Night before our first Social Media Bootcamp on our 2011 Roadtrip

So, we're parked for the night, getting our materials ready for tomorrow's Timmins Chamber Member's Seminar and Bootcamp. Tomorrow's agenda is a little different, we set up at 8am, then we are getting interviewed by Radio & Newspaper at 8:30am, then we start a half day seminar on Social Media for businesses, then after a lunch break, continue with only 25 people for a hands on Social Media Bootcamp.
We'll let you know how it goes.  We travel with our own Internet HotSpot, we can hook-up 15 people to high-speed Internet now.  Tomorrow's session has it's own highspeed for all the participants, but, we have our back up as well now! Jerry has us ready for anything now (we were caught without a few back, it won't happen again.. we hope).
We had a wonderful day today, woke up on the Lake at The Cache, here in Timmins. We took a little walk around, read by the Lake, then pack up, and came into town to meet my old friend David McGirr, it was great to see him.

Then we had a wonderful dinner with the Kid's Grandmother, Aunts and Uncle, we had a lovely evening.

Now, we're ready for a full day of Social Media tomorrow! 
Duke won't be too amused tomorrow.. but, Jerry will come out and make sure he's OK during the day..
Then we have a two days of straight driving to get to our next Social Media Sessions out in Dryden, Ontario & then Kenora, Ontario!
Talk to you later. (OH TO SET THE STORY STRAIGHT ABOUT FREEZING LAST NIGHT, WE FOUND THAT SOME ONE LEFT THE DRIVES SIDE WINDOW OPEN ALL NIGHT, AND WE ALL KNOW THAT SOFIE WORKS WHILE JERRY DRIVES...SO...WHO DO WE THINK LEFT THE WINDOW OPEN??)
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First night on 2011 Roadtrip.. Timmins, The Cache

So, our first day of driving went well. We're getting a feel for the RV.. she handles well.. I think it's less bumpy the the Westy. I tried not to work all day, lasted about four hours, then decided to work for a few hours.  I think Jerry was thankful, as i was driving him a bit nuts.  We stopped in North Bay, then straight up to Timmins.
We drove by were we doing our Social Media Bootcamp on Monday. Then we got invited over to Jerry's friends (the kids' Grandmother) for dinner on Sunday.  Then we drove out to find a place to camp.. of course, nothing is open yet, too early in the year.  They told us that the ice just came off the lakes here yesterday. There is actually still snow in the forests here.

So, we drove over to The Cache campground, down the way from the Kid's Grandparent's cottage. So, the Camp ground was closed, but, the owners happened to be here, as they're opening next weekend.. (they were very nice, just bought the place 4 years ago, they knew some of the folks Jerry knows up here, and they know my friend, David Mcgirr.  David's company happens to be sponsoring the session we're doing on Monday, they owner's wife use to work for David when he was president of the Telco up here.. David and i use to work together at Bell years ago.. we're suppose to see him tomorrow at some point..small world this is.. ) 

So, we're here, on a beautiful lake, on our own, with the loones and beautiful surround sound we both love so much! 
Duke has his own private beach.. however, both Duke & I have a hurt leg, so, neither of us are suppose to run for a few days.. so, we sit and look at all the beauty.

Tomorrow we'll hang around here for a while, then head into Timmins to catch up with the Kids' Grandmother, then,  a possible visit with David.. then get ready for our SM bootcamp on Monday!

We leave first thing on Tuesday morning for Dryden, Ontario.. it's a two day drive..
Hugs
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The night before 2011's RoadTrip

Hi.. so it begins.. Jerry & I are all packed, we'll be leaving first thing in the morning.  Furthest destination on this 6 week road trip is New Mexico, camping on the edge of 200,000 acres of wilderness, on hotsprings next to cave dwellings. 

It's always tense the night before a trip, packing for vacation, business, cloths for cold weather & warm weather, dressy, business & hiking.., but, we actually seemed pretty calm this time!  Guess we're figuring it out.

We're looking forward to meeting new friends along the way, experiencing new wonders and seeing family we so very much miss in both St.Albert, Alberta and Victoria, BC. 

I'm pretty exhausted right now, actually, can't even keep my eyes open.. so, talk to you on route! We hope to share exciting new adventures along the way! 

Thank you to Travis for holding down the fort while we're gone! We'll miss you!

OK.. on route to Timmins tomorrow!
Hugs
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Rossland, BC.. magic mountains & times... now 4,000km to drive.

