June 17 to 23, 2012

Sunday ; 150 Mile House to Ten Mile Lake Provincial Park

DARN ! We missed an opportunity ! The vendor selling Indian Ice Cream was not at the PowWow this morning. Now I don't know what Indian Ice Cream is supposed to taste like when done properly. How will I know if I make it correctly ? I suppose ... if the Soapberry Indian Ice Cream I make tastes bad ... I've done it wrong !

Today was cool with frequent rain. The Chief Will-Yum PowWow was supposed to continue today but ... when we were preparing to leave the Chief Will-Yum Campground adjacent to the Sugar Cane PowWow Arena this morning ... there weren't many Indians there. And those that were still there didn't look all that enthused about attending more PowWow.

We drove north on Hwy. 97 to Williams Lake. We stopped at the Williams Lake Tourism Discovery Centre. WOW ! WOW ! ! ! The building is a showcase for the local log building expertise. We watched a brief video. We picked up lots of information brochures.
I retrieved e-mail on their public access computer. I took pictures of the astounding log architecture !

We continued north on Hwy. 97. We had lunch at a roadside rest area. We stopped and browsed at a "Canadiana" gift shop. We drove through ... and got a bit confused and twisted around in ... Quesnel. We continued north a short distance to Ten Mile Lake Provincial Park. I'm a bit annoyed and embarrassed by BC's Provincial Parks. They're underserviced and overpriced. Around 7 PM the rain finally stopped and we were able to walk around the park, viewing the variety of trees and wild plants and flowers.

This close to summer solstice, this far north ... it was twilight when we went to sleep at 11 PM.

Monday ; EIGHT YEARS of FULL TIME RV'ing ; 240,000 km. / 150,000 miles of travel !

Ten Mile Lake Provincial Park to Wells

When we started travelling on June 18, 2004, the weather was ... perfect ! We've always referred to perfect weather days as "June 18" days. Today ... June 18, 2012 ... was not a June 18 day. It was cold and it was raining. And the forecast for the next week is much more of the same !

This morning before leaving Ten Mile Lake Provincial Park we refilled our fresh water tank. BUT ... I refused to pay $5 to dump our waste holding tanks. I think it is unconscionable for the Province of BC to require payment for the use of the provincial park's trailer dump station when camping has already been paid for ! We headed back south on Hwy. 97 to Quesnel. We went to the municipal sani-dump to dump our grey waste tanks. We refilled with diesel, and refilled our small "gas can" of generator fuel, then headed east on Hwy. 26 towards Wells and Barkerville.

Barkerville is the objective of this trip. It is an old gold mining town. It was the reason for the Cariboo Gold Rush. Now it is a restored, functioning, period re-creation of a gold mining town of 150 years ago. Wells is a nearby gold mining "company town" of the 1930's, now almost abandoned but still home to a few artists, hippies, and other "throwbacks" ( as are a lot of small BC towns ! ), as well as a couple of RV parks, motels, and restaurants.

We stopped at the Wells Visitor Information Centre to buy some admission tickets for Barkerville, then checked into a small RV park in Wells. We unhitched the truck and walked around the campground with Bo during the brief periods when it wasn't raining.
I did some computer work, getting caught up on processing photos of the last few days.

We saw quite a bit of wildlife today. A few deer, a bear, a Red Fox ( right in Quesnel ! ), and a Silver Fox. I think it's the first time I've seen a Silver Fox.

Joanne's been whining about needing help with menu planning. So ... I just finished "inventing" a recipe for supper tomorrow.

Smoked Sockeye Salmon & Eggs "Danedict"

On sliced, fresh sourdough buns ( to be purchased tomorrow ) from the bakery in Barkerville, shred or crumble some freshly caught and smoked Sockeye Salmon from the Chief Will-Yum PowWow, poach an egg and place on top, slice and sauté some fresh mushrooms and place on top, make some dill cream sauce using dill cream cheese and milk, pour over top ... MMMMM ! ! ! My arteries are already screaming in horror ! HA HA HA ! Too bad we don't have any poutine to serve with that ! HA HA HA HA HA !

By 9 PM the rain had stopped and the sky cleared a bit. We went for a long, leisurely walk around part of the village of Wells. BRRRRR ... it was cold !

Tuesday ; Barkerville

Today was partially sunny, with only a few brief periods of light rain. All in all, not a bad day to be walking around exploring historic Barkerville.

We spent the entire day wandering around the restored gold mining town of Barkerville. Billy Barker's discovery of gold here in 1862 triggered the Cariboo Gold Rush. Barkerville is now a town of 125 restored buildings with period room displays, mining demonstrations, gold panning, stage coach rides, street theatre, live stage shows, court room trials with "The Hanging Judge", shops, restaurants, period schools and churches, ... and so on ! One of the interesting things we did today was attend an abacus lesson in the Chinese School. At the end of our long day we walked about a kilometre to the old Barkerville Cemetery. Gee, those miners of 150 years ago were lucky to make it to forty ! Must have been a pretty tough life !

On the way from Barkerville to our campground in Wells, a distance of 8 km. / 5 miles, we drove around the town of Wells. What a dump ! You would think that a little town adjacent to a large and successful tourist attraction would be thriving based on the economics that the tourist attraction brings.

And yes, yes ... Eggs Danedict is excellent !

Wednesday ; Wells / Barkerville to Williams Lake

The weather today ranged from summer to winter !

