Stuck in Calgary

Well, things have gone from bad to worse. As you may have seen in our previous post, a minor accident (that I caused) damaged our radiator and effectively stranded us in Canada.  After waiting a week for parts to arrive, Galactica (that’s what we call our motorhome) was towed to Calgary for bodywork and repairs.  It incurred further damage in transit, but we still held out hope that perhaps we would be on the road again in just a few days. That was not to be.

It may be hard to convince our kids that breaking down was a bad thing. Although we chose an economical hotel, it came with free breakfast and a pool with a waterslide!

We spent our first night in Calgary in a comfortable, yet affordable hotel,  not very far from the body shop. With a large family, however, hotels always require us to secure two rooms, and the cost adds up quickly.  So the following morning, I went to work searching for a longer-term rental home where we could cook our own meals while paying about one-third the amount required by a hotel.  Fortunately, we found a lovely new home with a cool owner who was willing to work with us despite the uncertainty of our situation.  Would we be there only a few days?  A week?  More?

Our answer came soon enough.  We had settled into the home with a few days’ worth of clothing and enough food for a day or two when Ali received a phone call from the body shop.  Those 2-3 days we thought we’d be waiting at that point?  Yeah, it would be more like 2-3 weeks!  Ugh!  Part of us knew we were living in a state of wishful thinking to assume we could be on the move again so soon, but it was still disappointing.  And it was time to head back to the motorhome and gather more food and other necessities for the next few weeks.  Much to our children’s delight, we also brought their homework.  They were as excited as you’d imagine them to be.  Haha!  Nah, really, they did handle it pretty well.

Here’s to hoping we will be on the road soon enough and without further delays!  Stay tuned, and wish us luck!