Our RV Lifestyle

Lethbridge & District Pro Rodeo Day, August 25, 2023

But first a cool photo Allan took while we were on a walk in the neighbourhoodThe eagles have landed, 3 of them!

Our day begins with our first Lethbridge Transit ride

Here we are!!Whoop Up Days is Lethbridge’s equalvent to Toronto’s CNE or Vancouver’s PNE. The highlight of Whoop Up is the rodeo. That’s tonight but first, over priced (this wasn’t that bad) Mexican food truck food and a bevvy The midway, busy now but it’s going to get a lot crazier! When the rodeo was over you could barely walk there were so many folks.

Let the rodeo begin!

Ladies Barrel Racing

Whoops the barrels should be left standing

The winner +

Next bareback. No idea how these guys do this

The highlight of the rodeo: Warriors Relay Races. It’s crazy how they ride bareback, do a lap, then run to jump onto another horse. One of the riders missed his horse, it ran 2 laps without a rider. Never saw anything like this before but hope to again

Not amazing coverage but still fun to watch. Click “watch” to watch 🙂

After the rodeo, Allan had his very first corn dog! I had mustard on mine, as you should, Allan thought his with ketchup was better. Never!! kind of like pineapple on pizza. Corn dog ketchup = 😝

Can’t wait till next years “Whoop Up Days”

Hot Air Balloon! August 20, 2023

Sitting outside having our morning coffee, Allan says “It’s a thing!”. I thought he was referring to a bug on the window behind me, nope! “It’s a hot air balloon!!” WHAT!!

First sighting at 8:23am, It looked like they were having difficulties when in fact they were preparing to land.

And land they did with a pretty big thump and the people basket leaned over. We only saw 2 in the basket, when it landed about 10 people who were huddled down for the landing stood up. Within secords the pick up vehicle was on the sceneTouch down 8:25: The basket then up righted itself and people started to disembark

Start to deflate 8:28: Next they deflate the balloon. We chuckled when we heard the pilot say “We don’t expect you to help deflate but it will be quicker and we’ll be on our way faster”

8:57 Deflated 9:09 Loaded up 9:11 Gone! How did they know to land in this field?? Mystery is what it is!!

I googled Kiss the Sky and learned that we too could get a ride, starting at $395. Entire process takes about 4 hours with only 1 in the sky. What time does that mean they started on this ride??

No thanks for us but it was fun watching!

Moose Jaw, Aug 15-18, 2023

We’re going for mini get-away to Moose Jaw. We were there during the pandemic, September 2020, of course everything was closed. Now’s our chance to visit Al Capone’s tunnels. The drive is 5-3/4h which will do wonders for Bailey’s batteries. Trip starts off @Vanee Truck Wash for a Bailey

We did a pretty good job!

Sadly it didn’t last for long. This is likely the most bugs we stopped from bugging others. Windshield is covered, looks better in the photo than what it is. Moose Jaw, are you ready for us??

Peanut Hills is 😊😊😊

Allan doing a good job!

Peanut Hills Campground Site 32; notice what’s behind the park? This plant was not operational when we were here last. We were surprised to see the train arrive.

Allan built us a delicious Korean BBQ taco dinner 😋There he goes wrapping

Fire time with our after dinner wine. Love that Allan delivers!! Good night west sunset!
Aug 16th: Good morning east sunrise!

Tour the tunnels day, we set off tickets in hand. We selected the “Chicago Connection” tour… “You’re bootleggers in 1929. You come to Moose Jaw to buy booze from the Capone organization. You’ve got to learn the ropes and stay out of the way of the local police chief. You start out at Miss Fanny’s club and end up in a tunnel, somewhere underground. And the only one who knows the way out is Gus, one of Capone’s goons”

We met at the Tunnels location but the tour begins at the Hive Café across the street. They walked us over. It was very entertaining! Educational? Not sure but certain fun. The tunnels take you from the Hive side of Main St to the Tunnel building. It was much fun with the tour guides being in character. Downside! We were not offered a bootlegged shot!

Are the tunnels fact or fiction? Google search supports both theories. I like this one “The Moose Jaw tunnels are known to have been used by one of the most notorious criminals of the time, Al Capone. These tunnels in Moose Jaw are an important part of Canadian past.” If they are an important part… must be true!

