Vertical Limits

Mom (Sue) if you are reading this, please stop now. I am serious. If you were that unsettled after Running With The Bulls- you do NOT want to read this (because I love you so much of course).

Since the beginning we decided that throughout our trip each of us is allowed to pick one destination, event or thing that everyone would have to do. No questions asked. This weekend we found ourselves in Jasper. I thought that I would use my event. We were going to climb a mountain. Which Mountain? It would naturally fall into place.

On Friday, with high hopes for adventure, we strolled into the Jasper Info Centre, because it seemed like a good place to start.

"Welcome, Bienvenue." said Lisa our info guide.

"Hi Lisa, we would like to climb a mountain." we announced.

"Which Mountain? Lisa asked with a quizzical look.

"A big one." Jer and I responded simultaneously.

We went on to become friends with Lisa, eventually she leaned in close and even divulged a secret lake front location we could use to park our RV for free and clear of any of those scary park rangers. Also because of our new friendship, and gung ho attitude, apparently we were deemed fit for even more high clearance info.

Lisa was able to direct us to an exclusive, almost hidden mountain void of the typical tourist bunches and frequent visits. It was a site that you could say was off the beaten track.

Our camp site was just on the border of British Columbia, with a trail head starting from HWY 16. After a 3.5 hours, the treacherous 14km climb took us about 2100m above sea level and completely disconnected from any other humanity (Jer here. We were not happy with the hike that Jamie took us on. In the pic below we look happy. 10 mins into the trip we were halfway through our water rations) So we set off:

Past switchbacks, pine forest, marsh and rocks, our campsite sat alone one a glacial lake surrounded by walls of kilometer high mountains. This was our base camp.

Sure, we thought. Lets climb one of these mountains. How hard could that be?

** Pause Story **

Seriously Mom, I know you. Please don't read this.

** Resume Story **

So with packs filled with bug spray and peanut butter sandwiches, we set off "prepared".

Eagerly scrambling over rocks and boulders we crawled our way up the mountain slowly but surely. We stopped on occasion to crack a joke or chase a mountain rodent, eventually finding ourselves above the tree line. All the while we had our sights set on "the big one" (the peak in our range that we arbitrarily chose) but as it turns out, with no other humans for miles, nature can be crueler than we like to pretend. As we ascended higher and higher, we came to a stark realization. We stopped for lunch after a particularly steep section of o

ur scramble. After we had eaten, we looked up at the rock face and down from where we came. Suddenly it felt like our situation had changed. The falling rocks were no longer neat and the beautiful mountains now loomed ominously. It honestly got to the point, where we had to admit to ourselves that to continue our assent would place us into more and more legitimate danger. Several times the rocks would slide from beneath our feet only to tumble and fall for about 1800 feet. This threat of vulnerability did not stop us from enjoying some laughs, PB&J and smacking a few golf balls from our peak.

However, when we assessed our descent and began our return, I will admit shamelessly that I was scared. Several times the ground from beneath us would slide away and carry us several feet stopping barely a foot or two from a ridge or cliff. I watched with binoculars as Josh scaled down a straight rock face only to slide 20 ft on the snow patch beneath him. There was even a time when I was left hanging from my hands as the rock I placed my weight on shifted and fell. It is safe to say we entered the situation in rather naive fashion. Reaching the summit of a 3km high mountain is not something you can just jump into, it’s not like picking up a guitar and trying to play. Careful planning, equipment and guidance is crucial in situations like these. The mountain we set out to climb is climbable. We were not attempting the impossible; we just set out over zealously and found ourselves on a route that was far more hazardous than we had anticipated. But that’s the thing about climbing. The difference of a couple hundred feet, from where we were supposed to climb, to where we accidently climbed could have meant the

difference of life or death. We set out unequipped, and we learned that the hard way.

After a few hours we made it to the bottom safely with only a few cuts and bruises. We thank God for that fact. Back at base camp we discussed over the fire the days events and prepared for another freezing night and our journey home in the morning.

