November 16 to 22, 2025 ; Victoria, Vancouver Island, British Columbia

 Sunday ; Overcast, no wind, +10° C.

Congratulations to the Saskatchewan Roughriders on winning the Grey Cup (Canada’s national football championship). It was an enjoyable game to watch. It looked cold in Winnipeg, where the game was played this year. Glad we’re here in Victoria !

Yesterday at the James Bay Community Centre’s fall garage sale I picked up a winter programs guide. Today I registered for an interesting workshop in January ; how to make cultured dairy products for gut health and wellness ; yogurt, buttermilk, sour cream, kefir. A great course for someone like me with inflammatory bowel disease (ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s Disease). I already know how to make kefir, and have been making it for over four years, having been taught by a neighbour when we lived in Steinbach.

While watching the Grey Cup game I went to pick up Apollo and his (minivan) bed which he was lying in on the floor, and put him and the bed beside me on the sofa. OOOPS ... when I picked up the dog bed with him in it ... the bottom of the bed ripped ! DARN ! Maybe Santa will bring him a new dog bed ?

Monday ; Mostly sunny, no wind, +9° C.

After an early lunch we set out for another afternoon of running errands, mostly grocery shopping, as usual. We’re completing the “starting from scratch” of a new destination. I dropped Joanne off at Tillicum Centre (shopping mall) to shop at Dollar Tree while I drove to a nearby mall to get a haircut at First Choice Haircutters. I got an excellent haircut from a snooty, gay hipster, Quebecois fellow. <shrug> Nice haircut, though !

I returned to Tillicum Centre and met Joanne as she was making her way from Dollar Tree to Save-On-Foods. We shopped at Save-On-Foods then drove to another shopping mall nearby to do more grocery shopping, this time at Fairway Market. This particular location of Fairway Market will be our “home” grocery store when we move to Robin Hood Inn in a couple of months.

We drove home to Royal Scot, unloaded the groceries, and Joanne put them away as I put the car back into the underground parkade. All of us, Apollo included, felt exhausted after a not particularly challenging day. <shrug> Everybody’s old !

Tuesday ; Sunny, no wind, +9° C.

Trimmed Apollo’s nails, cleaned and plucked his ears today, in preparation for a bath tomorrow. It was such a nice day that we went for a long leisurely walk in the sun around the Legislative Buildings this afternoon. From 5:30 to 6:30 PM we went to the swimming pool / hot tub / sauna / fitness room. Joanne enjoyed the sauna while I worked out in the fitness room. I really need to do more of that. We did a small amount of aqua fitness in the pool, and soaked briefly in the hot tub. When we returned to our suite, it seemed as if Apollo had been quiet during our absence. Good boy, Apollo.

Our Tuesday evening TV ritual has become watching “DOC” followed by “The Pitt”.

Wednesday ; Sunny in the morning, cloudy in the afternoon, light rain starting late in the evening, +9° C.

I was quite ill today, with either a colitis flare or bacterial infection in the intestines (a.k.a. “food poisoning”). Probably the former. It started while we were grocery shopping at Quality Foods mid-afternoon, and continued throughout the day. I hope I feel better tomorrow. It’s been quite awhile since I’ve had a colitis flare. My 35 years of “managing” inflammatory bowel disease means I can usually suppress a colitis flare within three days. As opposed to the six weeks of torture I used to endure “back in the day”.

After an early lunch at home we left with Apollo for the Eagle Creek Village shopping centre in the View Royal community. We did some shopping for advertised specials at Quality Foods, which is when I became ill, then we took Apollo to Bosley’s for a bath at their self-serve dog wash station. And we needed to buy another bag of his dog food. The small bag of dog food we bought a few days before leaving home only lasted three weeks. We thought it would last a month. Maybe he eats more when we travel ? I know I certainly do ! HA HA HA !

My illness incapacitated me for most of the rest of the day. And altered our meal plan for tonight. All I could manage was chicken noodle soup and scrambled eggs, eaten very slowly while watching Survivor and Amazing Race.

Thursday ; Sunny, +11 C., a gorgeous day.

I’m still sick today, but much less so. Feeling very weak and tired. Despite having had a flu shot about a month ago, perhaps I have a flu ?

At noon we went for a long leisurely walk. I need sunlight ! And Apollo’s aging process has resulted in all of our walks being “leisurely” ! He has a newfound “appreciation” for leaves on the ground. He endlessly “investigates” leaves on the ground for “interesting” odours. And occasionally ... edibles ! Like acorns ! HA HA HA ! This new passion for “leaves on the ground” began recently with our move to the Tuxedo neighbourhood of Winnipeg which has an abundance of deciduous trees. And it continues here in the Victoria neighbourhood of James Bay.

