5C's Que Pasa

It remains cool and wet, such unusual conditions for this time of year.  Thus far we have only gone on one walk.  Hopefully more soon.  Meanwhile Colin has had two jobs this week which is abnormal for him to be working so soon once we return and we have a few more on the books.  We haven’t even been home a full week.  Meanwhile I have opened all of the mail, dealt with a few issues and have almost finished the company books.  I had done to the middle of October before we left and only have to go till the end of February which is our company year end.  I need to balance each month and then do a full year reconciliation before sending it off to our accountant in  Vancouver.  Once that is all done I will do our personal taxes which will only take a few hours if that.  Our personal annual taxes are based on the company taxes so I need to do all three no later then April….yikes, I just actually looked at the calendar!  I really need to get them done asap as I need 24 hours to courier them to Vancouver.  Hopefully be the end of the day Monday I will be done.

Meanwhile we are toying with a few ideas and plans and that has had me online instead of applying myself to my business tasks.  But so much more fun than the work I should be doing.  Not much news to share at the moment.  Once I have more time I will do some Mexico/Isla posts that I never got around to.  It is so very quiet around here 🙁   We miss our girls so much but need to take some time for us and determine what direction our future will take.

Mommio is doing somewhat better, although she had a fall two nights ago.  She can walk about 100 meters with her walker and can do a few small tasks towards dressing herself.  It appears that she will be heading to an extended care facility.  We are still working towards getting the medical staff to put her hearing aides in every morning as we are certain that will help connect her to the world and the world to her.

Thanks to a good neighbor here I now have some borrowed socks to keep my feet warm. I do not own any closed toe shoes.  I love these toe socks and have ordered two pair for myself.  They are perfect for my Mephisto sandals and my walking shoes.

We left the Omak Walmart about 7AM last Saturday and stopped to fill the RV just before the Canadian border.  Diesel is on the rise, our first fill was in Gila Bend, Arizona, @ 2.64, then Las Vegas, Nevada @ 2.84, then Ontario, Oregon @ 2.94 and in Oroville, Washington, it was 2.99 per gallon.  Not 4 blocks down the road we saw a station that we could fit into @ 2.74, we would have saved $14.75USD 🙁

We were the only ones at the border and it was a piece of cake as they say.  We were not asked about food nor alcohol but we were asked if we were the owners of both vehicles, did we have any repairs done to either vehicle while away and were we bringing goods back for someone else.  He asked if we were bringing goods back over $1600.00 which we honestly were not.  I was quite prepared to hand over the extra bottle of wine I had but he did not ask.

As it was not busy and there was no one behind us in line I asked about the US stamp on Colin’s passport ( the one he got on the way back to the US after seeing his Mom in Winnipeg ) and how would the US know that Colin had left the country.  He said that he had no idea at all!  So I then asked him about scanning our passports and sharing the info with the US.  He said that they do not document that info.  The only thing that they are checking from the scan is names of criminals and other names associated with national defense.  That is all that is shared with the US.  He was very strong but polite in explaining that people like us who go back and forth simply screw up the system.  We are creating a lot of work for the border agents as they have to sift through all of our scans in order to “look for important stuff like finding the bad guys”.  There is nothing recorded on those crossing the border individually.  So I then asked if we should just pull over and walk across over the US agents and check with them.  He said not to bother as they really don’t care about the stamp.  If Colin was caught in the US after the 180 days were up then he would be in trouble.  The onus is on us to prove that we came back to Canada when we did as they don’t stamp passports.  Thanks goodness for Visa receipts, etc.

There is nary a bud in the vineyards.  It has been a long cold winter.  We have been told by the locals that is was the worst winter in twenty years.

Even the fruit trees have no buds nor blossoms.  Often when we get home mid April our trees are just starting to leaf.

We turned into the park but there were no excited doxies on the dash barking with anticipation.

A good deal of fresh snow up on the mountain.

We had some sad moments when we walked inside our home.  It was so quiet and empty.  We just hugged each other, dried our tears and started to unload the RV.  But we kept finding reminders in every little corner.

This was the big pile of dog toys. Our girls were certainly well loved. They had toys in the RV, in the house and outside. We still haven’t found the outside toys yet, they are buried in the shed.

We worked non stop from when we arrived at 11:00AM till almost 8:00PM.

It was the setting sun that alerted us to the time.

