Home Archives Français

January February March April May June July August September October November December

1 to 15 August 2022 16 to 31 August 2022

Monday, August 1, 2022

Today is a holiday in Saskatchewan.
The packers/movers are coming back tomorrow morning.
We decided to move the MH to Wakamow to give them lots of room to work.
We will stay in Wakamow until we leave for Comox Friday morning.

Tuesday, August 2, 2022.

We will look after Natasha for the next three days while the packers/movers are busy at the house.
Natasha is impressed by the hare.

We had to spend lots of time at the many playgrounds in Wakamow.

We play, we eat...

And we take naps. Natasha is so easy to put down for naps or bedtime.

Do we spoil her? Of course, we do. She is so easy to look after.

We had tea.

Jeremy and Kristin came over for supper.

Natasha will be with us until Thursday, late afternoon.
She likes her "small" bath.

Wednesday, August 3, 2022.

A lazy morning.

Another day at the playground, walking and just playing.

Natasha loves to eat.

It is very hot this week. in the 30° C range. We have 30 amp electricity so we can run one AC at least.

Thursday, August 4, 2022.

Natasha woke up at 6 am. Grand-maman takes her in the reclining chair. She sleeps until 7:45 am.

Another great day with our granddaughter, Natasha.

Her last meal with us for a while.

Natasha is going back with her parents today. They are in a local motel until they leave for Comox Saturday morning.

My back is not doing very well. It started to act up Monday. It got worst every day. I take some pills and do some stretching.
Michele had to pack the outside for me.

Friday, August 5, 2022.

It is 8:15 in the morning. We are driving west.
Goodbye Moose Jaw. We will be spending the night at the Walmart in Strathmore, Alberta.

We drive by the small town of Chaplin with its Sodium Sulfate mine. It looks like snow.

We are lucky. We came across very few construction zones.

Even with the heat outside, Michele has cold feet.

Hummm, The farmers tell us they struggle and yet, they build more silos!

Goodbye, Saskatchewan!

Hello Alberta!

Our first stop is in the small town of Walsh, right after we got to Alberta.
This is the cheapest we will pay for gas.

I did not calculate the wind in our gas consumption.
By the time we arrived at the gas pump, we had only 18 km of gas to go in the MH.
Michele was not impressed!

They ran out of regular gas after I filled up.
The owner changed the price of the high octane gas to the price of regular gas to not lose customer.

Even in Alberta, an oil country, they have solar power!

What a driving day it was. The wind was blowing from the west at 45 km/h, wind gusting at 75 km/h.
It was not fun to drive in that.
We arrived at the Walmart in Strathmore around 4:15 pm. We drove 639 km in 8 hours.
I do not drive as fast with the MH as in the car.

Saturday, August 6, 2022.

We are back on the road by 7:15 am. Direction Calgary and the Rockies. It is not as hot today. The wind has died down too.

We are going around Calgary by the south. This way, we will stop at the Indian Reserve for cheap gas.

It is 10¢ cheaper than the local gas stations. When you pump over 200 litres, it does make a difference. It is money in our pocket.

Today being Saturday morning, we have more people driving to the mountains (Banff). The traffic is a little heavy, but people are disciplined.

Michele and I are reminiscing about our trips to the Rockies with my brother Rolland and his wife Suzie. Another year, it was with my sister Estelle, her husband Robert and their daughter, Marilyne.

We do not stop and buy a National Park Pass considering that we are only driving through the National parks.

Near Banff.

So beautiful.

From the moment we entered Alberta, the roads are beautiful.

Once you leave Banff behind, you have many places where trucks have to stop and do a brake check.
The hills going down are long and steep.

Some stretches of the road must have been expansive to build.

We drove in a few of those tunnels where it is a prone area for avalanches.

We make a quick stop at the interpretive center for Rogers Pass.

The two miners.

Awwww, so cute!

Our beast.

We are on our way to Rogers Pass.

More tunnels.

We drive by Revelstoke and on the other side of the town.
We cross the bridge over the Columbia River to stop at our next stop for the night.

It is just a very large parking/rest area.

