After a few weeks of searching and finally deciding, we hit the road to pick up our vertually untouched 1975 boler. We figured it would be 7 to 8 hours driving each way – or 14-16 hours round trip.
So, we hoped to spend our very first night with our boler sleeping in it. However, considering we had not actually seen the boler in person, this was a bit of a gamble. So we packed our trusty old tent just in case. Along with all the standard camping gear – a change of clothes, campfire food, sleeping bags, ax, etc. And of course, we couldn’t forget the dog and all of her stuff (sometimes I feel like I bring more stuff for her, then for us).
We left at about 7am and started driving east – away from the mountains. I figure it has been at least 20 years since I’ve been in Saskatchewan. And, it turns out, this was the first time G ever stepped foot in Saskatchewan – he had flown over it before, but he had never actually been in it. So, it was a trip of firsts for him.
I think we both expected the super flat topography that we came accustomed to seeing in Corner Gas. You know, the kind where you can see your dog run away for 3 days. It turns out where we were it was definitely predominantly agriculture, but we saw more small rolling hills then we expected. It was beautiful!
As we drove G and I chatted; I sang horribly to good songs; we stopped for doggy pee breaks and even stopped for lunch in a small town somewhere along the road.
We arrived at the boler seller’s hamlet just outside of Moose Jaw around 3 in the afternoon. We knew we were in the right place because we could see the boler sitting in the driveway. It was exactly as the pictures showed, inside and out. And the seller and his wife were just as nice as they seemed on the phone and via email. We had a wonderful time chatting with them and exploring our new boler (and theirs too).
We ended up having a few technical difficulties with the electrical when we hooked the boler up to our 4Runner. A quick trip into the nearby city, a few parts, and we were on our way home. The problems weren’t fixed, but we were able to hit the road safely to deal with them when we got home.
After we hit the road, we stopped a few miles later to make sure everything was still hooked up safely. Everything looked good, and I took the first picture of our boler.
It had been a long day of driving, so we decided to set up camp for our first ever night in our boler at Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park. I cannot say too much about the amenities of the campsite – we rolled in late around 7 or 8 pm, and the campsite was packed with tonnes of families having fun.
G took the challenge of starting the campfire -the campsite wood has soaking wet from days of pouring rain, and it was insanely windy. He eventually got the fire going, just for the rain to start again. We quickly cooked our gourmet hotdogs over the fire, split a bottle of wine to toast our new adventure, and were thankful for our shelter from the elements – our boler! And as an added bonus the rain made for a good test to see if there were leaks anywhere – I’m happy to report we stayed dry.
I’m pretty sure our dog was not over impressed at her first night in the boler. She did eventually settle onto her blanket, when we settled in for the night. None of us slept particularly well, but at least we stayed dry!
We got up bright and early the next morning and finished our drive home.
Up next – we start the renovation/restoration!
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Our Boler Adventures 