We’re now home safe in Jasper for the night planning on heading to Lake Louise tomorrow.

The camping video is now here! Check it out at: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheOpenRoadProject Just Click Here!

Cheers,The Boys

If you haven't seen the heroics during Running With The Bulls yet, check it out...

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheOpenRoadProject

Cheers,The Boys

Brightwood Ranch: Building Lives Worth Living

Last week we spent a few days at Brightwood Ranch in Alberta. We knew nobody at the camp, nor had any of us ever been there before. Basically, we found this guy Brent (who happened to be the camps director), in a directory of people that welcome travelers to stay for a day or two on their journey. We were very stoked as we soon realized that Brent is perhaps the most interesting man in Alberta. To the 80 or so campers he is know by his camp name, Old Spice. But he let us call him Brent. Brightwood Ranch is a camp run for underprivileged kids. Their main partner is Hope Mission in Edmonton (which is also a sweet organization). The facilities were fabulous. Coming from a fairly extensive camp background, I talked to Old Spice about various things such as how his camp is run, the different programs and staff hiring. I quickly realized that his camp runs like a well oiled machine. The activities that the campers can take part in are almost endless. Whether they want to play some sports, ride some horses (it is a ranch after all), go biking, hiking, zip-lining or just hang out at the petting zoo, its all there. Wait, why not some archery, riflery or rock climbing? Old Spice and his team of essentially international volunteer staff make it all happen. We loved this place.

But in the nature of our trip, we obviously couldn't just hang around and play games all day (although we would have loved to) so we asked Brent to find us some work to do. For our first day there, we drove into the middle of a 13,000 acre cow pasture and set up a campsite for a horse camp that was starting in a few weeks. This location was literally in the middle of no where and we drove through fields and forests on unimproved roads to get there. It is definitely an incredible location to learn and grow.

The next day, we helped Brent with some stuff that wasn't quite camp related. We helped him move his uncle into a new place. This was also a ton of fun as we got to hear some neat stories and also share our story with him. When we found his vintage hat collection and showed extreme fascination, he let us each take one for helping him out. That alone made the day awesome. You should see some of the beauties we found.

That night we went back to camp and participated in some activities. We hung out by the campfire, played a sweet wide game with the kids and got to know some of the staff. While a lot are from the west coast or around the world, there were quite a few from Ontario and some of us even had mutual friends which is always great. We are super thankful for our time at Brightwood especially because they fed us and let us shower during our stay. We also now have some leads on places to stay in B.C. which we are stoked about. So to all our friends at Brightwood, thanks so much and God bless you guys as you dedicate your summer to serving kids!

To read more about what Brightwood does, Click Here.
Cheers,The Boys
Post by JE

The West Edmonton Mall

Nuff said.

Cheers,The Boys

Attention:

If you find yourself in the Edmonton area on the morning of August 3rd around 6:30 or 7:00, why not tune into the Pepper and Dylan Show on 104.9 FM, Edmontons New #1 Hit Radio Station!

We will be on air talking about what we are doing and some of the adventures we have had along the way!

If you missed us and want to hear, click here!
Lookin' pretty good for 06:45!

Tune in,The Boys

An Update on Kindness

While we are enjoying our time immensely on the road, our purpose remains: to do random acts of kindness. Sometimes it seems like a lot of the things that we do for people don't have crazy stories, but we wanted to let you guys know about some of the stuff that we have done. Simple things such as buying Tim Hortons, paying for peoples movies, or just randomly giving away stuffed animals or small amounts of cash have proven to be great ways to show kindness to others. These small acts have sparked many interesting and meaningful conversations. It has been fantastic to get to know people from all walks of life. We have also done a few small work projects for people and hope to get more work of that nature.

Since we have been on the road, our minds have become geared towards finding ways to do things for others and this mindset is now something that we hope will never go away. We look forward to our next few days just outside of Edmonton at Brightwood Ranch, helping out in whatever ways they have planned for us. Then we are going to spend some time in the mountains thinking and praying about the things we can do once we get to southern B.C. and all the beautiful cities down there.

