Catching up chores at home

Even though the nights are cold with temperatures about -2C, the perennials are growing so fast you can almost hear them.  Our little blue shed building, dubbed " the dollhouse" by the neighbours, now has a lovely deck out front.  Donald is a great builder!

This week, we are off to the Salmon Arm Elks Park, for 4 days of fun with Chapter 33 Okanagan Escapees.  There are a couple of building companies there we may visit to see about what we can put on this lot for a more permanent, but very small, house/park model.

This year's tulips

Drip Drip..good to be home

Our RV appointment was at Voyager RV in Winfield on Monday, and even with just a few little items it seemed to take all day. A new stereo system is on order as our ate a CD and a few other things, so we will probably go back sometime later in May.  We at least had time for an oil change on the truck at Jacobsen's GM in Kelowna, and then we were on the road heading north.  It was after 5 and by the time we arrived at Salmon Arm, we decided to spend the evening at the Picadilly Mall parking lot, where overnighters are quite welcome - they even have an awesome water and dump area. So this morning, here we are back at our little place in the Shuswap by 10 am, doing enough chores in the pouring rain to be able to get by till the rain stops.

My tulips should be blooming in a couple of days, and it appears I have only lost one rose bush. Fantastic. Also, Donald is in the good books again as the Bleeding Heart plant that I thought he killed is coming back. What a lucky man.

Back in Canada

Just a short post as we set up.  The plan was to cross the border yesterday, but it was just pouring rain and would have made for a miserable drive, so we spent another evening at the Fairgrounds in Omak, Washington.  Leaving there at 9 am this morning, it was a lovely sunny drive to the border and a final fill of 1/4 tank before hitting the crossing.

The crossing went well - fruits and vegetables? Liquor? How much did you spend? Alterations or Repairs to any vehicles? Ok, thanks, have a nice day. Yippee, we're on our way.

A one hour stop in Penticton as we thought we could get a rebate on our out of country extended medical policy. Nope - forgot we took annual policies. Anyway, we renewed our BCAA membership for another year.

On to driving through the crazy city. Kelowna. Ack. So, we are presently set up at Wood Lake RV Park and Marina, and it is full hookups and right on the beach for $20 a night. Normal price? $85 for being within touching distance of your next door neighbour. We would not even fit here in the summer.  There are about 4 other rigs here, and none within the aforementioned touching space.  The bonus is that the young man who is working here, and doing landscaping, wood delivery, office.. and working on his CMA is a delight. He ran up to our rig when we got here, introduced himself and offered his hand to shake. Got to like that. Smiley, too.  We have a couple of boys like that....

So, we drove up to Voyager RV to confirm our appointment Monday morning then went out for Chinese Dinner smorg. Wonderful fresh food at $11. each.

Oh yes, Donald still hasn't put on long pants. Rick, there is an ad in the paper here for a sale on John Deere lawn tractors. One has cruise control! Should we send you the flyer?

The return of long pants

A long driving day yesterday from Pendleton, although we did miss all the wind that Russ and Donna enjoyed after we left. Whew.

Presently we are sitting in the rain in the Omak, Washington Fairgrounds RV park.  Right behind us is the river, and the hill that men and horses fly down during the Suicide Race here in August. It must be really something to see.

Still yet to decide whether we will be off today to cross the border, or wait for the rain to clear off. Ah - long pants. Oh well.

Great Day that goes out with a Bang

Since we didn't unhook the truck from the 5th while in Mountain Home, Idaho we had a great start to our day.  The biggest city yet to travel through on our way back, other than Kelowna was Boise, and driving through there at 9:30 Sunday morning is a great travel time. Whoosh... we were through.

A beautiful day with a great drive, and an early arrival at Wild Horse Casino RV Park in Pendleton, Oregon. Our site backs onto a gigantic farmer field, complete with tons of birds, deer, and something we have yet to see, but we can hear it. Sounds like a turkey and it is in the field.  Now this 'turkey' is as scared of thunder and lightening storms as most dogs are. Poor Poppy! Yes, we are parked next to Russ and Donna and their lovely dog, Poppy. They were able to get some fantastic pictures of the storm last night. www.therapytravels.blogspot.com.  I tried, but only managed to get some sheet lightening behind the clouds.  Every time the thunder boomed, the poor 'turkey' sound worse.

Since we just blew through here last year, Don decided we should stay for 2-3 days and have ourselves a little explore.  This morning we are off to breakfast with Russ and Donna at a downtown place they say is pretty interesting, then I have our tourist map to explore some more.  Oh my, I did make a note of the quilt shops. ( yes, Paulette... how can we stop and not check those out, EH?) Donald is thinking about checking into an oil change for the truck, although it is not quite due.  He did notice that quite a number of B.C. plated RV's were already set up and their satellite dishes, when we got here at about 1:30 in the afternoon. What? They beat us here when we had an early start? Oops! It was hockey game night, and unfortunately for B.C., the last. 'nuff said 'bout that.

I must take a picture of our site and post it. Marvellous here. Good rate too. $21.00 per night, all hookups, big sites, VERY quiet, buses to casino and museum. HUGE golfcourse with 5 lakes. WE sit outside with our binoculars watching the deer in the field and the vehicles coming down the killer hill on I-84, way off in the distance. ( 6% grade for 6 miles ). The only place on our travels that give you 3 warnings about the need to downgrade. In BIG letters on BIG signs. The last one of course, says LAST WARNING!!!!  Up in the Nisga'aa territory, there are 18% grades. Tiny signs there. Only one sign per hill.