Saturday Morning and the RV Holding Tank

I awoke this morning to a picture sent by Kevin at 7 am of the cutest little munchkin god kid Kendra, hands and face all covered in blueberry jam.  Gilbert thanked Kevin immediately seeing this as his opportunity to dive in with dog kisses and squirmy body.
“Since I’m awake,  I might as well take you for a walk,” I said to Gilbert.  “Yes, yes, yes, yes!” tail wagging body happy thoughts.
I dressed.  Gilbert bolted out the door. I caught up with his leash.  He swatted down the lane right next to the waste bin. I picked up this present and deposited then took him back to the trailer. I meanwhile walked to the club house where I used the facilities.  My own have been plugged for weeks.
I’ve taken this as a metaphor. I see this as reflecting my relationship with God.  Somehow my life is so full of shit I can’t let the light of joy and heaven in. I have to get rid of the shit.  I’ve called various people. All the leaders in the field. The plumbing and septic system and waste folk are all flummoxed. There’s a broken valve and if anyone attempts to fix it in the park there will be waste overflow.  We have to take it to a place where the waste leakage will not stink up the neighbours in this otherwise lovely heat.
Tom has volunteered to help.  He even bought the valve replacement. Now he’s on his way to assist me moving my RV to the country.  We’re going to spend the night in the deep woods and replace the valve.  Out in the country we expect to find a place where we can have the RV on an angle so the shit in the tank is least likely to overflow when we removed the jammed valve.  It’s a design flaw. I am certain thousands of others have encountered this problem and there are videos on you tube about replacing the valve.  But there’s did not freeze shut. Open it’s a non issue.  The tank is emptied and the valve is replaced but closed is another story.
Most people do not ‘live aboard’ their RV’s or at least are not encumbered as I am with so much ‘shit’.  The metaphor here is that I have to ‘lighten up’.  I have a need for better organization. I have a couple of activities that I do each season and literally since last year I’ve not moved the activities of one season to the storage locker as is the plan.  I’ve got last years hunting clothing and this summer’s camping gear and all my work gear and my sports and reading material and writing projects and some of the boating gear all here. My garage which is supposed to be empty so I can load my Harley or my Honda 500 Pioneer is knee deep in suitcases and guitars and motorcycle gear.
It was the same when I lived on my sailboat. The sailboat without all the clothing associated with work and some of the other activities was just perfect for travelling and crossing oceans.  This RV is the same. I really think it’s the perfect RV for a cross country trip or for hunting trips to the north.  If I’d just get the stuff to the storage locker I’d be okay.  However the storage locker is next to the boat and this RV is on the other side of the city.  The change of one part in a whole requires the reworking of the entire system.
I have had to put netting and hooks for bungees up to make this RV more mobile.  When I’m just using it for a hunting trip it’s not a big deal because I can lessen the land and stow things but now there’s simply no room for things to be stored.
I’m full of shit. It’s really temping to consider a bigger unit. I’ve had my eye on the fifth wheels for a long time. The advantage there is better separation of bedroom with the laundry facility, more storage room, not that much more but more and better space in kitchen with counter space.  I really don’t have counter space here.
But that’s the ‘2 foot itis of ‘boat world.”  For years I wanted a slightly bigger boat. Yet my yacht is big enough. Just like this RV. If I wasn’t working all the time  and my storage locker was nearer and more convenient or I was simply better organized all would be well.  I do miss having a cleaning lady too.
I just think of all the pictures and things that will fall when we actually take this baby on the road. It’s been too long entrenched. My sailboat was perfect with everything properly stowed and the boat in working order after about of a week of travelling down the coast.  if I was on the road for a week the same would hold for this RV.  It’s just not moved since 2 years ago when I tore the slide parking at the end of the last moose hunting trip when I returned so tired late at night and worried about getting up to work the next day.  It was a guaranteed disaster, the kind of thing we learned on the sailboat.  Better to wait till morning than go into a harbour late at night in poor conditions.  The same held true for this RV Park. It’s a bitch to park in. The tightest parking one will ever encounter with a motor home.  Just like some of the docking scenarios that I encountered early but now seem relatively doable.  It’s a steep learning curve with these big machines.  My yacht is 13 tons.  Docking involved wind, current, and inertia.  The RV is just an issue of watching out for 4 sides on turning and backing up. There’s no wind or current by comparison.
It’s all overwhelming.
I’m thankful for Tom’s company.  With guys it’s always good to have another person to lighten the load.  All over this park there are couples with  one person who does the driving and another who gets out and watches as an extra set of eyes to lessen the likelihood of crash. On the boat it’s the one person who steps off and ties a line to the dock to hold the boat.
