Getting excited!

Tomorrow is my last day at work. That feels really weird - but good weird! We're doing as much packing tonight as we can because the forecast for the weekend is crappy. Highs (?) of minus 23º.
So, we've packed the dog's stuff, the "pantry", the kitchen and the library so far. Just the fridge to stock, our clothes to pack and the electronic stuff to go in. (And I'm not giving up my laptop until the very last minute.)
We still don't know where we're going, but we're almost ready to leave.

Snow slows us down

The plan for today was to pack the van with everything except the perishables. Then it started to snow - and it's still snowing - and neither of us feels like going out in it. You'd think the snow would motivate us to get ready to leave, but it's having the opposite effect. It's just too depressing. Maybe later...

Meanwhile, I've managed to make a sleeping bag liner. The sewing machine & I aren't good friends at the best of times, but now the needle has decided to shift to the side making it difficult to see where I'm sewing. I managed though. In fact if I'd thought that it would go as smoothly as it did, I might have bothered to change the thread to match the sheets, but I just assumed that I'd be doing a practice run first. The hardest part was trying to stop Dan from trying to fix the machine in the middle of the project! Back off - it's working!

Huh???

Okay, I spent hours working on the entry from Chile and Easter Island. I had the pictures all nicely spaced with the descriptions at the side, but when I published it it went all higgeldy-piggeldy. (Yes, Patrick - that is a word!) Sorry, but I'm not doing it again - you'll just have to figure it out. Any tips Melody?

Chile & Easter Island

This was the luckiest vacation ever! Everything worked out exactly as we wanted it to - not an easy task considering there were 9 stand-by flights involved! As soon as we landed in Calgary we bought lottery tickets!

Here are some of the highlights:

Lesley & Dave at the airport waiting for a flight to Toronto. We had a long wait in Toronto - about 8 hours - but when you play the stand-by game you take whichever flight is available, not the one that's most convenient.

The flight from Toronto to Santiago was about 10 hours so they didn't look quite so fresh and perky at the other end.

As soon as we arrived in Santiago, we got on a bus and headed to Valparaiso. It's on the coast about an hour and a half away. This is our B&B.

Valparaiso is built on the sides of the hills so they have these funky funiculars (like elevators) dotted around town to get up and down some of the steeper areas.

The funiculars are ancient and kinda rickety and scary-looking, but they were fun to ride in.
One of the better addresses in Valparaiso.

I'm moving to Valparaiso and opening up a paint store. They love brightly coloured houses!
No, he's not a rock star or a movie idol or even a celebrity athlete (although he does look like a wrestler dude). He's just some guy who came from nothing and made a fortune in mining. Now he wants to be the president of Chile. People were lining the street for hours hoping to catch a glimpse of him. There's a "Farkas mania" throughout Chile, but most people that we talked to think he's a joke. We didn't know who he was and couldn't have cared less, but we ran in to him not once, but twice - lucky us!
Almost as rich as Farkas!

Next stop - Punta Arenas. I arrived first thing in the morning but Dan couldn't get on the flight. He tried to get on the flight that Lesley & Dave were booked on, but that was full too. Stand-by travel often relies on other peoples misfortune (missing their flights) and sometimes it takes an act of God. This time a volcano erupted spewing ash all over a runway and closing an airport midway between Santiago & Punta Arenas. 50 people on Lesley & Dave's flight had to deplane at the last minute freeing up space for Dan....another lucky break.
Then on to Puerto Natales. A 3½ hour bus ride from Punta Arenas. Gateway to Torres del Paine National Park. They say that it's usually so foggy and rainy there that most visitors don't even see the peaks of the mountains. We are lucky again - not even a breathe of wind to ripple the reflection in the lake!

Beside some icebergs calved from a glacier.

Another spectacular look at the "Towers"

We showed up at the cruise office about 6 hours before sailing on the off-chance that they might have space available at a reasonable price on the cruise that L&D were booked on. Of course they did. We got the last cabin!

Dan demonstrating the life-vests for us non-nautical types.

There was always a bar set up at the end of each excursion to serve Scotch on the "rocks" (chunks of glacier)

"Scotch on the rocks" (Carse is a Scottish name.)

