Adventure - Golden to Hope

I’m in Telte-yet Camp Ground in Hope. I love it here. Sacred site.  Ancient meeting place of local natives.  When we are looking for a chinese restaurant we say go where there’s lots of Chinese eating.  Well, Telte-yet is that way with natives. Always some indigenous people with family camping here. I’ve come alone often using it as a stopping over coming back from hunting in the interior.  Laura has been with sometimes and she likes the serenity.  I slept well last night.  Back in the Lower Mainland.  Feeling relaxed in the bosom of the creator.

Golden was wonderful.  I did my virtual doctor clinic facilitated by Royal Columbia Medical Clinic where the staff and other doctors are the best. I also work virtual and in person out of Doc-Side Medical Clinic where staff and colleagues are the best too.  I know there are strictly virtual medical services now but I’ve worked with these clinics for years and years and simply enjoy the relationships and the care.  This trip has been a challenge because it really stretched my endurance.  I drove 3-4 days and worked 3-4 days but my schedule when I arrived was indeterminate. I was visitting with three different fully employed nephew with their kids and high ranking jobs and uncertainty about when I’d arrive. 

Now that my eyes are catching up with my ears as a problem I can’t drive at night too well.  I can see the road and centre signs but can’t read the signs to either side at speed.  Apparently the cataracts are affected by the refraction. Whatever!  I drove 6 to 12 hour days and understand truckers getting hooked on amphetamines.  Staying alert was truly a challenge in the prairies and driving north of Lake Superior.

It was all worth it to see my beautiful sister in law Adell, the great nephews Finn and Elliot and my nephews Alan, Andrew and Graeme. What great men they are. I’d not seen any of my family’s since before Covid when my sorely missed brother died and I felt bereft.  I’m impossible to think of me as the elder.  Psychologically I’m seventeen inside and yet increasingly invisible and irrelevant in a country that would vote for the Liberals yet again.

‘

I’m pleased to be back on time.  If I don’t drink by the grace of God I celebrate 28 years sober in a week or two.  This camper needs repair and when that’s done the truck oil change can happen.  The engine sign, engine oil change required came on last couple of days and each place I stopped told me they couldn’t handle the truck and camper but with the strut/happy jack needing repair I’ve not been able to take the camper off.  The insurance and repair folk looked at it all before and June was when the work could be done.  So many of my patients are waiting exams and procedures with their lives on hold whereas I’m blessed that personally physically I’ve not been limited as such but my vehicles have been the outer defensive shell and taken the ‘hits’ for me. 

I really enjoyed seeing and passing through Roger’s Pass. I’ve travelled that way since a child and been through there far more than the northern way I came.  I was a bit on a time clock wanting to get through Calgary and Banff because the G7 was meeting and I feared traffic delays. As it was even highway construction delay was minimal.

Honda Generator,  star link and Apple laptop and IPad  on side of mountain road to communicate with office. Space age. 

The scenery was maginficant.  Seeing ducks lifting en mass off the mashes in Saskatchewan, the antelope in Alberta and cowboys and cowgirls riding horses on the open range where cattle dotted the foothills was wonderful.  The lakes of Ontario and Manitoba had me always wanting to stop and spend weeks fishing.  Then I was in and through the magnificent Rockies and loving the Sorendo and Okanagan.  Fruit trees and farms in heaven.  I always imagine explorers coming first to these areas and being awed by the abundance. I think of my Grandad arriving from northern Scotland to farm northern Manitoba.  So many immigrants drawn by the ‘land’.  That’s such a difference to the modern immigrants coming to cities and money and hustle.  The agricultural folk made this country back then while so many today are merchants.  The first generatoon and second generations are so often all it takes.  I have such a mix of friends and enjoy them all from all over the world and we laugh about traditions and parents and age old struggles.

Now I’m back in the lower mainland which I’ve made home mostly since the 80’s with periods of time in the states and moves from island to mainland, and north to south.  I’ve always thought of Vancouver as merely an okay city, but British Columbia is God’s Country.  Canada is god’s country really. It’s just that the politics are 19th century while the science and technology are 22nd century.  I’ve been blessed to be here. I’m blessed to have been able to drive across this country and see it while my eyes still see.  I fear for my vision.  I have what my dad had and lived the isolation he experienced as my mother grew more deaf. We joke and say aging is not for the young.  

