The following are our 10 favorite posts, not necessarily yours, nor necessarily the most popular.
#1. The very first blog post...
We had sold our house and 95% of it's contents. We quit our jobs. We had bought a used motorhome and we had absolutely zero experience with RV'ing. We were always tent campers! And we were taking off on a 14,000 km (8,700 mile) road trip!!
http://www.travelwithkevinandruth.com/2007/10/were-cookin-with-gas-now.html
Sherman in North Bay, Ontario. Our first day on the road in October of 2007.
#2. How could that have happened...?
We had been boondocking on the beaches of Baja California, Mexico with our friends Glen and Steve. They were experienced RV'ers, and we were not! Although, I guess we did have two or three months under our belts at this time. We were using an old sewer dump station and had a little accident! In hindsight, it was very funny. Not so much at the time!
Our motorhome Sherman and Harry (our friends motorhome!), boondocking on the beaches of Baja.
#3. We made a wrong turn...
And it was one of the best things we ever did. We ended up with a gorgeous campsite by the river and we met a young rural Mexican family who have turned out to be lifelong friends. We ended up staying eight days and we were officially in a Mexican wedding.
The day we met our friends Mary and Alfredo, and their baby Nataly.
#4. Our son, the baseball player...
This won't mean much to many of you, but our son played college baseball for 4 years in the United States. That's a big deal for a Canadian kid, and it was a big deal for his parents. We followed quite a lot of his college games while traveling in the motorhome, and we were there when his college team played against the Minnesota Twins rookie squad. One of the most memorable moments we have of our son's baseball career.
Alex, up to bat against the Minnesota Twins rookie squad.
The closest our son came to the major leagues!
#5. The birth of our first grandchild...
Quite a few sad life events took place during the past eight years of blogging. Ruth's mother passed away. My father passed away. Our dog Whiskey passed away. That day was the saddest day of my life. Thinking about it still brings tears to my eyes. It is hard to believe that the passing of a dog can be harder to take than the passing of a person. I don't know why it was, but it was.
But there were also happy life events! And the best one was the birth of our grandson Cameron!
Grandma and grandson!
#6. Learning how to make Mezcal...
One of our favorite things is to learn the culture of the places we visit. See how the locals live and how they do things differently from what we're used to. This particular day, we went into the mountains of Jalisco, Mexico to see how they've been making booze for the past 200 years or more. A gorgeous part of the country, and friendly people. This is typical of the kind of day that we love...
A mezcal distillery in the hills of Jalisco, Mexico.
#7. The best hike ever...
We love hiking, but this was pretty extreme. The Tatra Mountains of northern Slovakia are a hiker's dream. Fantastic scenery, well marked trails, and some of the scariest hiking routes we've done without needing mountain climbing gear!
Don't look down!
#8. Mugged!
Yes, one of our most read posts ever was from the day we got mugged in Zacatecas, Mexico. We learned a lot in that 15 seconds, and it sticks on our minds as one of the most interesting days in all of our travels!
The bad guys, running with Ruth's backpack. Dummies. Apparently they didn't get our camera!
#9. Overlooking an erupting volcano...
One of the most fascinating things we have ever experienced! Words cannot explain it...
Standing on a dormant volcano while watching another one erupt down below!
#10. The hippos on the Namusasha River Lodge boat trip...
We had a lot of very interesting experiences in Africa. And of course a lot of them involved the wildlife. But we never expected to be so thrilled by the hippos! Amazing...and very dangerous creatures!
We're watching you!
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They are all good posts and I bet I have read everyone right from the beginning. We have yet to meet you guys , came real close a d couple times, but hey maybe this fall when we head west if all works out.
ReplyDeleteOf course we would love to finally meet you and Suzie. You're welcome to visit anytime...before September 30th!
DeleteI remember reading many of these posts. I am going back to read your very first one though. One of my favorites too was The Birth of Your First Grandchild. What a cutie!
ReplyDeleteIt was one of our favourites as well and we are so glad that we were there for this wonderful occasion. Unfortunately we weren't able to make it to Sadie's birth.
DeleteWhat a great post! I enjoyed it very much. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThank you Renate, it was fun looking back at some of our older posts!
DeleteWhiskey was a great fur kid and there is nothing better than tasting mezcal straight from the barrel. Negative news brings lots of readers, regarding your mugging in Zacatecas. If you would have said it happened in Toronto, it wouldn't have made the news. All good memories though and it's ashame I wasn't there when you pulled the valve :)
ReplyDeleteYep, definitely some interesting moments in our past 7 1/2 years of RVing! I think most of them we look back on and smile whether they were good or bad.
DeleteI've visited and enjoyed that same distillery - one of the few things I have hanging on my wall is a large painted plate I bought there (looking at it right now!).
ReplyDeleteI am not sure that it was the same place Janis as this was on a local man's private property in the mountains in Jalisco and not a public place. They didn't have any kind of gift shop there although I am sure the process was much the same. Glad that you have something to remember the occasion with, I am sure that painted plate is beautiful.
DeleteWow, what memories and great pics! So now you can write a book! LOL
ReplyDeleteThank you Julie! We don't need to write a book, it is all here on the internet. ;-)
DeleteAnd to think you've only just begun the world travel part - apart from the last couple of years. I can't wait to see what is around the next bend!
ReplyDeleteNeither can we Cheapchick! ;-)
DeleteI spent one whole winter reading your blog from start to current, I always enjoyed the posts from your "salad days" when you first started out, when it was a good day when you found free Wifi and had a shower and Ruth was bartering haircuts!
ReplyDeleteI can't believe that you actually went back and started reading from day one, that's a lot of reading. Yep, it doesn't take much to make us for us to have a good day! :-)
DeleteNeat story too with that Minnesota Twins Rookie team. The shortstop, who was 16 at the time, just got called up to the Majors and is playing 3rd base for the Twins. He's one of the top prospects in all of baseball.
ReplyDeletehttp://m.mlb.com/player/593934/miguel-sano
I remember Dad telling me about that, not too long ago.
DeleteWhat a wonderful collection of memories - both good and not so good. You're not alone, Kevin. We found the death of our beloved cat very difficult as well. Still miss him. Fantastic shot of the hippos, and Ruth holding Cameron. Precious!
ReplyDeleteThank you Dianne! Life doesn't always throw you the best so you have to take the bad along with all the good, it helps when you can smile after it though. They all create memories.
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