Hopefully the last epic drive.

Finally…the 16th of September rolled around…..time to leave Under 8 Flags…….

…..and take possession of our new abode.

The house met, if not exceeded all expectations from its’ MLS listing and subsequent virtual tour…… The purchase was made, and the beginnings of a new home base was underway.

Epic drive no. 1 was the journey from the Bay of Fundy to Milk River to view the property. No. 2 was for the retrieval of all our worldly goods from storage in Brantford.

We had explored various options for moving the goods, and because all of them realistically involved us actually being there to either supervise the loading or do the loading ourselves….the most sensible option became renting a cargo trailer locally in Alberta, hauling it to Ontario…..filling it…and then hauling it home.

Our most excellent Realtor, Ken Just of Century 21 Realty in Taber AB generously offered the use of his ‘billboard’ trailer. We gratefully took him up on that offer.

Taber (corn capital of Canada…!!!) is just under an hour from our new home…..so the journey began with picking up the trailer in Taber.

Monday morning had not yet quite arrived when we set out on the first section of our drive, 12 hours approx to Jamestown ND. The downside of driving due east….is the first part of the morning is driving directly into the sunrise….beautiful….but not the greatest for visibility.

Crossing at Coutts just after 6am was uneventful. “What’s in the trailer?”….”Absolutely nothing”….”well ok then….have a nice day…!!”….is pretty much how it went..!! To describe the Coutts/Sweetgrass border crossing as low key would be an understatement…!!!!

The midwest,Montana, North Dakota is not particularly populated…and the long straight easterly road has one thinking often of self driving cars…..!!!! It gets pretty exciting to see a curve appear on the GPS several miles ahead…!!!

We hit Jamestown in the dark….and left again in the dark of the morning……so we can’t really offer a comment on the town…!!!

Next stop ….10 hours this time…..was to Rockford Illinois. In Rockford we had the inspiration that pizza was the ideal “road food’….easy to store, easy to eat in transit……and it was pretty good pizza too….!!!

We left Rockford and struck out for Paris. We had not calculated traversing Chicago in the morning rush hour…….a bit hairy….but we survived…!! Indiana and Michigan are pretty much those horrid ridged concrete highways and roadworks…upon roadworks…….argh…!!!

Crossing back into Ontario at the Ambassador Bridge…should be the last time we need this blooming blinking arrivcan app thing……

Arriving back with J+M…our most gracious and ever patient hosts is always a pleasure….and a fun time to catch up.

We just had to stop to pick up coffees at the new Detour coffee location at the Wincey Mills in Paris.

After a great feed and a good nights’ sleep…it was time to tackle the storage unit. At 10x 11 ft…..it demonstrated a mastery of Jenga, stuffing everything efficiently into the limited space available.

The next trick was a transferring it all to a storage unit on wheels, balanced, with an outside chance of most of it arriving still recognizable……and still being able to pull it……(especially over the mountains in Northern Ontario.)

After a bit of juggling…..most of it was in….!!!

Finally the unit was empty…….

The first part of the return journey (we had to go back through Canada owing to the quantity of alcoholic beverage stored in the black boxes..!!) , and the hardest part…or maybe just the scariest part….was crossing Toronto……mostly scary because we were uncertain as to how well (or badly) this thing was going to tow loaded…….

First stop was Goodmans Motel in Espanola……..not the worst place we have ever stayed…….right on the highway…..so handy for getting right back on the road.

So….without incident…and having worked out that 2 to 3 hours of driving is enough at a time…….switching out regularly made the long driving days much more do-able ( when we did the drive from Fundy we pretty much drove ’til too tired to go on…..then switched…….not the recommended method…!!)

Next stop Thunder Bay. That drive from Sault St Marie up the side of Lake Superior, and across the North shore is so spectacular….and terrifying taking those down grades with a loaded 20 foot cargo trailer…..!!! But all negotiated without incident…

The Super 8 in Thunder Bay was….OK…..the most fun here was the truck driver that blocked us in the parking lot when he came in at 3am…….took an hour to wake him up to get him moved so we could continue……not the most relaxing start to the morning…!!!

Brandon Manitoba….last motel stop before home…actually the best hotel stop on the trip so far…!!!

