The Travelling Roadshow

Monday, Dec 29^th, 2008, and it was the beginning of our annual trip to Fountain of Youth, southern California. The snow lay all about our truck and trailer, as we inched from our home in Kelowna, onto Varney Court, and slowly up the grade, trying not to skid the tires. Foot by foot, we gained speed, until we crested the slight hill, turned left, and began to roll onto Raymer. From then on, it was moderate speed, as we gained confidence. Fully loaded, the Barnes rig rolled along Gordon, then Lakeshore and Pandosy, west to the new Bridge, and up and over the Lake to West Kelowna, and the clear road. Fine driving now, easing through Westbank, down the hill to Peachland and its church spires, and on towards the Border with the US. Snow on the shoulders and fields, but the road was clear and dry. Good driving.

Crossing the border was, if possible, pleasant. Nice Border Guard (“Any citrus fruits?” “Just the 2 oranges that we have eaten already.” “Could I have peels please?” “Certainly”, as we handed him the bag of garbage, and he emptied it into his garbage can. “I’m sure you know the routine; just pull over to the left, and the AG inspector will be out in a minute.” She was, and just as pleasant. A search revealed no problems, and we were on our way into the state of Washington. A really pleasant beginning.

But soon it got worse. The snow began, and with it a steady west wind. Down Hwy 97, then left onto Hwy 17, heading for Moses Lake. Steadily the wind increased, and steadily the snow fell, until it was drifting over the our side of the road. Our speed slowed commensurately, until we were doing less than 50K. (our usual steady speed is 90K.) And still it snowed. Visibility got worse, and we had to stop the rig to clean lights and windows. At last, at 4:00 pm, as twilight was closing in , we stopped at Moses Lake to fill up with diesel. “Any RV Parks around? “ “Why not pull around beside our service Station for the night? It will be well protected.” And so we did, in 6 inches of snow. All was well until night, when the batteries began to fail, and could not deliver enough spark to get the furnaces operating. If I started the truck engine, it delivered enough juice to boost the batteries to start the furnace, but I couldn’t run it all night. So climb into bed, and off to sleep, until we woke at 3:00am in the bitter cold. Enough. We were dressed, and back into the truck and on our way again by 3:30am, heading south through the dark and the snow.

Thank God, the snow let up the farther south of Moses Lake we got, and the roads cleared, until we could stop for Breakfast in the Tri-City area on Hwy 395, with no snow at all. Still below zero, but easy driving. Across the Columbia River on Hwy 82, into Oregon, and west on I-84 towards Portland, left onto I-205 to slide around Portland, and finally turn south on I-5. We were definitely on our way now.

It was a long drive through Oregon, past Salem and finally Eugene, with a stop at a really nice RV Park called “Jumping Joe Creek”, 6 miles north of Grant’s Pass. Cool but not freezing, A pleasant site, very pleasant people, and a good night. We had driven for 12 hours, and I was shaking. Slept well that night. Up the next morning, filled up with diesel at Grants Pass, heading south, wondering if Siskiyou Pass would be closed by snow. Wonder of wonders, it was absolutely clear and dry. And in no time we were through the passes, and heading down into California. It was getting warmer by the mile. Stopped by the State Border guards looking for citrus fruits --- none, and then on south past Weed, Redding, Sacramento, switch to Hwy 99 south, and finally into a nice RV Park at Sacramento-Lido. Getting warmer. Nice stop for the night.

Thursday was a short driving day, leaving at 8:00 am, and stopping early at 3:00 pm, at Orange Grove RV Park, on Hwy 58, just east of Bakersfield, a lovely RV Park where you are invited to pick oranges, big juicy and fresh oranges, right off the trees. We stopped there last year, so we knew --- and were not disappointed. Will do this again every year.

Friday, January 2^nd, we left Orange Grove RV Park, headed east on Hwy 58, up and over the mountain pass, turned south on Hwy 395, until it connected to I-15, and down the long hill from just over 4000 ft elevation to about 300 ft above sea level, connected to I-10 at San Bernardino, and turned east on the final leg of our trip. We stopped at noon at Indio, shopped at Trader Vics for groceries and 2 cases of “2-buck Chuck”, and after some lunch headed south on Hwy 111. Another hour, and we were driving into FOY, and ready to park for the next 3 months. We are at Site 158 this year, again on Quail Rd, but too late to get into the preferred sites on the west side of the road. But the hot tubs and pools are just as nice, the “Botchi Ball” and horseshoes, and pool, other activities are just as good, and even the “pancakes, ham ‘n’ eggs on Sat mornings” are easy to take. The wireless access is just as flaky, but I can get on most days. Temp now runs from 20C to 25C each day, with sunshine --- and oh yes, wind at nights. Really blows some nights. No rain yet, of course --- this is desert environment.