If you have been wondering why we stop at Walmart and parking area? It is simply because travelling on the weekend in the Rockies, you will not get a campground on short notice. It is also more convenient for us when travelling.

So! Today was another good day of driving with almost 500 km behind us and 7 hours on the road. Not too bad.
I almost forgot, no wind today. It was great.

Sunday, August 7, 2022.

We had a good night of sleep. Even with the trains going by every 30 minutes.
We are not alone here.

We are back on the road.

Yesterday, I tried to find a campground for two nights in the general area of Chilliwack.
We found one, a little way off the Trans-Canada Highway.
Beautiful roads again today.

Shuswap Lake is much bigger than what you see.

We are coming up to Kamloops.

After Kamloops, we leave the Trans-Canada Highway behind us and take the famous Coquihalla Highway.
Beautiful road with lots of long climbs and a lot of descent.

Life is good.

Going downhill is just as bad as going uphill.

Notice the speed limit, 120 KM/H!
I do not drive that fast with the MH.

Beautiful sceneries.

An old forest fire.

We came across very few construction sites on our trip.

It is so easy to drive.

More Brake Checks area and more Runaway Lanes.

We are getting closer to Chilliwack.

The registration at the campground is easy and fast.

It is an ordinary campground. You are close together, but the river goes by right next to the campground. It is so nice.

The campground has 30 amp service. We can run one AC. the temperature is hovering at +32° C.

We treat ourselves to some bubbly wine.

A day just shy of 475 km and a little more than 7 hours on the road.

We are here for two nights.

Monday, August 8, 2022

Here are some photos of Jeremy, Kristin and Natasha's trip to Comox.
They span the first few days.

Natasha is doing OK with sitting in a car for 4 days, so far.
She needs a few breaks a day.

We cannot wait to see them again.

Our full day at the campground. It is hot again today. Not pleasant at all.
But the scenery is beautiful. Morning coffee by the river.

Our home.

It is an excellent river to float on a tube.

We took a walk to a different branch of the river close to the campground. It is so nice to have water you can see to the bottom, unlike Saskatchewan...

The water is not too cold either.

People have built some breakwaters for kids to play safely.

You got to have a clean windshield when you drive.

We will be going on a cruise tomorrow.

Tuesday, August 9, 2022.

This morning, Jeremy, Kristin and Natasha are getting on the ferry at around 8 am to Vancouver Island. We will be booked on the ferry tonight at 6.15 pm.

My last morning coffee, looking at a blue heron fishing.

We have to leave the campground before 11 am. Our ferry is not until 6.15 pm today.
Out of the campground, we go.

One last fill-up on the mainland. The gasoline is more expensive on the island.

As I return from prepaying for gas, four police cars are around the car right next to us!!!
It is a cramped gas station, imagine all the pumps are full + police cars + ambulance + big fire truck + a MH = a big traffic jam.
They just checked the papers of the people in the car???

Since we are very early for the ferry, we stop at the Walmart in Abbotsford for a couple of hours. It is so hot, we run the generator so we could have AC.

By two o'clock, we decided to go to the ferry terminal and wait. Maybe we can get on an earlier ferry?
The traffic is not too bad on our way to Vancouver.

In suburban Vancouver.

Even in the city, the roads are beautiful.

We are getting close to the Horseshoe Bay Ferry terminal.
A ferry must just arrive and check the traffic leaving the terminal.

We are getting closer.

We had prepaid, so we sailed right through the pay boot.

The attendant told us we may make it on the next ferry (3 o'clock). We will see.

What is going on? The fridge is not cooling!

I know why. The inverter has a GFI plug. It probably tripped.
Sure enough, after I reset it, all is good. It was hot and no wind outside.

We did not make it on the 3 o'clock ferry by two vehicles, darn!
We will have to wait for the 6:15 one.

Right on time, we drove on the ferry.

We are off on our cruise! It is a beautiful country here.

Our ferry is the Queen of Cowichan.

One hour and forty-five minutes later, we leave the ferry in Nanaimo.

It is not too often we drive when the sun is down.