Yesterday we wandered around Barkerville all day. Today our plan was to return specifically to attend a variety of scheduled events. We hitched up the trailer to the truck, departed the campground in Wells, and arrived at Barkerville shortly before 11:30 AM to attend the Cornish Waterwheel demonstration only to find that it had been cancelled because of very high and fast water on Williams Creek. That would describe most creeks and rivers in BC this spring ! Oh, well ... time for “Plan B”.

We went to the Post Office. Joanne mailed a birthday card to her sister. She had purchased it yesterday in Barkerville. Today the Post Mistress in the Barkerville Post Office “hand cancelled” the stamp with an 1872 postmark. She uses the actual hand cancellation hammer used in Barkerville in 1872. As a former employee of Canada Post
I found that fascinating and we chatted with her for awhile. We went to the bakery and bought more sourdough buns and bread.

We headed over to the 11:45 AM “Street Discourse”. This morning’s topic was “The Hurdies”. A young woman playing the role of a Hurdy Gurdy Girl gave a wonderful “discourse” on the Hurdy Gurdy Girls and their musical instrument, the Hurdy Gurdy, of course. She had ... and played ... a beautiful, old Hurdy Gurdy. From there we headed over to China Town for a Historical Tour of the Chinese Community. During the tour the weather became cold and it began to rain lightly. BRRRRR ! Before the tour ended we left and headed over to Theatre Royal to buy tickets for the 1 PM “Gold Rush Revue” musical show. We bought our tickets and went inside the warm theatre to wait for the performance to begin. The actors / musicians began to play outside the theatre shortly before 1 PM to drum up business. I stepped outside to take a photo of them and ... < sputter > ... a very cold, very heavy, hail storm began ! YIKES !

We enjoyed the musical. I wonder how they find talented actors / musicians to perform for four months in such a godforsaken place as Barkerville ? ! ? After the performance we walked back to the trailer in the RV parking lot to have lunch. The weather had improved. The hail was finished. The sky was clearing a bit. The temperature had come up a bit. After lunch we headed back into the historic town site to attend a 3:30 PM “School Lesson” in the small, one room school.

HA HA HA ! It turned out to be the highlight of Barkerville for both of us. We were two of five students in this class ; four adults and one child. Mr. Mundel, the teacher, was very strict ! He played his role superbly, stern faced throughout the 45 minute lesson. We practiced our penmanship on slate boards with slate pencils. We had a spelling bee. DARN ... I spelled “rhythm” wrong. Joanne and the other two women had to wear bonnets. We had to stand each time we spoke. And address Mr. Mundel as “sir”. The four adults enjoyed the experience and found it amusing as well as informative. The nine year old boy didn’t seem to “get it”, and seemed bewildered and intimidated by an “1872” classroom experience. While we were lining up outside to enter the classroom, under Mr. Mundel’s supervision, I probably shouldn’t have told him about my experience at his age, getting strapped by my grade 3 teacher. HA HA HA !

After “school” we left Barkerville, returned to the trailer, and hit the road, returning west on Hwy. 26 to Quesnel. Saw a deer and a bear on the way. In Quesnel we dumped all our waste holding tanks and refilled with fresh water at the municipal sani-dump station, then went to Wal-Mart to replenish supplies. While Joanne started the Wal-Martin’ I returned a phone call to my sister. I’m very glad to hear that my brother-in-law’s recuperation from prostate cancer surgery is complete, and all is well !

We continued driving south on Hwy. 97, all the way back to Williams Lake. It was a long day ! We boondocked overnight in the parking lot of the Tourism Discovery Centre. Upon arrival we had a very late supper. Then I discovered that the Wi-Fi signal from inside the building reached the trailer. I stayed up very late getting caught up on some online work, reviewing e-mail, downloading our MasterCard statement, and posting last week’s journal to my blog.

Thursday ; Williams Lake to Green Lake Provincial Park

Today was sunny and warm. Let me say that again. Today was sunny and warm !

Our plan for today was to find a place to park near Boitanio Park so that we could watch the National Aboriginal Day Parade as it approached at 1 PM, and then wander around the National Aboriginal Day festivities in the park before departing Williams Lake and heading to Green Lake Provincial Park. With guidance from the staff at the Tourism Discovery Centre we headed for the parking lot of the Save-On-Foods grocery store near Boitanio Park. We could park at the grocery store, watch the parade, wander around the festivities in the park, then do some grocery shopping before leaving. GREAT !

As we approached Boitanio Park just after 10 AM there was a traffic jam, police directing traffic, kids everywhere ... HUH ? ? ? The parade had just ended ? ! ? WHAT THE ... ? ? ? ! ! ! Evidently the newspaper article that Joanne had seen regarding the parade had a misprint. The parade arrival time at the park was 10 o'clock, not 1 o'clock !

We wound our way through the heavy vehicle and pedestrian traffic and got parked in the grocery store's parking lot. We walked over to the park, and wandered around for awhile. Not much happening ! I bought a sample bag of dried deer meat to try. Sort of like venison jerky, I guess. Joanne didn't like it. I'm sort of indifferent to it. Bo LOOOOOVES it ! ! ! < rolling eyes >

We had lunch in the trailer in the grocery store's parking lot, then did some grocery shopping. We found our way to the municipal trailer sani-dump station, refilled with fresh water, and dumped the grey waste tanks. Quesnel and Williams Lake both have excellent, free, trailer dump stations operated by their respective municipalities. Thank you, Quesnel and Williams Lake.

