A year ago today we finished our trip across Canada. Can a year have passed so quickly already? Obviously it did, but the time seems to have flown by. We’ve been in our house now for 10 months too. Wow. I really had a blast on our trip and sometimes I miss being on the road. We might still have been on the road if it hadn’t been so darn expensive to travel. I am glad we settled down though. I like having a house - and a yard for the dogs. I like having my king size bed to sleep in rather than the sofa in the RV. I am a real home body so it is really nice to have a -home- again.
Now the update…
We took a time off of running parties in our dungeon this month. Katt’s health has been poor for the last 6 weeks or so and we decided that some time to ourselves was in order while she was going through the initial stages of diagnosis. We are waiting for speicalists appointments still. It takes a while. The two different ideas that are being bandied about are an autoimmune issue which may resolve itself over time, or alternatively fibromyalgia, which is a chronic condition. Until she sees a specialist we can;t say for sure what is going on. We are hoping it is autoimmune and that it will go away on it’s own, but we are prepared if it happens to be something else.
Starting September we’ll be throwing parties as normal. We don’t really make anything from the parties, we break even, but the spin offs from people seeing the space and later wanting to rent the space for private use is a real benefit to us. It will be awesome to have people here and using the space again.
A major development for me - I am now a reviewer at Janes Guide! I’ve been friendly with the folks over at Janes Guide since I first entered the adult internet business in 2000 and am really stoked to be a part of such a well respected site and working with people I have a lot of respect for. *does a happy dance*
We had planned on breeding Luna, our newest female pug, but we decided not to in the end. The risk of complications with squishy faces dogs giving birth is quite high, and we didn’t want to risk anything bad happening to Luna; we love her too much! So as soon as she finished her heat we’re going to have her spayed.
The shop roof doesn’t leak. We had 3 days of rain this week and the roof was water tight. It’s gratifying to know that I did a good job on it. If we stay here more than another few years I will have to re roof the house. In the meantime I am going to put moss killer on the roof and take the moss off once it dies. That should extend the life of the roof.
We have been throwing ideas around as to what we plan on doing for the next 2 years and 2 months. The original plan was to live in this house until Oct 2009 and decide whether we’d stay here or sell and move somewhere else. Depending on what happens with Katt’s health and our finances we have though of potentially moving earlier. We’ll stay here as long as we can afford to financially, emotionally, and health wise. Hopefully for at least another 2 years and 2 months! I like living in Chilliwack. Our neighbors are great, we’re close to our friends and family, and we’re so close to nature. I also really love our leisure centre. It is the best one I’ve been to in any city across the country.
I’d better be off to bed. Need my gnarly sleep and all.
Katt and I are going to San Fran in mid April. We’ll be leaving on April 13/14 and arriving in San Fran a few days later, and we’ll be there until the 22nd.
Not sure how much time we’ll have free while we’re there, but if you’re in San Fran and want to meet up for coffee, get in touch!
I heard a great remark when listening to some radio guys chat about camel toes the other day. “It looks like she’s hiding a yo yo in there!”. I found it amusing.
Here are some photos from our drive yesterday. Click to enlarge.
The Badlands.
You can see by looking at the baldlands why the bad guys would hide in there. Pre 1920’s there was no reliable road in or out so the ‘law’ was reluctant to follow anyone in there.
The Devil’s Tower.
We had planned to go into the park and get up close and personal with the tower but we had to compete for road space with 2500 or so bikers. We snapped a few photos and moved on. It was pretty amazing to see, though.
I wrote a bunch of stuff below the photos, but my computer fucked up and deleted everything. Grrrr.
Here’s a brief recap.
We’re going to a rodeo tonight. Katt has never been to one before so we thought we’d check it out, especially since we get driven there and back by bus which means the dogs will be happy in the air conditioned van.
It’s really hot outside. It’s a nice dry heat though so even though it’s hot you’re not dripping wet. We’ve availed ourselves of the pools in the camgrounds we’ve stayed at to keep as cool as we can.
