Taking a Break
(click on images to view them full size)
Slowing Down.
Best campsite ever - when we had to park our camper in the backyard to avoid incidents with the roofers. EXIF data iPhone image.
I’m not taking a break from writing or the blog - ironically this has kept me focused and more balanced throughout the summer as chaos reigned. Instead of feeling pressured to produce a written piece weekly, I found that I had all sorts of ideas and for most of the summer I had 4 or 5 blog posts in the queue waiting to be published. Now that things are slowing down with final paint touch ups done and cabinetry adjustments being the outstanding things to be done - it feels like the right time for us to take a break and reconnect with some friends and family. Oh and there is the thing about trying to get in one final camping trip to break in the new trailer before the white stuff flies (which could be any day now this close to the mountains).
I should probably back up a bit and explain that little “break in the new trailer” line because there’s a bit of a story there.
Time Out
The last camping trip that we took was also supposed to be a bit of a get away - decompression - escape the renovations type of weekend and that was the September long weekend - a time in Canada for that last family camping trip before buttoning things up for winter. Kory has a friend Adham who has been developing a campground in Southern Alberta near Claresholm called the Willow Creek Brewery & Campground. He has just opened it up to the public, so we thought what better opportunity to visit with friends and take a break.
We packed up our Sprinter camper van and Roxy to hit the road on the Friday evening - excited about a few nights out in nature with big skies and quiet. We had a great drive (just over an hour) to get there and the sunset skies certainly delivered drama. There were thunderstorms looming on the horizon, but they headed north of us and we were able to admire the colour and sun beams streaming across the sky without getting wet.
The campground is just west of Claresholm on a paved road (nice not to have to drive over gravel roads) and the brewery (which is still in development) was the site of the old municipal water treatment plant - a perfectly sized building for a small microbrewery. We love Adham’s vision and dreams - he’s always coming up with such terrific ideas and them making them happen - such a positive and uplifting person to be around.
Big dramatic skies on our way south to the Claresholm - the distant view of the mountains. EXIF data iPhone image.
We arrived at the campground just as the sun was setting and quickly set up - for us that is finding relatively level ground and deploying the hydraulic leveling/stabilizer jacks on the van - all good and we were quickly set up for the night. The campsites will eventually have power hook ups, but right now we were off grid which works ok for a day or two with our solar system. There were also great chunky wooden picnic tables (loved these!) and propane fire pits (bring your own propane bottle and you have a nice warm fire - with no worries about fire bans as these are the only kind of acceptable fires to have during bans which are happening all too frequently).
After setting up we had a great visit with Adham and his son before calling it a night and flopping into bed for a restorative sleep.
Rise and shine
The next morning we woke to an amazing sunrise and beautiful cloudless skies - it was going to be a hot one, but after our cold wet summer we were ok with that. We made breakfast as we saw Adham start to cut the grass on his ride ‘em lawnmower. I was struck by the beauty of the location and we were promised a tour of the “brewery” and area as well as his vision for the property.
Now some people bypass Southern Alberta to head straight for the Rocky Mountains and Banff/Lake Louise area, but I think that is a mistake - don’t get me wrong these are amazingly beautiful landscapes with the powerful mountains and aqua coloured lakes, however I find the open plains of Southern Alberta interspersed with the foothills, coulees and winding creeks to be as appealing. There is something about the wide open spaces and being able to see what seems like forever (yes I am a Barbara Streisand fan and I do love the movie On a Clear Day You Can See Forever). The landscape provides more subtle charms and so many surprises if you just slow down and really pay attention.
Leopard Frog. EXIF Data f10, 1/160s, 400mm, ISO200
Our tour of the brewery and campground manager’s house (a relocated residence - Adham’s big on repurposing and recycling) was a treat - we could really see Adham’s vision rising out of the abandoned site - so much potential - the family playground area - fishing down at the creek - picnics under the trees and the brewery patio area. We really are excited to see him succeed and viewing the brewery area we had an inspired thought - all of the light fixtures and ceiling fans we were replacing would be perfect in this space - the old fixtures are a bit industrial looking with the perfect vibe for what he’s doing, so we all quickly agreed to get them to him for this project (it felt good to repurpose the lights).
We walked along the creek and happened to come across several leopard frogs which were really cool to see sunning themselves on the creek bank.