A penguin colony.

One of the trickier Zodiac landings.

Another excursion, another bar.

Pia Glacier. It was cracking like thunder and pieces were falling off like crazy.

Cape Horn.

The boat docked in Ushuaia, Argentina. We kicked around Ushuaia for the day, then flew to Buenos Aires, stayed overnight, and back to Santiago, Chile the next day to catch a flight to Easter Island.

A lei greeting at Easter Island. Dan & I arrived without reservations for a place to stay because it didn't look like we would get on the flight. (We got the last 2 seats of course) The woman that owns the place that L&D were staying at took us under her wing too. Sharon took us all on a tour of Hanga Roa (the only town on the island), found us a place to stay, lined up tours, rental car, a guide and generally treated us like VIPs. If you ever go to Easter Island - look for Sharon at the T'e Ora! She's a true gem!!! And so is her business partner Kim!!!

Our first moai. This one is actually in the middle of town. Taken with the camera with the splotches on the lens because the other one broke. Sorry Melody - no good story about the camera breaking. I think it must've gotten splashed on one of our zodiac rides.

An evening's entertainment. Hunky half-naked men and gorgeous scantily-clad women. What's not to enjoy?!

Ahu Akivi.
Our first group of moai.

The top knot guy.

The quarry where the moai were carved was probably my favourite place. There were dozens of these guys scattered all over the place. They're not just heads - the rest of the body is buried.

Still at the quarry.

They're huge!

Paul is the best guide on the island. He made the history come alive because he's part of it. He's been involved in the restoration of the moai since 1968.

He also threw the itinerary out the window and passed by a couple of sites because there were bus tours there already. He got us to the next place so we had it all to ourselves, then he doubled back later to catch the places we'd missed.

Ahu Tongariki, I think.

A truly memorable trip!

P.S.

The strangest pizza ever. Basically a ham & pineapple, but with banana and maraschino cherries.

Bye for now

Adiós para ahora. Te veré en tres semanas....

Only 2 more sleeps until we leave for Chile

Our departure to Chile has been pushed back another day. Originally it was Sunday, then it got changed to Tuesday, now it's Wednesday for sure! (Maybe)

We're packed and ready to go, but it's been tougher than usual preparing for this trip.
We always travel with just carry-on luggage. Not because we have to, but because experience shows that if it stays with you - it gets to where you're going. Remember, Dan spent many years tracing lost bags.... So, if it doesn't fit in the carry-on travel bags, it doesn't come with us.

In the south end of Chile the current temperature is 6º with 30 mph winds!! (It damn well better be as spectacular as the pictures in the guide books. ) In Santiago, it is 30º and sunny. How the heck are you supposed to pack for those extremes? Fortunately, Dan & I are the reigning champions in the packing-small-but-not-necessarily-light category. We've got everything from long johns, turtle necks, heavy fleecies and wind pants to swim-suits, t-shirts and sandals. We even managed to cram in the hiking boots, which surprised even me!

The hiking boots were a last minute decision in case we get on the "Cruise at the End of the World" that Lesley & Dave are booked on. (We weren't willing to pay the full price, so we'll only go if we can get a last-minute deal.) I had to rescue my hiking boots from out of the Sally Ann bag. Really! They've been in the trunk of my car just waiting for me to remember to drop them in the bin for about 2 weeks now. I guess that's the up-side of a bad memory - it gives you a chance to change your mind. My bag should be lighter on the way home because I don't think they'll be making the return journey.

Vincent takes a back seat

We're less than 2 weeks away from our trip to Chile and Easter Island, so planning (if you could call it that) for our trip with Vincent is on hold while we get things in order for South America.

It's a tough gig this - planning back-to-back vacations!!

Christmas comes early for Vincent

Vincent is now the proud owner of a GPS system AND sattelite radio! I'm gonna have to cull a couple of novels from the library to make room for the manuals...

Like a Clint Eastwood Movie

Took Vincent down to Carseland for an overnight test run on the weekend. Mostly to make a list of the things that we'd forgotten to pack - work gloves for wood chopping, paper towels - nothing major.

