Sometimes I think we must be a little bit crazy...

Just a little bit though!

Yesterday, I spent a good part of the day finalizing our trip plans to eventually end up in Adelaide, Australia where we will now arrive on May 27th... only 10 days later than originally planned.

But it's still a bit of a convoluted route as to how we get there.

Through the hoodoos to Calgary, Alberta

Well, despite a few rough patches over the last week or two it looks like everything is coming together.

Yesterday, we made our way from Cabri, Saskatchewan to Calgary, Alberta. Originally, we were going to have to be in Calgary by 11:00am to drop off the car rental, but now that we are not leaving Canada until Monday I managed to extend the car rental until Sunday.

Great news!

I opened my email this morning to find my Australia visitor visa approved!

The whole situation sucked though. It never should have been an issue to begin with. But, what's done is done, so there's nothing to do but look at the bright side. And the bright side is that we are now going to be seeing Singapore and Malaysia as well. It feels like we're getting a whole new trip out of the deal... which essentially we are, however it has cost us quite a lot more money as well.

When life hands you lemons...

...you need to make lemonade!

So yesterday, we made our way to the fancy new medical center in the town of Leader, Saskatchewan (pop 870). About an hour drive, but worth it compared to having to go back to the hospital in Swift Current!

Well, where do I start?

Lots to talk about today.

Let's start with our Australia trip. I still don't have a visa to travel to Australia, but of course that could change at any moment. Still, we're now planning on it not showing up in time. So, our inexpensive Australia trip is about to become an expensive Australia trip.

What a circus this has become. And complicated more by the fact that Ruth is still not feeling well and may not be well enough to travel on Thursday anyhow.

Back to the pharmacist

Well, Ruth felt quite a bit better yesterday, but she was complaining of a debilitating headache that just wouldn't let up. We finally decided that it was one of the side effect of the antibiotic Trimethoprin that she had been prescribed.

But we really didn't want to go back to the emergency room at the hospital. And since the Trimethoprin had been available at the pharmacist without a prescription and he had said there were other substitutes available we decided to drive back into the city and get something different.

Just an update

Ruth didn't have a great morning yesterday, but by noon your well wishes were starting to make a difference. And it helped that the medication was kicking in too! The doctor had said that it would take 24 hours or so for the antibiotics to start to take effect, and about a week to totally get better.

While Ruth stayed home to recuperate, I went out to the park to see how I could help out.

Off to the hospital

We don't often talk about health issues, unless they directly affect our travels. And really, we don't have any health issues. We're both healthy and in good condition and neither one of us take any medications for anything.

So when something goes wrong, it's a bit frustrating.

Back at Cabri, Saskatchewan

Yesterday we did the long drive from Calgary, Alberta to Cabri, Saskatchewan. It's not a really exciting drive, and we wanted to do it all in one day. So we stuck to the main 4 lane highway.

It certainly could have been more interesting to use some back roads, but it would have taken at least an extra hour and a half, and as it was it took six hours. That's enough for us.

Smooth flight to Calgary

We had an uneventful flight to Calgary. Everything right on schedule. Arrived at 10:30am local time. A little chilly, at 7C (45F) though!

We hopped in an Uber from the airport to the car rental place. The Uber was pricier than expected, at $37 CAD, ($27 USD) for the 22 km (13.6 mile) ride, but it still made more sense than taking the local bus. And, our car rental is so cheap that we could justify the convenient but pricey Uber ride.

On our way to Calgary

We are at Ottawa airport as I write this, waiting for our four hour and twenty minute flight to Calgary. This flight was a freebie, paid for with travel point from our Visa credit card. But, I still got a deal on it because it was on sale at the time for $210 each one way so I needed to use less points to cover the fare.

We will arrive in Calgary at around 10:20am, and will likely use Uber to make our way to the car rental place located about 20 minutes from the airport.

I can't believe I'm still paying for this...

Okay, this is a long story... you better make yourself comfortable!

Some of our long time readers might remember that I (Kevin) need to get a special visa to visit the United States. I've talked about it before on this blog, but it's been a few years so I'll refresh your memory.

Ottawa River Flooding

It was a gorgeous spring day yesterday, so Ruth and I spent a fair bit of time outside. We had stayed overnight at a friends place near the Ottawa River, so we went for a walk on the paths above the shoreline.

You may have seen on the news that the Ottawa River has experienced record flooding this spring. The river flows from the north, starting at Lake Timiskaming and then making up the Ontario - Quebec border as it makes its way to the St. Lawrence Seaway at Montreal.