I’ve done these things alone but I sure do appreciate the help.
Today the inertia is with me.  I’ve had coffee but I’d really like to just lie on the couch and read a novel. The thought of all the moving parts of hooking up this trailer and driving out of the park and then heading up the road towing tons of home is simply overwhelming.
I phoned Tom at 8 am and said we’d plan with breakfast first. White Spot.  More coffee and more mobility.  Then it will happen.
We want to take the RV up north this fall for hunting simply because it’s going to get cold soon. Tenting is fun but not in the cold.  This RV is the perfect set up.  It can go on logging roads and backwoods but we really need to know where we’re going and where we’re going to set up.  The problem with a trailer is you don’t want to get stuck because backing up is a royal hassle.  A nightmare if it’s any distance.  And certainly something you don’t want to be doing on a mountain road.  We have however found a small paved trailer car park near where we want to hunt so plan to take the trailer there and then drive the truck with ATV the 10 miles back to the hunting area.  Laura will be coming along and will like the luxury whereas Tom and I and Gilbert will rather enjoy coming back to warmth and comfort of our RV home.  I like the showers.
Now I’m going to enjoy the shitter working again.
I also know that it’s not going to be a much of a mess as I fear.  But I’d love a cleaning lady.  There will be stuff falling to the floor and I really need to get this place better organized. I do miss my cleaning lady.  It’s been a couple of months since I spent a day going through this place and really cleaning it.
I could do stuff now while I’m waiting for Tom but I’m going wait till I’m driven by having another person waiting on me and me dashing about putting dishes in sinks and bathrtumbs and such so they won’t fly about.
I’m inspired now. I think I’ll shave and shower. Then I think I’ll put the coffee on for another cup.  I’ve got to get myself in the zone to address this RV move and shitter restore equation.
It’s times like this I understand why guys never get past the couch.  I did years with the highest tech being a canoe and bicycle. The car was something . But there were mechanics and I ever learned mechanics for the maintenance of my bug. That’s when it began.  I learned the mechanics for the bug and then it was downhill from there.  Having the yacht required me to learning plumbing.  I fixed the plumbing and replaced the toilet on that boat a dozen times. Diesel mechanics courses and courses on radio and radar and electronics and bigger and bigger trucks and bigger and bigger RV’s.  Now I’m 21st century and looking longingly back on the days when I had only a pup tent a canoe and an old car that carried me and my canoe bicycle and tent.  I sometimes think that retirement will be a lessening until I am back there.  It’s one thing to have never had the Harley Davidson and another to know it’s joy and then return to the simpler cheaper less complicated bicycle. I’m not there yet and love this RV for instance when it’s working. It’s rocket science.  It’s unbelievable.  But when these high end items go wrong they sure are complicated. There’s a simple joy in Walden Pond.
We talk a lot about the simplest sailing system off shore.  All the accessories can and will go wrong so there’s a die hard group that don’t have GPS , radar or autopilots and remain luddite and safe. Like the AK47 ….a truly dependable rifle.  I’ve got the semi auto Ruger and it does jam whereas my old bolt action rifle is so simple and dependable.
Then there’s the whole world of leasing and renting.  Let some one else maintain things.  Ownership is over rated.  Hotel living at it’s finest.  Maids.  Car to Go.  There’s a lot to be said for that. I’ve given up on home ownership roof repair, plumbing costs and yard maintenance and all the other things that went with owning homes. Mostly I got tired of losing the investment because my partner and I were not able to maintain our relationship so the home became a burden and I lost my shirt every time.  I lack the fundamental ‘entitlement’ that others seem to have. I also lack the ‘spite’. I just want it over and I’ve found myself paying through the teeth just to get away from the abuse and anger.  The most beautiful people can be the most ugly .  I don’t like neighbours who are psychopaths like the guy who almost killed my cat stealing my power after I went to work and by doing so triggering the shut off on the heater.  For weeks I’d come home to a shivering cat . Then I found out this Vancouver psychopath was waiting for me to go to work so he could unplug my electricity and run it into his home to save himself the money of winter heating.  In a civilized country I’d able to get recompense but in Canada it was best to move away.  I like my mobility.  Without police protection or legal support of the working man and the government considering the middle class solely a tax grab, tis best to be able to move . If I had a home today I’d want a gated community.  I understand Trump wanting to build a wall. I laughed to see the huge wall around Clinton’s place. I remember liking the barred windows and walls in the Mexican haciendas. We’re getting that way here. Even in this park if anything is left not locked down thieves range through at night and steal.  Bicycles are forever going missing in Vancouver. It’s famous for the level of bicycle theft. Probably the highest in the world.  More and more heroin and more and more theft.
Of well, time to shave and prepare for the a shitty day.

