Tuesday (16 Jul ) morning around 8:30 we left our overnight parking spot heading for Kamloops to meet our military friend who we served with on two base ( Holberg BC and Sioux Lookout ON ). Both bases are in the middle of nowhere. They insisted that we park in their driveway as they live on the outskirts of town where driveways are longer then a car's length so there was lots of room for us.  

We have been to their home 2 or 3 times in the past 20 years but we had to uses Carroll's trustee GPS to worm our way thru the city of Kamloops. Unfortunately, Kamloops has 2 seasons; winter and construction and we drove straight thru a  "war zone" in the middle of the city because our GPS said so. Luckily, a detour got us right back on the street we needed so all was not lost. 

We finally reached our friends place ( Marg and Joe Barker ) and we swamp stories about our families , military friends , both alive and dead and about our travels. They spend their winters in Montserrat and have done so for 30 years and yes we did visit them many years ago. Montserrat is not our cup of tea as it is too laid back.    By 11 PM we were all "talked out " and called it a night. Cheers

Summer Trip to BC to see friends and relatives

We left home on Sunday 14 July for a 10 or 12 day trip to BC in our MH. Our first stop was at our son's place for overnight which allowed us to see our G/kids once again. Our main reason for the trip ( besides using our MH ) is to see our G/daughter Amanda and her family which we have not seen in 4 years. Boy! does time fly. 

Added to the trip will be  a visit to a military buddy in Kamloops and another one in Horsefly Lake east of Williams Lake. 

The trip from home to Okotoks is about as boring as 1942  newspaper and we have done it way too many times. 

On Monday morning around 9 AM we left Todd's place and according to my trusty iPhone maps and Carroll's useless GPS, both said we could reach Reverstoke around 4 PM , BC time. Both where right but the traffic problems tried there best to make us later. When we got close to Canmore there was a traffic lineup for miles at a snail's pace. The hwy dept was doing some line painting, therefore both lanes had to merge into one and the paint truck was only traveling about 20 Kmh. I'm fairly sure I could hear the swearing and it wasn't all coming from our MH. 

Then sometime in the early afternoon an 18 Wheeler decided to park his Rig on its's side in the median. That cost us another 1/2 hour but luckily the tow truck had not got around to up-righting the rig yet or we would have spend a few hours parked there. I watch the TV show "Hwy to hell " so I know how long it take to get an over-turn rig out of the ditch.
 After a lunch break by a Pull-off on a lake we continued on as we deduced that we could still make Revelstoke by 4 or 5 PM.

However somewhere near Salmon Arms on a straight stretch of BC hwy another driver of an 18 wheeler fell asleep at the wrong time and parked his Rig over the embankment. The Tractor section had already been removed and the trailer was being unloaded so the tow trucks had not block the road yet so that only cost us 20 mins.

Even thought we did run into some paving crews we did get to Revelstoke by 4:30  and we found a place to park for overnight. It was a 5 acre paved lot with outdoor bathrooms and was obviously made for trucks to stop for the night. It did have a sign that said please limit your stay to 8 hours so I decide our "stay time clock " would start at Midnight. 

Before parking for the evening I had to refuel and I chose the Shell stations as the price of fuel was all the same Price and I had an Air Miles card and  I could use the miles. There are no truck stops in Revelstoke and our MH is 30 ft long and the tow is 20 ft. On top of that the fuel filler is at the rear of the MH and I was taking on about 200 L. With our length I will either block the traffic at the front of the MH or block the traffic at the rear of the car. I tried three times to use a pump that would not block the traffic but it did not work.  Finally I went across the street to Chevron station that was practically  void of customers where I could fill up without blocking anyone. I got fuel for 1.39.

We returned to the Truck stop and grab a space where we did not interfere with any Trucks. We spent a peaceful however  some  dork had 5 acres and he chose to park 3 feet for us.    Cheers 

MX/TX Trip # 85 17 to 23 March 19

This week started much like it ended. Sunday was overcast with a Misty type of rain and then finally it started to pour. This continued thru the night into Monday. We have a metal roof on our MH so any amount of rain provides a continuous chorus of music and it has no "OFF" switch. Amazingly enough, it does lull you to sleep after a while. 

Our friends from Nfld , had just returned from a 2 month trip to South America which included Peru, Columbia and Ecuador so they invited us over for Dinner to reconstruction some of their trip even though we followed them on Facebook. We have been and are interested in visiting SA we could not duplicate their trip because it included bus, train and plane travel coupled with miles and miles of hiking and hiking is not in our vocabulary. Although we still have Equador on our Bucket list. 