Visiting with some new full time RV'ers

Saturday afternoon, we went and visited with Judi and Ian, a couple we had met with a year and a half ago when they were contemplating selling their house and buying a motorhome to live in.

Now, they have done exactly that.

You probably noticed some advertising

While we've been having some downtime here, I've been getting caught up on some things that we just don't have time to do when we're off traveling. I know it's a little boring for you right now (I can tell from our lower blog statistics!), but we'll be back in the air on Wednesday and off to have more adventures.

One of those things was to look for a new advertising partner for this website.

Our new Chester luggage

I promised to tell you about our new carry on luggage. It's quite a different style compared to the backpack type we had been using since 2012. But the backpack style ones were getting pretty rough looking, having traveled with us to somewhere around twenty different countries since we got them.

And, with airlines getting more and more strict about the size and weight of carry on luggage, we figured it would be in our best interests to look for something that is specifically designed for that purpose.

Cold start to May

Yesterday, May 1st, the high reached 4C (39F). With sleet, freezing rain, and some snow flakes. Definitely an abnormal start to the month up here in Ottawa, Canada. Still, we managed to get out for a hike in the morning with Bob and Denise (they were on the last Mexico RV trip with us) before the precipitation started.

They arrived on Tuesday afternoon, and it was actually quite a nice day.

April Expenses

Well, you can tell we're not in Mexico any more!

But despite that, our expenses for the month came in about where we expected. We spent a total of $2,155 CAD ($1,630 USD) for the month. And considering that included our flight up here and the car rental, it's not bad.

Forgot the camera!

There was a little bit of blue sky and sunshine yesterday morning, so we figured we had better get out and take advantage of it because it was not supposed to last into the afternoon.

We figured we would walk down to the washed out section of road to see if the water had gone down enough to make our way across it.

Grandma and Grandpa on the trampoline

We were 24 years old when our daughter was born, and 26 years old when our son was born. We remember saying at the time that by having our children at a relatively young age, we would have it made by the time we were 45. And that was pretty much true. In fact, we were 45 when we bought our motorhome and began an unconventional lifestyle.

Coincidentally, our daughter and her husband also had children at a relatively young age. This means that now at age 57 and active we can enjoy our grandkids and be active with them!

Australia in the winter

Speaking of winter, it's still not over here in Canada!

Most parts of Canada only get four months of good weather per year, so we are not surprised by this at all. But, we had our fingers crossed for better than this. We got spoiled by a couple of decent days last week just after we arrived here, but sure enough, the cold has returned and it looks like it's not going to get much better over the week and a half we have remaining here.

Haven't sat at a bar for a while!

Well, we took a blogging break yesterday. Doesn't happen too often, but when there's not much to write about there is no point in posting anything!

We've been spending our time visiting family and friends. On Thursday night, our daughter Lindsey took us for drinks at the pub she works at and we met some of the regulars there.

I don't think I've ever seen so much wildly churning water!

Yesterday, we went and picked up Ruth's dad and took him for a drive. It's been a long winter in this area, and they don't get out often enough at the senior's home. So we figured he would enjoy a change of scenery and some fresh air.

It was chilly though... only a high of 9C (48F) and a brisk wind.

We're obviously up here too early!

The snow is pretty much gone in this area. Or so we thought! Sure, you can still see the odd patch here and there... but it's pretty much gone.

Yesterday we drove over to the Morris Island Conservation area to go for a hike.

Booked yet another flight ticket!

A nice spring day yesterday with sunshine and a high of about 18C (64F). So, better to get some work done outdoors.

We're staying here at Ruth's dad's house, but her father doesn't live here anymore. He's at a senior's home in town where his meals are made for him and he gets some personal care. But, just because nobody is living in the house doesn't mean that things don't have to get done.

Hanging out with the grandkids

Our daughter Lindsey and her husband Justin were headed back to the city, but grandkids Cameron and Sadie wanted to stay with grandma and grandpa! That's fine with us, so we spent the afternoon with them, and brought them to their parents again at my sister's place before dinner.

But, they did take Chester the dog with them!

The water level is higher than I've ever seen it!

First thing on the agenda yesterday was to pick up our transportation. We're here for 16 days and there's always lots of visiting to be done so we needed a car. I started looking for a car rental as soon as we booked the flight back at the end of January.

Car rental prices change regularly, so you have to check regularly. Also, when you make a booking, you can cancel that booking without penalty. So you need to book the cheapest you can find, and then continue to look in case a better deal comes along.