I've finished school in Ottawa and I'm moving back to BC. Since I'm leaving Ottawa permanently I figured the best way to transport all my stuff would be a vehicle. Thus the idea of the "Road Trip Home" was born. I managed to convince my older sister, Barb, and my good friend, Sarah, to join me on my adventure. Then Sarah invited her friend, Cam, to join us once we pass through Winnipeg. Planning it while in school was a little bit of a challenge, I'm not going to lie. However, I think I managed pretty well even with the last minute alterations.
The map above shows all our stops over the course of 7 days. They are Ottawa, Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary, and finally Vancouver (Tsawwassen). Of the 6 nights I managed to find someone I knew to stay with for 4 of those nights. Staying with friends is much more cost effective than hotels. The two nights in hotels will be a nice change though since I don't often get to stay in hotels.
Today was Day 1 of the road trip. It began with Barb and I bussing to the airport to pick up our rental minivan. Sarah insisted the van needed a name so we decided on "Stanley the Dodge Caravan" or for short "Stan the Van." Picking up the van from was surprisingly easy. It took less than 10 minutes to do all the paperwork and whatnot.
Our first stop was Costco to stock up on food for the trip. We bought a cooler and a bunch of food to fill it. To be honest I almost feel like we bought too much food. Oh well the less we have to "eat-out" the cheaper it will be. After Costco we made quick stops at Walmart and Bulk Barn for a few items unavailable at Costco before heading back to my place to pack up.
I was very pleased to discover that Stan's backseat folded down. It meant that I ended up having more than enough space for all my stuff. I was quite worried actually. My friend, Mary, came over last night and I gave her a ton of stuff since I didn't think I had space for it. I also promised my friend, Mark, my desk chair if it didn't fit. Sorry Mark but it fit.
Packing everything up and prepping food was somewhat chaotic. My brain had trouble figuring out the best order of doing things. I'm pretty sure there for times I looked like a chicken with its head cut off, running from one task to the next and back again. Barb can attest to that.
Before I knew it everything was packed, my room was cleaned and emptied, and we were heading back to the airport to pick up Sarah. Sarah is super a trooper. She flew 5 hours only to hop into a van to drive for 6 hours!
Now here's one of the funny things about this trip.. I planned the whole thing but National doesn't allow anyone under 25 to drive their minivans so I actually won't be driving at all this week. I am the designated navigator and music coordinator. It wasn't my intention for it to work out that way but I'm glad it did. Those two roles suit me just fine.
With long days of driving Barb and Sarah have decided the best thing for them to do is switch off driving duties fairly regularly so neither of them get too tired. I think that's a good plan. The first switch of the day occurred in Renfrew, the place my friend Erika is from. I'd heard mention of the "Frew" many times over the past few years it was nice to see part of it. Even if that part was a Tim Horton's.
I found today's drive quite nice. The scenery was lovely and I chose my 90's Chill Mix to listen to. We followed the Ottawa River North-West for the first half of the drive. Barb and Sarah needed to use the washroom when we were somewhere nowhere near much of anything. So they go to take their first, of potentially many, pee breaks in the woods. For Sarah, the season mountain guide, it was nothing but Barb was a little put-off. It didn't help that this stop occurred not too long after Barb spotted a bear while we were driving.
Originally I had planned for us to only drive as far as North Bay today. But when we got there we felt like we could manage a couple more hours of driving, especially since we are spending tonight in a hotel and it didn't matter when we arrived. So we continued on to Sudbury.
For the last leg of the today's drive I chose to listen to some Stan Rogers, one of my Dad's favourite musicians. One line from his song "Watching the Apples Grow" for some reason particularly stuck out to me. "Your scummy lakes and the City of Toronto don't do a damn thing for me. I'd rather live by the sea." In some ways I feel like that sums up how I feel about my experience living in the Ontario landscape. Sure I like lakes but I much prefer the ocean. Growing up in Tsawwassen, a town surround by the ocean on three sides, and near Vancouver and the mountains does tend to spoil a girl. Who knows maybe when I see the rest of Ontario I might change my mind! I kind of doubt it though.
Well I better head to bed.. Barb and Sarah crashed a while ago. I don't want to be the exhausted one dragging them down tomorrow. Although if I wanted to sleep in the van I probably could.. But then I'd miss the Ontario scenery. I'll just have to leave sleeping in the van until the Prairies. From what I hear there isn't much to see there..
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| Day 1: Ottawa to Sudbury |
Love that Stan Rogers lyric. Love you too.
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