Year 3 Week 14

September 17 to 23, 2006

Daysland, Alberta to Revelstoke, B.C.

Year 3 week 14

 

Sunday ; Daysland to Rocky Mountain House, Alberta

BRRRRR ! When we woke up this morning, it was snowing lightly. By late afternoon, the sky had cleared a bit, and the temperature had climbed a few degrees. The temperature overnight tonight is forecast to be -3 C. / 26 F. !

We had breakfast with Tom and Ruth-Anne this morning, then visited for awhile before leaving. Bo and Emmalynn played so nicely together, running around the Huggard's trailer, romping, chasing, growling, and wrestling. Emmalynn is still a puppy, and plays like one. Bo very nicely played along. Emmalynn and Bo would trade off who was going to be dominant during their playing. It was a bit surprising to see Bo so willing to play the submissive role. He usually postures dominance quite obviously.

We filled up with diesel as we were leaving Daysland. Yesterday I bought 2 litres of diesel fuel additive, and as I began to fill up today, I transferred a litre of it to a plastic squeeze bottle that I use to squirt the additive into the fuel tank. I dropped the rigid plastic bottle, and it shattered, splashing a litre of greasy diesel fuel additive all over my pant legs and jacket < fume > !

We drove west on Hwy. 13 through Camrose to Wetaskiwin. At Wetaskiwin I refilled a propane tank, then we turned south on Hwy. 2A. South on Hwy. 2A and Hwy. 2 to Red Deer, then west on Hwy. 11A through Sylvan Lake and Hwy. 11 to Rocky Mountain House. As we were driving Joanne was phoning campgrounds ahead of us in Wetaskiwin, Red Deer, and Rocky Mountain House to try to find a campground with cable TV, or at least a CTV signal that we could pick up by antenna, so that we could watch the season premiere of Amazing Race tonight. No luck. Darn !

We got set up in Riverview Campground just outside of Rocky Mountain House, then took Bo for a hike along the North Saskatchewan River. Bo and I played in the campground playground, running a "Bo-gility" course on the playground equipment, jumping in and out of a huge tractor tire, and climbing an inclined "rock wall" leading to a slide that he would slide down quite willingly. HA HA HA ! Bo always has so much "game".

As Joanne was preparing supper, we enjoyed watching 3 deer, a doe and 2 fawns, grazing behind our campsite.

 

Monday ; Rocky Mountain House toLake Louise, Alberta

Today was cold and cloudy, with cold rain all evening.

This morning when I walked Bo, he picked up the scent of deer, and went wild. He sniffed frantically, tugging at the leash, running around trying to follow the scent. Too bad he was so occupied with sniffing that he didn't lift his head up from the ground and see the 3 deer grazing about 100 feet from us. HA HA HA !

We got a late start this morning, leaving the campground about 11:00 A.M. We drove a few km. back to the town of Rocky Mountain House, filled up with diesel, shopped at Wal-Mart and Canadian Tire, and had lunch before hitting the road. We drove west on Hwy. 11. Within half an hour after leaving Rocky Mountain House, there was deep snow on the side of the road. Quite a bit of snow fell in this area over the weekend. I stopped to take some photos, and romp in the snow with Bo. He's not too impressed by snow.

Shortly after reaching the eastern edge of the Canadian Rockies we entered Banff National Park from the east side, into the middle of the park, about halfway between Banff and Jasper. Once in the park we turned south on Hwy. 93 / The Icefields Parkway, heading to Lake Louise. We saw a bear on the side of the road. We got set up in a campsite at Lake Louise, then phoned my sister to see how her knee surgery went earlier today. Bud said that the surgery went okay, but that she's in a lot of pain.

 

Tuesday ; Lake Louise, Alberta to Donald, B.C.

Today started out cloudy and cold. By late afternoon it was sunny and mild.

We departed Lake Louise this morning heading west on Trans-Canada Hwy. 1, through the west side of Banff National Park, into British Columbia, and Yoho National Park. We stopped at the Finn Creek Rest Area to take some photos and walk along the Kicking Horse River. Through Field, B.C., and out the west side of Yoho National Park, through the Kicking Horse Pass, and into Golden, B.C.. The Kicking Horse Pass was the first real difficult test of mountain driving for Lanoire. She did well.

