DC (Dawson Creek)

 We went on a road trip to DC with George and Della. They followed in their car. Here we stopped at a rest area and had lunch (with the slide in).

 We arrived at James and Doris's house. They have hookups for the RV so we had our own place to stay.

 It's not complete without the picture of the mile 0 marker of the Alaska Hwy.

 Here's the Alaska Hotel (which burned down today).

 And the grain elevator.

 We had coffee and dessert with a friends daughter, from our Mexico trip.

 We spent a lot of time soaking up the sun, which was out every day.

 The boys had peaches and ice cream every night.

 Must be getting old. Visiting on the couch.

 We took turns preparing dinner every night. This was George and Della's turn.

One day George and Roy took a road trip to the WAC Bennett Dam.

 Here is the inside, where they are replacing a turbine. Everytime I have been here, they have been working on one of the turbines.

 On the way back we took the old Alaska Hwy which went over this old trestle bridge. It is unique as it curves.

 The girls did a road trip to Grand Prairie. They have big beavers there.

 One night the guys had dinner alone so Roy made ribs and beans andgeorge helped with the beans and cole slaw.

Wikki was always investigating Mocha.

 Another road trip the guys did was to the windmill farm north of DC.

Below is a video of it.

 On the way back to Vernon someone passing is said we have smoke coming from the trailer. When we checked, a wheel bearing was hot and smoking. I put some wood between the good axle and the frame and took the wheel off the bad axle and pulled it up with a ratchet strap. This was in Hixon, half way between Quesnel and Prince George. So we went to Quesnel on three wheels. Reminds me of the above picture. At least Carol did not have to ballast the trailer. Below shows my strap system.

 

We made it to Quesnel for night and the repair shop was half a block from the RV park. Got it in by 7:30 and we were on the road by 10:30.

Summer

 Summer we saw all the girls together.

 

And all the grandkids all at one place.

Carol helping out with the weeding.

And cooling off after.

 There were a few fires this summer. This one was a view from the lodge here. It was at the Rise Golf Course. Forestry water bombers were called in. Sure are nice views from here to see things like this.

Then there was a fire just north west of the lodge. Gerry and I took the forestry crew into the fire, as we had knowledge of the area, and how to get into it. Later we ferried some of the crew out on our quads to their vehicle several miles away.

A large rock Ted dug out with his high hoe at the lodge.

Our friends Gerry and Heather had their first grand child.

And the best for last. We had a get together of a bunch of us in Kelowna, who winter in Palm Springs. Two full time residents came out from Palm Springs. Of coarse Yves had to sit outside with the women (and snacks).

Visitors

 Our friends George and Della came out for the weekend. Roy and George went to a model airplane event and watched the scale model planes fly, then to the beach to cool off while Carol and Della went shopping. For dinner we went to our favourite restaurant, Titas, for nice fresh Italian food.

 Today we drove up to Silver Star Ski Resort. On our way up a mother bear and two cubs crossed the road. First the mother bear peaked out of the ditch so we stopped to take a picture of her crossing the road and two babies came scampering after her. A pleasant surprise.

 A nice photo op at the entrance to the Village.

They had a bike downhill racing weekend going on there, so we got to see some of the racing professional racing bikes. They have had downhill riding here for over 20 years, but this is the fourth year of the BC Championship Downhill with people competing from all over the west. There were even tourists from Germany here. A nice end to the weekend.

Grandma's 90th

 We are watching our 2 grandkids for this week. It was Carol's mothers 90th birthday on the 11th, so we zipped down to Abbotsford for the day. Carol's sister Frieda also came along, so we left at 6:30 in the morning, had lunch with her and came back at 8 pm.

 Here she is with her congratulatory certificate from the Prime Minister of Canada, which arrived by mail just before lunch.

 Here's Carol with her siblings, Frieda, Shirl and Ron.

 While we were there, our daughter Mandy looked after Zada and Jonah, so they had a fun time with their cousins Lexi and Connor, cooling off in the water.

Melanie just happened to leave for camping in the Okanagan, so we met in Merritt at Starbucks for cold drinks. Roy and Carol got to meet all their grandkids in one day, and Zad and Jonah met all their cousins in one day.

Proctor Lake Quad Ride

 Today we headed up Silver Star Mountain with Gerry and Heather on a quad ride.

 Here is an old barn we passed on the way.

 Next to it was the old log house, both falling apart now.

 Here we made it to Proctor Lake. Very beautiful and nice place to camp.

Then we went to the top to a lookout where you can see Armstrong at the left and Enderby up the Valley. A beautiful way to spend a holiday Monday.

Lodge Dedication

 When we got back from Oregon, we worked like mad to get the Fairhaven Lodge ready for the dedication coming up. Here Roy is running the vibrating roller on the fresh crushed gravel that was put in the two parking lots.

 A couple hundred people came out for the dedication of the "Charles Shepson Lodge". Charles and his wife came out from Tennessee. They are in their eighties and had the vision to start Fairhaven in Tennessee and British Columbia.

 Carol and Sandi waiting in between running golf carts as shuttles to the parking areas. Roy helped park 50 of the 100 cars that came. They had a blast zipping around in the carts and meeting people.

 Here are some guests in the entry area snacking on goodies and going on tours of the 3 floors of the lodge.

Here's Sandi with Mrs. Shepson and Carol behind with Charles Shepson (founders), giving them a ride back to their cottage.

Mayhem on the Highway

We are on our annual trek to Southern Oregon. We just crossed from Washington into Oregon, over the Columbia River, by about fifteen minutes and,

 A couple of Ferraris following behind us finally had a chance to pass and they went flying by. We thought it would make a cool picture, you don't see too many of these, let alone two. A couple of curves after Carol took this shot, we were met by the following carnage.

 The white Ferrari was gone and the red one thought it would be prudent to pass on double solid lines, out from behind a semi to catch up with the other guy. He went head on into a Ford Edge coming from the opposite way. It happened less than 3 minutes after we took the first photo.

 The pickup in front of us was on his cell calling the police to look out for these two speeders and the dispatcher asked why he quit talking. He told her the red Ferrari is in pieces now scattered over the highway. There was a police ahead of us going in the same direction, so when he got the call he was there in minutes. Someone travelling behind us was a nurse and had her medical kit with her. She's the one at the car picture. A Ford Edge looks like a good car to have in an accident.

 It took them about an hout to cut the guy out of the Ferrari. He was barely alive. Here the Life Medivac helicopter is landing on the highway.

 Interesting picture of the helicopter sitting on the highway.

A few hours later we were getting close to our stop for the night south of Bend, when we hit a snow storm. I'm glad today is over, enought excitement for one day.