We’ve really enjoyed the scenery in Wyoming. The drive has been absolutely amazing. We’re heading into Yellowstone park tomorrow and we’ll try to see old faithful while we’re there. After we visit the park, we’ll probably move on to Montana unless we’re blown away by a campground in the park.
Ξ August 8th, 2006 | → Comments Off | ∇ General, Travel Diary |
Was a good one! Katt and I were shopping at the Super Walmart in Rochester, MN and when I turned into an aisle in the ladies wear section there was an Amish woman and her late teen’ish daughter. I got flirted with by an Amish daughter. She had her finger on her lip and looked up at me coyly and smiled and gave extended flirty eye finger in mouth action. My goodness. When we’d passed through the aisle, Katt exclaimed gleefully, “That Amish girl was checking you out!”.
Of all the experiences I’ve had in my life, being flirted with by an Amish girl was not something I’d have expected.
We travelled a lot this week. We drove about 600km a day for the last 3 or 4 days. I really like the 75mph(120km/hr) speedlimit on the Interstates. It cuts a lot of time off of the trips and allows us to get to our destinations in a reasonable time frame. On the down side, the van drinks up gas like it’s going out of style at 120km/hr. Gas mileage drops from 14mpg to about 10-11mpg. On the plus side, gas works out to be about 93-99 cents per litre. It all balances out.
We’re near Midtown, South Dakota tonight. Pretty shortly after we found a spot to park for the night a thunderstorm broke out. It was pretty amazing to watch the thunderstorm roll in over the plains and watch all the lightning strikes. I’ll miss the thunderstorms when we’ve come back to BC.
There are a few sights we really want to see while we’re in western SD, and eastern WY. The plan for tomorrow is to drive through the Badlands in SD, and stop at a few tourist attractions, then head towards the Devil’s Tower in WY. If you haven’t heard of the Devil’s tower, if you’ve ever seen Close Encoutners, you’ll recognize it as the mountain that Richard Dreyfuss sculpts. After that, it’s off to Yellowstone park in WY. I am debating whether or not to drive down to AZ and see the grand canyon. It’s really far out of our way, so it’s unlikely we’ll do it this trip. I’d still love to see it some day.
Ξ August 6th, 2006 | → Comments Off | ∇ General, Travel Diary |
We’re on the road again. We decided we’d had enough of travelling and we’re on our way home. We’re still doing some sight seeing on the way home; notably, we’re going to the badlands in South Dakota, and We’re going to see Yellowstone Park and the Devil’s Tower in Wyoming. The goal is to be back in Vancouver around the 22nd of August. Once we’re back in town I’m going to look for a *gasp* non self employed job, and once I’ve found a job, we’ll find a house to live in. We’ve decided that it’s time to get back to the process of saving up to buy property, and the easier way to do that would be for me to get a part time job. It should be easy enough, I’m eminently employable. I’ll look all over BC to see what jobs are available. We may end up on the Island, northern BC, or Vancouver. We shall see.
Being back in town will also allow us to focus more on the business. Being away for 5 months has not been great for business, seeing as we have not been able to connect with any models on our trip. No models=no content=no sales=Wolfe is a saaaaaad Panda.
The RV will go on the market as soon as we find a place to live. We’ll be able to sell it for what we bought it for, considering the same year/model sells for 5k more than we bought it for, and we’ve put a lot of work into the vehicle so it’s in better shape than the ones that are 5k more.
I am really looking forward to being home. In the future, when we travel, we’re going to take shorter, more affordable, trips. We’ve had such an amazing time on this trip, but our finances will only accomodate it for so long.
So if you’re looking for a lovely RV, you know who to ping!
Another reason I am looing forward to being home… sex. I want more of it. I also want more kink play. Nude oil wrestling here I come!
Speaking of nude… I’m down to 208lbs now. I’m becoming positively svelte! None of my pants fit me anymore. Thankfully, we will be in the US for the next few weeks so I’m going to go buy some new clothes. One of the things we really love about travelling through the US is the price of clothes, food, and gas. Pretty much everything we’ve needed to get has been substantially cheaper. The only thing that has cost the same or more is accomodation. Thankfully, we realized we can stay for free at Casinos! Leila is very happy about the vast selection of diet food we’ve encountered here as well. there are tonnes of healthy options in stores.