At this time of year the "Goodbye Parties " start so on Wed our friend Terry from Med Hat had several people over as she says to use up the food and the booze. She has a Park Model so any unused food is normally passed to the Park maintenance staff. 

Then on Thursday our friends, Ken and Linda invited us for Dinner and as Linda says we have a pork loin that we have to eat before they leave. We met Ken and Linda in Fiji several years ago when we did our Australia/ New Zealand trip which included a week in Fiji. 

With all the rain and overcast weather we had this week , we spent much of the time glued to the TV watching Women's curling. Too bad our Ladies did not fair better, however, it does speak to the parity of curling around the World. Cheers  

MX/ TX Trip #84 Happenings 11 to 16 March 19

The week started with a nice breezy ( actually windy)  day with a high of 85 F (30 C ) which is considered a gift from the "heavens " especially with all the rain and cool weather  we have received during Feb and Mar. It seems somewhat funny that we "Winter Texan's" complain about the weather when we don't want to return  home because the weather is much worse there. You can never satisfy a Senior.

Since Tuesday was also warm but windy we, along with our friends from Brandon decided to go to MX for the last visit of the year. The ladies had a pedicure while Larry got his golf shoes polished and I found a barber who did a decent hair cut for 5.00. Then the ladies had to do some "last minute " shopping  ( as if they needed  more MX stuff ). Carroll bought another purse for a reason I don't understand because she seldom  carries a purse and we don't have any money left to put in it after spending 4 month travelling around Mexico and the USA. 

Last week I heard a "Click " every time I moved the car forward or in reverse and as a long retired mechanic I recognized this noise as a bad U-Joint and I knew it had to be replaced. I ask a friend, who has been coming here for 20 years, if he could recommend a mechanic or a garage. He advised me to take it to Martinez in a local town some 5 miles away as he is a good mechanic and his prices are reasonable. I took it to Martinez the next day but he was busy and ask me to bring it at 8 AM the next day. Then he said let's do a road test and you drive and show me the problem. I backed up and he heard the "Click". Then he said put it in  Drive and another "Click". He said yep, it's a U-Joint.  Bring it in tomorrow. Martinez replaced both the  from and rear U-joint and then did a complete diagnosing check because my Engine light was on. The Engine light has been on for 3 years so I didn't consider it an emergency but he said he would do it anyway.   The cost of the parts, labour and diagnostic report cost 128.00.   

I knew that Martinez  was a retired Marine so I ask him how he became a Mechanic. He said his  Dad immigrated to the US before he was born and started to repair cars under a tree in his back yard. After a year he built a shed to work under cover. As a young boy he was interested in helping his Dad and learned to be a mechanic. Then during the Vietnam War he joined the Marines. After his first 5 years was up, he joined for another 5 years so he could get his  " re-up " pay which he gave to his Dad to build  the 5 bay garage that he runs today. He would like to retire but if he did he said his 3 helpers wouldn't have a job so he keeps the garage open for them. I would guess that his helpers are not licensed. 

Saturday was the start of the Women's World Curling which gave us something to watch on TV because it started to rain in the early morning hours and continued for 3 hours. Then the wind came up and the temp dropped to 11C. In TX with a north wind and rain that is a recipe for dam cool. Since our friends from Brandon are going home on Sunday  we went out for supper and said our goodbyes. Cheers

MX/TX Trip # 83 The Brier Week (1 to 10 March 19 )

As any curling fan knows from 1 Mar to 10 Mar is the Brier or the Canadian Championship of Curling and we are avid curling fans so much of our spare time will be spent watching the best Curlers in the World battle for the chance to represent Canada later this month.

Other happening this week  was renewing my iPhone plan. I am not great at understanding the iPhone yet but I am slowly learning.  The provider I chose in the US is T-Mobile and they don't mind me returning to ask multiple questions. One young lady who has helped me a couple of times told me that a T-Mobile staff has to have 3 months training before they  every sees a customer and I must admit they are customer friendly.  Anyhow the monthly charge for my iPhone is 67.00 CDN and it provides unlimited talk and text in NA and it comes with 10 GB of data. Telus.. are you listening. 

My WiFi was renewed on Wednesday but the provider has never sent me a bill.  I even ask for a eBill but they said they do not do eBills. I do pay it by Visa so I can track it but you would think they would want to sent a bill. I have to return the router to their office before I leave so I hope I get a bill then. 

