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, August 31, 2015

August 24 to 31, 2015; Work, visit with Joanne and grand-kids and days off

AUG 24 to 28; More work
Unger Window now has the back parking area all fenced in and locked so as of today, I don’t have to pick up the Delivery truck at their house as it will be locked in the compound.  Busy day for me on Monday.  Tuesday was another full day delivering new windows to Andrew’s worksites and picking up old one to bring back to the shop and take apart. Today, Wednesday, I delivered an ultimatum to MTNVIEW RV REPAIR about our A/C/Furnace dilemma.  Basically he has until next Wednesday or I go somewhere else and will sue him for the cost.  I then went to the Post Office and mailed a registered letter to them.  Thursday was very busy.  I was on the road by 8:30 and didn’t get back until 3:30pm.  I unloaded the truck, put everything away and was out of there by 4:30.  A quiet evening at home and a delicious dinner to complete the day!  RAIN!!! Finally!  Friday was only half a day and I had the jeep at GREEN ACRES to get bushing and a control rod changed on the rear axle.


AUG 29, SATURDAY;
It began raining early this morning (I was up at 6 am) and it got pretty heavy as the morning progressed but there were lull times.  The sun even made an appearance.  We were to visit Val’s grand-kids in Fort Langley where they are all camping but due to the rain and heavy winds, John and Joanne decided to cut it a day short and went home.  We made arrangements to meet tomorrow at their place.  We went to our local pub for lunch then went to Kevin’s house to move the furniture that had been given to us by Babe and Ron then we came home and Val did the laundry.  It got very windy here in the afternoon with more rain.


AUG 30, SUNDAY; To Coquitlam
It rained heavily overnight and this morning.  We had a busy morning as Val decided to clean house so I washed windows and took down three screens to be re-screened on Monday.  In the afternoon, we drove to Coquitlam to visit the grand-kids and Joanne & John.  It was Jenaya’s birthday a few days ago so we brought a cake for her and Val gave her a locket with her name on it and the year.  She was quite thrill over that.  Due to the storm that went through earlier, they had no power so we went to a local restaurant that still had power and had a delicious dinner then we came home to find the power back on.  We watched a movie with the kids then it was time to leave as Val has to work in the a.m.  It rained all the way back to Chilliwack


AUG 31, MONDAY; Day off

Val went to work and I got our BEAVER’s insurance renewed, took Val’s car to have an oil change then took three screens to the shop and replace the screens.  I came home and made Sheppard Pie for dinner.  It rained the whole day.  We had a relaxing evening watching our recordings.  The end of another month.

Monday, August 24, 2015

August 17 to 23, 2015; Work and trip to Oliver and decision made

AUG 17 to 21; Work week 
Well the week started busy and stayed that way until Friday.  We’ve been working in Chehalis outside of Harrison Mill, replacing broken windows and glass and it’s been a hot week to make it worse.  Thursday was my usual pick-ups/delivery day and it was a short one but I did managed to put in 7.5 hrs.  As far as house hunting, we have now withdrawn all offers until we get our mortgage finances in order.  Native land is definitely out for the time being; just too much hassles with mortgage approvals and age restriction.  Friday was half day for me then I stopped at MTNVIEW and once again:  promises, promises but no goodies. 


