Sunday ; Sunny and hot ... for the final time this summer, probably.
I asked Joanne if we could take advantage of the last hot weather day of the year to go for a picnic up in the Ashnola Valley. I wanted to try fly fishing in the Ashnola River. She used today's picnic as an opportunity to make Muffuletta sandwiches using the Muffuletta salad mix she bought at Surplus Herby's in Williams Lake recently.
We headed east on Hwy. 3 and just before reaching Keremeos we turned onto Ashnola River Road, crossed Red Bridge, and headed up into the Ashnola Valley following the Ashnola River. What a lovely wilderness area, and so close to home ! We stopped at Red Bridge Campground, a B.C. Forest Service Recreation Site. I waded into the Ashnola River and fished for fifteen or twenty minutes. I had three or four bites from small Rainbow Trout, but I was using a fairly large fly so as not to catch little ones. The fly was too big for the mouths of the little ones, but the water was so clear I could see them rush up from underneath and bite at the fly. And ... I quit after that short a period of time because ... my feet were freezing. The Ashnola River is much colder than the Similkameen.
We sat down at a picnic table and had the Muffuletta sandwiches Joanne had prepared. MMMMM ! ! ! Haven't had Muffuletta sandwiches since the last time we were in Lafayette, Louisiana, celebrating Mardi Gras, probably about ... < thinking > ... March, 2006.
As were having our picnic lunch wasps kept buzzing around my Diet Coke can, and just as we were finishing lunch ... OW OW OW OW OW ... a wasp stung me ! It crawled up the back of my leg, into the pant leg of my shorts, and stung me on the back of my thigh. OW OW OW OW OW ! DAMN ... that hurts !
Before we left home I put a large piece of Spring Salmon ( bought earlier in the summer at a grocery store ) and a large piece of Chum Salmon ( caught by me ) into the Sun Oven. I had marinated them overnight in my "secret special recipe" and had them dehydrating in the Sun Oven all day to become ( liquid ) smoked, maple syrup glazed, candied salmon. MMMMM !
For supper I barbecued Coho Salmon. First time we've eaten Coho, given to me by a friendly Native fisherman in Bella Bella recently. Joanne thought it was even better than Sockeye. I think Sockeye is better. HMPH ... now we've both become salmon snobs ! HA HA HA !
Monday ; Partially sunny, mostly cloudy, warm.
After lunch I headed into town for my haircut and beard trim appointment. Upon arrival ... precisely at 1:30 pm, I discovered that ... my appointment was for 11:30 AM. DUH ! How the hell did that happen ? ! ? Brain fart, I guess ! I rescheduled for Thursday, refilled a water jug in town, and headed home.
This afternoon I confirmed and tidied up loose ends on my upcoming trailer and minivan delivery jobs ; two trailers and one minivan from Osoyoos to Edmonton, and one trailer from Kelowna to Willowbrook. Very busy and profitable two weeks coming up ! Joanne did a lot of laundry, including laundering the sleeping bags that we use as bedding in the truck camper. With thanks to our Yuma Escapee friend Carol Mae, who gave the matching sleeping bags to us as a gift. I worked on both my fly fishing gear and my spinning gear, refurbishing the lines on both reels. Fishing for and catching salmon in shallow waters with rocky bottoms resulted in a lot of abrasion on my fishing lines.
I installed the fifth wheel hitch into the truck bed in preparation for the upcoming towing jobs.
Tuesday ; Overcast and warm.
Spent the day in Penticton running errands. Plan was to finish the day with a late afternoon / early evening flight, but ... weather / low clouds prevented that. Well ... not "low clouds" if flying over the prairies, but ... out here in the mountains, a 5000 foot cloud ceiling results in "cumulo-granite" clouds. HA HA HA ... mountain pilot humour. Let me correct that ; "still alive" mountain pilot humour !
Wednesday ; Cloudy, windy, warm, occasionally a bit of light rain.