I pray.  I really pray.  I listen to suffering and talk with pain all day. My darling sister in law was kind enough to say ‘it must be difficult to listen and talk with people who are suffering hour after hour for 6 to 7 hours a day all day.”  I was thankful she understood.  I miss general medicine at times when one is in and out and orders are left.  As a general practitioner I was never more than minutes with patients and yet here I am with the so many of the most difficult people, addicts, alcoholic, chronic depressives, dying, chronic pain, head injured.  I watch them be stigmatized and sidelined.  A third of my patients are really personality disordered and are quite dangerous looking for fault and wanting to get under your skin with coping mechanisms that last worked as teen agers. These are loud people whose families have rejected them. The psychiatrist is stigmatized with them like the leper doctor.  Everyone wants me to ‘control’ and ‘smarten up’ these ‘incorrigible’ ‘complainers’.  The government and insiurance people blame me for the lifelong pouts and refusal to eat beans.  They do everything to have me treat them as they behave to have me reject them and prove that they are the beasts they see themselves as.  I muddle on.  Motivation therapy teaches me that there are those that are not ‘ready’ to change and I should triage my time to those who are in action phase.  Meanwhile the government is my bugbear as they give away health care to the world without paying or increasing resources for the millions of immigrants with sick families and all too often attitudes.

I don’t know who to talk to about the sense of hopelessness that comes over one addressing the constipation and diarrhea in the system. It’s all about my pay grade.  I’m in the trenches and always have been. I’ve been outed the cushiest jobs and couldn’t have gone far way from the maddening crowds but no I always chose what I thought was the greatest need.  A third of my patients are ‘normal’.  They are successful and issues of mental illness are acute and they have resources to get through the travesties of existence. This was the group I saw when I was a family physician , a nice slice of the world, a positive take on existence as compared to the mentally ill and addicted and psychopathic and psychotic.  I actually miss the asylum and jails at times most because the colleagues were all working on the same page.  The staff weren’t blamed for the disease or disorders but I feel I am.  Then I realize I’m the one that is supposed to be grateful and thank God for the opportunity of being of service.

And now I’ve seen my family.  I was so alone in Covid. It was such a global evil a war by the aetheists against the godly.  Now the Luddites are back. It’s good to have seen first hand the life and breadth of this country and realize so much more the lies of media and social media.  God is good all of the time. There is no catastrophic emergency except political and corruption. That’s the evil. War has always been  a problem .  It’s Martha and Mary and workers and slackers.  I don’t spend enough time in prayer and mediation and I let the evil and anxiety get to me. I’ve had a wonderful drive , the struggle to stay away, only a half dozen near death situations driving, the semi that nearly crushed me, the dozing and waking on the curb, the down hill speed increasing before the tight turn and the brakes screeching to make it. It’s life.  I had my puppy with me and I believe God saved us because I prayed for him to be safe every day and God could have let me suffer my stupidity but thought kindly of this glorious little companion with the wagging tail and growel. Such a character.  

I’m going to head in now. I’ll drop off camper and truck and pick up my car and get on with the next step. This journey is almost complete.  Please be with us this last little bit God . And thank you, thank you, thank you for being with us all the way.

Thank you Jesus. 

Adventure - Golden

This is the most idyllic setting. The Kicking Horse River flows through Golden. The Golden municipal campground is situated beside the dike that bounds the Kicking Horse River on the west side. Looking across the river I see the railway trains passing. There are seats along the dike walk facing east.  I’ve taken Madigan my cockapoo walking along the dike each morning I’ve been here.  

There are snow capped mountains all around the town.  I feel nestled in this special sacred place.  I am sleeping so well at night. I dreamed of being with a group of women , friends old and young.  One of those auspicious dreams of good boding.

I’ve enjoyed the stimulation of Jordan Peterson’s, We who wrestle with God.  Many times I’ve thought of Jacob wrestling with the angel.  Moses at the mountain of God, Horeb saw the burning bush that was not consumed.  God called to Moses saying he was on sacred ground.  God said his name is YHWH, “I am that is who I am”.  In English versions of the Bible this is commonly translated as Lord

I pray to Lord God or his son Jesus Christ and sometimes Holy Spirit for I have been taught that God is this trinity.

