Through the hoodoos to Calgary, Alberta

Well, despite a few rough patches over the last week or two it looks like everything is coming together.

Yesterday, we made our way from Cabri, Saskatchewan to Calgary, Alberta. Originally, we were going to have to be in Calgary by 11:00am to drop off the car rental, but now that we are not leaving Canada until Monday I managed to extend the car rental until Sunday.

Great news!

I opened my email this morning to find my Australia visitor visa approved!

The whole situation sucked though. It never should have been an issue to begin with. But, what's done is done, so there's nothing to do but look at the bright side. And the bright side is that we are now going to be seeing Singapore and Malaysia as well. It feels like we're getting a whole new trip out of the deal... which essentially we are, however it has cost us quite a lot more money as well.

When life hands you lemons...

...you need to make lemonade!

So yesterday, we made our way to the fancy new medical center in the town of Leader, Saskatchewan (pop 870). About an hour drive, but worth it compared to having to go back to the hospital in Swift Current!

Well, where do I start?

Lots to talk about today.

Let's start with our Australia trip. I still don't have a visa to travel to Australia, but of course that could change at any moment. Still, we're now planning on it not showing up in time. So, our inexpensive Australia trip is about to become an expensive Australia trip.

What a circus this has become. And complicated more by the fact that Ruth is still not feeling well and may not be well enough to travel on Thursday anyhow.

Back to the pharmacist

Well, Ruth felt quite a bit better yesterday, but she was complaining of a debilitating headache that just wouldn't let up. We finally decided that it was one of the side effect of the antibiotic Trimethoprin that she had been prescribed.

But we really didn't want to go back to the emergency room at the hospital. And since the Trimethoprin had been available at the pharmacist without a prescription and he had said there were other substitutes available we decided to drive back into the city and get something different.

Just an update

Ruth didn't have a great morning yesterday, but by noon your well wishes were starting to make a difference. And it helped that the medication was kicking in too! The doctor had said that it would take 24 hours or so for the antibiotics to start to take effect, and about a week to totally get better.

While Ruth stayed home to recuperate, I went out to the park to see how I could help out.

Off to the hospital

We don't often talk about health issues, unless they directly affect our travels. And really, we don't have any health issues. We're both healthy and in good condition and neither one of us take any medications for anything.

So when something goes wrong, it's a bit frustrating.

Back at Cabri, Saskatchewan

Yesterday we did the long drive from Calgary, Alberta to Cabri, Saskatchewan. It's not a really exciting drive, and we wanted to do it all in one day. So we stuck to the main 4 lane highway.

It certainly could have been more interesting to use some back roads, but it would have taken at least an extra hour and a half, and as it was it took six hours. That's enough for us.

Smooth flight to Calgary

We had an uneventful flight to Calgary. Everything right on schedule. Arrived at 10:30am local time. A little chilly, at 7C (45F) though!

We hopped in an Uber from the airport to the car rental place. The Uber was pricier than expected, at $37 CAD, ($27 USD) for the 22 km (13.6 mile) ride, but it still made more sense than taking the local bus. And, our car rental is so cheap that we could justify the convenient but pricey Uber ride.

On our way to Calgary

We are at Ottawa airport as I write this, waiting for our four hour and twenty minute flight to Calgary. This flight was a freebie, paid for with travel point from our Visa credit card. But, I still got a deal on it because it was on sale at the time for $210 each one way so I needed to use less points to cover the fare.

We will arrive in Calgary at around 10:20am, and will likely use Uber to make our way to the car rental place located about 20 minutes from the airport.

I can't believe I'm still paying for this...

Okay, this is a long story... you better make yourself comfortable!

Some of our long time readers might remember that I (Kevin) need to get a special visa to visit the United States. I've talked about it before on this blog, but it's been a few years so I'll refresh your memory.

Ottawa River Flooding

It was a gorgeous spring day yesterday, so Ruth and I spent a fair bit of time outside. We had stayed overnight at a friends place near the Ottawa River, so we went for a walk on the paths above the shoreline.

You may have seen on the news that the Ottawa River has experienced record flooding this spring. The river flows from the north, starting at Lake Timiskaming and then making up the Ontario - Quebec border as it makes its way to the St. Lawrence Seaway at Montreal.