More proof… “With the Soo line railway going directly from Moose Jaw to Chicago, there was quite the trade in bootlegged liquor to be managed by the gangsters. The breadth of bootlegging activity happening in Moose Jaw earned the city the moniker of “Little Chicago,” which was not a label that all the citizens were proud of”

I’m certain Al, AKA Scarface did not stay here 🙂

We had recommendations to eat at Nits Thai Restaurant, we were anxious to try but it smelt so bad I just couldn’t eat there.

We ended up at CJ’s Cornerstone Bar & Grill. Bonus they had RR on tap

MJ fuel price $1.636; Lethbridge $1.429It was fairly windy today. gusts up to 70km, fortunately the wind died down enough to have a fire. A great end to the day 🙂

Aug 17th: Visit Mac the Moose Day…

It’s a 19 minute walk, off we go. Kyle introduced us to these tasty adult freezies. Sure are refreshing while we walk it’s already 32c or 89f Spot them??

“Mac the Moose is a steel and concrete sculpture of a moose in Moose Jaw. It is claimed to be the world’s largest moose at 10.36 metres (34.0 ft) tall and a weight of approximately 10 long tons (10,000 kg)”

Busted!!

The Snowbirds, officially known as 431 Air Demonstration Squadron are the military aerobatics flight demonstration team of the Royal Canadian Air Force. The team is based at 15 Wing Moose Jaw near Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.

So cute

He’s so bullish!

Back at camp my fire god jumps into action!

Aug 18th: Heading back home today. It been an interesting few days; Bailey is still my happy place. Love tthe travel and sites.

It is a good day to leave as there is both a heat warning and poor air quality in effect. May have the same in Lethbridge.

This is pretty much what the entire SK drive looks like.

Back in AB, air quality isn’t any better. The BC & NWT fires are far reaching.

Bailey is sad to be back in storage, hopefully our next outing is coming soon!

First half of August 2023 done

Aug 01st: Kyle and Megan decided Allan had to have a thing, an 85lb thing, I was in the shower when it arrived. Allan has been under strict instructions to not look at any deliveries. I tried but could not move it to the yard. Decorate, let’s decorate…

It was funny, Allan didn’t notice it on our way out but when we returned he’s like “what’s that?” None of your business!!!

Aug 02nd: Much awaited visit by KyAn. They wanted to come earlier but we wanted to be a little set up and have a bed for them. Story behind the cylinder container… It’s some wine hooch you heat up, that contains cherries. Kyle brought it back after his Ukraine deployment. It is super delicious and like nothing we have here. We enjoyed a bottle with KyAn at their house. When Kyle gave us the bottle he brought back for us we decided we would enjoy it with them when we purchased our sticks and bricks home. What we didn’t take into consideration was US border crossings! My nervous level went through the roof crossing cause I didn’t want them to take it. It and I survived!

It’s a gift day! We brought them little tokens from Yuma and Los Algodones. Kyle a t-shirt that you wouldn’t find here and for Megan a crazy looking giraffe. She likes giraffes, when we saw this one we said in unison Megan!

Allan’s turn! He delayed his birthday till KyAn were here. So love these people!WhatwaWhat was in this one? Father’s Day pot & pans!

We all know how much Allan loves butter tarts. Will this be a hit?

Out of Perth Ontario, they present BUTTER TART MOONSHINE!

What’s a birthday without a new set of PJs Summer show your legs off PJs

Don’t know why I didn’t get a photo but the above this is a car dash Hula Girl in memory of Wilf who had one in almost all his vehicles. He had a lot of vehicles. This is “Kala” installed. I thought I read Kala is princess today’s google reveals “Kala means to “let go or release” in the Hawaiian language.”

Next up Allan’s IndyCar driver race car model. Will having this car change Allan’s luck and he’ll start winning? Doubt it! ** Fast forward to race day!! I should have shut up!!! Josef finished 25th, 2 laps down (he should have stayed home) Pato finished 3rd. I think I should send the race car model back! Overall Josef is 3rd Pato 5th. How will the series end??

Allan’s gift from KyAn. He is very excited, not only did they buy it for him but they are also putting it together! A wonderful gift!

`I made Allan wait for Kyle to help with this installation. They did a great job! This is one of my favourite prints.