God the creator though seems supreme.  Jesus Christ, his son, only begotten son is described as advocate.  He says that he will send the Holy Spirit to his followers.  I experienced this as ‘conscience’ or the ‘wee small voice’. 

Thy will be done not my will.  Pride goest before the fall.  One’s own ‘righ size’ is a measure of good self esteem and gratitude for what one is and what one has with thanks to God the giver of all gifts.  There is destiny and free will.  I seek to know my purpose as that is the purpose of God.  

Here I feel God’s presence. In high places.   The ancestor worship which was prevalent in the earliest of humans I studied last year at Oxford, even Neanderthals, appears the earliest of worships.  Ancestor worship.  God the creator.  Respect for the old and those who have gone before.  

I am grateful for my parents, John and Jean, and my grandparents on both sides. I was blessed to meet three of them in my life and know two well.  Now I’m the old one and am listening to an audio book by Jordan Peterson, we who wrestle with God.

I would said I play “peek a boo’ with Jesus.  Peek a boo is possibly the earliest game a child plays with mother.  Pat a cake may be the second. I would have to be more advanced to wrestle with God. These days I’m working up to pat a cake.  I’m certainly playing with toys.  Interesting that showing the face with surprise is the beginning of relationship. I feel awe and wonder when I see the finger prints of God.

Here in Golden the beauty of creation is incredible.  I liked the mice in Hitchiker’s Guide to the Universe finding 42 was the answer.  The earth was made as a computer to help the process and the creator was rather pleased with the fjords he’d made.  I liked the Rocky Mountains myself.  Most appealing to the eye.  Frankly I enjoyed the flat of the prairies though it was hard to stay alert’

I’m looking forward to returning to my home in Burnaby/Vancouver.  Today I’ll begin the return journey and tomorrow the plan is to be in Chilliwack

Thank you God for this day. Thank you God for creation.  Guide me Lord. Watch over Madigan and me and keep us safe in the journey ahead. Help me serve today and do thy will.

Thank you Lord.

Adventure- Moose Jaw to Golden BC

Again the travel day is a blur.  I’m up at 6 am and get away at 7 but with stops and rests I drive all day.  The big event of the day was seeing the antelope.  They are really skittering and fast. They would have been miles away if I tried to stop and take a picture. That was my experience of them when I rode my Harley to Sturges and saw herds of the beautiful fleet footed creatures.

I listened to Christopher Isherwood’s Berlin Stories.  It was reminiscent of the mini drama Babylon Berlin.  Nazi’s and communists fighting politically, poverty and the Weimar government. Rationing and corruption.  I found myself nostalgic for a time with less pressure and demands It reads like the Moveable Feast by Hemingway.  I remember writing poetry and stories in my youth and having that sense of timelessness. Now old I feel that time has caught up on me and I sense the future as limited. There’s a quality of youth in the Berlin stories with easy friendships and intrigue. I enjoyed it after We who wrestle with Gods.  

I imagine God as all loving with different pats having more fortune and less pain but not necessarily ‘better’  Jordan Peterson sounds a bit like a preacher, his voice strident at times.  I enjoyed Isherwoods observational quality with the major political events, deaths and Hitler happening beside and outside the personal relationships. There’s poetry there whereas Jordan Peterson is brilliant essay. 

I passed on to Lincoln’s Highway by Amor Towles.  I’m really enjoying it as it did his masterpiece , A Gentleman In Moscow.  Listening to such incredible storytellers helps pass the miles.  

The scenery is magnificent of course. I witnessed a storm coming across the prairies in the great sky. 

My favourite stop was a place where I walked Madigan in the grasslands.  I made a sandwich at one stop with pepperoni and fresh bread.  I enjoyed A&W burgers with onion rings. He enjoyed his burger too.

I would have like to have stopped in Calgary and other towns along the way.  I’m wanting to get home though and I’m hauling camper and boat and trailer so difficult maneuvering in towns and cities and difficulty finding parking.  

G7 is meeting between Banff and Calgary so I really wanted to be beyond any traffic or hassle that might cause.  

There’s a Watercraft inspection. I passed one at night with no one there but at Golden the young man ran out waving. They’re trying to stop invasive species but as my boat’s been out of water in storage these last 5 years there was no concern.  They did direct me to the Golden Municipal RV Park.  

