talking to wayne & victoria in the turks and caicos
Originally uploaded by the five mckays

And finally, before I sign off for the night.......here's a photo of us talking to family on Skype. We've been able to make a few different phone calls now, and it's such a neat way (not to mention FREE!) to see everyone and catch up a little on peoples' lives - I highly recommend downloading it and letting us know your user name so we can chat with you too.....it's amazing how seeing someone makes them feel that much closer. Even though in this photo, Wayne and Victoria are all the way in the Turks and Caicos!!!!! Our user name is ThoseWhoWander, and although we don't always have internet access, I try to keep Skype on when we do have it, so give us a call!!!!!

Standing on the San Andreas Fault

standing on the san andreas fault
Originally uploaded by the five mckays

And since I'm catching up on blogging a little now that we have internet access, I'll add a couple more photos......this is everyone stretched out between two pieces of a fence that were separated during the 1906 earthquake. Evidently, within a minute, the ground shifted 18 feet apart! Crazy, huh? Luckily, we felt no movement whatsoever during the short time that we were standing on the actual fault line!

New wheels!

a happy ryland with his new bike!
Originally uploaded by the five mckays

We found Ryland a new bike when we were wandering around Point Reyes Station, and he is in absolute heaven! He proudly proclaims "MY bike, MY bike" and tries to bring it everywhere. Eventually the idea is that he'll figure out his balance and propel it along trails using his feet - but for now he basically walks along while sitting on it, searching for the biggest muddiest puddle he can!!

As we began traveling in the States, it hardly felt like we'd left home - the scenery is so familiar, the language is the same, the people look the same, we recognize so many of the stores. But as we spend more time here, we realize just how different the culture is - in small seemingly miniscule ways and then in some larger, telling ways. A few of the things that have struck us - as we were getting propane one day, the average joe filling our tanks spoke with excitement about how his 23 year old daughter was coming home from her tour of duty in Iraq. That is not something that would come up often at home, and here it seems almost common to run into it. And then we go to Starbucks to grab a hot drink, and run into this basket for the troops - so many places we look, reminders of the troops overseas.

Another difference is the gun awareness. I went to mail some letters in Sacramento and had to pass through a gun detector to go buy some stamps. All parcels had to go through what looked like airport security checks, and Jamie opted to stay in the lobby with our fully-loaded stroller and tired child rather than unload it all through security. He was approached by gun-wearing, beefy security guards to tell him that loitering was absolutely not allowed and he couldn't just wait there. We're talking about a POST OFFICE. I HAVE to assume that mailing a letter is not going to always be this stressful? Then we met the park ranger last week, as he was driving around collecting fees. He walked up with a billy club on his hip, hand gun in holster, and big knives on his belt. We kept our distance, but could clearly see shotguns in the back of his truck as well. We had just read about how there were no bears in the park, so that could hardly be the worry - Jamie asked him "Is this all for the wildlife? Or for the people?" and he replied, "A bit of both" I can assure you there was absolutely no partying going on in that State Park, but wow, what a cultural difference!

And then there's things like taco wagons instead of frie wagons. Spanish instead of french. Restrooms instead of bathrooms. Woolen hats instead of toques. I'm constantly fascinated to come across these differences, as I've always assumed we're pretty much the same!!!! I'm sure there will be many more little bits of unexpected culture shock, especially as we head further away from Canada.

A few snapshots of our festivities this year.......

Looking into the Barth, as Jamie and the girls create the gingerbread house - very cozy!!!

Jamie, creating lanterns in a decorated Barth!

The kids admiring their tin can lanterns, which we made by hammering nails into ice-filled tin cans - Ryland had a blast with this project, but I think Jamie's hands are still bruised!


The Barth by bonfire light!

Cooking in the kitchen, always a cozy experience!

The stockings hung on top of the dashboard with care!!!!

Christmas morning, with the gi-normous candy canes from Whole Foods - lasted just over a day!

Happy Holidays to everyone!

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday this year. We were camping amongst the giant redwoods of the Samuel Taylor State Park for the week between solstice and christmas, thoroughly enjoying the quiet solitude and constant access to the amazing scenery around here, but going through a wee bit of withdrawl without access to the internet!

