roadquill1

February 7, 2017

Greetings to our families and friends!
We have now spent our first two days with “The Wizard” (our travel guide in New South Wales), Nicki Vance, in the Land of Oz. Nicki has, most thoroughly, investigated our travelling hopes, and has anticipated our needs with a variety of exploration options for Sydney, Tuross and Canberra. We feel very secure after being overwhelmed by travel guides from the library.

Our flights were comfortable, and neither of us experienced much in the way of jet-lag, so after missing January 31 as we crossed the International Dateline, we began our stay with Nicki: a driving tour around Sydney, a lengthy walk around a historical mental institution (now closed, so the question of my possible admittance had to be abandoned) to the waterfront nearby, lunch at the UTS Rowing Club, a brief shopping trip where I purchased a Telstra SIM card and cell plan and then home to catch up on some snooze time. A BBQ evening dinner closed off the day.

Day 2 Thursday, February 2

Today was a “tour Sydney Harbour” day so via buses, harbour ferries, 12 km of walking and an LRT ride in rather comfortable overcast mid-20’s temperatures, we wandered around Sydney harbour. This included a walk around the Sydney Opera House, Botanical Gardens, a ferry ride out to Watson Bay for a climb to the Gap (South Head) cliffs overlooking the ocean to the south, and luncheon of fish and chips at a beach-front restaurant. Back at the Rocks (downtown), we strolled under the Harbour Bridge, (the climb to the top was out of the question since it costs are as high as the bridge itself!) around Dawes Point and to the top of Barangaroo Reserve (a garden on top of a concrete dome built on the old wharves). We finally gave our feet a break at a waterfront cafe that served cold drinks. A light-rail took us back to Lilyfield for a BBQ supper and welcome retirement.

Day 3: Friday, February 3

The air-conditioning in the car cooled us a bit as Nicki took us on another tour of Sydney out to Bondi, Tamarama and Bronté Beaches. We parked and walked the beautiful trail from the cemetery at the western end (cemeteries seem to get beautiful view real estate here) to Bondi for luncheon, and then back. Humidity and heat were both high, and getting back into AC in the car was welcome after our 9km stroll. (Temps were up to high 20’s today…and I’m NOT complaining given the weather reports coming out of the lower BC mainland and Island!) This day had the most blue sky we have seen, but it is hazy.

Day 4: Saturday, February 4

The day began with a visit to the local Saturday market in the Elementary school grounds. After coffee we packed up and then headed south towards Tuross Head – a 6 hour coastal drive. This beautiful beach town has been a long-time vacation spot for the Vance family. We stopped several times, and ventured into the heat outside the vehicle (up to 32C occasionally).

We arrived at the cabin at about Happy Hour, got settled, and then headed over to a Coila Lake fishing marina and café for fish and chips. By dark we were ready to call it quits for the day. The air was still, and quite warm, and a very small surf rolled onto the beach beside us. 

Day 5: Sunday February 5

On the deck in the lovely morning, we enjoy the visits of brightly coloured parrots…rainbow lorikeets, and crimson rosellas. We walked around the Head for morning coffees at the marina, and spotted our first “Roos” – 2 kangaroos in a vacant lot on our way back. Next, it was swim time in what Nicki refers to as “very flat” water (however the waves were big enough to knock us over!) Her comment when we saw other swimmers in ahead of us…”Good! There’s other shark bait!” Then, home to lunch, lounge and dolphin display offshore. Relaxed reading afternoon while seeing another kangaroo cross the pathway below us. After a game of bananagram in the evening we shut down until wild electrical storm woke us in the middle of the night. 

Day 6: Monday, February 6

There are still some showers around after last night’s incredible display, but it is mild, if not a bit muggy. Internet weather for Canberra indicates very high temps in the 30’s so we’ll hold off heading there until later in the day.   

We walked to the cafe, and then back, to put about 10km under our sandals. We saw 2 more kangaroos, kangaroo tracks on the beach, and lots of “roo poo” on our cabin lawn. They’re everywhere! 