We continued past Golden to Donald where we stopped at Campers Haven RV Park. It's a Passport America park with a special discounted rate for a minimum 3 night stay. So ... we're staying 3 nights. Around suppertime, a motorhome moved in a few sites down from us. Their 9 year old dog, Murphy, looks like Bo's twin brother.

 

Wednesday ; Today was cool and raining.

I had intended to do a few small maintenance jobs, go hiking, and have a campfire today. But the weather made me feel like doing nothing except read and nap. My sole accomplishment for the day was to make blueberry pancakes, using, of course, wild blueberries we picked this spring in Northwestern Ontario.

 

Thursday ; Today was partially sunny, and cool.

Another lazy day. I did some maintenance chores. I lubricated the rubber weatherstripping around the bedroom slide. I cleaned and re-caulked the lower edge of the guard plate on the bottom edge of the bedroom slide. I caulked it in Steinbach a few weeks ago, but I noticed in Lake Louise a few days ago that the caulking was peeling off. I wonder if I used the wrong type of caulking ? I caulked it today with the same caulking, and if it peels again, then I'll know that I'm using the wrong type of caulking. I removed a shelf beside the recliner in the trailer. Bo uses it to get from the recliner to the window sill, and his weight is breaking it. I adjusted the trailer brake controller in the truck. Somewhat to Joanne's chagrin, I performed some self-surgery, cutting open and draining a big lump ( boil ? ) on my forearm. We went for a short hike. I started feeling ill, so a short hike became a very short hike. I read. I napped. Joanne baked cookies. We watched TV.

 

Friday ; Donald to Revelstoke, B.C.

Today was sunny and mild.

We left Donald this morning heading west on Trans Canada Hwy. 1. We entered Glacier National Park. We passed from the Mountain Time Zone to the Pacific Time Zone. We drove up, over, and down the Rogers Pass. I was running a bit low on fuel, so I had to buy some diesel at the Rogers Pass summit. What an outrageous price ! We stopped at the Rogers Pass National Historic Site and looked around the Rogers Pass Discovery Centre, a museum and information centre. We drove through a series of tunnels on the highway. We drove out of Glacier National Park and into Mount Revelstoke National Park.

At the small city of Revelstoke we stopped for information and groceries. While Joanne went into Cooper's Foods, I walked about 6 blocks to the Post Office to buy a stamp for a letter to the U.S., then about 3 more blocks to the library to see if they had Wi-Fi ( they didn't ), then about another 3 blocks to the Tourist Information Centre, then all the way back to the grocery store. Long walk ! We had a very late lunch, then found our way to Williamson Lake Campground, just outside Revelstoke. It's a very nice campground operated by the municipality, reasonably priced, with cable TV and Wi-Fi.

We set up in our campsite, then went walking around the campground, and down by Williamson Lake. Very pretty ! I reset all our clocks and watches, then downloaded and processed photos. I couldn't get a Wi-Fi signal in the trailer, so I went and sat outside the campground office, got online, sent and retrieved e-mail, retrieved updated investment data ( finally ! ) , and retrieved my MasterCard statement.

 

Saturday; Today was mostly cloudy. In town, the temperature was 17 º C. / 62 º F.. At the summit of Mount Revelstoke it was 5 º C. / 41 º F..

This morning Joanne prepared a picnic lunch and we set off for a day of exploring Mount Revelstoke National Park. As we drove through Revelstoke we noticed a Farmer's Market so we stopped to buy some fresh produce. Joanne thinks we should get a bumper sticker that says " We brake for Farmer's Markets". HA HA HA !

We entered Mount Revelstoke National Park, and drove the 26 km. long Meadows In The Sky Parkway to Balsam Lake. We had our picnic lunch in a log cabin with a picnic table and woodstove inside. There was already a fire going in the woodstove when we got there. After lunch we hiked the 1 km. very steep Summit Trail to the summit of Mount Revelstoke. Whew ! Hiking uphill at an elevation over 6000 feet is very difficult. Once at the summit, we hiked the 1 km. long Meadows In The Sky Nature Trail. Along the way we took a short detour to The Ice Box Viewpoint. Then we hiked the extremely steep 0.5 km. Firetower Trail to The Parapets Viewpoint, and the old fire lookout tower. This was the true summit of Mount Revelstoke, at 6360 feet. Somebody had built a Snowman on the wood deck surrounding the fire tower. Bo was thirsty, so he just ate some of the Snowman. HA HA HA ! Then it was back down the 1 km. descent along the Summit Trail to the parking lot at Balsam Lake. Our legs and knees ache !

