Homecoming Highs and Difficult Decisions
Trip Start
Jan 20, 2004
1
101
165
Trip End
Ongoing
Ottawa,
Ontario,
Canada
Monday, April 3, 2006
Fortunately for us, but unfortunately for them, this was the winter that wasn't. Instead of experiencing bone-chilling temperatures and vast mounds of snow ideal for winter adventures, the four of us spent our days sliding around on the freezing rain that seemed to blanket every sidewalk, driveway and field in the Ottawa vicinity
01 Sunrise over Dunrobin Lake
. Gingerly negotiating our way around the icy puddles of Confederation Park, we lamented that Winterlude's ice sculptures had eroded into piles of indistinguishable slush, after three days of heavy rain. Luckily, the rain eventually abated and colder temperatures provided the ideal situation for the ice sculpting contest the following weekend. And hey, Ottawa's famous Beaver Tails are scrumptious come rain or shine!!Considering that we have found our small van to be a very comfortable living space for the past two years, we experienced some culture shock when we first saw the house that would be our home for the next five months. Our van could fit twice into the ensuite bathroom!! Nevertheless, it didn't take long for us to spread our few belongings throughout this beautiful house on a lake, contributing to the feeling of home. Our friends were astounded that the house rental offer came from one of our Travelpod readers - something so lovely from someone we've never even met! It's an ideal situation for entertaining, so besides overseas visitors Adrian and Tanja from Switzerland and Sherry from Thailand, we've also had a series of dinner parties, sleep-overs, mid-week lunches and week-end retreats - with many more lined up for the next few months. It feels really good to be able to return in small measure some of the hospitality and support that we've received on our last couple of visits back to Ottawa.
Considering that the house is almost 40 km west of Ottawa, it soon became apparent that a car purchase would be a wise investment. Knowing that we are now obliged to spend 153 days of each calendar year in Ontario for health insurance purposes, long-term car rental was definitely not an economically viable option.
02 Winterlude sweethearts
Although we had anticipated buying a 'sensible' silver Honda Civic, it appeared to us that every other car on the highway or in the parking lot was already a silver Honda Civic. Thus, throwing all caution to the wind, we decided on a bright yellow 2002 Mazda Protegé 5 hatchback, complete with sunroof, mag wheels and tinted windows. Mike would surely have approved!Buying a car is one thing, but purchasing a house is probably the biggest indication of a significant level of domesticity setting in. The decision to look for some form of accommodation without wheels was not made lightly, but seemed a wise thing to do considering Gerry's health condition. Although he is still fit and healthy, his white blood cell count has again risen dramatically, and it is now only a matter of time until he will require chemotherapy treatment. Thus we reluctantly decided that it was time to grow up, settle down and start looking for our own semi-permanent abode.
A few weeks of looking at condos, townhouses and small city properties - and hating everything we saw - brought us to the stark realisation that we're definitely doing this under duress and are really not ready for it yet. All we want to do is to return to our van and our travels, so forget the house purchase - we'll simply rent something when the situation dictates! We're of the strong opinion that "positive attitude" plays a major part in treatment of any disease, so we're optimistic that our vagabond life can continue for quite a while yet. But, knowing that life can at times be wildly unpredictable, we do have a back-up plan - a good friend who knows South America, speaks Spanish, and drives his own VW Campervan, has offered to drive our DC3 back to Ontario for us....but this is only an extreme last-case scenario. Maybe we should take a page out of Rick Mercer's book and advertise the "driving our van back from Argentina adventure" on e-Bay. Hmmm......wonder how many takers there would be?!
