So after such an amazing week with the family, being fed, watered and directed we sadly had to get back on the road. We had almost missed Peggy and having 2 meters squared living quarters…who are we kidding, we hadn’t really missed it at all but there we were back in the van, back on the road to nowhere and this is where it all started to go so dramatically wrong!

We set off refreshed and decided we would get a good day of driving in, we had over 450 miles to cover to get back to the Canadian border at Fort Francis so we set in for the long haul. After being on the road for 8 hours and traveling 400 miles we decided we would call it a day at the next RV site. As we had no internet acess with being in America we could not simply look one up so had to rely on roadsigns to show us the way like in the olden days! Now, in Canada you pass approximately 100 signs every 100 miles for somewhere to camp…this is not the case in America! We must have driven an extra 50 miles looking for the very elusive campsites hinted at once on the bottom of a roadsign and never to be mentioned again! We rocked up at a self check in campsite which was in the wilderness and completely empty and looked like something out of a horror movie before we even vetured a look at the dry toilets! We weren’t that desperate yet!

We carried on way into the night (and mainly in the dark as poor old Peggys lights are the old 20 inch thick glass kind and not so bright!) and eventually stumbled upon a site in Eveleth. We drove in, got parked up and wandered the site in the dark looking for someone to let them know we had stopped. We gave up and just went to bed exhausted only to be awoken a few hours later by Alex frantically pulling open the curtains, running around the van naked screaming “we are parked on a train track!” I could hear the train and it was loud but it was also luckily in the distance. Alex had been so disorientated with parking in the pitch black night in a bush off a road we had no idea was near a train track, let alone right next to it! We wearily went and paid up in the morning and got back on the road determined to make the border that day so that we could be assured of finding a camp to stay at whilst it was still daylight!

We finally rolled up at Fort Francis (without any fruit, veg, wine, or weapons) and thought we were well prepared this time for the crossing! WRONG!!! We paid our $8 for the bridge and sailed up to the kiosk with our passports at the ready. We answered all our questions correctly and promptly, we even got the all clear…but thats not enough for us is it? Noooo, we have to go and ask stupid questions like…’can you please take our American visa’s off us so that we do not use up our allowed 90 days whilst we are back in Canada?’….that was it. Indoors into the interogation room again. Why do we want to give the Canadian border control our visas? erm…so we dont use up all of our days…we want to go back into America!…wrong thing to say! We were promptly sent BACK over the border BACK to America to ask their border control to take our visa’s off us!

Already completely aware that we were digging ourselves a huge hole we turned around and did as we were told. At the American kiosk we had to explain we had been into Canada and that Canada was where we wanted to be and that we wanted to come back to America before the end of our travels and we were sent immediately into yet another office.

Long story short…we had the van searched and pulled to pieces (again), we were questioned by several different officers (again) and we were told NO. We could not give our visa’s back as we could then go back to Canada and then back into America and try to get a whole new 90 day visa! (we had only used 6 days of our current 90 day visa so we couldn’t see the point in this but who are we to argue) so, off we go again, back to Canada, back to their border control to go through the whole rigmarole AGAIN and no better off on the visa front. Luckily the kind officer in America stamped our ticket so we didnt have to pay the bridge toll again so that was at least one good thing that came out of the day!

Back at the Canadian kiosk we asked yet another question which again resulted in us going back into the canadian border control office and getting questioned AGAIN! We had asked if they could stamp our passports again to show that we had returned from America to Canada so that when we try to go back to America they may extend us our 84 days that we haven’t spent in the US which they eventually, kindly did.

So having written this down I can see how ridiculous it all is and how it must sound to the border control people. We aren’t doing anything wrong but it is difficult to comprehend what we are doing especially when we start asking for favours! So after that 2 hour ordeal we were ready to crash out and relax for a few days.

