Phase 1- Complete

Well, it's March 18th, and I am now officially on the road and homeless. For the time being, anyway. We left Chilliwack on Monday around 6pm after a long day of packing, loading the truck, fighting with in-laws, lawyers, and each other. There were lots of tears and swearing, as was expected, but as the sun went down on the Fraser Valley, we headed east (well, Northeast, but east is our ultimate destination).

We fueled up the truck in Hope, BC, for those of you following along on a map, picked up some snacks for the road and checked the highway conditions. It was getting dark, and snowy, so we knew were in for a rough ride.

The Coquihalla highway is one of the most dangerous highways in Canada, but surprisingly, other than a few slippery patches, it wasn't bad. I put on my iPod, had a cat on each leg, and went to sleep. We stopped briefly again in Kamloops for gas and coffee, and I flirted with a cute-ish guy in line at the washrooms, and then we got underway again.

We pulled into the tiny village of Blue River, B.C at about 2am. I woke up not really sure where I was, and am still kinda fuzzy on that part. There was a trucker there who warned us that there was a terrible accident about 30 kms ahead and that the highway would likely be closed. There weren't any other routes to take, so we decided to head up there and just pull over and sleep if we had to wait.

The accident was probably the worst I've seen. It seems that a semi-truck had spun out on the snow and ice and gone into the ditch. Then another semi-truck came along and side-swiped him, causing his truck to flip around and over, ripping his entire trailer and back half of his cab right off. Both trucks were total write-offs. We didn't hear if anyone was hurt, but I would be surprised if they weren't. They only had one side of the two-lane highway closed, so we slowly made it through.

We finally made it to the Alberta border at about 4am local time. This picture was taken about 2 minutes after I woke up and I'm trying to pretend that I'm not freezing to death, so please be kind. And be kind to my Mom too, cuz she didn't even sleep at all.

Anyway, I was sad that we had to go through Mount Robson and Jasper Park in the middle of the night, because it really is the most beautiful place on earth. Look it up on wikipedia or do an image search if you don't believe me. We've come through here a few times in the daylight, and the scenery is breathtaking. It's one of my favourite places in the world. I'm definitely going to miss it.

What I won't miss is the fact that there is absolutely no place in Jasper to find food after 6pm and before 7am. I was starving and everything was closed. Finally, at about 6am, we found a Tim Horton's in Hinton, AB, and grabbed some breakfast and coffee. The coffee really hit the spot, because did I mention that it's freezing in Northern Alberta?!

Anyway, after another stop for fuel and bathroom breaks, we finally made it to my brother's house in Onoway, AB, at about 9am. I don't know who was happier to get out of the car, us, or the cats. I think it's a toss-up. I was quite impressed with how quiet and well behaved they were on the drive though. Even when Ira was starting to fall asleep and swerving all over the road, they managed to stay sleeping. It's more than I can say for myself.

Okay, what can I say about Onoway, Alberta? Not much, really. It's pretty much the definition of small town Alberta. The tallest building in town is the grain tower, and there isn't a franchise to be found. No McDonald's, no Tim Horton's, no Safeway, nothing. It's all locally owned businesses. Also, it's COLD. I went for a walk today and bundled up, so it wasn't that bad, but I definitely would not want to live here. And not that I don't mind small towns, but just walking down the street, I felt like everyone knew I was a foreigner because they were all staring. Could be because I was carrying my camera, but who knows?
The town itself isn't horrible. Decent, mid-income housing, friendly townsfolk, and it is only a short drive to the city of Edmonton, so I guess living here wouldn't be so bad, if you can stand the weather. I've lived in a similar town nearby during the summer, and it was pretty nice. I'm just glad we weren't here in January.

Anyway, we're staying here probably another day or two, so I'm basically just sleeping, surfing the web and waiting until I have to get back in the car and head towards our final destination. It will be nice when I can finally have something else to focus on other than the hurt and all things I left behind. The homesickness and husband-missing has definitely hit me a few times, and I could really use a distraction. It'll be nice to be able to focus on finding an apartment and a job and all that goes with starting a new life. But for now, I'll just keep listening to my iPod, writing in my blog, chatting with a very special person online (thank you for helping me through this, Billy Buddy. I know you're reading this.) and taking things one day at a time. All the legal stuff is behind me, so I'm hoping it's all uphill from here. And you know, you guys could leave comments here and give me something to read when I find internet access again! (hint hint, nudge nudge)

So, we should be leaving Alberta by Friday, next stop Saskatchewan and beyond! The plan is to be in Moncton by next Wednesday, so I will keep you updated. Hopefully I haven't bored you all to death by then.

