Paul Alton MBA

As August began, we carried on working on the sea can roof mentioned in last month’s update. On the last day of July, I got the last few sheets onto the roof and added enough screws in them to keep them on overnight. Over the next days we closed in the ends and then got busy on preparing to go on a trip and get any essential work done in case I don’t make it back from the trip until October. We often think we know what the work schedule will be but it can change. Best to be prepared.

Makwa, a town west of us has a periodic homecoming event. This was the year. While running errands in town, I was hailed by Milton Drumheller. He mentioned he would have a couple of antique tractors in the parade. I stopped working on the sea can attic doors at 11 and showered. After an early lunch we drove to Makwa. There were a lot of camping trailers clustered around the civic centre. I guess this is a big deal for the people who have roots in the district.

Initially we set up in lawn chairs by the side of the road. When a few sprinkles of rain hit we parked the car at the edge of a vacant lot so we could watch the from the dryness of the car.

The parade started almost on time. The rain had ceased. There were horsemen with flags and walkers with banners with some of the long-gone little communities that were part of the district. They were centred around the many schools that each had to be in walking distance of the farms they serviced. With the advent of school bussing the schools disappeared. With better roads and more people having vehicles and fewer small farms, the communities became sentimental memories. Maybe remembered in the name of a rural intersection.

Just about every one in the parade threw handfuls of candy at the crowd. If we don’t eat it all there should be some left to take to the grandkids when we go to Edmonton next week.

It has been said that nothing focuses the mind like the prospect of a hanging. A distant second might be the prospect of not being back home until Thanksgiving. All those things that didn’t get done during a placid summer seem more urgent. In the week before we left for BC, I cleaned the chimney, repaired the closet ceiling which had been removed to repair a leak, modified the vent line for the washing machine drain to reduce risk of freezing at -40, cleaned the spruce needles blocking the snow guard on the porch and started cleaning the rubble off my work bench. Too little too late from one perspective, but a stunning burst of activity from another.

We rolled out of the driveway at 10:46 on Friday and took our time getting to Edmonton, stopping for lunch and shopping in Lloydminster and more shopping in Vegreville. We arrived in time for supper with daughter, Rebekah and her family and got to watch their pictures form their recent US national Parks trip. Speaking of watches, I managed to set up Juanita’s birthday gift smart watch which had arrived in Edmonton from Amazon.

In Lloydminster I received an email from a neighbour remarking on our latest updates and asking about the video doorbell we installed last year. Eventually I wrote out a post describing the decision and installation. You can find it here.

Our original plan was to travel to BC via Jasper. Kamloops is a solid day’s drive through Jasper from Edmonton. We booked a hotel in Kamloops for Sunday. When the highway was closed through Jasper we booked an additional room for Saturday in Golden, BC as a contingency. Kamloops is a hard day’s drive through Banff from Edmonton, especially if the highway is carrying all the Jasper traffic as well.

On the Thursday before  we left home, the authorities announced the Jasper route would be open beginning Friday for daylight hours only and could be closed if the fire situation changed. There would be no facilities available. We stayed with the Golden option. Besides it was too late to cancel the room and cheap rooms in Golden approach exceed $200 a night with taxes. This monkey isn’t going to let go of the banana.

What followed was one of the more relaxing travel day’s we have had. We texted our daughter, Deborah as we were about to leave Edmonton. She was on the road from Kelowna with her son. Kohen. When we stopped for lunch at Canmore we arranged a time and location to meet them in Lake Louise where they were going to stop for lunch after finding no options in Field, BC.

After a brief visit they got back on the road to Edmonton. We checked out the lack of shuttle tickets to the Lake Louise lakeshore and got back on the road to Golden. We stopped in Field at the visitor centre then drove through the town. Deborah was right. Charming town but sadly lacking in sources of quick food for travellers.

She had mentioned a potential stop just west of Field, the Natural Bridge over a waterfall and the Emerald Lake. We spent a pleasant couple of hours checking out the bridge, walking the lakeshore and handing out curved illusion tracts.

We arrived in Golden, fueled up, went for supper and checked into our hotel and settled in for the night.

Early to bed, early to rise. My body woke up at 3:30. I kinda followed. I lay there musing about the day to come and how even if I stalled we would be in Kamloops five hours before we could check into our motel. The motel could be cancelled. The ferry reservation could be moved from Tuesday to today. The friend I wanted to visit in Vancouver is no longer up to visits. There would still be time to visit my sister. I made an executive decision and cancelled the motel and rebooked the ferry to 4:45 pm out of Horseshoe Bay. Around five, after I had showered and dressed and made coffee, Juanita woke briefly and used the bathroom. I asked if she was up. Nope. Can you be up at six? Yup. And went back to sleep. Just like that. That’s something that never works for me. Once I’m awake, going back to sleep never happens. Even if my body is screaming for more sleep.

I read a bit then drove to Mc’D’s to pickup breakfast and bring it back to the room. We were in the road by seven. With focussed driving and strategic stops it seemed like no time before we were in the bumper to bumper traffic from Chilliwack to Vancouver with bumper to bumper traffic coing out of Vancouver in the opposite direction. Midday. On a Sunday. Make up your mind, people!

About halfway up the Sechelt peninsula we seemed to be in our own bubble with no other traffic. Unnerving. About twenty minutes from Earl’s Cove we met the traffic from the ferry. Must be running late. Yes. About half an hour. Enough time to walk around and add to the steps for 10k a day.

I drove from the Saltery Bay terminal to town on auto pilot. Long day.

