The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

September Expenses

A bit of an expensive month!

But, that's partly because we paid for a lot of our November airfare this month, which means that pretty much all of our winter travel is bought and paid for which means that all you'll see for the coming months is our living expenses. Really curious to see how that works out in South Korea!

Monday, September 29, 2014

One more sleep and we're outta here!

We're down to our final day at the park.

We'll sleep here tonight, and then tomorrow morning will be spent winterizing and tidying up the house trailer that we've been living in for the last five months. Oh, and packing! Then, because we won't have any running water after the trailer is winterized, we'll spend Tuesday night at a motel in the nearby town of Cabri.

And then Wednesday morning...we're off!

Sunday, September 28, 2014

How to rust proof your car.

Yes, this blog is supposed to be about travel, but we like to mix things up a little and pass on helpful hints from our day to day life as well. Like how to clean your stove and this post about how to inexpensively and effectively rustproof your car.

For those who don't know, I spent 20 years working in the auto body and paint industry. I was a professional painter, and a licensed collision repair technician. There's a reason the little blue car doesn't have any rust on it. I do my own rustproofing.

Saturday, September 27, 2014

The little blue car hits a milestone

We bought the little blue car just over eight years ago. It's the only car we've ever owned that we bought brand new. At the time, I was doing some contract work with GMAC (General Motors Acceptance Corporation) and they offered us a deal at $500 over dealer invoicing and 0% financing over four years. I think it came to around $13,000 plus tax.

Couldn't turn it down!

Friday, September 26, 2014

Nine flights for under $1,000

I mentioned yesterday that we booked our final flights for this year. It'll be our first time flying with Virgin America for our trip from Seattle to San Francisco on November 4th. Paid $84 each for that flight. Great deal.

So just for fun, I added up what our upcoming flights cost us. Turns out that we're going to be on nine different airplanes over the next two months or so!

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Feel like we're getting behind on things!

Having taken Tuesday to explore, and Wednesday to go into town and do one final grocery shop I now feel like we're getting a little behind on things. Both here at the park, and to do with finalizing our upcoming travel.

But, I just finished reserving the last flight...so we're totally booked now!

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

The Great Sandhills of Saskatchewan

We had heard of this little known ecological area about 80 kms (50 miles) from the park and it was one of the local areas that we wanted to visit at some point before we left here. We haven't had much time to explore, so we purposely took a day off yesterday and went to see the Great Sandhills of Saskatchewan!

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

8 things to research before visiting a new country

As our regular readers know, we're only just over a week away from our Korea trip! And a lot of our free time has been spent online, researching many different things regarding travel to a new country. We kind of share the fact finding, in that Ruth is pretty much in charge of playing tour guide, while I figure out the money and logistics. But there are quite a few minor details that we also want to know, and so we've made a list of what we investigate before undertaking travel to a new country.

Monday, September 22, 2014

Who wants to go camping??!

You can come here. The weather is to die for, and we have lots of empty sites. In fact, they're almost all empty!

That's because technically, we're closed. But if anybody showed up unannounced, we wouldn't turn them away...and they'd have the park to themselves. Peace and quiet, and did I mention the perfect weather?

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Half a million Won

The Canadian banks are finally making it easier to obtain a little bit of foreign cash before you travel. We're headed for South Korea, and from the research I've done it's not always easy to get some local cash using an ATM in South Korea. You have to look for ATM's that specifically display a logo that says "Global ATM".

And apparently they're not that common outside of Seoul and the tourist areas.

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Laptop shopping

So as I was panicking a little yesterday when I didn't know if my laptop was going to be salvageable, I spent some time laptop shopping online. I really didn't want to buy one yet though. It's tough to find a great deal on one in Canada, and especially tough if you don't have a lot of time to look and wait for a great deal.

Friday, September 19, 2014

Thought I needed a new laptop.

Well, I do need a new laptop. But I thought I needed one now!

We're really trying to get another six weeks out of this one so that we don't have to buy a new one until we're in Seattle.

Woke up this morning, turned on the laptop and it....froze!

Thursday, September 18, 2014

All dressed up!

And no place to go. Not yet, anyhow. But at least we now have the proper clothing to go somewhere all dressed up! We're going to a wedding in South Korea on October 4th, and we don't normally travel with dressy clothes. Or footwear. So we needed to get some fancy clothing and shoes.

So, it was off to the Salvation Army Thrift Store!

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Gorgeous Day at the Park

Wow, the weather has really taken a turn...for the better! Feels like the middle of summer now, and we're the only ones here. I think we should have extended the camping season by a week or two! I actually feel bad that we're not open for people to camp this weekend.

What a change from a week ago when we thought summer was over.  Have a look at the forecast...wow!

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

It's different this time around...

And I'm not really sure why.

A year ago today we were on our last day at Sturgeon Lake Regional park, and we couldn't wait to get out of there. I remember thinking that our last two weeks there just seemed to drag. The 16th couldn't come soon enough.

