Making The Weekend Destinations Simple

So I need to call on all of you to suggest your favorite small town Diners, Drive in's and Dives. One rule, no franchises. I want a unique experience. We have some of our favorites that we will be traveling to, but the idea is to pick a diner, and make our way there for a meal. Along the way, we will discover new roads, new towns, new attractions and I hope in the end we have a great listing of all the places we visited for us to share with you so you can tour Alberta's Diners, Drive In's and Dives.

Please share! Retro, roadside, unique, whatever!

A & W Crusing the Dub for MS.

Every year at the end of August, Nation wide, the A&W Burger franchise hosts an annual car show, all in an effort to fund raise for Multiple Sclerosis. A portion of the proceeds go to the local MS charities and it usually produces a great response from the local car enthusiasts.
We have had the pleasure of participating for the last two years with lil blue and it has been a wonderful event.

Last year was particularly interesting as a storm brewed above us and as we witnessed the black sky only darken more, we hoped it would blow over.

I am not a huge fan of driving lil blue in torrential downpours, the windows fog, the wipers can't keep up and it leaks a bit on the drivers side. So while my husband tempted fate on his chopper and took off for a cruise with his "crew", I responsibly started making my way home (a full 38km trip). No sooner had I pulled into the yard, did the sky's open and a wall of water hit me. Thank god I had made it back safely. Not so lucky was my husband, who was at one point looking at hiding in a culvert in the ditch, but managed to get his bike to his truck and home in one piece. To this day I don't think I have ever seen anyone wring so much water out of a leather jacket!

For the record, A&W broke a new record for their fundraiser this year, can't wait to go out again next summer.

Keeping my sanity in the "off season"

Reality is, weather is the enemy up here for 6 months of the year. We live for summer, waiting through the winters and it's all over so quickly. So this year I thought I would get a little more serious about painting. I have taken to airbrushing and a bit of pin striping and can waste entire weekends in the painting shack. I'm no pro, but it has become quite addictive, and I really enjoy being able to escape into my humble settings and just create.
As projects go, this one was over the top. My husband and I decided to renovate our garage, with the hopes of starting our own business. The old shop was, well, old. Dark, dingy and covered in 4" spikes that worked like makeshift hooks, housing anything from saw blades to hand tools. It needed some love to say the least.

 So there you have it, a crappy old space, working with what we had. It was time to get serious. So we started by gutting it and starting over. Of course function was important to us too, as a welding shop, there is a ton of hazards to take into account, so having metal sheeting go 5 ft high relieved us of that concern.

Now for some color. How about a flame job around the perimeter of the exterior walls?

Of course no flame painting is complete without pinstriped edges to complete the look,  so my hubbie took to the striping, wielding his mighty sword and following me along the entire garage walls.

As for the rest, well the devil is in the details. Two days spent painting the logo on the main wall, as well as painting the light sockets and electrical outlets. My feet were so sore after standing on the ladder for so many days, but we are just so damn proud of how it turned out. I am glad to say it is finally over and we are excited to start building all sorts of wild bikes (and maybe Veedubs) this year.
I am just so thankful that there is something to keep my mind and hands occupied over the winter. Lord knows I will have no desire to do any of it as soon as the weather improves.

Oh yeah, about the "audience" - The chopper shop also doubles as the music room, where the boys rock out with my hubbie on their electric guitars. No backstage passes required. :)

Where should we go this summer? Give me your ideas!!!

I'm busy building my itinerary's for this summer and I need your ideas. We will be travelling to Salmon Arm BC this year and possibly Castlegar. Let me know if you have any secret stops along the way. Suggest a good restaurant, attraction, campground, antique store or whatever strikes your interest. Family friendly is the key!
As for Alberta, the province is wide open this year. Weekend trips can pretty much get us anywhere as we live in the centre of the province, so no matter what, we are driving to our destination. Suggest attractions, restaurants, events, art walks, car shows, whatever you can think of. Know of a community yard sale? How about a music festival or rodeo. We would love to come out and visit you, and blog away on your event as we go!!!
Drop me a line, comment on my blog or twitter!!