Fortunately I had pre planned meals for the next week which made dinner easy.  Then it was time for bed in our huge king bed.  Usually we each had a girl snuggling us.  Another thing to get used to.

We awoke to -5C/23F on Easter Sunday and frost everywhere.  I let Colin finish unloading the RV while I stayed inside and continued to put things away.  I started doing laundry and even without the girls and their blankets I still did 13 loads with the final two being today.  The RV was emptied by the end of Sunday and by the end of yesterday everything had been put away.  I of course still have 5.5 months of mail to open and then taxes to do.

We gathered up all of our doggie things from beds to blankets to food bowls to leashes to toys.

The pile is almost as large as what we had gathered on the Isla. Yes we will be bringing three large garbage bags of things back to Mexico to donate to shelters.  There is no one here who would take these used things so it is worth the space in the RV to return with it.  It is part of the legacy of Carmeh and Caeli.  They had nine beds here and more than that in the RV.  I guess I wanted them to be comfortable and to have a bed in every corner of the house and yard.

So bit by tiny bit, poco a poco, we are taking small steps forward.  A few of our close friends here have come by with hugs and condolences but we have yet to go for a walk.  I am not quite ready for that, perhaps in a few days.  We have the geese who keep coming up on the lawn from the lake and I keep wanting to shout ” Caeli, birdies!”  and she would go flying out the door barking.  After four or five times the geese stop coming up and pooing on our patio.  So far we have to chase them away ourselves but we aren’t as vocal as Caeli would have been.

Our final Caeli photo. Those who knew her will know that this was her favorite position, she loved to have her belly rubbed.

What else can I tell you?  Colin drove the RV over to Kelowna Freightliner yesterday for our annual servicing plus new shocks on the front.  They have been leaking for about two years and after almost 17 years and all those rough Mexican roads, not to mention the old Isla road,  it is time.  In all the years we have owned this RV the  brakes are still good and the only thing we have had to do with the engine was adjust the valves last year.  Owning a diesel is a good thing.  By taking the RV over to Freightliner we are able to leave our Mercedes and Lexus in the RV storage site.  We will make the switch from the HHR to them later this week.  We spoke to Mommio yesterday and she seems weaker to us.  They don’t put her hearing aides in so it impossible to have a conversation other then to shout that we love her.  Half the time she doesn’t know it is Colin calling.  Even the charge nurse can’t tell us if she is improving, holding her own or getting worse.  Such a very sad situation.

I had my first bath in almost 6 months but it wasn’t quite as nice as I didn’t have little Carmeh putting her paws up on the edge of the tub to check on me.  Still I did enjoy the hot soak with a glass of wine.  Colin cleaned the house today ( lucky me ) while I worked on my business to do’s.  My big excitement was when I went to put all my spices away, I found a small cockroach among them.  You bet I screamed and Colin came to my rescue.

We drove a mere 138 miles on our last day from Omak back home.  However from the day we left here on October 29th to our return we drove a total of 5,449.5 miles.  We bought our RV new in the US and imported it into Canada all those many years ago but the speedometer is miles not kilometers.  That dear readers, is the que pasa of it all.

Our beautiful darling Carmeh on her last morning.  She suffered so much through her 14 years.  We can only hope that she is up there somewhere romping with her sister and watching over us.

We arrived back home about 11:ooAM safe and sound.  We had a good cry and lots of hugs and then moved on to the unpacking.  We just now realized that we have been working for over 8 hours.   Adrenaline I guess.  We have had lots of hugs and some tears and shared some memories.  We are coping.  I leave you with two observations.

The first that it is bloody cold here.  At this time of year we should be rather warm and have windows open and not the fireplace on.

We just now both saw the beaver.  Unbelievable on our first day.  Some years we don’t see him and others we only spot him a few times.  A lovely welcome.

Hope to do a proper post tomorrow.

Last Tuesday was our final day in Las Vegas and we caught up on a variety of things including purchasing some things from Trader Joe’s for our pantry.  Sure wish we had one in Canada.

There are a few things I wanted to include in my post if only for my personal reference.  My new Canon SX600HS which I only got in November on our way south decided that the lens shutter would no longer close.  This happened just before we left Mexico and suddenly is rectified itself in Vegas.  Maybe something to do with dust and humidity and now the dry dry desert air.  Gosh our noses have been bleeding since we arrived.  With the long days we drove leaving Mexico, we were thrust from humidity to dryness quickly.  The day that Colin left to see Mommio I had a cold sore start on my lip.  This happens to me about every 2 years and I did have meds for it but it would not go away and I ran out.  The trigger is stress and of course my stress was not going away.