Thursday was the last of the six Legends concerts that they have every year in this area and this time it was the Piano Man. The Piano Man is joined by  his son along with the obvious backup players. The music is mostly from Elton John and Billy Joel  and it was a very good 2 hour concert. Cost was 13.00.

On Thursday there was  a huge Bridge  Tournament at our Park and Carroll volunteered to help cut the cakes that they serve along with tea and coffee at intermission. . Carroll thought that she was going to cut the cakes and then be done. She later found out that she also had to serve it so after several hours of standing,  her back and knees where very sore. Moral of the story; when you volunteer make sure you understand your task. 

We have friends from ON that we meet 20 years ago who we have not seen since we got to TX in Feb and they are leaving on the 16 th so we managed to arrange a lunch date so we could catch up on their happenings and travel stories. They are of Dutch descent and they go to Holland every summer so they do have interesting travel stories.  We also went to the local Legion for a fish supper with friends from Brandon. While at the Legion  we also met old friends from NS whom, we knew from our days in Shilo, MB. It seems that wherever we go we see old friends but we have been traveling since 1998 so i guess we can't help but to bump into some friends ever once in a while. 

On Saturday someone decided to share the Sun with us and our temperature went to 34 C which is a little hot but we also got a TX breeze making it a wonderful day for a change. However, the Brier ( curling ) was down to the Championship round so we were glued to the TV for a few hours. 

On Sunday the 10 th , as usual we had breakfast with our friends, the Nahas as they are going home to Brandon next Sunday. We hope that the rotten weather that is predicted will pass before they leave. We must admit we were glued to the TV to watch the final curling game between Koe and Bottcher, ( both from Alberta , I might add ). We are glad to get a free week away from the TV but Carroll now has shopping on her schedule so that makes it a boring few days for me. The weather man has promise a very rainy, windy and cool week again.  What the heck is wrong with this weather . Cheers  

MX/TX trip # 82 ( Tuesday , Wednesday and Thursday)

26, 27, and 28 Feb 

Tuesday and Wednesday were rainy, cool days with high winds so what the heck can we do. Actually very little. We checked the theatres hoping to find a movie that we would like but to no avail. It seems that all the movies are violent  or space like so that is not our style. 

We solved the boredom by going to Costco. As everyone knows you can not just buy a couple of things at Costco. Somehow we found a way to spend 82.00 even though we only need a few items. However the "Tasters " had some excellent food so all was not lost.

Thursday 

It is probably best that  Feb is coming to an end because the  weather has be horrible and can't get much worst. March has got to be better. We have tickets for several  concerts and tonight the Legend music is about Jimmy Buffet. We do not know about him or his music but we bought the ticket anyway. We did not like the music so at half time we left and returned to the park and decided to join our friends and soak  in the hot tub. To us it was much more enjoyable than " Jimmy Buffet " Music. Cheers  

MX/TX Trip # 81 ( 25 Feb 19 )

I flew back to TX today but I had to catch the 1 PM flight as opposed to the 7 AM flight as both Todd and Yvonne had early morning meeting which meant the Marjorie ( their Nanny ) had to take me to catch my flight. 

Since I got a last minute flight the only available seat was a middle one so I was hoping that the 2 people on each side are not Football size people. The guy with the window seat was an executive with Enbridge oil Company. I questioned him why he was not in business class and he said it was a last minute decision and it was the only seat left. He said he was spending a week in Houston on business. 

The guy in the aisle seat had a Hab's cap on so I ask if he was a fan or just wearing there cap. I was going to ask ( jokingly ) if he got it at a garage sale but before I got a chance he said he was a Canadien's alumni, which meant he played for the Canadiens several years ago. I then ask his name since I did not recognize him. His name is Glen Metropolit. He played 08/09 and 09/10 for Montreal . He played professionally from 95 to 17 but he had a "cup of coffee " with Washington, Atlanta, St. Louis, Pilly and Montreal. He played in Europe for most of his career. 

He said he lived in Florida so I ask what brought him to Calgary when the temp was -35 C. He said he was with the Canadiens Alumni team travelling in Western Canada raising money for charity and playing against Police/Fire fighters in such places as  Yorkton, SK, Crystal City MB and even Victoria BC. I ask if he had to carry his equipment or was it taken care of and he said they had to carry their own equipment. It was an interesting trip.

When I got to Houston I immediately checked on my connecting  flight and of course the gate was changed as it always is and it also said it was delayed due to weather. I had to get a panic call thru to Carroll as she was having a friend pick me up in McAllen and of course we were not advised of length of the delay. I finally got home an hour late however the weather was bamy as opposed to the - 31 C when I left Calgary. Cheers