Author: Mary-Ann Knight

We get an early start learning for the trip here that it is a long travel day.  We arrive at the ferry a little before 8a.  We are surprised – thought the next ferry was at 9 nope good news it’s at 8 and we’ll be on it!  Great start to the day.

       Not crowded at all, glad we didn’t make reservations as to reserve is an extra $17. Just 2 ferries passing in the day! 

We thought we’d have coffee & breakfast waiting to board, now we think (we know) we won’t find any on board but we’ll try anyways. Yahoo, the Sitka Coffee is open.  We get our coffee and breakfast sandwich while enjoying this view.  Photos taken within minutes of each other.

Time to disembark     

On the road again!Back through the snow shed 

 Hoping to only see snow on the beautiful mountain tops

Use of chains not required today.       

       Getting closer. Such a beautiful day.

Snow on the side of the road is OK 

            A bit more snow here

Super steep runaway lane.  I shudder thinking of the trucks that must use it. Sunshine for the entire day, doesn’t happen often!

Almost home…

 

 

We’re starting the day in the hot tub.  Pour our coffee but we’ll want a second cup.  They have a glass carafe, don’t want to bring that out so… “MacGyver” it and use            their martini shaker 🙂   

Side note:  Better in theory than practice!  Burnt my fingers doing the pour.  Worth the burn for the hot tub burn!

It’s not Megan’s birthday till Sunday but we have to head back tomorrow so we’re celebrating today.

Gift = Skylight Frame So much fun, anyone can send you a photo.  We thought it would be especially fun now so Kyle could send photos.  

Melonie is working so we play a game of crib waiting for her to come home

 

 

Yes we let Megan win!

 

 

 

Megan selected Il Terrazzo for dinner.  An excellent choice

Should have done food photos 🙁

                  Our fire goddess! 

 

 

Today is search for next Winter’s campground day.

There’s one in Victoria we’d fit in but it is crazy expensive, the one that is reasonably priced is much too cramped.

We head up north to see what’s cooking…

First stop Living Forest Oceanside Campground & RV Park. Understand the living forest name now.  Trees en masse, translates to lots of falling leaves and worse than that sap on Bailey.   The roads are all very tight & tree-y, not Bailey friendly.  Not too sad Living Forest didn’t work out, cause next stop…

Jinglepot RV Park & Campgrounds.  Jinglepot, Jinglepot hopefully you are for us!! Love the name!   Sigh, this park is even tighter than the last one.  Perhaps we’ll end up back on the main land next winter.

Driving back, we see a sign for Rondalyn Resort.  Not sure why it didn’t make our list so believed we ruled it out based on their site information.  I say, “we’re here – let’s check it out”.  We are pleasantly surprised, it’s not squished looking and the road is paved.  Their mascot! There are 2 sites available, we check them out.  They are both very nice, we choose the one at the end of the road, (our current spot at the beginning of a road taught us).  This park permits wood fires!  The only issue is, the by-laws state you may only stay in the park for 6 months.  We need 7, OK we’ll find a 2 week park at either end of our stay.  Motor homes like to motor.  Normally you book your stay, here you must complete an application form. We’ll do that when we get back to Victoria.  

Allan and Megan build us a delicious dinner.  Mel & I supervise.

                  Then the moment we’ve been waiting for!!The thing I miss the most since selling our home.  Hot tubbing!

Meet Molly, this is Melonie, Megan’s sister’s sweetie.  Melonie and Molly are staying with Megan while Kyle is deployed.  So many ““s

 

Finding the paperwork we need was surprisingly painless.  We now have the balance of the day to map out tomorrow’s campground visits and of course we must head to Big Bad John’s for a pint.  We were going to walk around Victoria but it’s a gloomy, windy day so cut it short and just walk around the block.

Heading back to keep Molly company. 

It’s nice to have a quiet, uneventful day for a change 🙂

 

Rain, rain go away.  I’ve been saying that lots!  This is the road out of the park.

Perhaps I should not have complained about the rain.  We have a long way to go, hope the weather doesn’t get worse.

Not a fan of fog!   

 

 

A short break between the fog patches

  And another patch

Highway is open. Roads should be OK.

Clouds are relentless         

Here we go again!      Seeing is overrated, we’re discovering. 

                                     Highest speed limit we’ve seen in Canada, 120k  This is better, now we only have to watch for avalanches.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Out of the snow and fog, for now   

    Oh look! A train   

The city named after the band 🎸

Border wait times. Not that we can cross.

We’re getting there, I’d post the name of the bridge but never did figure it out. 

Almost at the ferry 😁 

Cost to cross:  $90.40

We arrive a little too late for this ferry.  Next one at 2p. In line waiting to board.

Time to board!

A little crowded in here.

There are some confusing signs, are we permitted to leave our vehicles? We decide if not, someone will send us back.  We head to the sunshine deck.  No sunshine here.

Really windy and cold out here. In we go.

We explore the other levels then head back to Bob.  These photos are taken from Bob’s level.

We just get settled in Bob when my cell rings.  It’s Helen!!  We haven’t spoken for quite a while.  We thought we’d lose service, we don’t. Helen keeps us company the balance of the ride. 😁

Hello Victoria!

Made it!  Megan treats us to Indian for dinner, delicious.

Happy to be here but we are all missing Kyle.

Bailey loves being the centre of attention!  Today is her day 🙂

11a appointment at Premium Truck  Inspection should take 2 hours.  Normally, Allan leaves me home but he took my home!