AUG 22, SATURDAY; to OLIVER
We left at 7:45 am, stopped at McD for coffee then Shell for gas and hit the highway.  We went over the Coquihalla then the Connector to Kelowna and down to OLIVER.  We arrived at 11:30 and stopped for lunch at “THE FIREMAN BISTRO”.  A neat place and the food was good.  We met Brad, a Real Estate Agent who showed us a park model listed at $124,000.  We liked it very much except for the rosy carpet.  After he left, we met Val’s sister, AUDREY, at the local pub (Marcel had company from Alberta).  We took her back to the Park to show her the Park Model we were interested in and walked over to the small lake where we met a lady that lives in the Park and told some horror story about the Park owner who lives in Surrey.  We decided then and there to back out of this deal.  Audrey told us about another Park nearby so we went to see it and Val called the listed Agent, Jaimed, and he came over and showed us two park models and a house, all listed for less than $70,000!  WOW!!!  And we were impressed with all of them.  He also told us about two more places in Gallagher Lake, north of town.  We drove Audrey back to her jeep and said our goodbyes then we drove to see these two places and found that one had a SOLD sign on it but the second one was still available.  Jaimed is to send us spec sheets on those and pictures.  We drove back home via Hwy 3 which was shorter mileage wise but much longer time-wise.  We got home at 10:30 pm after leaving Oliver at 5:30 pm.  It was a long day but productive and we have renewed hope to buy something.  As a footnote, we arrived in Oliver under sunny and clear sky and we could see smoke from the fires up the mountain but by mid-afternoon, the whole area was covered in smoke which made it uncomfortable to breath and hard on the eyes, especially driving all day.


AUG 23, SUNDAY; Relaxing Day and BIG DECISION!
We went to look at a rancher in Chilliwack central but found it too small.  We spoke with Marcel and Audrey too and we’ve decided to put everything on hold until we return from our winter trip.  I think it doesn’t makes sense to pay for mortgage, maintenance, pad rental and heat only to be away for 4-5 months.  We will look more in Oliver once we return from our winter adventures as we will be able to camp there for a few days and really look and be more serious about it all.  Oufffff, I feel relief!!!  Val did laundry then went for a walk with her friend on the Rotary Trail.  I worked on the blog, dumped the tanks, washed the windows on the cars and just puttered around. 



Tuesday, August 18, 2015

August 15 to 16, 2015; Vanessa engagement

AUG 10, MONDAY; Doctor’s app’t in Kamloops
I left at 9:20 am after stopping at McD for breakfast for the road.  I arrived in Kamloops without incident, had my doctor’s appointment which was a waste of time as he had no answers for my on-going problem.  From here, I went to our lot and checked on it and picked some money from Donna for the rental we had last week.  I drove back home and arrived here around 6 pm, tired but OK.


AUG 11 to 14; more work
This was a busy week.  I got three full days and lots of driving and also spent evenings looking at and dealing with houses and mortgage applications.  It’s getting a bit too stressful.  By Friday, we were both ready for a break and went out for dinner at BRIXTON, a local new restaurant that I had heard about on FACEBOOK.  The food was good and the prices reasonable.  Beautiful décor and serversJ, friendly too!  It rained quite heavily on Friday evening and overnight


AUG 15, SATURDAY; O’Connor RV and some bad news
We took the Motorhome to O’Connor to get a couple things looked at and fix.  I also got an estimate on repairing the leak on the curbside slide.  We got calls from the Credit Union only to be told they would not finance us on the places we were looking at because they are on Native land!!  Very disappointing and frustrating.  It was cloudy most of the day and comfortable temperature.


AUG 16, SUNDAY; Vanessa and Sean’s Engagement Party.

Sunny and very smoky from all the fires from the surrounding the area.  I felt energetic this morning so took all the ceiling vents off and washed them all including inside the vent pipe as far as I could reach inside.  At 2 pm, we went to R&K for Vanessa and Sean's engagement party that her sister Hayley organized.  A great time was had by all.  Lots of people, lots of food and fun games.  HAYLEY and R&K did a great job.  We left around 7 pm and the younger crowd was still going strong.

Monday, August 10, 2015

August 4 to 9, 2015; Visitors from Logan Lake and almost bought a house!!!!

AUG 4 to 7; Work, work, work
On Friday one of our worker, Rob, broke his ankle while stepping out of the back of the truck so he will be off for a while.  That meant that I got a full day of work on Tuesday installing the doors he was to work on.  On Wednesday though, I only got 5 hours.  Our friends from Logan Lake, the Kirkby’s, arrived Tuesday afternoon in our campground.  They are here for two days then are going to Vancouver Island on holidays.  We had a great visit and went out for dinner with Mac, Charlene’s step-father at Major League Pub.  Afterwards we met here for more news catching-up!  On Wednesday, we (the four of us) had dinner together at our place and about two hours later, their son Greg and his daughter Katlyn showed up.  They both are looking great and Katlyn has sure grown.  We had a great evening and everyone went home by 10 pm.  Thursday was my “pick-ups” day but it was a short one.  I worked for a while around the shop and was home by 3 pm.  Friday was also busy.  I ended in Harrison at Seabird Island where an Elementary school was being build and we had the job of installing 22 windows.  We got half done and are going back Monday.  Home by 4:30 pm and a relaxing evening resting my old, sore bones and muscles.