Before leaving Williams Lake I wanted to shop at Surplus Herbie's, a discount store I had heard about. I wanted to see an axe I had seen advertised in their flyer. It was a neat sort of "Army Surplus" kind of place. I didn't like the axe that was on sale, but I bought some axe head wooden wedges to refurbish my very old axe.

We left Williams Lake heading south on Hwy. 97. Through 150 Mile House, Lac La Hache, and 100 Mile House, then we turned east on Hwy. 24 to Lone Butte. South on Watch Lake / Green Lake Road to Green Lake Provincial Park. AHHHHH ! ! ! Beautiful British Columbia lakeside wilderness. I want to stay here two nights so that tomorrow I don't have to drive anywhere, just relax, get caught up on a few chores, and enjoy the outdoors.

Today at Save-On-Foods in Williams Lake we bought some teriyaki marinated sirloin beef cubes. Joanne made "kabob" skewers with the meat, mushrooms, onions, carrots, eggplant, and potatoes, and I cooked them over a campfire. AHHHHH ! ! ! We spent the evening outdoors enjoying the campfire and lovely weather.

I’m typing this at 9:30 PM sitting outside by the campfire. Loons on the lake are calling. To quote some graffiti we saw a few hours ago as we were walking around the campground ... “This Is Freedom” !

Friday ; Today was sunny and warm ! What a great day to be camping at beautiful Emerald Bay Campground in Green Lake Provincial Park.

Joanne suggested that I start a campfire and we have a wiener roast for lunch. Okay ! Angus beef wieners roasted over the campfire, served in sourdough buns toasted over the campfire, with cheese melted in the buns. MMMMM ! A great idea by Joanne, executed well by me ! Good teamwork !

The weather was so nice after lunch that we took Bo to the beach to play "beach doughnut" fetch in the lake. His "beach doughnut" is a foam fishing net float that he picked up on the beach in Teacapán, Mexico, and he LOOOOOVES to play fetch in the water with it ! HA HA HA ... well done, Bo !

We had a lazy afternoon. I napped. Joanne read. I processed photos on the computer. We sat down with the BC map and planned the remainder of this adventure trip. We'll probably be back home in six days. I made another campfire to cook supper. Joanne prepared foil packets of haddock, mushrooms, zucchini, and potatoes. I cooked them on the campfire.

Life is good !

Saturday ; Green Lake Provincial Park to Clinton

This morning we were warned by a park attendant that there was a weather warning for this area, with heavy rains expected. Darn ! We slowly prepared for departure and left Green Lake Provincial Park's Emerald Bay Campground around 11 AM.

We drove southwest along Green Lake Road along the north shore of Green Lake towards Hwy. 97 at 70 Mile House. We were intrigued by the many interesting properties for sale along the north shore of Green Lake, so before heading south on Hwy. 97 we went for a sightseeing drive on Green Lake Road along the south shore. We stopped to look at a couple of properties. HMPH ! Overpriced ! As seems to be the norm in BC !
A huge glut of properties, with supply far exceeding demand because BC residents ( and real estate agents, obviously ) don't seem to comprehend the supply / demand pricing concept. And Riverside RV Park Resort is certainly no exception !

We drove south on Hwy. 97 to Clinton where we checked into Gold Trail RV Park. We had a late lunch and I went to nap with Sully. The heavy rain began ! But ... it rained heavily for a couple of hours, then that was it ! After the rain stopped we loaded into the truck the four wood planters we bought here a week ago and had placed in storage in the owner's shed. We took Bo for a walk. I did some computer work. Joanne read and rested, sitting on the sofa with Sully wrapped in his "TV time blankie", cuddled up against her. For a late afternoon snack Bo and I finished the dried deer meat I bought at the National Aboriginal Day festivities in Williams Lake. Bo likes it a lot more than I do !
I guess venison jerky ranks right up there with date shakes as far as Bo is concerned. HA HA HA !

DSK

June 10 to 16, 2012

Sunday ; FINALLY ! ! ! A sunny warm day ! Me and my hypothalamus have been feeling desperate for some sunshine !  Yeah, I know that's bad grammar.

I put the Sun Oven to good use today. It hasn't been very productive lately ! I baked some eggs for egg salad sandwiches and potato salad. I baked some potatoes for potato salad. Joanne prepared an apple and rhubarb crumble cake and I baked it.

We got a lot of chores and projects done today, energized by sunshine and warmth. Bo had a great Bo-gility session on his agility course in our yard !

After supper we watched the movie "Gunless". My interest was mainly to see the scenery. The movie was shot in 2010 around Osoyoos. In one scene the U.S. bounty hunters are riding their horses across a river. HEY ... I recognize that river ... it's the Similkameen !

Very late at night ... HUH ... meowing outside ? ! ? I went outside and could see, but not catch, a little black and white stray cat.

Monday ; Today was a beautiful, sunny, very warm day. We need more like that ! Unfortunately, according to the weather forecast, we're not getting any more like that in the next week.

This morning a neighbour told Joanne that the little black and white stray cat has been around our RV park "for awhile".

Before heading to Penticton for a day of errands, I set up the Sun Oven and Joanne put a pot roast in it. We expected to return home to a beautiful roast beef dinner.

