Back in Kelowna for warranty work on the trailer

We are back in Kelowna for some small warranty work on the trailer, we had a kitchen drawer fall out while we were on the road, and we couldn't get it back in right, so are having that taken care of, as well as other small stuff. Nothing big at all.
Thank heavens it didn't rip up the kitchen lino when it came crashing out. It was a big drawer.

The learning curve is pretty steep with this rig, we find that the bed closes up right to the drawers in the bedroom, so we can't get into the bedroom, and can't access the clothes cupboard if the slide is closed. Need to plan ahead for clothing changes, takes a bit of thinking.

And in the kitchen/living room/dining room same thing, the dining/living room slide comes right in to the kitchen sink extension, so we can't get at the kitchen or anything anywhere in the main room with the slides shut.

So for roadside lunches we're not sure what we have to do, but all the slides need to be out for us to go anywhere except barely into the hallway in the main room, and we can get into the bathroom too. That's all.

It has just dawned on us both that we won't be able to load/unload the trailer outside our house, where we parked on Applecross before, as two slides are now on the road side, which is way too dangerous on busy Applecross Road.

So we both need to be retrained for that part of our RVing experience.

We will use Walmart perhaps, and open the slides and clear out the cupboards that way. When it's just a short campout it's not such a big deal, but when we leave or return from down south it's more extensive as we have lots of clothes and way more stuff to take in/bring out.

After we visited our friends Grant and Katie Long in Oliver we went to Keremeos and visited Bernice and Gordon Elderkin at Sunkatchers RV co-op. There was no space there to camp, and we found Eagle campsite on the highway, not too far from them, it is a nice little campsite, about 25 sites, all pull throughs, hooray, right near a walking path which was a railway in days gone past. The campsite owner is Croatian, and very friendly and helpful too.

We walked about 1/2 hour and visited the Red Bridge, a covered bridge that had been a railway bridge, and is now restored, and used for vehicle traffic alongside the Similkameen River. It is quite quaint, it has red steel siding, the railway used to service a couple of gold mines in the Hedley area, and was called Victoria/Vancouver and something else I can't recall.

Bernice and Gord had us for a very happy happy hour, then the next day we 4 went out to a local restaurant that was kind of German, and such wonderful food. The men ate schnitzels and Bernice and I ate chicken baked with nut coating, and a fruit berry sauce. Yum yum.

We 4 went into Oliver on Saturday and went to the Seniors Centre there, we attended a dance from 10 AM til noon, what a beautiful facility it is, with a big sign saying Goodbye Snowbirds, apparently Oliver has tons of snowbirds from all across the prairies. We admired the pretty paintings on their walls, the centre is clearly a busy place, and we danced to a live band of 8 people, all volunteers. They dance every Saturday through the season, and a few seniors even come up from the US to attend. It was a magic occasion, one that really surprised us.

Of course we just "did the ballroom shuffle" but there were tons of different dances happening, we were envious of all their talent. Round dances, foxtrots, polkas, waltzes, it was wonderful. And folks were so friendly, too.

We ate lunch at a restaurant in Oliver, then went back to Keremeos, went in to their Legion there, and stayed for their meat draw. As visitors Lary got to draw the first winner, and he drew Di's ticket, so we got a fat roasting chicken which we had to put in our freezer, as we were on the move once more.

Sunday we left and returned to Kelowna and Holiday Park, had Gord and Trish over for Happy hour, then went out for dinner at a nearby Greek restaurant, lamb shoulder, yum yum, another wonderful place.

Today is Monday and the trailer is having small repairs done under warranty in Kelowna at Voyager, we drove the truck up to Vernon which is way cooler than Kelowna, and found the Talkin Donkey coffee shop/ lunch place. They offer free internet, so we are checking our email, and eating lunch at the same time.

Nice to find, as the Visitor Centre had directed us to Starbucks which charges $9 per hour to use their WiFi.

