Monday, September 9, 2013 (Prince George, BC)

We had a very leisurely morning...we weren't in any rush since we were only going a short distance to Bob and Sue's place...just over a half hour away.  I got caught up on some banking and booked our flights to Victoria from Phoenix at Christmas time. 

It was late morning when we said goodbye to Ralph and Sheila as they headed out...they have about a 4 1/2 hour drive back home to Deka Lake, an hour east of 100 Mile House.  Jeff and Marlaine are all packed up but are taking their quads out for a ride on the trails to collect items left behind from the poker ride.  We would be gone by the time they got back, so we said our goodbyes and thanked them for a great weekend.

Okay...well, I guess it's time for us to start packing up.  It was about 1:20 when we left our camp spot and headed towards Prince George.  Recently the air has been escaping (quite a hissing) until our system has pressured up, from an air toggle switch inside the cab of the truck. 
The switch is used for dumping the air out of the air bags at the back of the truck. Well, Steve thought it would be a good idea to check at the local commercial truck places to see if he could find a replacement switch.  After 3 stops, he had had no luck....except one that may have worked but was a lot larger than needed.  Hopefully, the switch will hold until we get back down to Langley where the system was installed.


We found Bob and Sue's place with no problems and got leveled off and unhitched.  We had just finished getting all set up when Bob and Sue got home from appointments.  Bob had surgery on his eye lids this morning. The skin was drooping and starting to affect his peripheral vision.  He said that he felt fine...but he is certainly going to have a couple of shiners for a bit! 

We sat outside with a drink enjoying their deck and chatting.  They have a lovely home on four acres.

Their clothes line had come down...the tree they had it anchored to actually fell over...so Bob decided he was going to set it up on another tree.  All I can say is...there is absolutely no way you would get me up there!  At least Steve is holding the ladder...

Sue is up on the deck at the other end of the clothes line...

Okay...all ready to haul it up...

After a delicious spaghetti dinner...including birthday cupcakes (Happy Birthday, Bob!), we sat chatting at the table until about 8:30 and then said goodnight and headed out to the trailer.  Steve watched a taped program while I worked on the blog and also made notes of the past few days.  Tomorrow, Bob and Sue are taking us out on a quad ride to show us some of the trails in their area. 

Sunday, September 8, 2013 (Prince George ATV Club, Prince George, BC)

We woke to another gorgeous morning...it's going to be a great day for the Poker Ride!  Here are Marlaine and Betty (Marlaine's sister) manning the registration desk...

Ralph and I...

A view of all the rigs here...look at all that blue sky!

We headed out with Bob, Sue, Ralph, Sheila and Mike just before 10:00.  And this is our first stop to draw our cards...

Ralph drawing his first poker hand...while I wait for my turn...

Judging by the look on my face, I wasn't very impressed with the cards I drew...

This is the next stop...

I found a geocache!  Thanks to the group for putting up with a few hunts...I know it was a poker ride that we were on...

And our third stop...

Ralph, Sheila, Steve waiting while Sue draws her hand...

Ralph's turn...

Bandit and Coco getting a break from the back of the quad...

Sheila drawing her poker hand...

And Steve's turn...

Lunch time...Sheila, me, Sue and Ralph...

...while Bob and Mike stay in the shade...

This is our final poker hand draw on the trail...the last hand will be drawn back at camp...Bob is drawing his hand...

It took Ralph a few tries to make it to the top...while Mike and I wait (and hope we don't have any problems making it!)...

We arrived back at camp just before 3:00...for our final hand.  Mike is drawing his right now, while the rest of us wait...Jeff is sitting at the table (facing the camera) writing down the numbers drawn...

We loaded our quads into the truck as soon as we got back and then got cleaned up...time to get some grub and see who wins the poker hand, 50/50 draw and many, many prizes...

Marlaine wins the 50/50 draw...around $350.00!...

There was a really good turnout for the poker ride...lots of people waiting to see if their name is drawn for the prizes...

Marlaine is up helping draw a name from the bucket...

She wins the chair!

There were tons of prizes given away...but neither of our names were drawn.  After all the prizes were given away, the poker ride was officially over.  We said goodbye to Bob and Sue...however, we will see them tomorrow.  They invited us to stay at their place and we took them up on it.  We were a little concerned that Bob really wouldn't be up to company because he is going in for some surgery tomorrow, but they insisted that it was not a problem.

It's quite amazing how quickly it cleared out, however there were still some sticking around for one more night of camping.  We helped with the taking down of the tent canopies, etc. then went back to the trailer to take much need showers!

As the sun went down, it was time for another campfire.  We'd had such a great time with a great group of people! We're looking forward to spending more time with them next summer as we plan on attending as many of the ATV/BC events as possible...and maybe ride with some of the individual clubs too!  Of course, we'll see Bob and Sue down in Quartzsite in a couple of months.