After cooling down for a while in the shade, we headed into town with the laptop to work on a blog update. Our office this afternoon was the Pick and Shovel Pub. Steve had a couple of beer, I had a few glasses of ice water…and we had a not so good lunch (we prefer the food at our “other office”, the Black Bull Pub, but it’s only open Thursday, Friday and Saturday…for now).
Wednesday (June 23) after exercises and showers, I hit the road to Kamloops to do some shopping…leaving Steve to do his chores and work on picture editing.
It was around 3:30 when I got home…after a stop at Walmart, Save-On-Foods and Costco. Steve helped me unload the car and then I got to work on finding home for all of my purchases in the cupboards and fridge. Speaking of fridge, it seems to be struggling in the heat…it’s going to be a real challenge with the temperatures predicted to go into the 40’s C this weekend. That's into the low 100'sF...yikes! Last week Steve had "jumpered" the dual fans behind the fridge to keep them running full time but it still has been struggling.
We sat outside enjoying a bevie...this is my purchase from Dirty Laundry Winery last weekend...
Thursday (June 24) ended up being a cloudy, cooler day…with a few sprinkles of rain. It was actually quite nice…a little coolness before the “heat dome” arrives. We were actually sitting outside by a campfire shortly after 9:00 a.m.! We are expecting a campfire ban to come into effect soon, and with all of the wind we have had, we haven’t been able to have many campfires. So we’ll burn some of our firewood while we can!
It was a pretty lazy day…I had planned on a walk around the lake but decided not to. My right knee (the one that has not been replaced yet...aka my "bad" knee) gave me unbelievable pain last night. I found it very deflating because I’ve been so happy being able walk tons and want to be able to keep it up. But it was a warning that perhaps I had better be careful. I had been walking quite a bit in my Birkenstocks sandals the last week, and I think my knee was telling me I should be wearing my New Balance runners with my orthotics. Thank goodness it felt 99.9% better when I got up this morning!
After dinner, just before we were about to go in and watch a little TV, a truck pulling a trailer stopped at our site. A voice said, “Hi it’s Kevin”…when we still didn’t clue in, he said “Joinson, I didn’t think you would recognize me”. OMG, it was my nephew from Chilliwack that we weren’t expecting until tomorrow! Kevin is my oldest brother, Doug’s son. I really can’t remember the last time I saw Kevin…but it’s probably over 20 years! Crazy! We’re looking forward to having a visit with him while he is here…good luck fishing, Kevin and Myles (his son)!
Friday (June 25)…11 years ago today was our last day of work! We both remember that day so well…such a surreal feeling. It was like we were starting on vacation…we couldn’t grasp the idea that we would not be going back to work. So, that means 11 years ago tomorrow we embarked on our new full-time RV lifestyle! Wow, it’s been an incredible journey we have had and hope to continue as long as our health permits.
We woke to clear blue sky…and the start of a very hot day. By dinner time, the temperature outside was 29C/84F and 31C/88F inside. Luckily the wind was coming from the northwest…the other side of the trailer, so we were able to have our awning out with the sun screen up.
After a walk around the campground, stopping and chatting with Kevin for a bit, we spent the day in the shade reading…and watching RV’s pull in. With the school year coming to an end, it’s likely going to be pretty busy for the rest of the summer.
We celebrated the 11th anniversary of our retirement enjoying cocktails, grilled chicken satay for dinner and ate outside. It was way too hot inside…so we sat outside until around 9:00 and then headed in to watch TV in the bedroom. All windows were left open…Steve closed the door just after 10 when he decided to turn the TV off.
Saturday (June 26) morning was still warm…it had cooled down to 16C outside/18C inside. The forecast is for even higher temperatures…by 10:00 a.m. it was already 24C.
We did a little reminiscing this morning…11 years ago today we left Vancouver Island. Steve towing our home on wheels, driving Buster…a big change from driving a pickup and towing a 17-foot travel trailer! But with a lesson from a neighbour who drove semi’s…and passing the ICBC (Insurance Corporation of BC) road test, he was good to go! And so our travels began!
The lake was like glass this morning, so I dropped Steve off at the boat and he headed out fishing…it’s been over a week since he has been out. While he was gone, I did chores around the trailer. It didn’t take much exertion before I was sweating. And I had thought I’d walk around the lake…ha! Nope I’ll wait until it’s cooler! Either that, or get out as soon as I get up…but we know that’s not going to happen LOL!
Steve got skunked fishing for the first time in a long time. With the hotter weather the fishing may have slowed down. He counted 50 boats on the lake and only saw a couple nearby that landed a fish. On his return to shore somebody stole his parking spot on shore that he's had since April. He had deliberately been leaving his rope tied to a tree and visible at his spot. What a DICK! (Steve)
Around noon we headed into town to the Black Bull Pub for lunch…and to work on another blog update. I’m having a heck of a time uploading pictures up to Blogger…don’t know if it’s something they have changed, or operator error LOL! Consequently, it took a lot longer than expected and we really didn’t get everything done that I had planned.
By the time we got home, the temperature had gone up to 36C (96.8F) outside, 38C (100.4F) inside the trailer, so at 6:00 p.m. Steve started the generator, we closed the door and all windows and turned on the air-conditioner. We had it on for the full generator hours…until 8:00 p.m. but it really didn’t accomplish much, bringing the temp down a couple of degrees. Yes, it sucks not having electricity during a heat wave!
Sunday (June 27) and another unbearably hot day. Absolutely crazy for June! Today we kept the windows and the blinds on the sunny side closed and when the inside temperature reached the outside temperature, Steve turned on the 2 ‘fantastic fans’ full blast. That managed to keep the inside and outside temperatures basically the same…by late afternoon, it was 38C/100.4F. These temps are not “official”, just what our sensors are reading.
Instead of doing my resistance exercises this morning, I decided to head out for a 5km/3 mile walk around Leighton Lake at 7:30 when Steve started his. By the time I got home about an hour later, I was drenched! Good thing it was shower day!
Needless to say, we had a quiet day reading and trying to stay cool…which was impossible. For a change, there was very little wind other than a slight breeze occasionally. We spent so many days wishing for the wind to die down and now when we’d like a bit of wind…nothing!
Sleeping was really tough…it was so hot up in the bedroom. We had closed the door and windows, leaving just the bedroom windows on either side of the bed open and with the fantastic fans on high, it created a nice “personal” fan of air coming in on us. But unfortunately, we couldn’t leave that going all night. So when Steve turned the TV off, he opened the door and windows, turned off the fans to save the battery power and it was cooking in there! Not pleasant sleeping conditions!
Nearby Lytton broke the record for the hottest temperature ever recorded in Canada since 1937 at 46.1C/115F !!! Apparently 54 records were broken in BC on Saturday and this heat dome may last all week!
Nothing terribly exciting this last week, so not many pictures...but that brings us up to date!