We looked online and found a site that looked like somewhere we could stay for a couple of days to relax and drove the 130 miles on the beautiful Hwy 17. We passed stunning scenery, lakes a plenty, bears mooching and dears roaming and all of this from the van window. We pulled up at Kenora, did some citrus fruit shopping and headed for the LCBO (the wine store). We were too late! we missed it by a heart beat, much to amusement of a group of teeneagers smugly piling their boxes of beer into the back of a truck. Tails between our legs we got back into the van and went to head for camp. Turned the key and…Nothing. Not a peep. The battery was completely flat! She had been fine a minute ago, we hadn’t left the lights or the radio on…nothing, no reason for the battery being completely dead. One of the smug crew came over and said “wow, thirsty AND no ride” which had I been of lesser temperance I may have slapped him for but staying quiet paid off as he offered to help. He explained he didn’t have any jump leads but his brother did. His brother luckily lived directly across the street, was with us in a flash and helped Alex get Peggy started while I dealt with a crazy one eyed bavarian drunk on a bicycle that was telling me all about the dinosaur land he was from and that we should visit. When I eventually escaped this loon we rolled slowly to the site and set up camp for the next 2 days wondering what had gone wrong. Again quite luckily (!?!?!!?) we were within walking distance of a Canadian Tire so decided we would head there tomorrow and sort Peggy out then.

The site was lovely. Green grass and a lake with a beach and a boardwalk and a breeze that made the heat bearable. We lit a fire and cooked up a feast and watched the Tour du Canada arrive in dribs and drabs. These crazy people are cycling the length of Canada from Vancouver to St Johns (4590 miles!!) in 80 days. we chatted with a few of them and listened to their stories and felt stupid for being so tired from driving!

The next morning we borrowed a spanner (and got laughed at as it is not a spanner in Canada it is a wrench) and managed to get the battery out from under the bonnet. After looking at it gormlessly for 20 minutes and staring under the bonnet scratching our heads for another 20 we decided we didn’t know what was wrong so battery in hand we headed toward Canadian Tire. Have you ever tried to pick up a car battery? I have…they are heavy! Have you ever carried one half a mile? No, I haven’t either…but Alex has. On our way a 900 year old man and his wife asked if we wanted a lift in his bright red 3 door 1962 VW golf convertible as the battery looked heavy. We said ok thank you very much and went to get in but the seats didnt pull forward so they got out while we climbed in over the doors into the back seat which was full of fishing rods and fishing gear and eventually us and a battery. After all that they drove us the last 100 meters to the Canadian Tire. He kindly dropped us at the wrong door so we had to walk the hundred meters anyway but now with new scrapes and bumps from getting in and out of the car, getting hooked on a fishing rod and Alex hitting himself in the shin with the battery trying to climb out of the car!
Anyway by hook or by crook We got the battery to Canadian Tire who charged the battery and said it was absolutely fine. It was holding charge and probably just needs the connectors cleaning. This wasn’t really what we wanted to hear as it didn’t explain what had happened unless the connection had broken and that what was had made her stop dead in her tracks. So we bought a connector cleaner and some electrical grease for the grand sum of $7 and headed back to see if it would work. On route back up the hill with battery in hand we saw our neighbours who offered to help with some jump leads if the battery still wouldn’t work. It sounded like they had experienced battery issues themselves. Anyway the $7 fix worked!! Peggy started fine and purred on like a 24 year old tabby so we high fived and settled down to enjoying our day.

We went over and thanked the neighbours for their offer of help and spent the night eating, drinking and chatting with them. Autumn and Hazen are on their own travel adventure in a 1986 VW vanagon called Westy.

They are from Vancouver and are travelling as far east as they can in 10 weeks and they have their own blog too so have a little look. East-falia or bust . We told them our crazy adventure story, they recommended some great places to stop on our travels and we swapped Walmart camping tips too.

We had a great night with them and far too much cheap wine for our old heads to handle so we felt a little delicate the next day but it had been worth it for the great company and a reminder that life happens to everyone. Its how you deal with it and what you take from the craziness that makes it what it is.
We put the last few days down to experience and laughed about it all as we said our goodbyes and set off towards Manitoba the next day.

Every cloud has a silver lining…right??

See what happens next in our wedding travel adventure!