I shifted Lanoire into second gear, and we coasted 26 km. down the mountain, no accelerator and no brakes required. HA HA HA ! We drove back into Revelstoke, and filled up with diesel. At the summit of Mount Revelstoke, we had overheard a Park Ranger talking about the Kokanee Salmon spawning run, so we asked her for directions. We found our way down some back roads through the Industrial Park of Revelstoke, to the Kokanee Salmon spawning grounds where Bridge Creek flows into the Illecillewaet River.

Wow ! WOWWOWWOW ! ! ! What an amazing spectacle ! The Kokanee swim upstream from the river into the creek about 2000 feet. All along this 2000 foot stretch of this narrow, shallow creek, there are bright red Kokanee Salmon swimming upstream, making amazing jumps over obstacles and rapids, and spawning. We had seen Coho Salmon spawning near Hope, B.C. about a year ago, but seeing it for a second time is still just as amazing ! I could actually reach into the water and grab fish, although they were too slippery to hold onto. Bo was certain that he could catch a Kokanee. We didn't allow him to try. There are signs along the creek warning about bears, because they come down to the creek to feed on Kokanee during the spawning run. Easy pickings !

We returned to our campground, aching and tired. But what a great day !

DSK

Year 3 Week 13

September 10 to 16, 2006

Lac du Bonnet, Manitoba to

Year 3 week 13

 

Sunday ; Today was sunny and warm.

The Explorer group spent the entire morning sitting around a couple of picnic tables socializing, and enjoying the beautiful warm fall weather. Around lunch time, they all began to prepare for departure, and by early afternoon, Joanne and I were the only ones left in the campground. We had a great time with this new group of friends over the last few days. I'm glad we decided to attend.

After lunch I read, napped, then sorted and rearranged my "magic tool box". Performing a magic show always results in a need to sort, rearrange, and "prepare" the contents for the next time I'm going to perform magic. Hey ... magic doesn't just happen by magic, you know. HA HA HA !

I downloaded and processed the photos I took on yesterday's outing to Pinawa. I had experimented with the new camera by switching it to take photos at a higher resolution setting than I usually use. Today I downloaded the photos to the computer and got to see the results. I don't like them ! I'm switching back to my normal, lower resolution setting.

 

Monday ; Lac du Bonnet, Manitoba to Moosomin, Saskatchewan

Today was sunny and warm.

We left Lac du Bonnet heading south on Hwy. 11, then southwest on Hwy. 214, then west on Hwy. 44, through Beausejour, then south on Hwy. 59 to Winnipeg. We went around Winnipeg on the north side, on the Perimeter Hwy. 101. We stopped at the new Flying J in Headingley to fill up with diesel. West on Trans Canada Hwy. 1 to Portage La Prairie. We stopped at Portage La Prairie to have lunch, buy groceries at Safeway, buy pet foods at PET VALU, and supplies at Wal-Mart. Before leaving Portage La Prairie we went to a Shell station and adjusted the air pressures in all 12 truck and trailer tires. I also phoned our friend Sep Liang, in Medicine Hat, Alberta, to arrange our visit with him in a few days.

We continued west on TCH 1, planning to stop for the night at Brandon. At Brandon we decided to continue to Virden. At Virden we decided to continue to the Saskatchewan border. At the border we decided to continue to Moosomin. We stopped for the night at Fieldstone Campground & RV Park. After arriving, we realized we had been here before, about 16 months ago. This is where Bo "escaped", and went completely wild, chasing baby bunnies in the forest. It took us a week or more afterwards to get him to remember that he was obedience trained !

 

Tuesday ; Moosomin to Swift Current, Saskatchewan

Today was sunny and hot. I had to reset all our clocks and watches today. We didn't cross into a new time zone, but Saskatchewan does not observe Daylight Savings Time. This morning we realized that late yesterday we had crossed from Central Daylight Time to Central Standard Time when we crossed from Manitoba into Saskatchewan.

We departed Moosomin this morning continuing west on TCH 1. We stopped to refill with diesel at Grenfell. We stopped for lunch just before we got to Regina. The flat farm lands of eastern Saskatchewan became the rolling pasture lands of western Saskatchewan. The harvesting of the grains is finished. The fields are covered in a golden coloured grain stubble. Foxes can be seen hunting in the fields.