It’s been 58 years since we graduated from Max Cameron Senior Secondary School. It’s a strange anniversary to celebrate. Covid ate the 55^th reunion. The 60^th is a bridge too far for many celebrants. In the previous edition of this update I said “We plan to drive to BC and spend a few days in Powell River for the occasion. I’ll keep you posted.” We did. Here’s the post:

In Powell River we met with all the family members who wanted to be met with. We spent a fair bit of time visiting with my sister and the best man from our wedding in Tucson some 49 years ago. We picked up a classmate and spouse at the ferry from Comox and dropped them at their hotel. Other classmates were staying at the same hotel so I ended up being part of that group.

Juanita wisely opted out attending the grad meet and greet and the grad dinner. There is no point in going to an event where you can’t hear what is being said to visit with people you don’t know. A few spouses managed by visiting with each other while us classmates caught up on news of each other and of those who weren’t there.

I had an enjoyable time, but was a bit bummed out by the infirmities of some of the attendees and those who couldn’t attend due to infirmities of themselves or partners. We had four home rooms in our graduating class. About one home room has departed. About one home room didn’t or couldn’t attend. The two home rooms that did attend had enough fun they want to do it again in two years. Time will tell.

While in Powell River I accepted a job that starts near Edmonton on August 26^th. I booked a drug test in Edmonton for Monday morning. We skipped the grad brunch on Friday and headed to the ferry. The line at Saltery Bay went around the corner form the terminal. I guessed we were not going to get on the 9:25 sailing. A BC Ferries employee came down the line and said the problem was a crashed computer system which would be up and running. It was. When I paid the ticket booth attendant said we were sure to get on the 9:25. I went online and changed our Langdale reservation accordingly.

They loaded the ferry bumper to bumper and squeezed on ten cars and a motorcycle after us.

Off the ferry we followed the flow without stopping on the way. Just short of the ferry we pulled over for five minutes so as not to be early for our reservation. Their web site says you have a window to arrive for a reservation from sixty minutes to thirty minutes before the scheduled departure. The penalty for being outside the window is you get to join the line that has no reservation and maybe not get on that particular sailing. I don’t know how rigorously they enforce that window, but didn’t want to experiment today.

We got to Burnably in time for me to discover that the parts I brought for her toilet were not compatible with that design and time to go exchange them for different wrong parts at Canadian Tire before going out to dinner at T&T in Metrotown. After supper I went and exchanged the parts for a part that would work. Happy toilet, again.

The next morning we left and had a relaxing mid morning drive up the Fraser Valley and visited Cultus Lake, Chilliwack. It had come up in conversation at a BBQ in Meadow Lake. I was sure we had never been there so wanted to check it out. While driving around we realized that we had been there once before. Thousand Trails has a timeshare camp ground there. The day after my last day of apprenticeship school in June 1980 we had stopped by and listened to a spiel about the time share. The bait for listening to the pitch was a free sleeping bag. Midweek it was two sleeping bags. We still have one of them. That brought back some other memories of that trip. Good memories.

After a pitstop in Merrit we abandoned the Coquihalla and took the old highway from Merrit to Kamloops. Instead of brute forcing its way over the mountains it winds through a river valley. Every so often the river widens to form a lake. A pleasant drive. We saw few other cars and one semi. We pulled over to let the semi pass and continued putzing along. Lovely.

We entered into Kamloops one exit from Costco so we topped up the gas tank then went down the hill to check into our motel. Later we drove back up the hill and worked on accumulating steps in Costco while I looked at locations of things we wanted to purchase at a Costco in Alberta.

Our car displays the fuel economy of the latest trip. The best to date for a long trip is 4.8 l/100km but usually is between six and seven. Coming back down the long hill through Kamloops to our motel it registered 3.3 and asked if I wanted to save at the best. I declined. Accepting coasting for two miles as representative would be cheating.

Sunday it was back to death march style driving. Up early. McD’s drive through and on the road. At least there is not much traffic and almost no campers before nine. We had a bit of drama when we passed a van on fire at a pull over outside of Salmon Arm. Three fire trucks and a fire chief vehicle hurried toward it. The van was beyond saving but they are probably worried about it causing a forest fire. Near Three Valley Gap a semi flashed his lights. I slowed down expecting a speed trap. Nope. Rocks on the road. We were going slow enough to miss most of them. The one we hit made noise but as far as I know, no damage. A car was pulled over a mile later with the driver laying down checking out the under carriage.

We stopped in Golden for a drive through coffee and in Calgary for Costco gas, Costco pizza for lunch and PST free purchases. The Queen Expressway was busy all the way from Calgary to Edmonton. We stopped at Canadian Tire and then went to Rebekah’s, arriving few minutes before she came home from dropping Ezekial at summer camp. The rest of the family arrived back from church while we were visiting.

On Monday I went for a drug and alcohol test and a respirator fitting. Then we ran a few errands and drove home to Meadow Lake. Granddaughter, Eliana joined us for the week. We’ll catch up on a few chores before heading back to Edmonton for me to start work for what I’m told will be seven weeks of 6-10’s at a chemical plant turnaround.

During our final week/weekend at home we celebrated Juanita’s Birthday and Kohen’s birthday. On Friday we made the final fair-weather kick at organizing the sea can which we started last spring. Mostly done. You can see the floor! Saturday I did a bit more puttering before cleaning up to go to the annual St. Walburg Blueberry festival with Eliana. Before we left, Deborah texted about lawn mower races in Cherry Grove, Alberta. 

We drove there instead and met her, Ernie and all three of their offspring. The unmodified lawn mowers were as slow as could be expected but the modified ones moved pretty fast. They stirred up a fair bit of dust while the drivers jockeyed for position. Food trucks offered yummy, pricey fare. I tried my first order of poutine. Donair flavour. Hybrids are hardy.