At 4:30 PM we left in the car to attend the Fall Farmers Market at the Esquimalt Recreation Centre. It’s a weekly event starting tonight until December 18. We bought some produce and ... <insert drum roll here> ... a generous quantity of mixed wild mushrooms, mostly Winter Chanterelles (slightly different from “regular” Chanterelles), some Hedgehog Mushrooms, and just a few of a third type (whose name I forgot !). The price was very reasonable. The personable vendor was a young woman who emigrated from Thailand to Canada in 2007. We chatted about wild mushroom foraging, her on Vancouver Island, us in central and northern mainland BC, Alaska, Yukon, NWT, and Manitoba. I asked her if she foraged for mushrooms in Thailand ? NO ! Poisonous snakes in the jungles ! HMPH ... who knew ? ! ? HA HA HA ! I wonder if she thought that was a stupid question from an ignoramus ? HA HA HA HA HA !

Friday ; Mix of sun and clouds, +9° C. (which seems to be the current “normal” temperature for Victoria).

GOOD NEWS ; I’m no longer sick.

BAD NEWS ; Joanne is sick !

After two days of gastrointestinal illness, I’m fine. Now Joanne is ill, as I was. I can only conclude that my illness was a flu virus, and I generously <sarcasm> passed it on. We both had flu shots a month ago, but apparently Canada’s flu vaccine this year has somewhat missed its mark. The current strain of flu virus prevalent in Canada is not the strain that this year’s flu vaccine was targeting. BUT ... at least this year’s vaccine reduces severity, duration, and transmissibility (is that a word ?) of the prevalent strain.

Joanne had planned to go today to Thrifty Foods in James Bay to buy some advertised specials. But that chore fell to me ... as did all chores today. So before having lunch I went to Thrifty Foods, struggled with finding parking, struggled with a very crowded store, struggled with finding the items I was supposed to be looking for, struggled with the implications of not having the Thrifty Foods affinity card that is in Joanne’s purse, etc. Grocery shopping alone is much more difficult than my usual responsibility of simply pushing the cart around the store, following behind her. HA HA HA ! As I used to say when we were full time RV’ers ... “I just drive the truck” !

As with me, Joanne’s illness diminished slowly as the day wore on.

For supper I cooked a package of spaghettini, heated a jar of alfredo sauce, sautéed half of yesterday’s purchase of assorted wild mushrooms, and mixed it all together. The resultant “wild mushrooms & spaghettini alfredo” creation was very good ! Well done, Daniel !

In the evening I opened a new daily interest savings account at Steinbach Credit Union and transferred funds from other bank accounts into that one. Easier said than done !

Saturday ; Overcast, intermittent drizzle, +10° C.

Joanne was feeling much better today. Short lived (probably) flu, (probably) thanks to our flu vaccines of a month ago.

A few years ago, when we spent the winter in Portugal, we attended a Christmas holiday traditional cooking demonstration, in Angra de Heroisma, on the Azorean island of Terceira. I learned to make brie en croute. This afternoon I did that here in Victoria. A few days ago I purchased a small (expensive !) round of brie cheese, and a small (expensive !) box of puff pastry dough. I rolled out the puff pastry dough using a rolling pin, slathered raspberry jam all over it, placed thin slices of brie cheese all over it, folded it in half, crimped the edges, and baked it at 400° F. for 25 minutes.

HA HA HA ... let me tell you about getting the rolling pin. I went to the Royal Scot’s front desk and asked the young, female, Asian desk clerk if I might get a rolling pin from housekeeping’s inventory of kitchen utensils. She didn’t know what a rolling pin is. I explained it. She was puzzled. And didn’t understand my pronunciation of “rolling pin”. I articulated ... “rolling”, like a ball going downhill, “pin”, like you would use to stick a piece of paper on a bulletin board. She continued to look puzzled, but said she would ask housekeeping to bring one to our suite.

A few minutes later there was a knock on our door. I opened the door to find a young, female, Asian housekeeper standing there with a big smile on her face and ... <chuckle> ... a non-slip mat for the bathtub. HA HA HA <SNORT> HA HA !

No, no ... I asked for a rolling pin. She didn’t know what that was. HA HA HA ! I explained it. She told me to follow her to the housekeeping storage room where kitchen supplies are kept, and look for it myself. HA HA HA !

At the storage room I picked up a rolling pin from a bin of kitchen utensils. I showed it to the housekeeper. She was puzzled. I explained what it’s for. She remained puzzled. <shrug> HA HA HA !

My brie en croute turned out quite well. Well ... <whispering> ... except for a bit of a mess in the oven because jam and cheese leaked out. Oh, well ... a cleaning project for tomorrow. HA HA HA HA HA !