Cheers,The Boys

The Running With The Bulls.

So they have this tradition in Strathmore, and it involves the gathering of ten thousand cowboys, cowgirls and all the wannabes in-between. These people fill the stands to watch the 100 or so men who step forward for a once in a lifetime challenge. The challenge that I speak of is of course: The Running of the Bulls. The crowd you find in line to sign waivers for bull running is an certainly an interesting one. Some are in it for the glory, some perhaps are trying to prove themselves or consider it a legitimate show of bravery. Others (like us), were simply there for a new and exhilarating experience. Finally, some of the people standing in line were truly and solely seeking the $1000 grand prize. Not to stereotype, but simply to give you a better picture of our bull running compadrés, please picture now a man with a moustache. He is naturally shirtless, tattooed, and most likely drinking beer. His cowboy hat is the most expensive thing he’s wearing and his belt buckle is what most would call large. Some would say too large. He may be missing some teeth, or they are at least brown from a lifetime of chewing tobacco. He also likely would have cursed about 5 times since I began this sentence describing him. However, most importantly, he thinks there is not a chance in the world that 5 kids from Ontario would be better, or less afraid of running with the bulls than he would be. To be shamefully honest the 5 of us completely agreed with him. That is what we were dealing with; that was our company.

Running with the bulls was scheduled for 18:00. By 18:15 it's safe to say we each had a bundle of nerves. By 18:20 as we made our entrance into the arena the nerves calmed slightly, until the bulls were released. Our hearts dropped. Watching five, 1200 lb bulls charging at you was certainly thrilling. But before I go any further please allow us to explain the event known as bull running with which we are now so closely accustomed.

The running with the bulls involves 80 contestants left to fend for themselves in a gated arena monitored by 4 judges. The "runs" are separated into three rounds. the first is 6 small (relatively speaking) 1200 lb bulls that are meant to be the least violent. The intermission includes judges making notable mentions to particular contestants that stood out. Then the second round ensues. This time it is 4 larger 1400 bulls that are after us. Again, the judges make their comments and then it is time for the final round: two, large, aggressive Mexican fighting bulls. If when all is said and done there are no fatalities, no severe injuries and no harmed bulls the judges then select their favourite contestants and put it to the crowd to select the winner of the $1000 grand prize.

Ok. So now that your caught up with stampede culture, back to our time of terror in the arena. First round, there was a few close calls, but overall relative safety. In the second round Jamie and Charles made a few daring stunts that distinguished themselves in the eyes of the judges. After the third and final round, with all limbs still intact, we were all extremely relieved to have successful conquered the running with the bulls. After the bulls again were caged away, to our astonishment Jamie was chosen as one of the 6 finalists. It was now up to the crowd the judges and fate to decide who was going home with the grand of cold hard cash. We pulled together as a team and every time Bob Tallman (world famous rodeo announcers) mentioned Jamie, we all went buck wild, preforming antics and the classic sports celebrations that we all know and love. With roaring applause Jamie made the finals and by this time it had surfaced that we were from Ontario and were up against a home town kid. However, along with this, somehow (we still have no clue how) news surfaced of our adventures and mission which was announced to the listening crowd. At the end of the day, to all of our utter astonishment, Bob Tallman, Grant Keibler and the band Hey Romeo decided in our favour and selected Jamie as the 2011 Running With The Bulls. They invited us all up onto the lift from which they were speaking and gave us an opportunity to share a bit of our story to the thousands listening in the crowd. To this date, this has been our teams favourite bonding experience and even from this exposure spawned many fantastic stories that will be posted next time we make into into a free wifi hotspot. But for now, we thank God for giving us $1000 right after we spent around that on our transmission. This has been an unforgettable experience!