What a find this was. The manager rode his bicycle after I passed and directed me to the office. I’ve this terrific place which only has electricity at the site but water and pump out and showers are at the office.  I’m just glad to be in heaven with two days of work to complete before I do the final leg of this journey to Vancouver. It’s 12 hour drive and I’d hoped to get back on Friday but it may be Saturday.

It’s a lovely sunny day in the mountains.  A river runs on the other side of the dike my truck faces.  Madigan and I walked along it first thing this morning. 

Now I’ve unloaded my Vespa so will be able to drive about the town at noon after seeing patients virtually with Starlink.  The time here is an hour ahead of Vancouver.  I’ve some catching up to do with work.  I really am looking forward to getting home and back to a manageable routine.  These expeditions are a challenge. I’m looking forward to the weekend with Laura. I like our walks, barbecue’s and television nights.  

Even now I enjoy being stationary.  I don’t know how truckers do it. So many jobs like that are under appreciated until you get an experience of it.  Staying alert is certainly a challenge

Thank you God for bringing Madigan and me thus far safe.  Help us today and bring us home on the weekend.  

Thank you Jesus

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Adventure - St. Francis Xavier KOA Winnipeg West RV Campground

Last night the sky flared with lightning. I remember timing the thunder as children here watching the storm march across the prairies.  Madigan didn’t like the thunder but the lightning was spectacular.  I remember as children watching skies far more than I do today.  Prairie sky is the best for watching.  Now today it’s raining and slightly chilly. I checked and I have one and a half tanks of propane.  I’ve the electric heater but also the propane heater. It’s cozy in my Camper.  

I enjoyed working yesterday. Virtual doctoring. Serving to complete and sigh forms for patients to obtain insurance and credits they are entitled to as a result of their disabilities.  It’s often just ‘smart’ ‘clever’ business delaying tactic.  Patients are injured and legal settlements dccide what they deserve but often they need doctors like me to regularly confirm their disability which rarely changes. Yet the shortages of doctors results in major delays to people who are usually poor getting the much needed funding. I’m glad to help.  I just hear so often how thankful people are that they have found me, I’m still working, that their insurance company demands a specialist and yet seeing a specialist may take a year or more. So many of my patients haven’t a family physician who is often the one who is supposed to complete the forms.  Walk in doctors rarely will do it.  So I’m glad to help and have a purpose.  A cog in the wheel.

I hear the same with controlled substances.  Dozens of my patients require controlled substances and thanks to years of advanced training since I was a family physician I am the one who monitors and provides the prescriptions for these meds which have major risks, though life saving they can be dangerous, have potential for abuse and also divergence. Then there’s the very complicated patintns are are most of my seriously ill patient who depend on polypharmacy to manage a day.  Yet any change in medication can affect the dosage of the other medications which are commonly at maximum therapeutic dosage already.  These chronic patients also are sensitive to any change in medication and resist change. In the past we would admit them overnight to hospital but today there are no beds. 

I object to the incompetence of management which brought in a million people last year many of who had health care needs in their families.  There were not even sufficient housing for them but as important y no needed expansion in infrastructure like hospitals , labs, doctors nurses. I’m irritated that we are waiting 6 months for a test that normally I’d get in a couple of weeks and my patients is facing another 6 months of anxiety concerned that these investigations will be concerning.  I’m wisely and reasonably doing the correct investigation in stages but it’s truly a nightmare to wait so long because the last PM was a selfish party boy insensitive to the needs of the mentally ill and elderly.  Increasingly I feel the community grow callous but I just know it’s my fear talking.

There is hope. The tyrant is gone and while the election rewarded his cronies there’s hope that the new leader experienced intelligent isn’t a party boy but a serious adult. I would have liked the conservatives to have won because western Canada is treated like a colony by Montreal and Toronto but I really am hopeful and must resist what the young call ‘doom zooming’.

I think I have flower DNA in addition to the homo sapien and Neanderthal DNA.  It’s rainy and gloomy now and my mood is lower while when the sun is out I’m uplifted.  It’s telling to be so reactive to weather.

This is my last day here. Tomorrow morning I head out taking the direct fought to Kenora. I’ve 23 hours or 2100 KM to go and with Gods’ blessing may get to an RV camp in or near Ottawa Monday which Belinda at the Royal Columbia Clinci told me is a holiday.  

