LoriBarb

Brandon to Winnipeg. Wind on day 6 was horrendous. The only reason we made the decision to go was for me to be able to see family. While the speed limit was 110, we were doing 88 – 95 at best with our 4ways on. Good thing the KM to get to Winnipeg was low………

We arrived at the Town & Country campground which is right beside a Waterpark and Tinkertown. Tinkertown has been around for as long as I can remember, and its still running!

Shortly after arrival SK & DK came to the campground for a visit. We introduced them to our new favourite drink, Founder’s Original Tequila Paloma grapefruit flavour. We hesitate to mention this new fav as we don’t want you all buying out our supply!! But there you go, we shared, so ENJOY!

We then hopped into a Uber and headed off for dinner at LK’s place and JK&D joined us. It was a nice little family reunion, and of course the meal was OUTSTANDING!! I am so happy we were able to do this on our trip back east. After dinner we did a quick stop at DK’s place for a hug and hello and back to the campground.

Tomorrow a BIG day, we are really excited to see the Museum of Human Rights. Stay tuned for Day 7’s update!!!

Moose Jaw to Brandon, with a stop in Regina. We had a great visit at Canada’s Depot. This was the RCMP museum which is on the Depot base. The museum was a great depiction of the history of the Mounted Police. There was even a section where you could test your ability to solve a crime.

Every RCMP officer comes to The Depot to train before being posted in Canada and abroad. The police dog in the pic with me was Indie, a failed RCMP dog who was apparently too friendly (she was indeed friendly and really only wanted to say hello and play with her rope toy. I get why she failed to be in the line of duty lol). So now she is a mascot at the museum. The horse in front of the museum was covered in flora, it was beautiful.

Brandon Manitoba was uneventful this time around, except for the wind which was gusting to over 60km an hour. Yikes

Medicine Hat to Moose Jaw. We saw a few interesting things. Franks Slide is one. The Slide happened in 1903 at 4:10 am where 44 million cubic meters of rock fell wiping out part of Frank. Over 90 people were killed, and are still buried under the rock. This was the deadliest rock slide in Canada’s history. The pictures show the slide exactly as it was over 100 years ago.

We also saw the world’s largest Tepee. The picture online was better than what we could take, but rest assured we saw it!

Sparwood to Medicine hat. We stayed in Gas City campground. It was a beautiful campground and by chance friends who were crossing Canada happened to be 6km away and were able to come and visit the morning we were heading off to Regina. B&B were happy to see us, the animals and the rig before heading back to Penticton BC

There was also a off leash dog park we took Winston to which was just across the street from the campground. And while Winston met a friend……….the sign going into the off-leash area was concerning……..

The sunsets in the Prairies continue to amaze…along with a few extra shots of Gas City Campground.

Creston to Sparwood BC, a short drive again on day 2, but planned that way in order for us to make sure we are comfortable doing longer stints with the RV.

The drive once again was good with no issues. We stopped off in Yahk BC at a family run store/cafe/ice cream place. It had a beautiful walk out back through the forrest to Moyie River. Pics below don’t do it justice.

Drive continued to be good with a bit of a turn through a tunnel I was less than enthusiastic about. The pics make it look super simple. I was glad there was no one, especially a semi, coming the other way, it was a little too narrow for our liking.

Barb took the helm and did a great job stick handling the drive which had many, and I mean many, curves in the road. There is a reason they call the road from Nelson to Belfour (Ferry ride) and onto the other side towards Creston a Bikers dream. We took it slow and easy as this was the first day on our way home. Pics below from the ferry, getting on, parked, views and of course ourselves.

We HAVE to show this pic in order to really signify how slow we were really going……this huge beetle (should have taken the pic sooner as he was in the middle of the windshield and crawled UP while we were driving) in the top of the photo was taking his sweet time exploring the rig while we were driving on the highway…….

Now let’s shift back to earlier in the day when we were in Nelson. Nelson is my personal favourite place in Canada and I would live there, it is so beautiful and I am so thrilled Barb got to see it. We ended up driving down Baker St but couldn’t find a place to park the rig, so we went to the local Mall by the river and parked there.

