August 29 to September 4, 2008

August 29 to September 4, 2008

Friday ; Today I had planned to take Kevin and Sandy flightseeing, but I postponed flying until tomorrow because of today's strong wind gusts. We had a quiet day at home resting. In the afternoon I drove Kevin and Sandy to Cawston to pick up their toad at Cawston Glass. On the way home Joanne and I did some grocery shopping in Keremeos. Back at Riverside RV Park Resort we all spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the pool and hot tub.

Saturday ; For the third time this week I cancelled my sightseeing flight with Kevin and Sandy. Yesterday while swimming Sandy hurt her back, and this morning was in too much discomfort to go flying. Oh, well ! After lunch Kevin and Joanne went to Penticton for some Wal-Martin' and other shopping chores. I got to read and nap instead of having to go to Wal-Mart on the Saturday of a holiday weekend. Woo-Hoo !

Sunday ; Sandy continued to suffer extreme back pain today. We spent much of the day slowly preparing for departure tomorrow. After spending the entire summer in one place there is quite a bit of work to do to prepare for departure. Late in the afternoon Sandy's back pain eased a bit and she wanted to go sit in the hot tub, so we all went down to the pool complex and spent some time in the pool and / or hot tub. Afterwards we went to Hedley to have dinner at The Hitching Post, our favourite local restaurant. Tonight their featured soup was beet borscht, which is Ukrainian, as opposed to their usual cabbage borscht, which is Russian. They had run out of cabbage, and a neighbour had beets, so ... ! As always, an excellent meal !

Monday / Labour Day ; This morning we prepared for departure and left Riverside RV Park Resort, heading for the Escapees Okanagan Chapter 33 Fall Rally tomorrow. We said our goodbyes to Kevin and Sandy. They will be staying on our lot for one more night before heading southeast to Yellowstone National Park then the Black Hills of South Dakota. We'll see them again in about ten weeks or so in the Rio Grande Valley in the southern tip of Texas.

We headed west on Hwy. 3 to Princeton, then north on Hwy. 5A and west on Hwy. 97C to Merritt, then north on Hwy. 5A again to Monck Provincial Park on Nicola Lake. An okay campground, but overpriced. B.C. provincial park campgrounds are always nice, but often overpriced. We walked around the campground, and along the lakeshore. We brought Teddy along in his sling carrier. He didn't enjoy being right beside a lake. We played with Bo on the slides in the playground. HA HA HA ... what a fun loving little dog. He's always enjoyed sliding down slides in playgrounds. Today he learned that it's possible to run back up a slide, although I had to give him a helping shove up from the bottom to allow him to reach the top of the slide where Joanne was enticing him with dog biscuits. HA HA HA !

Tuesday ; This morning we departed Monck Provincial Park and continued heading north on Hwy. 5A along the eastern shore of Nicola Lake. At Kamloops we refilled with diesel, drove a short distance east on Trans Canada Hwy. 1, then turned north on Hwy. 5 following alongside the North Thompson River heading to Clearwater. With no help from the incorrect directions provided to us < fume > we found our way to Lacarya Golf & RV Park, the site of the Escapees Okanagan Chapter 33 Fall Rally. We had been advised that the campsites were full hook up sites, so we didn't drain our waste holding tanks before leaving Monck Provincial Park. The sites at Lacarya had water and electricity, but no sewer < fume >. And we arrived with barely enough time for Joanne to prepare her pistolettes recipe, our contribution to the late afternoon potluck dinner. So we had to get set up in our site, prepare the pistolettes ... quickly, go to the potluck dinner, then "prepare for departure" again to drive over to the trailer dump station to empty our shower waste holding tank < fume >. While preparing the pistolettes, and while cleaning up afterwards, Joanne had a couple of messy kitchen mishaps. A rear brake light bulb burned out on the truck. All in all, it wasn't a really great day !

We spent the evening sitting around a campfire, socializing with the group. Upon request, I performed a magic trick. And I have been asked to perform a magic show for the group within the next couple of days. HMPH ... maybe I should start telling people I'm a "paid entertainer", and don't give it away for free ! HA HA HA !

Wednesday ; This morning the Escapees B.C. Okanagan Chapter 33 Fall Rally travelled as a group on a day outing to explore Wells Gray Provincial Park. Joanne and I took our truck with our friends Elfi and Jim as passengers. We drove up into and all the way through Wells Gray Provincial Park, stopping to take short hikes to see and photograph Bailey's Chute, Helmcken Falls, and Spahats Falls, a series of canyons, rapids and waterfalls along the Clearwater River. Quite spectacular scenery !

Late in the afternoon while the group prepared a communal "hobo stew" dinner everybody got dressed up as hippies. HA HA HA ... some pretty great renditions of Peter Fonda in Easy Rider, Elliott Gould in MASH, and Cher ! Prizes for best hippie costume will be awarded at tomorrow's dinner. The evening was spent around a group campfire sharing personal stories.

Thursday ; Today was a beautiful, sunny, warm fall day. We've always enjoyed camping in the fall. This morning most of the SKP group went to play golf. Joanne and I don't play golf so we slept in and got a late start to the day. I spent the morning working on the computer, updating my journal and processing yesterday's photos from Wells Gray Provincial Park. We took Bo for an obedience session. Poor Bo has been spent way too much time left alone in the trailer over the last few weeks.

This afternoon the group played games like beanbag baseball. I didn't. I read and napped. We had supper as a group in the golf club dining room. It was quite good. Some members of the group performed music after dinner. Nasal whining, depressingly sad, country music < rolling eyes > ! I performed a magic show. It went reasonably well ( only one botched routine, with a quick and effective recovery ) and was well received. We finished the evening sitting around a campfire, people trying to determine how each of my magic tricks was done. To my satisfaction, none of the many guesses was correct.

DSK