Vernon

Happy Mother's Day to the moms! We are enjoying beautiful weather in Vernon. We are 'camped' in Jeff and Christal's driveway. They live on the northern outskirts on a hill and they have a beautiful view off their back deck. Plus a nice big yard with fruit trees. SO much nicer than the trailer park that had been their home! We have spent most of our time outside. Ron has been busy doing his usual 'handyman' fix-it, clean-it, trim it thing.

The sad side? Owen has been sick from the second day of our arrival. We didn't get to see much of his smiling happy face before the diarrhia and the vomiting started. My heart breaks for him. He has been so good even on his worst days but he spends most of his time sleeping or laying on mom or dad. Jeff and Christal had him to the clinic yesterday and just now took him up to the hospital as he isn't getting any better. Dehydration is a worry. One feels so helpless and sad for him.



Christal's mom and dad were over this morning and the moms enjoyed bacon, eggs and pancakes courtesy of the dads. Owen slept all morning and we had hoped he'd wake up feeling better. No such luck. And now we wait. I will keep you posted.

MONDAY: Just a quick note. Owen was given an IV to re-hydrate last night and kept overnight at the hospital.His blood and urine tests were okay. They figure it's something viral that appears to be going around. Christal stayed with him and Jeff came home and spent the evening with us.

Jeff is at the hospital now and we are thinking Owen will be released after the Dr. sees him this morning. Just got word that Richard and Janice are in Vernon and we will being seeing them shortly.

Drayton Valley to Golden, BC. And beyond..

Drayton Valley City Campground
Site #6 - $32, p/w/s, Internet BrazeauTourism7805427529, Temp 15C

We spent two nights in Drayton Valley. Ron helped Charlie load his storage compartments on the 'new to them' motorhome. Charlie gets around pretty good between his crutches and his scooter but I think the restrictions are pretty frustrating for him. He has a 4 inch platform on his shoe to compensate for the shortened leg and the missing hip joint. Note peeping dog from next door!

Jim and Jan drove out for dinner last night, so lots of brother bonding over this past week! Charlie dropped by for a coffee this morning and we were on the road by 10 a.m.

We had thought we might camp near Nordegg at one of the Prov. Recreation sites, but when you are up near the snow capped mountain peaks and the temp drops to 12C it is rather discouraging. Also? WIND!!



So we just pulled over for lunch at Lake Abraham near Nordegg, AB then continued on. It still looked like winter at the Bow Summit Pass and temp dropped further to 9C. Lots of snow there! (hehe.. I just re-read this, I originally said snot not snow.)

Anyway, we are now on our way to Kinbasket RV Resort out of Golden. We notice everyone but us is wearing shorts and tank tops. It is nice to see all the green. The trees are much further along than in northern AB. We will enjoy some 22C weather.
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Williams on the Lake Campground
Site #23 - $32, p/w/s, Internet

5:45 PM: Not a happy camper.  Kinbasket was a bust. 5 km winding down a horrible road and the resort was closed. On to Canyon Hot Springs. Closed. Too many miles travelled today and we are tired and grumpy. Anyway.. setting up at Revelstoke now. It is cloudy and spitting rain.

Williamson Lake Campground, Revelstoke, BC

Meota, Sk and Leduc, AB

Meota Regional Pk

Site #27 - $22, p only, Temp 17C

We had a good visit with Larry and Phyllis at Meota. We stayed in the nearby campground. Their new cabin is looking awesome. They will be moving in mid May. This will eventually be their rental place, but they will live in it while their new lake front home is being built over the next year. When we left their place yesterday, the ice on the lake had finally broken up! That alone made it feel chilly! 


Lions Campground
Site #47 - $37, p/w/s, Internet, Temp 10C

Our current location? The Lion's Campground in Leduc. Airplanes taking off at 7 am is what we awoke to. The joys of 'city camping'. We are obviously on the flight path

Last night we had dinner with Jim and Jan in their new home. Nice....

So, Larry and Phyllis will be back in the city today and tomorrow night we'll be getting together at Jim's for salmon dinner. Charlie and Carolyn will come from Drayton.

We plan to be in Vernon about Thursday, but we haven't really worked out where we will stay between here and there. I guess we'll just dig out the map and pick a spot... Have a great weekend!

Leaving Toon Town

This morning we will say goodbye to Saskatoon.

I enjoyed the time with my girlfriends. It is always great to 'catch up'. Five women equals a lot of conversation, so we usually don't have the need to do much else. A chick flick, some shopping, a trip to the Frozen Yogurt Shop and the weekend flew by. On Sunday the husbands joined us for Brunch.


Ron spent time with his Zado cousins and enjoyed some Red Lobster. We had dinner with Darryl and Deanne last night.

Next stop? Meota -- on Jackfish Lake. Some time with Larry and Phyllis. Warmer weather would be appreciated!

Day One - Saskatoon Ho

Gordon Howe Campground

Site #12 - $34 p/w, wifi, Temp 10C

Well, not the best start to a RV trip. Cold, wind and rain.

When we pulled over in Kindersley for lunch, we could hardly get the 5th wheel door open. The wind was SO strong. The old Dodge was guzzling fuel and we worried we wouldn't make it to the service station. Ron figures it was the worst gusts he'd driven in. And then came the rain. And the temperature dropped to 4C. Are we having fun yet?
However, a bowl of hot soup and a roast beef sandwich (on partially frozen bread) and it was back on the road.

