Sauers' on Mission

Cannon Beach has now become my happy place. We arrived here on Monday and have had so much fun since we have been here. The first thing we did was check into our campsite; which is beautiful. It is exactly what you would imagine a campsite to be. Nice trees, firepits, large sites, level rv pads? plus a pool, hot tub, games room. They call it a resort and I tend to agree. After we hastily checked in, we went down to the beach to check it out, We were pleasantly surprised to see the miles and miles of beach. Fine, flour-like sand, and at low tide you can walk forever. It was cold and cloudy, but we still managed to go into the water (which was ice cold by the way). The waves are amazing, even now as I type, I can hear them (about 1 km away). On tuesday we had to go shopping, so we drove back to Astoria to get some groceries. Wednesday, we got up; got dressed; and went down to the beach again. The sun came out and we used every bit of it that we could. The kids put on their swimshorts and played in the water. During the evening, we went back on our bikes and watched the sunset. It was one of the things on my list of things to do on this trip. It was absolutely breathtaking. There is so much to say, but instead I will invite you to see the pictures we uploaded. I will be uploading as much as I can, and hopefully soon I will have a video of Cannon Beach and the Resort. Seeing is believing.

This week has been an incredible week of firsts. We crossed over the border. (it?s not really a first, but it was a major event.) We  drove through a major city with the trailer. We took the trailer on a goat trail and crossed the narrowest bridge ever (bad Maggie! If you?ve read Tina?s blog, you know all about this.)

We also went to a high school football game.  What?s the big deal you say. Let me tell you, This is a big deal. You hear about this; you may even see it on TV; but until you experience this upclose, you can?t understand it. It?s huge. The stands were packed.  It was under the lights. There was the high school band playing (band?not just a few instruments, but 30-40 kids. There were cheerleaders (Abby?s favourite part).Mascots, security,  concessions and souvenirs were all there. Did I mention this was high school. It was an amazing experience.

We also drove into Seattle and went to the space science center and the Space Needle. They were both pretty awesome. We spent at least 3 hours in the science center and then the kids and I went up to the observation deck on the Space Needle. I don?t know why they call it the space needle though. I was going to try to find out. You could see for miles out into the ocean, and over the city.

We changed the way we do school this week too. We were teaching the kids 5 subjects from the work books. It was a long tedious process. By the time they were done school for the day, they were completely spent. We cut out History and Geography. We are going to be teaching them History and Geography through the places we see. We cut out Science. We will be teaching them Science through places like the Space Science Center. We got a year long membership that we can use in over 200 science centers across Canada and the US. And they love it! We changed how we do Bible. We do Half hour devotions every morning where they have to think and respond to the passage we read. What we have not cut out was Math and Language arts. These they MUST have.  So far it has been a real pleasure and joy. They are happier, we are happier, and they retain more information.

I have more to write, but it?s been a long day. I will continue this again tomorrow.

We?ve been in Victoria for about 5 days now. We are camped at the All Fun RV Park, which is also attached to the Western Speedway and the All Fun Recreation Park. There are all kinds of things to do here. We haven?t wandered off too far from the campsite in the last five days.

On Monday and Tuesday, we just hung around the campsite, went for food, and relaxed. On Wednesday after school, we went to Oak Bay Marina where we fed the seals. There was a cheeky seal who liked to splash. I?m sure he thought it was a blast. After that, we wandered around down town Victoria. It was truly fascinating. We loved it.

On Thursday, Tina and Abigail went for Tea. Going for tea has a huge history in England, and since Victoria still has huge ties with the ?motherland? it is just as big here. They got all dressed up and enjoyed tea and sandwiches, not to mention the fabulous desserts.

Friday was another relaxing day where we did absolutely nothing. Andrew did manage to rip his knee and elbow up though. The poor kid fell off his bike and he has a little road rash to prove it.

Today is Saturday, and it?s still up in the air what we are going to do. We ARE going to go and enjoy the go-karts, batting cages and mini golf. But after that who knows?

