Thursday, April 13 to Saturday, April 22, 2023 (Puntledge RV Campground, Courtenay, BC)

Well, we're off again! This time in the car. Thursday (Apr. 13) with our suitcase and a couple of bags of laundry (thanks Angie and Rob for the use of your laundry facilities!) packed in the car, we made a quick stop at Costco for gas and then started the 3 hour drive south to Victoria.

We stopped in Victoria for a visit with Steve's sister, Nadine and her husband, Mike. It was great seeing them and catching up over coffee...

Then we continued onto Rob and Angie's in North Saanich (at the tip of the Saanich Peninsula, north of Victoria), arriving after 3:00.

No one was home yet, so we unloaded the car and I got a load of laundry going. Angie and the boys (Conner and Bryce) were the first to get home, with Rob arriving shortly after. Great hugs were received from all...wonderful to see them after 6 months!

Friday (Apr. 14) morning I had an appointment with my "knee" doctor today. Luckily my right knee is not doing too bad and is not ready for another injection...so I will see him again in August (or before, if my knee starts acting up). I happened to mention that I have a sore foot, so he looked at it, squeezing between the metatarsals (ouch!) and said I have Morton's Neuroma..."a thickening of the tissue that surrounds the digital nerve leading to the toes. This thickening can lead to various levels of pain or discomfort in the forefoot". He can inject cortisone but needs to do it via an x-ray to get the precise location, so he is having me booked into a clinic at the local hospital...likely in 3 to 4 weeks. Yay! I'm glad he is able to take care of it!

Next on our agenda for today was a meeting with our Financial Advisor. As well as dropping off our income tax papers so he could take care of filing our returns. We spent a considerable amount of time going over our finances. Losses over the last couple of years are gradually recovering, thank goodness.

By the time we had finished with him, it was after 2:00, so we headed towards the Victoria waterfront and Spinnakers Gastro Brewpub for lunch. It's one of our favourite spots to go to when we are in Victoria. 

We both ordered their Nut Brown Ale...so good! We even purchased some on our way out to take home!

We had a delicious lunch...Steve enjoyed his fav, Halibut and Chips, while I had the Roasted Mushroom Pizza...yum!

Having pizza worked well for me because Rob, Angie and the boys weren't going to be home until later so we were on our own for dinner...not that we need much after a late lunch. I ate the other half of the pizza for dinner...that meant Steve was on his own! LOL

It was going on 8:00 when Angie and the boys got home...lots of after-school activities so dinner at McDonald's for them. Rob didn't get home until around 9:00...working late.

Steve with Bryce...

Conner and I...

Saturday (Apr. 15) morning we met our long-time friends, Rob and Nancy for breakfast at Mary's Bleue Moon Cafe. We spent an hour and a half catching up over breakfast...so good to see them!

After big hugs, we said goodbye...they headed home and we went to the local hospital, Saanich Peninsula Hospital, so Steve could get his ankle x-rayed. After playing pickle ball for the first time last November he ended up with some discomfort in his right ankle the following day which has lingered on. While packing up to leave Quartzsite last March he jumped off the back of the truck which aggravated his ankle even more. It wasn't long before it became quite swollen. Going down stairs is now difficult and painful. Our doctor wants him to see a physiotherapist as well. I waited out in the car for him...and about 30 minutes later he was back. Oh good, that didn't take long!

Before going home, we decided to check out a couple of RV parks to see what changes had occurred since we last saw them. Ocean Winds RV Park is a new long term only park that we had considered before deciding on the Courtenay area. It's a nice park but the sites are much smaller than where we are. The other park is just down the road...Oceanside RV Resort is where we spent a lot of time at during the summer/fall of 2019 (when I had my knee replacement surgery) and also the winter of 2020/21 during COVID. Not much has changed there.

We got back to Rob and Angie's just as Angie and the boy's were about to head out. Bryce has a birthday party to go to at Flying Squirrel Trampoline Park in Victoria and Conner is going just to have fun and burn off some energy. So that left Rob and us at home...on a very rainy afternoon.

I worked on a blog updated while Steve and Rob chit-chatted and then I went with Rob to help bottle wine. He has a batch on at Wine Kitz, the same place we used to make wine, so I was looking forward to seeing the owners again. 

We also had a visitor in the yard that afternoon...it's fur is really patchy...

That night Rob and Angie made a fabulous roast beef dinner complete with Yorkshire Pudding, gravy, roast potatoes and roasted cauliflower! Yum!

Absolutely delicious! Thanks so much!

Sunday (Apr. 16) morning Rob made us Eggs Benny for breakfast...delicious, thanks Rob! We were packed up by 9:30 and after big hugs to everyone, we said goodbye. Thanks so much for your hospitality, Rob and Angie!

On our way up-island, we stopped in Mill Bay to visit long time family friends, Doreen and Gerry...

We spent a wonderful hour and a half catching up with them. They were great friends of Steve's parents, meeting years ago when Steve's family moved to Courtenay. Thanks for the coffee and donuts! Awesome catching up with you both!

The next week was rather uneventful. Cold, windy and wet weather kept us inside for the most part, although we did get out for some shopping and errands. It also gave us an opportunity to work on the ad and pictures for Buster. 

Steve took the truck over to Len's, a neighbour of Earl's, on Wednesday and the three of them worked on replacing the airbags in the hitch. Len has all the tools and it was so nice to have a couple of volunteers. After a couple of hours of on again off again rain they had the bags installed. What a waste of time that was as there was still an air leak somewhere! If you recall we tried to get the hitch repaired in Yuma without success. After a couple of hours of trouble shooting Steve was told by the service company it was the air bags that needed replacing. That diagnoses cost us $300 US and the new air bags are $432!!

That evening Earl and Allison picked us up and we went out to The Curry Cottage for dinner. It was our first time eating East Indian food. A very tasty meal but a little on the spicy side for our tastebuds...

It is one of Earl and Allison's favourite restaurants...obviously, their tastebuds can handle more heat than ours! Nonetheless, we enjoyed it...but the stop at DQ for ice cream afterwards was a great idea!

My brother and sister-in-law, Dennis and Suzanne, from Kelowna stopped by for visit. They are on the island visiting family and friends for a couple of weeks. We went out to the Blackfin Pub in Comox for lunch. A great spot on the waterfront...just too bad the sun wasn't shining...

Afterwards we took them for drive to Kye Bay Beach...tides out!

Saturday (Apr. 22) morning we had a visitor on the bank behind us...

Although the weather was still cloudy and it was a little misty, it wasn't windy, so Steve and I decided to get out for a drive. We meandered through some of the backroads heading north, ending up on the 'old island highway' and finally at Miracle Beach Provincial Park. We started with a drive through part of the campground...which is nowhere near the beach...and then parked in the day-use area and walked down to the water...

Tides out...

We decided to take the trail to the Black Creek Estuary...

A very mossy forest floor...

Black Creek...

A couple of ducks resting on their private island...

It is a beautiful park that I'm sure is very busy during the summertime when the weather is warm and sunny!

And that's it for now! The weather is forecast to improve gradually next week...with the temperature reaching 20C/68F by Friday. Some sunshine and warmth will definitely be welcomed!