April 30, 2011 by Rae

The Roving Delicatessen

Fraserway RV in Airdrie, just north of Calgary, was having an open house today with good sales, including 25% off all parts under $300! Gary and Jody go every year and invited me along. I’ve been desperately needing a new pigtail for my propane system (ie. a hose that goes from my auxiliary tank to the Extend-a-Stay tee), but have been procrastinating since the one I bought in Osoyoos in the fall of ’08 was so expensive. I decided that this was the day to pick one up, so that gave me an excuse to go. 🙂

We started our day at Willow Creek municipal campground because Jody wanted to see if the prairie crocuses (Anemone patens) were in bloom, which they were:

prairie crocus (actually not a crocus but rather a member of the buttercup family)

We headed out after towards Calgary and Gary started to rustle around in the back seat. I turned to discover that a delicatessen had sprung up back there!

Gary’s Roving Delicatessen

This is how they travel; Jody drives, Gary makes sandwiches! And delicious ones at that!

We got to Airdrie and stopped at another RV place so we’d be able to compare prices at Fraserway, then headed for the open house. Turns out Fraserway had better prices, even without the 25% discount!

Between both dealerships, we must have toured close to a hundred rigs. I discovered another type of fiver that I really like. It has a proper bedroom at the front, a bunk room at the back, and a loft above the bunk room. I could see going with something similar in a toyhauler motorhome, with the bunk room of course being a garage and the bedroom being my office.

den and loft with ladder (Starcraft Lexion)

I found the pigtail I needed in the parts department (with no help from the very rude salesgal) and it came to only $13 after my discount and tax!

Having had our fill of RVs for the day, I was then whisked away to Bass Pro Shops, which is more of a museum than a store! They allow photographs, so I tried to capture the feel of the place.

front end of the cariboo herd

We ended the day by making a very quick stop in Mossleigh to visit with Ken and Donna.

Another awesome day with my local guides! Thank you!

More pictures below.

prairie crocus (actually not a crocus but rather a member of the buttercup family)

that prairie azure and gold I love so much…

entrance to Willow Creek municipal campground

the grass looked like hair or fur!

campground with river

river that winds around the campground

campground

prairie crocus (actually not a crocus but rather a member of the buttercup family)

a crow or raven met its end here

these guys posed for pictures

Gary’s Roving Delicatessen

gorgeous lake (manmade, I think)

I asked Gary for an additional half sandwich. He thought this open faced version would be funny.

that organizer is a better use for the space in a class C loft than is a leaky window!

den and loft with ladder (Starcraft Lexion)

first rig I saw with a loft and a den below it (see previous picture)

LOVE the Harry Potteresque cubby hole under the stairs!

nice little den below the loft

proper stairs up to a loft!

Jody climbing proper stairs to a loft

I laughed at the awkward placement of the toilet paper roll holder!

exterior of Bass Pro Shops

entrance to the store

amazing light fixture

first floor of the store

all the murals are hand painted

antlers

I want a rocker like this!

sea plane

front end of the cariboo herd

there’s a guy in a duck blind in the tree

back end of the cariboo herd

‘general store’ at Bass Pro Shops

driving into a storm

April 29, 2011 by Rae

The Potato Chip Experiment

Jody and Gary needed to go to Fruitvale, BC, yesterday and insisted I come along for the ride. It was a fun little overnight trip and we obviously aren’t yet ready to kill each other since we’re road tripping again tomorrow!

The title of this post comes from something Jody likes to do when she drives this route. It takes you to the Salmo Creston Pass, which is a full mile above sea level. The change in air pressure is remarkable and well evidenced by bringing a bag of potato chips, then watching it swell as you climb up to the summit. Potato chip delivery drivers are not allowed to take this route because the bags, being crowded into boxes, often explode!

I would not want to do this route, highway 3, in an RV at any other time but a very dry summer day; not only is it a long, steep climb and descent, but there is no guard rail along a good chunk of it. There was a lot of snow at the pass yesterday.

I got up at oh-dark-thirty to do two flier routes, with the other two to be done tonight. It figured that these were extra-large batches where I would be paid a supplement but which would take longer! We took off around 9 and with a bunch of stops made it to Fruitvale at five MST, four local time.

We pushed on a little past Fruitvale so I could see the former mining town of Rossland, then we had dinner in Trail at the delicious Chinese ‘Double Happiness’ restaurant.

On the way back today we stopped in Creston so I could see the sasquatch at the Kokanee brewery. Pity there were no tours today!

We got in around, oh, nearly fiveish and Jody went out with me so we could do my fliers in record time. Thank you!

random MyCatsAreSoCute! pic

snow at the summit of the Salmo Creston pass

crossing the Columbia River into Trail (yes, the same river as that in Oregon/Washington)

welcome to Trail

daffodils in Trail

public walkways in Trail all have this red covering; you can see them going up the side of the hills

welcome to Rossland

Rossland mine

nice building in Rossland

BC has bright green grass

bag at the bottom of the pass on the Salmo side, very flexible, no problem creating the crease

air pressure is still low

air pressure is still low but changing as we climb up

air pressure keeps mounting

nearly at the top and the bag is getting very hard

white-out conditions at the summit

cresting the summit, the bag was fully inflated

on the Creston side of the pass

Creston, nice dump station

Creston

fountain at rest area in Creston

“Beer Run”, the Kokanee Sasquatch

RV park right across from the Kokanee Brewery!

Cranbrook sign, similar to the one in Sparwood

we saw lots of these goats on the highway

coming up to the short tunnel

short tunnel

election sign: Vote for Bush! (as an independent)

April 25, 2011 by Rae

Playing Hostess

Donna, Ken, and Midnight drove down from Mossleigh this morning to spend the afternoon with me. I’m not accustomed to playing hostess, especially not in the RV, but we made it work. I served up a pasta casserole, a loaf of homemade bread, and some of Jody’s carrot cake. A camping chair worked well for additional seating and we’re all used to eating from our laps so the lack of table was no issue.

Mossleigh isn’t right next door, but it is an easy less than two hour drive, so we’re all as good as neighbours and hope to see a lot of each other this summer. It’s amazing that for all the vastness of our country we still managed to end up in nearly the same spot this summer.

April 25, 2011 by Rae

Needing a New Project

One or two years? Ha!

I still need to iron, mount, and frame, but this is a pretty good preview of what will soon be gracing a wall in my library:

Jody found the frame while she was decluttering her home. It’s absolutely perfect!

I feel so incredibly accomplished to have completely this project, never mind how quickly I did it!

April 24, 2011 by Rae

Amusing Traditions

I was puttering around the rig a few minutes ago when there was a very loud banging on my door. Jody never knocks like that, so I peered out the window and saw no one. “Great,” I thought, “I’m now a target for hooligans.”

Then something caught my eye, so I cracked open the door to find this:

Interesting…

Any other day of the year I’d be worried that was a bomb, what with it sitting on my propane tank, but I was suddenly reminded of what today is.

So, I brought the bundle inside and gingerly unwrapped it. The top layer was a package of Lindor chocolate eggs (yum!) and under that was this:

YUM! Best Easter gift ever!

The two-bite tomatoes are already all gone. 😀

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A Life By Design

"Sometimes in life, we reach to a right place by departing from a wrong port with a wrong ship!" ~ Mehmet Murat Ildan

Lethbridge

The Roving Delicatessen

The Potato Chip Experiment

Playing Hostess

Needing a New Project

Amusing Traditions