January 25, 2010 by Rae

This is Our Home

I just stumbled onto this wonderful tribute to Canada:

I’ve been almost everywhere mentioned and shown in this video (!) and I have to admit that tears welled up when I got to the segment about the ‘favourite place in the Gatineau Hills’ with its shots of beautiful Wakefield, Quebec, the village I called home for four years. There’s even a reference to Campbell River and an obscure reference to Dawson (midnight looking like high noon on the Dome!).

There have been a lot of songs written about Canada, but this is definitely the most all-encompassing one I’ve found. It tells me that I have fulfilled one of my RVing goals, to see as much of Canada as I have of the US, and reminds me that there are so many wonders back east for me to share with my readers. I’ll get back there eventually! 🙂

January 23, 2010 by Rae

Water Heater Hope

Further work on the water heater revealed that the switch to turn it on gets hot if the ignition sequence fails and I don’t turn the heater off. This was decided to be yet another possible cause of the trouble I’ve been having.

I took the switch apart, cleaned the leads, and then reassembled everything. It’s been three days and the water heater has been acting perfectly. Dare I hope the issue is solved? I doubt it will end up being that easy, but I might have bought myself some time.

January 20, 2010 by Rae

The End of the Road for Glendale

Glendale RV, based in Strathroy, Ontario, has filed for bankruptcy and shut down its RV operations.

It’s no secret that I love my Glendale RV. If Miranda were totaled today and I had to replace her, I would still go with a Royal Classic, but a more recent, winterized one if I could find it.

Glendale stopped making class Cs in 2004 to focus on Titanium fifth wheels, a crushing blow, in my opinion, to Canadian full-timers looking for a good class C.

When I was doing my research before buying Miranda, I contacted Glendale to get more information about their 1997 Royal Classic. The person who responded to my query the next day said she had nothing on hand but she’d check out the archives when she had a chance. A couple of days later, a scan of the promotional brochure landed in my inbox. They also gave me leads on where I might be able to find double pane windows should I ever need to replace mine. That’s dang good customer service. A Titanium owner I occasionally correspond with had to take his rig to Strathroy for repairs and had nothing but praise for Glendale’s customer service, also.

I guess that all there’s left to say is “Thanks Glendale for making me such a wonderful home on wheels.”

January 17, 2010 by Rae

Campbell River Grocery Stores

I haven’t done much grocery shopping since I got to Campbell River, but I have tried three of the five options I see open to me.

My first instinct was to go to my favourite western chain, Save-On-Foods, but it is definitely pricey compared to other options. Being on a super tight budget, I decided to explore other options.

I received some gift certificates for Discovery Foods in Willowpoint Village. It’s a small, full-service store. The prices are high and the selection isn’t very good. It is the only one that’s within walking distance, so I tend to go there on my days off to get a little some special for dinner so I have an excuse to get exercise.

A third option closed at the end of December, Super Valu. This name makes me shudder as it is the same store where I had to shop in Oliver. I never set foot in there figuring the prices would be just as over-inflated.

The fourth option is the Super Store. I only shop at the Super Store in Whitehorse because it’s the best option for that city, otherwise I avoid this chain. The stores are just too big and overwhelming and the selection is limited.

Today, I discovered a fifth option, Thrifty Foods. I expected this store to be a small, bargain-type supermarket like Buy-Low, but nope. It is a smaller, full-service grocery store with excellent prices and selection. I’ll be shopping there from now on! Today’s exciting buy was skinless, boneless chicken breasts. They had a ‘two-for-one’ sale, which really meant 50% off the regular per pound price. I had to convert from kilograms per dollar, but it looks like I paid about 4$ per pound, which is a bargain. I bought enough for at least six meals, for just 9$. I wasn’t the only person whose basket was piled high with chicken. 🙂

Walmart will be opening up a store in Campbell River this spring. I believe it will be a Supercentre with full grocery, so that will be another place to shop (and probably the reason why Super Valu closed).

January 17, 2010 by Rae

Rain Forest Wonderland

Today, which happens to be in the middle of January, I went hiking in the rain forest in shorts and a tee-shirt.

I love winter on Vancouver Island. 😀

There was no itinerary in mind today; I just wanted to get some fresh air. I parked at the Canyon View trail parking lot and then wandered around until I found the Beaver Pond trail. This involved taking a wrong turn onto what happened to be a private road, which ended up with my being chased by a very loud and territorial dog. Oops! To avoid my mistake, park at the power plant lot that’s just off the highway rather than the one that is in front of the plant itself. Walk across the highway, turn left, and go around the bend until you see a path veering off into the woods. It’s not well marked, but there is a sign (see below) that will confirm you’re in the right place.

I started off in my hiking pants, a tee-shirt, and my rain slicker as the sky was very grey and heavy. I overheated within five minutes and opened up the arm pit zippers for ventilation, but that still wasn’t enough. So, off went the coat and shortly thereafter the bottom part of the hiking pants and then I was comfortable. Have I mentioned that it is presently the middle of January?

Since it had taken me over an hour to find the Beaver Trail and it looked like a long loop with rather monotonous (if rain forest can be considered monotonous) views, I only did a small part of it before doubling back to the car.

The water levels were very high today and there has been talk of possible flooding if the rain keeps up. Be sure to compare some of these pictures to ones taken on my official Canyon View hike!

The mayor* told me that there is an exhaustive map of the hiking trails around Campbell River, so I’ve put finding this map on my list of things to do tomorrow.