The Good:

We really noticed the extra room. There's lots of floor space for Taz to sleep so we don't have to make up a bed out of the front seats for her. I really like the easy access fridge although it's hard to tell if it's working properly or not when it's -6º outside. The water spray nozzle on the outside turned out to be really handy. (More on that later) In the old van, I couldn't make up the bed by myself because the fold-up mechanism on the bench seat was really awkward and the seat was too hard to slide back. The bed in the new van is so much easier to operate.

The Bad:

What was VW thinking when they did away with the glove compartment? Where are you supposed to stash all of the papers and the stuff that just seems to accumulate when you're out?

Sometime in the middle of the night the furnace stopped working. We were warm enough under the blankets, but we sure didn't want to get up in the morning! We're not sure if the auxilliary battery is faulty (relatively cheap fix), or if the furnace draws so much power that it'll drain even a new battery...Hmm.

Are fireworks the new camping entertainment? We were having a nice evening, sitting around a blazing fire (in our parkas), sipping on Southern Comfort and generally enjoying ourselves when someone set off a bunch of fireworks. Don't get me wrong - I love a good fireworks display, but Taz doesn't have the same appreciation for them. We spent the rest of the night trying to keep her from bolting into the darkness. I thought she was going to sprain her ears they were pulled so far back...

And The Ugly:

Got up in the morning, warmed up by another roaring fire, had a huge breakfast and went for a nice long walk. We were just hanging around the campsite enjoying the sunshine when a NASTY smell started wafting our way. There are cows not too far away, and we thought maybe the wind had shifted and was bringing the smell our way - but cows don't smell that bad. A big honking manure pile right next to your chair doesn't smell that bad! It was intermittent, so we didn't think too much of it, but as we were packing up, it seemed to get worse. There was a lot of: "PU, it's really strong over here" and "Really?, it's not so bad over here anymore". It took us a while to realize that the dog was following us around as we packed up and everywhere that she was - the smell was too!

She had rolled in something disgusting and her collar and all down one side of her was caked with it....GROSS!!! That's when we discovered just how useful that exterior water spray is. We managed to give her a partial bath, but we still had to take a detour on the way home and stop at the doggie coin-op bath in Forest Lawn.

I guess we should consider ourselves lucky that she did that at the end of the trip and not before bed-time....

All in all it was a pretty good test run. We've made a few changes to how things are organized, so I think we're just about ready for the real thing.

Still spooked - even inside the van.

Obviously taken before the "Incident"

She'd be happy if her feet never touched dry land.

Travel blogs are boring when you're not travelling

We're dying to get Vincent II on the road, but camping in a VW with a large dog is difficult enough. Camping in a VW with 2 large dogs is not something we're willing to subject ourselves to..... Gracie the poodle is staying with us while Shirley is vacationing out east, so we opted for a day trip/picnic instead of camping. We went to Carseland (We love that name!) and hung out in the sunshine for the afternoon.

Oh, the stain on the ceiling? Dan took the steam cleaner to it and we discovered that underneath the fabric, it's just cardboard! When it got wet, it buckled and sagged...Yikes! Fortunately, it dried okay. The stain has been spread around so it's slightly less noticeable, but there will be no further attempts to remove it!

Making a mountain out of a molehill

There was a dirty smudge on the fabric over the driver's seat. I'm guessing that one of the previous owners wore a black cowboy hat or else he was really, really tall. I mean REALLY tall. No, it had to have been a hat wearer because anybody that tall wouldn't have owned a Westie in the first place.
So, a couple of days ago, armed with a heavy duty cleaning solution, I attacked the smudge. I soaked, I scrubbed, I soaked and scrubbed some more and I was pretty pleased with the result while it was still wet. Unfortunately, now that it's dry it looks quite disgusting. The grubby little smudge has turned into a huge gross stain! Hmmm, I'll try again with the steam cleaner on the weekend.

Photos of Vincent II

Here are some interior shots of Vincent II





There is storage under the seat and a closet behind it. There are 2 tables at the far right edge of the picture that attach to a little rail at the top of the fridge. The front seats swivel around to face the back, so we can either sit at the front or the back or both and have tables either way.



