In October 2017, probably a bit too late in the season if we're being honest, we flew from our new home of Vancouver, BC to Whitehorse in the Yukon to purchase something that would help us explore our new home of Canada; a 1995 Dodge Ram Pleasure Way van (what mouthful. Ha!).
The plan was to fly to The Yukon, purchase our van then spend two weeks driving back down the Alaska Highway, making a brief stop in Prince George for Ryan to work, then continue on through The Rockies and back to Vancouver.
Now, when we flew up to Whitehorse we had only seen pictures of the van. We were hoping it would be in good condition and have everything we needed. The main things being a bed, a full bathroom, and kitchen. Afterall, we were intending on living in this van eventually.
Long story short, we arrived in Whitehorse, inspected the van, had a mechanic look it over and agreed that it was perfect for us (phew! no last minute flights home to book now). We were so excited so paid, did all the vehicle transfers then got going right away.
so many bison!
The Alaska Highway was incredible. This was our first real experience in the mountains and with the white, snowy landscape (We had only been living in Canada for about a month at this point). There was so much wildlife to see, but we were also very lucky that we left when we did because only three days after we left Whitehorse the Alaska Highway was closed due to snow storms.
We traveled south down to Prince George and stayed with some friends for a few days while Ryan worked. Then headed on through The Rockies. Now, if we were impressed with the landscape before, you can just imagine our faces as we approached The Rocky Mountains! Awe was all we felt, and spotting wildlife was so exciting! But winter was coming so we had to keep moving, but we would be back many times over our 3 years living in Vancouver.
lunch on location
When we arrived back at our apartment in Vancouver we were lucky enough that our van actually fit in the underground car park, which was extremely fortunate as the van is close to 8ft tall and 19ft long. We thought we would have to park it on the street.
Since buying our beloved van (named Ramwell Tarly, the true King in the North) we have been on countless adventures and have many more to come. It's 3.5 years later and we have been living in our van full time for the last 9 months. I can't wait to share more of our past and future adventures with you all.
Ramwell Tarly in all his glory
If you have any questions about our new lifestyle, where we've been, or van related things, let us know :)
All images in this post were taken by and remain the Copyright of Ryan Sault and Bree Plater unless stated otherwise. You can see more photos at:
website: https://saultphotography.com/
Instagram: @roaming.rammie