Thank you God for family and friends. Thank you God for Madigan. Thank you God for the mild weather, green trees and grass. Thank you for the wonderful smells of the prairies. Thank you for air. Thank you for rain. Thank you for sky and earth. Thank you for patients and my ability to help them. Thank you for pharmaceuticals and science. Thank you for my teachers.  Thank you for research. Thank you for University of Manitoba and UBC. Thank you for Canada.  Thank you for Laura. Thank you for Adell, the nephews their wives and the great nephews. Thank you for this camper and truck and this adventure. Thank you Jesus.  

Adventure - Vancouver to Ottawa with F350, Vespa, Adventurer Camper and Madigan

Thanks to Coastal Ford the brakes were done on Friday. Kelvin’s of Travco came by to seal my bang, stupidity.  I hit the top of the camper , the doorway to the Ford service an inch too low. They have another door around the side.  Stupidity.  I was concerned the camper would leak as the seals were compromised.  Kelvin as usual came to the rescue.  

I texted Kevin at Adventure RV Centure in Chilliwack. He’d installed a new toilet removing more evidence of my stupidity.  The dark brown stain in the bowl wasn’t from a chili shit of mega proportion but rather the fault of me trying to pour boiling bacon grease down the toilet. 

Kelvin helped me load the Vespa on the front of the F350.  I can do it myself but it sure was easier with help.  Then it was the last of packing over what I’d need in the next weeks from my new Thor to the camper. I had bags of clothing and office materials and tech. I need an iPad and phone and MacBook pro to be a virtual doctor.  The plan is three days travel and tree days in the office.  I enjoy the office after 6-8 hours of driving.  

I was able to leave today May 10 at 9 am.  I’ hoped to leave at 8 so felt pretty good.  I left my one plant with Nicolina having seen her and Ernest the night before and asked if she’d nurse the poor thing.  Laura took other other but only hand hands for one.  They’re safe. The Thor is buttoned down with people and pest deterrents.  Dave is going to come by to check on it.  

With a myriad of moving parts for another expedition done I was off.

I had to fill up with gas in Langley and get another tie down from HoleSpot. The Vespa really is riding well.  I inputted the route to jasper as a stop on the way. I’d like to have the time to do the hot springs but maybe on the way back.  Once I get to Ottawa I’ll have a better idea of the time it will take. It’s 4500 km and I travel 6 hours a day.  With the later sunset I may make 8 hour.  

Today I stopped for gas a couple of times puttin in $150 each stop.  I topped it up too when I filled up the little tank to fill up the generator. I was considering boon docking.

At 5 I passed Clearwater and wanted to go in and check out the place where we’d been hunting.  Laura was there with her cousin.  I’d like to go back there perhaps this year. Again I thought I’d check it out on the way back.  Clearwater is roughly 500 km and 6 hours drive  I took longer. Jasper was 400 plus km beyond that.  I looked at the sunset time and it was 830 so I continued on.  

My rule is to begin looking at 3 to 5 but that was in winter.  I was tired at mid day and bought donuts and energy drinks in Kamloops. There was a terrible accident that held us all up an hour.  

At Blue River I saw the Blue River RV park and thought it attractive.  I pulled in.  Lovely friendly Chinese couple. I was concerned about getting an open space for Starlink and succeeded in doing that.

I unpacked and stowed a whole bunch. I’ll get it more organized as I go along.  It was a comfort to get the Starlink working, to find my passport and also my satellite phone.  

The ;last gas station the fellow sold us beef jerky and pepperoni.  Madigan loved the beef jerky. Today’s meal have been donuts and pepperoni and beef jerky with an A&W egg and sausage muffin for breakfast. Madigan had a couple fo sides of bacon and wanted more.

Now he’s sleeping on the floor. We died a walk of the lovely campground and came back to the camper to do a few hours of work.  Now I’m ready to watch some NCIS before bed. My nighttime story.  I’ll b be up early and hope to get away and make Jasper and the ice fields in the morning light. I’ll be glad to pass through the mountain pass and make Edmonton. It’s been chilly high up and I’m looking forward to the heat of the prairies.  I’ve had rain today too,  I listened to some CBC but had to turn it off whenever they propagandized politics.  

I enjoyed the oldie but Goldie music of a local station I passed through .  Blondie and AC DC.  A great Tragically Hip song too.  

