. We ate, drank, laughed and shared cooking, porch breakfasts, and wood fires with our generous hosts Felicity, Sarah, Robbie and Pierre.

The ferry between Trois Pistoles and Les Escoumins – we love a ferry! especially one where we can watch Beluga and Minke Whales frolicking in the river.

The Inuu run Tipi Campground at Les Escoumins – possibly the cleanest campground we have ever visited. Unfortunately there was a boiled water alert which is all too common in First Nations Communities in this country.

Parc National du Bic near Rimouski – a gorgeous marine park where we hiked, climbed rocks and enjoyed beaches that reminded us of Corsica. It was here that we first attempted to put the scent of the tidal river into words. Watching the fog roll in from our campsite in the morning was the icing on the cake.

Ask the river where it comes from? You will get no answer. Ask the river where it is going? You will get no answer because the river lives inside this very moment, neither in the past nor in the future, in this very moment only! — Mehmet Murat ildan

 

The Saguenay River – we explored too little of what might be Canada’s best kept secret. This fjord leads to the Gulf of St. Lawrence and offers views that made us think we might be in Iceland or Norway. The Côte du Nord highway breaks at Tadoussac where a ferry service commutes cars to the other side of the Saguenay. If you are lucky, as we were, you will see Beluga Whales playfully feeding while you cross the river.

Discovering the St. Lawrence Parks near Cornwall. We camped on Morrison Island (a happy accident) which is a campground within a migratory bird sanctuary on the river. We arrived, without reservations, of course, and after hours (it happens), and during a downright frightening thunderstorm. By the time we were set up in a campsite the sky cleared and the sun was shining.

We avoided major highways on this roadtrip as much as possible but as we neared Montreal we travelled briefly on Route 20. At a rest stop we encountered Interzone 3, an artist project by Mathieu Latulippe, which was part of a larger project called Truck Stop. It wasn’t until we arrived back in Toronto that we realized it comprised of 15 different roadside works between Montreal and Quebec City. Wishing we had known as we would have happily visited each one.

If you want to get a sense of just how many saints there are in this world just drive through Quebec! It would seem that the list is infinite and that Quebec has tapped this list without needing to ever repeat a name. The saints denote towns, villages, cities, streets, rivers, and lakes. Have you ever heard of Saint-Télesphore, Saint-Polycarpe or Saint-Zotique? Our favourite saint in case you’re wondering …. Lawrence, obviously.

Travelling through la belle province we became inspired and began dreaming up new projects. Roadtrips, nature, and exploration offer inspiration we wouldn’t get any other way. We’re back in Toronto with a to-do-list inspired by our time in Quebec.

Be like a river. Be open. Flow. — Julie Connor

 

Never Stop Dreaming

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Travels with Charley Julie and Christian

Towards the end of November we felt as though we were living in a Steinbeck novel, a combination of two actually, Travels with Charley and Grapes of Wrath. So many people are searching for meaning, inspiration, beauty, a simpler life, experiences instead of things, personal connections with like-minded people, work that makes them happy and fulfilled, a sense of place, an alternative to the predictable life that we have been conditioned to think we should live, you know the one. And an increasing number of folks are seeking a less sedentary, more nomadic lifestyle. That could or does describe us. We continually ask ourselves questions like what do we want, what makes us happy, where do we want to live/to go, what kind of work will excite and fulfill us, how do we achieve all or some of our goals while remaining close to family and friends. We keep asking and…. the answers keep changing.

Anyway, back to our Steinbeck experience…

Changing World.

The times they are a changin’, as Bob Dylan wrote, and it doesn’t feel good. Happily we live without a television. We are largely spared the incessant and repetitive news broadcasts. We do still get too much through social media! The United States not only feels like a different place than it did in 2014/2015 but it is a different place. All the way from Ontario to Florida and back we saw only ‘Trump Pence Make America Great Again’ signs. Huuuuuge signs. Many, many signs. We really never saw a Hillary sign, other than ‘Never Hillary’ signs. We did see signs that read, ‘Take America Back.’ We pondered, ‘back from whom? wasn’t it already taken from the Native Americans (sic)!’ People are either more guarded or much more vocal. For instance, a couple from Illinois approached us in a campground in Florida and after asking us why we were in the US when folks like them would rather be in Canada as the inauguration of the most backward and potentially damaging president in history was fast approaching. Meanwhile our neighbouring campers from Kentucky were slamming doors while eavesdropping on our conversation. Or on New Year’s Day, while we were stopped in front of a mural of Trump in Joker makeup strangling the Statue of Liberty in Miami’s Wynwood District. There we were approached by a young black American family that told us of increased racism and bigotry since the election which motivated them to move to Equador where they believe they can raise their teenager daughter in a supportive and healthy environment. We know it is not just America. The whole world is more scary and in the icy grip of a neo-con, alt-right revolution. The upside of living from our van is that we are light on our wheels and able to move on any time we wish.