A few days ago I provided a trailer delivery quote to transport a large fifth wheel trailer from Oliver to Vernon. This afternoon the client phoned to hire me ... to do the job ... this afternoon ! ! ! I applied a "rush surcharge" to the quoted price, which the client accepted, and off we went. We left home at 3:15 PM, drove to Oliver, met the client at 4:30 PM, picked up the client's extremely old and decrepit fifth wheel trailer, left Oliver at 6 PM, delivered it to Vernon at 8:30 PM, had supper in Kelowna from 9 to 10 PM, and drove home, arriving home at 12:30 AM. Tough but very profitable day.
Thursday ; Cloudy and mild.
Late this morning we headed into town. I went for a haircut and beard trim and Joanne went apple shopping. It's apple harvest time ! Then we headed to Osoyoos to pick up the fifth wheel trailer and minivan that we ( as Similkameen Trailer Towing ) are hired to transport to Edmonton. And as soon as we're finished that, we have to make another trip to Edmonton with the same client's second trailer.
We stopped at the bank in Osoyoos. We took Bo for a brief visit to his favourite park on Osoyoos Lake. We picked up the client's minivan and fifth wheel trailer at the storage yard in Osoyoos. We went to Lordco Auto Parts to buy some fluids the minivan required for the long trip. We drove back home to Keremeos / Riverside RV Park Resort.
We did a bit of maintenance work on the trailer, that I had promised the client I would take care of. And ... to make a long story short ... < sigh > ... I succumbed to the urgings / naggings of my dear wife and ... bought the client's minivan. HA HA HA ! The client wanted it brought back to Edmonton just so that she could sell it. As is the same with the two trailers. Joanne wanted the minivan. So ... Joanne gets the minivan. HMPH ... I guess we're now the proud owners of a 2002 Dodge Caravan.
I spent the evening trying to make hotel reservations for the next three nights. DAMN ... how frustrating. Now I know ... don't leave hotel reservations in Alberta until the last minute ! As a result of hotel reservation difficulties, I've had to completely alter the route we will take to Edmonton.
Friday ; Keremeos, British Columbia to Crossfield, Alberta ( just north of Calgary )
Cloudy, cool, intermittent light rain all day. Eleven and a half hours of driving, eight hundred kilometres / five hundred miles towing a 35 foot trailer through the Canadian Rockies. Too tired to type more !
Saturday ; Crossfield to Edmonton and back to Crossfield, Alberta
Cloudy and cold, especially up north at Edmonton ! BRRRRR !
We got up early this morning and headed north on Hwy. 2 towards Edmonton. At Leduc, a short distance south of Edmonton, traffic ground to a halt. The highway seemed to be temporarily closed due to construction. In an hour and a half we moved a couple of kilometres / a mile. And I think most of that progress came just because people were driving across the wide, wet, grassy median to get to the other side of the highway moving in the opposite direction. Which I could not do with a 35 foot trailer.
When I reached an emergency vehicle "u-turn" lane connecting both sides of the divided freeway, I drove across to the southbound side and we made our own detour, guided by Joanne with a map. Is there some reason the local ( useless ) law enforcement people couldn't have designed / executed the same detour rather than letting thousands of drivers sit with their thumbs up their asses for more than an hour and a half ? ! ? I can drive for twelve hours, but I do NOT have the patience to sit in a traffic jam for that long ! ! !
We arrived in Edmonton an hour and a half late ... obviously ! The client was understanding. We followed her to the farm / storage yard where the trailer was going, then spent a couple of hours with her unloading all her possessions out of the trailer, as we had previously agreed to do. How did she collect so much stuff in a trailer that she only spent a couple of months in this summer ?
We left the farm and drove back into Edmonton. I was desperate to refill with diesel. We refilled with diesel, drove around the city on the new ring road, then south back towards Calgary for a second night at the Country Inn in Crossfield. Another eleven and a half hour day !
Have I mentioned ... < whispering > ... I don't really like Alberta ? ! ?
DSK
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