We spent last night at the Bad River Casino in Wisconsin. They have water and electric hookups for RV’s; it’s great! We went inside and asked where we registered, and we were told that Casinos don’t generally charge for RV spaces, since RV’ers spend loads of money (Usually) in the casino. Yay for free parking! It actually doesn’t end up being free, since we do go in and have dinner. I went into the casino (my first time ever in a casino) and I tried to find a Hold’em table, but no luck. It was primarily a slots casino. Oh well.
Tonight we’re near Rice lake, Wisconsin. Tomorrow the goal is to get to Sioux City, SD. the next day we want to be in the badlands in SD. It means two 7 hour driving days, but I think we’re up to it!
Ξ July 27th, 2006 | → Comments Off | ∇ Travel Diary |
Provinces I have visited in Canada
States I have visited in the USA
Ξ July 27th, 2006 | → Comments Off | ∇ General, Travel Diary |
We drove through New York state today. We crossed the border at Niagara Falls and then took the 290 East until it became the 90, then from there we took the 390 South to Bath, New York. We started driving at 10:45 am and arrived at 5:45pm. New York state is gorgeous. The parts of New York state we’ve seen have all been very rural and farming oriented, with lovely rolling hills and quaint homes.
We had the closest call to being hit by a large animal today. A doe was on the side of the highway running back and forth, obviously very scared by the huge tractors that were cutting the grass on the side of the road. I slowed down when I saw it making a beeline for the highway about 20 metres in front of me, but thankfully it did a 180 and there was no smuckage. We had a few birds fly into the van while we were in Newfoundland, but that has been the extent of the carnage (not including the bugs).
Katt is indugling herself in a 4 hour spa treatment tomorrow morning. I had the option of being involved as well, but I can never justify spending that much on myself. I’d rather buy books and DVD’s. I spend the same amount (maybe more) over a few months as Katt, only she buys nutritional suppliments and gets massages or pedicures, and I buy books and DVD’s. I have my priorities straight!
I am starting to become eager to get back to BC. I estimate we’ll be back in BC in early September. We shall see.
On Saturday we’ll start the drive to Gettysburg, PA. We may or may not stay there. I’d like to try to drive 7-8 hours a day until we arrive in North Carolina, then stay there for a few days, then make our way to Myrtle Beach, SC. After Myrtle beach, we’ll head towards Vancouver. The drive from Myrtle beach to Vancouver, with the most direct route, is 3200 miles, or 5100km. By the time we’re done our trip, I think we’ll have travelled close to 30,000km (19000 miles). Yikes!
Ξ July 26th, 2006 | → Comments Off | ∇ General, Travel Diary |
We’re off to the US tomorrow. Actujally, we may stay overnight in Niagara Falls so we can eat the meat in our fridge before we cross the border. I understand from the US customs website that they may not allow certain fruit and beef products into the country, and since we just bought a few things today, we don’t want to waste them. I’ve never crossed the border in an RV before, so it will be an interesting experience. I’m sure I’ll need to declare all the electronics we are bringing over so there’s no issue with duties etc coming back. We’ll find out tomorrow.
We plan on driving to South Carolina before we start driving back to Vancouver. Tomorrow or Friday we’ll end up in Southern New York state, then we’ll figure out which path south we want to take for the following day. Where we end up depends on where we can get wifi.
I’m very ready to be moving on. I’m tired of being in one place for so long and I am eager to start the journey back to BC. Sadly, there have been no kink parties on our trip, and we have been able to make very few excursions to museums and such because of the dogs and the heat. It just gets too hot to leave the dogs in the RV in a parking lot while we visit a museum, and it’s very expensive to rent a car or arrange for doggy daycare.
The upcoming week is supposed to be very hot. I can’t say I enjoy the humidity and heat on the east coast. Some dayswhen I go outside I feel as if I am melting. Not so much fun. Thankfully we have both dash and roof air conditioning to keep us cool.
