Due North - Wrapping it up

At this point we had already been in contact with our good friend Ana in Toronto and knew once over the border we were basically going to bomb it for the city and a shower as fast as we could. bearing this in mind we hadn't bothered that morning with the usual back of the van maintenance the border control waved us to the side began getting us to unload then took one look inside and promptly gave up and waved us through .
We were back in Canada and after about 3 hours of driving and another hour of whoops we should have gotten off the express way back there now we're downtown with the worlds most useless city
map and no GPS , we finally arrived at Ana's place .
Where we proceeded to eat, shower and stay up way to late drinking and exchanging travel stories , she had just returned from 3 months in Australia and Hawaii.

the aftermath (I forgot to take a picture before)

Next morning we visited Rol San supposedly the best Dim sum place in the city for breakfast , then off to Walmart for new phones . The following two weeks would be spent on the very different though more familiar adventure of finding a place to live and jobs to pay for it .
The apartment was our biggest hurdle yet with no jobs in a competitive housing market we were at a serious disadvantage the plus side was running around to see what felt like a never ending array of apartments did give us a good feel for the city. Eventually we managed to land one actually very close to Ana's a major plus given she was pretty much the only person we knew in the city and we'd gotten to know the neighborhood a bit already.
The second part procuring jobs was surprisingly easy , Calhoun actually managed to land a decent chef position before we had even moved into our apartment and within two days of looking I had a position at a downtown café.
Settled into our new place and with shiny new jobs starting soon there was still one more thing perhaps the the hardest thing in a way not only physically but physiologically. We were now living in downtown Toronto a place where parking is creative to say the least our faithful Hardwoo who had severed us so well had now become somewhat of a problem. Though we loved her how could we not she had been our home our shelter not to mention our transport for the last three months , it seemed the time had come for us to part ways.
We turned down offers that were too cheap , met with crazy people who couldn't drive in darkened parking lots, even one family who Calhoun was convinced just wanted to take a family outing to haggle , before we finaly met the man who would become The Hardwoo's new owner. An ageing long haired hippie who we instantly had a good feeling about , he was in a Rush cover band and the Hardwoo was just what they'd been looking for to transport them and their gear . It took all day multiple trips to the DMV then the mechanic then the emissions experts . Finally though with a smile and a nod from his mechanic and the proper paper work in hand the Hardwoo was off to it's next adventure. I will not lie there was a stab of sadness as I snapped a picture of Calhoun shaking the new owners hand at the mechanics shop, but I rest easy knowing she has gone to a good home and many more adventures await us all in the future.

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we bid farewell to the beloved Hardwoo