The ‘Nomadic’ Lifestyle.

At one end of the spectrum there are so many retirees travelling; many living in fifth wheels and bigger; needing so much stuff, surrounded by bigger, better, more!, bikes, kayaks, scooters, televisions (indoors and outdoors), a gadget for everything, including a leaf blower to quickly and loudly move the sand off of their outdoor rugs. If they’re in a big bus they’re usually towing a full sized car. For some, this is their full time home. For others, they still have a traditional home in a city, town or village full of all of the above and more. Either way, in this scenario it is clear that folks want as many of the comforts of ‘home’ as possible!

On the other end of the spectrum are young wanderers in their 20s and 30s, recent graduates perhaps, looking for an alternative lifestyle. They may have given up a rented apartment, a tv and a few pieces of furniture and the change to vanlife didn’t require a tremendous lifestyle change. Other than their laptops, cell phones, yoga mats, hula hoops and surf boards these people live with very few possessions and opt to stealth camp as much as possible which means forgoing showers, toilets and electricity. They catch as much free wifi as they can and obviously don’t have wide screen televisions and outdoor kitchens mounted to the exterior of their campervans. We are generalizing here!

Walmart and Casino parking lots are something all of the aforementioned have in common at some point.

We probably fall somewhere in the middle of those two camps.

 

Campground observations:

Poisons.

Everywhere people are spraying poisons to kill all of the bugs and more that are part of the natural environment. They spray the vegetation, the ground on top of which they set up camp, and everything else to try to direct the irritating bugs elsewhere, wishing for a sterile, bug-free, utopian campsite straight out of the ads that we see on billboards and in our Facebook feeds. The offending fumes always blow straight towards our home on wheels.

The Campfire.

Everywhere we go people are burning wood, fallen wood, twigs, branches in the face of signage stating this action will result in a fine. Nature be damned. And the frequency in which they burn! Morning, noon and night. We have seen people light fires only to retreat into their trailers or drive off for a few hours leaving the unattended fires blazing or smoldering smokily. There simply must be a fire burning at all times, at all costs. Our favourite is the liberal use of gasoline as an accelerant – way too common!

Lights.

We have come to believe that people are afraid of the dark. They leave lights burning all night long to feel safe from nature. Much less so in National Parks and slighty less so in State Parks. Our favourite park for darkness so far was a park in the centre of Florida, Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park. This is Florida’s largest and only remaining tract of wild prairie, 54 acres. We were lucky enough to snag an Astronomy site from which to view the night sky. From this part of the park campers are not allowed lights of any kind including headlamps, cell phones, ipads and computers unless they are red lights that will not interfere with neighbouring camper’s appreciation of the stars above. Believe it or not with the light of the moon it is absolutely possible to navigate in the darkness.

The Downsized Lifestyle.

We were wondering about the retirees who sell their homes and nearly everything else to begin living from a mega bus or a fifth wheel… Do they ever regret selling everything and long to live a stationary life again. Although it should be said that many of those folks do live a stationary life for the most part – 6 months in a southerly spot for the winter and 6 months in a more northern spot for the spring, summer and fall. They don’t do a whole lot of moving around generally speaking. It seems to us that they cling to their motorized home the same way they did when they lived in a rooted home. Again, we’re generalizing.

Working from a van.

We marvel at the people that seem so very able to work and earn a livelihood from the confines of an 80 square foot van. We frankly find the conditions increasingly difficult. All the things that can be controlled from a home like temperature, insects, belongings, weather are all much more difficult from a 27-year-old van. Also each day you have to decide where you will park your home-on-wheels and you have to get there. Often it is determined by weather and sometimes it is far. In the first year or year and a half it was a challenge and exciting. We were mostly going to places we had never been. We also thought there was an end in sight to living in our home on wheels and so every moment counted. And now we’ve reached the elusive end of the tunnel.

Sunshine State of Mind.

We’ve been battling the feeling that we’ve been frittering away our time lately and we don’t like it. We continue to try to keep our costs as low as possible which for November through January meant camping, where it was both available and warm enough… Florida. That also meant spending Christmas on our own in a State Park. We knew we had to return to Toronto at the end of January to take possession of our new home base so we remained south of the border basking in the warm sun for as long as possible.