Now I’m tired.  What a first day of expediation

The Vancouver to Blue River distance is 584.4 KM - 6 hour 13 by the internet.  I am pleased I did more than 6 hour but would like to make 8 hour days but we’ll see. I have to be safe first and foremost and this was a good day.

Thank you God. Thank you Jesus.  

Adventure - Vancouver Ottawa

I had my last day in the clinic yesterday. I’ll be vitual now. The plan is drive three days stop three days to do virtual work and then drive three days. The distance is 4500 km .  I do 6 hours a day at most 8 hours a days and that’s 100 km an hour reckoning.  So it’s 8 days driving so a couple of weeks to get there all going well.  I’ll have a week or two down there also visitting Napanee and Hay Bay then coming back.  5- 6 weeks . The cherry on the cake is seeing the new addition to the family , along with his brother, the great nephews and seeing mother to be of my other nephew. Seeing my nephews and sister in law will be great as this is the first time since Covid disruption I’ve seen family. But I’ll also be returning with my outboard motor boat and trailer envisioning more fishing in the future.  

That’s the plan.  I remember sailing to Hawaii, weeks at sea in winter through hurricanes and at the end while I was aiming for Honolulu I underestimated the current that runs down the east of the islands. I made it to Kona concerned about fuel and winds making that the best landfall.  Bicycling across Europe with Barba in my 20’s I remember the plan was to go through the mountain passes to Italy but early snow closed that route so we headed south to Spain and ended in Morocco.  That’s the nature of adventure.  The fun is in the journey.  I’d like to have more time but I’m attending the Spokane IDAA conference in July and the Intenrational AA conference is in July in Vancouver.  So the plan is to be home end of June.

I’ll miss Laura.  Madigan will too.

The Ford F350 and Camper are at Coastal Ford.  I’m having the front brakes done before heading out tomorrow.  I banged the top of the camper at the entrance.  Not paying attention. I’ve phoned Kelvin of Travco and he’ll be able to drop by late today to add some ‘goop’ ,  The Agile adjuster and insurance people were out this week as the happy jack by the water outlet is weakened by a leak. I’ve pnot taken it of the truck since that occurred at Long Beach LA January this year.  I’m hoping this is just cosmetic and a matter of checking and adding to the seal.  I don’t want another claim.  Kevin from Chilliwack RV will be doing  the structural repair this summer so the camper will be ready for fall hunting.  

I have this new Thor Hurricane motorhome and hope to take Laura out weekend camping in August. 

My spiritual aim is to be in the present.  One day at a time.  God is now.  Meanwhile I’m aware of the whirlwind of activity with return from the south, trading my big fifth wheel in for the Thor , transferring and storing , potlaching and purging,  along with continuing work and getting taxes done. It’s been a whirlwind.  

I’m content.  Really.  

Right now i”m in the Thor and feel at peace.  

I like journey’s and expeditions though driving long hours is tedious.  I need a lot of coffee and have the occasional power drink.  Madigan likes the frequent brakes.  It’s a bit like when I drove the 5000 km Sturges trip on my Harley Electroglyde. I didn’t realize how tiring it was. I’d driven night and day from Winnipeg to San Francisco in my Mustang but part of the trip I had company like the times I drove from Winnipeg to Vancouver or Vancouver to Toronto. We drove Winnipeg to Halifax another time in the Toyota and one other time in the Toyota truck from Yuma to Vancouver and several trips to Mexico and back.  I guess I’m getting old.

I was glad to learn that my eyes were still fine for driving and that the mild macular degeneration and mild cataracts would only need to be reviewed in November. If they weren’t progressing or getting better nothing would be done but if there was any deterioration surgery could be planned for spring after I returned from next winter’s sojourn south. I want to return to Long Beach where Peter and Larry, Luca and Bella winter.  I spent a couple of weeks there this January but now I’d like to return for longer and have Laura join me so we could visit Art Galleries and Museums.  

Today I’m going to ride my Vespa to pick up my laundry. I’ve another load I gathered from cleaning the camper.  I actually stripped and made the bed last night. That laundry will have to wait for my return when I’ll have more laundry for sure though I’ll be able to do the outward bound laundry at Adell’s.  The benefits for relatives with laundry facilities. They have them in RV parks and I could have bought a motorhome with a laundry. The fact is I like dropping off my laundry, an executive luxury and don’t really mind doing laundry when I’m travelling with the camper. The laundry becomes an ‘event’ then rather than a chore. I rather enjoyed doing my laundry when I was having my teeth done in Algadones and was staying at the Sleepy Hollow campground run by the local tribe.  

