We’re back at my moms, after choosing to cut the trip a few days short. We’ll stay here a few days instead and get caught up on some work and messages, explore the area here, relax and unwind without  worrying how much were spending on the road.

I’ll have regular updates transcribed from the paper notebook later, but in the meantime, a few highlights:

Shane’s mom and step-dad are in town. We were originally planning on meeting them in Bishop, CA on the way back home but they decided to head up last night and meet us here instead, and spend a few days in Reno/Tahoe. Last night was my first time meeting them both, we had a drink and talked awhile. Very nice evening! We’ll get together with them later today.

So the trip didn’t turn out exactly right, but we’ve already logged more than 12,000 miles with that van and we’re still 1,000 miles from home yet. We’re tired and a little road weary. Disappointed that we had to miss/skip some things because of the dogs/kids/van/time/budget, but we saw a whole lot of beautiful country, learned some lessons, had some time away from the day-to-day and put ourselves in a new frame of mind for awhile.

The van ran beautifully, considering the battering it’s taken and the miles we put on it in a short period of time. In the end, I do wonder if it’s just too big and maybe we need something else a little leaner for next time. But I can’t complain. It took us faithfully to both edges of the continent and back again.

Off to enjoy the day. If you’ve got clear skies tonight, go out and look for the beautiful harvest moon.

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11:01 pm
In the shadow of Mt. Baker

More changes and sacrifices. We came through the Canadian Rockies yesterday, camped in the van on the side of a mountain, then descended into Vancouver just before noon. The plan was to spend part of the day exploring the city and then ferry over to Vancouver Island for some time in Victoria, Nanaimo and along the coastline. A favorite area of mine, and one of the most looked-forward to of the whole trip.

But the dogs were anxious and excited today and made it difficult to take them out in those crowd of people in the city without having to micro-manage everything, or to leave them in the van with the windows all cracked for an hour or so while we explored by ourselves. The second we step away, they’d start barking and getting upset.

So we scrapped the time in Vancouver, at least the time we wanted to spend on foot, and decided to head over and spend a few hours on the island. Oops, one problem: the ferry schedule was such that we would have had only 2-3 hours there before needing to head back to make our reservation this evening. And the fare? $52 CDN each way. That’s more than $100 round trip, just for a couple of hours of driving/walking.

In the end our budget was too tight and we decided to forego this part of the trip for a few months until we could come up here and do it right… without dogs, without budget worries, without time schedules. As monumentally disappointing as it was, we headed down through fog-socked customs and back onto U.S. soil again.

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8:09 pm
Deep in the Canadian Rockies

When I was in high school I had a textbook that had a photo on the front inside cover of the TransCanada highway at sunset. It was a beautiful photo in all regards; the road disappearing into the mountain looming large on the horizon.

But it was the perspective offered by one lone vehicle on the road that made it what it was. Without that tiny ant-like vehicle against it to suggest the enormous scale, the mountain was just a mountain.

It was that knee-jerk reaction that made me crave knowing what it was like to stand there faced with something so tremendous, so vast, that you could barely fit it into your field of vision without contorting yourself.

I’ve been through mountains by car, bike and on foot. I’ve passed rolling golden hills and patchwork prairies and spectacular city skylines. I’ve seen wilderness scenes that could make an atheist step back and reconsider. But I’d never been in the company of anything that felt like that old photo felt the day I opened that book. I’ve been looking. I wanted to know the sensation of being that microscopic.

Today, twenty years later, I was given a generous handful of those moments.

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9:02pm
By lantern light at the campground near the river in Calgary

I didn’t get much of a chance to catch up on photos or write updates today; most of the day was spent driving or figuring out the details. With the snags with Shane’s client checks we actually considered turning around and heading home.

But we’re forging on instead. I think we’ve come too far to give it all up now, though every single solitary penny is pinched to max capacity from here ’til home: 2 more weeks. Once we get there, we’ll have some creative budgeting to do to dig out.

But we knew it would be tough to pull off 14,000+ miles on a budget as tight as ours. Worth it? We’ll see.

Hot chocolate’s ready. Goodnight.

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Around noon
Bojangles DinerLet me just go on record to say that anyone who drives through Kalispell, Montana must stop at Bojangles and try something on the menu. We stopped there for brunch and Shane and I ordered and shared Huevos Rancheros and strawberry French Toast. Heavenly. Even the orange juice was extra extra good.

8:30 pm
Back at the hotel

Long day, we were both drowsy and slugging along for some reason all the way through the park. But we saw some beautiful stuff, and those are some incredible mountains. Though I had an experience up there that gave me a rush and a headache and sent me packing pretty quickly. I’ll explain more later.

Time for pizza, and if Shane reads this… maybe a neck rub? Eh? Eh?

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9:08am
Coeur d’Alene

We rolled in about 9 or so last night, had some dinner and then went back and forth on getting a room, a tent site or sleeping in the van again. By 10:30, the van won - and we found a rest stop just outside of town to park in.

Now it’s off for an authentic truck-stop shower and some breakfast, then over to explore the city and lake a little before moving on.

Still on time/schedule. Money’s running pretty tight until two client checks come in, both are late and crucial to the budget, but we’re managing fine. More later.

1:42 pm
Just over the Idaho-Montana border

We stopped and parked the van by the river and took the dogs down for a run. Both got sufficiently wet and muddy and so did we. There was some great, colorful river rock lining the banks. I picked up a few to bring home.

On the way back to the van, I had Kenya on the leash and while we were walking the path through the brush she nearly stepped on a snake. Snake! I screeched and then handed Shane Kenya/the leash while I ran right over to it to check him out. A little garter or grass snake… adorable! But he didn’t hang around long enough to let me run to the van for the camera.

3:00 pm
Flathead Lake, Montana

Oh, I’m in love. Smitten. Head over heels. We came over the ridge and I didn’t expect anything but more of the golden, rolling hills and rocky canyons we’d been driving through - but instead, a huge, crystal clear sub-alpine lake extended as far as the horizon in front of us. I was immediately enamored. I left the highway and quietly drove through town while Shane slept. And I’ve been checking real estate listings ever since.

9:50 pm
On the edge of Glacier National Park

Because we’ll need a hotel tomorrow night for Shane’s weekly Thursday night project, we decided to find one in the area tonight and spend two nights here, relaxing, getting caught up, and exploring. So nice not to be scrambling for a room when we’re exhausted. So nice to not care what time checkout is in the morning. Photos here promise to be some of the best of the trip, weather permitting.

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