We?ll keep you posted.  

Tomorrow we are going to walk over to the Westshore Alliance church which is in the old All Fun Waterslide Park.

It?s a shame that the All Fun Driving Range is closed; that would have been fun?

Why leave!!

It?s been so long since we checked the website, that I don?t know what we last wrote about. That?s what happens when you don?t have Internet access for awhile. We made it out of Revelstoke. We went to a little Baptist church On Sunday morning, and in the afternoon, we went for ice cream. The drive to Penticton was longer then expected. It was only 266 kms away, but the speed limit is only about 60-80 km per hour, not to mention road construction. So we were going at a snails pace. I think it took us about 5 hours plus an hour for lunch.

During the first day, we set up camp at the Skaha Lake tent and trailer park, right across the street from the lake. It?s pretty nice. We had a guy back us into our spot again, it wasn?t as bad as Edmonton, but it was still pretty narrow. He had just finished backing his 32 foot trailer into the spot beside us. After that we went and visited Kelly and Jodi. It was nice to see them again.

It has been raining here for the last 3 days? Tuesday to Thursday.  We still managed to do some stuff though. Tuesday was a shopping day? (getting ready for school). Wednesday, Tina picked peaches While I (Michael) and Andrew went for a bike ride up the Channel Parkway. On the way back, it did stop to rain on us for awhile. We managed to find a Tim Hortons and stopped for a bite and wait out the rain.

We did manage to spend some time at the beach. Apparently, I managed to get a sunburn on the outside of my belly button, but not on the inside, so I have a little white ring on my tummy. We floated down the channel which was also a lot of fun.

On Sunday, we had every intention to go to church. A fellow CSBS Alumni is pastoring the church. We drove to the place that Maggie (GPS) told us to and the church was locked up."This can't be the place", we tell ourselves. "So what do we do now", we also say. It was along the IRONMAN route, so it seems they closed it down for the day. SO we watched IRONMAN all day. Ironman is a triathlon that takes place in Penticton every year. It was actually a lot of fun. Andrew and I cheered for the Athletes until 10:30 that evening. It was like a big party.

That?s how the trip to Golden/Revelstoke started. We started of driving into road construction during the first twenty minutes into our drive (check Tina?s blog).

Tina actually drove the entire way. She wanted to start driving, to get used to driving over the hills before we got into the ?Big Mountains? and she ended up driving every kilometre. She was amazing. Granted, I had my hand on the ?sweet mother? handle,(that?s the handle on the dash of the truck in front of the passenger seat) but it had nothing to do with her driving. She did great. As long as she doesn?t get bored or distracted, she is a great driver; and trust me, you cannot get bored driving though kicking horse pass. Rogers pass was interesting, we just kept going up and up and up. But, you know what they say, what goes up, must come down. They don?t call it ten mile hill for nothing?

It was a long day. We started out at 10:15 am and drove until about 5:30 (minus lunch and pee breaks). We travelled at a moderate speed, usually about 10 km below the posted speed limit.(why take chances when you?re towing a 32 foot trailer). Our goal here in Revelstoke is, well, we have no goal. We?re just going to hang out and see what we can see.

As far as the truck is concerned? is it fixed? That remains to be seen. They did some fiddling, and some driving, and some checking, and that?s about it. It?s not NOT fixed? it hasn?t jumped or jerked yet since we left. But that?s normal? it?s a sporadic thing. I have copies of all the paperwork so if it happens again, the next mechanic will have yet a better understanding of what it ISN?T.

We?re in Cochrane now and the mountains are in plain view. It?s exciting and scary all at the same time. So far, we have travelled to placed we know and have travelled before. But once we cross over the mountains, it?s going to start a brand new adventure. We enter into the unknown for the first time.

Cochrane has been fun. We finally got the truck into the mechanic and we?re waiting for the results. Hopefully it?s not going to cost an arm and a leg?but at least when the shop foreman took it out, it started to act up. The last two times I?ve tried to get it looked at, nothing would happen. It?s hard to diagnose ?nothing?.