We had a wonderful two days with Travis, Jerry's son. He lives in the middle of the mountains. His home is under construction, he and his house mate finished putting up the dry wall in the kitchen 10mins before we arrived! :) Rossland is a perfect town for the outdoor nut, it has amazing mountains and trails everywhere. I think Travis knows everyone in their town. Jerry made us a nice meal the second night.. can't keep him out of the kitchen for too long! :) The stuffed zucchini was amazing!

Jerry, Travis and Travis's roommate Jessie went golfing.. they had a blast!  Later in the night Jerry & Travis had reverted with an arm wrestle. Duke loved it at Travis's no leashes required, and dogs would just pop in for visits, Duke ran through the woods for days, coming home when he needed a cuddle.

We took off first thing in the morning, realizing we had 4,100km to go to get home in four days... so 1,000km/day.  We went through BC, Washington, Idaho and stopped 2/3rd of the way through Montana today.  We're aiming for Michelle, South Dakota Wednesday, Chicago Thursday and home by Friday.

We had a wonderful roadtrip... now we are just going to drive for 10 to 12 hours every day, I should say, Jerry drives, I work and Duke sleeps!

Thanks for reading our blog.. it's been mentioned to us to turn out trips into a book, especially the two Mexico ones and this x-country roadtrip, we might actually do so!

OK.. My chauffeur is sleeping, I'm exhausted.. so, please forgive the typos.
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Majestic British Columbia!

She is Majestic, everything about her, the coast, the mountains, we have seen two of Jerry's children, had (having) wonderful reunions with them.. we've whale watched, snow bird watched, hiked, golfed, and, of course ate.  Two sleeps with each of Kaily & Travis.. we're not finished out visit with Travis, they're out bonding while they golf right now, that's OK as Travis & I went for a hike earlier and bonded.. you do what you love. So, i thought I'd take a moment and update you on our time with Kaily, ferry rides and four mountain crosses..

First day with Kaily & in Victoria, which is on Vancouver Island, we went down to Fisherman's Wharf, had lunch, feed seals (that's what we're doing in the above photo), had lunch, wondered around, it was beautiful.  Loved the houseboats on the wharf.

We got to go see Kaily's baseball team play a double header, visited with Norm & Lee, then we had a late night snack. The next day we headed back to the downtown area and went Whale watching.  They should call it Whale searching, we ended up seeing one humpback whale, that's it! I was spoiled 10 years ago, when i went with Heather & Angela, and we followed a pod of transient killer whales for an hour.  At the time they told us it was rare, and it was only happening that day, i assumed it was a sales ploy, i see now, that it wasn't and we were lucky.  The whale we saw wasn't interested in hanging out with us, we only saw a tip of him twice.. i was able to get that tip on camera (because I'm that good!)

It was also the Navy's 100th birthday while we were in Victoria, they had 10 Navy ships in the harbor, and the Snow Birds where performing for us. 

Jerry & I headed to the Vancouver Island Ferry's on Saturday night, and drove toward Travis's for just two hours, as he's 10hours away from Kaily, we wanted to get a head start.. the Ferry's are huge, we liked the Ferry's from the US to the Island, as we were able to bring Duke up on the decks, but the Canadian once don't dogs up on the deck, Duke didn't mind, he stayed below and we went up and watch the beautiful crossing from Vancouver Island to the mainland.

We ended us staying in Hope, BC, at a cute little cabin.  IT was late by the time we stopped, so we opted for a cabin vs trying to figure out where to camp. 

Then we continued through the four mountain ranges for 6 hours to get to Travis, here in Rossland, BC.  It's beautiful, he lives in the mountains.  He renovating his home right now, so, he, his roommate (Jessi) & Jerry installed some stuff today, and now they boys are golfing.. Earlier they took us for a little site seeking tour of the area..

Tonight Jerry's going to cook for us, steak, potatoes and stuffed zucinni.. we're all looking forward to that. Then tomorrow, as soon as we wake up, we start our trip home, four straight days of driving, we should (we think) hit Peterborough by Friday.  We'll keep you posted!

OH, this photo of the bikers, we started seeing them when we hit the coast in Oregon, they're insane, they ride their bikes about 80 miles/day through the mountains.. for months on end.. i would love to do that.. but, I'm thinking Jerry's not so into it as I'd be! :)  After all of the food on this trip, i need a bike trip!

The area is beautiful, it was skiing, water sports and vineyards.. everything you need in life! (Ok, there's also allot of mining and logging.. but.. those pictures aren't as nice.. )