Time to make a Vespa laundry pick up run.  Madigan can guard the Thor and when I get back I can take him for a walk. I’ll be able to make a meeting today as well as return some work calls.  I can’t do much else till the Camper is back. I’ve packed my bags and just have to transfer them and the generator and Starlink and computers.  I’ll miss the Thor but I’d not be comfortable driving it for the distance. I want to have some shorter weekend trips with Laura this summer and fall before I head south for the long winter so journ.  This Thor is a motorhome.  I was fine travelling with the Camper but when I was settled in at Long Beach and later at Fountain of Youth Hotspring and Spa I felt cramped.  I really appreciate the space I have here now.  I confess I like the big tv and couch a lot.  

I’m excited a bit .  The day before an expedition/adventure/journey ROAD TRIP!

 

Burnaby return, missed another wet and cold winter!

What a whirlwind of activity since I returned to Canada last Friday night.  I’ve missed another Canadian Vancouver Winter with the coughs and flu and rain and snow. Instead I was in Arizona, Mexico and Southern California at the Fountain of Youth RV Spa enjoying the sun, desert air and mineral hot springs.  It was hard to return but I surely enjoyed the green of Oregon and the forests of Washington. I enjoyed seeing the ocean in Seatlle too. I dreamed of sailing last night and saw a Macgregor up for sale yesterday.  My eyes have been a staring driving 6-8 hours a day and night driving is even more challenging.  I find it hard to read the small letters of the signs at night going at 70 miles an hour.

It was great to see the friends and folk I know in Burnaby.  Just terrific to see Dave and Helena, Mac and Kim.  Having travelled for months among strangers it’s good to be where people know your name and faces are familiar. 

I continued to work virtually with a deluge of phone calls and text requests. It always reminds me of my medical colleagues who stopped leaving their practices because the amount of work before and on return obviated any vacation benefit. I’ve beers able to keep the flow going working the whole time I’ve been way. The joy has been the three day weekends when I’ve been able to ride my Vespa about touring and exploring. The lawn chair also got its fair use.

Seeing Laura again on the weekend was a thrill.  We had a terrific day at her place. She served me a ham sandwich and coffee.  I tell people I miss the grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup Mom made for me when I came home from lunch.  Dozens have commented that their mom’s did the same and we’d gone blurry eyed with nostalgia.  Laura’s ham sandwich was that little bit of love. Madigan was ecstatic to see her demonstrating kangaroo genes with his jumping up and down.  He humped his bed which I think Laura’s sister’s dog Molly must also use because he becomes like a frat guy with stolen panties around the dog bed.  At least he was entertained and distracted so Laura and I could visit. We text most days and send photos but there’s nothing like a real hug.  

I enjoyed seeing Kevin too and passing on the tolled leathers scabbards that I’d bought him and Anna in Mexico.  I’d brought them in the back seat of the truck and declared them at customs.  

Most of what I was doing with any spare time was collecting the files from banks and credit card servers for Anil my accountant.  

I’d also had to get a photo with an application and credit card info for the renewal of my gun license. 

It doesn’t rain but it pours.  The Canadian Post office in Lougheed mall had kept mail for me as had Laura so that despite trying to keep up with the deluge of demands and information I had more paperwork and obligations.  The phone never stopped ringing with constant messages but each night I’d shut down after walking Madigan three times in the day. I’d watch Landman on my iPad and have dinner.

Madigan had needed grooming because his poop was getting caught in his bum hair so that was a huge event. He then had diarrhea for two days after being at the Vets for sedation and getting his hair cut and nails trimmed. Dr. Biernacki on North Road does a wonderful job. Best vet and staff ever.  I only had the Vespa and the day I took him in and picked him up it was raining off and on. I was fortunate to have his Cowichan sweater but we immediately went to Bosley’s to get a lined rain coat. I’m sure I have one or two in storage but not here and now when I need it.

A trip to Full Basket Butchers in New Westminster had me stocked with sausages and steak to barbecue as well as sandwich meat.  