We think we'll head for the coast after this, and perhaps return to Nanaimo and go into a campsite there, where we can show our friends the new rig, and maybe unload the trailer, and get back into our house once more, by the end of April/beg. of May.

The lady who owns the property where we store our trailer at a rural place in Lantzville had a heart attack in January just before we left, so we hope that she's recouperated and we'll be able to store the rig there, still.

That's about it for now, we need to say bye for now, and this maybe our last posting for this year's journey down south.

Take care all, and thanks for reading our blog.

Toured the Citation/Corsair General Coach factory

Toured the Citation/Corsair General Coach factory here in Oliver this morning, they have just spent 1/2 million dollars retooling so that they can also produce Park Model trailers, the type that are now found in many RV parks, generally they are about 500 square feet, and suit a couple of people, no more, often for seasonal use.

Their RVs are very high end, and they are very proud of their products, justifiably so. We enjoyed seeing how they are made, and having an Xray look into their units, as if you peel back the fibreglass skin and look into the guts of the trailers.

We miss our dinette, both the storage and the comfort. The valances on the window coverings take up about 4 inches of room, and the chairs are somewhat crowded into the space. Also the table has a leaf which occupies a bit more space too. Oh me, we are toying with the idea of having a dinette made, but not sure about that as yet.

Just adapting to a different configuration of space, after all we have had the previous unit for 5 years or so, and have had lots of good times in it.

Naturally like many people we realized when we moved our stuff from one trailer to the other that we likely have it rather overloaded. So we're attempting to remedy that somewhat.

It's a warm Okanagan day today, there is an overcast sky but it's bright and warm, so we both have shorts on again. Hooray.

We're heading off tomorrow to have dinner with our pals Grant and Katie Long, Di worked with Katie at Pemberton Holmes many long years ago, and they have a super new house here just above where we are camped, on Tuc El Nuit Lake, at Desert Lake campsite.

The carp fish in the lake are jumping right out, it is very interesting to see. Perhaps they are happy to eat the springtime bugs.

All around the edge of the lake there are willow trees coming into leaf, so it's very pretty, a soft yellow/green hazy look to them at the moment.

Thursday we'll head off to Keremeos and see if our friends Gordon and Bernice Elderkin are there in their park. They don't have cell phone coverage there, so are a bit harder to contact.

Then we'll likely head down toward the coast and home.

Got the new 5th wheel- we are now in Oliver BC

HI all, we haven't passed away from the chill in the Okanagan, we picked up the new 5th wheel on the 15th of April. Didn't get the stuff transferred over from the old to the new trailer til the end of the day, so got locked into the Voyager RV compound. Had to call the salesman, then he sent security, he called his wife, and she brought the keys down. Quite a wait fur us, and we were pooped.

Left there at 7:30 PM or so, and got to Holiday Park in Winfield, BC, shortly after that, just exhausted. Then Lary had to hookup in the dark, we didn't even know where our flashlights were located, and of course the new trailer has 3 slides, and you can't basically get into it except into the hallway by the kitchen, or up the stairs into the bathroom when it's all shut up tight and the slides are in. The new power cord for 50 Amp is very heavy and very stiff. And hooks up differently to what we're used to. Also the dealership de-winterized for us, and left all the gate valves open, so we christened the ground in the RV park til we realized what was happening. Our gray water was flowing right through from the drains to the ground. Oops.

We basically staggered into bed after we tried to organize things a bit more.

Our friends Gordon and Trisha Lugrin live in that park, so the next day we got in touch with them, showed them around the rig, and tried to pack a wee bit better.

Went out to dinner with them to a local restaurant, Mama Sphengis, in fact we had had dinner there the night before too, by ourselves.

We are very surprised that in the longer rig we have fewer cupboards, we were very spoiled in our Jazz trailer, and of course expanded our bumfffff to fit into every conceivable space. Hmmmm, we will be weeding out lots and lots of stuff.

And of course we have summer clothes which we used down south, and winter clothes which we are wearing now. Brrrrr. We have the furnace on low at nights.

