APRIL 27 to 30/10: Shuswap, BC

APR 27, Tuesday; Gateway
We had rain today so not much happened. We went to Scotch Creek to get propane and drop-off recycling bottles but it was closed so we came home. Most of the day was spent inside as it definitely was not a day to be outside. Heather and Dan came over after dinner and we had a visit but otherwise, it was a quiet day.


Apr 28, Wednesday; to Kamloops
Val had an appointment at the hospital in Kamloops to get a minor surgery done on the side of her eye, a cancerous (none-threatening) growth. She was there for about half hour then we were on our way to Superstore to get groceries and other items. We made a stop at BCAA to get some info on insurance then we headed back home after stopping at the pub so that I could get my fix on spare dry ribs; they are delicious, cooked in hard rock salt and garlic. We also stopped at South Thompson RV where we bought the “Bear” and made an appointment for next week to get a few warranty jobs out of the way.
We came home and after dinner we watched a movie. It was quite cool today and cloudy most of the day. We saw three deer come through our yard which was quite neat. It’s a first!


APR. 29, Thursday, Gateway
Val went to work today for an orientation session. I did the laundry and re-organized more stuff in the rig. It is quite a process doing this; one has to decide whether we will actually use an item in the future even though we haven’t used it in two years!!? I washed the driveway and the patio and made reservations at Harrison Hot Springs for the wedding in August.


APR. 30, Friday, Gateway (Uploaded pictures, folder # 57)
Another cloudy day! Val went to work again today for another orientation day. I took Tucker for a walk on our beach (Gateway’s); they have the dock back in the water getting ready for the summer onslaught. For dinner, we went to the local pub and had fish and chips with Donna and Marcel.

April 21 to 26/10; Gateway & Logan Lake

APR. 21, Wednesday, Gateway
Val had to go to Kamloops for a First-Aid course for her job. Can you believe that...she is Registered Nurse! The government will do anything for a buck! Anyway, I just did little jobs around the house and cooked dinner for when Val got home.

I finally calculated our average cost for this past winter. Including all our entertainment, booze, food, propane and sight-seeing, some repairs and maintenance, including fuel cost, we spent an average of $3606/month in 6.5 months.
We put on the truck a total of 18894 Km (approx. 11809 miles) at an average of $562 per month for fuel, some maintenance and some propane.
A total of $120 per day average for both fuel and expenses. Not bad for full timing!


APR. 22, Thursday, Gateway
Val was in the mood to clean house and I took this time to write a letter to Mexico about our sticker and brought my resume up to date and printed for distribution.


APR. 23, Friday, to Salmon Arm
We went to S.A today to pick-up our mail and to drop-off a few resume of me in various places in Sorrento on the way. On the way back we looked for and found a few caches then came home around 3:30pm. At 4 pm, we went over to Jack and Mim’s place for happy hour. Bob and Gayle, Marcel and Donna also joined us. We had Marcel and Donna over for dinner.


APR. 24 to 26, to Logan Lake
We left Saturday day afternoon for Logan Lake to visit with Joanne and Don whom just returned from a 3 months trip in Australia, and all our friends. On the way up, we stopped to find three caches that were near the highway. We stayed overnight with Lynden and Charlene. We all met at the local pub and had a wonderful chat and dinner; we even got to dance. It was quite late when we finally came home.
Sunday, after a hearty breakfast cooked by Lynden, we went for a walk in the hills behind the house and found 3 more caches there and introduce Lynden and Charlene to it at the same time.
We came home Monday morning early as we had an appointment at the garage to have the transmission flushed on the car. Back at our place, we visited with our neighbour, Ron and Theresa ; they are going back home to the coast tomorrow.
A very nice week-end indeed!

April 16 to 21/10; Gateway to Vanc. Island & back

APR. 16, Friday, to Salmon Arm
Val had a doctor’s appointment this morning so we drove to Salmon Arm for 10 am. I picked our mail while there. At 1pm, I went to Chase to get our home-made wine which was ready to bottle. We had an appointment at the bank to get our info straighten out and move our accounts from Kamloops to the Chase Branch. Lots of running around today!
In the evening, we got a call that Val’s cousin had passed away from an aneurism and that there would be a memorial on Sunday at Gladys and George’s place on the Island. After a quick discussion, we decided to attend as Val was quite close to Wanda.