At 5 PM we left Apollo in our suite and went for an hour of fitness, sauna, pool, and hot tub. Tonight I cooked supper again, this time a wild mushrooms & sour cream frittata. Turned out great ! Egg dishes are one of my (few) culinary specialties. When I was a teenager working on my (widowed young) Aunt Lena’s farm during the summers she taught me how to make magic with eggs ... and cream. She had lots of chickens and some cows, had plenty of eggs and cream.

DSK

November 9 to 15, 2025 ; Hope to Victoria, BC

 Sunday ; Hope, BC

Sunny, +9° C. A very nice fall day in a lovely small town in the Cascade Mountains.

Today was a rest day. We slept late, got a late start, went for a leisurely walk through the large municipal park across the street from our current motel, walked around town, checked out a different motel, the one we will stay at next spring on the way back home, then got in the car and ran errands.

I refilled the minivan with fuel at Centex, then we went for lunch to a new Italian Restaurant called Mia Pizza & Pasta. No pizzas though, despite their name. Wood fired oven not installed yet. Lunch was overpriced and disappointing. Three staff ; one server and two “cooks” in the “kitchen”, server doing 80% of the work, two kitchen staff sharing the remaining 20% of the workload. My take on it was that the server was “hired help”, and the two “cooks” were owner and granddaughter. After lunch we drove to Save-On-Foods to buy something for tonight’s supper and tomorrow’s lunch on the ferry.

Back at the motel I processed photos and posted my weekly blog entry, and ... had a long nap with Apollo. At 4:30 PM we went for another leisurely walk through and around the park, until it got dark and chilly at 5 PM. I spent the evening reconciling October investment statements. We spent the late part of the evening watching last night’s episode of Saturday Night Live.

Monday ; Hope to Victoria, BC

Raining and +4° C this morning in Hope. Intermittent rain as we were driving. Mix of sun and clouds, +16° C in Lower Mainland (Vancouver area) around noon, sunny and +14° C on Vancouver Island in the afternoon.

We were out of our motel in Hope at 10 AM, continuing west once again on Trans-Canada Hwy. 1. Traffic through the Fraser Valley (Chilliwack, Abbotsford, Langley) was heavy and fast ! Speed limits don’t seem to apply in the Lower Mainland region. Especially for double trailer gravel trucks spewing rocks onto windshields !

We arrived at the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal (Vancouver) at noon, too late for the ferry departing at noon. We were on the ferry that departed at 1 PM, arriving in Swartz Bay (Vancouver Island) on the northern tip of the Saanich Peninsula at 2:35 PM. We attempted to spend the ferry ride in our car to keep Apollo calm, but we were kicked out of our car (with Apollo) by staff as the ferry was departing, and sent to a small and crowded pet room. Apollo made a new friend with Louie the French Bulldog. Joanne and I chatted with a variety of other dog owners. The two cats in carriers spent the entire journey with BIG eyes, watching the room full of strange dogs. Poor kitties !

A few minutes off the ferry we stopped at a Thrifty Foods in Sidney, and bought some food for tonight and tomorrow, and filled our five gallon water jug. It took about another half hour of driving south to reach downtown Victoria. We checked into Royal Scot Hotel & Suites at 4:15 PM. I felt exhausted ! Apollo was THRILLED to be back at the Royal Scot, in an identical suite to the one that we were in last winter. I guess a 2500 km. cross-country journey was more than enough for all of us !

Tuesday ; Remembrance Day ; LEST WE FORGET

Mostly sunny, thin clouds, +9° C.

My father was a veteran of the second world war. Remembrance Day is a big deal to me.

At 10:30 AM we left our suite at Royal Scot and walked a half a block to the BC Legislature Building where Remembrance Day ceremonies were to be conducted at the Cenotaph. There were thousands of people lining Belleville Street in front of the Legislature Building, and on the massive front lawn, and all around the Inner Harbour. Too bad that the Legions, after probably a hundred years or so of organizing Remembrance Day services here have not yet realized that they need a sound system that transmits audio out further than a few hundred feet or so.

AND ... <sputter> ... too bad that people around our age (early 70’s) are still too stupid or too ignorant to STFU during observance of a few minutes of silence at 11 AM. TO REMEMBER ! I had to “shush” the couple standing beside us. Thousands of people around us and we have to be beside the self-centred ignoramuses that don’t know when to STFU ! ! ! ! !

<taking deep breath>

Apollo was extremely well behaved, surrounded by a lot of people and a lot of dogs. Good dog, Apollo ! After the ceremonies we walked back to our hotel, got the car, and went Wal-Martin’. Oh, joy ! <sarcasm> It shouldn’t, but it still always surprises me how large our first grocery bill is when we arrive at our winter destination, and we’re “starting from scratch”. Today we spent over $250 on groceries and supplies at Wal-Mart and Dollarama at Hillside Shopping Centre. You know ... where the two storey Wal-Mart is ! <rolling my eyes> What fun to ride from floor to floor, sending one’s shopping cart up and down the shopping cart escalators beside the people escalators. <more sarcasm>

Back at our hotel suite by around 2:30 PM we had a very late lunch, then Apollo and I went for a nap while Joanne went to the hotel laundromat downstairs to do laundry.