It has been going down to nearly freezing overnight, but a bit warmer during the day.

Gord and Trish took us to Gray Monk winery for a tasting on Saturday, and we ate dinner at their house both Saturday and Sunday nights, all of us contributed somehow, though Trish bore the brunt of the socializing and cooking.

Of note is Latitude 50 wine, both white and red which Trish enjoys. It's from Gray Monk, so we bought some of it and some other wines they had on offer after our tasting.

Di bought a tee shirt that says "Hug me, squeeze me, make me wine"!!!!

We had lunch with Joan and Bob Gregson formerly of Parksville, now Kelowna residents. We went to the Jammery, and met them for Sunday brunch. Great to have a catchup, and find out what the latest is all around.

Now it's Monday and we have come on down to Oliver again, we are at Desert Lake campground, a lovely campsite on a small lake here, it's so pretty as there are willow trees that are just coming into leaf, and the redwing blackbirds are singing their hearts out here too. A lovely location, with fish jumping in the lake.

The clubhouse overlooks the lake, and they have pull throughs, and the campsite is just immaculate. Doug and Lorie the managers have just returned from down south themselves.

We hope to visit with our friends Grant and Katie Long, they live here now, they were formerly in Brentwood Bay, near Victoria. And we might be able to contact Caesar and Leona Jordaan if they are back to Oliver from Baja, Mexico.

Heard from sister Sue recently, she has been very busy indeed.

We have said we'll stay here for 3 nights, then go over to Keremeos and hope to visit friends Gordon and Bernice Elderkin.

HAPPY EASTER TO EVERYONE

Hi all, we had a super dinner out with Dave and Wendy to celebrate her birthday, at Margarita's in Palm Springs. It was a Mexican food and Oyster Bar, they also make sushi there, so it's quite varied.

There was live music, a singer and a sax player, very enjoyable to listen to. We ate in the bar area which was quite close to the musicians. Very mellow.

Home about 9:00 PM and it's chilly and windy, can't believe we have long pants on, sweaters and the heater turned on. What a funny climate, baking one day, chilly the next.

HAPPY EASTER TO ALL OUR FOLLOWERS. WE HOPE YOU HAVE A SUPER WEEKEND WITH YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILIES.

We Say Adios to Sue and Jen

Thursday we went into the 1000 Palms Oasis, to see the fan palms there. It's a natural oasis, caused by the water from the San Andreas fault rising up nearly to the surface. It is fascinating to see the palms, and we showed Jen and Sue how the palms have very sharp thorns as protection along their branches near the trunk. It's quite near our campsite, so after that we went into Desert Hot Springs to see the Cabot's Pueblo Museum.

There is a giant indian head carving there, carved by Peter Toth, a Hungarian refugee in 1978. He returned this year to refresh it, and enhance the carving, so it's fresh looking once more. It's a sequoia that was some 750 years old before it fell. Their gift shop was very interesting, though we didn't see the museum with its paintings, it's only open for guided tours and we didn't want to spend the time there. It's a Hopi structure, very large and rambling, and was the home of Cabot Yerxa, an explorer, architect, artist, adventurer, gold miner, and overall Renaissance type of man.

Then we came back to our campsite, and had a nice refreshing swim -although the temps have gone way down, into the 70s, with a bit of a breeze.

After that we met our cousin Jenn Hett in Palm Springs, she's on holiday here with her friend Debbie, they both teach at a pre school on the California coast. Jenn had booked us into Maracas, so we sat right out beside the main road of P.S. and ate a delicious Mexican dinner, and people watched while we caught up on the latest doings of the Hett family.

Later we all strolled down the main street of P.S. enjoying the Villagefest, their night market on Thursday evenings. Tons of jewelry, soap, pottery, food, fresh produce and people as it was Thursday of the long Easter weekend, and there are a heap of people here in town.

Of note is that it's White Weekend when thousands of gay men join their local counterparts for safe fun and frolics.

