On the Road.

Well, we’ve done it. We are on the road for our annual trip to Ontario to visit family. We’re going a little later than we usually do and I am excited to experience Fall in Ontario. It has been 9 years since we have done that and 9 years since we have had Thanksgiving with family (except for the few times my mom was visiting us in Whati).

I had planned on writing a blog post for each of our travel days, but that is not going to happen. Not because I don’t have time, but because I don’t necessarily have anything to say. Our days are pretty standard - long hours in the bus, stopping for gas, stopping at grocery stores frequently because we have a small fridge (that is a shift for me, I am used to shopping once every two weeks, not once every 2 days), setting up at new campsites each night, and parenting among all that.

So far we are making good time, but I think we are going to slow down in southern Alberta and visit the mountains. There are some stops I want to make in Saskatchewan as well, and we usually get through Manitoba in a day. and then Ontario takes forever, but the drive is very pretty and at that point we are eager to get to our cabin so we don’t linger.

In the past, our travels days were often dictated by finding good hotels that allowed dogs. This is harder than you may think. Now, we just need to find suitable spots for the bus. We use an app called iOverlander that allows travellers to share camping, parking, and other interesting spots. It has worked really well for us and I would recommend it to anyone taking a road trip.

Now the bus.

I am kind of used to it, but I am quickly reminded that it is very unusual. Mostly because the paint job makes it stand out like a sore thumb and it looks like it’s from the 60’s, but it’s not. It’s from the late 90’s. The previous owners painted the top 30% white and the bottom 70% teal. It needed a new paint job and we couldn’t easily source the British racing green colour I wanted, so it is now 80% white. We look like a giant marshmallow.

I don’t know all the mechanical specs about it. But I can tell you it is a Thomas bus. It is flat nosed - that was important to Josh and I can’t remember why - I think that is why people guess it is from the 60’s. The previous owners were a family with three young kids and they did most of the work inside. They kept the two front bench seats for car seats and the overhead shelves on one side for storage. And here is a synopsis of the rest of the interior:

• 1 queen bed in the back

• 4 bunk beds (we split one in half to accommodate two playpen mattresses)

• composting toilet

• shower/tub combo (that is very recent upgrade Josh did)

• lots of counter space

• 4-burner gas stove top

• large stainless steel sink

• small fridge

• lots of cupboard space

• seating area for 2-3 people

• original bus windows with nice curtains

I am writing this while Josh is driving and looking around to see what I can describe…

• hardwood floors

• cedar roof and walls

• cozy lighting throughout the whole bus

• outlets everywhere (the previous owner laughed as he explained he didn’t want to be short outlets so went overboard)

Some of the more technical stuff that I can’t describe in detail:

• solar panels on the roof

• water tank under our bed

• water heater

• diesel heaters

*Josh read this before I published it and said, “If you want, you can say it has a 8.3 L Cummins engine and an Allison transmission.” - so there’s that.

That’s it. I may take pictures of the interior and put them on a separate post, but I am no stylist or photographer, so I am not sure how that will go.

We are open to renting the bus and it will be parked on our property in Parry Sound for the next 6-8 weeks. If you’re interested, just send me a message personally or on the About page.

That’s it for now,

Rebecca