.action video

Sorry for the delay on this action video. Turns out video editing is pretty time consuming! Enjoy this video of the trip M and I took this summer!

Click here to read about the day's featured in this very long action video!

.martha trip part 4 .08.20.16.

.martha trip part 5 .08.21.16.

.martha trip part 6 .08.22.16.

.goodbye Martha

I loved the amazing trip I went on with Martha and M. When I was looking at types of camper vans, I had leaned toward the "Shabby Chic" vans. The "instagram" vans, with beds in the back and cute little lights hanging around the door. The crisp white cupboards and modern patterned seat cushions add such a "home-y, cozy" atmosphere to the van life.

Martha was far from the picture I had in my mind, but there was potential to renovate the interior to be what I had dreamed of. That potential unfortunately would be a lot of work, it would mean painting the cupboards, removing the flooring and installing an A/C unit. The cost of renovating quickly was beginning to pile up. I could envision what I wanted the interior to look like, but it would take a lot of time and hard work. With my work schedule lately I don't have a lot of time at home, and I certainly don't want to spend that time at home doing hard work!

So I began looking for a camper van that closer matched my vision, and I found one!! --more on that later---- I put a deposit down on the new van and immediately listed Martha for sale.

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A few things I learned about camper van's that I had wished I knew before hand.

-Storage space is important. As you can see there is not a lot for cupboard space below the sinks. There is above the sink but it was very limited due to the curved roof of the van.

-Air conditioning is extremely important.

-Internal space makes it much easier for two people to move around the van. It's hard to see in the picture above, but there isn't much space between the table and the sink. This makes it especially difficult if one person is by the bathroom and the other is by the sink and they want to switch places.

And most importantly, having a fridge that works.

So long Martha and thank you for the great memories!! (Sorry I broke your microwave plate and lost your fridge access cover)

Martha has finally been sold to a lovely couple from Calgary; my fleet has been reduced to one camper van!

Enjoy these outtakes from our "goodbye Martha" photo shoot!

.martha trip part 2 .08.18.16.

Continued from .martha trip part 1

A few hours of sleep later and we were off to Fort Steele for the day again! 

**not pictured but present was mom and T**


We finished the day at fort Steele off with a ride on the train with the family. It had started to rain so we had the whole front car to ourselves! Due to the rain I was a little chilly so I had quickly tossed on my new plaid shirt; it immediately became my favorite shirt of all time!!! (You will see it pictured many times throughout this trip, I loved it so much I barely wore anything else) Because of this quick wardrobe change I actually almost missed the train! I ran full speed in my slipper sandals to hop on the train for its last run of the day!

Mom, dad, T and J had only come to join us for the day so we could laugh together and enjoy the wonderful skits at Fort Steele! After the train ride they were off, headed back home to spend some time with Grandma M.

M and I continued on our roadie to Christina Lake BC. By time we got there it was already dark, but we figured we would go for a stroll down to the beach anyways. After-all I spend most of my life at a different Christina Lake, I thought it necessary for us to see the lake while we were there!


Unfortunately once we got down to the beach there was a BIG sign stating that there was absolutely no dogs allowed on the beach! Ugh. So we sat on a picnic table and admired the town lights reflecting off the water reminiscing about previous trips to Fort Steele.


I turned to M and said; this is the life for me. (Fort Steele pun, better go watch the play so you understand) I love pretty lakes, I love lights at night time reflecting off the water, and I love exploring new places in my new convenient camper van.


Tonight we discovered the beauty of the curtains that go up in the cab!

They give you so much privacy and make you feel nice and "tucked in" I'm your private little bubble. 

I love Martha 

.martha trip part 1 .08.17.16.

Once Martha was registered and legal to drive we packed up and headed to Fort Steele! My absolute favorite heritage town. We return almost every year to watch the actors preform their humorous skits. My personal favorite part of Fort Steele is the "olden days atmosphere"

One thing most of you probably don't know about me, I love the Little House on the Praire books. When I read them it takes me back to a simpler time, one it reminds me of when I was a small girl reading these books, and two it shows me that people can be happy with less. Sometimes it feels like I have to keep getting better and better, there's a crushing feeling to always have more and be something more than I am. Reading the books about the simple praire life really helps me to feel grounded and appreciate all that I have in my life.

ANYWAYS, the actors in Fort Steele this year are absolutely amazing! M and I unfortunately missed the first few skits because we got stuck in traffic.

The day was full of laughter, beautiful warm sunshine and a nice warm breeze. Perfect day!

