5C's Que Pasa

I thought I understood our RV insurance policies however I learned something new recently.  As we live in B.C. Canada we are forced to deal with the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) which is a provincial crown corporation in British Columbia created in 1973 by the NDP government.  I used to live in Alberta where there were competitive insurance agencies.  Here it is a monopoly and ICBC is the only insurer.  A few years ago there was a change and one was able to get a portion of their RV insurance, excess liability insurance, through a private company.  Combined with using ICBC for the collision & comprehensive portion this did decrease the overall cost of insuring our RV.  Once this was offered to us by the company that insured our home we made the switch.

This past May I read a post about insurance on Rae’s blog.  Click here for the information on that post but pay close attention to the comment section.  Croft who is also a friend of ours made some excellent points.  The first is that if one travels to Mexico and is gone for 30 days or more, you can apply for a refund through both ICBC and your 3rd party insurer, which in both Croft’s case and ours is Aviva.  It is my understanding that Ontario also has this refund policy if you travel to Mexico.  The reason for this refund policy is that you must purchase additional vehicle insurance if you travel into Mexico as your provincial insurance will only cover you for travel within Canada and the USA.  It only stands to reason that your insurer should return this to you.  I have no idea what the other Canadian provinces do.  Anyone know?  I believe that those who live in the USA and travel to Mexico must also purchase separate insurance but again I have no idea if they are able to be reimbursed.  Up until this year we also received a refund much larger than what we paid for the Mexican insurance.  Sadly as our vehicles are older now both ICBC and Aviva are paying us less in reimbursement..  We still do break even though.   In previous years the excess reimbursement actually covered the tolls on the roads within Mexico.

What caught my attention is that Croft commented that he let his ICBC insurance lapse when he had his RV parked at home.  We have always purchased insurance for a full 12 months ( from both ICBC & Aviva ) and it never ever occurred to me to cancel the ICBC portion for the six months that we have our RV in storage.  In 2014 our RV insurance cost us a total of $1470.00.  As Colin turned 65 last year our insurance decreased to $1368.00.  We only drive our RV for half the year as we work during the summer and it is parked for at least 6 months of the year.  Aviva does cover the storage portion at no additional cost to us.

So I contacted ICBC and once we brought in our license plates, we were given a $314.00 refund for the remaining months that we had been insured for.  Our RV is still insured for the same value it was whether we had kept the ICBC portion or not.

Thanks to Rae’s post and Crofts’s comments we saved $314.00 this year.  However my mind is screaming at how much money I could have saved over the past years had I only known that I could have cancelled my ICBC insurance for 6 months of the year 😯  That would have amounted to an immense pile of pesos.

Oh well, live and learn.

This is where we had our 29th anniversary dinner. Hector’s has been nominated the top Mexican restaurant in Kelowna almost since he opened.

It is located in the trendy Pandosy area.

Trip Advisor gave it mostly fabulous reviews and when I read that it was owned by Hector who was born in Mazatlan, well that cinched the decision.

So we went, met Hector and had several chats with him during the evening.  They go back to Mazatlan every year in February for 6 weeks.  He hasn’t been to the Isla since 1975 when he used to surf there.  For a Monday evening the place was packed.  It was very tight and crowded.  Service was prompt and efficient.  Sadly the margaritas were not very good at all. At least in my ( experienced ) opinion.  Who uses a purchased mix of  lime juice?  I asked and the answer was that fresh limes were too expensive!!!!!  However the Pinot Gris that Colin ordered was equally awful and at $11.00 for a 6 ounce pour I stuck with the margarita.  Had they a decent bottle of wine we would have ordered it.

Honestly the place was rather plain and the decor less than mediocre with very cheap decorations.

The most impressive thing I saw……. 🙁

I had read about this fabulous appetizer which was wonderful but 6 tiny shrimp!!  We lapped up the sauce with the garlic bread, it was that good.

I ordered the enchiladas verde with shrimp. They were made with corn tortillas but basically had little flavor and if there was cheese in it I could not taste nor see it.  The onion slice was pickled.

Colin did better with his choice of fish tacos ( snapper ), it had some bite to it. He paid an extra $2.95 for that tiny silver container of guacamole. The avocado was so hard that you could barely pick it up with a fork. We asked about that and were told that it was not cost effective to have perfect avocado and that it was what it was.  Hmmmm, $3.00 for a few bites!!!!

Just to prove that we really did eat there.

We were disappointed.  The food was good but we have had better on the beach on the Isla and much better in Mazatlan itself.  Colin commented that the food was indeed authentic, in that it was served ‘warm’.  No, not hot as most of us expect, but when in Mexico that seems to be the norm.

It was enjoyable and an experience but we likely won’t be back.  To end the evening on a different note we headed down to the Kelowna waterfront, parked and went for a stroll.  We also shared a delicious two scoop ice cream cone as we strolled.  So ended the celebration and now we are onto the next 365 days of enjoying life to the fullest each and every day.

…we tied the knot.  There are photos of that day and our story in the post I wrote 4 years ago.

