ANNNNND.....WE'RE BACK!

Miss us?!

WoW! We sure missed you all! Ok - so it IS possible to live without the internet on a daily basis for six months but it sure isn't a whole lot of fun. I realize that we ALL used to live without it but really - now that we have the internet it is tough to do without it. I don't know how many times Derek and I wanted to quickly look something up. Without it or satellite TV - our stay at Lea Park - out in the country - was very errr - detached.

Anyway, that is all behind us now. We are back! Say that in one of those scary voices! We were to leave the park in the morning but since we were all ready to go we decided to head into the city and stay where for the first night - why in a Home Depot of course. This was we can get all of our errands done early and be on the road in good time. We have about six or seven hours to make so we needed the head start.

The last few days at the Park were busy with last minute projects and touch ups on the van. Then came the packing, loading and finally today the cleaning of the cabin. Always sad at the end.

We were glad to have a nice and fairly warm weekend. Last night we finished off with a complete walk of the golf course. Something we haven't done all summer - not since May. It sure has changed - so so so beautiful with the fall colours.

Keeping Cassia entertained - can you believe this is the first time we tried this. We were always unsure where Cassia would end up with Rufus in charge of her destiny. But he did well, can't wait to try this out with a sled. Well, yes we can wait. 

Yup -  he did start getting a bit fast for her!

While I was taking those pictures I decided on one last look at the cabin. 

It was a bit grey last night while we walked the course but not too cold. It was a very nice 1 1/2 hour walk. Not sure if we will miss the fall colours down in the States.

It looks a bit different from the last time I took this picture back in May.

Where's Rufus!

Nice - right?!

Love love love fall colours. We were really impressed with the selection down in our valley here.

And so - here I am sitting on our new sofa in the van. I have to say that I am mighty impressed already - guess we'll have to see tonight how our new double bed works out for Derek and I. Cassia is already asleep in her new bunk bed. Lucky kid - what a cozy little nook.

So - I guess it is time for me to spill the beans - right?!

Where the heck are we going this winter anyway!!!!!

Well, we are headed south - ha! Funny I know. But it is true - south - then east and then south again. Yup - we are headed to the southeastern states of the USA. Were we there before? Yup - the winter before last - we traveled to Florida via Texas and the states in-between. 

This year - we are doing the trip a little differently. Our first destination state is South Dakota with a quick tour of Deadwood and area - including Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse of course. Then it is pretty much straight south until we hit Dodge City. Not really a must see but since we are headed that way I'm pretty excited to stop in as I read a lot of Westerns. 

From there - east - over to Branson Missouri - why Branson - well because we are going that way. Guess we may as well stop in and see what all of the talk is about this place. 

Then on to Kentucky. We are really hoping the weather holds our for us there because we want to take a good look around - we have never been. Mammoth Caves and of course Dinosaur World close by are on the list - but I have also found some neat little towns to take in and hopefully we can find some music. I think a stop in to see Loretta Lynn's home is warranted. 

From Kentucky a short trip through West Virginia and over to Virginia to get us on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We know that the facilities will be closed but we are very self contained and hope to do a lot of hiking. Again, we just need the weather to hang in there a bit. But not to worry if it doesn't - the van is totally insulated now!

We'll take the Parkway down to Asheville, North Carolina where we a hooking up with friends Curt and Debbie Crist. If you have been following us for awhile there names may be familiar - we met up with them the last time we were in Florida. This time we will be visiting them at their home and Church. Here we'll take a little side trip over to Tennessee - Dollywood anyone?

Then on to South Carolina - I'm thinking that it would be nice to spend Christmas in the Charleston to Savannah area. Can't wait to see these southern cities. And - back to the beach!

Florida is on tap for January - because - well - we do still want to have some warmth this winter. Fingers crossed for a warm one this year. We are very excited to return to some of our favourite places in Florida - like Micanopy of course --- ahhhhh Micanopy. And Plant City too - where we can once again almost live at the Strawberry Palace and visit more good friends - Barbara and Terry.

And then?! Well, home again. We are not exactly sure at the moment where are path will lead but it will undoubtedly include Texas - right?! And Colorado. Oh - and a stop in to see our good friends in Nampa, Idaho - we missed them both in the spring and now again in the fall.

Many miles to cover over the next six months - our last trip to Florida came in at 10,000 miles and $3,000 in gas - we'll see what we can come up with for this trip. At least we have a swanky newly renovated van to take us there in style.

So - are you up for the trip!?!