My personal highlight of the day was the play! They had a recurring theme of "That's the life for me" with a catchy tune to go along with it! I really like that because the play was all about following your dreams, which is what I was trying to do. It was quite poetic. ​

Tia and Mia didn't care about the skits ​(which you can hear in the background) they cared more about rolling around in the grass. So we let them and watched the skit from a far, afterall I want them to be happy too! And if rolling in the grass makes them happy then so be it!

After the skits were all done we grabbed an ice cream cone and headed back to our campsite! Not without taking some selfies with the van though!

We learned a very valuable lesson this day, that being A/C is a very important feature in an RV when you're going through BC in August! It was 40 degrees in the van after sitting in the sun all day. Luckily we had chosen to keep the A/C unit the previous owner had included with the van (despite how combersom it was) 

In an effort to cool down we went for a dip in the pool, it was nice at first but after getting a few dead flys in the mouth we decided a nice cool shower was a better way to cool down! By that time the A/C had cooled the van down significantly! We crawled into bed and fell asleep watching a movie! 

Around 3 am Tia and Mia started to bark and growl, which then turned to whining. I was so disoriented until I realized it was my family creeping around outside! M and I had called them the day before raving about how awesome the actors/skits were this year. My mom being a huge lover of Fort Steele packed up and drove straight there! Dad and J slept in the car while T slept on a cot outside of the van, mom got to sleep on the table while M and I were nice and tucked in our bed above the cab! 

Martha

It all started one Saturday night. As previously mentioned in .thebeginning I was bored and looking through Instagram. I had seen the van before but it never really sunk in how freeing it would be to have a camper van. I could stay anywhere I wanted (the side of the road included) Originally I had really wanted a VW van in teal blue, sorta like this one 

But alas, I was quickly brought to my senses that an old van that doesn't have a good powerful motor was probably not the best way to travel the mountains (no matter how cute the Instagram pictures would be). So I began to look at other models, preferably a newer van so I wouldn't need to worry about it breaking down!

Mercedes Sprinter vans's seemed to be the most popular option. Unforutnately after realizing how expensive (and time consuming) it would be to convert a Mercedes Cargo van to a camper I decided to go for something pre-build. That way I could just "touch it up" and make it my own. Dad was a fan of this plan, considering he would have been my biggest helping hand in the conversion.

I took to Kijiji and found this precious Jem 

It wasn't new, the inside lacked luster, but it was cheap, and it had a fridge!! Plus it was a great option to see if I even really liked "van life"!! My amazing best friend K and her father went and checked it out for me (because I was trapped at work) and after getting the A-OK from them, (and of course my own father) I decided to buy it!! I named her Martha.

I was overjoyed, I felt so incredibly free, I could go anywhere I wanted! So I planned another trip to Vernon with M!! This time we would be stopping at my favorite summer attraction, Fort Steele BC!

Unfortunately the day I was supposed to be picking up Martha, I had a very stressful run in with Pid. I had known I would have to see him that day, but I didn't expect the reaction I had. There was a large group of people around and all of them were asking me too many questions. 

I panicked. So I quietly grabbed my things and left. 

The first stop, my dad; because who else do you turn to for comfort and support when you're hurting? Family. 

I held it together pretty well, until I saw the concerned look on my dads face. Then the water works started.. I was so frustrated because I wanted so badly to not care anymore and to be this strong girl who moved on so seamlessly from the whole situation. My poor dad was so shocked by my reaction because as I said before, everyone thought I was fine. 

The bandaid ex-cation trip had done a marvelous job of making it look like I was back to being my happy bubbly self. One little tear and the whole bandaid façade came crashing in on me. After all I hadn't actually let myself think about the whole situation since the day I left on the excation. 

A four hour nap later I felt much better and quickly jumped up and started packing for the first Martha trip!! My amazing sister M had done a lot for the ground work so we were able to pack things into the car and take off!! A mere 3 hours later we were in Edmonton getting some last minute supplies for the trip!! Another 3 hours of running around the city and we were on the road again! Heading straight for Calgary!

We picked up K on the way and piled her and M into the front seat of my tiny car! It was around 1 in the morning at this point! (Needless to say I'm super glad I took that nap earlier in the day!!) 

By time we got the "crash course to RV-ing" from the previous owner it was 2 am and we were wayyyyy behind schedule! We fueled up and headed straight for Crowsnest Pass! (Big thanks to K's mom taking my car back to their place for my parents to pick up) 

We rolled in around 4:30 am, parked across the street from the registry office and crawled into bed!! Aren't camper vans convenient?! Pull over wherever you want and crawl into bed!! I was smitten already. Martha was already helping me feel much better after a manic day of emotions!