July Expenses

Well, if it weren't for paying for our new passports ($320 CAD) this month, it would have been a really cheap month!

The following figures are all in Canadian dollars. You can subtract about 25% for U.S. dollar equivalent...

One more week!

Isn't it hard to believe that our motorhome Sherman has been gone for almost two months?! Yes, he returns to us next weekend, in only one more week. It's funny that we're excited to see him again!

We received a couple more photos of him. He's actually been down south across the border! Tana and Graham had mentioned that they were interested in going to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, and of course that's only 400 miles (640 kms) south of the Canada/U.S. border.

Cultural Travel

A couple of weeks ago, I had written that we enjoy getting to know the people who live in other countries. We've found that it's the best way to understand different cultures, and to realize that the way we do things as a society here in Canada or the Unites States isn't the only way, or necessarily the best way.

And so reader Sara Horton had asked for an expansion of those thoughts. How exactly do we set ourselves up to have those cultural experiences while we travel?

Planning for Romania

In less than 100 days (96, to be exact) we will be on a plane to Romania where we will spend six weeks touring the country. While that still sounds like it's quite a long ways off, we've been spending some of our free time on the internet getting familiar with the country.

It always amazes me how many cities are out there that you've never heard of. I mean, everybody (I would assume) has heard of Bucharest, Romania. But you've probably never heard of the city of Cluj-Napoca, and yet is has a population of 300,000. Or Sibiu with 175,000 people.

Just stuff

Getting ready for the big long weekend here at the park. We're officially sold out, and the weather forecast looks perfect. Even all of the tenting spots are reserved!

August long weekend is always sold out here. The weather is usually good, and the water level is usually at it's highest. And, it's kind of the last hurrah for a lot of the locals who use the park because harvest usually starts shortly after August long weekend.

The nearest town to the park

Cabri Regional Park is named after the town of Cabri, but the town of Cabri is actually located 20 kms (13 miles) away via a fairly good (usually!) dirt road. It' the nearest town to the park and I usually go there once a week or so during the summer.

The town of Cabri has a population of around 400 people, and quite a few services for a town that size.

Ruth's flower gardens

Ruth's mother was an avid gardener, and she loved her flowers. Some of that enthusiasm was passed down to Ruth, and when we owned a house Ruth spent a lot of time working on her flowers.

When we arrived here at the park, there weren't many flowers around and Ruth set about to change that!

Fireworks at the park!

One of our seasonal camper families likes to put on a fireworks show for the park, and last night was the night.

They go around earlier in the season and collect donations from anybody who wants to give to the fireworks fund, and with the total money collected they put on quite a show!

Number one goal in life

Yes, I know...it's the middle of summer and most people in our reading audience are baking in the summer heat. So today, to make you enjoy the sweltering temperatures that you are currently enduring, we're going to talk a little bit about winter in Canada.

Ruth and I both grew up around the city of Ottawa. A very nice place to live in the summer. But the winters? They are really brutal.

Need a new sign

When we first arrived here at the park in 2014, I ordered a paging system for the office. There is a button to push, and Ruth and I each wear a little pocket pager that goes off no matter where we are in the park. This means that on quiet days when we've got work to do around the park or up at the workshop, we don't need to worry about missing someone at the office.

They simply push the button at the office window, and we know that someone needs assistance.

Sherman has a small problem...

Sherman has been out on his two month motorhome exchange adventure and so far he's been behaving himself. Up until last night that is, when we got an email saying that the main 1,000 watt inverter that I installed last September has gone on the fritz, and what did we want to do about it.

Okay. That doesn't sound like too much of a problem to me.

Goings on here at the park

Weekends have been fairly busy, but we haven't been sold out yet this year. This coming weekend could change that though because we're getting a lot of last minute bookings and I think there are only two full service sites left.

Monday through Thursday is always quiet though, and even this week despite the fact that the weather the last few days has been hot and sunny.

Bucket list items

The term "Bucket List" means a list of things that you want to do before you kick the bucket. I'm not even sure this term existed prior to the 2007 Jack Nicholson movie of the same name.

First of all, we don't have an official "bucket list". Because there would be no point. I mean really, we want to do anything different and go anywhere we haven't been before. So to us, there's no point in having an actual list.

Authentic Mexican food?

I was looking at an advertisement for a Mexican restaurant in our hometown of Ottawa, and it stated that the food was "authentic".

And I wondered....do they even use corn tortillas? Because most people in Canada wouldn't eat corn tortillas...only flour tortillas. So if they don't make their enchiladas with corn tortillas, they are most certainly not an authentic Mexican restaurant.

Half way through!

It occurred to me yesterday that we are now past the half way point of our time here at the park this season. Actually we're quite a few days past the half way point, because we hope to get out of here a little earlier this year.

As much as this is a nice place to spend the summer, we'd rather be traveling. And we have a lot to look forward to when September rolls around because we've got a full plate of exploring to do for you all over the following seven months!