We went to Penticton and ... spent the day running errands. Pretty much a weekly occurrence. One of our stops was at Home Hardware to look for an eye bolt I needed. Joanne has been looking for a wicker loveseat for our gazebo. Well ... Home Hardware had a one of a kind, three piece set of modular wicker furniture ... a left seat, a right seat, and a corner seat ... that could be configured a variety of ways, including as a loveseat and corner chair. Each piece cost $220, but was on "clearance" sale for ... < sputter > ... 50 bucks apiece ! ! ! We bought the three pieces.

When we arrived back home late in the afternoon, the Sun Oven was ... tipped over by a strong wind. On windy days the Sun Oven's large reflectors act like sails. The roast was only partially cooked, and there was a bit of a mess inside the Sun Oven to clean up
< sigh >. Oh, well. We got the mess cleaned up, finished cooking supper in the oven inside the trailer, took the swing out of the gazebo, and put the new wicker furniture in. VERY NICE !

Tuesday ; Today was sunny and mild.

Immediately after lunch we headed into town for medical appointments. On our way out we noticed that we had a lovely crop of lettuce ready to be harvested. We planned to do that as soon as we returned home. I dropped Joanne off at the clinic and went to the grocery store to buy a few items. Her appointment was before mine. She had a complete physical as part of her annual cancer screening regimen. I reviewed the results of my recent EKG and knee x-rays with my doctor. When we got back home... WHAT ? ! ? All the lettuce had been nibbled down to ground level. Oh for crying out loud ! We were a couple of hours too late. Something ... probably a marmot ... beat us to the lovely lettuce. All of it ! Just a bunch of little stubs left sticking out of the ground. DARN !

We spent the afternoon slowly preparing to depart tomorrow for a couple of weeks of camping and exploring in North-Central BC.

Wednesday ; Riverside RV Park Resort / Keremeos to Harmon Lake

Today was sunny, mild, and very windy, especially beside Harmon Lake. Today was the eleventh day that I have been sick with a flare-up of ulcerative colitis. < sigh > My flare-ups don't usually last this long any more. I'm tired of feeling sick. And ... < sigh > ... today I have a very stiff and sore neck ! Hope that doesn't last too long. It makes driving more difficult.

We prepared for departure and left Riverside RV Park Resort late in the morning. We headed west on Hwy. 3 to Princeton. We stopped at Kal Tire in Princeton to adjust the air in the trailer tires. From Princeton we headed north on Hwy. 5A, stopping beside a small lake to have lunch. Just beyond Aspen Grove, Hwy. 5A ended at Hwy. 97C. We turned northwest on Hwy. 97C toward Merritt.

Before reaching Merritt we passed a sign directing to Kane and Harmon Lakes. HEY ... we've never been down that road. Let's go ! Both lakes were 9 km. / 6 miles down a good gravel road. Each lake had a small, unserviced campground. We found a nice campsite suitable for our big rig right on the shoreline of Harmon Lake. While I napped briefly with Sully, Joanne went hiking and exploring with Bo. Bo LOOOOOVES hiking and exploring. And peeing every 300 feet or so, no matter how long the hike is. HA HA HA ! After Joanne and Bo returned, we had a hot chocolate break, then all went out to do more hiking and exploring along the lake shore and in the aspen and Douglas Fir forest. And more peeing every 300 feet !

It would have been nice to have an evening campfire in our lovely, lakeside campsite, but it was too windy to be enjoyable. During the last ten minutes of daylight ( 9:50 to 10 PM ! ) a trio of loons on Harmon Lake entertained us with their haunting calls and "water walking" dance ritual. What a treat !

Thursday ; Harmon Lake to Hat Creek Ranch

Today was cold and raining for most of the day. The rain stopped, the sky cleared, and it warmed up a bit around suppertime.

I had a very poor night of sleep due to severe "stiff neck" pain. This morning my neck was "frozen" by the severe pain. Swallowing was near impossible ! For breakfast I ate a large bowl of oatmeal, hoping it would buffer the Prednisone and four Aspirins that I mixed in with it. And hoping that the self-medication would work to alleviate the agony. It did, but it took most of the day to do so.

We departed Harmon Lake and bounced slowly back to the highway over the 9 km. / 6 miles of gravel road. My neck pain was excruciating ! I put an inflatable travel pillow around the back of my neck to serve as sort of a "cervical collar", leaning gently back against my seat back to give my neck some stability, to alleviate the pain of holding my head upright.

We continued northwest on Hwy. 97C to Merritt, then north on Hwy. 97C to Logan Lake. We drained our grey waste holding tanks and refilled our fresh water tank at the municipally operated trailer sani-dump station. We drove to and around the municipal campground on Logan Lake just to take a look, then went to have lunch in the parking lot of the Visitor's Information Centre. The Logan Lake Visitor's Information Centre is housed inside the operator's cab of a huge ... I mean massive ... mining shovel from the local copper mine. How novel ! It's parked beside an equally massive mining truck.

Still sick with colitis, and suffering from severe neck pain, I decided to have a brief nap with Sully and Bo after lunch before hitting the road again. When we resumed driving after my nap, my neck pain began to very slowly subside. We continued northwest on Hwy. 97C through Ashcroft to Cache Creek. In Cache Creek we refilled with diesel and I replaced a blown fuse in the truck's fuse panel. We continued northbound on Hwy. 97 to the junction with Hwy. 99, and Hat Creek Ranch, our destination for today.

