Condo Sold!

So we got an offer last night on the condo! We signed it back with some changes in the details and a new price. Our agent contacted their agent this morning, and his immediate response was "they'll sign it back - the price is too high" and quote our agent "tell them not to bother. My clients were going to sign it back higher and decided to cut the garbage and go straight to their bottom line. They won't accept anything lower".... so they took it! :)

So the adventure has changed slightly, and we'll need to move our furniture out of the condo in the next little bit - but we are ready to set off.

We've had a few days now in Ohio visiting and were able to see Karen, Frank and baby Daniel this morning - all reports are true: he is pretty darn cute! Beth and Noah were able to come over and visit, and he continues to get cuter as well.

Humerous news story of the day: Man Arrested for Driving Drunk on Bar Stool. http://www.ohio.com/news/break_news/42182217.html

Now Leaving Canada

After finishing up most of the van construction and visiting as many of our family and friends as we could in the little time we had budgeted, we've finally left for good and are on our way. Yesterday we left Ontario and took the ferry across the border at Sombra/Marine City and entered Michigan. From there we drove south to Ohio, where we'll stay for a few days visiting with Meghan's parents and finishing up the last of the work on the van. The trip was uneventful, with the exception of one incident. 

About 1 hour outside of Columbus, about to make a turn from a state highway onto the freeway, when Meghan yelled, "Holy Crap!*" (* she might not have used the word 'Crap')  I looked up to see a red car coming to rest on its roof in a farmer's field just off the road. We skipped our turn and rushed the 100 meters or so up the road to where the Pontiac Sunfire ended up, the wheels on the upturned car still spinning when we arrived. I called 911 while Meghan ran over to see if the vehicle occupants were ok. The three of them crawled out of the totalled car, luckily with no major injuries. The one woman was complaining that her chest hurt, so when the paramedics and fire department arrived, they put her on a backboard and took her to the hospital, but that seemed to be just a precautionary measure. With nothing left for us to do, we were back on the road in only about a half hour, happy that everyone seemed to be doing alright. 

Talking to the girl driving the car to help calm her down, we realized that it's amazing how quickly your life can change. The 20-year old told us she thinks she's going to lose her job, because without a car she has no way to get there. She said she had only liability insurance on the car, and it looked to me like a write-off - that will take a big financial toll. We can only hope that her mother, taken to the hospital in the ambulance, has health insurance. They were lucky though - coming out of that without serious injury. 

The driver was apparently driving too quickly around the curve on the familiar road, in a hurry to get somewhere as we all often are. Meghan and I will be taking our time on this trip - seeing all the sights and trying our best not to be in a hurry to get anywhere. We made it to Meghan's parents' place without further incident and had a nice dinner before heading off early to bed after an exhausting couple of days.

Check out the additional info stuff in the left navigation page - we've updated the site to include a few pages listing information about us, the van, our route, and a photos page. They aren't too exciting yet, but we'll be adding to them as we go.

Cheers,

Ian

and the Adventure Begins ... almost!

"My house is WAY bigger than your house" - to quote my cousin Rebecca.

So we have moved into the van and are starting to do our whistle stop tour and say our 'see ya later' to people. We've packed up most of the condo and have just left it staged. We are still hoping to sell it soon.

The van is pretty full of stuff right now, and not quite done, but close enough that we will likely finish it up this weekend. We just have finishing touches like mounting wire racks and installing the roof vent. We made progress on our bike rack last night - thanks to my Uncle Randy we have a custom draw bar that goes from our 2" square trailer hitch to the 3/4" bolt hole of the bike rack we really wanted - but we couldn't seem to buy a draw bar for. So now we just have to get the rack installed and pick up our bikes in Toronto before we head off.

So far we have:
- moved (mostly) out of the condo
- stored almost everything at Natalie and Brent's in Waterloo
- put the motorcycle in storage at Kari and Randy's in Feversham
- visited Kari and Randy and all my cousins in Lindsay
- visited my cousin Jess and Cindy and their kids in Peterborough
- and we are on our way to Barrie tonight to visit our friends Jess and Chris

We are hoping to head to Kentucky next week, with a layover in Ohio to see my parents and sister - and a bunch more stops to see family and friends along the way.

Oh yeah - and we lost the dog this morning. She almost missed out on the road trip - she somehow got locked in Kari and Randy's cold room and was MIA for quite some time. Fortunately we found her in time to make it to the kid's swim lessons. We had a blast watching Gavin and Sara learn flip turns, Rachel work on her free, and Becca working on streamlines.

Pictures and site changes are coming soon! (Ian is on it!) Sorry for the lack of pictures and posts lately, we've been working hard on the van and getting ready to leave on the trip. We'll have pictures of that work soon though!