Bailey waiting for her turn       

While we were in Lethbridge, Irma & Tom gave Allan a patch for his cub blanket, I need yellow thread to sew it on.  Been looking since we left Lethbridge in various stores with no luck.  Driving in I spot .  To kill time while waiting for Bailey and to finally get the thread we head there.  Success!

That took less than 30m so we go for a walk in the neighbourhood, up a very steep hill.  We’ve walked about 45m, time to head back.  Bailey should almost be done and there is a lounge to hang out if she’s not.  Oh no!  Bailey is still outside waiting.    What happened to the 11a appointment???

We head in to figure out what’s (not) going on.  Allan gets a little side tracked. “Look a big truck!”

They say they will bring Bailey in

Our turn! 

 In @

The road isn’t really walking friendly but we’re hungry and google indicates there is a Chinese restaurant nearby.  Allan heads us out.  We walk and walk and dodge vehicles.  No restaurant.  Check maps again, apparently we walked right by it.  This time we leave maps open and head back and find the address.  No restaurant, google let us down!  Back to Premier’s lounge.  3 hours later still no word.  

Allan goes to speak with the mechanic.  It will just be a few more minutes.  Finally the dude comes to the lounge and says the rotors and pads require replacement. 5k brake repair!  We weren’t expecting that.  They  have to move Bailey to another bay that has a pit as the wheels have to come off.                                                                                             Bailey doesn’t quite fit!   

Dude takes Allan to show him.  Side note: First time Allan gets to see Bailey’s underside.  They discuss and come up with working some brake magic, while of course being safe. Ends up costing $1k.  Look at us saving money!

We finally leave at 5p.  Bonus! Rush hour wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be. We get back to the park and set up.  No POWER!!  It’s dark already making it more difficult to to troubleshoot.  Allan resets the breakers, wiggles the wires, nothing.  Allan the “almost electrician” is out of ideas.  Who to call?  I suggest going to the front office to see who they suggest.  They have a list but the lady says the security guard is a long time RVer and knows stuff.  She’ll ask him to stop by.  He comes by, resets, wiggles, jiggles wires and then resets the breaker in the electric room.  Still nothing.  I’m watching the panel and WOOHOO power is back, much to their amazement.  Can’t explain it but we don’t care.  

On our road trip yesterday, Allan picked up a new amber friends suggested.  Now’s the time to sample!      the verdict is!!

It’s OK but does like this one better.   

That’s a good thing as Kokanee Gold is available here, the other not so much.  

Yellow thread job complete. 

Top left, Lethbridge Peace Office

How many of you have cub blankets?

So ends another exciting day!

 

We are disappointed with Kelowna’s weather.  It’s colder than anticipated and there are many days with no sun.  We begin to monitor Osoyoos‘ weather as it is Canada’s only desert and claims to be the warmest spot in Canada. 

Dual purpose trip, check out the camps and sightsee.  Are there any available spots?  Is it worth the move? Hoping to find answers to these questions. 

Such a scenic drive

Downtown Osoyoos (don’t blink) 🙂

First campground we check is NK’MIP Campground and RV Park 

The road from Osoyoos to NK’MIP

Campground has a spot for us!   It’s a little tight, the neighbour’s dog is yapping and it is right next to the camp’s garage & workshop. 

Off to the next camp, take a wrong turn… happy we’re in Bob, Bailey would not have made the turn or the narrow dirt road.

Paradise Park  This park is not big rig friendly.  We stop by another camp, ditto for not big rig friendly.

Holiday Park, our park, is better located for stuff, like Costco, online grocery pick up/delivery,  we can walk to Sav-On-Foods, the airport is a 10 minute drive – decision made we will stay here and bundle up and try not to curse the gloomy, no sun days, too much.  

Kelowna bound

With a stop in Keremeos for a late lunch   

   Cool trike! 

Town map includes a list of movies filmed here

None of the restaurants call our names so back on the road. 

Bye Keremeos 

We drive by Penticton, an adventure for another day.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s adventure.

 

2020 Unpredictable at best

Very few of us are doing what we thought we’d be doing.

We, as a family, are thankfully well.  We do have a family member who contracted the virus fortunately they are now well.

We have friends who are more adversely affected, all we can do is support them by listening and sending virtual hugs.

Life, hopefully goes on.  We are thankful!  Not many boring times!

We arranged a few days ago to have a traditional turkey dinner with all the fixins supplied by Blue Schooner Cafe the on site café.  We haven’t had turkey in a long while, we’re looking forward to it.

Side note: This café was born when the restaurant at the entrance of the park,  Italian Kitchen  burnt in a suspicious fire in September.   

There are signs warning of bear sightings.  Will Allan finally see a bear?? I hope not.  The parks FB page has a few posts of people who have seen one.  May be the best chance yet, I’d be happy to pass on it.

Dinner time, actually lunch as the café closes at 2p.  We picked up and ate in Bailey.

Blue Schooner is run by volunteers and they do a fabulous job!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Not much else to do…     

Rain Rain Go Away was going to skip posting today but when the video uploaded I just had to add it.  Videos are not my friends normally.

 

Today’s adventure, Peachland

The drive down Hwy 97, it appears it has most everything on it or just off it which

= to much traffic all the time

Crossing over the William R. Bennett Bridge to West Kelowna. To quote the info “you’re doing something absolutely unique in Canada — travelling on a floating bridge.”Not my photo, but a great one of the bridge Clouds, lots of clouds                     

 

Here we are     At the beach.  Cold, no sun 🙁

Tis very scenic…

Houses on hills are big in the Okanogan  Wish it wasn’t so windy so we could explore more.  Next visit!