14 days in the van

We just got home from 2 weeks on the road.  We traveled 4100 km (2500 miles) , making 26 stops to visit over 60 incredible friends, supporters and family along the way.   Not only that but we did it completely covid compliant.  Everything we would need for the journey was in the van with us, right down to the portable toilet.   

very quickly we saw how hard this was for our friends along the way.  we are such a generous hospitable society that everyone wanted to cook for us or get us drinks.  

We did manage to come up with a solution to this problem.. a quarantine box where tarts, pastries and pies could wait out their quarantine before being enjoyed . 

I wish we could say that the weather was great, but we got into this run of cold and rain everywhere we went.  but during the breaks in the rain we managed to get in some great visits.  

We woke up one morning to a flat.. the hardest part about that was finding the spare tire in the new van.. but a quick check on YouTube and I found it. 

Coming up the north shore of Lake superior was a beautiful drive with many small coves and bays along the way .. We would love to do that again in the summer next time. 

Just before Thunder Bay we went to an Amethyst mine , and they had a section of pit run where you could pick through for yourself.  Julie was thrilled with the stones we found.

Before stopping in Thunder Bay we went on to Kakabekah falls where my niece lives .  we spent the night at the campground there and had a great visit. 

Back in Thunder Bay we had lots more great visits. 

Everywhere we went, people said how suiting this was because it reminded them of their time on the farm .. outside visits. 

we then drove the northern highway .  we went as far north as you can drive on a paved road,  then turned further north and drove another 15 km up a dirt road, then got out and hiked another couple km .. all in search of a moose . 

When we could not hike any further we got in a boat and crossed to the other side of the lake.. still no moose, but I did get 4 little pike along the way. 

as we turned back out on to the highway on our way back down, we did finally see a large bull moose.  his antlers were a light golden brown as the felt was all off them. That day was an 8 hour drive to end up at my brothers house on the Sturgeon River.  

Next stoop in the morning was to visit with Julies cousin and a couple other friends from her past that live up in that area . 

Then a beautiful drive through Algonquin park where we spent a night . 

Then our final night was in Chenaville Quebec at Dave and Barbara's .. We had a nice visit and then a camp fire with several others joining us. 

On our way home we stopped in Bellville and had a quick visit with our Daughter in law Rachel and our grand sons. 

All in all it was a great couple weeks sharing in person about how things have been going .  The social distancing was a bit of a pain , but it sure was worth the trouble to be able to connect like this .