Alexis and Julia come for a visit ...

After a nice evening celebrating the 50th birthday of Myriam, my sister-in-law, Alexis and Julia came home to spend the night with us. This morning we couldn't wait to get up and explore Dory together (the-super-little-camper-van).

Surprise number one when the alarm starting beeping loudly so all the neighbours could hear. Ooops ... I think I forgot how to silence the alarm. In fact, I think I forgot a lot of things. Like, "how do we make the bed again?" and "how does this little table fit back into it's storage spot?" and "how are we going to manage living in this space for THREE months???"

Here are Alexis and I with Dory-the-fish who is our mascot! Alexis says he doesn't mind driving!

 Hey I think there is enough space here to take the kids with us!!! What do you think, kids??? (Julia says: When do we leave??; Alexis says: "I'll pack my bags!!")

I guess I could put you to work for us -- Alexis offered to be the "mouche-man" (an international-fly-killer) ... He looks pretty nasty!!!

Stay tuned for more Dory adventures coming your way soon!!

bisou de Donna, Alexis, Julia, Marie-Andrée et DORY!!!

Pre-trip tripping ...

Spring is in the air and our six month leave of absence has finally arrived. In just over a week we will be on the road. I feel excitement and happy anticipation. Of course there is that nagging question: "why are we driving 20,000 km in a tiny camper van, again?". But what is life without its contradictions? Anyway, what else can you do when you are fifty years old, having a mid-life crisis and are restless? In my family you go on a road trip!

Many of you have asked us to keep in touch so we will try our hand at blogging. There are definite obstacles though -- we will not have great access to WiFi since many of the places we will be staying are not camping grounds. The Bureau of Land Management (a bit like our ZECs in Quebec) allow camping for people who are autonomous. There is no electricity, no water and no WiFi.

The other obvious challenge is language. Some of the people that we love and want to share our adventures with are unilingual and so the blog will have to be bilingual. Because I don't have the patience to write everything twice, I will ask Marie-Andrée to write in French and I will write in English. I hope that works for you :). Try Google translate if you don't understand! 

This is our little 'Safari Condo' camper-van. Sixteen feet long (short :)) with a pop-up and a tent extension that fits on the back. It just spent a week with my friend Robert getting all tuned up and ready to go, go, GO...

 

This is what it looks like in 'camping mode' ... (don't worry, those huge wooden chairs are not coming on the road with us).

 

The next question is likely -- "and where are you going???" Here is a 'rough' idea of our itinerary. We start in Montreal and head immediately South (anxious to get out of winter). For the rest, follow the purple path :).

Those of you who know me well will know that I am NOTHING like the character 'Dory' in "Finding Nemo". Most of you will be extremely surprised to know that I actually watched, and loved, that silly film! Why am I telling you this? Dory has become our mascot. When ever we are tired of our travels, the other one will say "just keep swimming" ...  In fact, our little white camper-van's name is going to be Dory, unless you can help us find something more interesting! I had thought I would want a sophisticated literary female name but all I could think of was DORY!

au plaisir de vous 'parler' en francais la prochaine fois!!
bisou Donna