Waiting for the weather to clear is a difficult thing for Bruce & Tracy

Hurry up and wait is what we have resorted to.

After years of dreaming about a wild, adventurous, bohemian road adventure throughout North America in a tiny RV, there is nothing left to do but wait… and we are not good at waiting.

Receiving a brand new shiny Camp Trailer in the dead of a chilly Ottawa winter is not the norm, in fact, it is downright weird.  Unfortunately, that is what we had to do in order to achieve our goal of a January exit to the south. 

When we took delivery of “Betty? in December (our NEW 14-foot 2015 Camplite travel trailer) there was 20 cm of snow on the ground and the air was a bitting – 13ºc.  The plumbing was filled with antifreeze, the hoses were stiff, and the fittings were brittle.

No problem…. we would be in a warm climate soon enough. More waiting.

The bigger issue was… two absolute newbies to the RV world, who were about to travel 2000 kilometres pulling an untested virgin trailer.  Plus our tiny SUV has never partnered with a trailer further than the dealership in Metcalfe to the driveway of our Ottawa home.  

Tracy and I can load up a backpack with our eyes closed, hike 10 kilometres before breakfast, and are at home in the most isolated wildernesses. However, we have never pulled a camp trailer, drained a holding tank or stayed in a “trailer park. 

“Betty” is covered in snow while waiting for the adventure

We were fish out of the water, yet somehow we knew we were born for this… but we had to wait.

With all our work and personal commitments cleared, the only thing that remained was an exit date. We had a general idea, however when rookies are pulling an untested trailer/truck combo for its maiden voyage…  the weather, roads and winds needed to be clear all the way from Ontario to Virginia.  

We monitored the weather and waited. 

Finally… the weather forecast was perfect. Clear sailing was predicted on US 81 for one day only.  We had our window and we scrambled. 

Bye, bye winter. Here we come sunny south.

The wait is over… everyone gets off the roads, newbies on the move.