We attended All Saints’ Brawley on Jan 4^th --- and Jan 11^th, I was there to celebrate and preach, since Fr.Carlos Garcia was on holidays to visit his home town in Columbia. It was glorious for me. The people are so warm and filled with faith. I do it all again on Jan 18^th, and after that Fr.Carlos returns, and we can work out a schedule for us both. Mom is enjoying FOY very much, with her pool activities and other games. We have had people join us for “drinks and nibblies” before supper, and have been invited to others as well. Even had Paul over for supper too. There are about 1000 sites here, not all filled; in fact, attendance is down from last year --- possibly because they increased the monthly rates. Or maybe it’s the economy.

I had to buy a cell phone last week along with prepaid minutes --- our new phone number is: 760-483-6759 I had a perfectly good cell phone that I brought with me, and asked to have it activated --- but it had been a Telus phone, and no one could or would activate it. They all wanted me to purchase a new phone and sign a 2 year contract --- except for NexTel, which was where we finally agreed to buy a new phone. Such a waste, I believe caused by the greed of telephone companies. I would have used my Blackberry down here, but I thought Telus wanted too much to use it in the USA. Perhaps the economic downturn will help the phone companies be more realistic.

Mom went on the “Painted Canyon” walk with a bunch of others. It was exhausting, climbing ladders, climbing rocks, getting pulled up with ropes, being rewarded with a marvelous view of the Salton Sea. Took about 6 hours, and she says she loved it. I will add a picture of her walk. I stayed behind and washed the windows of the trailer.

Well, a few days ago, we set up the satellite dish --- took only about 30 minutes, a record time --- and we can now watch Canadian TV, and Canadian News. Much better. Of course, we don't spend much time watching TV because there is so many other things to do. There is the hot tubs to check out most days, the walking of the dog, the swimming, the walking of the dog, the hiking, the walking of the dog, and the rewriting of the Computer Manual to include VISTA.

And that created a problem because VISTA decided to shut down, claiming it was no longer activated. Took days working with Microsoft to get it reactivated; and they kept passing me from person to person, on hold and then to another. Finally, I got the product codes to solve the problem, and I am back to work. Imagine tyring to write a VISTA Manual for the Seniors and have the laptop refusing to work because the OS has crashed. Now it is working and so am I.

We attended All Saints Brawley the past 3 weeks, and enjoy it very much. Now James, the Bishop of San Diego, has invited me to be Licenced in his diocese, so that I can assist more often at All Saints. So I going that "route", filling in the forms, reading documents, and, as happens today, paying for a confidential "police check". I have not idea how long this will take, but the process has been started. I am expected to meet with the Bishop on Feb 12th at Palm Desert, probably at St.Margarets (at least that is my guess). Hope all goes well, because I really want to contribute. It is a good parish, though very small, and a mission --- but every parish should be considered a mission if they are doing their job.

It is Feb 2nd now, Groundhog Day, I believe. And 2 days ago we moved from site 158 to site 147, diagonally across Quail Lane, which gives us a concrete pad (instead of just gravel) and a picnic table, and now we can see the dramatic sunsets from our site and from the picture window in our RV. Bev is happier, and we had our first party at the site (with Bruce and Jean from Kamloops). The internet access is better here too, and so I can get on more often. The problem is that it keeps dropping off, so that just now, I was dropped, and the last 3 paragraphs that I had written vanished. Oh well, it is working better now --- previously I was out of luck for days.

This coming Wed, we intend to drive to Indio, to meet with Rod and Jan Ainsworth, and have lunch together. It will give us a chance to do some shopping too, and get another case of 2 buck Chuck -- nothing to do with you Charles. And Bev wants a simple jacket to use on the cool evenings. It goes up to 25C during the day at least, but drops off to 12 or 14C at night. No I am not complaining, just mentioning.

