Canada’s small towns welcomed us with roses and sweets, a good stop as we made our way to Banff, Alberta.
A Breath of Fresh Air
Who would have thought that west Wisconsin and Minnesota would be so lush and pretty? Some parts really reminded me of home (Transylvania, Romania), minus the tall mountains in the background.
After another long day of driving, we settled at the small, no bells-n-whistles campsite Prairie Cove Campground and RV in Ashby, Minnesota. Although small and just off the highway, the campground was surprisingly quiet and the view of the water was absolutely lovely. A cool breeze rustled the poplar leaves, making beautiful music, and we took in the fresh air, grateful for a cool day. For the first time, we didn’t need to use the A/C at night, and had a restful sleep with all the vents open and the fans on.
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The Middle
Day 2 of our trip started with a refreshing breath of cool-ish air and a good cup of coffee. I drove about six hours, taking our little family along peaceful and flat lands of lush corn fields, and navigating through the aggressive traffic of the Chicago outskirts, with dishes rattling, and cabinets spilling their guts in the process. While I loved the green pastures of Indiana, and although I love downtown Chicago, I didn’t love the roads around the Windy City, nor did I like the tolls….
After crossing into Wisconsin, David took over the driving for another two hours. Road-wise, things got better and the sailing was easier again, en route to our overnight destination: Country Roads Motorhome and RV Park. A light breeze and the smell of rain were a lovely welcome to our newly found life of freedom.
I still can’t believe this is our reality. It hasn’t hit us yet, because we’re in a hurry to reach Canada for our one and only reservation: Banff. Many delays (a story for another time) pushed our departure date to a lot later than we had anticipated, so the relaxation aspect of the trip hasn’t happened fully yet.
The plan is to slow down and spend a comfortable amount of time in the Pacific Northwest, then head east toward Chicago, up to Canada again to Montreal and Quebec area, see the Niagara Falls. Fall should be spent visiting the NE corner of the US and going down the coast towards good ol’ Ktown for Thanksgiving. And since winters are no good in Tennessee, we plan on finding our way out of there shortly thereafter, exploring Louisiana, Texas, and then the desert and southwest corner of the US.
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Finally, hitting the road
It’s been a long time in the waiting, but we are finally hitting the road in our RV for a year-long tour of the US and some parts of Canada, and we couldn’t be more excited.
On our first day, we drove from Knoxville, Tennessee to a beautiful park in Indiana to spend the night. We were thrilled to have a little bit cooler weather and not dripping with sweat within 5 minutes of being outside.
This post is going to be short, as we are getting ready to pull out and drive another day toward Wisconsin.
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Ciao, bella Italia (Venice)
The boat cut through the Adriatic sea waves as we headed to Venice, the heart of Veneto region. Even a grey and gloomy day couldn’t put too much of a damper on the intricate beauty of the old “City of Canals”.
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Reduce
Just a quick note today as I’m taking a break from packing. In preparation for our RV trip, I’ve embarked on a much less pleasurable journey: packing house. The task at hand: triage fourteen years’ worth of stuff and pack a year’s worth of stuff into a couple of suitcases.
Continue reading “Reduce”