The campground with foothills in the distance. EXIF data iPhone image
The weekend was going so well - until it wasn’t…….we decided to move our camper to a different site - partly to experience a site closer to the creek and also to get some photos for him to be used on the website. A great idea until we went to deploy the levellers and they stopped almost at the ground. What?!?!?! This had never happened before - I pressed the switch and there was a click (solenoids engaging), but no other sound or movement.
Epic Fail
Thank goodness for Kory’s electrician skills and amazing troubleshooting abilities - we went through normal troubleshooting - was it a blown fuse? - no, was it the pump? We hadn’t heard anything to indicate a pump failure, but it didn’t seem to be running. We went through everything and finally concluded that we’d need to manually raise the jacks. Now that was a fun decision - as I scoured the operating manual to find Kory electrical drawings and get information on how to manually raise the jacks (not a straightforward or intuitive process as one would think) - I mean this is a major system and failure of this system means you’re stuck - we couldn’t drive with the jacks deployed and raising them was not straightforward.
Final trip for this campervan. EXIF data iPhone image
Thank goodness we were with Adham - he was so great at trying to help us get additional tools and his local friend who had been working with him to grade the campsite (awesome job done on this) came to help us - 3 hours later we finally got them raised, but with a lot of manual help leveraging them up. What a nightmare - one of the limitations that we’ve often felt having a camper van is that this is your vehicle as well as accommodation, so when we get to a site we either have to stay put or pack up our camper to drive anywhere. This has caused us issues where people think the campsite is vacant and try to set up camp, or they think we’ve abandoned our camp chairs and screened room (Clam) - also not cool. Not having a vehicle has caused us to miss some opportunities to sight see, but we’ve compromised on this because it’s been so convenient to have the camper.
Second Failure
Once we got the levelling jacks retracted we all breathed a sigh of relief - had a cold beverage and tried to clean up a bit - man was it hot! We also decided to have a community barbecue to celebrate the success of getting the camper fit to drive (thank goodness the site was level so that our fridge still functioned and we weren’t rolling out of bed).
It was still hot so we deployed the awning which is also electrical (you’re sensing a theme here aren’t you?) - the awning came out and provided all sorts of much needed shade.
Adham’s family came from Calgary and we had a Lebanese feast with chicken and beef, fattoush, hummus, pitas, potatoes and all sorts of other goodies. We were stuffed in the best way possible.
After dinner we set up a propane fire pit and sat around it enjoying another epic sunset. I mean the sky was continually painted pink/red/orange and yellow - just breathtaking.
Enjoying the setting sun around a campfire. EXIF data iPhone photo
Another beautiful day coming to an end, so we tidied up and got ready for bed, but the awning wouldn’t retract - visions of us having to drive down the road with the awning flapping in the wind filled my brain. By this point we were too tired and stressed to deal with it, so we left it out and hoped for no big wind gusts overnight.
In the morning the awning magically started to work again - was it gremlins? Was our 7 year old camper van telling us something? We’re not sure, but the weekend was anything but restorative - apart from the awesome visit we had in between troubleshooting and fixing the camper.
Time for a change
On the drive home we had a good long chat and decided that we needed to make a change to something with less gadgets and automatic systems that can fail and cause us to be stranded. We’ve been talking for a while about getting a trailer instead of a camper van and this was the weekend that clinched the decision. Yes in the end stages of our renovation we were crazy enough to go out and trade in our camper van for a travel trailer and to make matters more complicated - we also had to trade in Kory’s beloved orange Tacoma for a Tundra with more towing capacity in order to tow the new trailer.
The new trailer is fully manual with very few fancy systems - we love it! There are awnings that have to be opened manually - yes! No levelling system - we have to use old fashioned levelling blocks - yes! A queen size bed instead of twin beds - yes! The best thing of all is that it is the same length as our camper van, with effectively 10 ft more useable living space as there is no engine to this trailer - yes!! No wonder we can’t wait to go camping before the snow flies.
Have you ever made an impulsive decision at an inopportune time that ended up being the best decision you’ve made? I’d love to hear about it or any camping war stories you have in the comments below or drop me a note directly by clicking on the Connect With Me button.
Autumn leaves are just hanging on. EXIF data f5.6, 100mm, 1/200s, ISO100, -1.0EV.
I hope you’ll come back soon, share a cuppa, relax and enjoy more of my musings.