It was so nice to have a quiet, reflective holiday this year, full of quiet traditions, long bike rides, crafting and creating together and discussions of what we want the solstice and christmas to be about in our family. We really emphasized the time spent together, we enjoyed baking sun cookies together, creating a gingerbread house, making different types of lanterns, singing carols around a bonfire, walking along a candlelit lantern spiral and making felted stockings. We found a turkey breast with the bone in, cranberry sauce, gravy and pumpkin pie from a local Whole Foods, so were able to create quite a feast for our dinner, and then enjoyed pumpkin pancakes for a celebratory brunch!

I also loved how little our holidays were focused on gifts this year, and how that didn't faze the kids' enjoyment at all. We haven't had access to mail since we left, and many people didn't bother mailing packages as they doubted whether we'd get it in time anyways. So the kids woke up to their stockings full of little treasures, and one wrapped gift each. Usually our tree is overflowing with gifts, and the kids become overwhelmed with so many new things. I find it such a challenge, as I too love to give gifts and it's such a traditional way of showing people that we care about them. But watching how happy the kids were this year with a few small gifts, and how wonderful our holiday was with the focus on time and experience over material goods, we are re-inspired to find new ways to find the balance. I think it's up to us to change the patterns of the next generation - in a time when so many of us are drowning in STUFF, feeling overwhelmed with clutter, not to mention all the issues with child labour, destroying the planet and toxic toys being sold, it only makes sense to start taking steps to change our patterns. Perhaps we can all start brainstorming now for new traditions we'd like to create - like replacing material goods with experiences (taking the kids to the ballet or a holiday play, for example) and spending time playing boardgames together rather than shopping at a mall.

With these thoughts in mind, we also opted to not buy gifts for the adults in the family - it's always so hard to know what to get as we are all in a position to buy what we need and want anyways. It has nothing to do with caring or not caring for people, as that we would rather show through a skype phone call or a letter written in the mail. So this year we chose to pool together the money we would have spent, and bought some goats from Heifer to support a few family who are not nearly as lucky as we all are. We picked goats, as we'd just been reading Barbara Kingsolver's book "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" and when compared to cows, the goats seemed to be lower impacting on the grazing land, more versatile in where they can live and able to reproduce more young thus increasing the wealth of the family with the goats. She also points out that "For the same money, a shipment of donated wheat, rice, or corn would only have maintained the region's widespread poverty through another few months, and deepened its environmental crisis." Whereas donating a goat provides milk, cheese, help in reforestation through seeds distributed in the feces, ongoing wealth through offspring and also access to meat. (p.227)

Anyways, just a few of the thoughts mulling around in our heads these days, as we settle into the post holiday glow and gear up for the new beginnings of 2009!

And here we are, in Sacramento!  Well, actually, the outskirts of Sacramento - it seems there aren't many RV parks in the middle of the city, so we're sent to the less desirable area of town. 

Which makes for interesting bus adventures, that's for sure!  I always have to chuckle when we get close to our KOA spot.....we pass by numerous motels of the lowest degree, full of waterbeds, adult-only occupancy and in-room 'spas'.  There's strip mall after strip mall of low-cost everything, cement as far as the eye can see, and then you come upon this little oasis of palm trees, high-fenced tennis courts and swimming pool and super-fancy RV's....I'm surprised they even let us in the front gate!

It's funny, when we left Vancouver we thought we were driving a huge bus.  Originally we had thought we might try this in a Westfalia (ha ha, THAT would have been funny to see!!!!!!!), so a 23 foot motorhome seemed like a mansion.  But now we see what else is out there, and we realize just how tiny we are.  And how very basic - no slide outs, satelites, cable tv hookups, no stand-up shower or 

white leather armchairs - apparently we're really roughing it out here!  I'm constantly amazed at all the vehicles I see.....check out this contraption we saw the other day.....this is one dog traveling in style!  I think it's time we started steering clear of so many RV parks, and start visiting more of the amazing state parks!!!!!!  Perhaps then we'll feel a little less out of place?!!!!