Wednesday ; Mostly sunny, +9° C.

A restful, slow day, getting caught up on chores ; paying bills, financial records keeping, stretching exercises, lymphedema massage, restaurant research, etc. Went for a walk in the afternoon to the Legislative Building to check on this week’s menu in the Parliamentary Dining Room. Watched Survivor and Amazing Race in the evening.

Thursday ; Light rain all day, +9° C.

Was up early for a 9 AM (Victoria) / 11 AM (Winnipeg) phone appointment with my gastroenterologist to review my recent colonoscopy findings. Polyps were removed, biopsies taken, ulcerative colitis / inflammatory bowel disease in clinical remission, so ... managed effectively. I would hope so, been at this rodeo for 35 years !

At Joanne’s request I made pancakes for breakfast.

Spent much of the afternoon giving Apollo an overdue haircut. We postponed both his haircut and mine until after our arrival here in Victoria. Will probably get my haircut next Monday.

Friday ; Cloudy, +9° C., light rain in evening.

After having lunch we left Apollo in our suite and walked to Thrifty Foods which is not quite one kilometre away. We bought some advertised specials and requirements for the supper I had planned to make tonight. I paid with a $50 gift certificate I had received as an honorarium from one of the National Research Council projects that I participated in during the last year.

When we returned back home to our suite after an absence of only 1¼ hours ... Apollo was barking. I found him beside the bed, facing the wall, barking with anxiety. FFS Apollo ... we rarely leave you alone, and when we do it’s not for very long. His separation / abandonment anxiety is difficult to endure.

Joanne received an e-mail from one of her cousins, written in French. It’s about some genealogical research findings on their maternal grandmother and her eight children, one of whom was Joanne’s mother, another of whom was the cousin’s mother. The attachments are social service agency reports about the grandmother’s and her children’s illnesses with tuberculosis, hospitalizations, temporary placements in orphanages, etc. in the early 1930’s, during “The Great Depression”. I began to read the reports aloud to Joanne. It was difficult. The cousin ended her e-mail with “get your handkerchiefs ready”. She wasn’t kidding ! I was choking back tears while reading this aloud.

I read only some of it aloud to Joanne. It’s a painful and lengthy story with more to read at another time. It helps me to understand that time better, in the context of what my father was experiencing during that era of “The Great Depression”. He left home at age 12 to fend for himself. He lied about his age and enlisted in the military at age 16, going off to fight in the Second World War just so he would have a roof over his head, a bed to sleep in, and food in his belly.

Our parents had a hell of a tough life, especially as children. And they succeeded magnificently in ensuring that we, their children, never had to endure what they did, and had a much better life and opportunities than they did. THANK YOU !

I prepared an Eggs Benedict concoction for supper tonight. With smoked sockeye salmon lox, readily available here on Vancouver Island. It was very good ! Well done, Daniel !

Saturday ; Overcast, 9° C.

Around 11:30 AM we took Apollo for a long walk and headed through the James Bay neighbourhood to the James Bay Community Centre to browse their fall “garage sale”. Each of us took a turn going inside to browse while the other sat outside on a bench waiting with Apollo. Neither of us found anything worth buying. From there we headed to the White Eagle Polish Hall where for three hours every Saturday home made Polish food is available for sale at Polka Perogis [sic], a food concession trailer in the parking lot. When we got there the trailer was closed, with a sign indicating that as of today, and for the next month, until they close for the winter season, their home made food sales were indoors, inside the hall.

Joanne waited outside with Apollo while I went inside to check it out. Two “Babas” (grandmothers) were in the kitchen making perogies, holubtsi (cabbage rolls) and borscht (beet soup). I bought a tray of their frozen cabbage rolls to try, and we will likely return for more Polish food in a month when the Polish Hall holds a “Christmas Market”.

We walked home to the Royal Scot where Apollo guzzled water, scarfed his lunch, and promptly fell deep asleep in his dog bed. HA HA HA ... not quite the “hiker” he used to be. Then again ... neither are we. HA HA HA HA HA !

About an hour later we headed out again, this time in the car, for a very late lunch. We went to Benjamin’s Café, a Filipino restaurant that occasionally has a buffet day, offering many Filipino specialty dishes, buffet style. Today was one of those buffet days. Joanne discovered that a few days ago while researching Victoria restaurants, and we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try many Filipino specialty dishes.