We do not know the rules for parking with an RV in the military housing in Comox. We decide to spend the night in a rest area close to Comox. Today's drive was not very long. Driving in Greater Vancouver was not bad at all. It was a long day mainly because of the wait time.

Wednesday, August 10, 2022.

This rest area was very quiet.

We are excited to see Jeremy, Kristin and Natasha again.

We have less than 30 km of driving to do.

The roads are beautiful. We are in the Comox Valley Region.

We have to drive through Courtenay first to get to Comox. Actually, where the military housing is called Lazo.

Jeremy, Kristin and Natasha are already at the house, waiting for the moving truck to show up.

The plan is to remove Natasha from the house while the movers move furniture and boxes.
We are on our way to Kye Bay beach.

It is low tide right now. The first one hundred feet are rocks. After that, it is nice sand.

I lifted some seaweed to show Natasha some baby crabs. She is not sure about that.

We picked up some shells.

The tides are about 10 feet here. So we have a lot of beaches at low tide.

Looking back at the shore.

It is time to clean up and go check out another possible beach.

The base is just over the trees, under the flying aircraft.

Another beach access near the RV Park we will be coming in about 10 days.

The things you see by the road.

Grand-maman and Natasha, singing on the bus.

It is hot again today. A little water before nap time.

She is so easy to put down for a nap. She actually looks forward to her nap.

Ah, those two!

We are just down the road from the house. You can see the moving truck.

Natasha is having fun.

The MH waiting to get in the driveway.

By 8 pm, they finally got the truck emptied.
The house.

Thursday, August 11, 2022.

We are looking after Natasha again today. Jeremy and Kristin are unpacking the boxes and getting the house in order.
We go and find playgrounds around the base.

This little chair looks like nothing, but let me tell you when you sit on it and start to spin, it accelerates and wants to throw you away.

Did I say it was hot? It is still hot outside. It is time to replenish the fluids.

More fun.

More liquids.

They let the wildflowers grow here. It is good for insects.

It is time for Natasha's nap.

Nothing like a Mr. Freeze after a nap.

Supper is pizza tonight. It is excellent. You can eat outside because there are no mosquitoes.

Friday, August 12, 2022.

Another day of unpacking for Jeremy and Kristin.
We have Natasha with us all day again.

Our home in Comox. We are fortunate. The neighbours on the other side of the MH are super nice. They told us not to worry about the MH. It is a shared driveway, after all.

Saturday, August 13, 2022.

It is yard sailing time!
We have Natasha with us.
Oh, the things you see when you drive around.

We try to stay away from the house to give Jeremy and Kristin a chance to empty as many boxes as possible.

A first home-cooked meal in the "new" house.

Ah, those two!

Sunday, August 14, 2022.

A day off from unpacking boxes.
Jeremy, Kristin and Natasha took a walk around Seal Bay Nature Park.

Next, they picked wild blackberries close to home.

And just fun around the backyard.

Monday to Friday, August 15 to 19, 2022.

The days are just blending in.
Random photos of the days.
Here I am flattening a chicken breast for the first time. It was a good meal.

On Tuesday, since it was a little cooler, as in only +29° C. I fixed our stairs on the MH.
A bolt that attached the stairs unit to the frame of the MH fell off.
The corner keeps dropping down.

The view from underneath.

The nut was still there. I only had to buy a new bolt. A quick fix.

We have another problem with the MH. Over the last few weeks, the dish has only picked up one satellite. We are missing half our channels.
We should be getting up two satellites.
The problem seems to be the Wingard system itself and not Shaw Direct.

I went to Market Place and found a tripod and a dish to bypass the Wingard system and see what happened.
We have all our channels now. The problem is the Wingard system.
When the temperatures cool down, I will check the wiring on the Wingard system.

Every evening after supper, we sit in the backyard to relax and have fun.

Friday was Chinese food for supper.
I have to say, Chinese people are resourceful. They used saran wrap to create a barrier between customers and employees.
It works!

Jan sent us photos of the new cars they will be using for the race in Brighton, Ontario.
They will have five cares total for the many races.

Until next time.

Life is good...