See you on the road.

Paddle for sustainability.

One day this summer, the Town of Athabasca was honored to greet Marc Van Grinsven and Dan Blessing. Two young adventurer's setting to voyage across wild terrain on a 205 day, 3800 mile expedition from Lake Superior to the Pacific Ocean by birch bark canoe. The canoe was hand crafted, taking over 700 hours and using only tools, materials and techniques used in the era of the Voyageurs.

(Darcy and Shirley in Centre flanked by Dan and Marc and the fossil freaks Tim Skippy Miller & pal)

Friends of mine, Darcy and Shirley have a beautiful wilderness cabin resort along the Athabasca River, 5 hours downstream of our town site. (www.athabasca-river.com ) Weekend trips to the cabins are a regular part of their summers, but this particular day, they noticed two paddlers heading Upstream (our river was quite high and the current was strong this summer). Being the only other humans out there, they decided to spend some time making each others acquaintance. The stories Dan and Marc shared were awe inspiring, and upon returning to Athabasca, Darcy and Shirley planned for our community to give them a proper welcome once they reached our shores. Businesses and citizens were thrilled to meet these modern day voyageurs with a very warm welcome.
I can't tell you the story as well as these two guys can, so please, follow their blog. The story is absolutely amazing and I am thrilled to say, they made their destination faster than they had even planned. I hope we get another chance to see them up here again!
http://www.paddleforsustainability.org/Paddle_For_Sustainability/Welcome.html

Shake it like a Polariod picture!

When I got the van, I wanted to ensure I could document our adventures. While digital camera's are great and always in my purse, I still wanted a retro experience. Enter the Ol Polariod. Of course the challenge was film, but with the gift of Ebay I've managed to find  a couple packs to get me through at least this year.
So today I scanned my Polariods and have added them as a slide show on my page. Of course I will be blogging the details of each picture soon, so expect to see some duplicates.
P.S. I especially love the Vee Dub "Bug" picture!!

Volkswagen VW Merchandise mugs glass bag wallet steel plate metal tin sign plaques.

Volkswagen VW Merchandise mugs glass bag wallet steel plate metal tin sign plaques.

I so want the blue type 2 build your own van kit!!!

A man named Nick and the van in the snowbank.

