A blogging break for the summer

Our summer season looks like hair straight back and we're running.  Huge decks to be built by ourselves, a new grand daughter on the way, a visit to the north country, a " Sands " reunion in August that we are co - hosting, a Chapter 33 Escapees RV Club Rally that we are co - hosting and more.

We may make a post entry when our new little love is welcomed to the world..... but in the meantime, our building and garden projects are calling and all we can do at night is put our feet up and snooze on the couch!!! You know how it is.

Talk to you later........

We're home

Rick posted today about how they never envisioned staying in a Walmart parking lot as part of their RV'ing experiences. Ok, we're guilty! In fact, we stayed in the parking lot at Canadian Tire in Salmon Arm, which is allowed, on our last night before home.  There are no RV camping spots in Salon Arm that we like, and this 'site' has an awesome dumping station where we can do a super job before we get to the lot.  Our arrival back home is only about an hour away, and we arrived about 10 am.

We knew that our gazebo had collapsed over the winter due to the extreme high snow load in the Shuswap, so this morning Donald is trying to salvage what he can, see what can be fixed and whether the fairly new gas bbq that we stored under the gazebo can also be salvaged. It's all pretty much flat, so there is not too much hope!  On the bright side, we left the car out all winter with only a car cover and after hooking up the battery, she was ready to go! Luckily the collapsed gazebo missed hitting the car.

So, today is more unpacking the 5th wheel and starting on cleaning up the gardens.  The weather has warmed up and it's sunny and so away we go!

The gazebo WAS nice

Not smart yet.

We have left that rooster and all his crowing and made it across the border about 10 a.m. this morning.  Quite a few more questions than other years, but we were soon on our way.  Since we needed to get all " hooked back up" to some sort of internet and cell, we decided to stay a couple of days in Penticton to visit Rogers and Telus.  We don't even consider Bell, because of the way that they treated their satellite t.v. customers this past winter.   You may wonder why we are doing all this, but we do not have cable provided internet at our summer place, and rely on a portable wifi device, and our previous system was stopped in November before we left, so we didn't have to pay through the winter.

Now we are big time ( for us ) with I phones. I don't think we will be very smart with our smartphones for quite some time.  We do know how to turn them on. Oh, and have almost mastered how to call someone.  I called my mother.

It is good to be back in Canada, even if it is a little cooler. The blossoms were coming out on the fruit trees, there is green grass, people are golfing and the tulips and daffy's are very lovely.

Home in a couple of days.

Brrraaaccckkk and an RV problem

What started out as an early get go from Pendleton was not to be.  When I started to pull in our biggest slide ( table chairs and couch ) only one side of the slide would pull in and it seemed the motor would not engage the other side. Donald managed to push as hard as he could on the outside and since it was the rear and not the front, we limped out of Wildhorse RV Park to the nearest RV dealer, Thompson RV in Pendleton.  They, of course, could not fit us in for DAYS, but phoned and recommended the nearest RV repair shop, Drake RV.  Up the road we went, as the slide inched it's way further out.....

Drake RV is located at the airport in Pendleton, which was an old WW2  military base.  Their location is inside one of the original old aircraft hangers. Totally cool. They got us looked at right away, and it turned out the little sheer bolt that is a safety, broke away. To fix this, the underbelly had to be removed, but luckily that's all that it was and we were on our way in one hour, minus the one hour shop rate of $85 cash. Lucky Lucky. HIGHLY recommend these guys, they really know their stuff. Even if you need parts, give them a call.

The day's drive turned out to be later than anticipated, but what can you do. Stuff happens. What was the theme as we drove up from Pendleton, through the Tri-Cities, Moses Lake and onto Riverside, WA? Yes, it is farm country and all the way we saw" The Chicks are in ", " Baby chicks here "....
I do remember when we took delivery of our baby chicks many years ago, delivered by Greyhound Bus to the Feed Store.

Speaking of chickens, we are parked for two nights at Margie's RV Park in Riverside, Washington ( not recommended ). There is a rooster who seems to be quiet in the day, but crows all, yes all, night long. zzzzzz.  Border crossing tomorrow morning.

This rooster is not the culprit - image from Wikipedia

Rocking and Rolling in Pendelton

Wildhorse RV sites

Russ and Donna at Main Street Cafe, April 2012

Now, previously we thought that the biggest winds we ever encountered were at Senator Wash outside Yuma, but nope, Pendelton, Oregon is presently enjoying 50 mph wind gusts. The good thing about Oregon wind, is that you do not get the joyful experience of sand and dirt coming in every nook and cranny of the rig, that you do get in Yuma.

The plans are to head off early in the morning with the destination of Riverside, Washington in mind. That will be a longer drive day, so we'll have to see how it goes.  Today I got our receipts for purchases organized for the border. One job done. Now if I could find my Verizon papers with my account number to put that on hold.....

This morning we went downtown to Main Street Cafe, the same place we had breakfast with Russ and Donna almost a year ago. It was just as good.

I think everyone who is travelling is encountering cooler temperatures,wind and rain.  How does it go? April showers bring May flowers? Hope so.

Tulip in our garden upon arrival April 2012