APR 17 to 19, to Sooke and back
We left Gateway at 10:30 am for Sooke on Vancouver Island but first, we stopped in Sorrento to pick-up Val’s prescription. The drive was uneventful and we stopped in Chilliwack for about 15 minutes to drop-off Tucker at my daughter’s place then we went to the ferry terminal where we took the ferry to Sidney. We had about an hour wait as they only run every two hours and we had missed the 1 pm. The crossing was quiet and once on the other side, we drove directly to Gladys and George’s place in Sooke where the family was meeting. Arrangements had been made for us to spend the night at a friend of Wanda, Lorane so that was pretty nice. We visited with everyone until late in the evening then went to Lorane’s place.

The next morning, after a hearty breakfast cooked by Lorane, we went back to George’s place where the memorial was held. Over the course of the day, there were over 90 people in and out of the house. It was a nice day considering and finally everyone left except the immediate family. There was a lot of food around so there was no need for dinner although someone ordered a couple pizzas anyway. We had a toast to Wanda and then sat around bringing back memories of her.

The next morning, Monday, we left for the ferry and back home. We had said our goodbyes the night before so it was a direct drive over. Again, we were early and had to wait ¾ of an hour for the 11 am ferry. The ride over was quiet and we read most of the way back except for taking time to have breakfast; $9. each for scramble eggs, three strips of bacon, toast and coffee; AMAZING! We stopped in Chilliwack again to pick up Tucker this time, saw Rochelle and Kevin then we drove to Dairy Queen to see Vanessa who was working. We had a few moments together then it was time to say goodbye.
We stopped in Logan Lake where we had dinner with Charlie and Lynden and came home around 11 pm. Good to be back!!!


APR. 20, Tuesday, Gateway
Today was laundry day, shopping and tank dumping. All the mundane stuff! It is much warmer today and we have our shorts on, feels nice. Bob and Shirley; Jack and Mim are now back from the south.

April 12 to 15/10; Life at Gateway, North Shuswap

APR. 12, Monday, back to Salmon Arm
After breakfast, we went out to clean the yard and unload most of the toys off the truck and the “Bear”. In the afternoon, we went to Salmon Arm where I had a doctor appointment to renew my pills and also to fill out my ICBC medical form. We picked up our mail and found out that we had received registered papers from Mexico but unfortunately, it was sent back because we didn’t pick it up in time. We stopped at Canadian Tire where I got a new supply of oil for the truck. I also stopped at the TELUS retail and got an Internet “stick”. We will now have internet at home anytime!
We came home, had dinner and relaxed. Our first full day at home


APR. 13, Tuesday, Gateway
Today was sunny and warmer but the wind was a bit cool. We continued cleaning the place and Val transplanted wild flowers to our site. We went to Sorrento to pick up my pills then drove to Chase and did some banking and had a late lunch in town.
That’s basically our second day back. Tucker is having a great time exploring the neighbourhood and re-acquainting himself to all the smells. Right now he is free as there is no-one around but that will soon change.


APR. 14, Wednesday, Gateway
Val went to work with Donna this morning. She already has a couple shifts booked and we learned that as of May 15 she will be working full time at Berwick until at least September.
I went into town to get milk and a couple other items and while here, I stopped at Big O Tire to have the rear tires checked on the car; ended up buying two new tires for the rear and made an appointment for tomorrow to have the rear struts replaced and a wheel alignment done on the car... It never ends. Actually it’s a good thing I checked the tires as they were ready to blow which may have happened while Val was driving to Kamloops.
I came home, cooked supper for myself (poor me!) and waited for Val to come home which she did around 8 pm


APR. 15, Thursday, Gateway
Val went to work again this morning. I worked around the house after taking the car to the garage for the appointment. I cleaned the driveway, washed the truck, re-organized some stuff in the shed and just basically kept myself busy. Val came home around 3 pm and I went to pick up the car in Chase and got some beer and wine ($49 for 15 beers and 1.5 Litre wine, what a shocker!!)
I BBQ’ed steaks for dinner and we had a relaxing evening.

