BACK IN THE SHUSWAP FOR A FEW DAYS

We started the departure preparations about 7AM on Saturday the 17th and it took about 30 minutes or so. I pulled outside the gate and got the CRV attached with supervision by Chas and Sheila as well as Aileen. We headed out the gate about 7:50 well ahead of schedule. Just as we were turning onto the freeway, the phone rang. It was Sheila who had just found Aileen’s only jacket hanging in her closet. Chas brought it down to the weigh scales for us. I took the opportunity to weigh the Terra since the scales were closed. The Terra came in at 19,646 lbs which is well under our gvw of 22,000. The breakdown was 3160 kgs front and 5770 rear. Adding the CRV (about 3600 lbs), we should be nearly 3000 lbs under our gross combined weight limit. We arrived at Duke Point at 8:48 so less than 50 minutes driving time. The lot was nearly empty when we arrived. They charged us 55 feet so $240.15! The ferry left on time at least. We stopped at the end of the causeway for Mitzy who really needed to pee as she wouldn’t go at Duke Point. We arrived at Hope mid afternoon and selected #85 campsite at Coquilhalla Campsite, $28 full hook up. I gave Mitzy a good walk up and down the river and all around the campsite. She was pooped for the rest of the evening. Aileen went off to bed right after supper so I went for a looong walk around town. I made it down to the highway along the river on the far side of town. I called my Aunt June to see if we could come by in the morning and she said okay.

On Sunday my alarm rang at six am again (still on from the day before) but we happily ignored it. We had a slow start finally getting on the road at 9:30 when we drove both vehicles over to June’s. They had a tour and we visited outside awhile then I hooked the car up and we departed. We stopped for lunch early at the Britton Creek Rest Stop and read awhile plus Mitzy and I wandered around a bit. Some old guy was recording us on his video camera while we were eating then all the way out the road I could see him still filming us. Weird! Then dropping down into Merritt, some tourist was videoing us as he went past. Not sure what that as about, there were many other RVs on the road today. We unhooked the CRV before driving into my Aunt Jacquie’s (and Jim’s) yard. I just drove up by the garage then backed up toward their motor home and we were in position. It didn’t take much to get level either, just lift the right side a bit. I had to plug in to an inside plug in as the ground fault outside one kept tripping as I plugged in. We had an early supper of soup and toast as we were both hungry. Jacquie and Jim had a tour after we got set up.

It was quiet here during the night, no road noise of any kind. We went off to town before 8:30 Monday to get Mitzy for her bath and grooming appointment at the SPCA where our daughter Bev did the deed. Next stop was Tri Crown to talk to John about the solar power transfer to the Terra. We got an appointment for Thursday morning. From there we went to the storage yard where I left 8 postdated cheques. We hope to empty or at least downsize the contents next Spring. I retrieved the big Fantastic Fan cover which had been pushed quite far back. I installed it late this afternoon. I was lucky to be able to borrow Jim’s cordless drill which was in the front of his truck and not already moved to the new place. We picked up Mitzy then came home for lunch as Aileen was whacked. After supper I took Mitzy for a walk down the road and also called Terasen Gas to request a refund of the credit owing from out last statement. She said it had already been sent as of September 8^th.

On Wednesday, I helped Jim and his friend Rick move shop stuff to the new place. Three big loads with his flatdeck with sides on and two loads with our truck almost got it all moved. He still had a load of lumber, plywood etc to take when he figured out where to put it. We took the last load over after lunch.

Aileen went off to town Wednesday morning for her doctor’s appointment. She carried on from there to Val Nakazawa’s for a haircut and visit. She got her prescription for thyroid med filled and found we had been removed from the government plan for some reason so we had to fill out an application. She and Bev went for lunch at Choice’s as Bev had today off.

I went to town mid afternoon to see Tracy at TAC Mobility. She didn’t have the loaner she had planned to give me as it went out the other day. When I researched buying my contract out I found I would have to pay $380! No more contracts with Telus! I decided I’ll buy an aircard outright and wait for the contract to expire then go on monthly. I went to the Holiday Inn and pirated their signal so I could pay a bill that needed attention. I met my old former coworker, John Randall, down town and we had a good chat. He has the dry type macular degeneration and the specialist told him he may get 3-5 years of sight, maybe less. I went to storage and dug out Aileen’s scooter. I managed to get it loaded using the ATV ramp and the help offered by a guy living in his 5^th wheel right there.

I helped Jim load all the bits and pieces of lumber from his shop Thursday morning before we went off to town. I went to Telus and bought another aircard outright. I also picked up our C- PAP machine cards from the technician who had them to download the stored data. We had lunch at PJs with Bev then went out to the storage locker and tore it apart. We found my leather coat which I wanted to have with us but no luck with the blood pressure monitor or TENS machine. I think we accessed 90% of all the boxes but no luck. We did get rid of a few things to the thrift store and Bev took all the snow shovels and the treadmill. We got the storage stuff put back and it is less crowded at the front and more efficiently stacked at the back. We were close to three hours at storage.

We headed for town with the car and Terra just after 8 AM this morning. Dumped the tanks first then delivered the motor home to Tri Crown where they had it for the day installing the solar panels, digital charge meter/regulator etc so the panels are actually charging. We are to take it back on Monday to have the inverter and auto switch installed. We took the laundry to the Shell Station facility and Aileen took care of it while I took Mitzy for a short walk. We couldn’t get her computer to get online so she used mine. We went to Choices for soup and sandwich for lunch then Aileen walked around the block and I had a quick Art Gallery tour. Next, we went to My Aunt Eleanor’s. Aileen took over the canning Eleanor was working on and I helped Eleanor on some computer issues. I set up Gmail for her, transferred way over a year’s photos to a thumb drive and showed her how to defrag. Uncle Ron goes for his eye operation tomorrow. Tonight I figured out what was wrong with Aileen’s computer and the internet. It was set on VPN and needed to be on Telus ISP or something. However, the signal was so bad it kept kicking her off and frustrating her so she finally went to bed. This was another day where she didn’t get a nap so really needed some rest anyway. My baby sister Becky, I’m the oldest of 8 and she is the youngest, turned 49 today. Time is moving along so fast! We had a rather nice day yesterday but every other day has been mostly cloudy and some rain since we arrived here.