5C's Que Pasa

I am finding these isolation days speeding by.  There is still not enough time to do everything that I would like to in a day.  I still have 577 emails in my inbox.  So much to do and so little time.  I am getting many things crossed off the to do list but the list is ever so long.  March has passed by swiftly. We were only supposed to be home tomorrow, April 1st.

Our 2020 March calendar shows Venice for the third and last time this year.  We so enjoyed our time there. It was magical. I truly hope that we get back there one day and to our favourite parts of Spain as well. We have been fortunate in that we were able to visit Europe the past two years.

I just read that Nevada is requiring anyone who enters the state to self quarantine for 14 days.  This is the case in several other states.  I can’t imagine RVers who have just crossed into the US from Mexico having an easy time of making their way north to Canada.  Not sure how we would have got home without spending time in Nevada.  Yes we could have done I5 and into Vancouver but with the snow on the Coquihalla we would not have made it home.

Blog readers and friends Sharon and Jim just crossed into Canada and are spending their 14days in an RV Park in Lethbridge, Alberta. But at -21C/-5.8F it isn’t a pleasant experience.   I wish them well.

I puttered around inside today putting things in order while Colin did odd jobs outside. I am doing my knee exercises once per day but should be doing them twice per day 😳  And with my not walking, my knee in not happy.  I have had close to 6000 steps most days just walking around the house but that is not the same as a proper walk.

Sunday I made fish chowder with the fresh veggies that I had with me and used the fresh frozen snapper fillet that Colin picked up at the mercado in Mazatlan just before we left.

The same afternoon I saw someone  ( on our parks Swap & Shop site ) offering to deliver a fresh loaf of homemade bread to the first three people who said they wanted one. I was first :). His wife loves to bake and they wanted to share.  It was the best bread that we have ever tasted in our lives. A great addition to our chowder dinner. Lucky us. We are certainly eating well.

Interesting concept.

Hopefully you are enjoying some of the humour that I am sharing with you. I trust that you all had a good day and will continue to self isolate.

We dumped at a sani station just south of Summerland before coming home. The park here does not have a public station and we are not allowed to use any of the empty RV sites.  Last year it was free but this year we had to pay $10.00.

It has been so very quiet here since we got home.  Not just here in our park but on the highway as well.  There is very little traffic on the roads.  We are close to the Kelowna International Airport and are used to having planes landing or taking off over our home.  Yesterday we heard a plane go over and realized that we haven’t been seeing nor hearing any aircraft.  I believe that I read that there are only about six flights per day in and out of Kelowna.  I could be wrong on that number.  Just now I heard a siren and realized that was the first time that I have heard that noise since we arrived.  As I said it is very very quiet around here.

The kitchen was the largest challenge to set up.  This amount was brought in yet a second time plus more.  My pantry selves are full as is my freezer.

Colin found this in the basement. We had purchased two of these for Christmas but only opened the one. Now saving this for a very special moment or mental breakdown 🙂

I knew that we had wine at home but had no idea how much. I had overbought before we left. Each large box hold four four litre boxes of Pellar Estates Pinot Grigio.  No worries about running out.

My shoes. I think I only wore four pair all winter. Many are walking shoes and of course because of my knee I did not do any walking.

We have had a few special phone calls since we arrived, from Mexico checking if we were home and alright, from a special friend in Campbell River, and from Gramma Katie and Louie calling from the coast checking on our well being. We even got a phone call from somewhere in China but it was a wrong number 😯

Last night was our first sunset since we left Quartzsite.

Most of you have seen similar depictions showing how the virus has decreased pollution over China and Europe.  I found this another interesting visual. You might say that the virus is saving our planet or at the very least giving it much longer to survive.

Please stay healthy by safely distancing yourself from others and washing your hands.

We were finished unloading by noon yesterday – Saturday. While I continued to put things away inside the house, Colin cleaned the inside of the RV.

We are allowed to keep the RV out front for three days and our time was up today about 11AM today.  Every year I forget how much work it is to unload and to put all the stuff away. I  think it must be like having a baby ( I have never had one but I have assisted at several births ), after a short period of time you forget all the pain and look forward to the future.

All the RV laundry was done and so I went in and together we made the bed and put out the towels, etc.  All ready for the next trip.  There was no point in cleaning the outside but as you can see it is really dirty.  All that rain, snow and slush that we drove through.  I don’t know why Colin always has it cleaned before we leave the Isla but it does look so pretty all shiny and clean.  However the next adventure won’t be a fun one.  More of something along the lines of getting the windshield replaced re the crack we got in Tucson back in November, the annual service at Freightliner along with the exhaust leak repair and new RV tires.  We had planned to get new tires as soon as we got back to the US but Colin had priced them and they were about $250.00 less per tire in Canada.  Usually tires are cheaper in the US but that has obviously changed.  We checked with Loves’ in Vegas and again further enroute and were told that our tires were fine and would get us back to Canada.  $1500.00 saved is a good thing for us considering all the other costs we had as we traveled to the Isla last fall.

Not easy to see but the tread is quite worn.  It was not this bad when we left on March 15.  Not sure if there is an alignment issue.

The tire also looks square in places.  It is called cupping.

The fellow on one side of us has gotten even closer to our side in the storage area.

A very tight area to back in.

Done.

