A short blog this week to welcome in the New Year and let folks know that we have just left Kelowna and have headed back to Europe to be reunited with our rig. We’ll have more to share re “what’s next” in the subsequent blog but here are some brief tidbits about our time spent back in Canada.
Wonderful to be home with family and friends over the Christmas holidays, the weather even cooperating ( eventually ! ) giving us fresh snow late on Christmas Day and thus a “white” Christmas of sorts. They don’t come every year of course so this was a nice treat. It’s the time of the year that can be extremely cold, but I don’t think in all the five weeks we were there that there was even one day that we could call really cold, certainly by Canadian standards..!
Five weeks back in Canada not only gave us lots of time with our own family but also the opportunity to meet up with many old friends and former colleagues – always good but especially enjoyable over the festive season. We were reminded by some that it is coming up to 7 years ( in May ) since we retired & began our overlanding travels – where did all that time go ? In addition to much time spent with friends and family, very unexpectedly – and quite delightfully – we managed to catch up with several fellow overlanders ( and some “upcoming” overlanders ) while we were home – pretty crazy how those connections were made and even crazier that they all happened to be in ( or near ) Kelowna while we were back. Lots of tales from the road were shared and tips reciprocated – nice to know there is a small “local” overlanding world out there. We’ve often marvelled at how few Canadian-based overland travellers there seem to be out there ( or Americans and Aussies for that matter – it just seems to be ALL Europeans wherever we go ) so it was really nice to connect with a number of like-minded souls on this return visit. See pics below for some background on the “catchups”.
Our trip back to Athens had us once again transiting London. As before, we decided to break the journey there, and being the night of our 41st wedding anniversary felt something a little special was called for. Splashed out on a nice hotel and dinner, while a restful night made the long haul from Kelowna to Athens just that much easier. It was only while sitting there for dinner that we realized we’d also spent our very 1st anniversary ( way back in 1986 ! ) also right here in London. A coincidental touch of serendipity, as it were 😊.
Once back in Athens, it was an easy transfer to the camper storage facility where our rig was safely stored. Arriving back we were amazed to see then place literally overflowing with overland rigs; we thought it was kind of full when we left, we really had no idea !!! In the coming days we plan to get resettled and examine some options for our next moves, but more on that in the following blog.
Till next week ,
Get the popcorn out… The adventure continues!
Onwards and upwards as they say !
Good luck with your new journey ….. have fun !
Thanks Susan, and lets try to connect this sunmer – plan to return for birth of new grand son 😊 !
It was great to catch up and meet after following you guts for the past 12 .months. We’ve been back in Oz for just over a week. Great to be home, but tickets are already purchased to return to our Van to do the Artic Circle and beyond… Safe travels and we look forward to the next time our paths cross.
We as well, Greg ! So serendipitous that we should not only be in Kelowna at the same time but, just streets apart, no les ! Till next time !
Glad you’ll be back on the road and that you had great holidays. Our truck arrived in Antwerp 12/29 and we’re enjoying moving around now, currently in Spain visiting an overland friend. Will have to get name of Athens storage place. We spent part of a winter there on our sailboat. Sounds nice. Best wishes.
Hey Heather, great to hear from you guys ! Welcome back to Europe. Let’s hope our paths cross somewhere in the next few months, keep in touch. I’ll email you the Greece storage deets. Ciao!
We are very happy to hear you had such a great holiday visit at home. We are enjoying our time in Mexico for the winter, but things were pretty quiet over the holidays. We did have two visitors from home and a couple we know from Osoyoos who are in the process of moving down here permanently.
There’s lots to explore around this area including many spectacular beaches nearby; whale shark snorkelling; all day boat tours with sea lion snorkelling; an amazing world-class kite surfing/wing foiling area an hour away (La Ventana…I think you’ve been there.).
Several friends and our daughter Clare will be here for my birthday in February (The BIG 😯 😬!).
You guys often come up in our conversations here. Some people are surprised that we drove “all the way down here”, then we tell them about your travels (We have a short version which includes “pretty well everywhere” 😄.).
We were surprised and thrilled to hear you are expecting a grandson this summer!
Good to hear you are… 🎶 On the Road Again 🎵! We wish you wonderful, safe travels this year.
Hi there, Charlie !!!
Wonderful to hear from you and glad you are having a great time in Baja – we loved it there but were so dumb being there in August ( ughhh ! ). Sweltering does not begin to describe it !
Yes, we spent a few days in La Ventana, nice spot and tons of kite boarders etc.
Re our own travels, still a long way short of “everywhere”, but if there is a road to it, we give it a good shot at least lol !!!! Just writing you now from Jordan ( but can’t spoil next blog with too much detail ), one of our favorites from the 1990’s ( seems so long ago now ! ).
We will be thinking of you on your 80th, that’s quite a milestone – just getting there is a milestone but doing it full on as you guys still do makes it even more amazing – I hope we can be as active when we get there !!!
Happy 80th in advance from Team OneEndlessRoad !!!!!
Thanks again for carving out coffee time for us. Your advice is always appreciated and you both are great sounding board for our ideas 🙂 Happy trails.
Always time to share ideas with fellow wanderers. Good luck with the van plans, excited for what you will build !