Living on the edge

Ray and I hadn’t expected to have quite so many guests when we signed up for Warm Showers, but we’re basically the only host between Toronto and Kingston, so we get more requests than most. The first time we hosted, Ray cooked a nice dinner and I baked a dessert. We made up the beds, laid out towels, and gave them breakfast in the morning. Now that we have multiple guests a week, we’ve cut back a fair bit. They get a free place to stay but without the B&B service. They can set up their tents in the backyard or sleep on the futon in the loft using their own bedding, and they can use the kitchen or grab something to eat before they come. If they happen to show up at dinner and we have extra, we’re happy to have them join us. They’re all very appreciative just to have a free place to crash and access to a warm shower, and we enjoy hearing their stories.

Last week we had a young guy who’s taking a year off from his IT job and using part of that year to cycle across Canada. He arrived while Rick & Josee were over for dinner and joined us for dessert. Super nice guy who we’d have loved to spend more time chatting with.

We also had a military veteran in his 50s who was very open about his struggles with PTSD, drug addiction and homelessness. He’s been clean & sober for a couple of years now and this is his second attempt in two years to cycle across Canada (the first time he made it from Vancouver to Quebec City). He finds cycling therapeutic as it provides the constant stimulation he needs.

Then we had a couple from France who are touring with their 4-year old and 18-month old sons for six months. The 4-year old rides his bike on the safer roads and rail trails. If he gets tired, his bike clips onto the back of his mom’s bike and he can either sit on it without pedalling, or ride in the trailer with his brother. They don’t have a set itinerary, so they stop if they come across a park or a beach and let the kids play. They wild camp much of the time but welcomed the use of our loft. Their 4-year old was just adorable – clever, curious and fully bilingual – and we played, chatted and looked at books while his parents showered and got the little one settled for the night. We unfortunately didn’t get to spend a lot of time with them as the evening they arrived we were out at a winery with Ric & Sue, so we told them where the splash pad and playground were and they picked up fish & chips and hung out there until we got home around 7:30 pm. The next morning we were headed to Georgetown so had to kick them out early. We’d have loved to have chatted more with them about what it’s like travelling in this style with young kids.

Whenever we go to Georgetown to visit Ray’s mom, we drop off Juno with Wayne & Cathy, our former neighbours. After our visit, we sit by the pool with a drink and chat and then visit Chris and Neil across the street. This time we brought Ray’s mom with us for a visit.

For my sister’s 60th birthday, I gave her a trip to Stratford (Ontario) and tickets to see the musical, Chicago. We stayed at a newly-opened Bed & Breakfast on a farm (Servus). It’s a great option if you want something a bit quieter but still just a few minutes outside of Stratford.

Other than seeing the show, which was terrific, we walked by the river, ate ice cream and pizza, drank wine and tea, and laughed and chatted and napped.

Nick is still busy climbing mountains. In Calgary, Nick and Megan stayed with a university friend for a few days, then Megan flew back home to return to work and Nick stayed on for the solo portion of his adventure. I’ve often said that being friends, travelling together, and living together, are three completely different things, and Nick said Meg was an awesome travel companion, so they appear to be travel-compatible.

He’s been posting his trip pics to a shared album, so Ray and I were scrolling through them and came across the ones below.

I’m normally pretty chill and laid-back, but I got a bit freaked out when I saw these pics. Ray was surprisingly calm about it, saying the pictures were probably deceptive and it likely wasn’t as steep as it looks. I sent Nick a message with a lot of question marks and exclamation marks and he replied that it looks way worse in the pictures than it was and it was more of a scramble than a climb. I’m not completely convinced.

After Megan left, Nick headed to Lake Louise where he was able to crash with Rachel (Heather & Murray’s daughter) for a few days. Nick and Rachel were born 2 days apart and have known each other since they were babies. Rachel is working at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. It would normally cost over a thousand dollars a night to stay at the Fairmont at this time of year, so it was pretty awesome that Nick could stay with her. He hung out in the staff bar, got an insider’s tour of the resort, spent an evening in Banff, and went for more mountain hikes.

Plan A for the trip had been to rent a car in Vancouver, return it in Calgary, and fly home from there. Plan B, which was activated when the car rental fell through and they switched to a Turo rental, meant that Nick would have to drive the car back to Vancouver, about a 9-hour drive. He decided to split the drive into two days. When the hike he’d planned for the first day got rained out, he stopped in Kelowna and went to a climbing gym…because you wouldn’t want to just chill for a day. He slept in the car that night – at a rest stop west of Kelowna – then carried on to Vancouver where he’s staying with my cousin’s daughter Jen and her two young kids for a few days.