We have a funny relationship with Florida. It was the same in February 2015. From the moment we arrived we weren’t sure we wanted to be there. This time it may have had a little something to do with millions of biting no-see-ums combined with fumes from decaying rodents followed up with a chaser of bleach in the frame of our van…. We wished we were back in the west in the year 2015 – Arizona, New Mexico, California or Mexico. The turning point both times – people. For us, places are just places without human connections. We made some new friends, met up with old and older friends and spent 11 days with Julie’s dad, his dog, MacDuff, and her aunt and uncle in West Palm Beach which was super special. By the time we find ourselves leaving Florida we feel as though we are leaving home. We leave as slowly as possible, becoming more and more melancholy the further north we travel.

The future never existed and we’re hungry for it.

On February 1st (1,000 days!! since we sold our home + studio and became van based) we took possession of a one-bedroom co-op apartment across from High Park in Toronto and simultaneously moved into a basement apartment midtown while we renovate our new digs. Neither of which we would have envisioned for ourselves three years ago! However…we’re eager to feel productive, plan, earn an income, make things, to continue to build on what we started at our artist residency in September. So, we’re doin’ what we gotta do!

Upon arrival in Toronto we stopped at our storage unit to pick up some winter clothes and were faced with the fact that the real downsizing of our life has yet to begin. Our 500 square foot apartment simply won’t accommodate what we last spread throughout 3,300 square feet of house + studio, not to mention outdoor space. Simply put we will have to divest of nearly everything we have paid dearly to store these past three years. And that is daunting. Or challenging? Depends on the day. Or maybe liberating?!

Right now we are trying to navigate a renovation around the restrictive rules and regulations of an old co-op building while trying to satisfy our design sensibilities. If it were only about design it would be so easy. The old building just won’t support the modest upgrades that we envisioned and so, we are back to square two! With a whole lot of luck we hope to be able to move the stuff that will fit into our renovated apartment by April! We can hope! We do dream.

 

Our year of Living with a capital L

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Our New Year’s post reflects our favourite experiences, people and places of the past seven months. The list, as you might expect, is quite long. The accompanying slide show is also a bit of a time commitment (sorry!). To understand how difficult it was for us to distill our memories and experiences here are some statistics of our journey thus far:

7 months / 203 days on the move

40,491 km / 25,159 miles travelled

20,000+ photos taken

20 friends and family prevailed upon for lodging, visitations, meals, bathroom and laundry facilities

6 national parks

25 provincial / state parks

2 county parks

36 private campgrounds

2 campgrounds we paid for and then left right away

7 motels / hotels

3 house rentals

6 ferries

2 row boats

2 motor boats

2 burros

6 bikes

2 buses

2 street cars

2 tow trucks

7 mechanics

2 rental cars

7 border crossings

6 provinces

21 states

54 cities / towns / villages

3 countries

Check out our video of the past 7 months by clicking here:

Some of our most memorable experiences in the past seven months:

  1. After selling our home on May 9th Tina, Mark, Mackenzie and Jakob not only welcomed us into their home but generously provided us with a room so that we would have a home base.
  2. Papa Gibb provided us with home base number two in Amherstburg.
  3. We started our road trip with a visit to Elia and Margot in Guelph. Unseasonably cool, they invited us in to sleep in their home. It was at this point we agreed that if we were offered a bed on this journey we wouldn’t turn it down.
  4. After many invitations we finally visited our friends Lise and Steve (and Gibby) in Red Wing and John and Lily (and Eenie, Meenie and Minie) in Cherry Valley. Too long coming and so very enjoyable!
  5. A mandatory stop at Eigensinn Farm to see our dear friends Nobuyo and Michael was made more special because we got to see Nobuyo’s mom upon her arrival from Okinawa.
  6. We stopped in Ottawa for a visit with old friends John, Chantal and their son, Maxime. We carried and enjoyed food from this visit in several other provinces along our way.
  7. Camping on a terraced site overlooking the St. Lawrence at Des Érables in Malbaie, Québec. La Malbaie, formerly Murray Bay, is where Christian’s parents met.
  8. Having a whole beach on the St. Lawrence to ourselves at Camping Chalet Bel-Air in Câp Madeleine, Québec. We watched the sunset while eating fresh, boiled lobster.
  9. Visiting the Jardins des Metis and seeing the extraordinary art and horticultural installations
  10. Driving the winding, hilly roads of the Gaspesie in Québec, always with the St. Lawrence to one side.
  11. Forillon National Park and all the porky pigs (porc épics). Wink wink Helene et Michèle!
  12. Our campsite overlooking Perce Rock. Awesome. Campground: immaculate, 5 star clean.
  13. Camping by the Bay in Black Point, NB on the eve of a hurricane. This place scared us! And not because of the impending hurricane!
  14. Riding out Hurricane Arthur in a motel in Bathurst, NB after THE most entertaining diner breakfast ever at the Coffee Stain.
  15. Leaving Bathurst the day after the hurricane we dodged arcing hydro lines on a closed highway.
  16. Visiting the Hopewell Rocks and walking on the floor of the Bay of Fundy.
  17. Standing on the point at Cape Enrage feeling the force of the wind and sea followed by an exceptionally wonderful bowl of chowder.
  18. A simple meal of oysters, fresh spinach, carrots, strawberries at Laurie Provincial Park outside of Halifax. We were so happy to eat fresh produce again!
  19. Visiting Andrea Rahal at Inkwell Modern in Halifax and seeing the new home of our beloved first printing press, the Vandercook SP15 .
  20. A surprise reunion with our friends Ray and Meaghan who happened to be on holiday in Halifax while we were there. Meeting their son, Cooper, for the first time! And learning the good news that another Jones Fenwick baby would be entering the world shortly.
  21. Seeing our friends Mike, Graidhne, Quintin, Ellemijn, Marley, Leni and Ray in Chester. Spending a whole day with Mike exploring Lunenburg, Mahone Bay and shopping for an incredible seafood feast we would all enjoy that evening.
  22. Celebrating our friend Katherine’s birthday with all of her (and husband David’s) friends for an entire weekend which included local lobster, an author festival, beach time, fireworks and the Pictou Lobster Carnival.
  23. Newfoundland!!!! All of it! Every cove, tickle, harbour, bay, pond, peninsula, cape, island, mountain, valley, ferry, flake, stage, trail but mostly, the people! We didn’t even mind breaking down at the top of Newfoundland at L’Anse aux Meadows, again, because of the people! Oh, and then the food!!! Cod. Fresh cod. Eating Murray McDonald’s amazing meal at the Fogo Island Inn while enjoying THE most spectacular and changing view imaginable; the best and absolute freshest salad ever prepared by Tim Charles on Fogo Island; the salted caramel ice cream at Growlers is something we still dream about; Jeremy Charles’ made us smile inside and out, twice, at Raymond’s; enjoying the fresh, just picked and delicious food at the Bonavista Social Club in Upper Amherst Cove while watching whales play in the ocean; the cinnamon buns at Rocket in St. John’s; brunch with Erin and JJ at Mallard Cottage. Oh, and did we mention the people?! Especially Dulcie (and Graydon, Andrea, Taylor, Jakob), Selma and Abraham, Eileen, Julia, Joshua, Murray and Judy, May, Kai, Fraser, Pauline, Tim and Heather, Officer Andrews, Jane and Jamie, (Don Johnson, Angelina Jolie and Linda Evangelista in Port Union), Erin, JJ, Jeremy, Jeremy, Ryan, Nushka and Steven.
  24. Meeting our friends and neighbours (okay, former) Nicole, Craig, Owen and Emry in Inverness, Cape Breton.
  25. Our campsite in Meat Cove at the tip of Cape Breton overlooking the Atlantic Ocean which put on a spectacular show the whole time. The chowder was quite amazing too!
  26. Meeting up with our friend Oyster Boy – Adam, Sandra, Miles and Kathleen at Colville Bay Oyster Co, PEI and meeting the warm and welcoming Johnny Flynn. Oh, and did we mention oysters? Delicious? Absolutely!
  27. Developing a hole in our fuel tank between PEI and NB caused us to stop at the Beetle Shop in Belfast, Maine. We love Belfast! And we never would have stopped if it weren’t for the leaking fuel tank.
  28. Visiting our favourite beach in Maine…Ogunquit. Icing on the cake: Nunan’s Lobster Hut and Harbor Candy Shop.
