About Me

Lee Creek, North Shuswap near Chase, B.C, Canada
We went full-time Rving in October of 2005! We retired from full time to part-time as of the end of 2015. Our present "small but comfortable" Wagon is a 2008 Camper trailer(TravelAir Rustler), pulled by a 2008 Dodge Dakota, 4X4.l. Our home is now a Gated Community Park, in Oliver, British-Columbia, Canada. I retired in 2005 and my Life Companion, Valerie, retired October 1, 2006 from nursing. We invite you to follow and share our new adventures and mishaps. Life is but an adventure full of dreams yet to be fulfilled!

Monday, October 31, 2005

Travel Maps for Oct 25




Our route to Chilliwack; hwy 1 to Hwy 5, south to Hope and Hwy 1 again, to exit for Bridalfall and camperland

A close up to our position in reference to Chilliwack


Oct 27 to 31st, 2005

Hello again, I thought I would make one last entry before the end of the month. I am writing this at our site in camperland. I found out this past week-end that they have cable here and we can hook-up to it. This makes it a lot easier.

So far, we are enjoying ourselves here. The site is good and we have easy access to Chilliwack and Vancouver. The weather has been somewhat cooperative although we've had some heavy rains. We've also a fair share of sunshine so although I love complaining about Chilliwack weather, it hasn't been all that bad.

This past week-end was busy. The girls, Hayley and Vanessa, were playing in voleyball tournament so of course, we were attending most of them. Hayley was playing in Chilliwack and Vanessa was in Abbotsford, 30 miles(50km) away. It was fun and they played well. On Sunday, we went to Vancouver to visit Val's daughter Joanne and her husband John and of course, Jenaya. She is now in the terrible two. What an active bundle of joy. She is so cute but of course, we are not prejudice at all.

This coming week, Nov 2, we are headed to Sooke on Vancouver Island to visit some of Val's relatives. We will return on Monday Nov.7. We will be dropping off our fifth wheel at O'Connor to get a leak fix in the shower and pick it up on the way back from the Island.

We also returned our little dehumidifier that we had purchased at O'Connor as it wasn't doing the job. We bought another one at Sears and it's doing a great job, although with the furnace, the TV and that machine, it makes for a noisy environment. However in this weather, it is a blessing in disguise as it does keep the humidity at a manageable level.

Going through a fair amount of propane. Had to refill one tank Sunday after filling both before we came down here.

That's it for now. By the way, we had heavy rain last night and it is cloudy right now at a comfortable 9 degrees Celsius (48 Farenheit)

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Oct 25 to 27th 2005


Well, we did leave for Chilliwack where I am writing this. We left at 10:30 a.m. and arrived in Chilliwack around 4 p.m., just before the rain. Got settled after a little argument about how many weeks we can stay.

Average about 9 mpg which is not too bad considering we went over the Coquihalla which is quite a climb.

Caught up with all the laundry and some chores. Visited with the kids and will be going to Vancouver Island next week.

Found a leak in the 5er which I suspect is coming from the shower. While on the Island, O'Connor RV will look it over. Will also get another canopy installed to cover the opening above the shower.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Oct 24

Val really liked George's hat! YES! She did spilled that glass later when it was full!!!!!!! :-)


New friends we met at our site, George and Paulette with Tucker. Not a very complimentary picture of Paulette but we were ALL under the influence by the end of the evening when this was taken. Sorry Paulette!
They are also full-timer from Alberta and travel in their motorhome. The bought a site around the corner from where we are.

Monday, October 24, 2005

Oct 16 to Oct 24


It's been a while since I've written. The one thing I find hard is where can we find connection with enough time to do everything without having to rush!?

Anyway, Monday, the 17th came and we got the shed delivered. We also got our satellite TV connected but after he left, I noticed that it wasn't connected properly within my system so will have to fix that on a rainy day. In the mean time, we do have reception on the main TV, Val has to do without in the bedroom! :-)
Got the shed put together by the end of the week then we went to Logan Lake where we stayed for the night at Pat and Rick. Good to see everyone again. Got all our meds for the trip while up there too. We also got our travel medical insurance for the States and Mexico. I will get insurance for the vehicles when we get to Nogales, Arizona.

We are settling into a routine at our site and have met very nice people. It doesn't look like we will have our driveway though by the time we leave. Too bad! Talking about paving, our drive way will be paved, we decided and will have a paved little canal between our pad and the side of our neighbor's site as it drains right down onto ours which creates quite a mess right now.

We also got most of stuff left at Lynden and Charlene's place down to our site and stored into the shed. Next spring, we will get the table and chairs and shelves from Rick

See picture of our new shed below

Saturday, October 15, 2005

Retirement pictures and a proud birthday boy

Graeme at 16 years old and into everything that is new technology. Bought himself the latest IPOD tonight. His mom looking on as he "tries" to make her understand all this marvel can do!