Cheers,The Boys

Bulls are Born, Men are Made

------Original Message------
From: Palatine Wines
To: charlesneufeld@hotmail.com
Subject: Running with the Bulls
Sent: Jul 31, 2011 09:33

Charles: While we want you guy's to have fun and try
things that you have never done, just think about the
fact if one of you got hurt what it would do for the
rest of your trip. You will make the final decision,
just weigh the risks and the consequences. Dad
Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry device


------Original Message------
To: Palatine Wines
Subject: Re: Running with the Bulls
Sent: Jul 31, 2011 09:49

Father: I have come to the conclusion that I was not
raised as a girl, but as a boy. As I have grown, I
am slowly becoming a man. This is will represent my
final coming of age. This choice was not mine, but fates.

Love Charles

Cheers,The Boys

Strathmore, Alberta: Give us Rodeo or Give us Death.

We have spend a few days in the small town of Strathmore, Alberta. Our contacts here were Charles’ Uncle Eric and Aunt Marilyn. Along with his cousins and their great families, we had no shortage of good times here in Strathmore. A ranching town of about 14 thousand, it is pretty surprising that they bring about 10,000 people out each day to the Strathmore Heritage Days Stampede. Featuring a Midway, Running with the Bulls, Chuck Wagon races and much more, it blows the Virgil Stampede right out of the water. Needless to say, we are very excited for our very first real rodeo.

Ps. Real Cowboys do exist and Willms is in his element.

Pps. It is our first rodeo. We would love to get involved. If only we could run with this idea...

Cheers,The Boys

Calgary: Tribulation and Resolve.

Day 11:

Just as we reached the city we all heard it happen: the gutwrenching crunch of metal and seizing of engine belts. We looked at Josh, he stepped on the gas and nothing happened…

Uh oh.

We puttered our whimpering RV to a familiar site, a Value Village parking lot where we could deal with our problem. The issue was clearly transmission related, but how in this big new city, with a vehicle that wont gear up, were we going to get our RV to a transmission shop on the eve of a long weekend?

So we prayed.

And we looked around.

Coincidentally, the auto park that was directly behind us had a transmission specialist. Could prayers really be answered so quickly?

So we brought her over for a $50 dollar look and regrettably, our man George did not have any good news for us. The transmission was completely shot and on the eve of the long weekend everyone would be shut until Tuesday. Thankfully for us George was a nice and generous man. He had Buick tranny on the shelf and if his mechanics would agree to work late Friday night and even come in on Saturday of their long weekend, he could have us back on the road by Saturday afternoon. What a blesing! However, there were still two obstacles that needed facing. 1. What were we going to do tonight if our home is in the shop? 2: It was going to set us back about 157 887 pennies.

Jeremy’s cousin Becky and her husband Paul more than solved our first problem. We took public transit to their neighborhood where Becky picked us up brought us home. They forced us to eat a nice dinner, relax in their great home and sleep in real beds. They had to leave for a wedding the next day so they even let us sleep in, eat breakfast and stay alone in their home until we felt good and ready to leave. Imagine that! A cousin and four complete strangers and they trusted us to stay alone in their house. Awesome. (Small video to come)

Around Noon, the following day we got news from George that our vehicle/home would be finished shortly so we packed up and trained it back into the city centre. Taking a familiar exit we were on the hunt for Subway when we stumbled across a HUGE MCC thrift shop. Walking up to the back doors (only because we mistook them for the front) we were met by John a volunteer at the store that jokingly ask us if we were be there to help. We kind of caught him by surprised when we consented and said we’d love to help out (he later confessed to us that we looked like intimidating roughiens as we approached with our big packs).

Our short stay volunteering at MCC was GREAT. We repaired furniture, priced items, brought them to the show room floor, accepted deliveries, helped load sold goods, the list goes on. It really felt like we were back in our garage sale days. Like clockwork, once we snapped a pic with the MCC fam, we got the call from George and it was time to move on.

From Calgary we headed back east to Strathmore for the next part of our journey.