I've always found the drive across the Canadian Prairies, from about Winnipeg to about Calgary, to be incredibly boring. Obviously I'm not the only one. Late this afternoon we drove through the little Saskatchewan town of Herbert, where municipal building lots cost one dollar ! HA HA HA !

We stopped for the night at Trail Campground in Swift Current. My memory of Swift Current goes back to about 1982, when I spent 6 weeks here on a Canada Post project < shudder >.

 

Wednesday ; Swift Current, Saskatchewan to Medicine Hat, Alberta

Today started out sunny and mild, but clouded over during the day as we travelled west. The forecast for the next few days is not very good. Cold and raining !

Today's drive was endless expanse of ranch lands. We saw a herd of antelope. Lots of cattle for Bo to bark at. Bo loves barking at "cows". He gets himself so excited barking at cows that he's then inspired to bark at hay bales. Bo ... they're hay bales ! I guess they don't have cows and hay bales down in Alabama !

We left Swift Current continuing west on Trans Canada Highway 1. We stopped to refill with diesel at Maple Creek. We stopped to have lunch at the Alberta Border Tourist Information Centre. At Medicine Hat, we headed for Wild Rose Campground. It was full. We went to Gas City Campground instead. Nice park, but very expensive. The campgrounds in Medicine Hat seem to be filled with workers living in trailers. I guess there's a bit of a Natural Gas boom going on here. We noticed when we were in Newfoundland in the spring that most of the jobs advertised in the Newfoundland newspapers are here in Alberta.

We got set up in the campground, then I phoned both Dodge dealers in town to make an appointment for tomorrow for routine service for Lanoire. Neither dealership could accommodate me before next week. My very limited experience with Dodge dealerships seems to be that their service departments are always booked up for the next 3 days !

We had dinner, and spent the evening visiting with our friend Sep Liang at his new condo apartment in Medicine Hat. Sep is a scientist working for the Canadian Government at CFB Suffield nearby. He relocated here recently from Kingston, Ontario. His wife Susanna is currently in Ottawa attending a training course. I have been friends with Sep since 1990 when we met on a ski trip to Switzerland with the federal government employee ski club in Ottawa.

 

Thursday ; Today was gloomy and drizzling rain all day.

We spent the afternoon shopping and running errands. Wal-Mart, Safeway, Island Inkjet, Petcetera, Shoe Warehouse. Not much luck ! No RV bathroom tissue at Wal-Mart. No satisfactory shoes at Wal-Mart. Impractical to refill printer ink cartridges at Island Inkjet. No satisfactory shoes at Shoe Warehouse. No cat flea spot-on treatment at Petcetera ! Guess there's not much of a flea problem in this arid part of Alberta.

We spent the evening with Sep. We drove to his apartment, and I showed him our first year of travel photos before going out for pizza dinner at Houston Pizza. After dinner he drove us around Medicine Hat, showing us his first home here, when he lived here from 1995 to 2001. We returned to his apartment, and viewed our year 2 travel photos. It was really great to be able to visit with Sep yesterday and today. We don't get to see him very often.

 

Friday ;

 

Saturday ;

Year 3 Week 12

September 3 to 9, 2006

Steinbach to Lac du Bonnet, Manitoba

Year 3 week 12

 

Sunday ; Today was sunny and very warm.

This afternoon we drove to Lorette, stopping at Lorette Marketplace to buy milk and ice cream. We drove to the Danelak's and made date shakes for Sharon and Bud. We have been intending to make them date shakes all summer, and today was the last chance. Last winter while we were in Yuma, Arizona we drove a few miles over to Bard, California to buy fresh Medjool Dates at Imperial Date Gardens. While there, we had milk shakes made with fresh Medjool dates. They were wonderful ! We wanted to share the experience, so we bought some date butter to make date shakes with. Today's date shakes made with date butter weren't quite as good as the ones made with fresh dates, but still pretty good. We visited with Sharon and Bud in their gazebo for the afternoon.

We drove into Winnipeg to have dinner with Lorri, Doug, Madeleine, and Amelia. While Doug and Lorri prepared dinner, Joanne played a computer game with the nieces, and I got online to send and retrieve e-mail, update my blog, and retrieve my bank statements. We had dinner, then visited briefly.

