All the Camps

Last Updated: November 2017

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" I'd rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on Earth" 
                                                                                                                         Steve McQueen

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TENTS

1 Year, 85 Days 

To date, we've spent 450 nights staying in locations like this, in accommodations like this one. 

 

Mountain River corridor, NWT, CANADA

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VEHICLES

2 Years, 229 Days

Since 1988 and over 17 road trips, I estimate, we've also spent 959 nights in a total of 8 different vehicles. For more detail on all the vehicles we've travelled with and lived in, go here.

Our first rental was a Maple Leaf TC in 1988; (Mae and Helen on the Dempster Highway, YT). LOAF is our current travel rig and Van Kiwi in 2017 was our most recent rental (New Zealand).

 

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HOMES

This interactive map tracks all the places each of us has lived. It begins with our birthplaces and hometowns, followed by the period of time we each lived with our parents, then by ourselves before meeting each other and continuing through to our rentals and homes together. There is a (somewhat) chronological list of these places on the left-hand side of the map.

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FIRST Home

6 Years: July 1978 > July 1984
Lot 67, Hodgins Street, Dunrobin, ON

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1/3 acre treed lot, well & septic in a rural recreational neighbourhood, one street back from the Ottawa River. We had about a 1/2 hour commute to work in Ottawa. 

We gutted both cottages to the framing, joined them with an addition, trenched and insulated underground water lines, added insulation to as many surfaces as possible, fully winterized the buildings, completely rebuilt the interior and resided and re-roofed the exterior.

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SECOND Home

8 Years, 1 Month: July 1984 > August 1992
3622 Forestview Lane, Dunrobin, ON 

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I worked as a carpenter, part-time on weekends for a local builder and this home was purchased from him. The 1/2 acre corner lot property was partly treed and on well & septic. 

It was unfinished and not landscaped. We completed much of the interior finishing, added a large, 2-storey addition that included an Ensuite Bath with roman tub and a large storage room. The property was landscaped from the back-fill stage to the completion of decks and gardens. We added a small utility building at the end of the driveway.

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THIRD Home

8 Years, 11 Months: December 1992 > November 2001
5521 Carp Road, Kinburn, ON 

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This home was R2000 certified. The timber frame package was supplied by Upper Canada Post and Beam. It was also featured in an Ottawa Citizen newspaper article on local Timber Frame homes shortly after it was completed. 

We moved in with a mostly 100% completed exterior, but, we spent a couple of years completing the interior first floor detailing and final finishes. The lower floor was initially done to the framing stage and it took us a couple of more years to complete it. 

Our garage/shop burned to the ground the first February that we moved in. The rebuilt building was completed a year later.

Helen on the High-hoe

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FOURTH Home

3 Years, 2 Months: September 2002 > July 2006
48 Kingbird Court, Kanata, ON

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We completed some minor renovations and upgrades to the interior and re landscaped the rear yard completely. 

It was difficult for us to move from a 10 acre, private, quiet, rural property into an adult lifestyle, condominium in a high density, urban neighbourhood. We new it would only be temporary. We would be able to travel more and know the house and property would be secure while we were away. 

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FIFTH Home

8 Years, 9 Months: August 2007 > May 2016
2902 Holleford Road, Hartington, ON

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We purchased the property in May 2003 and spent the next 4 years putting in the site services and preparing it for building. 

We cleared for a 1/2 km driveway and building site, established the hydro, well and septic services, built a couple of outbuildings and designed the home. The hole was dug in February of 2007 and from that date forward we took on the role of General Contractor in conjunction with Concord Homes who constructed the main building structure. We handled some of the insulation, exterior painting & staining and HVAC labour at this stage and also completed door, window, siding, insulation and finishing work on the Garage/Shop. The home was closed in October of 2007 and we completed the majority of work from the finished drywall stage forward; painting, most of the flooring, Firewood Shed, Sauna building. 

We were more involved with this home than with any other; from design to completion. It took us nearly 9 years of part-time work to fully complete and in that time we also changed the floor-plan by re-modelling a lower level Bedroom into an Exercise Room and adding a walk-in shower to the lower Bath. We also, landscaped, built gardens, established a lakeside campfire area, built a canoe/kayak storage structure and cleared a kilometre or more of forest trails.

For anyone interested in the " Evolution of a House Construction " ... click on Photo Gallery

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SIXTH Home

? Years, ? Months: February 21, 2018 > Present

58 Conger Street, Wellington, ON

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In contrast to our last home, this time we plan on doing as little as possible!

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