Visiting with some new full time RV'ers

Saturday afternoon, we went and visited with Judi and Ian, a couple we had met with a year and a half ago when they were contemplating selling their house and buying a motorhome to live in.

Now, they have done exactly that.

You probably noticed some advertising

While we've been having some downtime here, I've been getting caught up on some things that we just don't have time to do when we're off traveling. I know it's a little boring for you right now (I can tell from our lower blog statistics!), but we'll be back in the air on Wednesday and off to have more adventures.

One of those things was to look for a new advertising partner for this website.

Our new Chester luggage

I promised to tell you about our new carry on luggage. It's quite a different style compared to the backpack type we had been using since 2012. But the backpack style ones were getting pretty rough looking, having traveled with us to somewhere around twenty different countries since we got them.

And, with airlines getting more and more strict about the size and weight of carry on luggage, we figured it would be in our best interests to look for something that is specifically designed for that purpose.

Cold start to May

Yesterday, May 1st, the high reached 4C (39F). With sleet, freezing rain, and some snow flakes. Definitely an abnormal start to the month up here in Ottawa, Canada. Still, we managed to get out for a hike in the morning with Bob and Denise (they were on the last Mexico RV trip with us) before the precipitation started.

They arrived on Tuesday afternoon, and it was actually quite a nice day.

April Expenses

Well, you can tell we're not in Mexico any more!

But despite that, our expenses for the month came in about where we expected. We spent a total of $2,155 CAD ($1,630 USD) for the month. And considering that included our flight up here and the car rental, it's not bad.

Forgot the camera!

There was a little bit of blue sky and sunshine yesterday morning, so we figured we had better get out and take advantage of it because it was not supposed to last into the afternoon.

We figured we would walk down to the washed out section of road to see if the water had gone down enough to make our way across it.

Grandma and Grandpa on the trampoline

We were 24 years old when our daughter was born, and 26 years old when our son was born. We remember saying at the time that by having our children at a relatively young age, we would have it made by the time we were 45. And that was pretty much true. In fact, we were 45 when we bought our motorhome and began an unconventional lifestyle.

Coincidentally, our daughter and her husband also had children at a relatively young age. This means that now at age 57 and active we can enjoy our grandkids and be active with them!

Australia in the winter

Speaking of winter, it's still not over here in Canada!

Most parts of Canada only get four months of good weather per year, so we are not surprised by this at all. But, we had our fingers crossed for better than this. We got spoiled by a couple of decent days last week just after we arrived here, but sure enough, the cold has returned and it looks like it's not going to get much better over the week and a half we have remaining here.

Haven't sat at a bar for a while!

Well, we took a blogging break yesterday. Doesn't happen too often, but when there's not much to write about there is no point in posting anything!

We've been spending our time visiting family and friends. On Thursday night, our daughter Lindsey took us for drinks at the pub she works at and we met some of the regulars there.

I don't think I've ever seen so much wildly churning water!

Yesterday, we went and picked up Ruth's dad and took him for a drive. It's been a long winter in this area, and they don't get out often enough at the senior's home. So we figured he would enjoy a change of scenery and some fresh air.

It was chilly though... only a high of 9C (48F) and a brisk wind.

We're obviously up here too early!

The snow is pretty much gone in this area. Or so we thought! Sure, you can still see the odd patch here and there... but it's pretty much gone.

Yesterday we drove over to the Morris Island Conservation area to go for a hike.

Booked yet another flight ticket!

A nice spring day yesterday with sunshine and a high of about 18C (64F). So, better to get some work done outdoors.

We're staying here at Ruth's dad's house, but her father doesn't live here anymore. He's at a senior's home in town where his meals are made for him and he gets some personal care. But, just because nobody is living in the house doesn't mean that things don't have to get done.

Hanging out with the grandkids

Our daughter Lindsey and her husband Justin were headed back to the city, but grandkids Cameron and Sadie wanted to stay with grandma and grandpa! That's fine with us, so we spent the afternoon with them, and brought them to their parents again at my sister's place before dinner.

But, they did take Chester the dog with them!

The water level is higher than I've ever seen it!

First thing on the agenda yesterday was to pick up our transportation. We're here for 16 days and there's always lots of visiting to be done so we needed a car. I started looking for a car rental as soon as we booked the flight back at the end of January.

