Sunday
;
Sunny
and chilly.
Departure
preparations slowly continue. I posted my weekly journal to my blog.
We went to the swimming pool and did an exercise session. In the
evening after supper we watched the movie “The Life Of Pi”. Odd
but interesting.
Monday
;
Sunny
and cold.
Bit
of a lazy day. Breakfast … sex … walk dog … lunch … nap …
walk dog … ! Nice work if you can get it ! HA HA HA !
Tuesday
;
Sunny
and cold
!
Joanne
spent the day in Penticton running errands. I had a lazy day at home
with the animals.
Wednesday
;
Sunny
and cold
… again !
Thank
to a series of bad judgment decisions over the last month or so … I
spent much of today dealing with frozen plumbing lines in the camper,
and a resultant plumbing leak behind the toilet. < sigh > By
late afternoon I had the problem mostly resolved … maybe ! Time
will tell.
Joanne spent the day moving
stuff from our home into the camper. And helping me as necessary
with the plumbing repairs. Just before dark ( at 6 PM ) we went to
the swimming pool and did an exercise session, our last one before
departure on Friday.
Joanne made my favourite
recipe of spaghetti with meat sauce … using the last of our meat
that cannot cross the border … which we ate while watching
Survivor.
I
received an interesting e-mail this morning from a retired university
professor / museum director
in Sweden who wants to “buy” the right to use a photo posted to
my blog more than five years ago in a book that he has written about
the repatriation of a Canadian totem pole from Sweden back to Canada.
< blink blink > HUH ?
Thursday
; Hallowe’en
Sunny and cold.
Today was a busy, final day of
preparation for departure tomorrow. I visited Jeanne, our neighbour
who will manage the collection of our winter mail, with
instructions, mailbox key, bag
for collected mail, etc. I chatted with Jeanne and Sherry, another
neighbour. We visited our neighbour / friend Jeanine, and said
goodbye for the winter.
Friday
; home / Keremeos, BC, Canada to Omak, Washington, USA
Happy
( number censored ) birthday to our neighbour / friend Jeanine.
Sunny and cold. This morning
Joanne finished loading the camper while
I winterized our home. With
interruptions by our neighbour, we took longer than usual to prepare
for departure. We finally pulled out of our driveway about 1:30 PM.
We
drove all the way to Keremeos … about 13 km. / 8 miles … before
stopping for lunch. HA HA HA ! After lunch we continued east on
Crowsnest Hwy. 3 through Keremeos and Cawston to Osoyoos. We stopped
in Osoyoos to buy a couple of grocery items at Buy-Low Foods before
arriving at the border crossing about 3:45
PM.
Our
border crossing today was uneventful, but still irritating to me.
The Customs and Border Patrol agent asked a few simple and relevant
questions before granting us entry to the United States for our
requested 175
days (
the limit for Canadians is 182 days ), then
instructed us to pull over to the Dept. of Agriculture area for an
inspection, standard procedure for RV’s crossing the border. The
female Dept. of Agriculture inspector
took her sweet time sauntering
over to our truck and camper, then
completed her inspection relatively quickly, but … asked questions
that were absolutely none of her business. “How long will you be
in the United States ?” is a valid question to be asked by the CBP
agent, but is NOT a relevant question to be asked by a Dept. of
Agriculture inspector. Especially
after
CBP has already cleared us into the country !
Check
the dog food for country of origin, look in the fridge for fruits and
vegetables, and otherwise … MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS ! ! !
In
the last three years … ( you do the math ! ) … the arrogance and
abuse of power by U.S.
border
crossing officials has gotten quite out of hand !
After
crossing the border ( about 4 PM ) we headed south on Hwy. 97 through
Oroville and a series of other small towns until reaching Omak about
an hour later. We got settled into Wal-Mart’s parking lot and I
walked across the street to use Wi-Fi at McDonald’s to activate our
new U.S. cell phone service. < sigh > As is usually the case
when crossing into the U.S. … < deep sigh > … the cell
phone activation failed, for reasons unknown. And our new cell phone
service provider does not have “live” agents for troubleshooting.
Send them an e-mail … and they will TRY to get to your problem
within three days ! < sigh > Yes, yes … my annual U.S. cell
phone drama. What would life be if not for November 1 annual cell
phone drama !
We went shopping in Wal-Mart
for … HA HA HA … half price Hallowe’en candies and cookies, and
some groceries. We had supper in the camper, then I returned to
McDonald’s to see if I had received e-mail from the cell phone
service provider. Yeah … I did ! Telling me that they would get
back to me within three days … hopefully !
Saturday
; Omak to Toppenish, Washington
Sunny and cold.
This
morning before leaving the Omak
Wal-Mart
parking lot I walked across the street to McDonald’s
to use their Wi-Fi ( again ) to check if I had received any messages
from our new US cell phone provider. I hadn’t ! Bonsoir
la visite, Roam Mobility !
We pulled out of the Wal-Mart
parking lot at 11 AM and drove across the street to Omak Travel Plaza
where we refilled with ( cheap ) diesel, refilled the camper’s
freshwater tank and dumped the black and grey waste holding tanks at
their
sani-dump station. We headed south out of Omak at 11:45 AM,
continuing on Hwy. 97.
We
stopped for lunch around 1:30 PM at Lincoln Rock State Park. After
lunch we went for a long, leisurely walk around the large grassed
picnic area of the park, alongside the Columbia River. We left the
park,
continuing south on Hwy. 97, around 2:30 PM.
By 3 PM we were in the cute
little village of Cashmere, buying Aplets and Cotlets fruit candy
products at Liberty Orchards.
When we reached Ellensburg
around 4:30 PM, our planned destination for tonight, we decided it
was too early to stop for the night. We continued south on
Interstate 82 to Yakima and beyond to Toppenish, arriving around 6 PM
just as it was turning dark, and I was getting tired of driving. We
boondocked for the night at Legends Casino.
DSK
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