TAKING OUR TIME

We spent two nights in the Lemon Creek Lodge Campground.  There was a couple from Idaho a few sites up from us the first night but we had the whole campground to ourselves the second night.  Very peaceful.  We had more time to ourselves also as there was no internet or cell service in the area.  It did make it more challenging for me as I decided to extend our travel days to five from four in the amount of time it will take to drive from Cranbrook, BC to Grand Junction, Colorado.  I had to work with paper maps and the Good Sam RV Camping Guide when looking for parks for the night.

We are so enjoying our slow pace here that I wanted to take some of the haste and long days out of the trip south.  We put on 215 kms the first day from Salmon Arm to Nakusp.  After two nights there, we traveled 89 kms to Lemon Creek, spent two nights then traveled 95 kms today.  We are in Balfour tonight and went up to Ainsworth Hotsprings after supper.  I love the hot pool there and Aileen is able to tolerate the cooler pool.  We will put on considerably more tomorrow as we are planning on getting to the Cranbrook area where we will lay over two nights before heading across the border and south on Thursday morning.

I spent part of two days geocaching along the Slocan Valley Rail Trail.  The fall colours are at their peak and it was just gorgeous travelling along it.  I spent nearly as much time taking photos as I did geocaching.   I rode/walked 12 kms the first day and 19.5 the second.  

This accommodating grasshopper let me put my SX50 very close to him.  I love the macro capabilities of this camera.

And even closer

Yesterday, I drove down to Winlaw and rode both directions on the rail trail.  The river was dead calm and the reflections superb!  I spent lots of time pursuing photo opportunities rather than geocaching.

This whitetail doe posed quite nicely along the trail.  Shot while straddling my bike.  Taken with my Canon SX50 with the lens at just over 1100mm.

There were lots of fat robins stuffing themselves on the berries preparing for their southbound journey.  Shot with my Canon SX50.  Lens at 1200mm and digital zoom at 1.54X.

My trusty bike,the river and the rail trail

Today after leaving Lemon Creek Lodge Campground, we drove down to Winlaw, parked the car and motor home then walked some of the rail trail that I had done on my bike yesterday.  Again it was gorgeous and I wanted to share it with Aileen.  We walked just over 8 kms.  We'd left Mitzy sleeping in the motor home but got her out when we walked the other direction for a short distance.  She got to play with a Jack Russell and a larger dog later named Memphis.  The people in this area are very friendly for the most part.

Along a couple of areas there were a lot of spider webs.  I call this a spider's highrise.

This bridge crosses the Slocan River at Winlaw allowing traffic to go up and downstream on the other side from the highway.

ARROW LAKE AND NAKUSP

After that gorgeous blue sky image in my last post, this is the view at the wharf the next day

The fog gives a nice touch to this fall scene

This was this morning in the Japanese Garden in Nakusp, a small town on the shores of Lower Arrow Lake in south central BC 

These Canada Geese are not sitting in the air but on the calm lake water

Here are the geese along with a houseboat coming in to the local marina

Nakusp has a beautiful walkway along the waterfront

While Aileen and I were out geocaching today we saw this beautiful immature Bald Eagle perched in a Hemlock tree alongside Mosquito Creek

On our way to Nakusp yesterday we stopped at Ione Falls, one of my favourite spots

Back in 1976, before we moved off Vancouver Island, Nakusp was one of the places we subscribed to the local paper  getting a feel for the area before making a decision about where to actually move to.  It is still a nice little town with many activities that have appeal.  There is lots of opportunity for ATVing, four wheel driving, hiking, hot springs and lots of great scenery.  The major downside is the distance to any large population centers for medical and shopping.  To the north, there is a free ferry and about 200 kms to Salmon Arm.  The biggest problem with the ferry is the sheer number of people using it in the summer months as this is a very popular tourist destination.  Going the other direction entails another very long drive down to Nelson or Castlegar.   We spent two nights in the municipal campground right in town which was great as it was very quiet but close to everything and lots of walking available.  For those not familiar with the Arrow Lakes, they are the dammed up Columbia River in BC before it enters Washington State.

Tomorrow we will move on probably over to Lemon Creek Lodge and Campground just south of Slocan Lake.  This is in the next north/south valley to the east of here and puts us more into the West Kootenay.  Slocan Lake and River flow into the Kootenay River that then joins the Columbia River at Castlegar.  There are some geocaches along an old railway grade that I can do on my bike.  Lemon Creek Campground was super quiet last time we were there in September 2013.

FIRE IN THE SKY

On our walk this morning, I had this glimpse of the local wharf.  See those white birds on the left?  I thought they were swans but on closer inspection, they were pelicans.

Here's a closer shot taken with the lens on my SX50 Canon at 1200 mm and 1.95 digital zoom

When we returned from our walk well over an hour later, I drove down to the wharf hoping the pelicans were still there but they were long gone.  I had to content myself with this image.

Fire in the sky.  When I was heading out to try for the lunar eclipse this evening, I spotted this scene. 

A good way to hide a large power pole.  Known locally as The Man on 10th Ave

We had to wait quite a while for the super moon to emerge from the clouds and then it stayed hazy making for difficult photography.

Mostly in eclipse

Bev and Kevin tried to get us into their back yard but we proved to be just too darn big.  When they remove more of the high bank and lessen the incline I have to back the motor home up, we will give it another try.  Removing the high bank is part of Kevin's long term plan for his back yard.  We have moved in to an RV park for our last five nights here.  We plan to leave Thursday morning heading for the West Kootenay.  We are still on target for crossing the border on October 8 or 9 on our way to Grand Junction,CO.

