Our New Life

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The Adventure

The dream. How many people have been at work thinking….Sell everything, get a RV, and hit the road. Sounds easy. It actually took us 2 months to do it, selling a home of 18 years, finding storage for the things you want to keep (just in case you want that old life back). Then arranging insurance on all that, and your health. Not to mention the emotional roller coaster this all sends you on. We have finally hit the road.

Day 1

We left Winnipeg, family and friends to stay with my parents in Portage la Prairie on Nov 11th, anxious to beat the snow loaming on the Canadian prairies.

Day 2

Unable to sleep we tried to sneak out of my parents at 3:30 AM to go to Calgary. Even now we were unable to walk quietly enough to get out of their house unnoticed. The love of a parent obviously never stops they always have one ear out for you no matter what your age. After a tearful goodbye we were on the road at 4AM, temp 0 Celsius, no snow.
All this is important since for the 1st time we are pulling a 30 ft 5th wheel at the wrong time of the year for Canadian travel. We managed to get a break by being one day after a winter storm from Virden to Regina, so the roads were clear and managed to get to our daughters about 6:30PM in Calgary.

Day 3,4,5

The weather in Calgary was great!!! Enjoyed watching our Granddaughter figure skating, and our Grandson playing hockey. Took in a beautiful Christmas craft show at Spruce Meadows with my daughter and granddaughter. After watching everyone decorate their Christmas tree I realized I will not be doing that for the 1st time in 37 years. This is definitely a life changing event!!! On Monday the skies were clear and even though there was weather warnings for the next day we chose to stay and enjoy one more day with our daughter and shopped for Christmas presents.

Day 6

Left Calgary in a snow storm, to wait it could mean a week before it was safe to go and then the forecast to the south did not look promising. We only made it to Shelby, Montana and it took us 10 hours crawling through snow and icy roads. We were told at the border the road ahead was closed so we cold not go any further than Great Falls. We were both emotionally exhausted and a warm bed sounded great.

Day 7

Woke to even more snow and according to the forecast today was just a start it was going to get worse the next day and a threat of a huge storm was on the way for the following day. We had no choice but to go now or be stuck in this little town for a week. The roads were solid ice and visibility was poor all the way to Butte Montana. I would like to talk about the scenery and how beautiful this state is but my eyes never left the road. There are mountain passes along I15 that made for very treacherous driving. Once we arrived at Butte it was warmer and the roads were just wet. Now we just had one more pass to get though at Monida which we had been warned, the roads were always bad.
Since we appeared to be almost out of the snow I started to relax, thinking this is
it we are finally on the road and it is going to be great. Then Bang, and a horrible dragging sound 10 miles for Monida. We looked at each other and I looked out of the window to see the fender of the 5th wheel dragging on the highway. Ron stopped as fast as he could and pulled over. He got out to look and then came up to my window we are
!@#$%, the whole side of the trailer is wreaked and the tire has exploded. I got out to look, it was devastating. There we stood shivering, side by side, staring at our dream and wondering, now what!!! No, I did not cry, you do not cry when you’re in shock. Instead I walked back 150 yards kicking all the rubber off the highway and picking up any pieces of trailer I thought salvageable. I wondered why nobody stopped, Ron by now had the flashers on and he was under the trailer. When I finally got back to the trailer a young man pulled up in a pickup with an 800lb dead buffalo in the box that he just shot. He helped Ron get things patched up with duck tape and twist ties. They got the spare on so we could drive to the small town of Lima; obviously blown tires are common on this highway, because pop157 had 2 tire repair shops in one block. We needed a lot of repairs underneath and a new spare, the fellow there came out and fixed everything on the street and only charged us $132.00, the amazing part was he had all the parts. Now 2 hours later it is 5PM and we still have to face Monida Pass. Obviously the powers that be decided we had enough for 1 day and melted all the snow as it was dry with only one or two spots of drifting snow and ice. We safely got though and spent the night in Idaho Falls.


Day 8.

Really, an uneventful day, just driving. The roads were dry and we watched as the temperatures gradually got warmer 17 to 20 by the time we got to Salt Lake City. It is a pleasant drive through Utah, the road is in a valley with mountains on both sides. The views beautiful even in late fall. In Salt Lake the leaves are still on the trees and have turned to their fall colours so it made it quite pretty, apparently they are going to get a snow storm tomorrow so it made the whole area seem bittersweet.

There is a small strip of Arizona that you drive through to Nevada and it was the worst part of the trip. Beautiful to some as it is a steady down hill winding drop through the mountains, but for me afraid of heights and bridges it was a nightmare. I was so upset by the time I got to Mesquite Nevada I had a migraine; I guess the whole trip down here caught up with me. Great adventuress!!!!

We parked the 5th wheel and stayed in a Casino and enjoyed a good prime rib(not as great as my daughters). Of course we did not win and money, and will not stay at Virgin River casino again. They advertise 24.99 a night for 90 miles and free breakfast. We were charged 49.99 and got only 1 free breakfast children running up and down the stairs and a cold shower in the morning.

Day 8

The new life officially begins!!!!! We found a Walmart, bought groceries and a pay as you go cell phone(best deal ever!!!),moved our trailer to Casablanca Casino RV Resort,
$22 a night and it has everything. We flushed the lines on the 5th wheel,unpacked and organized. We had dinner in the casino, played some games and got a little lightheaded from too many Bloody Marys. We are enjoying this so much we are staying another night.

Day9

Sleeping in our own bed and having all our stuff around is good for the soul. Ron was up early and went to the laundry here in the RV resort and was back in time to perk a fresh pot of coffee. We are enjoying a quiet day here in Mesquite.

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