April 8 to 11, 2010; Home finally

Apr. 8, Thursday, to Kelowna, BC
I got up this morning feeling a bit better. Still sore throat and stuffed sinuses but at least my mind is a bit clearer. After packing, we said our goodbyes to Marcel and Audrey and left around 10:15 am. We drove down to Osoyoos downtown where we stopped at “Tim Horton” for coffee and breakfast muffins. We were just pulling out when Brenda and Al pulled beside us! We stopped and hugged each other. What a surprise, we had a quick visit before leaving again.
We drove north on Hwy 97 through OK Falls, Penticton, over the new bridge in Kelowna where I stopped for fuel @.999 per litre. We arrived in Winfield at our next camp site, “Holiday Park Resort” and set up in site # 526. It snowed just south of Kelowna as we were driving up here but now the sky is showing some blue!
Rochelle, Kevin and Hayley arrived around 5:30 pm and after a warm reunion, we went out for dinner near their hotel in Kelowna. We caught up to each other’s news and too soon, it was time to say good night. We came back to our place and went to bed early.

We travelled 148 Km (91 miles) in 3 hours @ an average speed of 39 MPH
N 50* 00’ 26”
W 119* 23’ 36”
Alt: 1440 ft


APR. 9, Friday, Winfield
We got up early to see Hayley dance at 10:54 am. We got there at 10 to get a good seat. The theatre is only about 2 miles from here so we didn’t have far to go. All the girls and boys were exceptional. The dances were all very well executed and the dresses absolutely colourful. Hayley won a gold medal in her category which made us all feel extremely proud of little girl. She was also quite happy about it. Her next dance wasn’t until this evening so we went out for breakfast then afterwards, the girls decided to go shopping, Kevin had some business here in town to attend to and I went back to our house and eventually to a TELUS shop to see about my cellular. I picked up Val at the shopping centre around 4 pm, came home and we had dinner then met the gang at the theatre around 6:30 pm. Hayley had a group dance in the evening and the final result was no medal but they did very well, we thought. After watching all the dances, it was after 10 pm when we got home and said good night to the kids.
A great day!


APR. 10, Saturday, last day in Winfield
We have a blue sky greeting us this morning but very cold at 8 am...1*C (32*F) BRRrrrrrr! But it did warm up to 8*C (46*F). The kids came over around 1 pm and at 2 we went over to the theatre for Hayley’s final dance. This was a group dance although Hayley did a mini solo during that dance. The whole thing was excellent and they ended up winning a bronze and Adjucator Award which was quite an honor.
Around 4 pm, we said our goodbyes to Rochelle, Kevin and Hayley at the theatre as they were going home directly from here. After they left, we went to find a cache nearby then called it quit and came home. We had dinner, watched the tube for a while then it was beddy-bye.


APR. 11, Sunday, HOME...North Shuswap!
We slept in and didn’t get going until 11 am. We drove north on 97 and past Vernon we took 97A then 97B past Enderby and eventually arrive in Salmon Arm where we took Hwy 1. We stopped in S.A. for our mail and a sandwich at Subway then went home at Lee Creek, North Shuswap. The place is somewhat empty but there are a few of our neighbours already back from the south. Donna and Marcel were at their trailer and they came over to welcome us. After they left and we finished setting up, we walked over to Ron and Sheila’s place where a bunch of people were meeting for happy hour. We spent a good hour and a half there then came home, had dinner and relaxed. It is cloudy but the sun is trying to come out; cool too.

We travelled 144 KM (90 miles) @ an average of 42 mph in 3 hours.
N 50* 54’ 33”
W 119* 33’ 20”
Alt: 1185 feet

Good to be home!

April 3 to 7, 2010; Moses Lake, Wash to Osoyoos, BC

APR 4, Sunday, Happy Easter in Moses Lake, WASH.
This morning, we spent getting organized to cross into Canada such as taking an inventory of our booze and checking to ensure we don’t have anything that is not allowed. In the afternoon, we went geo-caching, finding 17 of them and taking a closer look at Moses Lake area at the same time. A neat place indeed! Temperature wise, it went up to 58*F (14*C) but the wind was cold reducing the effect. Now we are relaxing and awaiting a call from Audrey and Marcel as they are in Osoyoos, we believe and we want to connect.


APR. 5, Monday, Border crossing and Osoyoos, BC
We left Moses Lake under blue sky and hit I-90 east. We turned off on Hwy 281 then 28 approx. half hour after leaving Moses. The road was very good and the scenery absolutely spectacular especially when we entered the Columbia Canyon/gorge just before arriving in Wenatchee. Here we got on Hwy 97 north all the way to the border. I am glad we came this way because as we got further north, the snow level was very low and had we taken our usual route, hwy 17, we would have been driving in snow. We hit a bit of rain just before Oroville and stopped here for fuel and stock up on groceries.
At the Canadian border, we had to get rid of all our vegetables, a value of approx. $50. What a p....off! Then we were on way; we arrived at Island View Resort around 2:30 pm and began setting up on Marcel and Audrey’s lot when they arrived so the celebration began. A great day overall and to top it all, we have a great view of the lake and Osoyoos.