This is Val's replacement. Debbie will do great according to Val, she has the "right stuff"




Val and her boss Donna. Val is wearing an apron given to her as a reminder of a great place where she once worked. The picture was taken on the patio where she works.



Here's one of Val with one of the resident. I gather every one is upset to see her go.



Oct 9 to Oct 15, 2005

After returning from Olds on Monday, I spent the week doing odd chores around the site and the 5er. This is Val's last week at work. As of Thursday, October 13, she became officially retired and what a retirement she had. She got some really nice cards from her co-worker and the people she served. I gather a few tears were shed.

We purchased the shed, a 8X8 vinyl shed from Home Depot which is being delivered on Monday the 17th. We are also getting our TV satellite installed with Shaw cable. Decided to stick with a canadian company. Will try it for a while anyway.

We are presently in Chilliwack at my daughter's house to celebrate my grand-son's birthday. 16 Years Old!!! Makes you feel like you are aging!!!! This is where I am bringing this site to date.

It's been raining quite a bit at our site and that's one of the reasons why paving hasn't been done yet. A few more sites have been sold since we've been there.

Looking forward to moving to Chilliwack on the 25th of this month.

Friday, we went to Logan Lake to pick up some of our stuff at our friends place and ended up at the pub for a meal and a few drinks. It's a long drive to our site...an hour and half.

Tomorrow, we are going back to the Shuswap's.

On our site, October 1, 2005
















I thought I would post a couple pictures of our 5er on its brand new pad. The little fireplace was a go-away present from our friends in Logan Lake. It was awfully kind of them as we didn't expect anything. There is still work to be done. Hope to have the shed on it by the end of next week. It will go in the first image's lower corner.

Saturday, October 08, 2005

Sept 30 to Oct 8/05

Finally, I get to bring this log to date. We are presently in Olds, Alberta at Val's sister, Audrey and Marcel. The sun has been shining all day but it has been cool. Tomorrow, we will celebrate Thanksgiving and head home on Monday.

Well, the transition over to "full-time" has been smooth so far. On Friday, the 30th, the movers came over and we loaded everything and transported it to our storage in Kamloops. The whole process took just a little over 4.5 hours and now the storage is full to the brim. After that, we went to our lawyer to finalize the papers on the purchase of our RV lot and followed that with a celebration consisting of a beer and lunch. Friday evening, we met the "gang" at the Black Bull Pub. Everyone was there; Lynden and Charleene, Rick and Pat, Dennis and Zillah, Mrs Tate and our good friend Diane, missing were Don and Joanne who were away for the week-end. They gave us some "funny" presents and a few touching cards and after all that, we were presented with our go-away present consisting of an outside cast iron fireplace. What a nice touch! What a great bunch of people. ( We tried it out on Monday evening)

Saturday morning, we got up, showered and got everything ready. We pulled out at 11 a.m. under some grey clouds and arrived at our site on the North Shuswap under cloudy but also sunny skies. Got everything ready just in time as it stated to rain. Met our neighbors, a young couple from Abbotsford, who, like us, bought the lot as an investment for future purposes. We also met another couple who are from Alberta and have been living full-time in their motorhome for the last two years. They also bought for future purposes.

The rest of the week-end was spent enjoying our new surrounding and exploring. On Monday, we went to town in Salmon Arms to explore and look for a shed. Tuesday, I took the truck to my mechanic only to find out that not only did I need an oil change and lube, but also required two new ball-joints, a new bearing and a new steering rod. $1200 later and I was on my way. I sure hope this is not a sign of things to come!?

Thursday was my grand-son Graeme's birthday. 16 Years Old! WOW! Time sure flies by...it seems like yesterday, I was baby-sitting him in his crib. Anyway, today, I bought black ground covering to put under the gravel on our lot to keep the weeds down and the contractor had our driveway packed down and readied to be paved.

Friday morning, we left for Alberta and arrived under extreme conditions...Big black clouds and a hail storm ending in 2 inches of snow....Great!!! We only have summer tires under the car.

We have decided to wait until we return from Mexico before we get satellite TV. We will have cable while in Chilliwack and at the camp site in Mexico so not worth it for now. The one thing I am finding with using other people's computer is the difficulties in downloading and uploading files and materials. I sure would like to find a WI-FI location near Salmon Arm or Chase and use my laptop; anyway, enough whining... time to say good night! See you all soon.

By the way, if you have any questions on our life style and anything else, do not hesitate to leave a comment on our web and we will respond

Claude, Val and Tucker