I don’t know about you but this summer flew by.
Jim and I went on our awesome trip for a month. It was wonderful to see such beautiful scenery and to connect with so many of our relatives. Our little trailer did well for the most part. We did get a flat on Vancouver Island. We found some amazing people at the Thrifty’s Grocery Store who helped us out. They were able to direct us to a tire place a couple of blocks away. They also protected our trailer with cones in their small parking lot and redirected some annoyed people who couldn’t park there. Even the by-law officer gave us a break when she saw the shredded tire. We stayed in RV parks, at some of the Flying J’s and in rest stops. We purchased a generator which was used on the road and will be used at home as well when needed during those power outages. Any time we requested any help people were more than willing to help out.
It was pretty amazing to stand in the place where Wild Bill Hickok was killed and also to see Calamity Jane buried next to him. This was in a little place called Deadwood in South Dakota. There were lots of places to gamble. I used the penny machine! We got a seniors card at Tin Lizzys which entitled you to a full buffet breakfast for $3 and supper for $5. I had my first chicken fried steak. It filled the plate! We also visited Sturgis where every August they have a big Motorcycle Rally. It was pretty quiet when we were there. My husband and brother were there in 2011 and had a blast.
We visited many historical sites along the way (eg. The Battle of the Little Big Horn (Custer’s last stand) and an exhibit for Louis & Clarks journeys at the Louis & Clark Interpretive Centre). We were pretty amazed at the latter. We were in Great Falls Montana on the banks of the Missouri River. There are five sets of falls that they had to portage past. There was a video portraying their journeys as well as items that they used on their trip. Sacagawea, a young first nations girl with her baby was very much a part of this trip as well.
The topography along the way was pretty amazing and at times pretty barren. You could almost imagine the indigenous people coming over the hills. We loved going through the U.S.A. but were glad to get back into Canada, though we would take their gas prices over ours any day! (73 cents/litre at one point!)
We visited my Uncle in Cranbrook just prior to his 100th Birthday! How cool is that! Visiting relatives we haven’t connected with in a while was wonderful. Though our time was often brief with them, it meant a lot to us to see them all again. You don’t often get opportunities such as we had to do this. Each of them was very special to us and we treasured these moments together.
So we travelled through Canada from Vancouver Island back to London Ontario. We saw the Pacific Ocean, the Okanagan Valley (loved this), beautiful Alberta and it’s mountains, Saskatchewan’s floods (water to the top of bridges), Manitoba’s crops, cattle & horses and Ontario’s rock passageways with a spectacular view of Lake Superior.
I sincerely hope that you were able to enjoy parts of this past summer. I know at times it was pretty cool, however I did appreciate that it wasn’t as humid as in summers past. It seems that we wait all year for summer to arrive and in the blink of an eye it is over. Did you make the most of your time? Did you take time out to play?
This month I have done a major de-cluttering job with the help of my best friend from childhood. I got rid of clothes that I had been hanging onto for years. So with 6 bags of garbage and 6 bags to Value Village plus many things in boxes as well—there is finally more order in our home. It feels good to look around my office and the floor is clear. It feels better somehow.
So my question to you this month is—what are you still hanging onto? Is it something that still meets your needs, or is it just taking up room. Is it time to purge a bit? Do you feel overwhelmed at the thought? If so, do like I did and engage a friend to help. Make sure that you have some fun things to do as well. We went to Port Stanley to the Buccaneer for perch dinner and then a walk on the beach. It was a perfect day—cool yet calm. The lull of the waves always soothes my soul and I can feel myself relaxing.
So embrace this new Fall season. The leaves will be in all their glory soon. Enjoy…