Last Sunday, the morning after Colin returned I had an appointment at Walgreens to see a nurse practitioner.  That was the only way I could get another prescription.  That cost me $99.00 and then I had to purchase the medication.  Ten days supply came to $222.64 which the girl at the pharmacy thought was was outrageous.  I, of course agreed.  She told to hang on as she was going to see what she could do.  Once the script was filled and I went to pay, the bill was only $61.72.  She saved me $160.97 by putting it through on some type of insurance plan that I do not have.  My travel medical insurance had a $500.00 deductible by choice so I was most happy with the outcome.  That saved $160.97 paid for all our meals and entertainment in Las Vegas.

Because we stayed a few days in Las Vegas to relax and regroup as I like to say, we have to make tracks each day to get back home.  We were already delayed in returning and we have some appointments to deal with and Colin has two jobs lined up for next week.  Needless to say both the personal and company taxes are calling my name.  The plan was to leave Las Vegas this past Wednesday and head north.

On a walk the previous evening we had seen this monstrosity and had to check it out the morning we left.  There are two slides on each side.

Colin gives the trailer scale. There is chrome everywhere.  Would it come to any Canadians surprise that the license plate says Alberta?  We found three of these units stored in our Vegas RV Park.

It was very difficult to leave as once we started driving I could only think of the girls and I teared up and cried. I did this over and over.  This was taken the day before we put the girls to rest.

It was a lovely scenic drive  out of Vegas and we spoke of the girls and shared memories.

I wonder if I will ever be able to travel in the RV and not be sad?

We spent Wednesday night in Ely, Nevada where we have stayed many times in the past. It was only a 254 mile drive but I had ordered some things from Amazon so we did have to stop and spend the night. I was tying to show the snow on the mountain above the mirror……

So we arrived early in the afternoon, but I spent a frustrating few hours trying to get the internet working.  I do have my own ATT hot spot device but somehow I used up 4.1 GB of my 5GB’s while Colin was in Winnipeg with Mommio.  Grr!!!   By the way Mommio is doing better.  The park internet had stopped or rebooted and instead of putting me back onto the  free park internet I ended up using my ATT travel internet.  Long story short I did not do a blog post Wednesday evening.  It was a very cool 45F that evening plus a very strong wind.  We didn’t even go for a walk.

Funny thing happened when Colin went to dress our salad.  As he opened the container the dressing exploded all over him, the carpet and my sweater.

Thursday morning had us on the road at 7AM towards Jackpot, Nevada.  Beautiful scenery all the way.

As we approached Twin Falls, Idaho so did a storm. We traveled along I84 towards Oregon and dealt with showers, rain and wind.  Our first rain in months but it was good to wash all the ocean salt deposits off the underside of the RV.

Last night, after a long 433 mile drive we stopped at the Ontario, Oregon Visitor Center.  The big plus was that it had free high speed internet, wonderful.  Of course the downside was that we were boondocking with our slides in and it was cool out.  We were going to watch Amazing Race live but found out that on our digital antenna it was only on at 11PM, way too late for us.

So Colin set up our dish between the car and the RV to tape it and the inverter did the rest.  Perfect solution.  I would like to say that I slept well last night but the trucks coming and going had me up every other hour.

This morning we were on the road just before 7AM, stopped for fuel and proceeded with our journey north.  The rain had started about 3AM and it was a cool 39F.  We had no idea what was ahead of us.

We were just a few miles down the road when the snow began to fall and the ice started to build up next to the wipers.

It wasn’t long before the right wiper had a problem and Colin had to go out, dig his tools out of the basement and make an adjustment.

Just a few miles later the snow became more intense.   Not only was it accumulating on the side of the road but up on the hillside.

Finally just before La Grande the flurries began to recede.

Here we are before the big mountain descent a few miles south of Pendleton.  It is a 6% grade for 6 miles and has two emergency ramps.  This is the first time we have driven this route from Vegas north to Kelowna, we have always done it traveling south.  We are used to driving up the mountain but not down.

