April 20, 2011 by Rae

Friends and RVs

Jody needed to run an errand in Calgary today so I came along for the ride. We stopped in Mossleigh to visit Donna. She is working at Aspen Crossing this summer and gave us a tour of the place. It combines a campground, a superb gift shop, a restaurant (great Sunday brunch apparently), cabins, and more. I was particularly impressed by the tour of the caboose that was converted into a luxury cabin that would be a great motorhome layout! Donna is very enthusiastic about camphosting in the nearly new campground (this year will be the second in operation). It was so, so, so good to see her and Ken, but I didn’t get to visit with Midnight.

Our visit done, Jody and I pushed on to the town of High River where we spent hours climbing into and out of travel trailers, fifth wheels, and a few motorhomes. I’d never spent so much time in a bumper pull trailer before and was astounded by some of the layouts!

Before I get into my discovery of the day, I have to say that I have finally decided on what my next rig is going to be. I’ve vacillated between getting excited about fifth wheels and considering a B+, but I finally came down to earth and made a decision. I want to downsize and I can do that two ways: going smaller or going bigger. So, my next rig would be one of two choices.

The first choice, going smaller would mean going down to a B and seriously reducing my cargo. I’d have to be in the mode that this is my only vehicle and that everything has to be prepped for travel.

The second choice, going bigger would actually be going smaller in terms of over-all rig length without sacrificing my current lifestyle of having an apartment with a car: a toy hauler super C motorhome, such as those made by Haulmark, with a Smart Car in the garage.

So, all that to say that if I’m going down to a B, then I’ve found it. It’s a Libero by Leisure Travel. It has a bed in the back, full bath and kitchen, and the dinette in the front is definitely usable as a desk, plus it has the solid construction of a high-end unit.

One thing I find neat when I look at RVs is that I see ways in which I could improve Miranda but I don’t get a burning desire to replace her yet. What can I say, the old gal is home!

inside of the dining car, which was PM Diefenbaker’s ‘western car’!

Vote for John G. Diefenbaker

letter from Diefenbaker (about a week after my birth!) about the state of the Canadian economy and how disgraceful Parliament was (nothing changes in this country!)

exterior of Diefenbaker’s car

inside of the cozy caboose cabin

Donna and Jody in the cabin 🙂

shiny stove

kitchen

love the loft: you climb a ladder to an area where they will put a reading chair, then climb up to the bunk!

bathroom sink

shower stall with gorgeous natural stone

all the door pulls are railway spikes!

exterior of the caboose cabin

speeder (Jody is obsessed with these things)

caboose that may one day be used as a shuttle

Jody ‘driving’ the speeder

I had to take a picture of the interior of this toy hauler: IT IS THE UGLIEST RV I HAVE EVER SEEN!!!

Jody and I thought that this shoe space was clever!

like the look of the fake stone, but it’s not practical

LOVE this livingroom in the top of the fifth wheel!

garbage can with exterior access could be entrance to kitty litter box!

exterior access to the can (sorry, forgot to rotate)

April 19, 2011 by Rae

Differences in Extremes

I finally decided to brave the weather around noon and headed out to do my flier routes. I bundled up with fleece, a heavy coat, gloves, a scarf, and a tuque, only to shed everything but my fleece by the time I’d loaded two packages of fliers into the car!

Being paid to be outside this afternoon almost felt like a privilege; it was so warm and sunny, with no hint of that unpleasant Lethbridge wind. I did my first two routes in record time, had a snack, did two more routes, then headed home for a lunch break. I took that half hour to fill the fresh water tank, then I went back to work.

The last two routes were tough; I was fading fast and past the point of exhaustion by the time I got halfway through the sixth route. But I got them done, including bringing the extras to recycling. Not counting my lunch break, the six routes took me five and a quarter hours to do. If I take off the car loading and recycling depot then they took me five hours. I don’t think I’ll be able to improve on that!

April 19, 2011 by Rae

Cold Snap

Last night was COLD. It apparently hit minus 12. I went to bed at 11 and within five minutes of turning off the electric blanket I was shivering, and that’s while I was under three heavy blankets including a down comforter! I decided to take a chance and sleep with the blanket on all night.

Next thing I knew, it was 9AM (!!!), I had two cats curled up tight against me, and I was snug as a bug. Love that little 12V wonder! I’m glad I now know I can sleep with it on all night if I need to. I wouldn’t do that when boondocking, but when I’m on shore power it’s more cost effective (and quiet) than running the furnace off and on.

Now, I’m waiting for things to get a little warmer (and less slick) before I go out and do my fliers. I need to do all six routes today since Jody and I are road-tripping again tomorrow. It’s going to be a long day, but the sun is out so if the wind cooperates the job shouldn’t be too onerous. I finally have my routes laid out in the most efficient way possible so my goal is to shave fifteen minutes off each to finish all six in four and a half hours instead of six hours.

April 17, 2011 by Rae

Understatements

Gary and Jody invited me over for a deep-fried turkey dinner tonight. I’d heard a bit about the popularity of deep-frying the bird and was even more curious when they told me that it is infinitely more delicious than is an oven-roasted bird. So, my curiosity was piqued and I went to the house this afternoon for a turkey dinner.

At least, that’s what I thought I was headed for. It turns out that when Gary and Jody say “come for a turkey dinner” they actually mean “come for thirteen courses of mostly deep fried delights.”

Everything was so delish! And the deep fried turkey was awesome; so moist and flavourful. But my liver is going to hate me in the morning. 😀

April 16, 2011 by Rae

Dif Tor Heh Smusma

I awoke to heavy snow again today, but Jody said the roads were clear and she was up for another road trip. So, we took off for a galaxy far, far away and landed in the sleepy little town of Vulcan.

In Star Trek mythology, Vulcan is the desert homeworld of the Vulcan people, whose most famous representative is the character of Spock. Think pointy ears, logic, no show of emotion, and green blood.

I proceeded to have some of the geekiest moments of my life, second only to the very full day spent at Las Vegas’ Star Trek: The Experience. Ah, the things I share in this blog! Jody gets points for letting me have my fun!

Vulcan has a fun little visitors’ centre with Star Trek stuff for sale and an exhibit of props and autographed pictures. I was surprised to see this much and particularly enjoyed the dress up section. The stuff on sale was outrageously priced ($18 for a mug?!), but I guess they have to offset the cost of operations somehow…

Two summers past, Leonard Nimoy tweeted about his visit to Vulcan around the time the Star Trek reboot movie was coming out and it was fun to see evidence of his passage and that of other major and minor Star Trek actors. I hear that Vulcan had a hard time getting permission to use Star Trek to promote tourism to their town and that Mr. Nimoy really helped grease the wheel. Whatever happened, I’m glad there was more to see than just a sign saying ‘Welcome to Vulcan!’

After, Jody suggested that since I hadn’t heard from Donna in a while that we mosey over to the town near where the Ark is parked. It took two drive-bys for me to find/spot the rig, but only Midnight was home. It was awesome to hear the ‘guard dog’ bark change to an “OMG, it’s Rae!” bark!

We headed home after and Jody dropped me off, only to come by about five minutes later to tell me that Gary had dinner waiting for us! I wish I could clone that man. 😀