I was going to post a few more photos about our museum adventures, but this particular internet connection is so painfully slow that this post has taken me 30  minutes - so I'm going to cry uncle and save it for a faster connection!!!!

Wow, what a treat to log on and find so many comments!!!!  Thank you, it definitely makes our day to hear from 'home' while we're on the road.  

I  have many photos to upload, and more stories to share, but for now my brain is fried and my body is tired from a long day of wandering around the old town of Sacramento so for now it's time to crawl into my nice warm bed.  We're well, and yes, have definitely shifted into a different pace now....wanting less driving and more exploring, and definitely more down time!  Right now we're trying to figure out where we want to be for the Solstice and Christmas time, and so far the Samuel Taylor State Park seems to be winning out.  They even have wi-fi there, how crazy is that?  And we read about migrating gray whales and beaching elephant seals, so that's all very exciting to us!  We're definitely excited about getting to the warmer weather, but no longer feeling the urge to go at a fast pace - too many exciting things to see here!!!!  Oh, and thanks so much for all the recommendations, keep them coming!  Already we're having to be very selective about what we do as there's SO MUCH TO DO, but we really appreciate hearing about things others have enjoyed!!!!!

Much love to you all, we miss you lots!

And here we are, in Chico California, soaking in the sun - though still dealing with frost first thing in the morning.  Evidently it's crazy cold this year, with snow even in Santa Cruz and Berkeley.  Luckily we're stocked up in fleece and wool so we're surviving!  The mountain pass was CHILLY and icy, but we drove slow and enjoyed the gorgeous views - and then as soon as we came into the valley, it was dry and sunny!  We were amazed to see how different it was here - pecan and walnut trees everywhere, many cactus plants and palm trees (HAVE to assume they were planted?!!!!), even an orange tree in the middle of downtown!  We slept by Bidwell Park, with amazingly different birds everywhere and beautiful oak trees.  The girls collected new seeds and cones and searched for faeries, and we're all falling in love with this beautiful area!!!!!!!  Today we'll wander around the university area and check out the museum, and then make our way further south.....perhaps spend a bit of time in Sacramento?!!!!

For all of those a bit worried about us travelers, just wanted to let you know that we're going to hunker down for the day here in Ashland - today looks a bit miserable on the mountain passes, but tomorrow promises to be much sunnier so we're spending a day reading, drawing, doing laundry and just hanging out.  Tomorrow the plan is to get up and drive into Chico, and from there there aren't any more major mountain passes to go through so it should be clear sailing.....................

What an adventurous day today turned out to be........it seems something new comes up every day with the Barth, and we get to know it more and more intimately as the trip goes along!  

To start the day, we set the alarm for 7:30 in order to get a decent start to our travels.  We were packed up and eating breakfast, and decided to check on the weather as we'd been hearing grumblings about bad weather coming our way.  And wouldn't you know it, there were severe weather warnings for Eugene, with snow predicted and advisories for no travel.  Ugh.  So, we decided that we'd have a day in the Barth, baking cookies and creating paper snowflakes.  A bit disappointing, but it really seemed silly to risk traveling with such extreme warnings!

However, the sun continued to shine and when we looked closely at the weather map, most of the system seemed to be north of Eugene, so we decided to talk to some locals.  Apparently it was a system coming in from the north, and south of Eugene was still great in terms of driving conditions.  So a quick change of plans and we packed up and continued heading south.

Halfway along, we started losing power and the engine seemed to have a strange clicking sound that didn't sound so good.  SOOOOOOOOO, we pulled into a lovely truck stop extravaganza (WOW, are the states ever set up for RV's and trucks!) to check it out.  We couldn't see anything amiss with the engine, and both feeling like dummies when it comes to big engines, we opted to look for a garage.  Uh oh, it's Sunday.  Okay, there's on-call mechanics apparently.  We called one of them.  But they never called back - must be taking a day off.  Ate lunch (blech!), filled the tanks with propane, and then decided perhaps we should check our fluid levels.  Oh.  Very low on oil.  Filled that up, with me watching below to make sure there were no leaks.  Started it up, drove around the parking lot a bit, and wouldn't you know it, problem solved!  Doh!  So glad the mechanic didn't make it, we would have felt a wee bit silly!!!!