We travelled 338 KM (211 miles) in 5 hours @ an average speed of 48 mph
N 49* 01’ 20”
W 119* 25’ 57”
Alt: 978 feet


APR. 6, Tuesday, Osoyoos
A lazy morning....never got up until 9:30 am! After a slow morning, we made arrangement with Marcel and Audrey to meet them later at the local pub. We went to town, filled my propane tank, bought a “pay as you go” cell phone then we went geo-caching. After finding seven, we met Marcel and Audrey at the local pub and proceeded to get smashed. We were supposed to have dinner together but after all the Nachos and other goodies we had, we postponed dinner to tomorrow. Everyone was full on food and booze so we went home. I set up Val’s phone and re-connected our regular cellular
Audrey came over around 7 pm and got Val to go for a walk.


APR. 7, Wednesday, Osoyoos
I woke up this morning with a really bad sinus cold. I hate those as they really make feel miserable. Anyway, I showered and took Tucker for a walk then went into town to find a walk-in clinic only to find out there is none here and I would have to go to Oliver, about 30 miles from here. I came back home and basically spent the whole day in house. Val visited with Marcel and Audrey and had a good time; I went over for a few minutes but then came home and slept most of the day. We had them over for dinner then they went back to their rig and watched a movie; Val went over and I went to sleep.
I got propane this morning and made reservations to our next camp site in Winfield, BC

April 1 to 3/10; Bend OR to Moses Lake, WASH.

APR 1, Thursday; Bend Oregon
We got up to a nice sunny day and after taking Tucker for his morning jaunt, I took the truck to “Les Schwab” to get a second new battery for the truck (diesel trucks have two) and made an appointment for tomorrow to get the brakes done. Oregon has no tax and the prices are very reasonable. I also discovered a dog grooming place right next door to our campsite so after checking it out, we made an appointment for tomorrow.
We spent the rest of the day geo-caching and found 17. We had lunch at a local pub where the food was very good. In our geo-caching, we discovered some very nice parks but unfortunately, even though the temperature was at 40*F, the wind made it much cooler so that we didn’t want to spent much time outside.
We came home around 3 pm and relaxed in our little home. NO April fool’s joke by the way!


APR 2, Friday, Bend OR
Our trip is definitely ending as it started! It is snowing right now and about 2-3 inches on the ground. Temperature is about 34*F (1*C), 10:40 a.m.! I took Tucker to the groomer and Val started the laundry.
After doing the laundry, we took a drive to a local mall where I bought a pair of Nike runners and Val got herself a pair of pants. At 2:30 pm, I took the truck to the garage to get the brakes done. After inspecting them, I was told that I still had 70% o my pads but the rotors probably needed changing. They put improved and more dynamic rotors which they claim will improve my braking power. It is sunny now and the snow is all gone...what a crazy time! It is 44*F (7*C) but a cold wind is blowing. We are ready to leave tomorrow. I even made reservations for our next stop in Washington.


APR. 3, Saturday, to Moses Lake, Washington
We were up very early this morning and on the road by 8:10 am. The sky was cloudy but the sun was shining through from time to time. Temperature at 29*F, BRrrrrrr! We headed north on 97 and stopped in Madras for a McD breakfast and to pick up two easy virtual caches on our route. One was a carved head of what looked like Jackie Kennedy standing about 6 feet tall and the second virtual was a memorial to a soldier named Tucker and those that died in Iraq.
We continued to Biggs on I-84, crossed over to Washington and headed east on Hwy 14 to Kennewick and the Tri-Cities where we stopped for lunch. Fuel here is 3.19/gal so we decided to wait until we get to our destination as we had enough. We continued on 395 then 17 and eventually I-90 to Moses Lake and our campsite for the next two nights, Pier Four RV Park, an R.O.D. park which means free for us. Tempature is at 48*F (9*C); that's a bit better!
We set up in site #105 and met our neighbour, BC’ers whom we had met in Pahrump.
( I have uploaded new pictures in folder # 56)

We travelled 519 KM (323 miles) in 7.5 hrs at an average of 53 mph
N 47* 06' 10"
W 119* 19' 38"
Alt: 1060 feet