I glanced at yesterday's newspaper's headlines while at the Carlson's. YIKES ! The front page main story was about the many cases of severe illness caused by E-Coli tainted ground beef in the first 2 weeks of August at 3 St. Boniface fast food outlets who all procured their ground beef from the same meat market on Marion Street. The 3 fast food outlets included Dari-Wip ( a.k.a The Greek's ), where I had a Double Fat Boy Burger almost a month ago, during the time frame that they had tainted hamburgers. WHEW ... dodged a bullet there !

 

Monday ; Today was sunny and very warm.

We left our campground this morning and drove into Steinbach, filled up with diesel, then drove over to Ste. Anne Co-op to weigh the truck and trailer. Wow ... Lanoire weighs 1300 pounds more than Dee-Dee did. And the trailer has gained 400 pounds in the last 2 years. New flooring, a new bed, computer desk, sofa table, 2 additional dinette chairs, and ... who knows ?

We drove north on Hwy. 12, then east on Hwy. 44. We stopped for lunch at a rest area just past Beausejour. North on Hwy. 11, to Lac du Bonnet, and Champagne's RV Resort, which will be home for the next week. We got set up in our site, then sat around outside, reading, enjoying the great weather. I took a short nap before supper.

We had Sharon's fresh perogies for supper. I ate only 11 of them. HMPH ! In my younger days I could scarf down a dozen perogies without batting an eye. HA HA HA !

 

Tuesday ; Today was sunny and hot, with a bit of a breeze in the afternoon to cool it off a bit. What great weather for September !

I spent the early part of the day making a bunch of phone calls, including back and forth to my investment broker in Ottawa regarding the $3000 that seems to be lost in cyberspace between my investment account and my bank account. I read and napped. I prepared a bunch of e-mails to send. I printed and reconciled the August bank statement.

We can't receive any radio stations here in Lac du Bonnet, so we're listening to CD's played through the computer and the trailer's stereo system speakers. We don't often listen to CD's in the trailer. The only TV station we can receive here is CBC. I had forgotten about this CBC quirk of broadcasting the National News at 10:00 P.M., and then, immediately upon its conclusion, repeating the broadcast at 11:00 P.M.. What a goofy thing to do !

This afternoon Joanne gave Teddy his thyroid medication, hidden, as always, in a Pounce Hairball Treat. He dropped it. ZOOM ! BODY CHECK ! CHOMP ! SWALLOW ! ! ! Bad dog, Bo ! Guess Bo's thyroid function is assured for the next 24 hours ! ! !

I repaired Teddy's brand new tent that we bought on Saturday. While showing it to Sharon and Bud on Sunday, Bud noticed a tiny hole in the fine mesh screening. DARN ! I patched it with clear tent repair tape that I bought when Teddy was attacked by a stupid dog while he was in his tent in Livingston, Texas in January, 2005.

As I type this, I'm listening to Led Zeppelin I ( circa early 70's ), which I haven't listened to in many years. Joanne thinks it's terrible music. She says you can tell it was written in an era when people didn't get out on the dance floor, they just sat in the corner and smoked dope. HA HA HA ... glad she remembers our courting days ! I personally have difficulty remembering 1973. HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA ! Where’s the Cheezies ?

Uh-oh ! The Canada Geese are headed south ! Our cue that's it time for us to leave Manitoba. See you in Arizona, guys !

 

Wednesday ; Today was sunny and warm, with a light breeze.

Today we went into the town of Lac du Bonnet. I wanted to go the library, to get online. While I was in the library Joanne did a bit of grocery shopping, and walked around with Bo. She liked what she saw, so tomorrow or the next day we'll probably return just to walk around the waterfront area of the town. The library had a book sale going on, to get rid of their old, excess books. $1.00 per shopping bag full of books. I managed to squeeze a dozen Reader's Digest Condensed Books into the shopping bag. Each Reader's Digest Condensed Book is a condensed version of 4 books. Pretty good bargain ... like 4 dozen books for a buck.

My investment broker in Ottawa finally managed to rectify the problem of the missing $3000, and I got the MasterCard bill paid. His office usually functions quite well, but when his assistant Rhonda goes on vacation, things seem to go awry. Must be a moral in there somewhere.

I read for awhile, and we went for a long leisurely walk with Bo. At the back of the campground is the Champagne Forest. The Champagne family owns the campground. The Champagne Forest has a series of trails winding through it. All along the trails are life sized nursery rhyme scenarios, tucked into alcoves in the trees. The Three Little Pigs, Jack & Jill, etc.. Makes me think that some people have way too much time on their hands. When we walked back to the campground area, we had a long chat with Dennis Champagne, the owner of the campground. Nice old fellow. In addition to running a large campground, and constructing story book fantasies in the forest, and running a gravel hauling business, and restoring old cars, he and his wife travel all winter in their fifth wheel rig. Says he's working on retiring. Work harder at it, Mr. Champagne, you're failing !