WOW ! That was an excellent foodie experience !

DSK

November 2 to 8, 2025 ; Moosomin, Saskatchewan to Hope, British Columbia

 Sunday ; Moosomin to Swift Current, Saskatchewan

Cold, extremely windy, overcast and light rain this morning in Moosomin, extremely windy on the highway, still windy but sunny and warmer in Swift Current.

We were out of our room this morning about 10 AM. I spent about fifteen minutes or so “discussing” the motel’s “pricing error” with the desk clerk who was unable to rectify because he “lacked authority” and the general manager neither works on weekends nor is available to her staff by telephone. OK ... I’ll just take it up with Motel 6’s head office management, (which I did this evening, by e-mail) ! I found it baffling and unacceptable that I presented a printed copy of my reservation confirmation upon check-in yesterday afternoon, and this morning they presented me with a bill that charged over $20 more than the confirmed reservation. By the time I refilled the minivan with fuel at a nearby Esso station and was pulling out of town it was 10:30 AM.

We continued westbound on Trans-Canada Hwy. 1. We stopped for lunch at a Flying J just before reaching Regina. After Regina and Moose Jaw Joanne drove for about an hour from the middle of nowhere to Herbert (I wonder if they still sell development lots in that town for one dollar ? !) while I napped. We arrived at Motel 6 in Swift Current at 4 PM.

We watched Tony Shalhoub’s Breaking Bread series on CNN while we ate dinner, then watched Sister Wives, one of the shows we watch regularly.

Monday ; Swift Current

Sunny and cold in the morning, warming slightly in the afternoon. A non-driving rest day in Swift Current. Slept late this morning. Well ... except for having to take Apollo out at 7 AM to relieve himself. At 12:30 PM we went out to refill the minivan with fuel at Canadian Tire Fuel Bar beside Motel 6, then shopping for a few groceries at Dollarama and Co-op MarketPlace, then take-out lunch at Bar Burrito, all in the shopping mall across the street from Canadian Tire Fuel Bar.

In the afternoon I received an e-mail from the General Manager of Motel 6 in Moosomin regarding yesterday’s pricing error. She met my demands for an apology and prompt refund of amount of pricing error, and provided a somewhat convoluted explanation of how error occurred. <shrug> OK ... I guess.

After a leisurely lunch in the comfort of our motel room, Apollo and I had a long snooze. The rest of the afternoon was spent reading the newspaper and working on my laptop, updating credit card transaction data, writing my journal, doomscrolling on Bluesky, etc.

At 6:30 PM we went out for an exercise walk with Apollo then drove to Kusina Swift Current, a nearby Filipino restaurant chosen by Joanne, to get some take-out food for supper. Joanne is in charge of food while we travel, whether it’s buying or preparing something to eat for lunch in the car, or restaurants to dine in or get take-out to have in motel rooms.

Well ... <blink blink> ... that was not anywhere near as good a meal as we were expecting !

Tuesday ; Swift Current, Saskatchewan to Lethbridge, Alberta

Sunny and +4° C this morning as we were leaving Swift Current at 10 AM, sunny and 9° C when we arrived in Lethbridge at 3:15 PM (6¼ hr., time zone change again).

We continued westbound on Trans-Canada Hwy. 1 to Medicine Hat, Alberta where we stopped at Superstore to buy some groceries and refill the car with fuel. After that we drove one freeway exit further and went to the Visitor Information Centre where we ate lunch in the car in the parking lot. And used their washrooms. And Apollo got to have an unleashed / “free range” shit in their small, fenced dog park. HA HA HA !

At Medicine Hat we left TCH 1, which heads NW towards Calgary, and turned onto Crowsnest Hwy. 3 which follows a more southerly route across half of Alberta and most of BC. It’s our previous “home road”. Our home at Riverside RV Park Resort near Keremeos was on Crowsnest Hwy. 3. We’ll be passing by there in a couple of days.

Crowsnest Hwy. 3, a two lane undivided highway, is a much more difficult road to drive than the four lane divided TCH 1, but for much of the year (fall, winter, spring !) Hwy. 3 is likely to have much better weather than the more northerly TCH 1, especially on the Coquihalla Hwy. (a.k.a. Highway thru Hell) stretch from Kamloops to Hope, BC.

As we arrived at Motel 6 in Lethbridge I saw that the fuel station across the street had a very good price on fuel, so before checking into the motel I refilled the car with fuel again.

<blink blink> What the hell happened to the Canadian stock market today ? ! ? Was that the result of the federal budget release today ? ? ?

We spent the evening channel switching between CBC and CNN, watching the analyses of the Canadian federal budget and the results of the US gubernatorial and mayoralty elections.

