You can pass on this blog update if you are looking for the usual full fledged travel experience – it isn’t. Rather, just a quick update on our summer at home – a nice, long, hot one for the most part ! More travel “stuff” next week.
The aforementioned summer gave us much opportunity to enjoy all that our beautiful Okanagan valley has to offer. Sadly, some of that joy was tempered by several weeks of very serious wildfires just to the south and north of us which caused significant damage, days and days of horrendous air quality and tragically, one death ( seems it’s becoming the new normal ).
Fires aside, there was much on our plate; June 5 saw the arrival of our beautiful second grandchild, adorable little Bowen, weighing in at a healthy 3.75kg ( 8lb 2 oz ). Both mum and baby are doing well, while dad and big sister, Hadley are enjoying much time with the new arrival ( as are the proud grandparents ! ). We’ve had a ton of time catching up with old friends, crossing paths with fellow overlanders ( see Appendix ), attending weddings and helping steer our daughter and her husband through the final stages of a new house build. Meanwhile we’ve all had lots of time together in our own home. It’s been delightful.
Plans are starting to firm up for our next few months on the road (Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar and on possibly to Morocco), although this next stretch will only be a short one as we are scheduled back in Canada in December to spend the Christmas season with our family, but also to welcome my own sister who will be joining us all the way from Australia ( via Europe where she’s been travelling ). We’ve not seen each other in almost 4 years and it is over 20 years since her last visit to Canada – we are all thrilled to be having her with us ! We’ll firm up our 2027 longer range plans later this year – more on that in the months ahead ( but looking at some interesting options).
Update on Some Overlanding Friends
Some months back I noted that, while parked up in Athens, we’d come across the stored Land Rover of the Hunter family from Grand Prairie, Alberta. This in itself is unusual, because one just doesn’t come across many Canadian-registered vehicles out there in the overlanding world, anywhere. We’d since connected with the Hunter’s and discussed our respective future plans so knew they were in Turkey about the same time as a former work colleague of mine, SheraLyn Smith ( and her hubby, Stewart ). The Smith’s had been motorcycling around Europe, and had recently crossed into Turkey. Anyway, as luck would have it, they bumped into each other at a campground in Turkey and discovered the common link ( us ! ). Talk about a small world ! With all of us planning to be back in Canada over the summer a get together was planned – in due course a most enjoyable afternoon and evening was spent by the lake, then out for dinner, sharing tales from the road and figuring out where and when our paths might cross again. Most serendipitous !
In the past few years we’ve made contact ( and become friends ) with two other Kelowna couples, both of whom were itching to get vans built, careers completed and then hit the road ( this overlanding thing is contagious ! ). Congrats to Petra and Spencer who have completed their Sprinter build and this year kicked off what will be many years ahead of global roaming ( currently exploring northern BC and Alaska, before shipping to Europe ).
Congrats as well to Alex and Nadja who have just purchased a new Sprinter and are planning a comprehensive self-build before shipping off to Europe in ‘27. I’m sure our paths will cross somewhere ahead !
Till next week……
