A sense of relief…

Today was a day we both had considerable dread over. With the heavier snow last week, we were deeply concerned that we could already be cut off from access to town and supplies, and most importantly, our final winter food supplies, which, in typical fashion arrived the day of the heaviest snow so far.

Waking up, we discovered that the campers batteries had run out completely overnight, attempting to run the furnace a few times. It’s unsurpring, as with the cloudy conditions, we haven’t had nearly as much sunlight to charge things up. Even the power stations got minimal charge. The back up generator which was so kindly leant to us is not running correctly, and neither of us have the knowledge or the tools to diagnose or repair it. A new one is out of the question and budget, so we’ll make do without.

We’re not quite ready for the woodstove heat yet, although getting closer. This means we have been relying on the furnace, and therefore the camper batteries for heat. So not getting power is an issue, but we have a back up propane heater we have been using sparingly. We were also concerned last night that we could run out of propane completely.

We had checked yesterday, and found to our delight, that someone had driven in and out on the road, possibly more than once. This made us a little more secure in the knowledge that we could make it to town.

So this morning we filled the truck with empty propane tanks, water bottles and gas cans and took off into town. The road, while slightly slippery in places, was ok to drive on, thanks to the previous driver, to whom we are grateful, but may never know their identity! I’ll confess a bit of ‘whire knuckling’ as we drove out, but all in all it was ok.

None of the forest roads have been ploughed, which, as they usually only harvest lumber in February, March and sometimes April, is not surprising. It was a bit of relief when we crossed into the townships’ jurisdiction to get onto a ploughed road again.

We picked up our gas, propane, groceries and the parcels which had arrived, checked mail (surprised to find any there as Canada Post is on strike) and headed back. We did receive an early Christmas card in the mail, which was a delightful surprise. It was a relatively uneventful excursion as far as town trips go, despite our fears about road conditions.

All in all, many of our fears were unfounded. We made it back to our spot on the road and then had to trek everything back to the camper on foot. We’re grateful for the cheap kids sled we picked up at Home Hardware, as it certainly makes hauling stuff in a bit easier in the snow than carrying it all. It took Sandy 3 trips in all and all our purchases and deliveries were at the camper.

This is potentially our last planned trip to town, and perhaps our last possible trip to town until spring. It will depend on snowfall traffic on our road, and the potential logging that may or may not occur along here this winter. Either way, we feel more prepared this evening than we did this morning.

A few chores around our site and we now prepare for sunset, dinner and an early night so we can continue our build and tasks tomorrow.