Is it all going to fit!

Now that we have the trailer at home it is time to gather our “stuff” and try to make it all fit. We still need new kayak racks for the truck and a bike rack for the trailer. I have been hoisting the kayaks onto the roof of our vehicle for years but we decided that we would buy a set of Thule Hullavator racks so that we could carry the kayaks to the rack and then get assistance in hoisting them onto the higher platform of the SUV. We shopped around on line and locally for what we needed and finally settled on the best price and installation at Valhalla Pure in Nanaimo. Mike and Andrea gave me lots of assistance and advice and provided the best price. About a week, later the package arrived and I took the Santa Fe to Valhalla and Mike installed the racks. We are impressed!! The kayaks swing onto the roof with ease and because Debbie is short and I am old, these racks will make a world of difference in our kayaking. Because we want to kayak in as many places as we can, we did not want the loading and offloading of the kayaks to be a deterrent in our kayaking plans. This is definitely going to be a major factor in our kayaking. We hope that we don’t meet any rutting moose on our trip because our Santa Fe certainly has a set of racks!!

Debbie has been stocking the trailer. About every other day another package arrives from Amazon. She travels the internet looking for anything “collapsible”. She is working hard to find cooking utensils and storage helpers so that she can fit it all into our small trailer. I notice her looking at me once in a while and I think she thinks that I should also be “collapsible”. I know I have gained some weight but this is going a little too far!!

On the March 22nd weekend we took our rig (minus the kayaks) to Rathrevor Provincial park as part of a shake down cruise to see what we needed or had forgotten. This little three day excursion allowed us to try out our awning on the trailer and set up our outdoor cooking and barbecue systems. Again it was a great success and our barbecue worked perfectly. We have a quick connect hose to the trailer so it was so portable and easy to set up. We opted to stay with our Coleman white gas camp stove because we think it will be easier than packing the small one pound propane tanks. Unfortunately we could not find a two burner camp stove that is set up to take the quick connect low pressure connections onto the trailer. We did make a run into Parksville to buy some knives and forks that were better (according to Debbie) than the camping/kayaking set that we had. Debbie shopped at the Parksville SOS Thrift store and found just what she was looking for.

Our friends, Dave and Karon, met us at Rathtrevor and Debbie had great plans to barbecue a steak for them but when she wanted to set up the supper, she found that our fridge had done such a good job of freezing the steak that it was still hard as a rock when they arrived! Thankfully, Karon had brought some large smokies and more firewood, so we roasted them for supper instead! We ate the steak the next day. Dave was kind enough to lend us his bike rack that fits perfectly onto the trailer. Dave and Karon are sailing off to Mexico soon so he wouldn’t be needing the bike rack.

Our friends, Kelly and Yvette, also visited us at the campsite. They also brought some more firewood and we enjoyed their company and had lots of laughs. Firewood at the park costs $8.00 a bundle for 5 pieces of dry wood. It burned quickly so the firewood that they brought was very much appreciated.

We are now one week away from starting our journey. Things have fallen neatly in place for us. We have found a wonderful dog sitter, Sharron, for Slade our grand dog, and Chris, a friend of Debbie is going to stay in our house while we are gone. Chris is “between houses” and is looking to purchase another, so hopefully she will find one that she wants, but not too early!

Check in on us again soon as we begin our journey!!