Tired

After our busy trip to Jasper we are all tired. We've been in vacation mode since we moved out of Airdrie, which has meant later bedtimes (not so great), lots of activities (which is good, but wears a person out), and just generally being off schedule (equals cranky!). It’s time to slow down, do some laundry and finish unpacking and organizing. 

Even the trailer got tired today! Well, re-tired. We blew a tire somewhere near Hinton. I noticed the flat when we pulled into Hinton to have lunch. Didn't feel a thing, so I can’t really say for sure when it happened. A non-event, really.  Which is a blessing, considering how it could have gone.  I’d been half expecting it, since the tires on the trailer were 6 + years old and had sat pretty much idle for at least a year. It was definitely time for new ones, and we replaced them all. Hopefully we’re good to roll for a long time now. In hindsight we probably should have had them replaced at the dealer instead of taking our chances. Ah well, live & learn. I’m sure there will be many lessons like that along the road. Hopefully no more blowouts though!

Hinton looked to be a really nice town, and we saw the local IGA had an RV parking section with a big sign.  In hindsight, we should have stayed there for the night & explored the area, but I think we were all kinda done with exploring for a while and Bob wanted to get a bit further from Jasper before stopping.  He drove from Hinton to Edson, and was having trouble staying focused, so at 4 o’clock we called it a day and plunked ourselves in the Walmart parking lot. Sure, it’s cheap, but I may fast come to hate these overnight parking lot stops. It just feels so exposed. I admit, I do feel a bit more secure when others are parked for the night too. 

Tomorrow we’re headed to the Stony Plain Lions Campground. They have space for us for 4 nights and I’m hoping something will open up so we don’t have to move. We have friends and family in the Edmonton area and I’m really looking forward to visiting with everyone before heading away from our “home area”. It’ll hard to be away from friends and family for so long. I will miss the family & friends I see regularly very much, but I will especially miss the ones I see only infrequently because those opportunities to visit are already so precious simply because they don’t happen as often as I would like. I’m trying not to think about it too much because I know I’ll miss everyone and that will make me second guess our travel plans. Technology makes it much easier to stay in touch, but it’s not the same as being face-to-face.