Wednesday ; Lethbridge, Alberta to Cranbrook, British Columbia

Overcast, +2° C. this morning in Lethbridge. Raining, +2° C. this afternoon in Cranbrook.

We were out of Motel 6 in Lethbridge this morning at 10 AM. We continued westbound on Crowsnest Hwy. 3, crossing from Alberta into British Columbia through the Crowsnest Pass around noon. We stopped at the Visitor Information Centre in Sparwood, BC to eat lunch in the car.

We arrived in Cranbrook around 2:30 PM, but did not go straight to our motel. We stopped at Superstore to buy a few grocery items, then drove to Cranbrook’s dog park to give Apollo an opportunity to roam around off leash for awhile. Leaving Superstore we had a close call with the minivan’s electronic operated sliding side door, coming very close to injuring (or worse !) Apollo. It left both of us very upset for a couple of hours. We checked into Motel 6 around 4 PM.

Fifteen hundred kilometres down, a thousand to go !

We ate supper while watching Amazing Race, then later in the evening we watched Survivor.

Thursday ; Cranbrook

Sunny, cold in the morning, warming in the afternoon.

By design we slept late this morning, then got a very slow start to the day. Shortly after noon we left the motel to take Apollo to the dog park, then run some errands before having a very late lunch back at the motel.

We bought a few items at Dollar Tree, refilled with fuel at Superstore Fuel Bar, then bought take-out lunch at That’s A Wrap. We returned to Motel 6, and had our wrap sandwiches with soup. A few days ago we bought some tetra packs of ready to heat and eat soups.

Today I (and 266 others) received an e-mail from a life lease seniors’ condominium in Southdale, advertising an open house yesterday, and threatening to remove us from their waitlist because we did not respond. This is the first communication we have received from this development since expressing our interest almost five years ago !

HMPH ! Pretty slim pickings on TV on Thursday evening in Cranbrook !

Friday ; Cranbrook to Osoyoos, British Columbia

Mostly cloudy, temperature ranging from -4° C to +11° C today, depending on elevation.

Last year we took three days to get from Cranbrook to Hope, stopping overnight in Christina Lake (near Grand Forks) and Princeton. This year, to trim one day off the journey, and reduce motel expenses a little, we planned to take two days to get from Cranbrook to Hope, stopping overnight in Osoyoos. <sigh> That was a mistake. Today was too long a day of driving, leaving Cranbrook at 10 AM and arriving in Osoyoos at 5 PM, dark already for about half an hour. Eight hours on the road (another time zone change today), on Crowsnest Hwy. 3 which is a difficult drive, non-divided two lanes, non-stop hills and curves from Cranbrook all the way to Hope.

Next spring, on the way back home, I think we’ll try taking the Trans-Canada Hwy. 1 all the way from Victoria to Winnipeg, which would mean Hope to Kamloops on the Coquihalla (Highway Thru Hell), then to Revelstoke and Calgary.

After checking out of Cranbrook’s Motel 6 we stopped at the dog park for a few minutes to give Apollo an opportunity for a “free range shit”. “WOO-HOO” says Apollo !

Despite having travelled this route many times in the past, and having an up to date GPS, I missed a fork in the road shortly after Salmo, routing us through Trail and Rossland on Hwy. 3B, instead of through Castlegar on Hwy. 3 which is what I had intended. Not a significant difference in distance, but certainly a more challenging section of an already difficult to drive highway. With higher elevations, and our first exposure to (a lot of) snow !

We stopped at Save-On-Foods in Creston to buy some advertised specials. We stopped to have lunch in Trail. The plan had been to stop for lunch in Castlegar, but somebody missed a turn ! We stopped at Mobil in Grand Forks to refill the minivan with fuel.

When we arrived at our motel in Osoyoos, right at the junction of Crowsnest Hwy. 3 running east/west from Medicine Hat, Alberta to Hope, BC, and Hwy. 97, running north/south all the way from the northern Okanagan region, to the Canadian/U.S. border at Osoyoos, and then beyond to Weed, California, I stepped out of the car to register at the motel office and ... <GAG> ... was met with a horrible stench of ... manure ? Or sewage ? WTF ? Well ... this is new ! We lived nearby for fifteen years and never experienced this stench before ! It was already dark, so I couldn’t see a source of the odour. It churned my stomach, and I abdicated responsibility for unloading stuff from the car, and walking the dog, to Joanne. Thank you, my dear ... I’m really sensitive to odours, whether foul or pleasant (like perfumes).

At 9 PM I took Apollo outside. <sniff sniff> HMPH ... foul odour is gone ! Wonder what that was ?

Saturday ; Osoyoos to Hope, British Columbia

Sunny, cold in the morning in Osoyoos, cool in the late afternoon in Hope.

