COMING FROM AWAY

COMING FROM AWAY

The CFA’s have arrived.

This was our third and shortest day. Only 389.8 kilometres.  It’s a trip that can easily be done in one day but we kept the speed at a steady 90 km/h, giving us better fuel consumption and because it was just a nicer way to travel, all relaxed and carefree.

Our tow beast and R.E.D. rolled as one solid unit.  After leaving the campground this morning though we noticed a sound that wasn’t there during the two previous days.  A sort of grinding sound.  I fully expected to see a trailer wheel drop off and poor R.E.D. tumble onto the highway.  But as we learned in our CPS Boat and Engine Maintenance course, first check the obvious.  Turns out all we needed was a little grease.  With all the rain the night before and accumulated road grit, the ball of the trailer hitch was rubbing metal on metal. A five-minute stop, a little lubrication and all was silent once again.  Once back on the road, Francois looked at me sideways and said ‘and this is why I bring ALL my tools Kathy.’

Nova Scotia Border

 

R.E.D.’s New Home Province

 

For Now

Total Trip Recap

Distance: 1365.5 km (848.4 miles)

Average Fuel Consumption: 14.4 l/100km (16.3 miles/US gallon)

Total Litres of Deisel: 193 litres (50.9 gallons)

Fuel Cost: $200

Accomodations: $67

Provisions: $23.53

Next on the agenda is to find a home for R.E.D.

 

ROAD PIRATES

ROAD PIRATES

Hi there all you R.E.D. folks.  Today we traded in our deck shoes and sailing gloves to become road pirates, conquering and plundering the highways with R.E.D. in tow.  We kept with our usual sailing schedule departing at the crack of 08:00, second coffee in hand with the plan to stop by mid-afternoon.

The day was clear and warm.  We checked wind forecast along the way which in some places along the Saint Lawrence could present problems but all was good on that front too.

So many memories from last year’s trip came to mind as we drove along…especailly those stormy times.

Hand of Mother Nature, la Malbaie, 2016

I found a great little app that gives information about truck stops, camp grounds, gas stations.  Sort of like Active Captain for road warriors.

Rest Stop

With it we chose a convenient place, not too far off road for the night

Le Rayon de Soleil Campground

 

Lucky Double 7

The camp ground owners were very nice, found us a secure place for the night with birds singing, biting bugs (it’s that time of year) and distant sounds of Highway 20…but really, the thrill of pulling a sailboat into an RV campground with all the amenities and a few curious looks for $33?  We could easily have done more damage with beer and pizza.

Trip Recap

Mileage: 483 km

Fuel Consumption: 14.2 l/100km (and you all know how loaded dear  R.E.D. is)

Provisions: 2 cappuccinos $7

Accommodations: $33 + bug spray.

Aside from my spices liberating themselves freely from the magnetic strips, the galley had wonderful aromas of Herbes de Province and Dill and there is now a knife behind the galley that may have to stay there for the duration (never did that on the water, even with 45 degree heeling)

Extremely good day for the three land pirates.  Time to crack a chilled beer.

Side note: after having the battery on all day and the refrigerator running, both house and cranking batteries were full. Solar power rocks!

 

A JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND MILES

A JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND MILES

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”

R.E.D.

We’re all ready to hitch R.E.D. to our tow beast, wrapped and strapped for Armageddon because baby has never before been on a road trip this far and that’s how Captain rolls.

Goodbye Marcel

The club guys have been careful to place her in a location to make it easier to hook up and go.  Easier to hook up and go.  Easier to hook up and go.  Easier…to go…

Goodbye Guy

This is SO not going to be easy. Really going to miss this place. And saying that makes me realize just what we will be missing.

Good friends and family for sure but as I’ve said before, you keep in touch with the ones you wish to keep in touch with and I’m sure the times we visit in the future will be treasured even more because of the distance between us..

There are also the things we won’t be taking with us. Things we’ve sold and donated. But they’re just things.  Yes, certain posessions are attached to a lifetime of memories but they are in the end just physical objects…. just sutff.

This exercise has made me realize it’s not those things that I’ve had trouble letting go of.  What’s a good deal more painful  is the nest we created together  that I’m finding so very difficult to leave behind. Memories of the time we first visited and Francois had to put his hands firmly on my shoulders to keep me from excitedly jumping around, saying to me quietly: ‘poker face, Kathy. We’re negotiating’. All the little love notes we left inside the walls of our renovations.  My footprints accidently left in the flooring glue.  The epic wine and cheese parties after which we would be asked how one could get on the guest list. The dinner parties that continued into the wee hours…the conversations and laughter that went with more bread and a little bit more cheese and just one more sip of porto.  The six months without a kitchen, functioning only with a coffee maker, a rice cooker and a borrowed boat cooler while Francois was on a mission in some far away desert for the third time. And the more mundane yet treasured memories of morning coffees in bed…till noon…those occasional (read, frequent) bottles of champagne…in bed…celebrating whatever.  There was never, for us, ever a reason not to celebrate. So many memories.

We are leaving our nest in good hands though to someone who fell in love with it just as we did thirteen years ago.  She will create her own memories here surrounded with family and lots of love I am certain.

We have no idea what’s ahead of us, only that we are heading east.  We no longer have a land home but we have a boat. We’ve mentally created three doors to choose from but what lies behind those doors remains a mystery.

Our journey of a thousand miles has begun with this single step…steps taken before and steps yet to come.

…..I’ll close now to allow my eyes to dry, to let our wheels cover a bit of ground and leave you with a smile from my very literal man who remarked about the quote at the beginning of this post: ‘but Kathy it will be much more than a thousand miles.’….

…!sigh!….

Ideed it will my love. Indeed it will!