Busy day with some wildlife sightings!

Wow. Long blog post today. Nothing to do but to start at the beginning! We left the Regent Casino on the eastern side of Winnipeg as soon as we got up Thursday morning. That way, the engine heat warms things up for us and we don't need to use any propane. We did the short drive out of the city and to the small town of Ste Anne, only 43 kms (27 miles) away.

I had checked online to find a place that would top up Sherman'a propane tank, and there was a Co-op store in Ste. Anne that had a propane fill station for both tanks and automobiles.

Not our best overnight choice...but it turned out great!

A little late getting on the road yesterday morning. It was probably about 10:30am by the time we finally left Rivers Provincial Park. No worries, but we did want to try to make it to the other side of the big city of Winnipeg (pop 675,000) before rush hour traffic affected us at all.

So we said goodbye to Lorne and Sue and their dog Charlie. The RV dump station was still open, so we took advantage of that, and hit the road.

Out on the lake in the kayak

Had a good day off yesterday. Beautiful fall weather, not a cloud in the sky all day. We decided to get the kayak out and go for a boat ride on the lake.

Our friend Lorne was interested in seeing the kayak, so I brought the whole bag and showed him how easy it was to setup from start to finish.

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Today is a day off!

We got on the road as soon as we woke up yesterday morning. It was a bit chilly, and better to use the engine heat to warm things up rather than putting the propane on. After all, we were going to be driving anyhow.

So we drove for a half an hour to the town of Whitewood, Saskatchewan where we stopped and had breakfast and a hot drink and used the internet.

Is it okay if we park here for the night?

The sunshine finally returned to Saskatchewan. Clear blue skies for our driving day yesterday, along with a really strong wind! And it was mostly a tailwind. Sherman loves being pushed along by the wind.

We had breakfast with Phil and Wendy (thanks again guys!) and then pulled into the Walmart to pick up a few things. We had bought one life jacket on clearance for $14.99 at the Walmart in Swift Current, but it was the last one they had. So we were hoping the Moose Jaw Walmart had more.

Great first day back on the road!

Spent yesterday morning doing the final lockup of the park. Shut the water off to the main house and concession building and got the last of our belongings moved in to Sherman.

Did a final check around, and at 12:30pm we pulled out. Only a half an hour behind schedule...not bad!

And we're off!

On the one hand, it feels like the last five months went by fairly quickly. But on the other hand, and as expected, the last few weeks dragged a little bit.

But the day is finally here! We're officially off work today, and we'll be traveling pretty much non stop for the next seven months!

Who wants to come work with us?

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog post about workamping. Since that time, we've decided to try and find our own workamping couple (or single!) here at Cabri Regional Park for next season.

Workamping is typically when you receive a free full hook up RV camping site in exchange for helping out around the park for a minimal number of hours per week. But in this particular situation, we have a specific job in mind for whoever applies.

Too much stuff!

Besides getting the park ready to close down, we've also been getting the motorhome ready to use for the next five weeks or so. And because we had done the motorhome exchange, we had pretty much cleaned out all of our belongings and put them in the house.

So now, we're sorting through everything and Ruth is putting everything in it's proper place.

First class flying

Air Canada is the largest airline in Canada. It has a wholly owned subsidiary that is a "no frills" airline called Air Canada Rouge.

When I booked our January 1st flight to Spain, I knew that the carrier was Air Canada Rouge. And I knew that Air Canada Rouge does not have a good reputation regarding some things.

Out for a boat ride

Given that we've only got four days left here at the park to get things closed down, and it's supposed to pour with rain on Friday...we probably shouldn't have taken some time off to go for a boat ride.

But we did...so now we'll make up for it today!

More travel planning...

Wow, what a windy day we had yesterday. Fortunately, the wind was coming from the west so it was blowing most of the leaves from the trees by the shoreline right into the lake. A few less to clean up when we return in May!

Lots of small branches and twigs down too though. But this morning? Calm as can be.

Less than a week to go!

Well, today is the official day that all of the trailers must be out of the park. I think there are only  about 10 of them left, so the rest will be coming today to vacate the park.

Then tomorrow, I can turn the water off, store the pump, and winterize the remaining three of the five bathroom buildings. We've already got two of them done.

Windshield Crack Repair

I received the repair kit that I had ordered from CrackEraser.com.

To give you some background, our 1996 motorhome windshield comes in two pieces...a driver's side, and a passenger side. The passenger side had about a two foot long crack in it that's been there for about a year and a half. And the driver's side had about a one inch size chip in it...bigger than a quarter.

But the windshields cost over $600 per side, and we had no insurance coverage for that type of damage.

There's something you don't get to do every day!

We've been spending our summers here on the Canadian prairies for four years now. The first year up at Sturgeon Lake, and the last three summers here at Cabri Regional Park.

Saskatchewan contains 44% of all the farmland in Canada! And so, a big part of the economy here is farming. Many of our clientele here at the park are local farmers, and our economy here at the campground is directly related to the growing season. Farmers are busy with seeding and fertilizing in May and June, so not many of them come to the park. And then in mid August through September they are busy harvesting the product, so the park is quiet once again.

It finally arrived!