Today is just a regular work day for us but we are heading out for dinner later.  A new to us restaurant but a Kelowna favorite.  We even had to make reservations.

I loved/love  my dress as I still have it and can wear it. Here (back in 1990 or so) we are getting ready to head out for an evening of ballroom dancing.  Gosh I really like how I wore my hair back then.

Out at another dance.  This dress has a huge skirt complete with crinoline.  The back was very low. It is stored somewhere under the house with all my special dancing shoes.  We had so much fun in those days.  Maybe now that I have 2 new hips we can get back to dancing.

Colin’s current love affair with Carmeh.  She barks even and every time we hug or kiss.  She is so relaxed with him, can you see her crossed back legs?

The weather continues to be most abnormal for the Okanagan.  We aren’t doing much out of doors other than getting one dog walk in between rain showers.  Last year at this time Colin was having a difficult time getting his photos taken due to smoke from the forest fires.  So far we have very very few fires because of all the rain.  Neither is good for our business.  Life used to be much simpler before the extremes in weather began.

Certainly not the kind of weather all the tourists come here for.

We re lit the pilot light on the fireplace and have it had on here and there over the past few days.  It has been too windy for canoe or kayak rides.  We have managed to get a few errands done and some chores done.  Colin even found time between the showers over the past three days to wax and polish my car and it looks brand new.

We ( Colin ) even took all the glass pieces out of the fireplace & cleaned the soot off of them.  He then removed the logs and the pebble like things out of the bottom and vacuumed it all.  The flame is lovely and we get to enjoy it mid July.

Not too much exciting happening at the moment.  We ran out of canned dog food Friday evening 😯   The girls get 1/4 cup of kibble twice per day with a teaspoon of canned food to make it more palatable.  For their second meal of the day, at dinner, we add grated raw carrots and zucchini to the mix.  Normally I have to order the canned food in 2 weeks ahead of time.  We ran out because we were preoccupied with my body during June and did not make a note that we were on the last two cans.  I called every pet store in town before I found the only one that carried it in stock.  So that was our big excursion Saturday.  We also stopped at an orchard and picked up some cherries ( likely the last ones because of the rain ) and some peaches.  The peaches are not local ( not ready yet ) but come from Osoyoos, further south.  I found the one I tried today tasteless. I am certain that there will be better ones to come.  I was surprised to see the local apricots ready and being sold.

This was taken last Tuesday.

While at Walmart last Thursday I made two observations.  One was a very nice BMW with the license plate “WY WAIT”.  Good for them.  Enjoy it now if you can.  The other was that the parking lot is dirty as in filthy.  Fellow RVers who have overnighted at Walmart’s in the USA will commiserate with me at how the machines that are used nightly to keep the parking lot clean also keep us awake from time to time.  Looking at our dirty parking lot I won’t growl so much next time we boondock at a Walmart.

My hard working husband.  A rain shower came through just as he finished.

I am not sure that I will live that long, it’s not in my genes, but the wine drinking just might help.  Doesn’t she look great at 100?  She is now 103 and will turn 104 in November.  Colin on the other will live forever.  His Mom will be 102 in October and still lives on her own.

Do any of you get bone density studies done?  Here in Canada you can get one done every three years ( the cost is covered by our health care system ) as long as your doctor orders it.  My last one three years ago indicated that I had shrunk.  Now I have shrunk even more.  In the last 3 years I have shrunk .6 of an inch, that is just over 1/2 inch.  The good news is that my bones are staying the same.  Thank goodness.  Calcium on a regular basis and Vitamin D and walking are keeping me going.  After two hip replacements, one does become concerned.

..I forgot the camera.  Yesterday was the perfect photo op day and no camera.

Late afternoon we headed out to one of the local wineries, about 35 minutes away.  Colin was picking up 3.5 cases of our favorite wine in payment for a photo shoot he had done in June.  Good deal for us.  Such a beautiful view of the winery overlooking Okanagan Lake.  The drive back with frequent vistas of the lake was stunning.  No camera 😯

Suddenly just ahead of us two deer crossed the road followed by two fawns.  They were like right there in front of us.  Even better they stopped at the side of the road.  The babies had gone up a ledge rather then down to the lower level of the yard they were invading.  Mom & Dad were trying to get the fawns to come down but they were hesitant.  They soon joined their parents but meanwhile we were mere feet away from this gorgeous wildlife.  Oh, how I wished I had had the camera with me.  But it was special to just take in the scene in and live in the moment.  The only other time I was this close to deer in the wild was back in Banff over 34 years ago when I went there to do some snowshoeing.

Part of the J Pod taken July 12th in Active Pass.

Not too far down the road we saw a fairly large turtle in the middle of the road.  Sadly there was no place to stop and move it to the side.  It is a lovely drive but most vehicles drive too fast on the narrow two lane road.  We couldn’t chance a car coming around the corner and not being able to stop in time.  Certainly didn’t want an accident.  I just hope that the turtle survived.

These whale photos are sent to us via Gramma Katie whose daughter lives on Galiano Island.

I leave you with this sent to me by Rae who is now enjoying three months house sitting in Bulgaria