“Hope and fear cannot occupy the same space at the same time. Invite one to stay”

— Maya Angelou

We drove too far the first day. The first leg of the journey took us from Vancouver to Kamloops. A four hour drive. We should have spent the night there. Should have. Did not. We stopped to visit some friends in Kamloops. It was a nice break. The kids ran through their big yard. Checking out their fish ponds, and the statues that lived in the trees at the edge of the yard. They loved it. The freedom. They played like they had not a care in the world. It was nice for us to stop and stretch our legs as well. Especially for Chris. It was a good visit.

They invited us to stay the night with them. We did not want to put them out though. We had planned on staying at a hotel in town. We did not anticipate this being a problem. So, we said our farewells and loaded back into the truck. As I drove toward town my sister called around to book a hotel. A place to rest our heads for the night. Four hours was a long enough drive. We were ready to relax. Let the kids swim in a hotel pool. Eat dinner. Wake up refreshed in the morning, and move on to the next leg. We planned on breaking up the trip into three days. This was not to be. Remember in the earlier blog. I mentioned we were travelling on a long weekend. A long weekend in the middle of summer. August long weekend. We soon found out that meant every hotel in town was booked. We could not find one vacancy.

So at that point, not too worried, we headed on. Moving toward our final destination. We called hotels in each small town we passed through. All, no vacancy. Keep this in mind. This is Canada. Towns are often few and far between. Often small. We were starting to wonder if we would have to drive through the night. To say the least, it became less and less comfortable with every kilometre we drove. We worried about the kids. We worried about Chris. We worried about deer on the road. We worried we would not find a hotel that night.

Finally. Finally, Valemount had a vacancy. A four hour drive from Kamloops. We were lucky to find a suite . The parking lot was crowded as we pulled in. It was dark. It was pretty late. We were all definitely ready to get out of the vehicle. Luckily, we had come prepared with snacks and drinks. At least we would not go hungry. Tired of travelling though. Ready to rest.

The only suite left was on the second floor. No elevator. Chris would have to do the stairs. We were a bit concerned about it. Chris made it up okay. Really, he did not have a choice. Thankfully, it was a big suite. We all had our own bed. It was comfortable. If we had not found a hotel in Valemount, we likely would not have found one until we hit Edmonton. Another 6 hours away.

After eating a snack, and settling the kids in, we all finally lay with our heads on our pillows. Thinking our own thoughts. Our bellies full. Our bodies thankful for a bed. I could feel the stress of the road still moving within me as I closed my eyes, grateful for the darkness and the sounds of those slipping into sleep around me. I tried to relax. We were half way there. Tomorrow we would try to make it the outskirts of Edmonton. Two days instead of three. I was looking forward to the doctors, and the attention Chris would receive. I was hoping for a bit of peace. For someone who knew, to put my mind at ease. To tell me Chris was healing. That he was okay. That I could stop worrying. At least for a moment. A moment or two.