Friday we all leapt up and got the rental trailer cleared out, we had provided linens and bedding, and things that Sue and Jen needed for their week's stay, so that all came back to us, along with the leftover food and drink that they hadn't finished up.

Sue and Jen caught their plane in P.S. at 1:30 PM for San Francisco where they will have 2 nights staying right at Fisherman's Wharf in a nice hotel that Ian reserved for them. It was such fun having them here with us.

We did laundry when we got home, and we're heading out to P.S. again tonight, to Margarita's Restaurant to celebrate Wendy Simpson's birthday, a day late. A great sendoff for us too.

It has turned very blustery and somewhat cold today, the canopy is banging around over our slide. And the sun is taking a wee holiday, too.

This may be our last posting to the blog for a while, as we start our northward trek.

Bye for now.

Very windy in DHS today

Sunny day but quite windy here at the RV Park, which is out in the flat desert, about 1/2 an hour's drive from Palm Springs. Temps down from 90 to around 70s or so.

Did some culture vulturing today in P.S., went to the Agua Caliente museum in a wee house right down in the centre of town, in the Village Green area, about the Cahuilla indians of this area. A movie showed how they survived in the harsh desert climate, and how they found food and made shelter, and got their game to eat, made pottery and baskets.

We didn't know that acorns are edible here, they have to be ground up, and the 'flour' washed repeatedly with water to take away the bitterness first. It is quite weird but their land holdings form a checquerboard pattern in this valley, so you see lovely developments, interspersed with pieces of raw empty desert land. Strange indeed, something about land being granted by the railway like that in that pattern.

The natives seem to have retained legal advice to assist them in interpreting government legislation that concerns them, since the 1950s or so. Clever of them.

Then we went into the oldest house in P.S., I think it's called the McCallum house, he was one of the earliest pioneers in this area, the climate was pretty inhospitable, and some of the first inhabitants besides the natives and the ranchers were tuberculosis patients, seeking a dry environment where it would be easier for them to breathe. The earliest settlers seem to have been ranchers, but what a way to try and eke out a living.

As ever in the desert water was a constant challenge, and one of the more successful ranchers widened an irrigation canal, and thus ensured a more consistent supply of water. The water source for here is pretty well the Colorado River, and there is a huge canal called the All American Canal, which feeds PS, the Coachella Valley and its water needs.

McCallum house is an adobe building, it has been expanded over the years, and shows in photos the history of the development of this area. There were small hotels here over the years, but it was really the film industry that found a dry and bright place to film in that got it launched, about the 1920s or so. Before that it had been mainly sparse ranching, with the constant threat of lack of water limiting growth.

After the film industry started the Coachella Valley gradually developed as a playground for film stars, and a sunny retreat for northerners seeking sunshine and desert dryness. Now it seems that water worries have been addressed, and the new concern is power needs, which are somewhat helped by the huge windfarms that have developed along the I-10 corridor.

The wind comes along 1-10 from the coast via the mountain passes, and now powers the windmills. They are getting bigger and bigger in size and number, but what better use for a very windy corridor than to "farm" the wind flows?

Today was very gusty wind, after our museum interlude we went and explored more stores downtown in Palm Springs. Di found the sunhat she had lost a couple of days ago, it was right where she had left it while helping Jen and Sue with their clothing purchases.

We had lunch at Las Casuelas, a pretty Mexican restaurant right in the heart of P.S., in an old house with lovely arches, and pretty tiles and both outdoor and indoor seating. Delicious food.

Dinner back at our trailer, and then coffee/tea at Dave and Wendy's trailer, Jen and Sue wanted to see it, and tomorrow is Wendy's birthday, so we gave her wee somethings toward that.

We did laundry here late this evening, and now it's time to fall into bed, meanwhile in the back of both our minds is the thought that we soon have to pull up stakes, and go on our northward trek toward home once more. We will likely leave here this Saturday, April 11th, though there are high gusty winds predicted for this week and weekend off and on, which is a bit of a concern for us both.