I don't know between the two of us (my husband Meryl or myself), who's idea it was to start shopping for the van, but I remember why I wanted it. Meryl had just finished his chopper, and was off to enjoy highway adventures, but had reservations at leaving us all behind. So in order for the entire family to come along for the ride, we sought out a vintage bus. It was February of 2009. We had a road trip planned for that Easter in Salmon Arm BC, so we wanted to have something by April. Surprisingly it didn't take long to find some, searching Kijiji online.
There were a couple, some Kombi vans, a pop top that needed lots of work and a tricked out black one abandoned in Calgary, and then there was lil blue...
Located in St Albert, and already inspected, this ride was perfect. Without hesitation we contacted the owner and to our delight the van was still available!
Like kids at Christmas, we drove to the city, snow piled waist high, on our way to see what this unit was all about. Pulling up to a wonderfully maintained modest home, we noticed several treasures in the yard. A Porche, twin Alpha Romeo's (the sisters) and of course the van. We were dealing with a pro...
In a thick Italian accent, Nick introduced himself and showed us around to the side of the house to look at the van.
Hidden under a large green tarp, you would have never know from the street what treasure was beneath. It was immaculate. From the custom engine, with less than 5000 k on it, to the brand new interior with diamond plate floors, full blown black interior (he even stitched the VW logo onto the upholstery in the back seat!) We were in love.
Upon viewing the van, we proceeded inside so he could show us his build journal. In a cozy office filled with treasures from his travels, Nick brought out the binder that held every receipt, manual, photo, maintenance schedule, hell he even built a wiring diagram and matrix on his computer to illustrate how he had wired the thing.
Originally from Vancouver Island, the bus, originally a pale blue, made the journey the summer of 2005 up to St Albert where Nick proceeded to completely restore it. Virtually rust free and not a dent or ding in it, we viewed the photos of the build, the paint, the trial and error with the decals. (Originally red) We saw it all. He showed us the awards from Air Riders Club in the Modified class, he showed us pictures on line, it just went on an on. Talk about having confidence in this ride. We didn't even start it up, no need, this guy knew what he was doing.
So the obvious question. Why was he selling it? You could tell he had a passion for what he did and loved driving it, so what was the deal? "The wife is making me choose, she said I have too many cars, it's time to sell some".
Grinning from ear to ear, we made the deal and signed the bill of sale. Now for the hard part. Getting this thing home. Remember, this is February and St Albert had seen a substantial snowfall. over 4 ft of snow stood between us and lil blue, and no amount of shovelling was going to get it out of there.
"Leave it here until spring" suggested Nick. Insert hesitated awkward pause here. Well what could we do? We didn't want to wait until spring to pay for it, out of fear that he would sell it. We knew we had found a treasure and a deposit wasn't going to cut it, in case someone offered him MORE than what he was asking and cut us out of our own deal. It had to stay.
So off we went, with a snowbank and a tarped van in the rear view mirror. Nothing more than a piece of paper saying "Sold" on it. But to be honest, although we left with a bit of trepidation, it didn't last. Nick seemed like a real stand up guy. His values included the sanctity in a handshake, you could tell he was old school.
Weeks went by, more and more snow, not less. Our trip to BC was fast approaching and it wasn't looking good. Weather was miserable, and the long term forecast was no better. I would like to tell you it all worked out in time, but alas it did not. Our trip to BC was made in the pick up truck, and we returned to get the Van at the end of April. BUT it was worth the wait!!! I've never been more anxious or excited to drive a vehicle in my life. Nick was like a father sending his daughter off to be married... he meticulously went through every detail, every facet of his van, showing us every trick, every detail, right down to the AIR HORNS!! Yeah, that's how we roll...

As a footnote, we saw Nick last summer, as we were cruising the St Albert garage sale scene, we literally passed his house. Out front raking his leaves, he waved us down. He was so delighted to see us using it, loving it, noticing the few adjustments we made to it including the new Empi wheels and DVD system. He laughed when we told him how many miles we had put on it in such a short time since he owned it.
"I regretted selling this van" he said, "but I am so glad it went to people who love to use it" In the end he had sold most of the other cars, keeping one of the Alpha Romeo's for himself.
I expect we will see Nick again this year. Who knows what kind of car he will be working on then?

Look ma! No hands!

Wherever I go, I find the most interesting people with interesting stories about their buses or vanagons. Regardless of the year they owned it, people speak about their memories like they owned the bus yesterday. There is no ego here, people who approach me are genuine cool, the real deal. Easy going good time charlie's with a hint of regret lingering in their voice when they talk about the VW van they used to have. I have yet to meet anyone who hated their bus and wished they never owned it. (now that is not to say we haven't muttered those words under our breath as we try to figure out what the hell is wrong with this thing or that...)

My friend Bill came by to check out the van one day. Being a former owner in the 70's with a classic campervan, he told me tales of their adventures when they were younger, taking their daughter from place to place, enjoying every moment of it.
"You know," Bill said, "A buddy of mine and I took one of these things (pointing to the bus) and drove east of Edmonton down highway 16 using nothing more than the vent windows to steer it"!
"What?" I exclaimed, not truly appreciating what he was getting at. Picture these two young guys getting up to highway speed, letting go of the wheel and then navigating on the road using the wind resistance caused by opening the side vent windows. Man! To be a child of the 60's hey?? That had to have been just the funniest damn thing ever! I don't recall exactly how many miles they got before having to make a grab for the wheel, but I remember thinking "holy shit that's a long way to go"! And this isn't exactly the straightest road either, there were some curves for them to deal with. Bizarre. Now, I would like to see Bill try that again... LOL Just don't use my van!