 

Thursday ; Today started out sunny and mild, but turned cloudy, windy, and cold by late afternoon.

We went exploring the area today. First we headed east on Hwy. 515 towards the Lee River area. We stopped at the Lac du Bonnet Airport to look around. It's both a land base and water base, for planes on either wheels or floats. We stopped at the Pinawa Channel picnic area to allow Bo to goof around a bit. We drove around the Lee River subdivisions to look at cottages and lots. We drove back to the town of Lac du Bonnet. We walked along the waterfront, and out onto the wharf. It turned out to be another "Bo No Go" dock. HA HA HA ... Bo has been afraid of docks ever since we took him out on the floating dock at Ford's Cove on Hornby Island in B.C. in April, 2005.

We drove around the town of Lac du Bonnet exploring. Before we left town, I washed the truck. Back at the campground, some of the Explorer RV Club members had started to arrive for this weekend's Rally. We chatted with our new "next door neighbours" for awhile.

I spent the evening updating my investment files. A teensy bit of improvement, but still not back to April’s peak.

 

Friday ; Today was sunny, cool in the morning, and warming throughout the day.

We spent most of the day socializing with this Explorer RV Club group, which grew throughout the day to be a total of 11 people. Small group, for an RV Club Rally. But they're sociable, and welcoming to us as newcomers to their group. We went to the town of Lac du Bonnet in the afternoon to buy a few groceries. Joanne made friends with one of the women in the group, who has had breast cancer 3 times over the last 15 years. Sheesh ! Two lumpectomies, first one 15 years ago, and finally, a mastectomy recently. She and Joanne compared notes, so to speak.

 

Saturday; Today was sunny and mild.

This morning we invited our Explorer friends to join us at the Farmer's Market in Lac du Bonnet. Most of the group joined us and we drove to town. Joanne and the group went to the Farmer's Market, and I went to the library to get online. The local library is closed Sunday and Monday, so it was the last chance I had to get online before we depart Monday, heading west for Alberta. After the Farmer's Market, we were invited by the Explorer group's unofficial rally hostess / planner / organizer, Anne Green, to join her on an outing to the nearby town of Pinawa. Most of the group that had gone to the Farmer's Market went along to Pinawa.

Pinawa is a small town on the Winnipeg River, maybe a 15 or 20 minute drive from Lac du Bonnet. I thought Pinawa was pretty much a ghost town ever since AECL ( Atomic Energy Canada Ltd., I think ) closed their nuclear research facility many years. I thought the entire town existed only because of the nuclear research facility. But Pinawa seems to be surviving and thriving quite well without AECL. We had lunch at the Pinawa Motor Inn. It was a bit of a disaster because of some serious customer service problems, and a broken deep fryer. After lunch, we were joined by a local amateur historian who had been invited to give our group an on-site presentation at, and about, the large sundial created as a Millennium project for the town a few years ago.

After the Pinawa Heritage Sundial presentation we walked down to the waterfront park and looked around. From there we were invited, once again by Anne, to drive over to the Pinawa Suspension Bridge. We drove over to the swinging bridge, and walked across the Pinawa Channel on the Winnipeg River, admiring the scenery, and taking photos. Anne showed us the memorial "bridge plank" she had bought in memory of her husband, who died a few years ago. Anne and her husband lived in Pinawa for many years, where she was an elementary school teacher.

We returned to the campground, for an afternoon of socializing before having a communal potluck dinner. After dinner, we had a group campfire. I performed a magic show for the group around the campfire, at dusk. It seemed to be well received, and appreciated. After dark, we all sat around the campfire, socializing more. I brought Teddy over to sit on my lap by the fire. Teddy likes sitting by a fire.

It was a very pleasant day.

DSK

Year 3 Week 11

August 27 to September 2, 2006

Steinbach, Manitoba

Year 3 week 11

 

Sunday ; Today was sunny and hot.