We will tour Hat Creek Ranch tomorrow. We parked in their electricity only campground then walked around a bit. The rain that had been falling for most of the day had finally stopped. We are the only "locals" in the campground. There are ten rental units in the campground, nine class C motorhomes and one truck camper. Seven of the Class C units are a caravan group from Denmark. I chatted with them briefly. Our "next door neighbour" was a young couple with a daughter about four or five years of age. They are from Switzerland. This place is on the "Vancouver to Jasper to Banff to Calgary to Vancouver" loop that Europeans love. The roads are filled with "1-800-RV-4-Rent" units during June and September, the "shoulder seasons" favoured by Europeans for Western Canada travel. Too bad our Similkameen area is not on that loop !

By suppertime my stiff neck pain had diminished a lot, although it still had a long way to go. It continued to improve throughout the evening. I hope I get a good night's sleep ! At bedtime it began to rain heavily again !

Friday ; Hat Creek Ranch to Clinton

Today was a nice day, sunny and mild. We spent most of the day exploring Hat Creek Ranch.

I slept better last night. My neck pain was about 80% diminished by this morning, and about 98% diminished by bedtime tonight. I took half a Prednisone at lunch time to ensure continued improvement. And my flare-up of colitis seems to finally be over ... after twelve days !

Hat Creek Ranch is a historic roadhouse operation from the B.C. Express ( stage coach ) and gold rush era. Hat Creek Roadhouse was one of the more popular stage coach stops along the route to the Cariboo gold rush at the beginning of the 1900's. Now it is operated as a museum by the Bonaparte First Nation. I suppose that's why it includes the adjacent Shuswap Nation Village / Native Interpretation Site. Throughout the large grounds and many buildings there are period dressed guides and interpreters, including a working blacksmith. For much of the day we "piggy backed" on the groups of school children from Cache Creek that were visiting Hat Creek Ranch. Their visit was fortuitous for us because all the Hat Creek Ranch interpretive staff were out in full force today due to the school children's visit. Our visit included a stage coach ride around the grounds. Our stage coach was driven by an Indian cowboy, an oxymoron that I always find a bit amusing. The Shuswap Nation Village was very interesting, with its portrayals and re-creations of traditional native ways of life.

For me, perhaps the highlight of the visit was ... lunch ! HA HA HA ! That doesn't surprise you, does it ? In their small, native operated restaurant I had an excellent buffalo burger with Caesar salad while Joanne had scrumptious buffalo chili.

In mid-afternoon after completing our exploration of Hat Creek Ranch we pulled in the trailer's slides, unplugged the power cord, and headed out. We travelled only about half an hour north on Hwy. 97 to Clinton where we stopped for the night at Gold Trail RV Park, a rather eclectic little RV park operated by a rather eclectic old fellow. He's a rather creative entrepreneur trying to make a living through a variety of revenue streams. He operates the RV park. He serves a nightly barbecue buffet dinner on his covered front patio. He operates a small gardening / greenhouse business which includes selling rather unique pine wood planters made from the "cut offs" from a local log house builder. They're very "BC" and just the right size and depth for growing lettuce and herbs. We bought four planters ! We don't want to travel with them so we'll pick them up on our way back home in a week or so. We had an excellent barbecue dinner on his patio. I had a large sirloin steak, Joanne had a large pork steak, both accompanied by unlimited quantities of a wide choice of side dishes.

Saturday ; Clinton to 150 Mile House

Well ... today was one of those days where it's just wonderful to be alive ! I felt healthy ! The weather was sunny and mild. We had an exceptional experience at the Chief Will-Yum PowWow at 150 Mile House.

This morning we prepared for departure from Gold Trail RV Park in Clinton and continued heading north on Hwy. 97. We detoured a short distance off the highway to visit Chasm Provincial Park. We parked the rig and took a short hike to view the wide and deep Painted Chasm. Bo looooves hiking. Anywhere, anytime ! We continued north on Hwy. 97, stopping at Lac La Hache Provincial Park to have lunch. And a short nap for me and the animals.

After lunch and a nap we continued north on Hwy. 97. We stopped at a small grocery store in 150 Mile House to buy bread and a newspaper before searching for our destination for today, Chief Will-Yum Campground and the adjacent Sugar Cane PowWow Arena. Joanne's trip planning research found that the Williams Lake Band of the Shuswap First Nation have an annual PowWow there on the Father's Day weekend, with free dry camping for attendees. We've always enjoyed PowWows, and each tribe's PowWow is slightly different. It was quite a challenge to manoeuver our big rig through the congested parking and camping area, and I came extremely close to scraping the side of the trailer against the back of a school bus, but eventually I got us parked.

We eagerly headed into the beautiful log construction PowWow Arena. Shortly after our arrival there was an “Honour Dance”. We have witnessed an Honour Dance at a previous PowWow, where a family sponsored a dance to honour a recently departed elder member of the family. Today’s Honour Dance was to honour a six year old boy.

Each year the Williams Lake Band chooses a young “ambassador” to represent the annual Chief Will-Yum PowWow and promote it at other PowWows around North America. For the last two years the Chief Will-Yum Little Brave has been William Magnus Lulua, chosen at age four and “retiring” today at age six. The Honour Dance sponsor was his mother, Dancing Waters Lulua. The Honour Dance sponsor traditionally “honours” important family members and friends by bestowing gifts of considerable value upon them. And in keeping with the traditional generosity of First Nations people, the Honour Dance ends with extended family members handing out gifts at random to members of the audience. Most of the gifts have been crafted or prepared by the family.