  29. Running out of gas on an uphill off-ramp in Kensington, New Hampshire. Saved by a great guy named Jim! Followed up by a most entertaining ice cream stop with Rachel for Peace.
  30. Being part of our niece Mackenzie’s move into her Cornel University dorm and spending the weekend with Mackenzie and her family in Ithaca, NY. We are so happy to be able to picture where she is spending all of her time while we are travelling North America.
  31. Quality visits with our family in Toronto, Midhurst, Port Hope, Guelph and Amherstburg (timed perfectly to meet our new wee cousin, Andrew!) before taking off for part two of our travels south of the border. We got our Harriet and Jakob fixes!
  32. Finally seeing Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob!
  33. Meeting Jennifer and Earl from Indiana at Ohiopyle State Park.
  34. The Skyline Drive and Shenandoah National Park. Breathtakingly beautiful for all 100 miles. Loved site A14 at Loft Mountain, right on the Appalachian Trail overlooking the valley.
  35. The view from Campfire Lodgings in Asheville, NC. Thank you Campfire Lodgings – we are still finding Marmorated Stink Bugs in our van!!!
  36. Meeting Dean and Julie from Illinois at Campfire Lodgings.
  37. The BBQ at 12 Bones which tasted even better because we shared a table with Bruce.
  38. We cooked the best, happy steak we’ve ever had over a wood fire at Campfire Lodgings. We literally oohed and ahhed over every bite.
  39. Santee State Park, Santee, South Carolina. If it weren’t for the scariest road we have ever found ourselves driving on to get there we might have left this campground in the dark of night and driven an unknown number of miles to get as far away from it as possible.
  40. The Bible Belt. And everything about it. A church every 500 feet.
  41. James Island County Park outside of Charleston, SC: met the cutest family ever! Ryan, Hillary and Olivia from Charlotte.
  42. Charleston, SC. Utterly charming. Plus we met Will and Grace at Butcher and Bee. We sampled spirits (we weren’t driving!) at Highwire Distillery and donuts at Glazed Gourmet Doughnuts (yum!). The fact that the campground offered a shuttle into Charleston makes it tops in our books.
  43. The Angel Oak Tree in SC believed to be in excess of 1,500 years old.
  44. Carolina Cider Company. The. Best. Pecan. Pie. Of. All. Time. Thank you!! We will be back.
  45. Savannah, Georgia. If only all cities were this well conceived. Ogelthorpe was a visionary.
  46. Mrs. Wilkes Boarding House. A one of a kind dining experience. Boarding house reach, heck ya! Make sure you reach for the fried chicken! Loved meeting Jon from Denmark in line and then sharing a meal.
  47. The Low Country Boil at the Crab Shack on Tybee Island. Worth a trip just for the signage.
  48. The live oak boulevard at Wormsloe Plantation. We love the live oaks but this boulevard is something to behold.
  49. Okefenokee Swamp. Imagine camping in Jurassic Park with pine cones the size of footballs. Who knew we could love a swamp so much?!
  50. Our sunset swamp tour lead by a pistol packing ranger and shared with a bachelor party from NYC was eerily beautiful. It was however topped by a daytime tour by our friend Milo and his grandsons Dylan and Drake.
  51. Arriving at St. George Island, Florida as a massive storm slammed the coast. We sat up drinking gin and tonic with LeaAnn and Alan from Lake of Ozarks, Missouri while our cell phone made scary distress signals indicating potential tornadoes, etc. It was one of the most fun nights of the trip.
  52. Visiting Seaside, Florida, the backdrop for the movie, ‘The Truman Show’. It is more real than you may think.
  53. Meeting, getting to know and spending time with Ken and Paula from Memphis. And their pups, Jack and Tara! And of course, Darrel and Maria from Bogalusa, Louisiana.
  54. The Concert at Topsail Preserve State Park which we knew nothing about beforehand. Just made us happy that we are doing what we are doing!
  55. Lunch at Lambert’s of Alabama, Home of the Throwed Roll.
  56. New Orleans: The amazing bike tour led by Kristine Baccharach of Crescent City Bike Tours; an exceptional and generous dinner at Cochon made all the more enjoyable because of a visit with the chef himself, Stephen Stryjewski; first time drinking Sazerac; learning the history of Second Line, Mardi Gras, Indian Chiefs and their costumes – thanks to Sylvester at Backstreet Cultural Museum in Treme; beignets at Café du Monde; seeing and hearing Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers perform at the Blue Nile on Frenchman; eating an über delicious muffaletta sandwich at Butcher with Michelle and Lyle.
  57. Boudin, cracklins and boudin balls at Best Stop in Lafayette, Louisiana. Who knew?! It’s not called Boudin Capital of the World for nuthin’.
  58. Learning the history of Tabasco Sauce on Avery Island.
  59. Millions and millions of little, tiny ants at Buescher State Park in Texas.
  60. Austin, Texas: met for the second time and learned the names of Ted and Julie from Baltimore (first time was at the Backstreet Cultural Museum in New Orleans); met Michael Laderoute, for the first time, travelling from our old Roncesvalles neighbourhood in Toronto to Mexico; saw the Jitterbug Vipers perform at the historic Continental Lounge.
  61. Lunch at Black’s BBQ in Lockhart, Texas – purported to be the best in the USA. It was pretty damn good! Leftovers – priceless.
