Make it happen now because you just never know...

I'm pretty sure we are all the same in thinking that we are virtually invincible. Well, it only takes a split second to realize we are not. Early Sunday morning we packed ourselves into the van to head off to a baseball tournament in Brockville. While driving through Ottawa, a woman drove through a red light and ran into the side of the van with quite an impact. The car narrowly missed Kelly's door and ended up slamming into the rear part of the van. We then hit a parked car at the side of the road. We were all okay, but somewhat shaken up. Once we had settled down and provided the police with our information, Kelly, Campbell and I took a taxi home, picked up my car and headed back to the crash site. The van had been towed away and Dean was just finalizing the paperwork with the police. We piled into my car and got Campbell to the ball park in time for his game. We spent the day going to get things out of the van only to remember we didn't have it. It is amazing how much stuff is in that vehicle.
We knew we were taking a chance in driving the van all the way to San Francisco as it is 7 years old with almost 300K kms. on it. However, we did expect it would at least make it out of Ottawa! We'll now have to wait to hear from the insurance company to find out if they will repair the van or write it off. Depending on that decision, we may have to come up with Plan B to get ourselves around until we fly out of San Francisco.
This whole episode has made us realize how important it is to make things happen now rather than waiting until a "better" time. We just don't know what is in store for us tomorrow, so we'll make the best of today.

Less than 2 months to go

With less than 2 months to go before we head off on our trip, there is still plenty to do. Cambpell and Kelly have both finished school, but are already into other activities. Campbell is working full time and playing baseball on two teams. Needless to say, he does not have a lot of extra time for minor little details like packing. Kelly has a few days off before starting her grade 9 geography course at summer school. That will keep her tied up until the end of July. In between driving kids to work and school, going to work ourselves, and hanging out at the ball park, Dean and I are trying very hard to get the house into some kind of rentable state . We had great plans to complete a lot of construction loose ends at the house, but as always, time seems to be slipping by fast. At some point we will just have to decide that we are as close to complete as we are going to get and start advertising to see if we can find renters for 5-6 months. If we can't, we will have to come up with Plan B. No idea what that may be!

Our travel plans are progressing well. We have purchased a number of plane tickets, made lots of accommodation reservations, and have done some research on what we want to see and do. The internet never ceases to amaze me. It is wonderful to be able to research our options, see photographs of what we're getting into (although I realize reality may not always resemble the photos on the internet!) and pay for things on the other side of the world, all while sitting at a computer. Times have sure changed since my brother Geoff and I traveled the world in 1982. In making our reservation for a climb up Mount Kilimanjaro, I discovered the person we are working with built a house about 5 kilometres from us back in 1979. We'll have lots to talk about when we arrive in Tanzania. Other key events that have been finalized include Dean and my 20th wedding anniversary at the Taroko Gorge in Taiwan, Campbell's 15th birthday in Luang Prabang, Laos and Kelly's 14th birthday in an apartment in Dahab, Egypt. We will be staying in a treehouse in a private game reserve in South Africa for Christmas. Kelly thinks it is very fitting for Christmas, as we won't have a tree, so we may as well stay in a tree. New Year's Eve will be in Buenos Aires. And our flight home will be on January 30th from Quito, Ecuador. Some things in between have been planned, while others are still up in the air. As we get closer to departure date, we will have more news.