There isn't a lot of storage space, but we travel light. Our pans & bowls all nest together, so there's room for everything that we need.

I guess I could've wiped down the sink and stove before I took the picture...

As in the other van, the stainless steel flap folds down to act as a drainboard or up to be a backsplash for cooking. We don't often cook inside anyway (only if it's cold or rainy), but it's nice to be able to make a cup of tea in the morning - from bed.

Guess who's afraid of the new van?

Hint: She's large and red and furry and afraid of her own shadow!

Anyone that's met Taz will not be surprised to hear this:
The van is in the garage. Taz got within 3 feet of it, then turned tail and ran to the back door and scratched to get in. Dunno who she thought was going to let her in - Dan & I were both sitting in the van at the time.

Meet Vincent II

Dan likes the sound of Vincent II. He says it reminds him of Clarence Williams III from the Mod Squad. (Sorry, kids - you had to have been born prior to the '60's to get that reference.)

We just got home from picking up the new van. Here are a couple of quick pictures. They aren't great as we were running out of daylight.

It's a 1997 VW Winnebago Eurovan with 97,500 miles (yes, miles) on it. From a distance it looks perfect, but up close there is evidence of bondo work and a slightly mis-matched paint cover-up. But as my Aunty Hilda used to say: "A blind man would be glad to see it." The fridge that I was so excited about doesn't appear to work, so that'll have to be repaired right away, and it needs a bit of cleaning on the inside, but nothing major. It has an extra passenger seat that is removable, so as soon as we get that out of the way, I can take pictures of the inside.

Lightening speed purchase

Holy crap - that happened fast!!! We bought the van in Calgary that we looked at yesterday!

Those of you who know Dan, are probably in shock at this news. For those who don't, let me explain that Dan is a world class researcher. He puts more effort into investigating all of the pros and cons of any purchase than anybody you'll ever meet. He is painstakingly thorough. That's not a bad thing, he reigns in my "It's pretty, I'll take it" instinct, and he's saved us a lot of headaches with his diligent investigations. We have friends that don't buy anything new without consulting Dan first because they know that he's read every scrap of information available on the subject. What kind of laptop should you buy? Ask Dan.

So, that being said, you'll know that it's VERY unusual for something this big to happen this fast in our house.
We're quite excited about it, considering that yesterday we didn't really care one way or the other. Dan's only complaint is that we bought & installed the new awning for Old Vincent and didn't even get to use it. We don't pick up New Vincent until tomorrow night, so no photos yet.

Here's a little known fact about Vincent van Gogh (yes, the painter). He was given the same name as his older brother (stillborn) as was the custom at the time. In keeping with that old tradition of re-using names, (and because we have limited imaginations and can't think of a new name) the new van will also be known as Vincent.

Travels Without Vincent???

Uh oh! Do I have to change the whole blog now? We've been looking, just looking, so far, at other vans. Still VWs, just slightly newer. The newer models (all things being relevant, newer means '97 - 2000) are about a foot longer and have a few added features that we like. I know, I can hear you "Did she say a foot longer?" It doesn't sound like much, but the interior feels like a dance floor compared to "Little Vincent." My favourite part is the easy access fridge. There's nothing wrong with Vincent's fridge; it keeps the wine perfectly cold, but it's a chest style. That means that no matter what you want - it's at the bottom! There's also a handy-dandy shower spray on the outside for "cleaning soiled items before entering the van" (Like large dogs, f'rinstance) Dan, of course, is more interested in the V6 and things like propane guages and waste water reservoirs... We've looked at a couple in Calgary, and have been in contact with the owners of two others in the US, and one in Halifax, but haven't made any decision yet. We're not exactly on a mission to find a replacement, in fact we're somewhat ambivalent about the search process - more curious than anything else. If the right vehicle falls into our laps, that's great, but if not, well, we still love our little van - short-comings and all.

A tour of Vincent

The front.

The after-thought furnace installed by the previous owners cuts into the already limited storage space.

Fair size counter top. The big portion hides the sink and stove.

Not huge, but big enough to prepare a meal and wash the dishes.

This covers the stove portion to make a drainboard for dishes.

Fridge.

Lots of headroom when the pop top is raised.