Car rental prices change regularly, so you have to check regularly. Also, when you make a booking, you can cancel that booking without penalty. So you need to book the cheapest you can find, and then continue to look in case a better deal comes along.

Austin to Ottawa... the scenic route!

Well, we are back "home" in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Despite the fact that we haven't spent very much time here in the last 12 years, we still consider it home.

Let me tell you how we got here...

Reflecting on our Mexico RV Caravan trip

We've had a couple of weeks now to think about this most recent Mexico RV trip. This was the third RV caravan group that we have led through Mexico, and it continues to be a learning experience for us.

Let me give you some background. The first trip we did in February of 2016 was just a trial run. We took over another group for 30 days.

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If you weren't going down... you were going up!

We had read about a good biking road that runs between Bastrop State Park and Buescher State Park. So when we checked into our campsite here, I asked the lady in the office about it and she used the word "grueling".

But, we decided to give it the old college try. First, we made a detour back to the office to check on moving sites for tonight. We mentioned we were off to do the bike road between the parks, and this lady used the word "challenging".

New luggage for our trip!

Yesterday we moved from Lockhart State Park to Bastrop State Park. Along the way, we met up with Tom at his land where he has volunteered to look after Sherman while we are gone. While we were with Tom and his dog Nizza (rhymes with pizza!) Tom presented us with a couple of packages.

We had an offer from a luggage manufacturer to try out a couple of fairly high end carry on suitcases. Our backpack style luggage that we've been using since 2012 is starting to look pretty beat up, and we were getting close to needing something new, so we took them up on their offer, and they shipped them to Tom!

Planning for Australia

I mentioned the other day that I've recently been spending a fair bit of my internet time planning for our upcoming Australia trip.

We bought the flight tickets back at the end of November last year, but other than buying an RV, we had been waiting until our Mexico RV trip was over before doing any more planning. We arrive in Melbourne on May 18th.

Short drive to Lockhart State Park

Strange weather yesterday... a little bit of everything. The day started with some rain when we woke up at the skydiving airport. So we waited that out until 10:00am or so, and then hit the road north towards the town of Lockhart.

We popped into the Walmart to get a couple of things, and we were getting such a good wifi signal in the motorhome that we just stayed put and did some free internet time.

Palmetto State Park and Skydiving.

This area of Texas is so different from the typical scrub brush landscape that you between the San Antonio and Laredo area. Nice and green, with trees!

We had spent Thursday night at Palmetto State Park, and we were trying for the Friday night as well, but they were sold out. The ranger told us to come back to the office around noon and see if there were any cancellations.

Only one week left in Texas

Time seems to be ticking quickly... a week from today we fly to Ottawa.

Yesterday, we made our way from San Antonio to Palmetto State Park.

When I was planning our route, there was no easy way to get out of San Antonio without using the Interstate. We see no joy in driving on the Interstate highways, especially around or through a big city.

18 Miles (30 kms) worth of exercise

We set out on the bicycles early yesterday morning. They were calling for a hot day here in San Antonio, and various reports said the temperature got up to 95F (35C)... so yes, it was a hot one!

Anyhow, we knew to get out there early if we wanted to enjoy the bike ride. We set out at about 8:45am.

The San Antonio Missions

Yesterday morning around 11:00am, we headed out of Choke Canyon State Park, and north towards the city of San Antonio.

With an 86 mile (136 km) drive ahead of us, I figured that we would arrive around 1:00pm, just in time for lunch.

A nice stay here at Choke Canyon State Park, but two days is enough.

Yesterday morning, I took the bikes off and we went for a nice 15 km (9 mile) ride around the park.

We stopped in at the front office to ask about the alligators. There are signs warning of them, but we haven't seen any. The lady said "there's lots of them!", but she also said there needs to be a couple of really warm days in a row for them to come out of the water and sun themselves.

But, we did see lots of different birds...

What a storm that was!

Yesterday morning it rained from around 5:00am to 10:00am. We had been parked up behind the Fairgrounds buildings near the town of George West and we were on high ground so didn't have any problems.

But when we left, and headed to Choke Canyon State Park, we saw that some areas, including the park, did have some problems.