We completed our day today about 4PM when we pulled into the Walmart in Omak, Washington, yet another long drive at 424 miles.  We had to put these two long days in, in order for us to have had those few fun days in Las Vegas which were a great boost to our emotional well being.  However with each mile today I got sadder and sadder and cried more than I teared up.  I had no idea it would be so hurtful to be going home without our girls.  We started this journey back on October 29th as a family and now we are alone and lonely.  We both miss the girls so very much and we talked about that a great deal today, even more than we have each day since they were put to rest.  We are both grieving and in different ways and for a variety of reasons, not always the same.  So Colin says something which makes me sad and vice versa.  I had no idea that it could be so painful.  We are only 125 miles from home.  Tomorrow is going to be extremely challenging.  I have no concept of how we are going to deal with walking into our home.

Taken on our last morning together.

The last sunset of our winter break.

After easing into the morning last Monday, the 10th, we drove out to Red Rock Canyon, a National Conservation Area.  I had read about it on someone’s blog and it sounded most interesting.  We had a few detours due to freeway construction and obscured signage but between us we finally got on the correct road.  It was only about 30 miles from the RV Park.

We were lucky that it was a sunny day. This was taken from the Visitors Centre which by the way is very well done, most informative on everything about the Mojave Desert that you could imagine.

I did not do much research prior to our visit due to lack of time and was a bit disappointed to discover the the red rocks are only for about 3 – 4 miles.

There was a couple doing the tour via Segway with a guide also on a Segway. They were followed by a van and when they stopped so did the van.  We got the van driver to take our photo.

It was the week before Easter and the park was full of vehicles but we managed. It would have been better without the hordes.  There were many out on the numerous trails hiking.  The trails range from easy to strenuous and from .75 mile to 11.3 miles.

If you are not into hiking or rock climbing you can simply drive the 13 mile scenic drive. This was taken from the High Point overlook @ 4,471 feet.  That is Las Vegas in the middle background above the red rock, way too hazy too see here but we did glimpse it with the naked eye.

Next stop was Fremont Street where the non stop entertainment continued.

After we walked the street from one end to the other for the first time ( we ended up doing it three times ) we headed to the new Container Park, about 3 blocks further.  That is a heart shaped piece of art which people are putting a variety of  promise locks onto.

The park is made entirely of containers and is a mix of shops and restaurants.

It also has two huge areas for kids.  So nice to see this in the middle of downtown.

Our second selfie. We stopped here for a glass of wine at Happy Hour.  It was $2.00 off per glass, good deal.

I believe that this was only our second time on Fremont Street which is a five-block entertainment district in historic downtown Las Vegas.  Because we didn’t have to rush back to the RV for the girls we were able to take our time and enjoy all that is associated with this area.

Such as these old neon signs.

As dusk falls the lights come on slowly. Almost impossible to see but there are three back dots on the canopy, zipliners.  There is now a 12 story high zip line that you can zoom along the length of the Fremont Street Experience.  Colin wanted to do it but it was sold out for the evening as well as the following evening.  If you are going to do it you might as well do it and enjoy all the lights.

This sax player was really good.

There is so much history to this area of Vegas.

The overhead canopy is called a Viva Vision Screen and is 1500 feet long, 9 feet wide and 90 feet high. It has 12.5 million LED lights and they sure do sparkle.

There is a lot of free entertainment here as well as some vendors such as this one.  We found this to be a great likeness to the boy.  Extremely well done in only twenty minutes.  The entertainment here is more tasteful  than the strip.  Of course there are tip buckets everywhere but we enjoyed the music we heard and some of magic shows, etc.

There are casinos all along Fremont Street on both sides but you don’t have to go into them.

We were hungry and had trouble finding a place to eat.  There were only two places outside serving food and they were full.  Needless to say the casinos want the tourists to come inside where they will be enticed to gamble.  We did venture into a few casinos to check out restaurants but just did not want to be inside.  Finally we found a wonderful Mexican place just a quarter block off of Fremont.  Nacho Daddy was worth all the time we took looking for the perfect place to eat.  I would recommend this place to anyone looking for a well priced meal.  Our waiter spoke Spanish and we learned that his parents came from Salvador and Honduras.  It was the perfect end to our day, certainly one filled with contrasts.

Thanks for all the comments to my earlier post today.  It was I hoped to hear.  You are great readers and someone always has the answer.