Back to Our Winter Routine

What have we been up to? Well we went to a Pumpkin Festival. It was mostly an event for families but it was cool to see the huge pumpkins. The largest weighed over 900 lbs. There were lots of activities for kids, face painting, pumpkin carving, cupcake decorating and jumping castles. We passed on those but enjoyed cookies and a hot dog lunch.

We're settled into the park nicely. Walking is a daily factor in our lives. The salmon are running right now. There is lots of wild life along the waterfront in the campground. Also the eagles have returned.

Wildlife at the Office

Seal hunting spawning salmon

Heron

Cliffs alongside look out 

Log booms and tugs in the estuary

Mushrooms abound in the park

Our friends Janet and Terry have arrived and are our next door neighbours this winter.  They brought Wayne a present.  It's a plastic bump cap to protect him from any further head injuries - see Rapid City entry.  He's special.

Bump caps

Wayne's a happy camper

More happy campers

Hiking along one of Nanaimo's trails

The snowbird activities are beginning.  Quilting club started today.  I am really enjoying my sewing machine.  It was a birthday gift last spring.  Next week the park is hosting a welcome barbecue.  Can the potlucks be far behind?  Fun and games continue.

Why We Love Our Campground

One of many gardens

View of the estuary

BC ferries

Gabriola Island ferry  with log booms in foreground

RV Maintenance and Moving to Site 200

Bright and early on Tuesday morning, we packed up all our gear and hitched the trailer to the truck. It's moving day. We had an appointment at Arbutus RV to have routine maintenance (repacking of wheel bearings and brake check) and also have the landing gear repaired once and for all. Turns out that the landing gear only needed to be aligned so that the legs move together. Hurray! Only one item still needs to be done before spring. One of the rv tires is worn out. We will need to replace some or all of the tires.

Site 200 - Our home for the winter

Gravel has been added and surface levelled.

Happy Fall

We rented a 200lb propane tank. This eliminates constant trips to buy propane. Propane always seems to run out at 2 in the morning. Two hundred pounds of propane will keep us toasty warm for about a month during the winter.  The tank was delivered on Tuesday even before we returned from the service facility.

200 lb propane tank

Last year, the water pipes froze in the kitchen. We discovered that cold air travelled into the kitchen slide. The hydraulic rails are made of steel and the water lines run alongside them. Not a good situation. By putting a heavy weight tarp around the slide this cuts down on the wind and cold. Noticeably warmer in the kitchen area. We are ahead of the game this year. Another preventative measure to maintain water service is too insulate and wrap the water hose with an electric heater tape. All done and ready to go.

This is our Christmas tree from last year.   It came in a pot and we planted it before we left.  It's grown a few inches.

So we are set up and settling in nicely. We need to buy some firewood. Don't think we need a whole cord. Half would do nicely. Firewood - next week's project.

Looking forward to the arrival of our fellow snowbirds. Time for campfires, potlucks and other fun things.

Comic Relief

These photos illustrate one of the most ridiculous aspects of RV living.  It takes both of us to easily light the pilot in our oven.  Easily may be misleading.

Step one - Find Wayne

Step two - Adopt the position

I'm pushing the button to release the gas and Wayne is lighting the pilot.

Rear view

Success!

To light the stove by one's self requires even more contortions.  I find it totally ridiculous that a better system is not in place.  The furnace starts electronically and so does the water heater.  The RV industry makes some funny decisions about where to cut costs.  I know that more people use their furnace and water heaters than ovens.  In fact lots of people never use the oven.  The difficulty of lighting it is probably why.

A Trip to Chemainus on Thanksgiving Weekend

Ian and Amy came to visit on Thanksgiving Weekend.  On Sat. morning we went on a field trip to Chemainus to see the murals and have lunch.  We had lunch at the Willow Street Cafe.  Great sandwiches, soup and salad.  Since this visit I met a lady who recommends Barnacle Barney's for Chinese food.  We'll have to try that next time.

Main Street Chemainus

Group hug outside the post office

Hanging out at the phone company

Just goofing around

The man in this mural is named Bob Swanson(same as Amy's dad). He was a railway engineer and invented the steam whistle.  Kind of neat as Amy's dad also works on the railway.

Carving picture for my dad

Enjoying a campfire.  At least Amy and I are.  Not sure about Ian and Wayne.

We had our turkey dinner on Sunday after doing a bit of shopping and lunch out again.  Thanks kids.  We also had fun in the evenings playing card games and Monopoly.  Wayne drove the rest of us to the poor house. 

We had a great visit. 

The 17th and Last Travel Day

Sunday morning we were on the road by 8 am. Very foggy but we made excellent time. In fact a little too good. We had made arrangements to meet Ian, Amy, Keith and Ethel at the ferry terminal. Great plan except that visitors are not allowed in the shopping area of the ferry terminal. Only those with tickets are allowed inside the fence. However, Wayne and I managed to break out.

Misty morning on the I-5

A rose between two thorns

The six of us found a Tim Horton's fairly close to the ferry terminal. We had a good visit and then Ethel and Keith dropped us off to catch the boat. Sorry no picture of Amy and Ian. I only remembered my camera at the last moment. I'll take pictures of them at Thanksgiving.

Coffee lounge on ferry

Wayne contemplating life - or maybe something else to eat

The crossing was very smooth and uneventful. It's only 10 minutes from Duke Point Terminal to Living Forest Campground. By about 4 pm we were set up in our temporary site. We are in this site for a week. After Thanksgiving we get to move to site 200. The same site we were in last year. It's much larger than this one. Side note: Our little living Christmas tree is still alive and well. After Christmas last year we planted our tree on the site. I'll take a picture next week.

Our temporary site

It's a tight fit