It has been such fun to have had Sue and Jen here, and show them the area, and tour them around to our favourite sites.

Tomorrow is our get together with cousin Jenn Hett and her friend for dinner at Maracas, and then we'll attend the P.S. VillageFest night market, which runs from 6 til 10 PM on the main street of P.S.

Forgot to add that it's gorgeous sightseeing in the valley

Forgot to add that it's just lovely touring people around at the moment, all the blooming plants and trees are at their peak, the bouganvilla, palo verde, ocotillo, oleander, even cactus are flowering and so lovely at the moment.

Many of the pretty housing developments have landscaping outside their walls, and it's breathtakingly lovely with pinks, reds, yellows, whites, and flowers everywhere.
Such a sensory treat for visitors and residents alike.

More retail therapy in the Coachella Valley today

Off today into the Palm springs area for more retail therapy. First to Ross Dress for Less, then onto J.C. Penney and the Westfield Mall, where we continued to find some stuff we absolutely couldn't do without!!!

Ate in the food court there, and then went over to Shields Date Plantation at the edge of Indio where we watched their film about how they cultivate, pollinate and harvest their dates, very labour intensive indeed.

Who knew that people have to pollinate the female trees by hand using powder puff type of things. And that the trees don't yield their first crops for about 15 years or so. Interesting. They also need a huge amount of water, but yet are damaged by rain.
The dates are wrapped in protetive bags while they are still young and ripening on the trees. The trees have to be stripped of their protective and lethal thorns, too.

Shields maintains that the Coachella Valley produces 95% of the dates grown in the US. The Medjool dates are the big fat sweet ones that we enjoy, but other dates are used for different purposes, and Shields himself pioneered the development of date flakes to be used in sundaes and other confections. Sue had a date shake, they have a kind of soda fountain like you would have found in the 50s or so. Very fun.

Their gift shop had some dates to try, Shields himself cultivated some new kinds of dates, calling them brunettes and blondes.

Once we had finished there we went over to Agua Caliente Casino, where we introduced Sue and Jen to a new life of crime. That is, we showed them how to play the penny slots. We all promptly lost very small amounts of money, then checked out their gift shop for deals, and after that went to the delicious prime rib buffet.

Jen treated us all, it was very good. They have Mexican, American, Oriental and Italian Food, and a dessert buffet to die for.

The wind came up as we were coming home, the temp this afternoon was 90, but on the drive home around 7 PM it dropped down to 70 or so, and the wind buffeted the truck.

All in all another full day for the four of us. Sad that the girls have to leave on Friday, and then we'll roll on out of Desert Hot Springs and our winter hideout on Saturday, heading northwards. Groan indeed.

Jen's sore feet- too much walking in new shoes

Today we left around 10:30 and went down to Palm Springs. Parked the truck and the four of us went slowly down the main drag of Palm Springs, going in and out of some lovely shops. Sue and Jen both found jackets to buy, Sue found a denim one with flowers on the front, and Jen found a gorgeous lime green one, and a black one too, with giraffes on it. Sue and Jen both got jackets for half price. We ate lunch at an outdoor patio restaurant, burgers all round. They were yummy. Temps were up to about 90 or so, but are supposed to go way down tomorrow, with breezy weather. Ick.

We found lots of wonderful stores, and then walked a long way down the road looking for a cafe that sold some art that Sue was looking for. We found the cafe, it had closed half an hour before, but Sue bought a small painting from them, and then we had coffee at IHOP, and caught a cab back to where the truck was parked.

Came home and we 4 went for a swim in the pool, and then had a yummy salad that Lary made for us.

Poor Jen blistered her heel yesterday, and today she blistered the bottom of one big toe. So she is lame and in pain, but perhaps happy with her purchases. Hope so.

