Sunday ; Mostly sunny, warm, humid.
At 11 AM we departed in the truck for Penticton where I ( Similkameen Trailer Towing ) had a job to relocate a large fifth wheel trailer within the Barefoot Beach Resort. This job was for a repeat client, and was the third time I have moved their trailer. And in three weeks I will be moving it for a fourth time.
On the way to Penticton we were "first responders" at a tragic highway mishap. Pickup truck and travel trailer versus ... Jesse the Pomeranian. < sigh > Jesse did not survive. We stopped, I moved Jesse off the highway, and we consoled the distraught driver and passenger of the pickup truck. Jesse was wearing a collar and name tag with phone number. We offered to phone Jesse's owners, but the sobbing woman passenger of the pickup truck wanted to do it. What a very difficult, but very responsible thing to do. Godspeed, Jesse !
From noon to 1 PM we moved the trailer from one site to another within Barefoot Beach Resort. When we were finished, we refilled Lanoire with diesel at Real Canadian Fuel Bar, then ran her through the car wash at Great Canadian Oil Change. We had a late picnic lunch at Skaha Lake Beach Park, then left Penticton around 2:30 PM. We arrived back home about 3:30 PM.
Around 4 PM our American visitors arrived. Yuma winter neighbours Linda and David
( along with their little dog Chanel ), and their friend Jackie arrived for a two day visit on their way to Alaska from their summer home in southwest Oregon. We got both their rigs parked on a neighbour's long driveway, then spent a couple of hours visiting in our gazebo. We prepared a special supper for them ... but it wasn't my finest hour. The very special "dry rub" barbecued salmon recipe that I prepared to be cooked on their expected date of arrival two days ago, did not tolerate the two day delay very well. Oh, well ... it's just one meal. Life goes on !
Monday ; Sunny, warm, windy.
This morning we left with our three American visitor friends in our minivan for a day of winery and fruit stand exploring. First stop in Keremeos was the credit union ( for
David ) and bank ( for Jackie ) for conversion of U.S. funds to Canadian funds. Then we stopped at the grocery store to buy a baguette to add to our winery picnic lunch preparations. We drove east on Hwy. 3 to the next village over, Cawston, to stop, taste, and buy at St. Laszlo Winery. We spent quite awhile there. Our visitors bought a bottle of St. Laszlo Interlaken in a decorative "THANK YOU" bottle and presented it to us as a gift. Well ... thank you very much !
From St. Laszlo in Cawston we continued east on Hwy. 3 about three quarters of the way to Osoyoos, to our next stop, Forbidden Fruit Winery. AHHHHH ... my favourite. With not so gentle persuasion by me, our guests bought a bottle of chilled Pomme Désirée, Forbidden Fruit's signature product, and winner of "Best Canadian Wine" in 2009. Sitting at a picnic table beside the Similkameen River in Forbidden Fruit's yard we had a picnic lunch of cheese and crackers and Ambrosia apples and Pomme Désirée. With pleasant weather, and astounding scenery, and even better ice wine, it was a superb picnic lunch !
On our way back towards Keremeos we made our third and final winery stop at Seven Stones Winery. It was a disappointment, and we will not return there in the future with our visitors / guests.
Back in Keremeos we made a stop again at the grocery store, this time to buy thick, juicy steaks to barbecue for supper, again a treat paid for by our guests. Thank you again. Final stop of the day was Sanderson Farms where David and Linda bought quite a bit of fresh fruit and vegetables. David had an opportunity to try his very first Pakora, with Tamarind dipping sauce.
We barbecued the steaks for dinner, accompanied by a garden salad and smashed potatoes. Joanne's apple cake for dessert. Very nice ! After dinner we sat in the living room and helped David with detailed trip planning, from here to Prince George. And less detailed planning from Prince George to the start of the Alaska Highway at Dawson Creek. I also gave David some fishing lures that may be useful to him on their trip through British Columbia, Yukon, and Alaska.
Tuesday ; Mostly cloudy, warm.
