Road trip!

The Wedding, the car, the money 

So my younger brother, the airline pilot, is getting married in Gimli Manitoba - about 22 hours east of here (Creston, British Columbia). Flying a family of 4 would cost an astronomical amount, so we're driving instead.  We have a 2000 Ford Focus wagon that we bought used.  This past spring we sunk over $3000 into repairs on this stupid car for the exhaust system etc - money that was supposed to have gone towards home renovations.  Now the car is acting up.  At idle it sputters and a few times it has actually stalled while pulling into a parking spot.  But I don't have any money to get it looked at.  So adventure number one - will the car make the trip?
Adventure number two is, I'm afraid I  can't actually afford this road trip.  My credit cards are at their limit and we'll have to go over limit to pay for the hotel and kenelling the dogs.  So will the cards accept the charges or decline them and leave me not knowing what to do???  We'll see.

We're sick/ the border

Add to that we're all sick.  This of course is nearly a given for me.  Every time I take a vacation from work, I get sick.  Now, we've decided for a change of scenery - and for cheaper food, gas and possibly lodging - that we'll drive through Montana and North Dakota instead of Alberta and Saskatchewan.  Here's our planned route.   We had originally thought to spend a night in Regina visiting my cousin and her family, but we don't want to get them all sick!  Before going to Gimli we'll first be staying at my parent's place on lake Manitoba at Manipogo for a few days.

View My Saved Places in a larger map

Now, another question is - will we be turned away at the border?  Perhaps they will assume we have Swine Flu.  Perhaps they will object to my home-made dog-food or our packed lunches - thinking we'll bring mad cow disease into their country.  If we do make it into the States, will they let us back into Canada?  In my experience US customs are generally much more friendly than Canadian customs.  Not sure why.   Maybe it's just because I'm Canadian, so they're welcoming of my tourist dollars (they don't know I'm broke!).  I've seen them being pretty hard on some returning US citizens.  Worst case scenario we have to go through Canada on our usual route which I'm not very fond of.  But that wouldn't be the end of the world.


Bringing the Dogs



Another challenge is that we're bringing my dogs. You see, to kennel them the whole time we're gone would be too expensive.  There's no one to keep them for us.  And River is neurotic when he's not with me.  So they're coming along and we'll just kennel them near the wedding for the 2 nights that we're in the Hotel.  How do we have space in our car, you ask?  Well, this I'm mighty proud of.  We have a wagon, and the dogs usually ride in the back, and there's a grate to keep them safely back there.  Otherwise River would be in my lap and there's nothing very safe about driving with an 80 pound dog in your lap.  For a long time we had the problem that if we put anything back there with them there wasn't any room for them (or they'd eat whatever it was).  So I solved this by making a smuggling compartment  large enough to fit luggage under them and they still have enough space for themselves - not like they need head room.  Clever, right?  I love being able to make stuff!

 

I'm actually quite excited about bringing the dogs with us.  We're very, very close to our dogs and miss them terribly when we're away.  Plus it's fun to see them get so excited about new places and new smells. And then there's the comfort they give with their cuddles.  They are both very well behaved in the car, so I'm not at all worried about that aspect of it.

We also have 5 cats, a bunny, 2 hamsters, 3 mice, several fish, and a corn snake.  They're all saying home and we're having a friend look after them for us.  It's so good to have a friend we can count on like that.  We actually just met her and her family a few months ago and just clicked.  First time that's happened to us since before we were married 11 years ago.  Friends are a rare and precious commodity for us!

Fibromyalgia sucks!!! 

Probably the biggest and most significant question of this trip is how my wife will handle it.  Niqi has Fibromyalgia and she's been having a very rough summer, with flares worse than ever despite consuming a small pharmacy of medicines.  The last time she drove for an hour it gave her a flare of pain that lasted for a week.  Even being a passenger is painful for her.   22 hours of driving, eating strange foods, sleeping in strange beds, and then the stress of staying at the in-laws and dealing with all the strangers etc who don't understand her Fibro is looking like a scary combination.  Her doctor is very worried for her and so am I.  She's already not feeling well and we haven't even left yet.  But she wants to be at the wedding so she's going to tough it out.  We'll just have to take frequent breaks and relax a lot.

So today is the day for preparation  Packing, cleaning, getting the are ready.  Checking and double checking to make sure we have everything we need.  We'll let you know how it goes.  Lots of adventures coming up in the next few days.