  62. Met and bought cowboy hats from Boo and Casey in Luckenbach, Texas. Plus, plenty of tips re: Big Bend National Park for free!
  63. The petroglyphs at Seminole Canyon State Park.
  64. The alternator in the van gave up the ghost in Marathon, Texas. We holed up in the historic Gage Hotel for 2 nights waiting for a new one. All the while a massive rain storm raged.
  65. Decided to try to meet the alternator in Alpine. Made it half way. No cell reception. Rarely a passing vehicle, none that would stop to help, pouring rain. Della Shackelford, newly re-elected Treasurer of Brewster County (update: just found out that the votes were recounted and Della lost her seat to the republican by 17 votes!), not only stopped, called around until she found a tow service. Ryan Skelton saved the day, towed us to Alpine. The next day Buddy installed the new alternator and we were on our way….
  66. Big Bend National Park, Texas!!!! Loved this place!! From the Rio Grande River to the Chisos Mountains to the Santa Elena Canyon, breathtaking natural beauty. We met some great folks: fellow Torontonians Anna, Andrew and baby Lucy; Janet and Phil from Colorado; Sandra from Florida; Mike from Arizona and Ryan from Texas. Making our way through foot deep mud to be rowed across to Mexico by Carmelo, transported into town by burro and then led through the Mexican town of Boquillas by young Imperio.
  67. Meeting Roel and Anja from Holland in Lajitas, Texas. Staying up late drinking wine and eating hot dogs.
  68. Marfa, Texas: Freezing at the Tumble In RV Park; meeting Buck at the Wrong Store; meeting Sarah and Lynn from the Chinati Foundation (we met Sarah’s mom at Lockhart State Park two weeks earlier).
  69. Seeing Marfa Prada.
  70. Driving up to City of Rocks State Park in New Mexico and then parking amid the massive volcanic outcrops rising up sixty feet from the earth. It very nearly brought us to tears.
  71. Visiting the Rotunda and Throne Rooms at Kartchner Caverns in Arizona.
  72. The Glass Cottage in Tucson. We stayed here for 6 glorious nights.
  73. Tucson, Arizona: meeting shop owners Salima and Roberto from Desert Vintage and Bonnie and Crystal from Bon. Each one was so lovely; Café Poca Cosa where we had the most flavourful and complex Mexican food; the Desert Museum and the Saguara National Forest – where we realized just how beautiful the desert can be; the chocolate covered donuts at from La Estrella Bakery…mmmmmm
  74. Visiting the Cold War era Titan Missile Museum in Green Valley, Arizona.
  75. Camping on the edge of the Queen Mine in Bisbee, Arizona. At night the view towards the town reminded us of Amalfi, Italy. Improbably good and unexpected treat of Pho at Thuy’s Vietnamese Pho.
  76. Thanksgiving at the Picacho KOA in Arizona where we met fellow Canadians Eric and Lesley.
  77. Driving past the Imperial Dunes in California and watching hundreds or maybe thousands of dune buggies which looked like dinky cars dwarfed by massive sand hills.
  78. The Casita in University Heights, San Diego which we called home for almost two weeks. Owned by a wonderful couple named Lynne and Jim. We missed it and them before we even drove away.
  79. Lunch at Letycia’s lovely home in Coronado with old friends and neighbours from Christian’s hometown of Almonte. After many moons Christian, Rory and Kim got caught up, we met Letycia and Carol and then walked around Coronado, the beach and the Del Coronado Hotel.
  80. A day in Tijuana, Mexico with Derrik from Turista Libre. Exhiliarating and immersive tour of off-the-beaten-path Tijuana. The swap-meet high in the hills was the high point, pardon the pun.
  81. The Crazy Tostada (Tostada Loco) at Marisco’s Food Truck was the best thing we ate in San Diego. Thanks to Sharon, our pal Dave Rose’s sister for the recommendation!
  82. Camping on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean at Carlsbad State Park the morning of a huge wind and rain storm. The van shivered in the wind and the rain literally came through the pop-up. That was a first. And hopefully a last.
  83. The view from our campsite at Crystal Cove State Park was nothing short of spectacular. The sunsets were our entertainment for the three nights we camped here.
  84. We stopped at Outdoor Resort Palm Springs RV Resort (what’s with the name?) where we were told that our van was 1. Too small and 2. Too old. and 3. Christian surmised…too ugly. This was a first.
  85. Joshua Tree National Park. You should visit this intensely beautiful place! Like U2 we still didn’t find what we were looking for but we sure did enjoy trying.
  86. Christmas in Palm Desert with the Campbell-Laxdal family. Our old friends from Toronto spent Christmas at her parents’ home in Palm Desert and they very kindly included us in their family festivities. Two nights in a bed with adjoining bathroom was a pretty sweet Christmas gift.
  87. Visiting the Palm Desert Costco and spending nearly an hour in the (Vintages section) wine and spirits department was a revelation and a colossal pleasure.
  88. Travelling the east coast of the Salton Sea and visiting Bombay Beach, Slab City and Salvation Mountain was probably the most interesting Boxing Day we have ever shared. Meeting Randy from Arizona, originally from Windsor, Ontario was a bonus, thanks for the lemons and chocolates!