Drove along with no problems, and then arrived at Ashland where the snow caught up with us big time.  Pure white-out conditions, which amazed the kids with a winter wonderland feel but stressed us out!  Luckily there was very quickly a sign for another RV park so we pulled up and set ourselves up, glad to be off the highway!  We've gotten into quite a rhythm now, with Jamie going outside to hook up the water and electricity, and me laying out the inside carpets, putting away the carseats and getting the inside set up.  Today, Jamie had just barely come in and opened himself up a beer when we heard the unnerving sound of water spraying uncontrollably.  We spent a couple of seconds staring at each other thinking "DO SOMETHING" before Jamie bolted outside in his socked feet to turn the water off.  Turns out our pipes into the kitchen sink had come loose (most likely during the installation of our furnace just below it), so water was spraying/pouring in under our sink - luckily (smartly?!) the furnace was up on blocks so although it was heavily sprayed with water it wasn't sitting in water, just a few pots and pans were.  We quickly mopped it up, made sure the furnace was still working, and then Jamie pulled out his tools and showed us all his plumbers butt as he skillfully fixed the problem!  I tell you, we're learning all sorts of skills on this trip!

Tonight we're looking at all the weather sites and checking out webcams conveniently located all along the I-5, and will decide tomorrow over breakfast whether we'll move on or stay put.  Right now it looks very snowy, but we're hoping tomorrow will be a lot better - it looks like we just have to get over this one pass, and then the road is much clearer on to Chico.

And now hello from Eugene!!!! We had wanted to get a nice and early start this morning, as the weather around here is really crummy and rather chilly, but we woke up at 9:45 after not such a great night of sleep (I think the kids need a bit to adjust to the new sleeping quarters, so there was lots of musical beds going on) so had to quickly pack up and get organized. We were amazed to be on the road by almost 11, but hardly an early start to the day!!!!!

We were able to drive straight through, though, with no real stops - we're starting to get the hang of this, having enough food for snacks and lunches onboard and timing propane stops before we get too empty. We drove through rain, slush, snow, clear and back to rain then slush again - but really, on the I-5 it's all pretty straight through driving and we were fine. And when we arrived in Eugene, it was cold but clear, and most importantly, DAYLIGHT still, so instead of straining our eyes trying to figure out where we're going as usual, we easily drove into our spot and were able to take the bikes off the back for the kids to ride around! Hot showers all around, quinoa chili and homemade tea biscuits for dinner and now the girls are playing with the potato head with Ryland after a rousing game of flashlight tag outside! We're slowly getting our system down pat.....now tomorrow we're just hoping to wake up early enough to get an early start!!!!

I thought I'd leave you with one of the important life-lessons I learned from reading the bazillion billboards along the I-5 today. "Playing the lottery should not be used for investment purposes." And there you go! We'll see if we make it as far as Chico tomorrow......this weather sucks to camp in!!!!!

Just a quick hello to let you know that we've made it to Olympia......we caught the ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles (crossing in rough waters!!!!  The kids had a blast running circles and falling over!) and then drove 2-3 hours along the 101.  Which it turns out is winding and bumpy and not conducive to quick travel, though very picturesque!  It also happened to be very windy today, and it'll shock you all, I'm sure, to discover that driving a massive aluminum toaster is not that easy in very windy conditions!  But we did it, and aside from one minor 'door getting bumped open and us dragging cords' incident, nothing really exciting happened.  Lots of rain, no snow.....and we're now plugged onto a lovely RV Park, fully appreciating the fixed roof leaks and newly installed furnace!!!!