It was time to pack, clean and leave. Nicki chose the coastal roads and we saw some beautiful beaches until we took King’s Highway to Canberra. We climbed and climbed (and temperatures fell) until we were into rain and heavy, pea-soup fog near the summit. Then, we found clearer air and higher temperatures to 31C as we reached Canberra. 

Day 7: Tuesday, February 7

Today was Canberra tour day. We began with a drive to the top of Mt. Ainslie for a high view of the whole city, and its pre-planned design layout. Then we drove around the main highlight areas, including the Parliament buildings, embassy row, and the design heart of the city – its lakes and parks. We toured the Arboretum (and hiked the cork oak plantation), had Turkish kebabs (donairs) in a park by a lake, hiked past several mobs of kangaroos, borrowed a couple of bikes from Nicki’s friends for a ride tomorrow, and had a very full day!

It is time to publish this, and get it off my chest…er…iPad!

For those who have persevered through to the end…thank-you! For those who didn’t…well, you didn’t finish and neither will I!

Love and best wishes to all, and may warm rains soon wash the white from the roads and driveways on Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland.

The Quilter and the Quill (Sandy and Tony)

P.S. It takes too much time and effort to add pictures on this blog, so I am posting them on Facebook and Instagram.

January 9, 2017

Hello dear Family and Friends,

This is just a quick test of the viability of connections that were in place over a year ago when I posted my last entry upon our return from Alaska, and to see if you are paying attention. We are, once again, getting restless!

It has been quite some time since Sandy and I embarked on a road adventure of any significance, but we are now getting ready for a trip that will take us south of the Equator for the first time in our lives! In 3 weeks, we leave for an extended visit to Australia and New Zealand, and will cap the trip off with a 10 day stay in the Cook Islands.

This adventure will involve visits with our dear friend Nicki Vance in Sydney, good friends in Eden, family members in the Gold Coast region, and a stay in New Zealand with a transplanted Nanaimoite who has been a part of Sandy’s social group for many years. Technically speaking, I guess, this isn’t a “road trip” in our traditional “Truck House” mode, but we do plan on vehicle renting and seeing these “bucket-list” countries via roadmaps and GPS! So, Truck House will get a rest until we return. We looked into renting camper vehicles, but costs seemed to be incredibly high, so we abandoned that plan.

We look forward to sharing this adventure with you all, and hope that you will “hang in” there with us.

Best wishes for all the best in 2017, and much love to all!

Tony (the Quill) and Sandy (the Quilter)

At my last posting I suggested that we would be bringing our northern experience rains with us back to the lower mainland. Watch for it!

We had a couple of scary moments on the highway from Prince George towards Cache Creek. The first happened as we approached a sharp bend to the right. We were behind another truck and camper travelling south at 100 kph, when a transport truck came roaring north around the corner and halfway over into our lane. There couldn’t have been much of a gap between vehicles as we corrected sharply to our right. We made it.

The second incident didn’t involve us, but after climbing the hill south out of 100 Mile House, a police car with all lights flashing caught and passed us. A few miles later we came upon the reason – a pickup truck on its side with a large fifth wheel smashed alongside it in the ditch to our right. It was a shocking reminder of the sudden and horrifying consequences of loss of control.

We were happy to locate a gorgeous lakeside site at Loon Lake – about 20 km east off the highway just north of Cache Creek. We watched from our anti-gravity chairs as hundreds of small trout caught air above a very still lake surface – and did not bother them with fishing lures. No rain since Vanderhoof, and we finally caught up to some very warm weather.

On Wednesday, we had smooth sailing until we reached Abbotsford, but then something ahead of us stalled the flow, and highlighted how much we dislike travelling on the lower mainland! We opted for a side road through to Fort Langley. After an evening and follow-up morning of catching up on family news, we finally headed for home – with the weather forecasts proving that we were very correct – the rain will hit the lower mainland and Vancouver Island – big time – tomorrow. Although this area needs the big wet, I am sorry that I was correct in my prediction, and that it followed us – arriving on a weekend!

