IT’S NOT A VACATION AFTER ALL

Oct 24/09

We’ve been in our RV for 6 weeks now and the reality that this isn’t a vacation has become very apparent. We have adapted amazingly well to the “more compact” environment and realize how much we (and probably all of you) take certain things for granted.

For example, when the weather gets cold, you don’t need to go out and check to see that your water line is not freezing up. When you drain your sinks or flush your toilet, you never think about having to drain your storage tanks; It all just “goes away” somewhere. When you get up in the morning, you head for the shower without much fuss. We have a good shower house here so we get dressed and walk there for our morning showers. Not so much fun when it’s freezing cold or raining.

One thing that is extremely convenient here is that we are within walking distance of the Swan Lake Fruit and Garden Centre, which has a bakery, deli, canned goods, dairy section and a huge selection of both local and imported fruits and vegetables. We have been eating pears, apples, fresh peppers, onions, potatoes, yams, cabbage, carrots and Brussels sprouts. Sounds way too healthy, doesn’t it?

We meet new people almost every day and the conversations can be very interesting. We met a woman from Boston (heavy accent) who has been vacationing in BC for 3 weeks and we were able to hear some of her travel experiences and perceptions of our province. We met her at Winfield and they enjoyed the Okanagan and the wineries near Naramata. She and her husband are very impressed, and that’s after spending 5 days in Hope. Go figure!!

Another interesting couple are 2 full time RV’ers who spent 6 months as Park Hosts at Ellison Park this past summer. They moved here about 10 days ago and will be staying until mid-November before going south for the winter. They have been full timers for 3 years now and had a nasty experience crossing the border at Sumas last year.

The U.S. Customs and Immigration Officer grilled them excessively especially when they said that they had no permanent address and their “home” was attached to their truck. They were questioned for a couple of hours, finger-printed and then told that they could not cross the border and should not try again for a year. They were devastated and came back to the Okanagan to figure out what to do. They went down to the Osoyoos crossing to find out what they needed to do to get permission to cross and were told that there would be no problems. Sure not an experience that we want to have!!

My doctor’s appointment is scheduled for November 20 in Kelowna so we will be staying in the Okanagan area until then. We are moving down to Winfield on Tuesday, but are not sure exactly where we will be for the whole time yet—depends on the weather and the RV parks that are available. As we aren’t fishing and golfing these days, we need to find some other activities to keep us occupied. It’s all good though, and we have no regrets about this adventure that we are on.

SEEING THE OGOPOGO AND HANGING OUT WITH SNOWBIRDS

Oct 17/09

It’s hard to believe that we’ve been here at Swan Lake Resort for over a week. We’ve kept busy with routine things around home as well as trips to town, to the library with our new “BC One Card” and just out and about. We hiked at Ellison Park on Thanksgiving Monday when it was clear but cold.

We walked over the top of a rocky point and spotted some unusual turbulence in the waters to the north. We watched it for quite a while speculating that it was a school of fish or perhaps, the Ogopogo.

We got our lunch out of the truck and walked to the north beach where we saw that the turbulence was moving into the bay, closer to shore. It moved inside the swimming buoys and we finally figured it out—it was scuba divers!! Who would be crazy enough to go diving in those frigid waters at this time of year!!

We had some problems with our microwave/half-time oven and took in into Kelowna Truck and RV for repairs. It is under warranty and they are going to have someone local try to repair it. If it can’t be done under a certain amount of money, the whole unit will be sent back to the manufacturer for repair. The option to give us a new one isn’t offered so it could be awkward getting it returned to us, as we don’t know where we’ll be. Not having a microwave is an inconvenience—you don’t realize how often it gets used.

Back at the RV resort, it seems like everyone is getting ready to go south for the winter and they all are looking forward to it so very much. Each day we talk with someone new who, after years of experience, has a favourite destination and a favourite route to get there. As snowbirds are limited to no more than 182 days per calendar year in the United States, everyone calculates how late they have to stay in B.C. before going south of the border.

Our neighbours on one side live in a park model here during the summer and store their trailer in Yuma. They left on Tuesday for a 4 day drive to pick up their trailer and then will go to Mexico and stay in the Mazatlan area. They’ve done it before and the fellow speaks fluent Spanish, but they are a bit concerned about the increase in violence in Mexico.

We aren’t sure when we’ll be able to head south ourselves as I am awaiting a doctor’s appointment to be scheduled in Kelowna. Hopefully, it won’t be too long from now and then we’ll be able to make some plans. In the meantime, we are looking at maps and different routes to the sunny south. So nice to dream!!