Then the final leg, headed home……….

Saskatchewan is not the most exciting province to drive across….!!!

Because Milk River is about south in Alberta as you can go…the route took us off the Trans Canada and through some great little towns like Seven Persons, and Manyberries…….(Editor, if I discovered a country and could name places…oh boy what fun)

Pulling in the driveway felt so much like coming home………We don’t remember ever feeling so very comfortable and at home so quickly in an entirely new location.

The next morning, the neighbors greeted us with a visit…!!!

23 thoughts on “Hopefully the last epic drive.”

  1. Congratulations on the new home base & well Welcome to Alberta 😀❣️ Of course we realize you have been here a whole lot but we thought we should make it official😂
    You will have to keep writing tho, we have so enjoyed your posts.! We look forward to pics of Milk River as we have not made it there … yet 🙂

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    1. Oh the adventures are far from over….the house is for winter…..and a home base for the next lot of crazieness…….crazy seems to be the theme of our lives…LOL…

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      1. I love that they are far from over & I might say I suspected as much 😀
        Both Dave & I are still working so our adventures have really only been in AB , but with grand babies also here we don’t mind!
        Cassidy still looks adoringly at the smaller silver bullet ( her pet name for an Airstream) 😂

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  2. enjoy

    Thanks,

    Michael Sciberras
    Staff Sergeant Michael SCIBERRAS #260
    NCO i/c Platoon D- Uniform Patrol Section
    Brantford Police Service
    P.O. Box 1116
    344 Elgin Street, Brantford N3T 5T3
    (519) 756-0113 Ext. 2908

    [cid:image002.png@01D74A73.2F09B9E0]

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  3. I’ve so enjoyed all your blogs and photos. I do hope you will be happy in your new home. Lovely friendly neighbours. I’m sorry you will not be returning to Ontario but the all the best and hopefully you will continue blogs. Take care.

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    1. Hi Deb….yes the travelling and the adventures are not done yet….this is a homebase closer to the stuff we want to do and see in the next few years of adventures. Ontario has not seen the last of us…….we will be back……!!!!

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  4. Welcome home – by now you’re really settled in and at “home”. It looks lovely. I look forward to visiting in the Spring- and to your snow blown blogs!!

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  5. Hi Mho. Hope you and Scott will be very happy in your new home in Alberta. It looks lovely! Your neighbours are awesome. Thanks for sharing your adventures with us. Looking forward to more posts in the future. Take care.

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  6. Good Lord yes, may that be the end of cross country trekking , pulling all your worldly goods behind you! So happy that your new home feels exactly like that “home”. I especially like your new neighbours. Looking forward to seeing how the Ontario furniture fits in your Alberta home. Enjoy !

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    1. yep……we are not in any hurry to do that kind of long haul again……but its good that its done. We sold all of our furniture in Ontario when we sold the house……..The storage unit had “everything else”…LOL…..and no regrets on that…it is a very different style of house and the stuff we had there would not have suited this place,,,,,,Dumfries street was a more victorian house…this one is a bit more MCM…….and we love it…!!!

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  8. Thanks for sharing your journey(s) with all. I have so enjoyed your adventures, beautiful pictures and blog. Please keep us up to date with more of your writing and pics! Enjoy your beautiful new digs! Your neighbours look friendly and welcoming! All the best and take good care! XO

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  11. Well, so thrilled you have a home base that is comfy and welcoming, love the wood fire. And wasn’t it wonderful of your neighbours to roam on by to greet you. All happy times for you and Scott. Looking forward to seeing your snow angels. I was wondering, is there another structure other than your home on your land?

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    1. The first snowfall last week was pretty epic in itself…….15cm……but mega drifting………not really much for snow angels……We also had our first chinook (snow eater..!!) all gone about as quickly as it came…….but more in the forecast tomorrow…………I sense some knitting in front of the fire in my future…!!!

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      1. Yowser, I didn’t think you would have snow so early, so, now I can picture you in front of the fire busy with your knitting needles. Looking forward to seeing a snowy landscape and future snow angels. And lucky kitty, underfloor heating, that’s one way to keep him out of your knitting bag.

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