Westward Bound.........

The two of us made the decision to move back to BC where both of our families were.  We upgraded to a better car for the trip back and we also managed to gain a motorbike along the journey in Ontario(a bike that Jim himself owned so long ago) so we got a trailer to take it back to BC with us.  After modifying the trailer and packing up most of our belongings, we once again hit the road.  We crossed the Canadian / USA border at Port Huron and continued along Route 2 through the northern USA.  It was a great trip and we saw lots of wildlife and nature, as well as met some very kind and interesting people along the way.  We were able to spend 7 days on our route this time as we made the move in the middle of August and camped/hotel'ed along the way.  Our first food order mistake - the menu said bacon and eggs....us greedy souls decided that we were too hungry for 2 pieces of bacon and 2 eggs so we ordered hashbrowns and toast.......the next thing we knew, there were 2 waitresses bringing us 4 humungous platters of food.........food that would feed about 6 people.......Big Mistake!!  There are some great memories along the way; our first purchase in the states of a full tank of gas - 2 packs of cigs and breakfast for 25.00, the Macinac Bridge, the roadkill stew in northern Michigan, the fields and fields of sunflower plants through Northern Dakota, the flat prairie land through eastern Montana, the wonderful hosts in Cut Bank Montana whom bought us dinner one night, the majestic Glacier National Park, and the interesting scenery through northern Idaho and Eastern Washington state, oh yea - the food.....we finally figured out how much to order from a menu by the time we were ready to re-enter Canada.  All in all, a wonderful trip.  As we entered Canada again in Osoyoos, we came back to reality.......

We went to my families place in Penticton and got settled there.....After we had been there for about a year, we faced our first medical crisis with me.

I began to have lots of pain in my belly and during every menstrual cycle, the pain grew.  After seeing several medical doctors and specialists, it was discovered that I had Endometreosis.  As it turns out, Endometreosis is a disease that can prevent one from becoming pregnant, and if a lady becomes pregnant with the disease, depending on the damage done to the uterus and surrounding tissues, the chance that the woman can carry the child to full term is doubtful.....in my case with the severity of the disease, I was told that if I did become pregnant, the likelyhood that I would have a miscarriage was about 95%.  Endemetreosis is when your lining of your uterus actually grows on the inside of your body cavity versus where it is suppose to be.  I was put onto steroids and several medications that actually changed how my body worked.  I was put onto testosterone which is suppose to stop the cycle.  Nothing worked.......By the time that the doctors realized how bad things were, I had several growths on my bladder, kidneys, intestines, liver and lungs.  The problem with this diseases is that when you have a menstral cycle, those growths also bleed, which cause increased pain and more growths to develop.  After an attack that sent me to the hospital, it was decided that I would need a Radical hysterectomy in order to stop the process, as at that time, it was the only known CURE for the disease.  At the age of 22, I had the hysterectomy which in effect changed the first part of our lives together forever......We would never have the children that we wanted.

At this same time, it was also discovered that I had hyperthyroidism, which as it turned out, made the endometreosis grow at a rapid rate.  Only the hyperthyroidism wasn't discovered until after I had the hysterectomy.  If things were discovered the other way around, I probably wouldn't of needed the hysterectomy at that time.  Shortly after discovering that I had hyperthyroidism, I had a radioactive iodine treatment to reverse the disease. 

Time went on for a while and things were okay, then I began to have problems with sight, breathing, confussion, and general unwellness......one day my husband took me to the hospital where I was admitted for a week.  In that time they found that I now had Hypothyroidism, which is when your thyroid goes low and they need to give you medication to bring the levels back up to normal.

By the end of that year, things had happened to our lives that wouldn't be reversed.....the only way we could have children in our lives now was to adopt.  As Jim was now nearing 40 years old, at that time, they wouldn't allow a person to go through the adoption process at that age.........In other words, if I wanted to adopt a child, I would have to leave my hubby and try to get a child on my own.  Not great.  I made the decision to not have children and to stay with the man that stood by me through the last year.....the love that he shared with me, gave me strength to fight and carry on.  It was a decision that I am still VERY happy with today!!

We spent 4 very nice years in the Okanagan / Similiameen valleys before deciding that it was time to start anew.........

Our Early Years......