Cheers, The Boys

Jurassic Park IV: Rise of the Albertasaurus.

Our time in Alberta up until this point has been extremely enjoyable. Greeted by large farmers fields very representative of the Canadian west, it was almost too picturesque to drive past without actually taking the picture. When we arrived at the Albertan Border, we trekked through the field’s of wheat making sure that every step was with the grain, and made it to the top of the hill and snapped a few nice ones.
Later that night we made it into Medicine Hat in good time for a swim in a sludgy river. We then found a few gems at the local Value Village and rested at a Safeway for a nice spaghetti cookout. (Safeway is our new favourite grocery store. Each one has a gas station and now that we are members of the Safeway Points Club, we get $0.05 off each litre of fuel with the purchase of $35 in groceries. SCORE! Thanks employee of the month Katie! Wow that was an extremely long parenthesis description)Late that night we pulled into a random provincial park parking lot with no idea what we were in the midst of. However, early next morning with the break of dawn, we awoke to an astonishing landscape. We were in Dinosaur Provincial park. Our mothers would have been proud as we got up for the earliest guided hike. This place is actually surreal. As a UNESCO World Heritage Site, There are Dinosaur bones by the thousands concentrated in an area. One can find them even just jutting out of the sandstone. HOW NEAT. After a great day of exploring, finding and touching reveal dino bones and pretending to be in Jurassic park, obviously, we had enough daylight to get to Calgary.

At this point of the trip, everything is going so splendidly, we're starting to think that nothing could ever go wrong...

Cheers,The Boys

Regina Monologue

Last Night was our one and only night in Saskatchewan. Two new friends Tosh and Siyee accompanied our arrival to the province. These boys are pretty close to our age and have spent time living all around the country with their next destination being B.C.. We took them from Winnipeg to Regina and were repaid with some rather interesting hitchhiking stories from their travels over the years. From encounters with some pretty crazy people including drug addicts, it's understandable why this way of travelling has gotten the bad rep that it has. However for our sake, it was quite nice to offer a ride to two young, non threatening adventurous travelers.

After we dismissed the boys to catch another ride, it was time to celebrate. It was Josh’s 20^th Birthday and we all reaped the rewards. Dressing sharply, the five of us strut into Casino Regina (doing our best to pose as high rollers) and sat ourselves down to a superb steak dinner (a treat that we will definitely not be enjoying often). As we got to our second Walmart Campground of the trip, we played some cards, and set up shop. Then we went to sleep, ready for an ambitious early start in the morning...

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

7:00 am Alarm.

Hit Snooze.

More Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz’s

8:00 am Alarm.

Thought about waking up

Hit Snooze

More zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz’s

9:00 am Alarm

Talked about waking up…

Hit snooze

Even more zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

10:30

Woke up.

Once we finally did get up, we set up a nice little breakfast camp in the lot and greeted everybody walking past on his or her morning errands. With our microwave plugged into the generator, and a value size milk jug bought cheap, we enjoyed some cereal hot and cold, then hopped back on the road ready for another full day of driving. Sorry dear prairies, Alberta and the mountains are more exciting. This blog needs some adventurous stories.

Cheers,The Boys

The Peg

Our stay in Winnipeg was anything but rough. Charles’ Aunt Elsie and Uncle Henry were our hosts and they live in a beautiful place just outside the city centre. We had more than enough space for our RV in the condo lot which also offered a great power hook up. We became accustomed to the visits to the apartment for the bountiful feasts that were prepared for us every meal. On Tuesday we had a tour of the city. We visited the tourist area called The Forks which is where the Assiniboine and Red River meet. We also saw the building site for the Canadian Human Rights Museum which is sure to be a fantastic place in a few years. A highlight of the day was when Jamie and Adam posed as nephews of an elite Winnipeg businessman meeting for seat selection at the new Winnipeg Jets arena. Operation Jetpack was in full swing and they were able to sneak past security and get a tasty view of the arena. The day was great but our night proved even better.