We?ve had a chance to visit with Bo and Tonia, Hermann and Wilmien, and Tracey and her four girls. And we got a chance to experience the Cochrane WIND again. It almost took off our door the first day. 

I picked up a couple of slingshots here and I plan to take the kids down to the river for some target practice. We also stopped by one of the Jayco dealers ( same as our travel trailer) and inquired about the price of our unit. In nervous anticipation, we waited for the response. ?Oh about $34,900? the gentlemen said. I felt like giving him a hug. We saved a little bit of money buying through the States?

We made it to Drumheller. It was a rough beginning, but it turned into a very nice day. It all started with me and Tina have a huge disagreement over towing the trailer. She wanted to drive and I quickly said that No, I was driving. I suppose if I explained to her a little bit before just shooting my mouth off, things would have been ok?but alas, we can?t turn back time.

So, this is what the drive was like?there is this one hill that seems to go on forever. Speed limit was 85, so I slowed down to 70 knowing the trailer would quickly speed us up again? and it did. Before too long we were trucking down this hill at 90 km per hour. I try to use the brake to slow us down? it did for about a second. The truck realized it needed to shift down so it did and the rpm?s jumped into the red zone. OK, not good, so I took my foot off the brake. The Truck was happy, but we were quickly  speeding up again. Again I re-applied the brake and the rpm?s jump again, even higher this time? that?s ok, the end is in sight. I take the foot off the brake and we end up finally at the bottom of the hill. So as we continue driving, I begin to realize that the trailer was pushing us down the hill, and it was at that moment that I realized that the trailer brakes needed readjusting. After we stopped and did that, the next hill was much better. Of course I took it at a much slower speed, but the trailer didn't get the chance to push us around.

In the evening, we set up the projector and watched RV. That has to be the funniest movie ever. We had a friend of Abby?s watching with us. Several people walked by and commented on our ?Big Screen?. The park manager actually stopped by and took our picture because he?s never seen that before. Who knew we were thinking outside of the box. Oh well, gypsies like movies.

Matthew is like a kid in a candy store? All the dinosaurs are driving him crazy??can we go there, can we see that? it?s awesome.

Andrew?s like ?whatever? can I play video games now.

I?m looking forward to this time in ?Drum?. I just want to relax for a bit.

Red Deer is almost behind us. It?s Sunday night And we?re just getting ready for bed. We had a great time with our friends Bob and Ali and their three kids. We met them when I (Michael) was in Seminary in Cochrane. It was a strange feeling because even though they live in a different town and they have different furniture; as soon as we walked in it was like family. These are great people who love the Lord and we love them.  They taught us a new card game called golf which we love. I can see us playing that game a lot in the next few months?

Some of the highlights of Red Deer were:

-Playing cards with our Friends;

-Playing Rockband with our kids and their kids;

-Going to the Corn maze in Lacombe ( it may have been raining, but where else can you see a goat on a platform thirty feet in the air eating treats from a can?and don't forget about the giant potato gun);

-Shopping at Best Buy ( first time ever in that place? I LOVE that store);

-Going to Crossroads Church? (It was huge?)

-oh  yeah? and seeing Tina with her new haircut?looking pretty good? I?ll try to get some pics later in the week.
 

Some of the ?not so highlights? are:

-Maggie ( our GPS) doesn?t know left from right in Red Deer. She did great in Edmonton, but she?s giving us the run around here;

-Silvie (the truck) is being a jerk, literally. She is jerking around a little, especially when it?s wet. I took her into the dealer, where we drove it while hooked up to a scanner. Of course she was all mild mannered then when their?s a new man in the truck. I have to catch her in the act and then take her to the dealer (that?s what Wayne said at GM)

-The wind and rain is getting depressing. Sunny for 20 hours, rainy for 4.

Hopefully we?ll have WIFI in Drumheller, if not? we?ll update when we get to Cochrane. Only 11 more days until we leave another province behind?

