BACK IN CANADA

Our 83 year old friend Dan and his much more youthful wife Betty who live in the hills above Summerland, BC in front of the log house they built 21 years ago

March 6, 2010 Saturday

We both slept fairly well but were again awake about 5 or shortly after. The day dawned clear and frosty. We hit the road at 8 AM. Aileen drove the first section after lunch then again awhile later. We went over Blewett Pass as the webcam showed bare pavement this morning. The temperature was up to 14C in several places including Osoyoos/Penticton. The lady at Canada Customs wasn’t friendly at all and she bitched about my not giving her the ATV registration and generator receipt right up front. Some people in front of us didn’t have their passports in hand so she pulled them aside and took all their fruits and veggies. They were very unhappy. I had to pay PST and GST in the amount of $35.19 on the generator. The big guy inside was very pleasant to deal with. We are parked in a vacant lot up the street from our friends, Dan and Betty, in the hills above Summerland, BC. We traveled 515 kms today and 3109 total since Florence. We walked down and visited them for awhile after supper. It was so good to see them again. We were last here last May.

March 7, 2010 Sunday

We slept til nearly 7 this morning which is the longest this trip. After packing up the trailer, we visited Dan and Betty for awhile before wandering our way to Salmon Arm. We dumped the tanks and bought a couple necessary groceries before heading out to Tappen to park in Jim and Jacquie’s yard. We got the trailer set up then emptied the truck so we are organized for our stay now. Tomorrow we will have to begin getting organized to do what we need to do here in Salmon Arm before we can hopefully head off to Vancouver Island to visit family.

We traveled 3294 kms (2059 miles) returning north. We did 6155 kms (3847 miles on our trip south last Fall. We traveled 8015 kms (5009 miles) while in Florence from November to the end of February. We had pretty good weather for most of the trip and this evening it has been spitting a little rain at us. It’s going to take us awhile to get used to the way higher fuel, meat and veggie prices here compared to Arizona.

March 8, 2010 Monday

Aileen took Mitzy for her first walk and I did the second one. Off to town then with a stop at storage first to drop off a few things and just refresh our memories of how full it is. Next stop was Telus to change our cell service back to Canada only and reactivate the air card for internet. We went to our house to check it out after the renter. This was the first time we’ve been in the house since September 2008 and we were impressed with how clean she left it and the fact there was no damage for which we are grateful. We met our daughter Bev and her dogs at the park for a visit. She brought us our mail all nicely organized and we gave her the articles she had left with us down south in January.

March 9, 2010 Tuesday

This was another busy morning doing errands in town and catching up on items from the mail that needed attention. Aileen went for some required blood work before her regular doctor visit on Thursday. She also scheduled an appointment with the dentist. We also scheduled another appointment for tomorrow which may set in motion the next phase of our life. I have to drive a little way from the trailer to be able to post this blog as the signal is very weak in the trees under the mountain where we’re parked. The sun disappears very early in the afternoon presently. We left the water hose hooked up last night and it was frozen this morning. It has been clear all day today so I imagine it will freeze well tonight.