We've visited some of our friends and family in this area, Aileen more than me.  I intend to go to camera club tomorrow evening where I will see more friends although I know a lot less of the members than I used to when I was the longest attending member of the club.  Jacquie and Jim offered us pears so we picked a box full and Aileen canned a bunch over the weekend.  Eleanor and Ron offered us green beans and we've scored two batches of those.  The first was a bag Ron had picked and last night I went over and picked a two gallon pail full.

Aileen house sat for Bev and Kevin over the weekend as they went to Whistler with a group of friends to participate in Muderella which was a 9 km course on the ski area with a series of obstacles to overcome.  It sounds like they had a good time but have lots of sore muscles and joints.  The final item was zooming down a slide in to very cold water.  

BACK TO HOME BASE

My brother in law John R just bought the side by side on the left and we went on an inaugural ride just before we left Vancouver Island

Two of my three brothers in law John.  My sister Susan's John R on the left and Aileen's sister Anne's John F on the right. with his dog Bryony.  These two Johns went to school together.

Ooh, a water crossing!

Last Thursday morning we boarded a ferry and left Vancouver Island.  This is looking towards Nanaimo as we pass by.

We stopped at Canyon Alpine RV  Park in the Fraser Canyon Thursday night to spread our trip over two days.  These mushrooms were close to our site.

Aileen and I saw this peaceful scene from the wharf on our walk yesterday morning

We went to the same place this morning but had to walk in the rain

Fall is coming!  That's our motor home peeking in at the side.

We are back at our home base of Salmon Arm for a few days catching up a bit of medical, some business and visiting family and friends.  I was pretty surprised to email my friend Doug to find he had sold his house and was moving to the Sunshine Coast of BC which is north of Vancouver and across the strait from Comox on Vancouver Island.  Two days later and I would have missed him.  He and I got together with our friend Jim for coffee that afternoon.  The three of us photographed together for years back before I retired and began this vagabond life with Aileen. 

RALLY AND WINDING DOWN

Richard and Georgia made a day trip up to see us in Errington so we went for a walk around Little Qualicum Falls.  This is the Upper Falls.

We moved up to Campbell River for the long weekend and the first night we went out to the Pier.  Our friend Bev M from Penticton was with us.  That's Cape Mudge Lighthouse on Quadra Island in the background. 

A high speed passenger ferry returning from Quadra Island

Alaska Ferry heading to Bellingham

They serve humongous ice cream cones on the Pier.  This is called a two scoop! 

Male Red-shafted Flicker that Aileen spotted beside the motor home while parked at Cousin Bill's.  I took this photo from the open doorway.

We moved down to Seal Bay RV Park on the 8th for an SKP chapter rally.  It is adjacent to miles of trails in the Seal Bay Regional Nature Park where we walked most mornings.  This is looking across to Mainland BC. 

And as the sun started peeking through

While visiting friends Doug and Gay in Campbell River, this eagle landed just down from the house so I sat on the porch and captured a few frames.

The Red Oosier Dogwood is putting on some fall colour

This Hairy Woodpecker was busy having breakfast on the trail in front of us.  Aileen was able to get within about six feet of it.

Brother in law John and I did a couple long days geocaching and I got this image at one of the caches

Our little rally group is fortunate to have a semi retired professional musician as a member and he gives a great performance one evening at each rally.

Friend Laurie used my camera while Aileen and I were up dancing

We've enjoyed our time at the rally with the shared meals, appy night at a local pub and sitting around the blazing fire in the evenings.   This morning we are headed back to Charlie and Sheila's in Errington for a few days.  Richard and Georgia are coming up this afternoon for an overnight visit which will be the last we see them until sometime next year.  

Our current plan is to board the ferry Wednesday morning heading for Salmon Arm where we will probably hang out for a couple weeks.  If the weather co-operates, we hope to spend a week in the Kootenays before crossing the border.

OUR DRY WEATHER HAS VAMOOSED

On Saturday we had some strong winds with the rain.  This is looking west just outside our gate on Grafton Ave, Errinbgton

This is the view looking east on Grafton

The rain has given new life to the last flowers in the garden

Framed Rose

Momma cow getting up close and personal

We had a free day on Friday so we drove up to Cumberland and took our friend Perry into Courtenay for fish and chips for lunch.  Perry's son Matthew was our son Richard's best friend in elementary school back in he 1970's when we lived in Turtle Valley near Chase, BC.  We used to visit back and forth as a family back in those days so it is nice to keep in touch.
On Saturday, Aileen and I visited with a couple I met geocaching down near Quartzsite, AZ last winter.  While I was caching, I noticed a name in the logs that I recognized from caching on Vancouver Island and eventually I caught up to them and we chatted.  When we found that they lived close to where we spend part of our summer, Marg invited us to come visit them at their home.  It took most of the summer for it to work out and we had a nice visit.  I was invited back on Sunday as Malcolm wanted to share some maps that would be of value to me when geocaching and RVing.
We had a great supper here in the house with Charlie and Sheila tonight.  Our friend Bev D brought some nice strip loin steaks that I grilled.  We had lots of veggies out of the garden here and a chocolate zucchini cake for dessert that Aileen made.
We're still having showers but the weather is supposed to improve toward the end of the week.  I'm hoping for dry roads for our move up to Campbell River on Friday.