Well ... what a treat that turned out to be for us ! First one of the family members dancing by turned to me and handed me a jar of ... HUH ? ... home made soapberry concentrate. What the hell is soapberry ? While staring dumbfounded at my little jar of preserves, a young native woman sitting nearby sidled over to explain what I had been given. I guess my “stunned as me arse” white man look was obvious. Soapberry concentrate is used to make “Indian Ice Cream” by mixing it with a copious amount of sugar and frothing / whipping it with a mixer. WOW ! NEAT ! The six year old “Little Brave” helped his mother collect the soapberries, and helped her make the concentrate / preserves. AND THEN ... another family member dancing by handed Joanne a large sealed package of ... Oh, my goodness ! ... freshly caught and smoked sockeye salmon ! Little Brave had helped his father catch the salmon, and smoke them ! What an honour for us to receive these gifts from the family. I suppose we each were singled out to receive gifts because ... we sort of stuck out like “sore thumbs” in the crowd. This PowWow is not put on as a tourist attraction, and there were not many white faces in the large crowd.

Before today I had never heard of soapberry, nor had I heard of Indian Ice Cream. I’m excited to make Indian Ice Cream, and I’m going to wait for a very special occasion to do so. I would like to make it for my sister and brother-in-law if they come to visit us in a few months. Fortuitously, there is a vendor here selling Indian Ice Cream served in a foam coffee cup, so tomorrow before leaving we will buy a serving so that we know what it’s supposed to taste like when done properly.

We watched more dancing, then decided to return to the trailer for a late afternoon snack of fresh smoked salmon. My idea was ... spread dill cream cheese on Triscuit crackers and top with a small tidbit of smoked salmon. WOO-HOO ... what a winner of an idea that was ! ! ! A “small snack” turned out to be a pretty large snack. It was hard to stop !

We returned to the arena to watch more dancing and ... HUH ? Before too long it was suppertime. The Williams Lake Band was feeding everybody ! We joined the line to be served a turkey and bannock dinner. While waiting in line I chatted with the old Indian fellow behind us, Mr. Ernie LoneWolf, a Cree from north of Edmonton. Amongst other things he told me about his days working in a lumber mill in Northern Alberta in sixty degree below zero weather !

We ate our turkey and bannock dinner, and having it so soon after our smoked salmon “snack”, we certainly felt well fed tonight ! I thought the bannock served tonight was slightly superior to my bannock making efforts, and I mused to Joanne that I need to practice and improve my bannock. She disagreed. She thought my bannock is superior to what was served here tonight.

We felt slightly embarrassed to be ready to “retire” to the trailer about 9:30 PM. The rest of the crowd, including all the children, of all ages, were still going strong. I am typing this in the bedroom of the trailer at 11:30 PM, and the singing and drumming are still going strong. As is the dancing, I would presume. And why not ? They choose this weekend annually for good reason. Tonight is the longest Saturday “daylight” of the year.

On our way back to the trailer, I succumbed to the temptation ( with Joanne’s encouragement ) to purchase a jar of pine “pitch” ( sap ) from a vendor selling pine pitch and fir pitch. The fir pitch smells nicer than the pine, but the pine has better healing properties. I want to make my own ointment / salve, somewhat like the ointment / salve my mother used to make when I was a child, using a spruce gum recipe she got from her mother who got it from a local “doctor“ when my mother sustained a serious wound as an infant. Over the years I have bought a couple of different types of “tree sap” ointments , including one from a Navajo “Medicine Man” at an Apache PowWow we attended in New Mexico. Now I want to make my own !

DSK

June 3 to 9, 2012

Sunday ; Spent the entire day in bed sick with a flare-up of ulcerative colitis.

Monday ; Another cold, rainy day < sigh > of running errands in Penticton.

Tuesday ; Another cloudy, cold day with intermittent light rain. When does the sunny, hot Okanagan weather begin ? ! ?

This morning I got up early to go into town to have my knees x-rayed at the South Similkameen Health Centre a.k.a. Keremeos Clinic.

This afternoon I worked on replacing a broken stanchion on the trailer's roof ladder. The last time a roof ladder stanchion broke, a few years ago, I had extreme difficulty finding the replacement parts I needed. Sooooo ... of course ... I bought spare parts ! Good thinking ! Nevertheless, I still need some additional ( easy to find ) hardware before I can finish the repair / replacement job I started today.

Wednesday ; And still another cloudy, cold, rainy day ! I've been sick with colitis for four days now, and for the last three days I have been trying to ignore that fact. But ... it's not quite possible to do that.

This morning we headed out to pick more copper coloured rocks along Old Hedley Road near Princeton. After picking the rocks we drove into Princeton where I bought the hardware I need to complete the repairs to the trailer's roof ladder. From there we drove west on Highway 3 for about twenty minutes looking for Kennedy Lake Road. We drove to Kennedy Lake looking for a couple of "off the grid" properties we found advertised for sale. The entire Kennedy Lake area is "on the rez" and is a dump ! Why anyone would want a cottage, without electricity, water, or even a bathroom, in a dump like that, is beyond me.

We headed back towards home, stopping for a very late picnic lunch at Bromley Rock Provincial Park.

Thursday ; A very cold, cloudy, very windy day !