This year, we're here until the 30th...but it's not bothering us to be here.

Monday, September 15, 2014

Nice day to get stuff done

And it looks like the next few days are going to be nice. Great change from the blast of cold air we had last week!

I've got a bunch of logs that have been stored beside the woodshed and if I can get them cut and split and put into the woodshed, they'll be dry enough to burn next year. One of the people here lent us a little wood splitter.

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Shutting things down

This is the last day for campers here at Cabri Regional Park. We don't have any daily campers here, and the seasonals have to be vacated by tonight, otherwise they pay $25 a night to stay longer. We'll have one or two of them stay, but they won't be a problem.

I've already got one of the five bathrooms shut down and winterized. And the one that needs renovating won't need much in the way of shutting it down because the entire interior will be ripped out anyhow next spring. And then I can do one more on Monday or Tuesday. The other two can wait until we shut the water supply off which won't be until later in the month.

Saturday, September 13, 2014

The best and easiest way to clean your stove!

Not an exciting subject line today, but one that has to be done...and Ruth found a great way to do it so she wanted me to tell you about it.

You know those burner pan thingies that go underneath the element on your stove. They're a total pain to clean, and the chrome trim rings are even more difficult. Not any more!

Friday, September 12, 2014

Have a look at our fall travel itinerary!

But before we talk about that, I wanted to thank those who left a note on yesterday's blog post. I enjoyed reading your responses! There sure are lots of interesting stories related to such an intense event in recent history.

Okay. So...San Francisco is confirmed!

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Where were you thirteen years ago?

Today is the thirteenth anniversary of the day the World Trade Center was attacked. Hard to believe it's been that long.

Certainly, it's one of those events that you'll never forget where you were when it happened.

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

We are officially Saskatchewan residents!

Sorry for the delayed report today. We had a lot to do on our weekly trip into town today, and wouldn't you know it...we slept in!

I know, getting up at 7:45 am isn't really sleeping in to a lot of people, but it is to us. Usually, we're up before seven. But I guess the near freezing temperature outside (!!) must have made us just want to stay in bed.

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Looking at North Korea

One of the interesting things about planning a visit to South Korea is the fact that it is technically still at war...with North Korea.

Although there was an armistice agreement signed in 1953 in order to provide for a formal ceasefire until a final peaceful settlement, there has never actually been a final peaceful settlement. Part of the armistice agreement called for a four kilometer (2.5 mile) wide buffer zone along the border in order to physically separate the two sides.

We're thinking of a visit to that zone!

Monday, September 8, 2014

The last beautiful day?

What a gorgeous weekend we had. Good thing we enjoyed it because it's wet and cold this morning and they're calling for a high of only 10C (50F) today and 7C (45F) tomorrow. Brrr!

Yesterday was warm and sunny and not a cloud in the sky. So we went for a hike!

Sunday, September 7, 2014

It was the coffee!

Our regular readers know that we don't eat any food containing gluten. Ruth has been eating that way for about four years now, and the twenty years worth of associated problems essentially disappeared. I've only been eating that way since last November, and while I definitely noticed an improvement, things still weren't just right.

Without getting into graphic detail, the problem related to the nutritious portion of what you eat not being fully absorbed by the intestines....in other words, the food goes pretty much right through you.

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Busy day planning for upcoming travel!

We spent a lot of time on the internet yesterday. Let me tell you about some of the things we have planned for our upcoming travels.

A lot of our planning time is spent online dealing with tourist boards in the cities and countries that we are going to be visiting. And various companies like to work with us too. It benefits them, and it benefits us. But it's a lot of work!

Friday, September 5, 2014

We have a winner!

Happy to announce the winner of our $100 Amazon.com gift card that was being given away by our partners at Cathay Pacific Airlines.

Picked by a random number generator was the email address of Doug Maus of South Dakota!

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Yikes!

I saw the weather forecast and let out a little yelp. Now, we have to remember this is the long term forecast, but next week it looks like it's going to get chilly around here!


Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Out on the lake

Yesterday morning, we were invited out on the lake for a couple of hours.

Sharon and Arnie ran the canteen and concession here at the park and of course they work pretty long hours during the summer. Now that the hard work is pretty much over, they're taking this week to relax a little bit and wanted to spend some time on their pontoon boat so they invited us to join them. The park is so quiet with everybody back to work and school that we decided to relax a bit too!

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Doing the Happy Dance

Ruth woke up yesterday morning, came into the kitchen, and started to dance. She said she was doing the "happy dance"!

Why? Well because most of the campers were pulling out of the park and we would be back to peace and quiet.

Monday, September 1, 2014

August Expenses

Well, we called for August to be our least expensive month of this year, and I'm pretty sure that it will be tough to beat over the next four months.

We only spent $763 in the month of August.