We are glad to be home. Since late August of last summer, We drove 10,020 km in the past 40 days, and saw an awful lot of beautiful country. In the past 12 months, we have driven approximately 27,000 km and have had the pleasure of sharing those long distances and incredible vistas with you – through Alberta, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Colorado, BC, Alaska and the Yukon! In that time, Sandy and I have spent 90 nights in Truck House – essentially one-quarter of a year! I appreciated your responses to my notes, and hope that you will continue to follow our travels – whenever, and wherever they take us next.

Much love and appreciation to all, and please stay in touch!

Sandy, the Quilter, and Tony, the Quill

ps I lost track of the number of quilt shops that we visited…all for good cause!

Dear family and friends,

We are looking forward to arriving back on the lower mainland (Fort Langley) on Wednesday afternoon. Although we had no expectations of seeing anything new on the way home, we were surprised a bit just before we arrived at Mezziadin Lake Campground. On two separate occasions, we saw black bears near the edge of the road. At Mezziadin, we lucked into a waterfront site, in no rain conditions! We hauled out our anti-gravity chairs, and began to enjoy the quiet bliss of the water view. However, before long the dropping temperatures drove us inside.

As Sandy prepared supper, I read, and when she placed a plate in front of me, I made the first mistake of asking, “What is that?” (I actually meant it as a reasonable question, as I recognized it as a quinoa salad with cut tomatoes, cucumbers, and lettuce, but it didn’t look as if there were any meat in the supper preparation, so, “What is that?” was meant as a short form of “Is there more?”) My second mistake was in repeating the “What is that?”, and probably putting more emphasis on “THAT”, than I should have. The icy glare that resulted chilled the salad even more, and I should have taken the hint, but I pushed my luck by asking, “What about meat?” The cold leftover meatloaf wrapped in tinfoil landed on my plate with a thud. After pleading my case, and commenting on how delicious the meal was, things returned to chummy, and we were able to move on.

After supper we opted for a stroll around the campground, and near the entrance way to the campground, I suddenly heard a fair bit of rustling in the dense bushes about 3 to 4 meters from me. We both stopped and watched for a few minutes, but the rustling got very active, and suspecting a black bear, we moved to the far side of the road. A couple of grunts later, we were assured that it was indeed a bear, and we moseyed (at pace!) a bit further down the road towards our campsite. I wanted to linger to see it, but I didn’t have my camera, so we headed back to Truck House, where I grabbed my camera and Sandy donned running shoes. (She thinks she can outrun me!)

Back up the hill, the rustling had stopped, but we crowded the edge of the road overlooking a ravine, and watched in awe as an almost adult grizzly slowly ambled away from us, pausing every few feet to test the air, and flick his ears. WOW! And I had originally planned on seeing if I could get closer. Some days, you really should take your anti-stupidity pills!

Grizzly suspects we are watching

Grizzly turns to check on our presence.

Oh, and just to continue the theme that has been running through most of my recent blogs…Yes, we had rain yesterday, during the night, and again today.  We also hear from a CBC forecast this afternoon that was discussing the weather conditions in the south. The announcer said, “Yes, we are going to see a change in the weather by the weekend.” We both expected her to follow up with, “…for, you see, Sandy and Tony Dobson are expected mid-week and bringing the cooler, wet air with them.”

New day: Tuesday, August 25… This morning, as we pack up to leave River Side RV Campground in Vanderhoof, I can report once more that our theme holds, and rain fell often during the night and the prediction is for more showers today!

Love and best wishes as always to all of you!

Sandy, the Quilter, and Tony, the Quill

p.s. As penance for my Mezziadin stupidities, I have agreed to another quilt shop visit in Prince George today.

A left-leaning church in Dawson City – the way it was meant to be!

Robert Service cabin

The Carmacks boardwalk on the Yukon River

Carmacks – looking north in the morning

“Twas on the marge…

“…of Lake Labarge…”

Hilary and Tony meet again – in Whitehorse

The dam at Whitehorse and river kayaking obstacle course

Hilltop above Whitehorse – looking southeast

Whitehorse riverboat

Yukon wilderness changes colour as summer heads south.

New blog to follow…

Tony, and Sandy