Keystone Energy Toy Hauler

Thanks to Travelhome, my 2013 Keystone Energy 300FBS travel trailer toy hauler, was moved to where I am now.  Eric, from Starfleet, came by and checked it out, making sure everything was working and doing some improvements. Then Mida arrived and organized everything.  Now Gilbert and I are in this new paradise.  I love it.
Gilbert has already rolled in fish on his first walk of the season by the river. He's been washed and shampooed in the tub.  Despite my drying him off he's now rolled on everything, rugs, bed, couch, leaving a slight dampness in his wake. But the dead fish smell is gone with the help of incense.  I've added Febreeze to todays shopping list.
The garage is still a bit of chaos but I'll get a tool box and maybe by the end of the weekend have the couch in there laid out.  There's another bed that comes down with an electric hoist from the ceiling. I expect now when I go hunting I'll have to let the guys sleep inside. I rather liked it when I was in my motorhome and they were outside in tents. Admittedly I let them use the facilities and we had coffee and dinners inside but now they'll have a separate bedroom.  Guests. I'm not sure Gilbert and I want to share yet. This is such a lovely living environments, so much more spacious. I know I'll regret this larger size when I'm driving and maneuvering but parked, this is heaven.
I can just envision my Harley motorcycle in the back garage too.  That's going to be sweet to travel with. I saw that Sturges North Motorcycle Rally is happening again this year, but in Merrit.  I think I like the idea better of arriving a a HD rally with the bike in the garage and all the luxury of home along.
Thank you God for all these blessings!

Othello Tunnels - Morning Hike

The rain pitter pattered all night long on the roof. I woke several times unused to the quiet and the sound of the propane heater kicking in. Gilbert was sure to wake me at the regular hour, snuggling in beside me, crowding me into the day.
The rain was light and feathery. The canyon light surreal. I leashed Gilbert for the initial walk along the road, enjoying the chamber music of the birds.
Gnatcatchers, chickadees, robins all love the conifers. Gilbert joyfully ran ahead sniffing the trail for God knows what.
It was a lovely walk. I only wore shorts and sandals and a light rain jacket. The weather is that mild.
This region is called the Coquihalla Gorge after the Coquihalla River which runs through here. The Othello Tunnels, closed now, are in the Coquihalla Canyon Provincial Park. The tunnels were built in 1914 at the time of building the Kettle Valley Railway grade part of the plan to connect the Kootenay interior of British Columia to the coast.
I didn't find them but apparently the hiking trails link to the Hope-Nicola Cattle Trail. That's part of the famed history of the Gang Ranch. The civil engineer with the Canadian Pacific Railway was an avid reader off Shakespeare so named the stations in the vicinity after characters from Shakespeare. That explains why I've seen all these Shakespearean names driving up and down the Coquihalla Highway a short distance away. Apparently, building the Kettle Valley Railway was the most daunting of his illustrious career.
I don't know if this applies but I once learned from a folk singer historian that normally geographical references to Kettles had to do with the making of moonshine.

By the time we got back to Othello Tunnels RV Park Gilbert was soaking wet. I was glad to find a towel and rub him down. Now he's sleeping contentedly at my feet. I've made coffee and porridge. Soon I'll actually think about packing up and heading back to Vancouver. It's only an hour and a half a way but seems a world apart.























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Bear Visit - 3 am .

Around 2:30 am Gilbert began growling. At 3 am the first gunshot outside went off.

"I think it's a bear," Laura said.

"I'll go see."

Dressing was the difficulty. If you don't lay clothes out like being on call, then it's a problem stumbling about half asleep dressing. I finally found slip on sandals and cammo flannel bottoms and stepped outside in the night.
Whatever was out there would have been long gone by the time I found pants.

Outside, a half dozen people were gathered about the base of a tree. One woman was in fetching lounging gown. Most of the guys had jeans. It was chilly and only one person had a flannel jacket. Everyone had flashlights. Not me.

I'd left my trailer without a flashlight, wearing flip flops, chilly in a sleeveless t shirt and joined a bunch of other other people only slightly better off with their flashlights.

Back in my RV I had a big game bow with razor blade arrows and a 223 Rifle well sighted in, various long blade knifes, along with several high beam flashlights. I considered myself stupid standing there looking up at a treed black bear.

Wayne the host was making gunshot noises with a bear banger. No one had a rifle. I'd learn later that the bears had come through the camp three times in the last month. Wayne had phoned conservation and they'd not arrived. Normally this close to a major town with conservation folk right there and a bear wandering through inhabitted areas they'd come out with their tranquillizer rifle, shoot the bear, and deliver it to a place a few hundred miles away. Wayne, courageous as all get out, had responded each time to calls by campers by coming out and chasing the bear away with a bear banger. Wayne and Elizabeth emptied the garbage at night but some careless camper must have left food and the bears had found it because that just keeps bringing them back.

