There are trips when you just wonder, “Why are we doing this?!” This was the case for our doomed Canadian adventure. People even asked, “Are you ever going again.” Our answer, “Of course!”
We had a wedding to go to the night before our trip, which threw us off of our trip packing routine. We thought we were all organized and packed up. We headed toward Whistler, BC in the morning the day after the wedding. We made our usual Starbucks stop and were on our way.
In an effort to try to avoid pulling a trailer through downtown Vancouver, we thought we’d take a more costal route. That was our first big mistake. The route was twisty and narrow, and we weren’t 100% sure we weren’t going to have turn around, which made driving stressful. If we had to turn around it would probably mean unhitching, turning, re-hitching, turning, unhitching, turning, re-hitching … until we got turned the right way lest we jackknife. Luckily, that didn’t happen. Much to our relief, we made it across the border without any incident and had some really great scenery on the way. We underestimated how long it was going to take us get there and we had to stop for lunch. My husband went back to the trailer, to get his wallet and guess what… no wallet. That’s right, it was in his car all locked up safe and sound in the garage at home. I had put all of our passports in the glove compartment so, we didn’t notice the lack of wallet until we needed lunch.
Of course, I had a wallet, so we weren’t without money for the trip. He had a passport, so he wasn’t without proof of identity or citizenship. We had that going for us anyway. Being wallet-less just meant that in order for him to have any spending money on the trip, he’d have to get it from me. He wasn’t a fan of that set up. That’ll teach him to double check on his wallet! Being wallet-less also meant he was driving without a license. Our plan, if we were to get pulled over, was to try to explain our situation to the police officer and then further try to explain that the world was safer if I wasn’t pulling a trailer. For the record, I really can pull the trailer … as long as the road is flat, and I don’t have to back it.
We got to our RV park and set about having our great Canadian adventure. The RV Park is situated right on the river and next to the bike trails. It’s really a perfect set up! We keep the car parked most of the time and just ride our bikes everywhere we want to go. There’s also a great putt putt golf course in the RV park. We love it there! Our next-door neighbors have a time share in Whistler, so we crash their vacation and have a lot of fun.
For a long time, I had a skin bump. The doctor said that it was nothing, but to watch it. If it were to ever change size, color, or hurt I was to go to the doctor. That night, it turned red, got hot, and hurt like heck! By the next morning, it was worse. So, my husband took me to the ER in Whistler. That was an adventure in and of itself. As it turns out, if you’re American and have an emergency in Canada, all you need is your credit card on a lanyard so you can swipe it into each door you walk through at the clinic. You may think I’m exaggerating, but I literally had to get it out at each department I got sent to. As it turns out, I had an infection that needed a little minor surgery, and several days of IV antibiotics. So as not to ruin our vacation, the doctor did everything on an outpatient basis. That was great, but the rub was, I had to have an IV port in my arm the whole time and had to go in and get the antibiotics squirted in each day. But, it got better. Cool!
The day after that, the rain started. It pretty much poured for the next few days. That ruined all the bike riding and had us watching movies, visiting the u-paint ceramics place, and trying to find anything indoors to do. During one rain break, we did manage to do the hike to the train wreck, which seemed a little apt as our trip was turning out to be a bit of a train wreck. I do recommend the hike though.
Apart from the rain, we had a good time with our neighbors and made the best of it. The sun came back out on our last day. We ran around Whistler and did everything we wanted to do outside that week … in a day. It was a really fun day! The IV port was out too! Freedom!
It was time to leave and we all agreed we really needed to have a do-over on this trip. When we got to the border, the line was huge! It was so long, I had time to go back to the trailer and make sandwiches and bring them back to the car. I took a walkie talkie with me so that my husband could tell me if he was going to pull forward so I could hang on. It worked. I think we moved a whole five or six feet while making lunch for four!
When we were getting closer to the border, we watched the lines to decide which one was moving the fastest. The one on the far right was doing the best. So, we headed to that line. That was probably our biggest mistake of the trip. What we failed to notice, (or if we did notice, we were clueless) was that the far-right lane was the Nexus Lane. Once we got to the border patrol guy, he let us know that if we didn’t have the Nexus pass, we weren’t allowed in the lane. There was no negotiating him. He wasn’t going to let us through without the pass. Oh, and by the way, you can’t purchase one in the line. I asked what he suggested we do. He said, “Just turn around and get in the other lane.”
Of course, if you’re towing a trailer, turning around is no small thing. There were about six cars behind us, jersey barriers, and some turns. This was going to be next to impossible. I grabbed a walkie talkie so I could talk to my husband when I needed to direct him to back up. I proceeded to start talking to the other cars in the lane asking them to back up. Luckily, everyone in the lane behind us thought the border patrol guy was ridiculous and was really nice about turning around. Then, what to do with the jersey barriers? They were the plastic kind. So, I just moved them. The trip had gotten so ridiculous that I was cracking up laughing the whole time I was moving them. Once we got pointed into the lane to the left, I had to go over and sweet talk the people in the next lane to let us in. They were also nice and let us in. We left the jersey barriers right where I put them when we had to move them. Mr. Nexus could put them back how he wanted to.
When we finally got to the right booth, the border patrol lady asked us a bunch of questions including “did you buy any produce.” My husband, Mr. Honest, tells her everything we bought, including apples. Another mistake. Then, there was a whole conversation about whether or not they were British Columbia Apples. My husband started laughing, which I’m sure she didn’t appreciate, and said, “I don’t know, but are you hungry? I’ll go get you one!” She let us go.
When we returned home and told people about our trip, they asked us, “Will you ever go again?” Our answer, “Of course!” Here’s the RV moral of the story – Never let an ill-fated trip make you give up! We’ve had all kinds of mishaps along the way and have always managed to stay the course and have never turned around and gone home. There are a few places where we may never stop again … like Barstow … but that’s a story for another time. The key to surviving mishaps is laughing. Find the humor in the situation. There are very few situations where there won’t be something to laugh at or a silver lining to find. RVing takes a lot of laughing. Start now!
For a little Epilogue, we have never been back to Whistler. We booked another trip up there but, we had to cancel because of wild fires. Whistler was on fire! That led us onto one of our best serendipitous trips ever to Auburn, California. That was one of the only places we could find a reservation during the dates we needed. We ended up having a great trip where we toured the gold country of California and went on the best white-water rafting trip we’ve ever been on. See, we didn’t give up!
Not every trip is going to be RV bliss! Most of them will be fun or funny! Have fun with your trips and all of the goofy things that crop up along the way.
Next trailer girl blog: Choosing an RV Park – Learn From Our Mistakes!
Trailer Girl's Guide to Happy Camping 