July 28 to August 1, 2008

July 28 to August 1, 2008

 

Monday ; This afternoon Joanne's family arrived for a 3½ day visit with us. Her sister Lorraine, brother-in-law Doug, and nieces Madeleine, age 9, and Amelia, age 7. It took four long, hard days to drive here from Winnipeg. Halfway here they visited with Doug's sister and her family in Calgary.

 

Tuesday ; Today we went to Farmer John's Petting Farm in Keremeos, the highlight of the nieces' visit with us last year, and again this year. The rest of the day was spent in Riverside RV Park Resort's new pool complex. Madeleine and Amelia are both very fond of spending time in swimming pools. Lots of time, if possible, as it was here.

 

Wednesday ; Today was Dan Air Flight 402. I took Doug flightseeing. We flew in Cessna 172 C-GHJC ( Hotel Juliet Charlie ) from Penticton to Oliver and Osoyoos. We landed in both Oliver and Osoyoos, doing a "stop, backtrack, and go" at both locations. While climbing out after takeoff from Osoyoos runway 30 the pilot's side door window popped open. It's a hinged window, hinged at the top, and when it popped open, it flipped up and pasted itself against the underside of the wing because of the propeller slipstream. What a decrepit piece of junk Hotel Juliet Charlie is ! A real "bush plane" ! While trying to cope with the flying demands immediately after takeoff, I also had to get the window shut. I tried reaching out and pulling it back down, but with the engine at full throttle for takeoff, the slipstream from the propeller was too strong to allow me to reach far enough outside to grab the window. I had to decide whether to make a quick turn back and land to close the window, or pull the throttle back to idle to reduce the slipstream enough to allow me to reach outside, losing altitude immediately after takeoff, facing rapidly rising terrain. I pulled the throttle back, reached out, pulled the window shut, and latched it again quickly, then rammed the throttle back in before losing too much altitude and turning us into a smoking hole on the side of a mountain. Piece of s**t airplane ! ! ! Reminds me of Dee-Dee, our previous truck. HA HA HA ! I looked over at Doug, worried that the popped open window might have startled him, but he seemed unfazed.

For me, the highlight of the flight was circling Spotted Lake near Osoyoos at fairly low altitude while Doug took some amazing photographs. Spotted Lake is an oval shaped lake “pockmarked” by circles of mineral deposits. It’s situated on Native land, and is “sacred ground” to the local First Nations people. It’s visible a bit from Highway 3, but nothing as spectacular as seeing it from the air ! Great photos, Doug ! Thank you !

We flew back to Penticton and drove back to Keremeos. Doug had been communicating with me by e-mail for awhile before coming out here about his fantasy to climb the mountain across the Similkameen River from Riverside RV Park Resort. I wasn’t sure whether he was serious or not. And I had been trying to convince him that from a distance, mountain sides look a lot less imposing than they really are. Nevertheless, as we passed through Keremeos on our way back to Riverside, I asked Doug if he wanted to cross over Red Bridge and look for the access road that leads to the trail along the Similkameen River opposite Riverside. He was eager. We found the access road just past the Ashnola Campground, crossed over the Ashnola River and began exploring the “other” side of the Similkameen River. When we found ourselves across the river from Riverside, we stopped and Doug took photographs of our RV park across the river.

He looked up at the mountain we were beside and began to assess whether or not it was possible to hike up at least part of the mountain. It looked a lot different while standing at the base of it, looking up, than it does from across the river at our RV park. He thought it seemed possible, and was enticed. He hesitated because he didn’t have a hat, sunscreen, his bear whistle, or proper climbing shoes. Just do it, Doug ! It’s a one time opportunity ! So ... off he went, with me watching, having agreed to honk the truck horn if I saw any bears on the mountainside looking hungry for white man. HA HA HA ! I watched him climb, and knew it was steep when I saw that he was using his hands as well as his feet to climb. He climbed to a plateau part way up the smallest of the mountain peaks across the river from Riverside RV Park Resort, ascending perhaps 500 feet vertically. I watched, and visited with a horse that was in a corral near where I had stopped and parked. We were on the Alexis Indian Reservation. Most of the Alexis Band’s commerce is ranching. After ¾ of an hour or so of climbing, I could see that Doug had reached the plateau and was taking photographs. I could tell that he had hurried to get up there, and then he hurried to get back down, because I was waiting, and we hadn’t had lunch yet.

Congratulations, Doug ! Way to go ! Chase your dreams ! I suspect that this “mountain climb” was probably the highlight of the trip, for him.

 

Thursday ; Happy 47th Birthday to my brother, Russell

Today we took the in-laws to explore the little gold mining ghost town of Hedley, about 15 km. / 9 miles west of our RV park. Entering Hedley we drove by the remains of the Mascot Gold Mine’s stamp mill at the base of the mountain. We parked beside Twenty Mile Creek, and explored along the banks of the creek where finding gold washed down from the mountains above is common. While gold is no longer commercially mined here, individual prospectors pan for gold in Twenty Mile Creek and the Similkameen River. We wandered slowly around the small village, and used binoculars to look high up on the mountain side at the abandoned Mascot Gold Mine. We bought glasses of iced tea from two little girls who had a “lemonade stand” set up on their front lawn. Haven’t seen that in over 40 years ! Welcome to Hedley ! HA HA HA ! We dropped into the village’s little country general store that appears to be unchanged from 100 years ago. Hedley is a cute, quaint, little village that time seems to have passed by. It’s frequently used as a movie shooting location, appearing as an “old west” little town. The movie Andromeda was filmed here last summer.

 

Friday ; Farewell to the in-laws. We hope you enjoyed your visit with us. Thank you for driving halfway across Canada to visit us. Drive safely, and enjoy the journey back home, four days of hard driving.

 

DSK