Every one knows the only way to cure the Tuesday blues: cheap night at the movies. So for once,it was easy for the five of us to come to a consensus on how we would spend the evening. Donning our Open Road Project t-shirts, we headed to the theatre with a plan. We then proceeded to meet, chat with, andbuy tickets for quite a few strangers. Like I said, it was cheap night, so the gesture was more random than kind in terms of a dollar value, but we all know the old saying, sometimes it’s the thought that counts. It proved to be a really cool experience and we were able to do this for over 20 people. We hope that the gesture was appreciated and passed along to others. The response we received was great, and an idea that we would consider a success. That’s all for now, today were driving to Regina for Willms birthday. More to come regarding that of course.

Cheers,

The Boys

Bob and Steve

Bob was a simple man, he didn't talk much. When he did, he was a nice dude- giving us tips about his local neck of the woods.

Bob was our friend on HWY 17 (the Trans Can) between the town of Marathon and Thunder Bay. Meet Bob:

Get those thumbs up there Bob.

Bob, ill have you know, was THE original “Bob the Builder”. It may have been self-proclaimed. But hey, that still counts for something.

Now, Steven has a slightly more interesting connection to our crew. Yesterday, I thought I was going to be writing a post about my wallet falling in love with Thunder Bay and insisting on staying. This is of course, because on Friday night between 12:10 and 12:15 AM, my wallet (to no fault of my own) magically leaped from my pocket and was lost in the city. Hours of searching to no avail had us convinced that it officially the that time I was going to have to start building a new wallet. Just as I was finishing a morning of Canada Services and DMV visits, trips to the bank and phone calls with the cops. I got a phone call of my own.

“Hello, is this James Grantis?”

Now I was fairly excited because this mans voiced sounded nothing like that of my mom. My adulation was confirmed, as I was happy to hear it was just one honest dude on the other end of the line.

I met Steven at the Salvation Army just down the road. Greeted with a smile, I can understand his joy as a splash off extension of my own. We chatted and I thanked him. I made sure to get as much of a life story as I could, and let me tell you, it is a fascinating one. He’s got my number, and I’ve got his. Maybe we’ll be pen pals.

Meet Steven, signing our guest book:

Cheers, 

The Boys

Videos

We have a couple new videos for you guys and we would love for you to check them out. They can be found on our YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheOpenRoadProject.

Garage Sale Video

Camp Crossroads Video

Cheers,The Boys

Thunder Bay: Superior by Nature

The first major stop of our trip was in T Bay. We stayed with one of Jamies moms best friends, and man, what a great family. Sharon, Gerald and their three children Elliot, Linnea and Dana were nothing short of amazing hosts. Considering the nature of our trip, we had asked Sharon to find us some things to do while staying there. Our first stop was their small Anglican Church where this wonderful woman, Deb, was already there to greet us. Her English accent was extremely welcoming and her and Sharon then proceeded to make us a fantastic spaghetti dinner. We ate and enjoyed fellowship with Sharon, Deb and the kids talking about what we do during the year. But when we woke up, it was time to work.

Before work, 5 young bucks have to eat a hearty breakfast and what better way to start off a morning than breakfast in bed? We all thought this was a great idea and Willms was gracious enough to get out of bed and head for the Tim Hortons Drive Thru. It was a spectacle for the drive through employees as I hung out the big side window, still shirtless and in my blankets ordering breakfast for 5. After buying the coffees for the 3 cars behind us and eating our bagels, we got to work.

The first task was to maintain the church grounds. Adam and Charles weeded gardens until their hands were black, Willms trimmed hedges until they were perfectly uniform, and I cut grass with a man-powered push mower. All the while Jamie dealth with a different situaution of his own. After we were done here, we went over to our new friend Deb’s place to do a few jobs that she has a hard time doing herself. We did a bunch more landscaping here, expanding a few of her gardens, cutting grass, clearing some of her pathways and doing a little carpentry. She was so thankful for our help and we too were thankful to have gotten to know her during our short time in Thunder Bay. We learned a lot from the hospitality and love that we were shown while staying with, essentially, complete strangers and now dear friends.