Yesterday I had failed to notice on the calendar that it was the third anniversary of our purchase of Harvey, our 30 foot fifth wheel trailer. Three years ago, we had just sold PET VALU 92, our flagship store on Montreal Road in Ottawa. We only had one store left to sell, PET VALU 234 in Westgate Shopping Centre. I was confident that it would be sold during the following winter, and by spring we would be ready to sell the house and hit the road as full time RV'ers. And ... after about a year and a half of browsing, looking at a lot of RV's, Harvey was the first one that really met all our criteria. So ... we bought it !

Today I reinstalled the mouldings on the repaired lower side panel of Harvey. Now the repair job is truly finished, and it looks great ! I gave the truck a quick rinse. Gee ... a black truck doesn't stay looking clean very long. It was spotless and gleaming a week ago. We have a short section of gravel road to travel to reach our campground, and a week after being washed the truck was coated with a fine layer of gravel dust. Joanne and I both worked on removing old caulking from the side of the front section of the trailer that I discovered yesterday needs some repair and resealing. It was a tedious, difficult job. Then I applied adhesive little dots on the North America map on the side of trailer, to indicate the locations where we have had WorkCamper jobs. Potosi, Missouri. Livingston, Texas. West Hawk Lake, Manitoba. And ... counting our chickens before they're hatched ... Palm Springs, California.

 

Monday ; Today was sunny and warm.

This morning we headed into Winnipeg for our appointment with our new family physician in Southdale. We were not very impressed with him. He was patronizing, and refused to meet our needs, which are to have cancer screening tests for Joanne, and a colonoscopy for me, arranged for early May, 2007. We wanted to be able to phone a few months in advance to arrange for referrals and appointments, or even arrange for them now. He refuses to make referrals or arrange appointments until we attend in person next spring. By which time he is likely to be retired ! I'm not sure how we're going to deal with this problem. I think I'll just ignore him for now, then phone about the beginning of February, from California, and insist that referrals and appointments be made for early May. My concern is that if we have a WorkCamper job for next summer, we would plan to return to Winnipeg for only enough time to attend medical appointments, which would be a week or two at most. Like we did in Ottawa this last spring.

We did some shopping at Canadian Tire in Southdale, then at Wal-Mart in St. Vital Shopping Centre. From there we went to the Carlson's. We had lunch with Lorri, Madeleine, and Amelia. I got online, sent and retrieved e-mail, and updated my blog. I picked up the new digital camera I ordered from Air Miles, and had shipped to the Carlson's address. I'm a bit disappointed in it, but ... it's mine now ! Such is the risk of ordering merchandise "sight unseen".

We drove to the 3 RV dealers near and on Dugald Road, and bought some RV supplies we needed, then headed back to Steinbach by a different route than usual. We drove east on Dugald Road / Hwy. 15 to Anola, then south on Hwy. 12 back to Steinbach.

 

Tuesday ; Another sunny, very warm day.

This morning I reattached the moulding along the driver's side lower edge of the front of the trailer. This afternoon I resealed it with silicone caulking. The more I work on the trailer, the more work I find to do. Missing screws, loose screws, stripped screws, cracked caulking, etc.. Harvey is really beginning to show his age. He's 8 years old now. There is a significant camp amongst the RV crowd that believes that RV's become more trouble than they're worth after 10 years of age, due to wear and tear. I think I'm going to heed that, given the regrets I have about keeping Dee-Dee too long.

WOO-HOO ! ! ! I went flying tonight. Dan Air flight 393 ! First time I've flown in 2½ years. First time I've flown a Cessna 152 in 11 years. I flew Cessna 152 C-GGGP ( call sign "Triple Golf Papa" ) from Steinbach South Airport ( CKK7 ) to St. Andrew's Airport ( YAV ) at dusk, did a touch and go at St. Andrew's, and flew back to Steinbach in darkness. We took off from Steinbach, I flew to Lorette, found the Danelak's house from the air, flew along the east side of Winnipeg following the Red River Floodway to St. Andrew's, staying just outside the Winnipeg Air Traffic Control Zone. My flying was near flawless. I forgot to lower the flaps 10 degrees on approach. PHHHT ! So what ? ! When I was flying regularly I used to forget to do that half the time. Some bad habits are hard to break. HA HA HA ! I needed to have an instructor as a co-pilot tonight to make my flight legal. He was a young man from France, taking flight training in Canada. He began his flight training 11 months ago ! ! ! He has been licensed as an instructor for a month ! ! ! ! ! Fortunately, he was not concerned about how long it's been since I've flown, and he remained 100 % hands off. Thank you, Thibault.

