Anyone who knows me knows that ‘doing the math’ is not something I usually come to voluntarily but here I am so you have to know that It is not too complex.
I was gone 149 days. Sitting here at my computer looking at my life I have to say it doesn’t seem that long but when I look at Austin, who was 3 weeks old when I left, just a cute lump of baby, pulling himself up to stand against the couch I realize that it was a long time.
Vincent carried me 22,482 km over mountains, prairies and water (ably assisted by ferries) and we spent $2336.00 on gas which was priced from $.86 all the way up to $1.46. If I had been travelling last summer I think I would have paid more than that.
Ferries cost me much more than I had anticipated. I actually hadn’t thought about them at all but as people on the coast know, they are a fact of life. I probably spent about $600 on them and could have spent much more. I will certainly work them into my plans when I am on the east coast.
I paid about $600 for lodging and campgrounds paying anywhere from $10 – $25/night but spent most of my time in homes of amazing people who I met on my website, through friends, couchsurfing.org or through someone that I stayed with.
I met one woman at a museum tea and stayed with 4 friends from my past. Reconnecting with them was just great.
I also reconnected with La Leche League, my love of horses, rekindled my love of doing Therapeutic Touch, listening to music and hiking. I went for my first motorcycle ride, went sailing and went dumpster diving for food for the first time (more on that later). I met a baby bear on the road, but didn’t have the pleasure of meeting her Mom, I saw a forest fire in its infancy and I danced to the sound of the wind on the Dempster Highway. I made new friends, people I hope I can keep in touch with for a long time. I was inspired and inspiring as I met people on the road. I began to come to some concept of how big this country is. I appreciated it all….and maybe appreciate it more now looking back.
More to follow.
All right! Vicki. How come I can’t remember the motorcycle and the sailboat? Not to mention the ‘dumpster diving?’ Obviously, I have missed some important details. I wonder how many others. . . K
Well…the motorcycle and sailboat were before I came to your house….so maybe you weren’t reading then???? It could be that middle aged memory syndrome…but no…probably not because I remember them…. As for the dumpster diving…well…as I recall I didn’t exactly use those words…the censorship thing…but now that I am home and safe I can say those things without freaking out any of my good readers. I will be going back through my blog posts and filling in some of the blanks…places where I said…more on this to follow.
Note: There are no pictures of my on the motercycle because I was on it and couldn’t take my picture…same as me digging through the dumpster with an incredulous look on my face as I was pulling out perfectly good food headed for landfill…..but there are indeed photos of me relaxing on the boat….and not being sea sick. 🙂 Have fun finding them. V
I thought I did go back and read the blog from the beginning, but maybe I only surfed through it. For the record, I am not giving into middle/old age anything excuse, so perhaps I was distracted or not concentrating or. . . It is a treat to Quest pop up in the inbox. Hope you keep up the habit. Karen
Vicki, Nice that you are back for a while, we really need to get together, I noticed a picture of Kakabeka Falls, I am absolutely sure that is where it is, I was just there on Thanksgiving weekend visiting with Ashleigh in Thunder Bay…..tea?