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 !
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 !
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.
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 !
Excellent post Dan - probably your best one ever. Can't believe the size of that mining truck!
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