Finally fire time!

Night falls, time for the special “hooch” Kyle leaps into action using the pots KyAn got Allan for father’s day. Notice, no handles. The set comes with 2 handles that are meant to be used to move the pots, it makes storage so easy. Allan is loving these.

Serving it up Enjoying, sure is delicious!

Can’t get enough of fire photos!

Aug 03rd: While they are still sleeping we enjoy a hot tub. We all hot tubbed last night, didn’t do photos.

Walk time is followed by “Rewards” their first.

We did a thing where one night KyAn got to choice the meal & cook. Their selected dish was Perogies with Sausages in a a cream sauce. We added the Taber corn,aber thinks they have the best corn ever, it is pretty good. I think we’ll make cook night a tradition.

Aug 05th: Our last walk to see the coulees and some nice houses

Then off we go to Calgary for them to catch their flight. It was a great visit, we always have such fun with them.

Lucky for them they have lounge access as of course, their WestJet flight was delayed. No charge for the lovely buffet and drinks makes it bearable. Such a beautiful smile!

Aug 06th: We take a walk to the neighbouring subdivision that we see across the field from our house. This is the building we see, turns out it’s a very nice retirement home

Over there one of those homes is ours! 🙂It’s that time 🙂 Spot the “Rewards”

Aug 14th: Beautiful sunrise I

I don’t know who was more startled, me or the cat that jumped up onto our shed turned and saw me!

Yep, yet another chip in Bob’s windshield.. Allan decided it’s time to buy an annual membership to have chips repaired. We’re hoping this insurance will result in no more chips.Dice time! For those that play I’d strongly recommend one of these dice mats. It really tames the dice. Thanks again, KyAn!!

Fire time!

Good to remember…

A month and a bit….July 2023

Join me in recounting a few weeks in the life of Allan & Mary-Ann 🕵️‍♂️🕵️‍♂️

I normally proof read, not for this post. Hope there are not too many typos!

June 26th: What’s going on now? The microwave, that’s been working well, started to shut off after a few seconds. Plug it into another outlet, same results. New microwave time. Buy it, plug it in. Does the same thing. Nue-Lit Electric to the rescue

June 28th – On our way to Ikea Calgary an SUV passes up and we hear the dreaded “bang” on the windshield. Fortunately it’s just a chip and can be repaired. Detour to Speedy Auto Glass in Calgary; although we have glass coverage we paid out of pocket as they consider the $60 a claim against our policy. We’ve learned it’s not worth putting it through.

Then on to Ikea

July 01st: Picture hanging day. First a beautiful sunriseWill we get it right the first time, likely not. Fast forward, we didn’t

It’s also weeding day. Gosh do I hate anything garden related. Have no clue how some people find it relaxing.Taking a break and walking around Lake Henderson. Been awhile since we’ve had “REWARDS”

July 05th: Install Ikea floating shelf day. But first walk up to a beautiful sun rise

Installation went very well!!

July 7th: Build the outdoor patio set day, so much to build

In the evening friends popped by for a visit. Allan beat Shelly at Quatro; but it was Shelly’s first game-a rematch is sure to come.

July 09th: This is where we are putting the hot tub, first a lot of the greenery will have to be removed and a platform built for the hot tub to sit on

Some of what is growing here

Our first outdoor card game. Loving the new glasses

Then a delicious dinner

July 14th: Pick up dining room chairs at the Brick day. The first thing Allan didn’t have build. We just had to remove the plastic.

There was lots of debris on the pick up ramp, unfortunately, we ended up with a flat tire.

July 19th: Fire wood delivery day! 🔥🪵

July 20th: It’s build (by others for a change) the hot tub platform. They did a wonderful job!

Celebration fire!

July 21st: What’s on the build menu for today? Chairs!!

Box and parts = these

Way too much styrofoam, off to the dump

But first a quick stop at the hot tub store to visit our newly arrived tub. We are so excited to have a tub again….

July 22nd: Getting the pergola ready for the hot tub. The patio stones are being removed to make way for the 6×6 framed gravel base.

July 23th: Allan working hard to remove the bush stump.

