Today is the first day of our cross Canada road trip, and I guess instead of unschooling with Ethan, we’re now road schooling. So these blog posts will take on a slightly different flavour as I try to incorporate our road trip together with Ethan’s homeschooling.
Slowly, surely
It took us most of the morning to get ready and we finally left after lunchtime. We’re not in a rush and are trying to do some slow traveling. When you’re mode of transportation is a ‘94 VW Westfalia camper van called Juju Jr., you’re not really going to set any speed records, anyway.
All aboard
We’re all excited about the trip in our own way, so it was great to finally get going. Ethan was much more excited than he had been about the trip. I guess he was worried that he couldn’t play and make things at home, so he was a little reluctant to go. But he was completely engaged and enthusiastic throughout the day.
Not sure what would count as learning today, but here goes…
Morning
We spent the morning packing and organizing things for the trip. Ethan packed his laptop, some board games and his favourite stuffy, Juju. Our van, Juju Jr., is of course named after the stuffy. Once we had our things ready, Ethan helped with carrying things down to Juju Jr.
Afternoon
I was still finishing up some work tasks, so we couldn’t leave, yet. During that time, Ethan made more origami. This time, he made a penguin that was his own design. He made several more origami before turning his attention to making some new videos.
He made origami how to videos teaching people to make a diamond base and his penguin.
Afterwards, we were finally ready and headed out on the road.
Evening
After several pit stops to pick up last minute things for the trip, we went to Ikea for dinner, as it was on the way along the Trans Canada Highway.
But on the way out, one of our windshield wipers suddenly fell off while doing about 80km/h on the highway. Luckily, it simply lodged itself between the wiper arm and windshield. Also lucky that the rain had turned to a sprinkle and that we were right near the exit to Ikea.
Once there, we found that the wiper was missing the part that holds it to the wiper arm. Luckily, there was a Canadian Tire down the street from Ikea, so after a quick dinner, Juju Jr. got all new wiper blades.
We considered driving out to a rest stop near Ashcroft, BC to spend the night, but decided it would be more fun if we boondocked at a Walmart to play card games and eat apple pie.
Ethan picked up an easy Sudoku book so that should keep him busy for a while.
And it was awesome that we could get Walmart’s free wifi, even out in the parking lot, so I could work on this post and upload the video.
Let’s see what tomorrow brings!
Today’s Costs
As part of this trip, we want to keep track of our spending and to also share with other families who want to do something similar what it could cost to drive across Canada…and beyond. (All in CAD, btw)
Food
2 slices of pizza at Whole Foods: $7.35
Ikea dinner for 3: $18.87
2 packs of Ikea cookies (on sale!): $2.50
Groceries at Whole Foods: $52.38
Vehicle
3 windshield wipers from Canadian Tire: $50.37
Day 1 total: $131.47
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