You need to start at the beginning of a story in order for it to make sense. So here goes:
It has been quite some time since John has mentioned moving up north. And for the longest time, it has been nothing more than a dream. I was all for it, but didn't figure it was worth getting excited about until it looked like it might become reality. Well, in February of 2011, we decided to see what winter was all about in Quesnel and went there for a weekend. It was COLD. -28 degrees. But it was manageable. (as long as you warmed up your vehicle before you went out!!). On our way up, we stopped in 100 mile for breakfast at A &W. John, being the sociable guy that he is, stopped to talk to an older couple about where we were going and why. The MR. told John to talk to their son-in-law Duncan at RONA. John didn't, but took a Quesnel phone book home for contact information. A couple months later, he was paging through the phone book and came across the RONA ad in the yellow pages and decided to give them a buzz. It ended up being that they were hiring and although they had already intervied a couple hundred people, were willing to interview John. (I am sure he heard from his father-in-law about us!). So, beginning of May, John went for a week to Quesnel by himself. He had his interview on a Tuesday, but stayed until Saturday, driving around, talking to people and looking at properties for sale. Well, it was 6 weeks after he came back that he finally got the answer: he was hired!! They wanted him there in 2 weeks. As many of you know, we were mid house renos. The kitchen, the flooring, window and door trim, baseboards, paint and drywall. He finished up as much as he could before he left. He left on June 25 with the plan that I would join him in a week or so. Well, with all the work that he left me with, it didn't happen that way. But i could NEVER have done it without the help of MANY friends and family whom I will mention by name.
Marilyn helped with taking my kids, feeding me, painting, packing and cleaning.
Debbie helped with painting, cleaning, feeding me, taking the kids.
Rebecca helped me with painting and more painting, flooring, and loading the moving truck, and food
Mark R. saved me by doing all of the baseboards and interior window/door trim
Ted did the tile backsplash in the kitchen
Mom and Dad, and Ev helped with cleaning
Mark V. hung some lights and caulked the baseboards.
Martha cleaned on her days off.
Jim and Josh helped moved the piano (and it was HEAVY) and also on moving day
The Luteyn men helped on moving day
Leanne O. took the kids to VBS and swimming.
Ben helped unload the moving truck
and last but NOT least, John's brother Tony. He donated his company's semi, to help us move our furniture. He helped load the semi, which included full and HEAVY freezers. He also drove that semi to Quesnel and spent a night there and helped unload it again.
And to any and all who I might have forgotten, I appreciate all the help that i received in those couple of weeks. I could NEVER have done it without you.
I ended up leaving Chilliwack on July 8th. It was about a 7 1/2 hour drive there. We parked the semi, and found John, who was at the campground where he was 'living.' We ate supper and went for a drive to show both Tony and Ben the area where we are hoping to live. It's pretty amazing country. This area is along the Barkerville highway which is just north of the town of Quesnel. It's still close enough to town that it is not considered rural!. Saturday morning, after unloading the semi, we went out for lunch before saying good bye to Tony and Ben. We spent that night at the campground before packing up and moving the West Quesnel, 20 minutes out of town, to live at a family's house, someone I had never met, but had been introduced to John by a lady from Rona. We backed our camper up to their carport so that we had covered area in case it rained. We had access to their basement with a bathroom and laundry. We slept and ate and lived in the camper for the most part for the first 3-4 nights. They felt so sorry for us that they literally hauled us inside and set us up in a bedroom in the basement. The girls each had their own cot, John had his own bed, and I slept on the camper foam mattress on the floor. It worked quite well. These people were amazing and I got along really well with the Mrs. But the time came for us to move on and we packed up again and moved to Kersley, which is a small town south of Quesnel. We live about a 10 minute drive from the outskirts of Quesnel. The 'castle' is located about a 5 minute drive up the mountain. This couple opened their doors WIDE for us. We live, eat, sleep and everything else in their house. We are fed like king and queens, most often having a 3 course meal at suppertime, with dessert to finish it off. John and I and the girls have seperate rooms and I have free range of the house. The couple is actually John's boss' parents. The girls finished their first day of school today and are very excited about making new friends. The next few posts will be pictures of the journey i have just told you about! No promises though when I will get around to that!
No comments:
Post a Comment