After Jim and I moved to Vancouver Island, we spent the first four months in the small community of Duncan, BC.  As jobs were in short supply and our itchy feet wanted to wander, we picked up our socks and packed up our 1971 Datsun 510 with all our belongings and left Duncan in the first couple of weeks of December 1988.  What a stupid time of year to do that......LOL.  We arrived in the Okanagan Valley, in Penticton and spent a bit of time with my family before we packed up the car again with our remaining belongings.  As we travelled east, we were heading for Burlington, where Jim grew up and where he knew there were lots of jobs for us. 

After 3 days of travelling night and day as we knew that there were some winter storms chasing us, we decided we couldn't drive anymore and stopped in Dryden, Ontario for some much needed nourishment and complete sleep.  Now some would say that it was a stupid idea to stop in that town as it's reputation for being cold, but we had enough.  BIG MISTAKE!!  We woke up the next morning to find out that we were frozen into our motel room, and when we looked outside through the tiny space in the frozen window, we found our little Datsun to be sitting in a cave of snow and ice.  Yup, those storms caught up with us and hit with a vengence........snow and ice thicker than you could imagine.  We phoned the manager of the hotel who came with a hairdryer and hot water to pry us out of our room.  Then we found a towtruck and got our car towed to a garage where it took several hours to melt before we could get back into the car.  Needless to say, that was our last stop until we got to our destination.

Now, remember, I am a small town girl, born and raised so when we got to Toronto during rush hour traffic Friday morning, you can imagine the culture shock that I faced.  LOL.  We carried on down the highway with all communities blending into the next with no clear definition till we reached Burlington.  We went to one of Jim's "old haunts" to meet up with his friends and within 2 hours, we each had a job and a place to live.  Yes, things were looking up.

We lived quite happily between Burlington and Hamilton, both working and managed to get in some great camping trips to several parks around.  We had our Sunday drives to Port Dover where we would have perch dinners and enjoy the lazy drive back to Hamilton where we lived at that time......then in the summer, we would pack a picnic supper and head to the nightly drive-ins and would manage to get 2 movies a night and once every two weeks, there would be a 3 peat.  After we spent 3 years in the area, we both began getting itchy feet and wanted to travel once again........

The Beginning

My journey started twenty three years ago when I was working at the local ski hill for the winter.  It was a great time spent, learning lots and having lots of fun.  When the winter was over, I came down from the hill and settled in a community east of Vancouver, BC called Hedley.  It was there that I was managing a campground/hotel/cafe and that is when I met my future husband.

Jim was moving from Burlington, Ontario to Vancouver Island where his parents and sister were living....He left Burlington on a motorbike, travelled lazily through northern Ontario and Manitoba stopping along the way to camp at night and enjoy his travels.  He quite quickly went through Saskatchewan and Alberta till he got to the Rockies....of which, he slowed down a bit to enjoy the scenery.  One night he decided to camp near Greenwood, BC.  He got his tent set up, got his food for the night and went back to the campground to sit there and wonder why he was there as he "felt" that it wasn't the place to be.  He packed up his gear, gave the food and beer to a person nearby, and got back on his bike and drove.  He left Greenwood, which is just west of Grandforks, and drove through several communities and by several campgrounds till he got to Hedley. 

That night, I was suppose to go to Penticton to be with my family there for dinner.  I decided after our busy  weekend, I was too tired to go so cancelled.......meanwhile, I was cleaning up the cafe and putting the stuff away from the day when Jim came in.  He had supper, booked a hotel room for the night and as was customary for the campground, we usually had a communal bonfire at night.  Since there was only him and another couple there, I invited them to the bonfire.  As it turned out, Jim was the only one that showed up and we talked till the wee hours of the morning.  As I thought he was going to be gone the next day, I said my goodbyes and went to bed.  The next morning, Jim was waiting for me at the cafe.......he booked the campground for a week.

We spent the following week swimming in the river, talking till all hours of the night, eating our meals together and just having fun and getting to know one another.  At the end of that week, Jim asked me to move to Vancouver Island with him and we have been together ever since.

When you look at everything, there were so many things that could of changed up even meeting at all....Jim staying in Greenwood, me going to Penticton to be with my family, Jim going on the wrong highway at one time then getting himself turned around........  There were so many things that could of changed our chance meeting......a chance meeting that has lasted for 23 years and still going strong.  It was the best chance meeting of my life and one that I will never want to trade for anything else.

Well, that is my first addition to this blog.  There are many more to come as our story began 23 years ago and still continues now.....