Drum Roll Please!

• “A dream realized” is the best way to summarize my nearly five-month motorhome trip.

• After a few days at home and some good zzzzz’ing in my own bed, it was time for the post-trip analysis and future travel planning. The most influential factors were: how I feel about the experience, what I want to do next, and how much all this is costing me.

• On the up-side, it was amazing to live so happily in such a small space – with room to spare. I loved the laid-back winter lifestyle of a desert-climate resort. The wonderful memories of happy hours (and Happy Hours) and the fabulous friendships will last a lifetime. On the down-side I absolutely hated being so far away from my family and friends, especially knowing how difficult it would be to “get back” if the need arose.

• On the down-side, I did not enjoy the actual driving of the motorhome. I was too focused on the road to see much of the countryside and hated the difficulty of driving in bad weather. At the end of the day I didn’t relish the prospect of leveling the motorhome so I could hook up to power and water, particularly for a single night’s stay and especially if it was or had been raining.

• Describing the down-side would be incomplete without mentioning the cost. The Canadian dollar had been at or near par with the Yankee greenback for more than a year so I did not really anticipate the serious nosedive the loonie would take as soon as I crossed the border. It was simple but incredibly painful math to figure out what the killer exchange rate averaging 33% did to my travel budget.

• As I mulled over all of the above, I started plotting my Western Canada adventure; Kamloops, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary and back to Victoria. The estimated cost of gassing the motorhome and paying summer campground rates for numerous one-night stays inspired me to investigate how much it would cost to take a plane, bus or train to the places on my most-want-to-go-there list.

• It didn’t take long to figure out more relaxing and far cheaper alternatives to driving a motorhome! The revised trip plan is for a six-week multi-modal, stay-with-friends trip. I will start out on a Greyhound Bus bound for Kamloops. Then I will ride the rails with Via Rail through the Rockies and across the flatland prairies to Winnipeg. The route back will include Greyhound to Regina and Westjet back to Victoria.

• As for MineRVa ……well, having helped me realize my dream, she’s now on the market looking for a new dreamer.

• Stay tuned as the travellingsmurph adventure continues.