We departed our motel in Osoyoos at 10 AM (no odour outside this morning), continuing westbound on Crowsnest Hwy. 3, through the Similkameen Valley to Keremeos and beyond to Riverside RV Park Resort, our summer home from October, 2006 to April, 2021. I was reminded of how much I loved this area the first time we saw it in 2005. And I still do ! The Similkameen Valley from Osoyoos to Keremeos to Princeton is one of the most beautiful areas in Canada, and the world, in my opinion.

We drove slowly through Riverside RV Park Resort, remembering how beautiful it was in its early days (2006 / 2007), and how it slowly evolved into what it is today ; a trashy trailer park ! <shrug> Another chapter of our lives closed, just at the right time ... for us ! I again said goodbye to (the memory/spirit of) Ozzie a.k.a. “the dead neighbour’s dog” ... the nickname we gave him when we inherited him upon the death of our next door neighbour Gord. His (Ozzie’s) ashes are sprinkled in Riverside’s dog park, officially named in memory and honour of Gord, the driving force behind the creation of that dog park. Joanne again said goodbye to (the memory/spirit of) Emma the cat, whose ashes are sprinkled in the raised garden bed of our previous lot in the park.

We continued westbound, passing through the small town of Hedley, past Bromley Rock Provincial Park, a favourite place of ours, and into Princeton where we stopped to buy a few grocery items at Save-On-Foods.

As the elevation rose going into Manning Provincial Park there was some snow on the ground. We stopped at Manning Park Resort to eat our lunch in the car. We arrived in Hope around 3 PM. We checked into Windsor Motel, wondering why it was so much more expensive than a year ago. OH ... totally renovated ! Very nice ! Just at dusk (4:45 PM !) we took Apollo for a leisurely walk through the lovely large municipal park across the street.

As we drove and reminisced today, suddenly a light bulb went off in Joanne’s head. During the many years when we had a summer side hustle delivering and setting up RV trailers (Similkameen Trailer Towing) we occasionally took clients’ trailers to Osoyoos to be stored over the winter. Before winterizing them and putting them into the large RV storage yard in Osoyoos we would empty the waste storage tanks at an RV dump station in Osoyoos. It was adjacent to the Osoyoos municipal sewage treatment plant. Right near the motel we stayed at last night !

Some manner of malfunction at the plant yesterday afternoon / evening ? ! ?

2200 kilometres thus far, 300 kilometres and a ferry ride left to go !

DSK

October 26 to November 1, 2025 ; Winnipeg, Manitoba to Moosomin, Saskatchewan

 Sunday ; Low overcast, mild.

AWWWWW ... just ****ing great ! Big blizzard today on Crowsnest Hwy. 3 across southern BC. <sigh>

Pre-departure preparations continued today. We took Apollo for a walk in the park around 6 PM. Met Josef, an 84 year old immigrant from Iran, in Canada for 50 years. Lives in condominium building across the street. Very friendly fellow. Sang the praises of raising his three sons, all with engineering degrees from University of Manitoba, here in Tuxedo / Winnipeg / Canada.

Painter came by this afternoon to pick up paint colours sample booklet, and keys to our building and suite. Painting and renovation work will be done in December or January. WOO-HOO ... looking forward to seeing results when we return in mid-April.

Monday ; Rain all day !

Joanne’s sister came for a visit this afternoon. The plan was for her to come over so that we could all go for a pleasant walk in fine fall weather. Nope ... not today !

I continued working on fall pre-departure preparations. And I combined that with some maintenance work in the suite, removing bathroom fan vents and cleaning inside the ducts. And this suite has four water valves that are behind walls, and require a special tool that inserts into tiny holes in the wall to turn them on or off. I checked them a few days ago, and two of the four were stuck / seized from years or decades of never being turned off or on. I lubricated them with Liquid Wrench lubricant a day or two ago, and today I was finally able to loosen the two seized ones, and with considerable difficulty, close them and re-open them.

There was a lot of risk in doing that. If a valve broke while being forced to close / open, well ... they’re behind walls. Two of them are behind the wall behind the washer. Two of them are behind the wall behind a bathroom vanity. Breaking them would result in rapid flooding inside the walls. And repairing / replacing them would cost thousands of dollars ! And repairs to suites on lower floors below us would cost tens of thousands of dollars.

And you wonder why I get pissed off about lack of routine maintenance done by previous owners of homes we’ve bought ? ! ? With assistance from my OCD, I am in the process of preparing a “preventive maintenance” spreadsheet for this suite. “Lubricate, close, and re-open water valves behind walls” will certainly be on the “to do annually” list ! ! ! ! !

Tuesday ; Sunny and cool, another pretty nice fall day.

At 12:30 PM we left home heading for Transcona for Joanne’s optometrist appointment at 1:15. I waited in the car with Apollo while she went in to see her eye doctor. This appointment was made about six months ago, before we decided to move.