It was weigh day on Wednesday and I lost another 3.5lbs over the previous 7 days, bringing me down to 212lbs. My goal is 195lbs, and at this rate I will reach it in another 5-7 weeks. I am not sure if the weight loss will stop there or not, it will depend on what the current level of food I’m eating will maintain on my body.
Once we get back to BC I am looking forward to putting books I’ve collected while we’ve been travelling in to storage. One of the cabinets above my bed is oveflowing with books. I have to be careful when I open it to prevent the books from falling out. Overall we’ve done well witb not collecting lots of junk. We’re not really collectors of miscellania.
I know there are many people that would kill to have this issue. I get full really quickly when I eat. It’s rather frustrating to feel bloated after only eating a cup of cottage cheese and half an apple, or a sandwich. Over the last few years my appetite has decreased quite considerably. When I tried to gain weight last summer for muscle building I had a hell of a time eating enough to bulk up. I just couldn’t eat the volume required.
It has been almost 2.5 weeks ago now that I stopped drinking cola and eating candy bars. Thus far I’ve lost 11lbs and I eat about 1500 calories a day in food. That is down from 3500 a day with all the junk food. Ideally I’d be eating a bit more bulk (veggies and the like), but overall I feel really good physically. Emotionally, I’ve been snappish, easily aggravated, and cranky, but that is not horridly unusual for someone detoxing from sugar, carb, and caffeine addiction.
The most challenging part for me is going to the grocery store and buying food. All I crave is sweet tasty food and when I shop it’s a challenge to findd anything esle that I want to eat. I want food I don’t have to cook. Cooking a meal in a small RV is challenging at best.
Most people rant about eating too much… and I rant about not wanting/beaing able to eat much at all.
Ptttht.
We left Newfoundland on the 9th or 10th, and spent a few days driving around Nova Scotia. The visit to the maritimes was slightly shorter than planned since we need to be back in Toronto a little earlier than expected. We drove from Antigonish, NS to Halifax along the coast of NS and we stayed overnight in a campground just outide of Halifax. The next day we drove from Halifax to Edmunston, NB. That was a good 8 hour drive. We stayed in our first Walmart parking lot that night. It was more pleasant than expected. I see why Walmat is keen on RV’ers parking in their lots. We went in to buy some eggs and milk and we came out with 85 bucks worth of stuff instead of 5 bucks. Impulse shopping be damned! Ah well. Life is too short.
We drove from Edmunston to Montreal the following day, and we’ve been visiting Katt’s extended family in the area for the last few days. It’s neat to see how similar her family is an how certain traits are shared across the generations.
We’ve decided to boondock as much as we can from now on. Our savings were shrinking at an alarming rate because of the amount of rv parks and camp sites we’ve been staying at, so we figure we’ll do half and half if we can manage it. It will partly depend on how hot it gets. On cools days we will stick with boondocking, and on hot days we’ll find electricity to plug in to. That will halt the decline and allow us to keep travelling longer.
The plan is to travel to Toronto on Tuesday to arrive for Katt’s appointment on Wednesday with her lap band Dr. It’s time for her first band adjustment and we’ll need to stay in town for a week to ten days to make sure the adjustment is appropriate for her. After that we’re going to New York for the beginning of August to do a head shave with a lovely lady we’ve been in contact with. We’ll take the opportunity to see some of the sights while we’re there if we can find doggie sitters for our babies. After New York we will start travelling back home to BC through the U.S. We may drive as far south as North Carolina before we start heading home, since on our next trip over winter we won’t be drive farther than Florida. Over winter we will head down the western seaboard and follow the coast until we hit Florida, then we’ll head back home again. Once that trip is finished, we’ll travel B.C. for a summer to see where we might like to settle down for a bit to rest and recouperate. I have so many places in BC I want to show Katt. I won’t mention them here because I want to keep my favourite places quiet and serene! Neener Neener!
I think we’ll probably be done travelling by September 2007, but it’s hard to know for sure. The future is hard to predict. 2 years ago I never would have guessed that we’d be travelling across Canada. Two years ago I’d never have thought we’d sell our home. Life is interesting that way! The change has been good for both of us. We liked our little home, but we got really stale there. Life had become more about safety and routine than anything else. It’s been a nice shake up.
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