Welcome to Vancouver in January

Since we’ve been home, we’ve lived through two snowstorms, two power outages, a couple of wind storms and torrential rain. This would all be well and fine, except for we’re still living in the trailer.

We got home on Wednesday, January 3rd, and on our way to surprise some friends that night, saw a townhouse for sale not far from where we used to live. During my recuperation in the summer last year I had wandered by the complex several times and thought it would be a great place to live. We called a realtor on Friday, saw the townhouse on Sunday, talked to the bank on Tuesday, and closed the deal on Thursday. Call me impulsive. The house needs some work – but I have some time ;-)

On Friday this week we head to Calgary to visit with my cousin. The anniversary of Jack’s murder is Jan 16th, and that single awful incident kicked off a series of events in our lives that are still being felt. It’s changed me in ways I don’t even know yet. Who would have thought that on January 15th, 2006 that Jack would be gone, Laura and I would leave our jobs, I’d have bypass surgery, we’d spend 4 months traveling, and that I’d feel closer to my cousins in Alberta than I have in 30 years.

Happy New Year - 6 month update - Home Again

Hi Everybody:

First, Happy 2007! For me, I hope 2007 turns out to be slightly less eventful than 2006.

We dropped Kathryn and David off at LAX late Saturday afternoon (Dec 30), and on our drive back to the Airstream decided that we needed to take a "break" from our "break". We've seen all the places we set out to see (except Baja), and were missing our friends and family terribly. Like Dorothy said "there's no place like home". Except, of course, when home is having the worst winter (rain, snow, wind) anybody can remember. We are officially the only Snowbirds to ever go north in January.

There was a weather window of a few days (mountain passes would be bare and dry) so we left January 1st to drive home. Arrived in Vancouver on Wednesday, January 3rd - 2,000 kms and 400 litres of gas later. We'll likely take another shorted trip someplace warm in February or March (Australia, Cabo, any suggestions?).

A couple of other notes about our trip:

(1) The truck (Toyota 4Runner V8) was fantastic. Not a hiccup. Towed a 6,000 lb trailer over 16,000 kms without any trouble at all. I'm very impressed. When John D got back from Africa in November, he mentioned that we all should sell our vehicles and buy Toyota Land Cruisers and pickup trucks - that's all they have in Africa and they keep running after horrendous abuse.

(2) The trailer (Airstream CCD-25) was equally fantastic. Since we were the first owners to really "travel" with this particular trailer, there were a few bugs at first (like tightening up the city water inlet) - but nothing significant at all. It's very well built, and it still looks brand new.

(3) There's no place like home. Even though it SNOWED here overnight, we're glad to be back. The trailer is warm, comfortable, and it's our home (for now).

(4) It took a few hours, but our social calendar is full again. I love it.

Cheers!
Doug 2.1