After 6 months on the road, I arrived home nearly two weeks ago [my stationary home here in the Kootenays as opposed to my movable home 🙂 ]. For the most part it was an incredible and wonderful journey of exploration, with over 21000 kilometers driven, and quite a few kilometers hiked. Vehicle problems made the last couple of weeks of travel rather stressful, so that I breathed a sigh of relief upon pulling into my driveway, but even those last two weeks still had their special moments.
My initial intention was to update this blog every week or two, but I found that spending time on the computer, trying to find adequate wifi connections and taking the time to edit, upload and caption pictures was interfering with my enjoyment of the journey (especially after spending a frustrating several hours early on uploading and then losing all my work to some technical glitch). I did however keep a daily written journal, as well as taking a lot of photos (way too many), and will make an attempt to post more about the trip over the course of this winter.
Since this post is about being home, I thought I would leave you with pics of a few of the amazing places that I called ‘home’ on this trip (most of them free camps).
May 25/26: near Narrows Lock, Rideau Canal system, Ontario (this is also where the above picture of me relaxing by the van was taken) 
May 29/30: Matapedia River, Quebec 
May 31: Hay Island, New Brunswick 
June 3: Seacow Head Lighthouse, PEI (with the 13km Confederation Bridge I crossed earlier that evening in the background) 
June 6-9 – Cable Head, PEI (sadly I expect that this entire northern shoreline looks quite different now after the damage inflicted by Hurricane Fiona in September) 
June 11 – Cheticamp Beach, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia 
June 12-14: Corney Brook CG, Cape Breton NP, Nova Scotia (I set up the tent to indicate that the campsite was taken while I went off exploring) 
June 16: a lovely oceanside spot off the Cabot Trail south east of Cape Breton NP, Nova Scotia 
June 18: Grand Bay West beach (I was camped in the parking lot), just a bit north of the ferry landing at Port Aux Basques, Newfoundland (another place hit hard by the hurricane) 
June 20 (and again on June 30): Arches Provincial Park, Nfld (theoretically a day use park but used by many travellers as an informal campsite. The pic is from June 20th; I had the same spot on the 30th with many more vehicles parked next to me) 
The view of the Arches from my camping spot at Arches PP 
June 25: Parc Goodchild, Blanc-Sablon, Quebec, 5km west of the Labrador border (the ferry from Newfoundland to northern Quebec/Labrador arrives near this lovely free campground with a tragic history; it used to be a subdivision where two people lost their lives when 15 homes were wiped out by an avalanche in 1995) 
June 27: 1st Pond Municipal Park, Forteau, Labrador 
July 5/6: Dildo Run Provincial Park, Nfld (provincial park campgrounds in Newfoundland where a nice surprise and I stayed in several as at $20/night they were relatively cheap and all had showers available) 
July 7-10: Crow Head, north of Twillingate, Nfld 
June 11/12: Brimstone Head RV Park, Fogo Island, Nfld 
July 13: pond up a random gravel road, Fogo Island, Nfld 
July 21-23: gravel flat by lake northeast of Argentia, Avalon Peninsula, Nfld 
July 28-Aug 4: La Manche Provincial Park, about 50km south of St. John’s, Nfld (I explored several sections of the East Coast Trail from this base camp) 
Aug 8/9: powerline right of way by small lake near Lead Cove, Nfld 
Aug 11/12: Little Harbour, Nfld 
Aug 17/18: Boutte Du Cap Park, Cape St. George, Nfld 
Aug 21: Ben Eoin Provincial Park, Nova Scotia 
Aug 24-26: Five Islands Provincial Park, on the Nova Scotia side of the Bay of Fundy 
Aug 28: by small dam and lighthouse near Riverside-Albert, New Brunswick 
Sept 1: Grassy Lake, off Shepody road, north boundary of Fundy Nat’l Park, New Brunswick 
Grassy Lake 
Sept 5: Camping Cote Surprise, Perce, Gaspe Peninsula, Quebec (this was an expensive campground, but I decided to splurge for the view of Perce Rock; also no real options for free camping nearby) 
Sept 12/13: Madawaska River near Griffith, Ontario 
Oct 3: old gravel pit north of Sault Ste Marie, Ontario 
Oct 4: crown land on Lake Superior, south of Agawa, Ontario 
Oct 4: crown land on Lake Superior, south of Agawa, Ontario (another view) 
Oct 5: Little Pic River Scenic viewpoint overlooking Lake Superior about 30 km west of Marathon, Ontario 
Oct 7/8: Adam Lake CG, Turtle Mountain Provincial Park, Manitoba (I cooked dinner in this day use area by the lake the first night, but ended up moving to an actual campsite since, even though the campground and shower house was officially closed, it was possible to drive in. Did some lovely hiking here.) 
Oct 9: rest area, Parry, Sask 
Oct 13/14: almost home, Tie Lake Recreation Site, near Jaffray, BC
the road to nowhere 
I’m impressed by everything you can pack into your car!
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