Sunday Oct. 30, 2011
We are presently stopped in Kelowna after a two day drive from Terrace. We left home on Thursday morning in light rain, not a surprise since it has been raining steady since we got home last May. It has been the worst summer ever with only the odd day of sunshine and no hot weather at all. Even the optimists were growling by September! At least we get to leave for the winter. The rain stopped a short way from home and the rest of the day was clear and around 8 C. Very pleasant. We stayed at the Bon Voyage at the west end of Prince George as it is an easy stop with plug ins ($14)and a restaurant. The restaurant used to have the worst food ever but a couple of years ago they were taken on by someone who can really cook. I had a great Greek dinner and Eric had his usual ….liver and onions!
We hit the road early 7:30 as the drive from Prince George to Kelowna is about 700 km and we don’t like to arrive in the dark. The wind had started up over night and we had a nasty south head wind as we left town. No rain or freezing, just wind which is killer for our fuel consumption. Well the wind never did stop until we hit Kamloops so it was an expensive day and a tiring one for Eric. '
We had a funny thing happen in Cache Creek when we stopped for fuel …..again! …..and a quick sandwich in the truck as we were in a hurry. A new Ford pick up with a grey haired guy pulled up beside us and guess who, our son-in-law Wade from Terrace. He had stayed in Prince George (got in after we were in bed) and was on his way to Kelowna to pick up his custom snowmobile trailer. It was a last minute decision for him to make the trip so we didn’t expect to meet him. We had a quick chat and a laugh about the coincidence and we were on our way. Wade said he was staying with a buddy in Kelowna, picking up the trailer and then heading back to Terrace on Sunday.
Wade and our daughter Erika have had a busy summer. Wade sold his power line company (Twin River Power) to a big company called Altec and he now works for them managing the business in Terrace. They sold their house and bought one twice as big on 30 acres, Erika quit her job at B.C. Hydro and so they have seen a lot of change in a few months. We are really happy for them as they are both hard workers who deserve their good fortune. Wade worked hard to build his business and he has put a lot of long hard hours into it so it is great to see that he has benefited from that.
We are now parked in Ian and Linda’s driveway (Eric’s brother and wife) but they are away in Japan so we are here on our own. They had a relative house sitting but he has gone home while we are here so it is quiet. I will visit with my sisters (Anne and Elisa) and Eric will rest while we are here. We are both exhausted after getting the house shut down, stowing all the machinery, unloading valuables to a friends basement, packing the rig and a two day drive to Kelowna. Even though we have pared the house and rig down it is still a big job to pack up for six months away. We plan to hit the road again on Tuesday stopping in Othello Wash., and then on to Meridian, Idaho for a couple of days. We’ll check the weather in Ely, Nevada to see how cold it is before we make our next hop and then hopefully to some warm weather.
Eric has been trying to sell his 100 acre parcel that is adjacent to our farm for the past few years and last year we had big wind in October before we left home that really made a mess of it. Trees down everywhere and a huge amount of work to clean it up. In the end he had to call in the loggers to cut all the wood that would have fallen down and take the wood that was already on the ground. If the wood lies on the ground for a year it is unsalable It was really stressful for Eric as logging leaves a huge mess that he would have to clean up. We did get a bit of money out of it even after paying for the logging and trucking as the wood was sold as export to China so the price was good. Now we have had an offer on the land and they want it as is with no clean up so we have our fingers crossed that the deal will go through. We have enough on our plates with the farm (40 acres) and all it’s maintenance so this would be a big relief to sell the 100 acres, not to mention a little extra cash! Eric worked hard to get that land as it was an ag lease that he had to log, clear and plant so he deserves to benefit from his hard work. Wish us luck.