I was so thankful to make it to my men’s meeting and see George who has bought himself a new beautiful Buick with ambient lighting and the best map display. I could have used that in LA.  He’s definitely a car fan and we all love his red thunderbird. Now this car makes him look like a CEO  for sure.

It’s been a whirlwind.P

I’m waiting for Paul to bring my RV in from John’s Storage in Chilliwack so I can transfer what I need from this camper to the bigger home. Kelvin of Travco is coming this afternoon to fit a bit we’d noticed i needed when we put the big rig away.  I’m hoping for help transferring stuff like my refrigerator goods and clothing.  It’s really not much but it seems like it. I’m going to be back in the camper May June to go to Ontario and pick up my boat and outboard and see my brothers home now up for sale, one last time. I sure do miss him and family. I take everything and everyone for granted then they’re gone and I am left with the Swiss Cheese heart.  Mom and Dad, Aunt Sally, the grandparents, my brother, my friends. Carl, Hank, Archie, George, Vivian, Phillip . so many more. The death collect.  I’m over the hump and the past is pushing out of the boxes like the storage locker I must cull. 

It’s a good life.

I was glad to get to St. Barnabus.  I’ve been blessed so much. I’m really grateful for all the people and love in my life and the opportunities to serve.  I’m growing still as a person and might yet get out of adolescences. I’m surprised at what I know.  It’s shocking given all the study.  It’s there and I’m still reading. Loved listening to audio books the way home . I liked watching the Reacher series and reading the history of the Canadian forces invading Scicily.  I’m right now reading Louise Penny the truly remarkable Canadian novelist.  

Thank you Jesus. Thank you God. Thank you God of Gods. 

Tranquility by the Sea, Golden Shores RV Park, Day 7, Long Beach, California

I woke at 3 am.  I’d hardly been able to keep my eyes open at 8 am. It was a long day.  I’d arrived in Los Angeles at the Golden Shores RV Park in Long Beach.  I’d waited to be registered uncertain if I’d have a place.  At 1 pm I was there to register.  Larry and Peter drove in just then. What synchronicity!  There was a place open till the 9th. I took it.  I set up  even unloading the Vespa.  

Peter came by with Bella and Luka.  The dogs were discombobulated .  Bella and Madigan know each other from the north but this is the first time they’ve met in the south.  We all walked together in the little park along the shore.  

I actually got organized to make a run to Vons on the Vespa. I explored Long Beach a bit. With the help of my iPhone 16 GPS I found it by typing in grocery stories near to me. I was 2 blocks away at the time.  I wanted to celebrate and treat Madigan so I bought a couple steaks, a zucchini and potato egg salad.  I bought another milk forgetting I already had a quart so expect I’ll be having macaroni and cheese.

I walked Madigan again.  

There’s a routine to life with a dog.  There are a lot of little dogs here.

I tried to go back to sleep at 3 am and nodded till 4 am but was on a todo list.  I left my recliner at home with the ATV. I’d bought it in Yuma last year and loved it but didn’t want to be carrying it all this way with the Starlink near where it is carried. I’ve thought of how to protect the cord,

I need a new water hose since there’s a very slight leak but enough to be a problem in California. 

If I take Madigan I need to take his box which I then have to carry about with me.  

I have the Garmin GPS which I need a mount for the Vespa if I plan to go to art galleries on the freeway that are 30 minutes away.  I can check my phone but have problems with that though the buzzing in the watch might work

These are all Cadillac problems

I climbed out of bed at 5 am and meditated.  At 6 I was in the shower and cleaning the bathroom.  I spilt a blue ball of toilet sanitizer and rinsed that down the drain today.

I’m tired.  I didn’t want to stay in bed wrestling with insomnia but the truth is my schedule is off and I’ll need some naps and rest days to recuperate.  My problems are all just Cadillac problems.  I’m watching the light come up out my window. I have laundry to do but think of dropping it off somewhere because I have limited time in LA right now and don’t want to be spending a morning doing laundry if I cab drop it off.  

I’d like to go to the Art Gallery.  There’s a Long Beach Latin American one. The ones I looked at before I came are 30 minutes away.  I’m a bit anxious about the high speed 10 lane freeways on the Vespa.  I expect I’d appreciate the art if I served

I love this view.

Thank you Jesus.