Sunday ; Cloudy and cold, raining lightly until mid-afternoon. When the sky began to clear late in the afternoon, we could see ... snow on the tops of the mountains. Time to head south !
We had a bit of a lazy day due to the poor weather. I puttered around with computer work, including buying travel medical insurance. HMPH ... premium increases due to both of reaching a new "age category". Did a bit of outdoor work when it wasn't raining.
Monday ; Sunny and chilly.
Spent the day puttering around with "fall pre-departure" chores, getting ready to leave Saturday. Loaded stuff into the camper. Visited with a neighbour.
Tuesday ; Chilly, cloudy, very windy until afternoon.
I was up a bit earlier than usual this morning to prepare to head to Penticton for a flight at noon and an afternoon of running errands. BUT ... before we left for Penticton it became obvious that the low clouds and strong winds made it an unsuitable day to go flying. I cancelled my airplane rental booking and we decided we didn't have enough errands to justify a trip to Penticton. So ... we had a bit of a lazy day, then went into Keremeos late in the afternoon to pick up my prescription refills and buy some groceries.
Wednesday ; Chilly, partially cloudy, intermittent light rain.
A very lazy day, waiting for the calendar to change to November 1 ... departure day ! Everybody has "hitch itch". Well ... not everybody ... I suppose Sully doesn't. In the evening I did some trip planning and we watched Survivor.
Thursday ; Partially sunny, cool.
Another slightly lazy day. Departure preparations continue slowly. Can only do so much in advance. Most preparations waiting for tomorrow and Saturday morning.
Joanne did laundry. We went into town and ran a few errands. Back at home we gave Bo a bath. I mounted a fire extinguisher in the minivan.
For the past three weeks or so I have been checking the ticket sales website of the Spirit Mountain Casino in Oregon to see if any tickets might become available for the sold out November 8 Penn & Teller performance at the casino. Tonight ...
WOO-HOO ... one ticket became available. I bought it ! It's my birthday gift from Joanne. Thank you so much, my dear. I would prefer to have her seated beside me at the show, but ... she was gracious and generous enough to encourage me to buy the one available ticket. The one seat ... aisle seat, row three ... must have been held for the magicians as a "stooge seat" until they decided it wouldn't be needed.
WOO-HOO ... I'm going to see Penn & Teller ! ! !
Friday ; Hallowe'en
Cloudy, cool, rain briefly in the afternoon.
We went into town this morning to surrender the minivan's license plates, registration, and insurance for a refund. We purchased storage insurance for the minivan for the next six months. We've never purchased automobile storage insurance before.
This afternoon we continued working on preparing for departure tomorrow morning. Most of the work was done by Joanne today, moving food and kitchen articles from the house to the camper. After watching Amazing Race in the evening we went over to see our neighbour / friend Jeanine to wish her a Happy Birthday for tomorrow, and she wanted some computer help from me to download a passport application.
Saturday ; Keremeos, British Columbia to Omak, Washington
Cloudy in the morning, sunny in the afternoon, windy and chilly all day.
We spent the morning completing our departure preparations. Joanne finished loading stuff from the house into the camper. I "winterized" the house. We had lunch in the camper before departing. We pulled out of the driveway just before 1 PM.
We headed east on Hwy. 3, stopping in Osoyoos to purchase a grocery item to provide me with a receipt proving that we were still in Canada on November 1 ... just in case
I should ever have to prove that to our travel medical insurer. Our border crossing was uneventful, typical for crossing at Osoyoos, B.C. to Oroville, Washington. No line-up, a few minutes answering reasonable and pertinent questions for a Customs & Border Patrol agent, then a few more minutes being inspected by an Agriculture inspector checking fridge contents and pet foods.
For those paying really close attention ... those last two sentences were a "copy and paste" from my journal entry for November 1 last year. We drove south on Hwy. 97 to Omak, Washington. We drove "downtown" to the Bank of America to deposit a fairly large sum of U.S. cash we brought with us. Well. shit ... the Bank of America location in Omak isn't a Bank of America anymore ! We're going to have to haul this large amount of cash around for at least another day ! We drove to the fairgrounds to check out their sani-dump station. Didn't like the sani-dump station there, but ... the fairgrounds had a dog park. With three dogs inside romping around. WOO-HOO ... a dog party with a new pack. Bo had a great time romping around with new dog friends for awhile. A female Chihuahua attacked him, snarling and snapping and jumping right up onto his back. He ignored her. HA HA HA ... good dog, Bo !
We drove to Wal-Mart and did some shopping. We drove across the street and parked in McDonald's parking lot so that I could use their free Wi-Fi to activate our new U.S. cell phone. I purchased it just before leaving Yuma last spring. Third new U.S. cell phone in three years ! < sigh > And as usual ... I had difficulty activating it. I'm not very cell phone savvy. And I screwed things up a few days ago by beginning the activation process online, at home, where the U.S. cell phone was unable to find a signal, necessary to complete the activation process. < sigh >
After I finally got the phone working, we continued south on Hwy. 97 to the next town, Okanogan, where we were planning to boondock overnight at the Okanogan Bingo Casino. When we arrived there, just as it turned dark ( 6 PM tonight ... 5 PM tomorrow ), the dozen or so RV parking spots ... with free electrical hookups ... were filled. DARN ! We had been planning to use our small electric heater ... and Sully's "heater blankie" ... tonight and conserve our propane supply. We drove back to Omak, and boondocked overnight in the Wal-Mart parking lot. While Joanne prepared supper I changed all the clocks one hour back. Daylight savings time ends overnight !
DSK
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