A few days ago Joanne bought a new watch. It's a long story ! The watch cost nine dollars. It has a two year warranty. For warranty service, send the watch back to the manufacturer with ... wait for it ... ten dollars to cover postage, taxes, and insurance. HA HA HA HA HA !

Joanne worked on a sewing repair on my driver's seat in the truck. It was a tough job that took longer than anticipated. Together we worked on changing the tension buttons / bobbins on three of the kitchen's day / night shades. I removed the band from Joanne's new watch and installed the old Navajo silver and turquoise band from her old watch.
I procrastinated continuing to work on the ladder repair because it was just too damn cold and windy today !

Friday ; Today started out partially sunny and mild. But ... it didn't last. By late afternoon it was cloudy, cold, and raining !

Joanne completed her rockscaping project using the copper rocks we collected near Princeton. What an excellent job she's done ! I completed the repair of the trailer's roof access ladder.

I prepared an antibiotic solution and started Sully on a five day course of antibiotics. He seems to have an upper respiratory ailment. And since that's what brought an end to Teddy's life a few years ago I'm a bit paranoid about upper respiratory infections in old cats. Sully also had an upper respiratory infection about a year ago that I cleared up with antibiotics. His upper respiratory problems seem to start with hay fever / spring time allergies.

Saturday ; Today was cold and raining ! ! !

We got up WAAAAYYYYY too early ... so that Joanne could go to the annual yard sale at SunKatchers RV Park "next door". I can not find the motivation to attend an early morning yard sale, especially on a cold and rainy morning. While I dragged my butt around getting myself ready to face the day, Joanne ... mercifully ... went to the yard sale by herself. By the time she returned I was ready to go out. We went to the Post Office in Keremeos then to Bush's Greenhouse in Cawston. On the way back through Keremeos we bought some groceries at Valu-Plus, refilled a water jug, and stopped at Sanderson Farms for some produce and bread. When we got back home I crawled back into bed for a long nap with Sully.

This afternoon we discovered that the valance above the kitchen rear window was wet. UH-OH ... a leak. Above the window was my first guess. We removed the valance and it was apparent that the leak was not above the window. We emptied out the cupboard above the window and found that it was wet in the corner of the cupboard. < sigh > Outside and up on the ladder I went, looking for a leak on the roof, perhaps around the kitchen grey tank roof vent pipe ? I found the leak, and repaired it. I think ! I hope !

During a lull in the rain this afternoon I set up the satellite dish and tripod I bought in Yuma a few months ago. I disconnected our "home" satellite dish which is mounted on the side of our gazebo, and connected our new "travel" satellite dish. Within just a few minutes I had it aimed and working well. WOO-HOO ! Now we will bring our satellite TV service with us wherever we go.

DSK

May 27 to June 2, 2012

Sunday ; Today was sunny and warm, but very windy.

We had a fairly lazy day today. We dried some apple slices in the Sun Oven. I did some minor maintenance work inside the trailer. While doing that I discovered ... not for the first time ... some really lazy and sloppy workmanship by the manufacturer. I rectified that as best as I could. We did agility and obedience training with Bo. Good dog, Bo !

Monday ; Today was sunny and mild until late in the afternoon when it became cloudy and a few drops of rain fell.

This morning we headed into town to have our lab work done and run a few errands. At the health lab Joanne had blood drawn for testing and I had an EKG. The lazy / stupid / disrespectful lab technician from last Friday was not in today. Today's technician was polite, professional, and prompt. After we were finished at the lab we did some grocery shopping, refilled a propane tank, and went to view a used truck camper for sale. We wanted to see how much truck camper can be purchased for $7500. What we saw today was a 1996 model and in very good shape for its age. It had a "wet bath" and we want a truck camper with a "dry bath". And ... we're a long way from being ready to buy a truck camper. It's a few years away yet.

Back at home Joanne continued working on cleaning the street side of the trailer which has a lot of diesel soot grime from the trip home from the south. I contributed by napping with Sully. HA HA HA ! I removed the kitchen rear window valance and then the day / night shade. We took it into the gazebo and using the restringing kit we bought in Yuma we restrung it. WOO-HOO ! Over the years we have needed to have a few of the trailer's day / night shades restrung. It's always been difficult to find some one / some place that can restring day / night shades. And when we do find some place / some one, it's been expensive. So ... a year and a half ago ... the last time we needed to have a shade restrung ... in Yuma ... I had the shade restrung ... AND ... I bought a DIY shade restringing kit. We have heard horror stories about how difficult it is to restring shades. BUT ... today's experience wasn't as difficult as I had expected it would be.

After restringing the shade Joanne wanted to clean it before remounting it. We took it into the shower stall, sprayed Awesome cleaner all over it, then rinsed it off with the shower. A lot of grime washed away. We hung the shade outside to dry, then remounted it in the kitchen. EUUUUUWWWWW ... it made the other kitchen shade look positively filthy ! So ... < sigh > ... now "remove and clean valances and shades" is on my "to do" list. Oh, joy !

AHHHHH ... finally ! Perogies for supper ! See what good can come from letting me do the grocery shopping? HA HA HA !

Tuesday ; A mild day of intermittent sunshine. All in all ... not great weather for the entire month of May. Third year in a row !

Joanne continued working on washing the street side of the trailer to remove diesel soot grime. I removed the valance and day / night shade from the window over the kitchen sink. We cleaned the day / night shade. It's the closest shade to the stove top so it was grimy with ... grease, I guess. It did not wash as clean as the shade yesterday.