Boondocking in Nova Scotia

I'm writing this post because of a forum discussion I saw where there was a lot of misinformation being given out.

You see, back around 2007 there was a move by the Nova Scotia Campground Owners Association to force an old law to ban RV parking at Walmarts. The campground owners mistakenly figured they were losing money. The Nova Scotia government stood behind the campground owners association.

We're a little behind the times!

Game of Thrones and Pokemon Go.

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

Well that's exactly what I was thinking as I randomly came across several references over the past week or so with regards to the phrase Pokemon Go.

Ever since we changed our lifestyle back in October of 2007, it seems we have a bit of a hard time keeping up with pop culture. It started of course with no longer owning a television.

Pics from the last few days

It drizzled on and off until about noon yesterday. So we didn't get much more than the three inches of rain that I had reported. But, it was sure a lot of water and it did some damage to our roads in the park.

Yesterday morning, Ruth and I went for a walk in rain.

Three inches of rain!

It's still raining.

I woke up a couple of times during the night and could hear the rain coming down. The rain gauge out on the porch says we've now had 3" of rain since yesterday morning. That's a lot of water. The park is pretty waterlogged!

With that much rain, the road in and out of the park is pretty much accessable by 4 wheel drive only. I'm supposed to go to a meeting tonight, but I doubt that the little blue car would make it up the hill!

Coho's first mousing experience!

For the past week, they've been forecasting rain for today. Of course at first, you don't believe them because the 7 day forecast means nothing. But as today got closer, they didn't waiver. It's going to rain, they say. The only question has been "how much rain?", as their estimates have changed daily from a half an inch to two full inches.

And sure enough, we got up this morning, and an hour later it started to rain.

Postcards from Sherman

Busy weekend here at the park, so I've been doing my middle of the night walks to make sure that nobody is out being stupid. That means I usually don't sleep well, and when we finally got up at 7:30am yesterday morning we were till pretty tired.

But I had to get up because at 8:00am, I had a job to do!

The little blue car has a boo-boo

Ruth went into Swift Current on Wednesday to do groceries and a bunch of running around for the park. We always pack the little blue car full of recycling and returnable bottles and cans to collect the deposits back for the park. This generates revenue for the park to the tune of over $2,000 per season!

Anyhow, when she came back, the first thing she said was "the little blue car has a boo-boo", and of course I instantly thought uh, oh...there's a scratch or dent somewhere...

Should you buy a new...or used RV?

With the recent RV news headlines stating that sales of new RVs are hitting record highs around North America, it's hard to figure out why.

All of my research and figures say that it simply doesn't make good financial sense to buy a brand new RV. But, maybe it's because a lot of people simply don't have good financial sense! It's possible they just don't know any better. Or, maybe they've got too much money in the first place and they simply don't care.

What does it cost to buy an older RV?

Ruth was having a discussion on a facebook forum the other day, and someone was arguing with her about what it costs to buy and maintain an older RV. This guy pretty much called Ruth a liar when she told him that we've never had anything major go wrong with Sherman in the nearly ten years that we've owned him.

He also said that in those ten years we probably could have bought a new motorhome with the amount we've spent on repairs and maintenance. Which obviously is ridiculous.

A bit of a sad day here at the park...

One of the things we've enjoyed at the park is watching the great horned owls every spring. When we arrive in May, one of the first things we do is walk over to the nest to see how many babies there are.

The first year there was only one. But both last year and this year we've been able to watch two babies grow up and leave the nest.

We found out yesterday that one of them didn't survive.

Happy Independence Day to our American readers!

We've spent a fair bit of time exploring the United States of America, and today we're going to help our American friends and readers celebrate their national holiday by showing you a variety of pics we've taken over the years that symbolize the patriotism that most Americans share.

Happy Birthday America!

June Expenses

The summer months are supposed to be when we don't spend much money. But so far, it's not really working out that way! I swear, we spend less money when we're out touring in the motorhome than we do when we're sitting still.

But, it was a good month. We had fun with Lindsey and the grandkids at the beginning of the month, and we also did some shopping and paid out some expenses towards our motorhome exchange in Spain next January and February. Total was $1,428!

(Figures are all in Canadian dollars...for U.S. dollar equivalent you can subtract about 25%).

Fundraising here at the park

There is a big volunteer contingent here at the park, and some of the biggest are the people who sit on the board of directors. Many of them make a two or three (or more) year commitment to sit in on meetings, come up with ideas, voice their opinion, and have a turn at running the park along with six or eight other people.

As park managers, we are in the special position of being able to see most of what goes on behind the scenes, and these people who sit on the board don't get enough recognition for the hard work they do in benefit of the park.

Happy Canada Day!

July 1st is Canada's birthday, and this year the country celebrates 149 years as a nation.

On this day, there is no better place to be in Canada than the capital city of Ottawa. If you've never been to Ottawa, it's a beautiful city. Ruth and I both grew up in Ottawa, so we know the city well and we have spent many Canada Days downtown enjoying the festivities.