A few other highlights of our time in T Bay were the Bear/Moose hunt with Dana and Allie, coffee hour with the older ladies after church on Sunday morning and playing darts, basketball and badminton. Now it’s off to For Frances to visit a friend whom Josh Charles and I met in Israel. More to come!

Cheers,The Boys
Post by JE

And Now We Drive: Day 1 & 2

On Thursday morning, we departed from Camp Crossroads for the first official leg of our cross Canada journey. The 15 hour stretch from Muskoka to Thunder Bay would be the first real test to our RV, and the first indicator of what our new lives on the road were going to look like. We decided to set up camp in Sault St Marie. Where else better than a Wal-Mart parking lot? After we set up a pretty decent camp outside our RV in the back corner in the lot, we fired up the generator and played a little bit of hoop on the side of our RV (thanks to Charles for an amazing job installing the basketball net). Of course our lawn chairs and Coleman grill also marked our territory. Our first night together in the RV proved to be encouraging. Everyone slept great, and despite it’s claustrophobic appearance, it sleeps the five of us very comfortably. We were up at the crack of dawn Friday morning to finish the drive to Thunder Bay. Even in the early stages of the trip, there are a few things that we have learned about the Open Road.

First, honk at every other RV, truck and construction worker. There is only one rule to honking: you can never honk too much.

Second, while driving the backcountry of northern Ontario enjoy the beautiful scenery and if anything vaguely or potentially like a moose, it definitely was a moose. Do not let anyone tell you otherwise.

Third, Things will spill. Deal with it (Grandma Koops cushions already have a little Dawn dish soap, coffee and Gatorade to add character and aroma).

The fourth little thing we learned in the first few days of our road trip is that if you know the lyrics to a song, your going to sing along. I mean we didn’t hook our ride up with 1000watts of power, some nice new 6X9’s, new tweeters and a 10” woofer just to hum along.

Posing with any and all Canadian over sized attraction is a must.

That’s all for now,

Cheers,The Boys

Reunited: Day Zero

Jer and I were finally reunited with out dear Princess (RV) and the boys. Seeing them cruise down the Crossroads main road meant a few things to us. First and foremost, relief that our baby made it past Grimsby (Take that Mr. B) Second, is that we now had a few extra hands for the day’s duties, and third and most importantly, it meant our trip is now officially afoot. You see, as an excuse to see our friends and grab a few amazing meals, we offered our capable hands for a few of the more laboring duties of camp. Reporting to Henry (head of maintenance), we explained to him the idea of our trip and why we were offering a day of work. He regaled us of his similar cross Canada adventures in ’73 across Canada with a few great buddies. Needless to say, he was in complete support of our trip and that seemed to be reason enough to assume that we were fully qualified for the days tasks. He the proceeded to hand Jer and I two STIHL Chainsaws and said if we have any problems, to figure them out ourselves.

We had a nice big job to do on our own time. Cutting trees like butter, and hauling logs is a good thing to do if your manhood is ever in question. (However this day is also the scene of Jamie’s Tractor incident. Not to be disclosed quite yet)

Our next duties involved the set up and christening of Camp Crossroads very first Blob. Dragging those anchors was a meager price to pay in comparison to the privilege of being amongst the first few to test out the unreal contraption that is a Blob. We were happy to be the guinea pigs so that all the children would remain safe for the duration of the summer.

Our day at camp also included, ping pong, delicious camp meals, foosball, swimming, & witnessing a legendary Zac Reimer Frisbee golf hole in one. But of course the fiesta-de-resistancé was our evening event far after all of the campers were asleep for the night. The Event: MANBALL. I wouldn’t even bother explaining this gargantuan game in detail because it would be impossible to do it any form of justice. Just know, it’s a game of three on three with full contact and is played in the tractor warehouse where every mans manly pride hangs in the balance. The footage must be witnessed and is soon to come.