After her eye exam was completed we drove to the Crossroads shopping area at Regent Ave. and Lagimodiere Blvd. I dropped Joanne off at Freshco to buy some produce and I drove to the next mall over to shop at Rona. This Rona store had one of the two items I was looking for. I returned to Freshco and took Apollo for a walk while we waited for Joanne to finish grocery shopping. On the way back home we stopped at Rona (again), Canadian Tire, and Home Depot on Kenaston Blvd., looking for the second item I was shopping for. Didn’t find it. <shrug>

Once we were back at home we both continued working on fall pre-departure preparations, and I continued maintenance work. I’m beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel of suite maintenance. In the evening we watched the season premiere of Married At First Sight.

Wednesday ; Sunny and cool, another pretty nice fall day.

Today was “pack for winter” day. I hate “pack for winter” day. Admittedly Joanne does most of the work, but it’s always very stressful for both of us. “Where is (fill in the blank) ?” “Where did you put (fill in the blank) ?” “Do you want or need to bring (fill in the blank) ?” “Should we bring (fill in the blank) ?”

It was such a nice afternoon we took Apollo for a walk in Swindon Oaks Park (across the street) again. Again we met and chatted with Josef, the elderly Iranian immigrant who lives in the condominium building across the street. Such an interesting and engaging fellow.

Watched tonight’s episode of Amazing Race while having (chicken) pollo mole (Mexican, specifically Oaxacan, pronounced “poyo molay”) for dinner, recorded tonight’s episode of Survivor to watch tomorrow.

Thursday ; Overcast, occasional light drizzle.

Packing and preparations for departure on Saturday continue in earnest. Have been dreading and procrastinating emptying desk contents ... again. Had to do that less than two months ago for moving from Dugald Estates to Winslow House. Had to do it again today to lighten load of extremely heavy desk that painters will have to move when painting office.

Went shopping for dog food and treats at PET VALU in Tuxedo Park Shopping Centre this afternoon. Monthly seniors discount day ! Bought a small bag of Apollo’s food. Usually buy big bags for economy, but don’t want to haul big bag from Winnipeg to Victoria.

Watched last night’s recorded episode of Survivor while having supper.

Friday ; Overcast and cold.

When we moved suitcases out of our hallway storage closet I was reminded that behind the suitcases was some wall damage that I had not had time to repair before we moved stuff into the storage closet. Today was the opportunity to rectify that.

Joanne baked cookies and muffins to take with us on the road. Because of our many years of experience of full time RV’ing, and trailer hauling / delivering, she is an excellent planner of feeding us while we travel. Even though we no longer travel in an RV, and consequently don’t travel with a kitchen on board, we do have a small fridge in the car. She prepares and brings enough food to feed us for the first couple of days of travel, and then is very adept at replenishing our food, in small quantities, usually with a daily brief stop at a grocery store, to keep us healthily nourished. With frequent visits to bakeries, if I have anything to say about it. HA HA HA !

Saturday ; Winnipeg, Manitoba to Moosomin, Saskatchewan

Overcast in Manitoba, sunny in Saskatchewan, cold and windy.

We finished our travel packing, I winterized our suite, we left home at 11:30 AM, half an hour ahead of schedule. I refilled the minivan with cheap rez gas at nearby Oodena Gas and we headed through the small amount of Winnipeg that remains to the west of Tuxedo, and onto Trans-Canada Hwy. 1 westbound.

We stopped to eat lunch at a rest area near Elkhorn, Manitoba. I drove from Winnipeg to Brandon, then Joanne drove from Brandon to Virden while I napped. I drove from Virden to Moosomin. We arrived at Moosomin’s Motel 6 at 3:30 PM, five hours after we left home (time zone change).

Apollo was very restless this morning at home, sensing that we were “moving” and worried that he would once again be “abandoned”. Poor little fellow ! He settled down once we were on our way, when he knew he was not being left behind. He travels well, enjoying snoozing, front half on Joanne’s lap, back half on his travel pillow on the console of the car. For reasons unknown to me, my lap is unacceptable, and when Joanne drives and I nap in the passenger seat, he pouts and lies down in his dog bed behind the console, looking forlorn.

We checked into Motel 6, Joanne unloaded stuff from the car to our room, I went to the breakfast room and got Joanne and me each a cup of hot chocolate, Apollo climbed onto the bed, messed up the covers to his satisfaction, and went to sleep. He LOOOOOVES Motel 6’s. <shrug> Go figure !

Tonight we watched the World Series game seven. First baseball game I’ve watched in ... <thinking> ... about sixty years. I was very tired, but able to watch until the end of the game in the bottom of the eleventh inning. <sigh> Congratulations to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

DSK