Thursday, March 03, 2016

HandContheRoad on Instagram

It's been 11 years since we started our road trip. This was back in the days before social media - Oh my, the stories we could have shared, the moments, the photos.....sigh, what a different world it was just 11 short years ago?! Heck we didn't even have a cell phone at the start of our road trip. And getting online meant spending a night in a Flying J truck stop and buying a 24 hour access card for the Wifi - staying up all night to the drone of engines and generators running and gorging ourselves on the wonderful world of the web!

These days I am a self confessed lover of Instagram, and so at the start of 2016 I created a new Instagram account @handcontheroad. I'll be using it as a new way to document our road trip journey and adventures. Why? Because it's a great way for us to relive the journey. It was a such a huge part of our lives (5 years by the time we were done!), and has shaped us into who we are today (Canadians amongst other things - who'd have thought that at the start of the trip?!)

I'll be sharing 'real time', just 11 years ago today....Come and say hello!

Sunday, November 09, 2008

A new home

Moving to my new home....

Click HERE for my new blog

Saturday, November 08, 2008

Monday, October 20, 2008

Moving On...

It has occured to me that the blog 'Road Trip USA' isn't all that appropriate anymore. I feel that part of our life has come to it's natural end and we can't hide from that fact any longer. We never knew 'how' the trip would end. I always dreaded the idea that flights would be booked back to England and Harvey would be off to the knackers yard, no longer part of our family. But then I never was very good at facing up to these things, though it's gotta be said the path we're taking isn't exactly an easy option in itself.And so the path to Canada beckoned. Immigration into Canada is far from easy. The current wait times for a federal application processed in London is 4-5 years and from all accounts getting longer by the day. Still that little nugget chugs along in the clockwork of London CIC.

And our road trip ground to a standstill in British Columbia - our new home of choice! Basically if we can find a job and have a few bits of paper signed by the future employer there are ways and means of getting here somewhat quicker. In the short term as a temporary worker (being able to start work in as little as 3 weeks) and in the longer term as a permanent resident (that old application gets hauled out of the dusty cupboard to be processed with priority). Different options. Different choices to be made.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Busy bee!

Only a week left here in Kelowna. We've had some good fall weather - cold, like frost in the morning a couple of days, but so crisp and fresh. Been out walking most days - on the Greenway here. It's a 14km trail along the Mission creek and is absolutely beautiful and with the leaves changing right now every day is a different picture. Today is Canadian Thanksgiving. We're celebrating by Chris going out on a bike ride and me staying at home (but that's OK!). Our landlord here at the RV park brought us fresh apple juice yesterday - Oh WOW - talk about good - you'd be satisfied just from the smell of it let alone the taste!

So I've been taking an online digital scrapbooking class with Jessica Sprague. It's been awesome so far. Lots of new and quite funky techniques - I never knew you could do so much with Adobe Photoshop! Catching up on some layouts I've wanted to do for a while from this last 6 months. Here are some of them;

Friday, October 03, 2008

So it's not all work

We might be job-hunting but we have to remind ourselves that we are in the Okanagan - this might have to be the prettiest part of BC though there's plenty of contenders - no wonder we want to live here! This week took advantage of the fantastic fall weather and took a ride out with Tony. 220 miles in the day with a plesant stop for lunch on a lakeside. There's a book on the biking roads of BC - Destination Highways and we rode the number 7 rated road (based on twistiness, engineering, remoteness, scenery, road surface etc). It was a lovely trip - I just loved the colours, the leaves are really starting to turn here.
These are the sort of views you get in the rear view mirror (yes that's Chris in the background - I'm not daft to risk my camera as we're actually riding!)

Chris - making friends. In this case it appears to be Sasquatch(...Or this from a couple of days ago. Making friends AND influencing people! And in case you weren't sure - yes that is a RCMP uniform. Put it this way she wasn't writing down her phone number for him!)

Saturday, September 27, 2008

What can I say?!...

Not heaps happenning here. Busy doing stuff though I wouldn't like to define stuff!! Have had some pretty great autumn weather. Lots of walking along the beautiful Mission Greenway in Kelowna and making the most of the weather out on the bike.