Scenery near Berat, Albania.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Berat, Albania.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Southampton , England on July 29th!

Friday, August 14, 2020

We are off to deliver Sherman

We are heading across the border this morning to deliver Sherman in the province of Quebec. Sherman will have to learn how to speak French, because he's about to become a Quebec resident. I hope he does alright with the road signs... they are all in French as well.

Yesterday we sorted through what is going with Sherman and what is staying. Of course we now have all of our "stuff" to get rid of. It almost feels like when we sold the house back in 2007.

Thursday, August 13, 2020

Turtles on top of turtles!

Ruth's brother Colin is a retired machinist, but he enjoys his new work life as a part time (closer to full time at this time of year!) bicycle repair technician. Ruth had asked him if he would take a look at our bikes and do some adjustments, and sure enough he took them away last week.

He brought them back on Monday... and wow! They looked like they were brand new! Being a machinist in his past life, he's pretty good with attention to detail. So with everything now operating within their designed specifications, the bikes are a pleasure to ride. They were even before this, but now they are like new!

Wednesday, August 12, 2020

Good news and sad news

Which do you want first? The good news, or the sad news?

Well, it doesn't matter... because they are both the same thing.

Sherman is sold!

Tuesday, August 11, 2020

Fun visit with our daughter and grandkids!

Yesterday, we were looking forward to seeing our daughter and grandkids... and the visit did not disappoint!

We haven't seen them since the beginning of last November. Grandkids sure do grow a lot in nine months!

Monday, August 10, 2020

Into the city again, and an update on Sherman

We were in the little red car at 9:45am yesterday and headed back into the city of Ottawa to visit with my mother and sisters.

I had mentioned yesterday that there was a problem with the left rear tire and that I had topped up the air pressure on Saturday night, and when I check it on Sunday morning it was still perfect.

So we got on the highway, and headed out. About 20 minutes into the 40 minute drive, another "low tire pressure" warning came on!

Sunday, August 9, 2020

Into the big city of Ottawa to pick up the little red car!

Our car rental was booked for pickup at 12 noon yesterday, but the rental location was on the other side of the city so it was a 50 minute drive to get there from Ruth's dad's house. Ruth's nephew lives next door, and he drove us into the city using his car.

Of course there are lots of other car rentals closer, but they were also quite a bit more expensive. And when you're renting by the month and you're not getting a fantastic deal to begin with, it made sense to go with the cheapest one despite the bit of an extra drive to get there.

Saturday, August 8, 2020

We're free!

Yes, our 14 day quarantine is over! We've been stuck on Ruth's father's property since we arrived here, but now we are free as a bird! Well, as free as anybody else around here, anyhow.

And what is the first thing we did with our freedom? We went for our 5 km (3 mile) power walk at 6:30 am this morning. And it felt GREAT!

Friday, August 7, 2020

Our most memorable hiking experiences Part 3

I didn't set out to have this become a 3 part series! But once I got into it, I realized just how many fantastic hikes we have done. So this is the last of it. Then on Saturday, we can get back to some normal posting because... we will be free!

In February of 2016 we were just outside of Guanajuato, Mexico waiting for the Mexico RV caravan to show up. The day before they did, we went for a hike in the hills opposite the RV park.

Thursday, August 6, 2020

Our most memorable hiking experiences Part 2

When Ruth went over yesterday's blog post, she reminded me that I forgot one important hike! And I'm not surprised... there were really too many good ones to remember them all. But this one really should not have been forgotten!

In July of 2011, we hiked up Mount Washington. This is the highest point in North America east of the Rocky Mountains.

Wednesday, August 5, 2020

Our most memorable hiking experiences Part 1

Our regular readers know that we love to go hiking. After all, hiking is great exercise, you see things that you would not otherwise see, and it's normally free!

We haven't always been as avid about hiking as we are now, but even when we had young children we took them on some good hikes. In fact our first really big day hike was when our son had just turned 6 and our daughter was almost 8.