AHHHHHHHHH < taking deep breath > it was so wonderful to fly at dusk, and at night, on a calm evening, no wind, calm air, clear sky.

 

Wednesday ; Today was sunny and warm, but a bit windy.

Today I fixed Bo's broken tie out, which he broke the other day by lunging at a little dog walking by. I had to break up a skirmish by 2 little dust mop dogs, the other one wearing little socks on his back paws. Why do little dust mop dogs feel as if they have something to prove about how tough they are ? ! ? Must be something akin to short man syndrome. HA HA HA ! It's hard to be taken seriously as a tough dog when you're wearing little green socks on your back paws.

I re-glued a section of stair nosing that had come loose. I did some long range planning of major purchases. It seemed appropriate since we have decided to continue this lifestyle, and I now think it would be appropriate to replace Harvey in 2 years. I updated our health care records on the computer. I loaded the new camera software. I downloaded a few photos I took with the new camera. It works fine. I did a monthly backup of all my computer files to CD's.

 

Thursday ; Today was warm, overcast, and windy. It rained a bit in the evening.

This morning I phoned the Manitoba chapter of the Explorer RV Club ( sort of the Canadian version of Escapees ) and registered to attend their Fall Rally at Lac Du Bonnet next weekend. We attended an Explorer RV Club National Rally 2 years ago near Windsor, Ontario, and now would like to attend a much smaller provincial rally, and see how we like this Manitoba group. I did some "spring cleaning" in the trailer's front storage "trunk", sorting, culling, and discarding. Living with the space constraints of an RV requires this sort of "spring cleaning" on a regular basis.

I reviewed the income tax assessments recently received. I compared Joanne's assessment to the return I prepared and filed. I was able to ascertain why Revenue Canada assessed another $550 owing, but I'm hardly willing to concede that I made a "mistake". Okay ... Revenue Canada won't allow capital losses in excess of capital gains, requiring that the "excess" capital losses be carried forward to future returns and applied to future capital gains. Fine ... you won't allow the deduction / pay me now, you can pay me later !

We went to the Farmer's Market in Steinbach to buy something Sharon asked us to get for her, refilled a propane tank in Steinbach, drove to Winnipeg to buy something I needed at an RV dealer, then drove back to Lorette to have dinner with Sharon and Bud. Sharon prepared us a huge batch of fresh perogies. YUMMM ! ! ! Their daughter Andrea was there for supper. Over dinner we chatted with Andrea about university. She has just started her third year of Journalism. After supper we were joined by Andrea's friend Kierstan from Germany. She was an exchange student 2 years ago at Andrea's high school, and has returned to Canada for a visit.

 

Friday ; Today was cloudy and mild.

Joanne went to Winnipeg to visit with her sister and nieces. I puttered around working on minor trailer maintenance. I replaced 3 long sections of moulding insert trim, removed some old caulking, applied new caulking, cleaned off the top of the living room / dinette slide, fixed the roof ladder ... ! I think Harvey is ready for another year of travel.

Late in the evening I sat outside, in the dark, smoked the second of my 3 Cuban Monte Cristo No. 5 cigars ... and reflected. Did I learn anything this summer ? ! Yeah ... I most certainly did !

 

Saturday ; Today was mostly cloudy and mild.

This afternoon we drove to Winnipeg and did some shopping before joining our friends Darcy and Shirley for dinner. We drove to Wal-Mart in St. Vital Centre, picked up a prescription, and did a bit of grocery shopping. From there we drove over to Pembina Highway looking for a Home, Bed, and Bath store called JYSK. Sharon had noticed a nylon pet carrier advertised in their flyer that she thought we might be interested in for Teddy. We found JYSK, and looked at the advertised nylon pet carrier. We didn't buy it, but we did buy a small nylon pet tent. Now Teddy has 3 different "cat tents", one of which actually is a tent. This new one will be a spare. The nylon pet carrier that we're currently using, his favourite, is cheaply made, and won't last much longer.

We stopped at Safeway to refill some water jugs, then headed downtown to join Darcy and Shirley. We met them at an Italian restaurant on Broadway called Bombolini's. Their children Sheryl and Erik came along for dinner. Sheryl will be leaving in a few days to return to Toronto where she attends university. We're very impressed by Sheryl's achievements. And we're always amused by Erik's intellect and enthusiasm. We had a very pleasant dinner, and as always, it was great to visit with them. Thank you, Darcy, for treating us to dinner.

DSK