This day was a fantastic day no matter how you crack it. Tomorrow… we drive.

Cheers,The Boys

Trailer Park Boys: T minus 1

This day was pretty fantastic. Too much neatness to describe independently, so here’s a pretty simple run down.

08:00 Breakfast at mini-yo-we

09:00 Climbed a legitimate rock face with a harness and belay

12:00 Found Hope’s trailer park

13:00 Met up with our dear friends Hope, Grace and Jewel

15:00 Saw a deerv 10 ft away. (tried to feed it, failed)

15:30 Canoed

16:00 Climbed a Cliff, jumped it.

18:00 Dinner in Huntsville

19:30 On route cottage, delayed by- and witnessed a dynamite construction explosion on HWY 169

21:00 Discovered Party Island, met some new friends at the Dwyers

22:00 Opened parting gift of new muscle shirt bestowed upon me by Kellermann to break-in

24:00 Midnight cereal bowl, heavenly snooze.

If you ask me, that is a pretty successful Muskoka day. It is not very often you can get so much neatness in one location. However, we are kinda missing the crew and are excited to be re-united tomorrow at Camp Crossroads.

Cheers,The Boys

Muskoka: T minus 2

When Jamie and I woke up at our place in Waterloo Monday morning, we knew that it was time to get some more KM’s behind us. While our goal was Muskoka, we only made it to Missisauga before we made our first stop. Why? The answer is simple. Jamies Yaya and Papou live there. (Grandma and Grandpa in Greek obviously). When we got to their cozy abode off Dixie Road, we were greeted with whole fresh cucumbers directly from the garden as a warm up for the amazing lunch that was about to ensue. Before our arrival Yaya told Jamie she wouldn’t have much prepared. While I would be fine with whatever scraps of free food I could find, Jamie assured me that would not be the case. He wasn’t wrong. The smorg of a lunch consisted of deliciously seasoned souvlaki with a wonderful salad and amazing roasted potatoes. The hospitality was much appreciated! (Also don't think that we didn't leave without enough food to keep us going for the next 3 days)

Our drive up to Muskoka was a nice one. Our first stop was Camp Miniyowe and we were arriving unannounced. The people here are so friendly, so it was all fine and they even offered us a warm bed (well, couch) and a nice meal. Also, Jamie fit in perfectly. He was a little nervous especially when I told him I had forgotten to give notice to the director, but with an impromptu camp name, campers seemed to remember exactly who he was. “Oh ya! I remember you ! You were my counselor my first year at camp!.” It was quite comical. Also when Pirates invaded camp to steal the Honor Horn and wreak havok on Boys Camp, one scallywag in particular looked all too familiar… I have been excited for a summer away from camp, only because it would be free from waterfront alarms and missing campers, but I forgot that Monday was they day that staff always did the missing camper drill. I was happy to participate in the drill, however, when a camper actually went missing right when the practice alarm went off, my dreams of a stress free summer had been snatched away. (the camper was found sleeping in his cabin and in perfect health). Anyways Jamie and I ended up helping run a few activities in the early evening. Jamie ran ultimate Frisbee (he was in his element) and I ran kayaking (you may not know, but in my element, I have extensive training in the sport). Dinner was marvelous and after some catching up with old friends we went to bed right on time for the 23:00 staff lights out.
Post by JE

Waterloo: T minus 3

On Sunday, Jer and I said our final goodbyes to our homes in Niagara and officially left for the road. We didn't get far, arriving at our home in Waterloo only an hour and a half later. I must admit it is kind of nice to have two homes (well three when you consider where we will be living for the next 5 weeks). All in all, it was great to have a place to eat and sleep in Waterloo, after all we needed to be ready for the early morning pickup from Traces Screen Printing the following day. Check it out.

Pretty neat eh?

Cheers, The Boys