What a journey so far! We are incredibly grateful to all of our friends and family that have hosted, supported and shared with us throughout 2014. We continually meet people that amaze, intrigue and delight us – many of whom we call friends. We learn and absorb everywhere we go and never want that to stop. The natural beauty of Canada, the United States and Mexico inspires and awes us. Imagine, we now have 2015 to look forward to….

 

 

Cold Season

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As is his habit Christian startles awake with the sun, sits bolt upright in the van, bumping his head on the way up. Upon recovering Christian gently shakes Julie’s shoulders and she groans, ‘just another ten minutes.’ He bounds energetically from the van to fill the pot for morning coffee. Oops the water container we left outside overnight has frozen. Oh well, there is still a small one in the van! Christian then sets up the whisperlite stove to boil the water for the French Press, and begins to grind the coffee by hand in our Hario ceramic grinder hoping the scent will stir his sleeping wife. Anxious for her to rise so that he can put the bed away he starts removing the down duvet and folding it up for the day. It works, Julie has no choice but to join the breakfast preparations. It is too cold to eat outside so a makeshift table is setup inside the van using our green food storage bin as a coffee table. Once this relaxing, shivering breakfast has wound up it’s time for the clean up. We gather up our small rubber made dish pan, fill it with icy water and soap and wash the morning dishes. Meanwhile the whisperlite stove is back in action boiling up water for the rinse cycle. By the time we finish our morning chores it is still only about zero celcius and eight o’clock. This campground has only pit toilets and no running water by the way. Still, a pit toilet is better than no toilet to these genteel road warriors. Some names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Yesterday we woke up in Benson, Arizona. We were camped in a KOA parking-lot-style-campground nestled in the mountains. The overnight temperature was about minus three Celcius. Because we had electricity we were able to keep warm with our little heater running all night long. We left our large water container outside on the picnic table and the contents were frozen solid by morning. This has been the scenario for about a week and a half now. The cold temperatures make it difficult to cook, eat, shower, get up to go to the toilet in the night and even get up in the morning. We’ve cooked and eaten very few meals outdoors lately. The frequency of showering has diminished as well. We have stayed in quite a few campgrounds without service (water and electric) during this cold spell which means we cannot use our heater and most of these campsites do not have flush toilets or showers. The thing is that we prefer these campgrounds to the RV parking lots.

Here is something we didn’t think about before embarking on an extended camping adventure: we normally camp in Ontario in the summer and as such the days are much longer. These days the sun sets at about six o’clock. We have changed time zones three times and daylight savings time happened. The darkness combined with the cold and often the lack of electricity and sometimes the addition of rain and more often wind make for challenging/ inhospitable meal preparation. Other campers point out that as we are from Canada we should be used to the cold. We respond by saying that we usually only camp in the summer in Canada.

Meanwhile in Benson, Arizona Julie began to search VRBO.com for apartments or small houses in Tucson. Most in our price range were booked but there was one possible house with an open six day window. She contacted the owner by email and within a couple of hours it was a done deal. We are staying in a modernist glass cottage in the Sonoran Desert on the outskirts of Tucson for six nights. Anticipating having a kitchen with running water, a sink, a stove with an oven, a bathroom with a shower and toilet that we don’t have to walk to in the cold of the night or morning was almost overwhelming. Once checked in we made our way to a couple of organic grocery stores and stocked up on a week’s worth of wholesome food. We both laughed that we were preparing and eating our dinner after dark. Wash-up was a delight. This glass cottage is the perfect transition to a domestic space because with all the glass we still feel like we are outdoors. How will we ever be able to live indoors again?!