MOVING ON

Oct 11/09

The past week was different than the first 3 as we were preparing to move on to a new location by the end of the week. We took a quick trip to the Lower Mainland to visit with Stuart’s family and it was an interesting trip. After being in a small, slow town for weeks, we were transported into the fast pace of a big city with voluminous traffic, toll bridges (Golden Ears) and a bus and sky train ride to a Greek restaurant on Davie St. in downtown Vancouver. Ain’t nothin’ like that in Barriere!!

We weren’t able to get a last fishing day in as the weather was cool and windy. We packed up the boat, the fishing clothes and all the fishing gear and on Thursday, and took it to the storage locker in Kamloops. It was sad to put it all away, but also exciting to know that we were going to have new experiences in the next while.

We left Barriere fairly early on Friday morning and had to stop in Kamloops for a doctor’s appointment. We were on the road again by noon and drove to Vernon where we checked in to the Swan Lake Recreation Resort. What a culture change!! It is a full RV resort with wide, paved sites with small storage sheds (for the owners) and a grass area with trees at most sites.

There are ‘real people’ here who are regular RV’ers and they are very friendly. And no trains at any time!!

But it sure has gotten cold. The arctic front has settled in and it was minus 4 last night. We disconnected our water intake for the night and use the water pump to access the on board heated water tank. Some people have insulated the hose lines and water pipes and wrapped them with heat tape, but we also saw some of them replacing hoses and connections this morning. Glad that it is sunny so we can still sit outside and read in the afternoons.

Our plans to head south of the border are going to be delayed for a few weeks as I need to have some treatments done after my surgery. They will be done in Kelowna so we will be around this area for a while yet.

We are going to have a traditional Thanksgiving meal tomorrow with turkey thighs, cranberry sauce, yams, stove top stuffing and pumpkin pie for dessert. It is all smaller scale than a full roast turkey dinner but the flavours will be excellent. We have so much to be thankful for.

THE RV LIFESTYLE

Oct 2/09
So what’s it like to live in an RV? Well, in some ways, it’s like living in a small house that is very well laid out, has lots of storage and is easy to keep clean. We have all the necessities of life as well as a fireplace, a big HDTV, built in vacuum cleaner and a king size bed. Unfortunately, the only dishwasher is me and I have decided to treat washing dishes as a hobby rather than a chore. Perhaps a skill to add to my resume?

The neighbourhood always changes when you live in an RV. We are staying in a combination motel and RV park south of Barriere and the RV park has only 7 sites. Two of the sites have park models in them, one site has long term people who are only here a couple days a week and we have ours booked for another week. The other 3 sites were occupied when we first arrived on Sept 11 but they have been mostly empty since the 19th.

It feels like we are in our own private resort most of the time. From our dining area table, we see a vineyard, thoroughbred horses in a field across the highway and a big rocky mountain that was burned in 2003.



From our rear living room window, we see the west side of the Thompson River valley, houses between here and the North Thompson River, and a grassy field. It is very peaceful and private but the sneaky thing is the railway that is not too far away. We have about 15 trains that go by during the day and night so it gets a little loud and shaky around here at times. It’s amazing what you can get used to in a short time—we hardly wake up for the trains during the night. However, sometimes when we are out fishing on a quiet lake, I can hear the clang, clang, clang sound of the trains in my mind.


The simplicity of life is another wonderful aspect of living in an RV. Because we have reduced the amount of “stuff” like clothing, linens, kitchen ware, knickknacks, toys and gadgets, our decisions on what to wear, what to do and what to clean each day are much easier to make. Rather than dressing to present a certain image at work, or other social situation, we only need to dress for what we plan to do that day. That doesn’t mean that we are slobs and wear the same things over and over. It just means that we are now more focussed on who we are and what we do rather than what we look like. The people that we’ve met have accepted us as is, so it must be okay.

The other wonderful thing about “No Fixed Address” is the reduction of bills to be paid. Stuart used to spend a few hours every month, working at it weekly, sorting out the bills to be paid (taxes, utilities, gas, electricity, telephone, satellite programming, internet service, etc.) and now he gets it all done in a few minutes once a month. And we don’t have to think about when garbage day is scheduled—we can take the garbage out any time of day or night. So that’s a little snapshot of the simpler lifestyle in an RV. It’s not for everyone, but for us with our fancy big rig, or the neighbours with their old Winnebago, or small travel trailer, we are all happy to be RV’ing and living a good life.