Tomorrow we're hoping to make it to Eugene, with a few scheduled stops in between - hopefully we'll have wi-fi once more! xoxoxoxxo

A quick hello!

hot tubbin it outside
Originally uploaded by the five mckays

I've posted a few photos on flickr, just to give you all a little update and a face to many of the people we have been visiting en route. So many people have contacted us to see if we're in Mexico yet, everyone's so excited for our journey. And yet we haven't made it further south than Victoria BC right now! Definitely taking it slow, enjoying the good life here on the island and catching up on sleep, holiday cards and technology! Thank goodness for my sister Clare and her very patient husband Alex - we're setting up new laptops, backing data up onto external hard-drives, finally figuring out our ipod, learning how to download our photos in new ways, creating a website.......not to mention writing wills and sorting out money. Not really fun stuff, but all very necessary - I'm feeling so very adult, being all responsible like and surrounding myself with new technology. I barely understand how to use most of it, but it sure looks pretty!

Now to put on my new cowboy boot slippers and eat some chocolate late at night!!!!!!! We're well and enjoying the journey so far, even though it doesn't seem like we've physically traveled far!!!!!

OH, and ps we've signed up with Skype now, so befriend us and let's figure out a time to chat!!!!!!!!! We're known as 'ThoseWhoWander'!

Hello! We are now in Victoria, soaking in the sun and walking with friends on the beach. Playing Wii with Uncle Alex and Aunty Clare, shopping for all sorts of odds and ends that we've been meaning to pick up, and settling into a camping routine with the Barth. It's been amazing touring various homesteads and an inspiring ecovillage, but now it's time to head south. It's left us feeling so mixed, anxious to get settled and start creating our own eco home, but knowing we really want to do this trip!!!!!! Our journals are filling at a rapid rate with ideas.......

PS It's quite an experience camping out at a BC Parks campsite right now, not fully settled in to the Barth so not sure where things are, not hooked up to water or electricity and discovering that there are little holes here and there. Lastnight we returned home to discover a little mouse in the middle of our floor, which we think we managed to chase out. Then we ran out of water so Jamie had to seek out the water pump, but could not find the flashlights so was able to use the glow of his blackberry to make it there and back. Yuppie camping to the max!!! Looks like we'll take a couple more days here to see people and shop (mac laptop tomorrow baby!!!!!) and then we head over to the Olympic Peninsula, where we may resort to staying at an rv park for a night!

Last night Tiegan was helping Lorne to gather up the chickens and lock them into their coop. She was saying that she really wanted to get chickens of her own one day, and wondered how much they cost. Lorne asked her how much she thought they would be, and she guessed "$9.00"? Lorne said, "Nope, more than that" "Uh, $10.00?" To which he responded, "That's definitely more than $9, but they were $25 a piece" - which was far beyond her comprehension! "WOW, and you have FIVE of them. You have a LOT of money" she said, looking at him in pure awe. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, the simple pleasures of life, when $125 is far more than you can comprehend ever having!

We're packing up the Barth today and heading south. All the way to balmy Duncan!!!!! More soon.

Country living

So, we are fully relaxed now, enjoying a slice of country life here on the outskirts of Comox. It's a wierd combination actually - using the time to pull out maps and look at books, getting fully excited about our travels to come, but also getting a glimpse of the life we're oh-so excited to set up in Ottawa once we're done our travels. Chickens running around our feet, the kids searching everywhere for hidden nests. Chopped wood resting on the side of the house, for those cozy fires on foggy nights, beside which boardgames are played! Hockey in the driveway, forts in the trees behind, kids running freely and toddlers excited to be observing deer. We've been swimming at the great aquatic centre here, gone to watch Zach play hockey, toured the local co-housing set-up in Courteney that friends have moved into, and yesterday the girls even got to do an hour of horseback riding at a local stable. Now they're both very excited about owning their own horses in Ottawa - we've relented to MAYBE finding a riding stable nearby that they can 'borrow' horses from!!!!!!!

We've also been playing around with lots of online technology and are figuring out what we want to use for our website/blogs/photos/etc and are getting much closer to figuring that all out - it's almost overwhelming, all of the different options! If you know of some awesome program that you think would work well for us, please feel free to let us know!

Anyways, life is good as we slowly catch up on everything - and tomorrow we head out on the road again, this time to visit friends south of Duncan!