Thursday, June 9, 2011 (Fort Camping, Brae Island Regional Park, Fort Langley, BC)

Well, we woke to cloudy skies this morning...there is the promise of sun breaking through later but I’ll believe it when I see it.  As usual, we had a very lazy morning.  I finally got our journal up dated and spent a portion of the morning choosing pictures and posting all to our blog.  I have been considering going back to a daily blog...maybe that would be the positive start to perhaps finally getting on the road again.

I chatted with our son, Chris, a couple of times.  He received an email from a company in California saying that his job application is not being considered at this time—he then checked their website again and noticed that the animator position he had applied for had been changed to a “temporary position”.  On a positive note, though, EA (Electronic Arts) in Burnaby have a short-term position available and want him to come in for an interview.  Chris is very talented (yeah...I know I’m a little biased!) and we have no doubt that he will be re-employed soon.  Here is the link to his website with a demo of his work... http://chriscolibaba.blogspot.com/ .  He has only worked on game animation but would like to try film animation so is planning to work on an acting animation and adding it to his portfolio.

We thought we would go for a nice long bike ride today...so shortly after 11:00, we headed out on the Fort-to-Fort Trail.  We rode all the way to Edgewater Park, where Steve brought out his new camera.  It’s absolutely amazing how high the river has risen...

It's hard to see, but the camp host's satelite dish is actually now in the water...

Family of geese...

While stopped at the park for a break (and picture taking), I received a text from Chris saying that another big company in Vancouver was interested in him.  This job is permanent but they won’t have the details of the projects worked out for a few days.  They just wanted to let Chris know of their interest...sounds like they had quite a chat about Chris’ work.

On our ride back, I had a little mishap...we were riding up a hill and when I tried changing gears down to 1^st, the chain slipped off and got wedged between the spoke guard and gears that (I believe) is supposed to prevent the chain from going (where it’s not supposed to go!).  It took quite awhile before Steve was finally able to free it...and after trying to clean all the grease off his hands by wiping them on the grass (of course, we had no tissues or rags or anything with us)...we were finally on our way.  We arrived home shortly after 2:00...and hungry for lunch...mmmm...barbequed hot dogs sound good!  We had ridden 16.34 kms...or just over 10 miles.

The rest of the afternoon was non-eventful...it wasn’t particularly nice out so we stayed inside.  Steve watched videos that came with his camera...info and tips on photography...while I relaxed on the couch trying to read.  I finally decided to just put my book down and close my eyes.  I didn’t really sleep...just rested...something I certainly don’t do very often in the middle of the afternoon!

We were very disappointed that we hadn’t heard from the doctor’s office regarding Steve’s cyst.  After the great news yesterday and not expecting it for at least another week, we felt for sure we’d hear about the ultrasound results today.  After all, these results were only supposed to take a couple of days.  We understand from the doctor that there is a surgeon who schedules one day per week to take care of these “small surgeries”.  So we are really hoping that Steve can be scheduled next week...we are likely wishful thinking but it would be ideal if he could just get it over with.  We are really anxious to get back on the road!!

May 29 – June 8, 2011 (Fort Camping, Brae Island Regional Park, Fort Langley, BC)

We started this week off with a long ride on our new bikes.  We must have ridden close to 20 kms along the Fort-to-Fort Trail, past Denby Reach Regional Park all the way to Edgewater Regional Park.  Much to our surprise we found a beautiful campground there with sites that back onto the Fraser River...really nice but unfortunately much too small for us to get our rig into.  There is also a huge day-use area that was really busy with families enjoying the beautiful Sunday weather.  Actually, the parks and trails were very busy. 

Since we had Chris’ car, I took the opportunity on Monday to go shopping and run some errands...it was nice getting out by myself for a few hours while Steve puttered around the truck and trailer.  Once back home I wanted to go for a bike ride...Steve had already been on one but was game for another, so we rode the trail here in the park to Tavistock Point.  It’s amazing how much the river has risen....  

We were heading over to Victoria Tuesday but decided that we would go over later in the day.  We thought we would get all ready to go and then go for a bike ride.  Of course, as luck would have it, just as we were all finished and ready to go for our ride, it started to rain...sheesh!  So we relaxed inside until about 2:00 and then headed out.  Steve was dropping the truck off at Vancouver Axle so they could try to find a slow air leak. He also wanted them to quote on installing parts that would allow him to put air in the trailer tires using the air compressor already in the truck.  That way he wouldn’t have to buy a separate air compressor...sweet! We have found that every time we have gone to top up the tires in the states you had to pay and many of the air stations wouldn’t go above 75 psi and the hoses too short. It has also been difficult manoeuvring the trailer in some of the stations.  We figured it was a good time to leave the truck with them since we would be away.

We caught the 5:00 p.m. ferry arriving at Rob and Angie’s just after 7:00 p.m.  Rob was still working the 4:00 to midnight shift but we had a nice visit with Angie before calling it a night.  We’d see Rob tomorrow.

Steve decided that since we were going back to Victoria for his biopsy appointment that he should have a cyst in his armpit looked at.  He has had it for well over a year and a half and was told by the doctor that it wasn’t necessary to do anything unless it changed or bothered him but recently it has decided to grow.  The doctor ordered an ultrasound and we found out later Wednesday afternoon that the appointment was scheduled for Monday at 6:00 p.m.  Our original plan had been to go back to Fort Langley after his biopsy Thursday morning but we figured we might as well just stay put rather than dole out money to BC Ferries by going back Thursday afternoon and returning Monday.  Rob and Angie had taken Thursday and Friday off work to make a nice 4 day weekend of camping so we had the house to ourselves.  Our recently unemployed son, Chris came over from Vancouver Sunday to spend a couple of days with us and to see his brother and sister-in-law.

Steve and I got out for some good walks while on the island...both along the waterfront in Sidney, one of my favourites, as well as in the neighbourhood.  The weather was beautiful! 
These are pictures taken along the Sidney waterfront...

Mt. Baker, Washington State...

Washington State Ferry (between Anecortes, Washington and Sidney, BC)...with Mt. Baker in the background...

We returned to our trailer in Fort Langley Tuesday afternoon fully prepared to wait until at least June 16^th for the results of Steve’s biopsy, as well as the outcome of the ultrasound on the cyst in his armpit.  Late Wednesday morning we headed into Langley to check out cameras at both Best Buy and London Drugs.  After lots and lots of research, Steve had decided on the camera he wanted and we were going to see who could give us the best price on the package he wanted.  It turned out London Drugs had the best deal.  While there, my phone rang and it was the doctor’s office...of course, I was on the other side of the store and had to scramble back to the camera department where Steve was.  I thought the call would be about the cyst but it turned out to be the results of the biopsy...and it was great news...all clear!  Wow, what a relief that news was!

We left London Drugs with big smiles on our faces and Steve’s new toy...a DSLR Nikon D5100 camera body, 18-55 mm and 55-300 mm lenses, lens filters and a backpack style case.

Now we just are waiting for the outcome of the ultrasound on the cyst...which we suspect will be a surgery date to have it removed.  That will mean one last trip over to Victoria before we are able to get on with our travels.