We've been planning our six week trip to Romania, and back at the beginning of August I had spoken to the Romania Tourism Board in New York City. They are the main contact in North America.

I had printed off a map of Romania and Ruth was doing the planning based on that. Pretty tough to do on an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper! Anyhow the guy at Romania Tourism said they would send us a map, as well as some other information.

That was on August 5th!

Going to check out another park

There are around 75 parks in the Saskatchewan Regional Parks system. We like to see some of the other parks, and last year around this time we drove over to Clearwater Lake Regional Park.

This year, we're going down to Lac Pelletier Regional Park. We have to go to Swift Current today for groceries, and Lac Pelletier is only about 42 kms (26 miles) south of Swift Current. So we'll pop down there just to check it out and see how they do things.

It would have been cheaper to fly...

We're taking the motorhome to Ottawa later this month. It's about a 3,100 km (1,900 mile) journey, one way. We will use about 718 litres (190 gallons) of fuel to do so.

It would have been cheaper to fly.

Part 2 - A Different Colony

In yesterday's blog post we showed you our visit to our first Hutterite colony. We were lucky enough to tour two different colonies that day in order to show you the differences that can exist between colonies.

In general, they have the same basic structure. That is, physical goods that are for the benefit of the colony are owned by the colony. And everybody works for the colony.

But there are some glaring differences in attitude.

A visit with the Hutterites

One of the reasons that we love to travel to different countries is that we like to see how other people live. But you don't have to travel to a far off land to experience a different culture...sometimes you can find them in your own backyard as we learned yesterday when we visited two different Hutterite colonies.

But before we get to that, we should give you some background. The Hutterites arrived in North America to escape military and religious persecution in western Russia. They arrived in three separate groups from 1874 to 1879, and all groups originally settled in the North Dakota area of the United States.

The house is a little quiet this morning

Well, I got Sherman all put back together. It took me all day yesterday. That was a big job. My knees are reminding me once again that I'm not 25 years old any more! And I have sore muscles in places where I didn't know I had any muscles.

But it's done. I still think there's a very minor exhaust leak coming from that side, and it's because the manifold itself might be a little bit warped. I probably should have replaced it.

Well, I knew that was going to be a big job...

And it was.

But, the patient is being good. It's the doctor who needs to recover! The operation isn't quite finished yet, and my sore knees and back aren't looking forward to getting back under there.

But although it was time consuming, it was fairly successful.

No flying yet this year!

When we traveled in the motorhome with our dog Whiskey, we went several years without flying anywhere. It was just easier when you have the responsibilities of being a pet owner. But when Whiskey passed away in the fall of 2011 we began flying to different countries. As much as we love traveling in the motorhome, we also love visiting different countries and experiencing different cultures.

And we've done a lot of flying over the past 5 years!

I can't believe I let that happen!

Cool day yesterday, but with the sun shining we decided to go for a short morning hike. I took the iPhone with us, and using the Motion-X GPS app, we know that we did 5.9 kms (3.7 miles) in an hour and forty minutes. Not bad. Gotta get those hiking legs in shape for Romania, so we'll be out a lot more over the next few weeks. It feels great to get back into it!

But by the time we returned, the battery in the iPhone was almost dead. I knew it was getting bad, and had already ordered the necessary parts to fix the problem.

Another camping season comes to an end...

And just like that, the summer is over.

Kids (and teachers) are back in school, farmers are working the harvest, and our campground is pretty much empty of people. There are still a lot of trailers here though. The seasonal campers have two weeks from yesterday to remove their trailers from the park, so they'll be disappearing between now and September 19th.

Free budget tracking software

Ever since we changed our lifestyle almost ten years ago, we have kept track daily of how much money we spend. Because we weren't independently wealthy, we had to know where every penny goes. And we still do it.

And we still publish our monthly expense reports here on the blog. We like to show people that you don't need a lot of money to travel...or to live, for that matter.

No Mexico this winter...

This winter will be the first time in seven years that we don't spend at least part of the season in Mexico. Originally, when we were with our traveling companion Whiskey, we were confined to North America.

But there is a whole big world out there, and we want to see it all.

So since Whisky passed away in the fall of 2011, we have tried to go to at least one different country every year. But even though we have done that, we have always returned to Mexico at least at some point in the season.

Scenery around the park

I haven't taken many photos from around the park this year. And we haven't been out for a hike at all this year. There have been too many mosquitoes out in the hills! Even slathering the bug spray on, they have been terrible.

We think that's about to change after this weekend though. Looks like the weather gods are flicking the switch, and summer is over...just like that! So, it should be too cold for the little buggers.

Booked another flight deal!

Two years ago, I wrote an article titled How to Get the Best Airfare Deal.

The very first thing that I talk about is patience.

Well, for over three months, I've been watching for one particular airfare deal. But it had to be a fairly specific deal, because we need to end up near Alicante, Spain around January 6th in order to pick up the motorhome for two months. And ideally, we would be flying from and returning to, Ottawa.

Yesterday, my patience paid off!

August Expenses

Well, another month has passed, so it must be time for another monthly expense report. We were doing okay on our expenses during August...until we saw that kayak for sale. But overall, it was still a good month.

Except that there were five Wednesdays in the month, and we do grocery shopping on Wednesdays!