1-rio-grande 2-chisos 3-chisos 4-us-sant-elena 5-lajitas 6-marfa 7-tumble-in 8-marfa-at-night 9-el-paso 10-el-paso 11-city-of-rocks 12-city-of-rocks 13-city-of-rocks 14-christian-city-of-rocks 15-scale-city-of-rocks 16-benson 17-benson-koa1-cochise-mountains 2-glass-cottage-at-night 3-breakfast 4-shower 5-bath-to-bed 6-bedroom-of-glass 7-laundry 8-bedroom-from-outside 9-cacti 10-morning-view 11-dinner

United States of Being (in our VW)

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The morning of September 16th Border Services Agent 009 leans back in his creaky chrome chair and says, ‘can you be more specific?’ And so our entry into the United States, the second in a month, began with the confiscation of two sweet potatoes. Aside from our vegetal transgression the response from Border Services Agents generally begins with ‘Road Trip?’ or ‘how old is this vehicle?’ or ‘what is this vehicle?’ and a lengthy conversation/interrogation of the attributes of our VW van ensues. Later the same day the van piqued the interest of a toll booth operator in Ohio and he kept chatting at us for a good ten minutes about the merits of our vintage VW. Moral of the story: If you want to move around easily between the two countries we recommend that you get yourself a vintage VW Westfalia. And the submoral of this story: it takes longer to do anything or get anywhere because people just want to talk to us about our van.

Since crossing the border into Detroit 12 days ago we have spent time in 9 extraordinary states (Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina), camped in 9 campgrounds – 3 National Parks, 6 state parks and 2 private campgrounds. We have made friends in 4 of these places and met several more extremely friendly people like the guy from Texas who sold a Harley Dealership and bought a double axel Adventurer bus in which he is travelling for a year with his wife and three daughters. He was a super friendly guy but couldn’t talk for too long as he had to get back into the bus to continue home schooling the girls. Every so often we could hear their central vac being activated as they were trying to dispense with an invasion of marmorated stink bugs (an invasive species imported from China). Aside from meeting great new friends like Jennifer and Earl from Indiana, Julie and Dean from Illinois, Bill and Sharon from Virginia and Bruce from Asheville, NC we have met some amazing park rangers. The award for most accommodating campground staff goes to the volunteers and rangers at Loft Mountain in Shenandoah National Park in the friendly and crazy beautiful state of Virginia. Our favourite hikes so far have been in Shenandoah National Park. We finally made it to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater and a lesser known property, Kentuck Knob. We found ourselves in complete agreement with Wright’s dislike of attics, basements and garages. His feeling was that they encourage collecting and storing of unnecessary things that become dust collectors. Noted for the possibility of home ownership in our future. As we continue to travel and live in a very compact vehicle we find we need less and less. We have no real compunction to shop for things, just food. Speaking of food (and art) culture Asheville, NC gets the blue ribbon. We are still dreaming of 12 bones and the blueberry chipotle ribs.

This new temporary lifestyle we have devised continues to challenge and frustrate us. We get that we are fortunate to be able to do this, whatever this is. It is a choice and was planned but we are confounded every time we consider what the future holds. It is difficult sometimes to just enjoy the present without considering or worrying about the future. This is not unlike our past work life really. We never knew how much work we would have from month to month so planning was difficult and we lived this way for 24 years. It’s funny that at all these campgrounds people tell us that we are ‘living the dream.’ This wasn’t our dream it just manifested this way like everything we have ever done. We love seeing new things and places and learning as we go. We really enjoy travelling and sleeping in our van, it’s even become hard to sleep indoors now. We are comfortable in and around this moveable space. This manner of travelling means we spend a lot of time outside. We cook and eat outside. We listen to the sounds of nature. We see a lot more sky and stars than we generally do back ‘home.’ We have seen more sunrises and sunsets than ever before. The funny thing that is happening to the two of us city folks is that we are increasingly happier outside of cities. We aren’t sure where all of this is heading and we are mostly okay with that.

 

Fête du Canada

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The Folksblogen Volkswagen is at the tip of the Gaspé Peninsula in Québec this Canada Day. We are skipping some necessary posts (coming very soon!) to wish you a happy Canada Day! We are happy to be here in the beautiful province of Québec. Canada Day is ‘celebrated’ differently here or perhaps not at all as the campers are leaving the campground in full force. It is getting more quiet by the hour. We think they must be heading home to celebrate Canada Day. As for us, we will stay here at Forillon for two more nights, us and the mosquitoes, loving Québec and loving Canada. Our Québec includes Canada.

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