-Kristi
Location: Onoway, Alberta, Canada.

Statistics.

I'm 25 years old and after only a year and half of marriage, I'm getting divorced. It sounds so simple and boring when put like that. I'm officially a statistic. I'm another number on someone's list.

But it's not simple and boring. It's depressing, terrifying, awful and all too real. Everyone who's ever gotten engaged knows that there's a huge chance their marriage won't last, and the people who deny it are lying. But we all want to be different. We all want to believe ourselves when we say "No, I'm going to be with this person forever. I'm going to make it work." I was no exception. I come from a family where divorce seems to be a common occurrence and I wanted to be different. When I said "til death do us part", I wholeheartedly meant it. I knew that I was going to do everything in my power to avoid that statistic, to stick it out "for better or for worse".

What I should have done was made sure my husband felt the same way. I guess he didn't feel that strongly about the for better or worse part, because less than 2 years into our marriage, he left. I won't go into the details (frankly, I'm a little fuzzy on them myself) but basically, one day, without much warning, he moved out. That was January 23, 2009. In one day, our once happy perfect-for-each-other life was shattered. He wouldn't tell me where he was going or how to reach him, and he just...was gone. I didn't hear from him again until a month later when a process server showed up at the house with divorce papers. That night I got an email from my husband saying that it was over, he wasn't coming back. Yes, you read that right. My husband ended our marriage in an email. It's the wave of the future, kids.

So now, here it is Mid-March and I have a plan. I'm going to start over.

I was born on the east coast. Moncton, New Brunswick, to be specific. My family moved out to British Columbia when I was 7 years old, and I've lived here ever since. I grew up in a small community in northern B.C, and it's where I consider home. Life has taken me all over the province, from the North Coast to the South Coast, and now the Fraser Valley, but I will always consider that small, cold, friendly town my home. I moved to the Fraser Valley in July of 2006 and met my husband 2 months later. I never really felt at home here, and have wanted to move ever since the day I arrived, but I stayed for him. Now that I no longer have a reason to stay, I'm moving on.

As much as I love and am going to miss B.C, I think it's given me all that it can. At least at this stage in my life anyway. Perhaps someday in the future I'll find myself back here again, but for now, I'm saying goodbye to the West Coast and heading east. My immediate family is spread all over North America (none are left in BC), but the biggest contingent of relatives are still back in Moncton. So I'm packing what I can into a tiny U-Haul trailer, and in 5 days, I'm hitting the road. Since my husband is still paying for my car, he gets to keep it. Instead, my mother is driving here from Pennsylvania with her new husband, and we're going to make the drive together. I got a call last night from Wyoming, so she should be here later this evening. We'll finish all the packing over the weekend and get some of the legal stuff finalized and hopefully be leaving by Tuesday.

I'm going to be honest-- I'm terrified. I have very little money, no job or apartment waiting for me when I get there, and a cat who is going to HATE being stuck in a car for a week. There are so many things that can go wrong, and it's going to be a lot of hard work. But you know what? There are so many things that can go right too. And I'm single and friendless, so what else do I have to do but hard work? So yes, I'm scared out of my mind, but I'm also excited too. I used to be scared of the unknown, but this divorce is forcing me to face my fears and to not let them control me. So that's my plan. To learn from this, start over, and possibly have a little fun along the way.

So that's what this blog is about. I'll hopefully be able to find some hotels with internet access so I can post each day as I travel from west to east. I'll take lots of pictures and be sure to post as many as I can. I imagine most of the time will be spent staring at cows while listening to my iPod, but I'm sure there will be plenty of interesting moments in between. And when I arrive at my destination, I'll keep updating this blog with my process of finding a job (or two) and a place to live. Eventually I'll start dating, and yes, I'll talk about that too. I'm going to talk about everything, because you know, sometimes it's all in the details. I'll try not to bore you too much. And I'll always try to include a picture or two.

I know a lot of you reading this have been with me since the beginning of this process and I just want to thank you again. Even though we're spread all over the world, I still consider you my friends and your support means a lot to me. I know it can't be easy to have a friend in pain, and I thank you for standing by me. You will never know how much I appreciate you all. I'm glad that you're going to be at least taking this journey with me in spirit. I hope at least one of us enjoys the ride.

--Kristi
Location: Chilliwack, B.C, Canada