Wednesday ; TWO YEARS AS NON-SMOKER

Congratulations, Daniel, well done !

Today was another mild, partially sunny day. And right on cue ( end of May ) the mosquitoes arrived ! Late in the evening it began to rain lightly.

This morning I did a "home improvement" project on the trailer, changing two plumbing connections on the water heater to a different and better type of fitting. This afternoon I went to my doctor to have a skin tag removed from my neck. I had one large skin tag and a couple ( I thought ) of smaller ones. It seemed sensible to get rid of the smaller ones at the same time, so I suggested to my doctor that he might as well remove the little ones also. Well ... he went on a skin tag quest, finding and removing a total of nine from my neck and chest and shoulders. OUCH ! ! ! He froze eight of them, then removed nine of them by cutting them off with a scalpel and cauterizing them with silver nitrate. OUCH OUCH OUCH ! ! ! You missed freezing one, doc ! As I type this late at night, all nine wounds are hurting !

I look like I've been shot nine times ! Or once ... with a shotgun ! HA HA HA ! Nine little black wounds on my neck, upper chest and shoulders.

I bought some hardware I needed while I was in town. Back at home I used the hardware to install a sewer hose storage pipe that I purchased at Camping World in Boise, Idaho on our way home. I'm tired of cramming both our long and short sewer hoses into the rear bumper of the trailer. There's not really enough room for both of them in the rear bumper. Now I have a sewer hose storage pipe for the short sewer hose, and the rear bumper for the long sewer hose. However ... after I finished the installation, I decided that there's a better way to do it. I need a bit more hardware !

I barbecued Arctic Char for supper. First time we've had Arctic Char. HMPH ... very similar to salmon.

Thursday ; This morning we drove into town to buy some groceries and the hardware I needed. This afternoon I revised my sewer hose storage pipe installation. There ... that's better ! Tonight we had a "date night". We went to the annual performance by the Thursday Night Jazz Band in the Cawston Community Hall. It was a fundraiser for the Music Under The K scholarship fund. The Thursday Night Jazz Band is a "big band / swing band" jazz band from Penticton. The performance was ... okay, I guess. It wasn't worth the money charged, but ... it was a scholarship fund raiser. The bad news of the evening was ... I tore a brand new pair of pants, worn for the first time this week, on a damaged chair in the Cawston Community Hall. Don't sweat the small stuff, I guess
< shrug >. The good news of the evening was ... I bought a huge plate full of home made baking for two bucks after the concert was over. The donated baking was being sold to munch on during the music performance, but they had so much left over they were selling it after the concert at two bucks for as much as you could pile on a plate.

Friday ; Today was mostly sunny and warm. This morning we headed out, westbound on Highway 3. Just outside the front gate of Riverside RV Park Resort there was a car overturned in the ditch. We stopped to offer assistance. The very fortunate female driver had already been helped out of her overturned car by Good Samaritans who had stopped. She was very fortunate. A few seconds earlier, or a few seconds later, and she would have been dead ! She missed a telephone pole by mere feet, and her rollover had been cushioned by heavy shrub growth in the ditch. Maybe when you get your car fixed / replaced, dear, you ( and the rest of your Lower Mainland friends ) should try to drive the curves on Highway 3 even faster ! ! !

We turned off Highway 3 just west of Hedley to follow Old Hedley Road from Hedley to Princeton. We were looking for copper coloured rocks < rolling eyes >. A neighbour has done some landscaping with copper coloured rocks that she found somewhere along Old Hedley Road, and Joanne wants to do the same. Shortly before reaching Princeton we did find a vein of copper coloured mountainside with a rockslide of copper coloured rocks sliding down the slope almost to the road's edge. Joanne wanted to collect rocks on the way back home.

But first ... we drove to Princeton, then northeast along the Princeton - Summerland Road for about 19 km. / 12 miles looking for a piece of real estate for sale that Joanne wanted to see. It was an "off the grid" property that ( in my humble opinion ... not hers ) looked more like something "on the rez" than "off the grid". We drove back to Princeton and did some grocery shopping at the nice, new grocery store in town. We had a picnic lunch alongside the Similkameen River on the edge of town. While we sat at a picnic table eating our lunch we watched a deer munching on leaves on the shoreline on the other side of the river from us.

We drove back along Old Hedley Road and stopped to pick copper coloured rocks. We collected over 200 copper coloured rocks of varying sizes. I hope that will be enough for Joanne's "rockscaping" idea. She wants to create a somewhat free form flower bed alongside one entire edge of our lot, about 50 feet long. Good luck with that ! Wake me up when you're done ! HA HA HA !

For supper I made and barbecued big, thick hamburger patties, mixing fresh dill from Joanne's herb garden into the fresh ground beef, then ( despite Joanne's protests ) mixed fresh cilantro from the herb garden into the home made cole slaw Joanne was making. The dill in the burgers and the cilantro in the cole slaw were both big successes. HA ... told ya so !

I spent the late part of the evening updating and analyzing our investment files. Our investment losses for the month of May were ... huge ! ! ! < heavy sigh >

Saturday ; Well ... I have been dissatisfied with the weather almost every day since we returned home about five weeks ago ! Today was sunny and mild, with an icy cold strong wind.

Joanne spent much of today creating her rock garden along one side of our yard. It's very nice ! But ... more rocks are required. We'll have to make another rock collecting trip to Princeton along Old Hedley Road soon.

DSK