Here it is, Tuesday evening, and Tina and I are both typing away. I think it?s because we don?t know when the next time will be when we have Internet. Here?s a little about Edmonton. VBS at Dovercourt Baptist Church was awesome.  Not only was it fun to do, it was really nice to see people I haven?t seen a quite awhile. I knew we would see Ralph and Donna, but we didn?t expect to see Nathan and Din Din or Betty and James. These are all people I (Michael) went to Seminary with.

We met some fantastic people from Oregon and Washington. There was Bob and Marie, Bo and Stephanie, Will and Michelle, Cassie, Rita, and Chris. Almost half of the team got sick during the last couple of days of VBS, and I mean real sick.

And the kids were great. I was helping Rita in the Kindergarten class. It was an adventure. At least I got to wear all of my Hawaiian shirts.

I was also able to preach on Sunday morning which was nice. It was a recycled message, (Mistakes) but after praying about it, it was what I was supposed to preach about. Thanks again Ralph.

We also got a chance to visit with my Step mother, and brother Penny and Eddie. It was a whirlwind visit because they were on their way to Disneyland the next day.

During the evenings we hung out with Guido and Tina, our really good friends from Prince Albert/Cochrane. We played cards, went to the space science center, played cards, went to Capital EX in downtown Edmonton? it was hard to see them leave? Get that blog up so we can read how things are going.

After the VBS was over, we were able to ?play? with our friends Ruth and Kevin. Ruth is a close friend of Tina?s? they go way back?but not that far?J They have three girls that are pretty close in age to our own kids, so they got along marvelously.

So? that?s about it for Edmonton. What else can I say, we went to the West Edmonton Mall, ate at the Olive Garden, shopped at Walmart, and spent lots and lots of time with friends.

We love you all? stay in touch.

One of these days we will have Internet, and when we do, I will be able to post this. But until then, I will just keep adding what?s been going on. It?s Tuesday, July 22 and we are staying at the Glowing Embers RV park in Edmonton, but first Saskatoon.  We had a good time in Saskatoon. We stayed at the 16 West RV Park and it was a very nice place to stay. It is what I imagined all campgrounds to be. Had a little trouble with the WIFI when we first arrived, but oh well? Tina ended up singing at Jarrod and Cassie?s wedding, and she did a wonderful job. I thought she might go toe to toe with the Minister, but that?s a story I?m sure she?ll get to in her blog?(if she doesn?t, request it because it?s a good one). There was a ball game between Cassie?s family and Jarrod?s family where my son Andrew brought in the tying run. It was a proud moment. The wedding and reception on Saturday were very nice? even I had a good time. The hardest part was saying good bye to Tina?s family. We said good bye to my family the week before, so having to do it again with her family was difficult.

Sunday was the longest drive so far with the travel trailer. For the most part, you can?t really tell that the trailer is back there until you hit a dip in the road. Then starts something I like to cal the perpetual bounce. It?s where the truck hits the dip and starts to bounce, then the trailer also hits the dip and it bounces as well. Soon you have a ripple effect where the truck and trailer keep bouncing at different times. This will usually last for about 10 seconds after the dip was initially passed over. Who needs Disneyland.

Now to Edmonton. I will share about VBS a little later, but for now I?ll describe our Campground? or  shall I say Wall to Wall RV?s. First we asked for a pull through, couldn?t get it? stuck us in a spot made for a 27 foot trailer (ours is 32) then we had to back it into the spot? couldn?t do it because the roadway is extremely narrow ( fortunately, a few people helped us with that, we threw them the keys at them and said ?have at her?) We went to park on the nice grassy area behind our trailer? couldn?t do it because there is no parking on the grass, have to park in front of our trailer? remember, we are already 5 feet further into the road than we should be? park in the spot beside our trailer they say, well? there goes our sitting area. So, lets go online to check out other sites, couldn?t do it? WIFI is down and the repair man isn?t coming until tomorrow to fix it?or is it the day after tomorrow? Hmm? what else can I say?

Not all is bad in Edmonton though? but I will share another time about that.