What we didn’t expect is to find a Streetcar which was numbered 23 that we all got on to explore a bit of the landscape along the water. It was just fabulous! The ride was short but given the Streetcar is one of the original ones from the City of Cleveland Ohio in 1906, and has a conductor and original parts, it made it quite memorable. Below are some pics from the trip.

We had the opportunity today to take our neighbour up on an offer to go swimming. Yes we have a neighbourhood, neighbours, locals that wave and stop to chat, and of course pet Winston. We were going to go to the mall to find a shirt that stated “I lived in Trail”. I figure that if you have been in one spot more than 30 days you are a resident.

The swimming was great! And finally got the opportunity to use the two pool noodles that Barb brought with us that I have been trying to cut for the slide outs so I can stop banging my head. Barb on the other hand finds this humerus and has been fighting me all the way convinced we were going to use them some day to swim. Today we were in Pend Oreille river which was warm and didn’t have any current (not like the Columbia). It was against huge cliffs on one side, seriously glorious. We had some pictures taken and you won’t see the noodles as Barb said we needed to hide them under the water. Which is when Barb told me to Control my Noodle !

When we get the pics from the ”neighbours” we will post them (now posted below). Too bad we did this on our last day, but thankful we did this on our last day!!!

We will be happy to leave Trail, but sad to see it go. We really have made some friends here, whether only for a few days, or for the duration of our stay. It has been wonderful as you really can’t get to know a place if you are just passing through.

Well we were excited about today, Aug 23rd which was the date that the parts were to be released by the manufacturer and on route to Trail!! That didn’t happen. Our conversation today with the dealership here was actually worse than any scenario we could imagine. Even the parts manager was in awe of the debacle. No one seems to know where parts are/being released/in existence/available for 2023/does the manufacturer actually exist/do people actually work at the manufacturer. Who knows? If you do know, please let us know LOL

And SO: Decision made, we are making the journey back to Ontario. We leave tomorrow and will travel north to Nelson and then take the ferry to avoid the huge Salmo mountain that took us out. We have practised our gear shifting and are confident we can do this.

We will keep you posted along the way!

We had visitors! Barb’s friends M&B from Kelowna dropped by on their return home from their great Cross Country RV tour. (at least someone gets to travel…)

Their ride is a Class C named ”Freda”. M has worked her magic painting, upholstering and decorating. It is super cute!!

We needed to take the RV out for a drive given that we are going to have to take it 3000km without new brake/rotors or only 50% new. So either way we need to be comfortable taking it on the road. Saturday we were totally pumped to test drive using manual shifting and very little brakes. We got the motorhome all ready to pull out only to find or not to find little Miss Safiya. She was missing yet again.

To fill you in, we have MacGiver’d under the steering column and behind the pedals as posted on Aug 12th, however not well enough. We then moved to foam as the cardboard didn’t fool her. This seemed to work for a few days, until Saturday when she got in when we were all excited to GO. Given we have no idea what is in the space she goes into, we don’t want to start the vehicle and drive while she is in there. 3 hours later she showed up, but by then our enthusiasm for the test drive had turned to Gin and Tonics. We agreed Sunday morning, we would grab Safiya as soon as we saw her and put her in her playpen and take off.

Sunday we pulled out of the park around 8:30am, re-enthused! I was driving and was able to play with the manual gears going into the town of Trail. We were headed off to get our propane tank filled and new the location was on the other end of town, yet had NO idea of the incline of the road until we were well on our way with nowhere to turn around. We got the propane and discussed the drive back which was downhill. Reality set in that we were going to be tested on our shifting skills, or lack thereof. Then I heard ”oh shit” from Barb, as she read the grade decent level of 9% for the next 2km. Barb then asked “Lori can you do this without breaking”? (Not really a typo lol)

Happy to report we shifted into first gear, much to the demise of all the people behind us, and went the next 2 km at 30km an hour. And NO brakes required at that speed HA

Given our new enthusiasm and confidence in driving we decided to whip into the Canadian Tire. Well it was a bit of a over-whip as I drove over a curb. THAT was delightful!!