Sunny 90F Monday

Sue and Jen arrived right on time on Saturday evening. We went and listened to the Jazz concert in the Garden on El Paseo, the swanky shopping area, for half a hour and then went to "Falls prime Steakhouse" for a great meal. We got them settled in to their park model trailer wich will be home until next Friday.

On Sunday morning we all went to the College of the Desert (COD) street market. Spent a couple of hours there doing retail therapy, and then came back to the park and spent some time in the pool. Very nice afternoon. Had Happy Hour at our trailer and Dave and Wendy came over to meet Di's sisters, they hadn't seen Wendy since High School days (wasn't that just yesterday).
After Happy Hour Lary made a chicken, shrimp and sausage Creole Jambalaya. Dinner was finished up with a lemon meringue pie courtesy of the master bakers at WalMart. After the girls went back to their trailer Di and I watched the American Country Music Awards hosted by Reba McIntyre.

We are really enjoying having Sue and Jen with us and we are just waiting now to head off and do some eploring with them. We think we'll go into Palm Springs, see the sights there, perhaps hit a casino for lunch or dinner, and mooch around the town areas, so that they can see where they are, and explore some downtown delights.

Very high winds in Palm Springs today & a bad fire

Overnight last night Lary pulled in the slide, as the winds had gotten much stronger, and the canopy over the slide bangs and makes us bump around inside the trailer. Lots of grit, dust and sand flying everywhere. Getting ready for Sue and Jen to arrive tomorrow.

Got Di a pedicure in Desert Hot Spirngs today, not bad except the fellow nipped a cuticle and made it bleed a bit. Erg. Lary bought beac towels for Sue and Jen, we'll use them to replace ours.

There was a brush fire that started over in Palm Springs late this afternoon, on the tramway road, and it got big quite quickly as the winds went as high as 52 mph this afternoon. Because of the high winds the fire had to be fought on foot, they couldn't use planes to douse it. Some folks were evacuated, they used a reverse 911 emergency call system, and apparently it worked very well.

We went to the Blue Coyote restaurant tonight in Palm Springs with Dave and Wendy, you could see lots of emergency vehicles still at the fire scene, and the electricity flickered momentarily in the restaurant. It was a mortgage burning party, as Lary and I just paid off our home mortgage completely. Whoo hoo.

Good food but poor service, Palm Springs tends to be pretty busy on weekends, and this was no exception, with very noisy patrons near us in the restaurant, too.

No homes were lost due to this fire, many nearby towns sent their fire engines and emergency personnel to fight it. The winds here are high in the spring and fall apparently, and the mountains and the I-10 corridor make a perfect tunnel to accelerate the wind. At times today it was very hard to open the truck doors, and we were even blown around in the parking lots. The dust and grit gets everywhere, and swirls around and clouds the air a lot.

Temps are due to cool a bit as a result of these high winds, there was an art show cancelled today in P. S. due to the wind. There are 2 big art shows this weekend, as well as a big Ladies Golf Tourney that wraps up this Sunday.

The temps should go down from the 80s into the 70s, but the winds should calm a bit, til mid week when they may whip up once again. Perhaps the slightly cooler weather will be better for Sue and Jen. Can't wait to see them.

We are meeting our California cousin Jennifer Hett from the Dana Point area on the California coast this coming Thursday night for dinner, and we all hope to take in the Palm Springs village fest night market that night. Should be great.

They arrive about 5:30 PM Saturday, and are flying Vic to Van, Van to L A, then L A to here, so will be pretty beat after that trek.

Lazy day Wednesday- hiking Thursday

Wednesday Lary and I went into Desert Hot Springs to do a small shop and have lunch.

We had Happy Hour with Dave and Wendy sitting out on their "patio" beside the trailer under the awning.

Thursday morning Lary, Dave and Wendy went off to a hike in Andreas Canyon near here, organized by a seniors group. I have a sore foot so didn't go with them, it was to be about 1.5 hours long.

Sunny today, the temps are supposed to be in the 70s over the weekend, and Friday is supposed to be windy again.