G'day folks. We're now 18 days away from starting our trip through western Canada, Alaska and the northern United States. At this point, we're getting prepared, getting our Honda CR-V fixed for starters. I just had the vehicle in to get the oil changed and an overall inspection. And sure enough...our good mechanic friend Kevin just phoned me that the brake pads needed replacement. For good measure, we decided to replace the rear rotors as well since they were quite rusted around the edges. Luckily, the front rotors were still pristine and were ok.

I also went over our trip check list from our last expedition two years ago and made some minor changes. It has become standard operation procedure for our family to generate lists for any trip or vacation. So far it has helped us not to forget any important items. To give you an idea, our check list includes not only the things to bring along but also items to consider such as emptying the fridge, turning off the heat, getting people to check the house/mail/plants when we're away. Getting emergency contact phone numbers and email addresses to key people, etc.

We hope to start our trip on Monday 24 May. The general route will be as follows: northern Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, BC, Yukon, Alaska, Yukon, BC, Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and back to Ontario. As you can see, I included a map for you to get a general idea of how we plan to travel. BTW, you can click the map to expand it to a larger size. This does not mean of course that we feel bound by the route. We may, and probably will, make changes as we go along. I'm planning to make regular updates to this blog as we travel. I'll be bringing my trusty laptop computer along to do this.