Allan the VICTOR proudly displaying the stump

Whoops didn’t realize it was the grape bush

We may plant more but not behind where the hot tub is going

This is our third attempt at a great room carpet.. whoa such a small box for an 8′ x 10′ area rug! Hum! A lot wavy!!

It’s so super soft, we love it hope it smartens up! Fast forward, it did 😃 Look at me now!!Just fluffy not wavy!July 25th: Another building day. Today, our shoe cabinet and control centre units

While Allan is building I’m trying to get the garage organized.

We went out for a walk and came home to more stuff to build!

First use of the seat! Yahoo, it didn’t collapse 🙂 The other piece is our “control centre”

The finished products!

July 26th: Build, build and more build. Today’s project…

Allan is such a pro at this by now. Great job, looks wonderful.

July 30th: Today we set our best, length of time for a fire. We started it about 7am and stopped it abut 5 due to the weather. My ❤️‍🔥 god rules!

July 31st: Allan’s Birthday 🎈🎉🎈🥳🎈

It starts with a fire

Then a breakfast prepared by me with a beer

Bailey is hiding cause she doesn’t want to go back to storage.

We get to choose dinner on our birthdays, Allan selected 🍕&🍺No surprise here 🙂

The pizza place has a special on 3 pizzas, mix & match.

Allan had a great birthday, started in Tabor and ended at home 🏠 We will be having another celebration when Kyle & Megan get here!!

Unexpected sad times July 2023

Many of my FB friends know we lost Wilf, a dear friend, Allan’s best friend, since he was 14 unexpectedly on June 23rd. The only good that came out of this was Wilf was doing what he loved. He was on a mini motorcycle getaway with 2 of his friends. He had over 400 people attend his Celebration of Life. He will be more than sadly missed. We’ve kind of been in turmoil since.

Us in happy times

That same day we brought Bailey to Diesel Tech to get our “out of province” to become an Albertan. Should take a day or twoFour days later, when we still hadn’t heard anything we visited Bailey.

The poor thing, stuck in the back

Turns out it’s the tag axle bearings that require replacement. Just our luck these were discontinued by Freightliner. How crazy is that??

They suggest they can take it apart, and see if they can find a replacement. We have no choice, so they went ahead.

They did find a replacement: order part. There was a miscommunication between who ordered the part and the parts place so they only received one. Another order placed and of course more delay.

3 weeks later, Bailey is finally ready for pick up

Bailey is an Albertan!!

Off we go to Bailey’s storage location, we wished to find an indoor location but didn’t happen

Next day, off we go to Back Country RV. They have Bailey’s broken blind that we need back, we now have Allan’s driver’s side blind that doesn’t retract, needs a fix. Just our luck they can’t be repaired.. We have to order replacements from the States

There is also an issue with the house batteries. We thought the “out of province” would take a maximum of 2 days as a result we didn’t think to unhook the house batteries. The tech said to plug it in. We asked at storage but no available plugs.

Bailey comes home!

2 full days of being plugged in makes no difference; batteries still not charged. Boo!!

Back to storage Bailey goes! .

Plan B: Spend a night or 2 at an RV park so see if plugging in to higher power will do it. Fingers crossed!

June 2023, the moving adventure continues

Saga: The “we’re so happy we have stable internet” phase didn’t last long. Back to sporadic internet. A Telus service call sends Luke to the rescue and we’re now good.

We are still in the find it, buy it, build it

June 14th: Our lawn mower arrived yesterday, Allan charged the batteries and is now tackling the overgrown lawn time. It takes a few passes but the lawn is now looking good.

We have done several trips to thedepot

June 16th: Our bed arrived yesterday, today is our first night in our new home. Guess we were both over excited because we awoke super early to see the sunrise and have our first 🔥 Didn’t know the sprinkler would be joining us 💦💦

Our first breakfast

Backyard visitor, oh 🦌 Taking the big leap

Another nice sunrise

Off to the dump we go. We have tons of styrofoam that has to go.

Next purchase! Pit Boss Wood Pellet Grill. We like charcoal a bit better but the embers go where they choose, Allan is worried about burning down the deck. This is one heavy grill weighing in at 167 lbs / 76 kg. Somehow we wrestle it to the backyard and put it together.

First meal on the “Boss”, yummy delicious 🙂

Our life at home and Bailey as a travel get-away started officially on June 22. Our stint at Elba’s RV Park is done.