We sure would like to hear for you about must see places. Please pass on any advice you have for these areas as many of them will be new to us. 

Excited?! 

I know we are. We like NEW!

That's all for me tonight. I have a limited battery and some serious surfing to do. 

Posting will still be touch and go for the next week or so. We are on our way to visit with some friends for the remainder of the week and the Thanksgiving weekend. We won't be hitting the border until mid week. Fingers crossed that we make it through - it's always a bit of a challenge for us. 

Teresa

WE'RE ALMOST DONE!

Yes, we are here - surfacing again - out from the park into the big city of Lloydminister! 

Actually, other than our drive through next Tuesday - and inevitably stopping for something - this is our LAST shopping trip here - ever! Pretty excited about that - this just isn't our kind of place.

Well, haven't we been busy - paint, paint and more paint. We have been VERY busy with our interior van renos. Good thing we are just finishing up because the weather has taken a drastic turn for the worst - cold and wet. 

The GREAT news?! Only five days left at the park - yup - back on the road next Tuesday. Lots to do between now and then though - packing and cleaning. Just a few days right now of some R&R with all of us down with colds. 

A final paint job - finishing off the hood of the van. It just didn't seem right off white - so it got the rocker guard and green treatment also.

A little afternoon amusement for my girl and I. Cassia had a good time decorating cupcakes - I think she enjoyed that much more than eating them. That's my girl - a baker in the making.

We just had to share our favourite place in Lloydminister this summer. Do we love food trucks - or trailers or do we love them. With all of our jaunts in for building supplies we were glad that Michelle and gang were parked in the Canadian Tire parking lot. Can't get much better than the poutine here. Hmmm - is a food trailer of our very own in our future? Maybe ... maybe. 

With warm daytime temperatures last week Cassia and I got a few walks in around the park. 

This one is for you Brenda!

Looking back at our cabin.

The three of us also took a walk after dinner - actually the four of us - of course Rufus came along.

A common sight these last few weeks - we'll meet you there!!!

A quick visit down to the river - Cassia's favourite spot this summer.

WoW - an actual shot of Cassia sitting somewhat still! 

Cassia occupying herself on our front lawn while we are doing what? Why working in the van of course.

And HERE is a sneak peak! I'll do a complete before and after once we have internet more often. It was sure a lot of work but we are pretty happy with the outcome. And just wait until you see our new floors. 

And Cassia's bunk so far - I had great dreams of painting a dinosaur scene but it isn't happening this year - thanks to Grandma for sending along these stickers. Cassia's ceiling is filled with the stars and planets that glow thanks to Dad. We let Cassia stay up a little later the other night so that she could see them in the dark. Pretty neat.

And another shot of the exterior now complete.

No rain the other night but a VERY bright rainbow off to the north. Too bad it didn't photo as good as it looked.

Just out of the bath!

And so our time here at Lea Park is almost complete. 

We are excited about moving on next week - another summer behind us. 

Sorry, another post without letting you know about our winter travels. That will just have to wait a little bit longer. Meanwhile we are busy trying to get all of our paperwork done. Not that easy being in another province - you would think that we were in another country!

All the best to our travel friends that are already hitting the road! We'll see you - or read about you - soon!

Teresa

A SIMPLE PLAN...

That's all it was - a simple plan for the exterior of the van to remove the ugly pin stripping. Things got a whole lot more complicated over the next three weeks until there wasn't even much of a plan anymore - just reactions to each step that didn't go according to plan.

But first - because of a little oops moment inside the van, Derek needed to fix the fiber glass on the exterior at the front. I probably shouldn't go into much more detail since I most likely shouldn't be mentioning it here at all. All I'll say is that one should always make sure that the screw is SHORTER than what is being screwed into - right?! Enough said.

Derek's patching of the fiber glass in progress - bondo and sanding is the next step. He also sprayed rock guard on the front and then paint of course. Allllllll because he screwed up - literally - his words. (Update - just want to let you know that there were in fact only 5 little pin holes in the fiber glass - but since Derek was filling those he decided to patch the whole front.)

While we were thinking of the pin stripping, and looking around at the rust that has developed here and there around the van.....

Look what we found lurking behind the bubbling paint!!! And not one.....

but TWO significant holes. All it took to get rid of these babies was metal mesh, bondo, sanding, fiber glass mesh, more bondo, more sanding, painting. Sadly, I didn't take a picture of the final result but it turned out pretty darn good if we do say so ourselves - bet you couldn't find them now. Not bad for VERY non auto body people - as you'll see below. (You may want to stop reading now Kevin - this may be a bit painful for you! Yes, yes, we know - this is best left to the professionals! But we are far to frugal for that!)