Got a note this morning from Cathie who said that she and her family would be coming to Vancouver, Kelowna, and Calgary in the middle of August. It will be good to see her --- all of them. Which reminds me that I must get some pictures into this Travel Diary 09 --- we have taken some, but because of the state of the internet have not tried to incorporate any yet. Mom continues her hiking. Last week she, and many others, hiked to Bombay Beach, a little village about 5 miles away over the desert. They arrived at the Legion Hall together, and I met them all there, sitting at long tables, drinking Margueritas, and looking forward to a large dinner of spaghetti, and salad. All for about $6.50US. A jug of beer is $4.50 Don't know how they do it. So we all stayed and talked and sang, and then I gathered Mom up, popped her into the truck, and brought her happily back to the trailer. Not all her hikes end quite that way! Thank heavens, or we would arrive home over 200 lbs.

Well, it has been a month since I sent any of our news, and so much water has flowed under the bridge that I can't figure out where to start. We moved to a new spot, Site 147, at the beginning of Feb, and it is better --- nicer view of the sunset, a concrete patio and a picnic table. There is a place to hang my Canadian flag (3ft X 6ft), and it waves proudly day and night, just above our site. We are slightly closer to the waterfall pool, and closer to the action.

We continue at All Saints Brawley, and I was able to celebrate and preach on Feb 22nd, the 48th Annivesary of my ordination to the Priesthood. We had a lunch and a cake after the service at the Coffee Hour., which was nice. Every monday, I drive back to Brawley to have lunch with Fr. Carlos, and support him. He appreciates it. His parish is going through a rough time, and they are scape-goating him. He may move to another parish because of it. He needs prayer and support. I have been celebrating or preaching on the Sundays he requests it. In fact, while he went to Santa Rosa in Salton City to take their Ash Wec service, I celebrated and preached at All Saints. I am celebrating on March 8th, and preaching for the last time on March 15th. I attended a number of the workshops for Kairos, but since it is being held at the end of March, I will not be able to go, since we must be back across the Border on March 28th, when our Medical Insurance runs out. Since it is Lent, I have been taking Stations of the Cross at All Saints each Wednesday, and it is well attended at the moment.

We will leave FOY on Wed morning, March 18th, heading for Tucson, Arizona. It is the Desert Museum there that attracts us, and we are Annual Members there. I just love it, with the flowering cactus, the birds, the hummingbirds, the animals, and all the rest of the stuff. We will also meet Fr.Jack and Joan Tench there,and will have some time with them. Then on Tuesday morning, March 24th, we will make a dash back through California, Oregon, Washington, and back across the Border by March 28th, to Vancouver to see Bonnie and Charles, et al. Then up the Coquihalla to home in early April.

A few weeks ago, we purchased 2 Bicycles --- folding ones, that fit inside a carrying bag and then reside in the basement of our RV. We ride every day, somewhere in the park, getting our legs accustomed to riding again. It is enjoyable. The bikes are "Citizen" bikes, so you can guess where they were build, but we purchased them online through a company in Florida, after doing a lot of research on the internet about folding bikes. Mom and I have been thinking about it for a number of years, but now was the time. Of course, with our dollar only worth 78 cents, the price was higher than if we had bought them last year --- but we didn't know about them last year. Oh well, we are doing our bit to keep the economy moving.

There are a lot of Canadians here in FOY. Last year, it was about 55% Canadian; this year it is more like 60%. We had a big turnout for "Canada Day" on February 20th, at Hays Hall, with our flags and songs, and a potluck dinner, sitting with friends and chatting. "Canada Day" is the biggest celebration that happens each year in FOY. I should post the pictures --- in fact, I haven't posted any pics at all so far, and must get busy and do that. I know, it is the pics that make it all worthwhile. You do read this, don't you? Don't you? I wonder.

At last our time at FOY is ending. Tomorrow, March 18th, we hitch the truck to our trailer, and head from Tucson AZ, and the Desert Museum. We are there for 5 days, and on Tuesday morning, March 24th, we head for home. Or at least we will cross the Border near Vancouver on the 28th, and head for Bonnie's home. That's the plan. We had a lovely supper tonight at Foy and Helen's trailer. The night before we were at Brian and Jan's Birthday Party. In between, we enjoy the warm sunshine, beautiful blue skies, the warm Pools, the bicycling, the lovely people, the ice cream, the fun each day. Today, we packed the trailer, folded our new bicycles and packed them in the trailer basement along with the "grass", the awning, the chairs, and everything else. It is a great trailer, and a great RV Park. It has been good. If God is willing, we will be back next year to this great place. Perhaps next year, we will have a stronger dollar, and it will cost somewhat less. Still, it is a lovely place, nice people, and a great part of the country.