This morning I spent a couple of hours doing repairs on Jackie's camper van. She had a list of minor repairs required and asked me for a referral to an RV maintenance facility that could deal with all the minor problems. Sure ! Pull your van into our driveway, and let Dan the mobile RV repairman deal with it ! She was very pleased to have all her maintenance issues dealt with ; promptly, competently and ... at no charge ! HA HA
HA !
This afternoon the five of us climbed into our truck and we set off for a few hours of wilderness exploring. We drove to Hedley and I showed our visitors the Mascot Gold Mine high up on the top edge of Nickel Plate Mountain. Then ... back on the highway for a short distance, and onto a rough, gravel trail ... up Nickel Plate Mountain. Up and up and up ! To the viewpoint area that we have taken many visitors to over the last ten years. We viewed the Similkameen Valley in both directions from many thousands of feet of elevation.
We drove back down the mountain and east on Hwy. 3 back to Riverside RV Park Resort. And decided to keep exploring. We drove almost to Keremeos, crossed the Similkameen River on Red Bridge, and followed the Ashnola River up into the Ashnola Valley wilderness area. We stopped at a couple of places along the Ashnola River just to give our visitors a glimpse into rugged, rustic, Canadian wilderness. We returned home about 4:30 PM.
At 6:30 PM we left again, this time in the minivan. We drove to Keremeos, refilled our five gallon water jug, and drove to the Thai restaurant in town to have dinner.
< sigh > Closed on Tuesdays. Plan B was ... Samosa Garden, the East Indian restaurant adjacent to Sanderson Farms, our favourite fruit / produce stand in town. Each of the five of us ordered a dish, then we shared the five dishes. STUPENDOUS !
Thank you very much for the wonderful dinner, David, Linda, and Jackie.
Wednesday ; Mostly sunny, warm.
This morning our three guests ... in their two RV's ... dumped their waste holding tanks at our RV park's sani-dump station, said their goodbyes, and headed off to continue their three month adventure to Alaska and back. We might see them again in early September as they are on their way back home to southern Oregon.
This afternoon Joanne helped me inspect and clean Bo's and Emma's ears. All seemed well. I sharpened knives. Joanne did some weeding on our rock slope "front yard". I did a teensy bit of maintenance on our little generator. I watered all our plants and gardens. I paid our annual property tax bill.
I was expecting to be hired today for a trailer towing job based on a bid I had placed late last night on a U-Ship listing, but as of now ( 9:15 PM ) that has not happened. HMPH ! Another tire kicker ? It seems to me that that is what most U-Ship listings are !
Thursday ; Mostly sunny, warm.
We spent the day in Penticton, running shopping errands and doing a minor repair on a Similkameen Trailer Towing repeat client's fifth wheel trailer. We bumped into neighbours Colleen and Jeanine having lunch at the food court in Cherry Lane Mall when we went there to have lunch and get passport photos at London Drugs.
Friday ; Sunny, warm, windy.
Today was an emotionally exhausting day. Joanne and I started the day grinding through the remnants of a squabble that started last night. This afternoon Joanne did laundry and we visited with our friend Jeanine until it was time for me to go and help our next door neighbour Marcie load junk into their truck to be hauled to the dump on Sunday. < sigh > Not surprisingly ... her hoarder husband Gord was not on board, and the process involved a lot of hollering and screaming going back and forth between me and Gord. < sigh > Perhaps Joanne is correct. She thinks we should just leave the mess alone unto Gord dies, which won't be too much longer, and deal with it after his death. However ... Marcie, me, and the entire rest of this community wants it dealt with sooner rather than later ! ! !
Saturday ; Sunny and warm.
This morning our friend Jeanine came over and headed in our minivan to the next RV property to the east, Sun Katchers Park, an RV park started by a group of BC Escapees about thirty or more years ago. Today was their annual yard sale. Every year we attend their yard sale and ... seem to buy a lot of stuff. This year was no exception. After our shopping we returned home and invited Jeanine to join us for lunch on our deck.
This afternoon we weeded lot 79 ... again ! We had just finished weeding it eight days ago and ... today there were plenty of new weeds to be pulled.
I cooked a couple of great omelettes for supper !
DSK
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