I couldn't see the bear at first, black in the shadows, but a young guy with a flannel clad girlfriend holding close to his side pointed his pen light flash light up in the tree and said,

"See the eyes,"

Sure enough I saw the eyes and the rest of the unhappy little fellow.

"The mother ran off over there but the cub went up the tree."

Well, I wasn't about to shoot a cub even if it would have been a perfect place to shoot a big bear in the head, treed on the outer edge of the campground. I wished I'd had a 12 guage loaded with rock salt and backed up with slug. I remember as a kid Dad would discourage bears coming around our campgrounds shooting them in the rump with 22 rifle shorts. "Rock salt works the best. Works good on keeping kids out of the corn too."
As kids we'd thought twice about going back to the corn field of this one old farmer who'd blasted at us with rock salt. We'd not been hit and we'd moved on. Wayne's bear banger was having that deterrent effect but I'd personally not have the cajones to chase a mother and cub through a camp armed only with a bear banger. I was impressed. Cold and having decided there was nothing for me to shoot I returned to my RV.

Next morning I heard a teen ager calling out that he'd seen the bear by the river. So then I did take the rifle and slip on boots and head out after it. I followed the fresh sporn trail all the way to the hills on the other side of the river. I lost it there figuring it had gone up and over the hills or was sleeping in the thick wood beyond a marshy area I didn't want to circle.

Later I'd talk to the really knowledgeable fellow in town who runs the well selected Merritt hunting, archery, paintball and fishing store. He was putting straps on my Excalibur bow and Mossberg 30:30 for easier carrying. I told him about the bear treeing.

"Yea, they're coming down all over this time of year. Don't know what it is. Looking for food before hibernation no doubt. More this year for some reason."

Laura had read that Princeton had a similar excess of bears. Even in North Vancouver there were complaints this week of bears. One broke into a woman's car and stole her groceries.

They're only interested in food but with no predators but man they can become overrun. Boston Bar had bear everywhere two years ago but word got out and hunters came in and now the bear populations a year later back where the bears have enough food in the wilds they're not coming into towns looking for garbage.

At night I'm back to leaving out handy slip on canoe shoes, sweats, knife and flash light just in case. I usually do but by Murphy's law the night I didn't was the night I could have used the stuff. I didn't even have Gilbert, my cockapoo to protect me. Laura's not stupid. She kept him with her ostensibly to keep him safe.

But knowing Laura and her lack of love for bears, she kept Gilbert as a last line of defence if the foolish guy she was with who'd gone out with just flip flops and sweats got eatten.

When I told her that I thought she kept Gilbert for defence, she denied the charge saying, "I have my FAC and stayed inside with the gun so I could blast any thing that tried to come in and hurt my baby, Gilbert"

Which might explain Gilbert's role confusion. With me he's expected to track and defend us against bear while with Laura he's expected to be her baby. The result is a little cockapoo who shows a lot of tough barking bravado then runs back to mamma for treats and cuddling.

Bear hunting season opened this week and next week with deer hunting season opening the hunters will be out. Like me most will be hunting deer but if there's too many bear some of us will be having bear ham this winter and the bear population will return to normal.

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Pierre's Point RV and Campground, Salmon Arm

We loved our stay at Pierre's Point.  The native folk from the local band run it. Administration is excellent.  All the arrangements went well and daily we watched their folk going about cleaning up and keeping an eye on things. Swimming was fantastic. I just wished we had our boat with us and almost rented a canoe.  I liked the little store but didn't have a chance to enjoy the grill open in the afternoons.  The train went by fairly regularly but after the first passage I found I didn't really notice it except as more 'outdoor music'.  The mosquitoes were bad but that's true all across the north and west this year according to the newst. A really wet spring with all the flooding.  Deep woods off  was sufficient.  In the sunny afternoon they weren't a problem. The birds, as always,  were a treat.  Gilbert loved the dog walk on the beach. Leaving was sad after only 5 days.  The Sturges North Motorcycle Rally and Music Festival had been a blast.  I'd really enjoyed the Veterans run with a hundred or so motorcycle riding shy of a couple of hundred miles in a circle that ended in the biker street festival at Siccamous.  Laura stowed the gear inside the Rockwood Mini Lite trailer  while I got everything ready outside.  Then it was the backing up and hooking up which we're getting a whole lot better at.  Out on the highway we headed towards Kamloops.