Bailey now needs her “out of province” inspection to become an Albertan like the rest of us. We dropped her at Diesel Tech. Hoping they don’t find anything expensively wrong with her. 🤞

New Adventure, started June 01, 2023

Many of you know we purchased a home. It was the strangest deal, offer put in May 3^rd, ended up closing June 1^st. Date was the seller’s choice. They also left the weirdest stuff, a heavy duty juicer, a Breville expresso maker, lots of art.

We searched several towns in Alberta & BC and finally settled on Lethbridge. Lethbridge has our old town, Newmarket, type of feel when we first moved there in 2005. Small town with everything you want, except for Ikea & an airport – Calgary for that.

TADA our sticks & bricks!!

Our new home keys 🔑🔑🔑 😁

No furniture yet but enjoying our first drink in the house

Many have asked if we are keeping Bailey. A BIG yes! We have not yet accomplished what we purchased Bailey to do: follow the IndyCar circuit.

We were in St. Petersburg, FL for the road course race, the roads were closed, the stands were brought in, then on Friday the race was cancelled. So disappointed but everyone was during Covid.

Bailey and travelling Canada & the US was not our plan but Covid helped to make that happen. It’s been an amazing time, we saw and did so much we otherwise would not have done. We made the decision to sell our final Ontario property and head to BC to be closer to Kyle & Megan.

Recap! House sold; we are busy selling most everything when we get the call from Kyle that he’s deployed to the Ukraine. Change our plans again! The rest is well documented in our Bailey blog.

All this to say, we always knew we would get another home, we just didn’t know where. We tried to be happy in BC but that province just wasn’t for us.

Time to get the “sentimental” stuff we have stored on the island.

Friday, June 3^rd, Allan along with his friend Wilf flew to Victoria to pick up the stuff we just couldn’t part with. Here’s Allan being picked up by Wilf.

Speedy trip, fly out of Calgary Friday at 1130pm, hang out at Kyle & Megan’s and catch the Saturday 10am ferry to Vancouver. This would not have been possible had K&M not taken Friday off to pick up the U-Haul and load it at the storage place. Who has the best kids??

We do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Their handiwork! Storage unit full empty

Loaded U-Haul in Victoria

The ferry back, yes that’s a whale 🐳

June 4th 1:23p – Allan & Wilf arrive in Lethbridge 😀 Fortunately they had an uneventful drive back.

Unloaded, thanks much for the help Wilf!! What do we find?? Again our amazing kids

Perfect gift!!

With everything going on who needs a safe? We do! Off to Costco … Weighs 333 lbs, have lots of help loading. Whatever are we doing to do to unload???

Back home, attempting the unload, my crocs just keep slipping, no traction to help push. “Stop” I say, “let me get my runners”. Takes seconds and I come back to this! How the heck did Allan get it on the ramp and down it??

I help, just a bit, to get it here

House comes with a mini library, not sure we are fans but it is a cool oneTaking a break to go for a walk, we spot this..

Yep a radar trap! We got caught by this last year and paid a hefty fine. Strange! The radio station announces where the radar is placed, we still got caught didn’t know the rules or know the streets. when we were here last year. Not that we try to speed, but this caught us off guard. A much needed break 🙂

Trials and turbulations. Telus Fiber, was supposed to be installed yesterday in 2.3/4h, they are back today. 2 dudes and 2 more hours later we finally, maybe have internet.Our builder, stools!

Stay tuned for more exciting furniture, if we ever buy it, building….

Victoria Day Weekend with friends, May 19-22, 2023

Goodbye Pincher, a slow hello to Taber… It’s a 90 minute drive when you are not stuck behind this contraction for 20 minutes, no way to pass.Next delay a seemingly endless train!

Home till Monday We are here with 3 super fun couples and their kids

Names withheld to protect the (not so) innocent!

We learned a few things: use an egg to crack another egg, bocce ball, Orbeez water balls, that we can almost be off grid for 3 days, (almost cause we can’t break our Duolingo streak) but most delicious was the introduction to new pie! The selection was cherry, apple and can’t remember the 3rd, made with a pie iron. Base is white buttered bread, OMG delicious! Here’s Shelly in buttery action!Loading up the pie iron