Next was the tricky part.  Our understanding is that we are in a voluntary self isolation for 14 days as per the government of Canada as we have been travelling outside of Canada.  We are in total agreement with that.  However it is also our understanding ( and we confirmed this with the border agent last Wednesday when we crossed into Canada ~ as long as we have no symptoms ) that we are allowed to go for a daily walk as long as we stay away from others. I also really need to exercise my knee.  We do live in an RV park with many people all around us.  Everyone here is practicing self isolation to protect themselves and others which is admirable. However is appears that there is no understanding of being able to go for a walk until your first 14 days are over.  In fact the park has even sent out in a few bulletins suggesting that folks here should contact the health authorities if someone is violating their 14 day isolation period. Both the Federal and Provincial health ministers have okayed exercise ( and I have this documented in quotes from the media ) as long as one is practicing social distancing.  We are not in mandatory quarantine but in voluntary self isolation.  So I had to contact both the office and security to get permission for us to walk back to our home from the RV storage lot as we were in fear that someone would call whoever to complain about us being out walking.  We enjoyed our walk back and never saw another person.  In fact there is little to no traffic here in the park, either vehicular or human. I still believe that we should be able to go out for a secluded walk every day but we are remaining inside thus far. We still have much to do inside and I haven’t even begun to look at all the mail since last October not  to mention personal or business taxes.  Another side note, we have in effect been in isolation since we left the Isla at 5:30AM on March 15th other than going shopping for groceries in Las Vegas.  When we shopped we wore gloves and carried sanitizer with us, I even wore a mask a few times just in case.

We have a sanitizing station at the front door complete with sanitizer, wipes and gloves.  We keep one sanitizer outside and one inside.

The rain started five minutes after we got back to the house from storing the RV. Perfect timing.

If Africa can do this, we should all be able to do this.  Hand washing and social distancing are so very important.

It was three years ago today that we said a final goodbye to our girls. We still miss them ever so much every single day.

Wednesday morning we left the Ontario, Oregon rest area about 7:50AM.

Signs of snow here and there.  Eventually we encountered wet snow and icy slush on the road.

In an instant we were in fog.

Then snow.

Christmas card perfect.

It finally cleared up on the Pendleton Pass, thank goodness. Looks like this emergency ramp has gotten some use of late.

We got to the Omak Walmart just after 5PM and there were only two RV’s there.  We still had some energy in us so we pushed on to get into Canada, a long 490 mile day.  As you know from my last post we spent the night in Oliver at the Canadian Tire lot.  We slept very very well, partly because it was quiet and mostly because we were extremely tired. Our border crossing into Canada was easy.  We were asked where we had been, how long away, did we have tobacco or fire arms and what did I have in the fridge re fresh produce and fruit. I told him what I thought I had in the fridge and offered to go and check to be exact. He said not to bother. He never did ask how much alcohol we had. I did offer that we had two weeks worth of food on board. He asked how much money we were bringing back with us, was it over $10,000.00.  I said ” I wish” and he laughed. Of course we were told that we had to self isolate for 14 days and I told him that is why we had all the food on board.

This is along Okanagan Lake in Canada on Thursday morning. It was freezing when we woke up in Oliver but hey we were in Canada in March, what do you expect. So very beautiful.  It was only a hundred mile or a bit less drive to our home here in Holiday Park.

Little by little we are getting there.  The food was the most difficult to put away as we had so much.  Usually I leave a large bin of canned goods in Mexico but this time I brought it all back plus of course we purchased canned veggies which we don’t usually  eat and then a  few other things in case this turned out to be a very long isolation period.  Of course I had to read each label and put the most recent to be expired in the front, etc.  Still lots to do but we are at the point that we can just bring it in and put it away later.  Except for our hanging clothes which we will do tomorrow.   Colin will then clean the inside of the RV while I continue to put things away.  When I can that is.  Today I have had to stop and rest and ice my knee a few times.

We saw several signs like this.

At the moment I have 539 messages in my inbox.  So if I don’t get back to you for a while you know why.  While icing today, I took a break from reading Covid updates and read others blogs.  Much to my dismay once again I can no longer make comments.  What the heck is going on?

We drove 490 miles to get back to Canada yesterday.

So very true, B.C. is “the best place on earth”.  Except when I am on the Isla.

We love love our RV but being home is a different feeling.  We arrived about 10:00AM and for the first time ever we saw a good part of the lake frozen.  There was free flowing water in front of our home and there were a variety of ducks swimming about.  We were ever so fortunate to also see a few winter swans on the lake at the far end, away from the house.  Another first seeing them, but ever so briefly as we drove past.

We spent last night in the Canadian Tire lot. I had called and asked permission. Plus we arrived after they closed and left before they opened. This was at 7:15 this morning. A cool 32F/0C.  Certainly not a warm welcome home.

Lots of these signs around.

We worked for seven hours unloading the RV.  There is enough food for more than two weeks. At least a month. We will need to get some fresh veggies eventually but I have enough to make a few large pots of soup. Still have much more to unload but we have tomorrow and the next day before we have to move the RV to the storage area.  We were not impressed with our 4C/39F welcome, not what I would call a warm welcome home 😎

If you look between the second and third rain chain basket you will see a lighter colour on the lake.  That is the frozen ice.

It’s already 9:00 PM, but we both have had our first baths since October.  Simply divine.  Dinner is in the oven. Soon we will be sitting back with a lovely meal and some Australian Pinot  Grigio.

I wish that I could do a full post for you but we are both very tired and I had to ice my knee and do my exercises.  Tomorrow is another day.  We are only allowed to have the RV here for three full days so it must be moved by 11AM Sunday which does not give us a lot of time to unload and do some cleaning before storing it away.  Normally we take the insurance off once we get home but we do need to have some work done on it first.  Such as a new windshield, new tires and a long visit to Freightliner for a number of reasons mostly related to our November RV issues.  However we must first do our fourteen days of self isolation.  Fortunately yesterday was considered day 1 per the border agent as we had been in the RV all day and would not be getting out until we got home today. I leave you with something important to read.