We have just checked in to Ron's weekend home at the Gordon Howe Campground and I will soon be heading to Wilma's for our girlfriend weekend. And vodka.

Enjoy your weekend! Send heat if you have some.

Just so you know . . .

Camping Season has arrived. Tomorrow we will be bringing home the 5th wheel for loading.


We are headed to Saskatoon on Thurs. for my 'girlfriend weekend'. Ron will camp in the Gordie Howe Campground. After the weekend we will visit Larry and Phyllis at Jackfish Lake and then swing over to Edmonton / Drayton area to see the bros before heading to Vernon to visit Jeff and family. We have no definite timeline worked out and I'm not sure of our plans beyond this.

Anyway, I thought I would give you a heads up. We will stay in touch as we travel.

Home Again Home Again . . .

This morning we made the decision to head home. We had hoped to draw the camping out until after Thanksgiving, but I guess that won't happen now. The warm weather just wouldn't hang in there for us.

It was nice to have the sewer hookup plus the campground water was still turned on, so that made it easy to clean and empty the RV tanks in preparation for winterizing. Ron will add the antifreeze when we get home.

I am hoping we can enjoy some deck time and are able to sit around our propane firepit this weekend. Pretend camping!  It has been a long time since we have celebrated Thanksgiving at home.  So that is it for our 2011 camping season.

NOTE: It was 12C, cloudy and spitting rain when we left Cardston and when I wrote this final entry. Back home in Medicine Hat? Sunny and 21C.  I'm starting to think we should give up travelling in the spring and the fall!

Creston, BC... to Cardston, AB

Mountain Park Resort
Site #10 - $35.84, p/w, Internet, Temp 22C

Well, we've come full circle on this RV Trip. We spent last night in Creston/Erickson. At the Mountain Park with all those cool animal and bird wood carvings throughout the campground.

It was a beautiful evening and we sat out around the fire. Until we ran out of wood.  What?? We can buy some from the campground host??  No! never! We can not buy / pay money for firewood!

This morning it was cloudy, rainy and only 8C when we left Creston. The fall colours were much more prevalent than when we came through this area in September. Particularly in the Fernie / Sparwood area. It was all golden and beautiful! We changed our minds re our destination a few times on today's drive. We almost headed straight home.

But then the sun came out and the temp rose to 17C. And so, we turned south at Pincher Creek and we headed to Cardston, AB.
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Lee Creek Campground
Site #42 - $25, p/w/s, Internet LeeCr12543, Temp 17C

Cardston has a really nice town campground. So we 'checked in'. And, we managed to have another fire with wood left / salvaged from around the campground. Plus Ron raked up lots of leaves. 

On a neighboring lot there were all these piles of dead branches lined up along the chain link fence that separates the private property from the campground property. We figured they wouldn't mind us cleaning up and burning some of these old dead branches. We did manage to pull a couple branches through the 'links' in the fence. But then the friendly neighbor lady came out of the house with her 5 huge and not so friendly barking dogs. Apparently the branches are piled along the fence to keep the dogs back from the fence! "Some people are intimidated by the dogs" the lady says. Hahaha! We won't be stealing any more of THAT wood!!

Grand Forks to Creston... or ..??

We did enjoy our stay at Grand Forks. I'm kind of thinking that it doesn't take much to amuse us though. We always seem to enjoy the silliest little things on our travels. Small things small minds?? It has been interesting just to sit in this City Park campground and watch the locals go by. Some great entertainment there!

The bike trail here wasn't great. It looked good starting out, but for such a short distance. They really haven't developed or paved much of this Trans Canada trail at all. We biked what we could, but spent most of our time riding on the city streets. A bit of a disappointment.

On Sunday we opted for a truck tour. Ron headed north on a well paved highway winding up the mountain valley. I suggested we head over to Christina Lake. Ron claimed that particular highway wouldn't get us there. However, I turned on the GPS and "Lee" told us otherwise. We had a most enjoyable tour.

We missed a turn, but decided to continue further up the road. The fall colours and the mountain countryside were truly beautiful. We then returned to that missed turnoff. An hour later we were back on Hwy 3. At Grand Forks. About 500 metres down the road from where we had originally started our drive! We had such a good laugh. And indeed. A left turn down Hwy 3 and a further 20 km drive brought us to Christina Lake. Yup... it's those small things. Thanks for the laugh, Lee!

And Christina Lake? Nothing much has changed. If anything, it has gone further downhill. Developments have started and have been left unfinished. Businesses have closed plus there are "For Sale" signs everywhere. Actually this whole south area of BC seems to be suffering. It would appear that there is an excessive amount of real estate on the market right now. Tough times.

Today we continue east. Towards home. No hurries though. And where we spend the night will be a surprise. To all of us!

on to Grand Forks

Grand Forks Municipal Campground
Site #13 - $29, p/w/s, Internet poor, Temp 15C & cloudy

We quite enjoyed our lazy days at Osoyoos. We thought we might book another two nights for the "pay for 6 get 7th night free" special, but our site was booked for tomorrow night. And so we decided if we had to pack up and move, we may as well just keep going.

Through Greenwood and on to Grand Forks. One hour away. It is cloudy but pleasant. There is a section of the Trans Canada trail that passes through this area, so the bikes will be coming out.

I am happy to be back to the free unlimited internet and using my laptop rather than typing on the little iPod Touch keyboard! It was strange that the internet time limits ran out on the laptops and the newer iTouch, but the two older Touches remained connected.

All for now. Hope you are enjoying the weekend!