AUG 8, SATURDAY; House hunting
We had appointments at 10 am to view a few houses so we were up early.  We met our Real-Estate agent at the first address and learned that we only two viewing as most had either offers or were sold.  We looked at the first one which was a Park model on a rental lot; we nixed that one.  The second one, WE FELT IN LOVE!!!  It was incredibly well laid out and decorated and we made an offer on the spot as the price was perfect and within our limits.  We went back to her office and wrote up the forms and learned that there was already an offer but we made ours to the full price.  We had HH at Rochelle & Kevin at 3 pm.  Sid & Vera, Doreen & Gord, Babe and Ron were also present.  About 4 pm, we got a call from the Agent telling the bad news that they had accepted the other offer.  Disappointed doesn’t describe our feelings.  We had our hopes so high.  Oh, well!  Life in the fast lane.  I had made an announcement on FACEBOOK so I had to rescind that.  We got home at 6 pm and were in bed by 10 pm.  Marcel and Audrey called and so did Donna; they had seen our post!


AUG 9, SUNDAY; Laundry day
Yep, and once that was done, we drove to Agassiz and Harrison Lake to look at property.  We stopped at a local pub for a snack then drove back via Rosedale.  Back home, Val looked up a few more listing and found one in Oliver that may be a potential.  I’ve always liked Oliver and often said I wouldn’t mind living there!!?  Quiet evening and to bed early.


Monday, August 03, 2015

August 1 to 3, 2015; BC Day and a cycling trip

AUGUST 1, 2015, SATURDAY; Enjoying a 3 days week-end
A new month and more adventures.  The hose connecting the grey water to the tank developed a leak so I had to replace that this morning.  Val did laundry then we went out shopping for a few groceries and to buy the new tags for the “Beaver” and renew the insurance on the Jeep.  It is hot again today and needless to say the A/Cs are on.  We then had a relaxing evening at home


AUG 2, SUNDAY; Cycling in Steveston, Richmond
We met Rochelle and Kevin in front of our Park at 10 am and we all drove to No. 5 Road, near the dike, in Richmond.  We cycled to Steveston village but first stop at a Heritage House and visited that and watched a wedding being prepared for the afternoon on the lawn.  We continued on the dike and road to the village where we visited the Steveston Japanese and Chinese fishermen village, the Steveston Cannery and a few other historic site.  We then stopped at the Steveston dock yard where we had fish and chips.  There are lots of restaurants and shops here and the place was bouncing with people.  After our meal, we continued on to the end of Point where there is a small Park and we watched people flying kites.  One looked like a giant octopus!
Beyond the Point was the Georgia Straight.  We also watched a dredger working the river entrance, probably dredging the silt from the bottom brought down the river by the currents. (The Fraser River is famous for that.  We cycled back to our cars, a total of 23 Km and after loading the bikes we stopped for ice cream at a local McDonald.  We got back to Chilliwack around 6 pm and picked a pizza for our dinner. R&K had the same idea! It was a GREAT day!


AUG 3, MONDAY; BC DAY

Most of the day was comfortable temperature wise but it did much warmer later in the afternoon so we had to turn the A/C on.  A relaxing day then we decided to go look around at places for sale.  We did lucked out on a Real Estate Agent that was at her office and she took us to a place on Knight Road that is for sale.  Price is right and it had 2 bedrooms.  She will be looking for more and make a list for us within the price range we told her.  We stopped for a couple grocery items then came home for a relaxing drink.  Evening with the “tube” and got my lunch made for tomorrow’s work day!