So anyway, NOW back to the pin stripping problem. Again, a lack of pictures - sorry about that. I guess I was trying NOT to document the whole sad experience.

We first chose an automobile spray paint to COVER the pin stripping. OK - not necessarily the best way to go but all we were committed to at the time. Hmmmm - that probably would have been ok if we had chosen the right colour. Unfortunately, we liked Arizona Beige more on the lid of the can than what came out. 

We could have just painted over that - right?! Yup - we could have - and should have - but then we got some of that advice from someone else that you always wish you had just ignored. Apparently, it is easy to sand the pin stripping off. Oh ya?!!! Well, ok. 

And how do you sand off automotive paint and pin stripping? Well, you just find a sanding disc that fits on your drill and away you go. No - that's not what you do - but it is what we did. Hey, did you know that this way the sand paper sticks to the spinning pad so that you can't get it off and therefore can't use more sand paper to feather the edges - yup - that's what it does. 

It doesn't look so bad does it? That's what we thought - plus the primer will fix the rest - right?! Nope - it doesn't and didn't. Oh great - now we have a swirly rough surface.

AND - now that we have such a large area sanded - why not paint the whole bottom of the van?! 

Sigh.

Cassia's about the only one smiling through this ordeal. Not really a commercial for frog tape although it did work really well by the way - she was much more happy with a new container for all her little bits.

The fact that the ponies were back next to the quonset where we were doing the work on the van helped us convince her to come with us each day.

We've been getting a lot of fog recently - here is the sun from a few days ago. Interestingly, we have had more nice days so far in September than we have all summer. Thank goodness for that!

Anyway, back to our project. FINALLY the side panels were painted - black rock guard on the bottom and a lovely Italian Olive on the side. I know, I know - one step away from a military vehicle as we have heard from one person - when was the last time the military used 'Italian Olive' that's all I have to say. And - what's wrong with military green anyway?!! Yes - those legs belong to yours truly.

I was busy on our new plan - call us C R A Z Y - but we decided to fix the swirly side of the van with birds - and one bird - we chose a Raven - turned into many birds. Here's me painting a Raven on the front. What did we do with the side of the van - well we painted a few hundred flying Raven's of course! And by the way - we used Tremclad Hammered black paint for the birds - pretty neat - it gives a dimpled shiny texture. It goes well with the 40 grit sandpaper scratches that now looks like wind turbulence from the flying Ravens. Yup - that's the story effect we were going for! It's ours and it's our artwork! 

So there she, he, it - is!!!! Good from far but far from good. We suppose that Caballito doesn't fit so well. A new name is in order - how about Raven. Yup - Raven it is!

Just rolled out from the quonset last night at supper time - just in time for our trip today into Lloydminister for more supplies and groceries.

Odd? Neat? Crazy? Hmmmmm. Well, it doesn't matter - we like it!

One of the workers staying at our park that has been watching our progress said "Well, you are making it your own." Compliment? Not sure but definitely the truth. We have made our van our own for sure - we won't get lost in a crowd now - if we ever did!

Our front Raven in the moon light. It didn't turn out exactly as I had planned - I look back at my sketches and realize that I made some changes - oh well - maybe I'll get back up there one day. Or not.

Derek also put on three coats of flex coat to the roof to protect the fiberglass. This is the stuff that is for RV roofs - we figured we might as well add it too.

AND

Our BRAND new purchase?!!!!

Drum roll, please........

Our very own 2014 5'x8' cargo trailer!!!!

Definitely a bonus - and a luxury - in the world of the Wood Clan, but even we have to admit that living in a camper van with a kid, husky and cat in addition to the two of us is a tiny bit cramped. So this winter trip we are sporting this little number - a worthwhile investment we think. Plus, all things point to the fact that we got a good deal at $2,700. We were VERY well taken care of by the people that sold it too us over in Vegreville at the 4 C's Trailer Direct. We are happy to pass there website to you.

And, well, that's what we have been up to these last few weeks. All of the humming and hawing over the exterior totally took over our renovation project. We are glad that it is finally done since we still have lots of work to do inside!

If all goes ok with the weather we should be at the Park until the middle of October. The cabin water lines are only a foot deep so when they have to be shut off so does the rest of the park. We are estimating a October 15th leaving date. Update: nope - out of here Oct.8 - yahooooooo!!!!!!!

Guess we'll have to fill you in on this winter's destination soon!

Teresa