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Tuesday, June 23, 2020

We had a great day... until right at the end...

Woke up to blue sky and sunshine. What a treat compared to the overcast on again off again rain that we've been having for the last week or more. Blue sky always makes photos turn out so much better, as you will see below!

There were only two other RVs parked in our area, and one of them had a small generator running on Sunday evening until about 8pm, but it was pretty quiet. Could hardly hear it when we closed the window on that side.

Otherwise, it was quiet as can be, and we woke up and opened the curtains to see this...

Good morning, Mrs. Deer.

We did our morning computer work and then got the bikes off and ready for a bike ride. A few hills in the area, but that's okay. We need the exercise, as we always tell ourselves.

At Swisher Lake.

Swisher Lake is not much more than a pond, but it's quite pretty. 

There is a horse trail here.

Swisher Lake is for day use only. There is a gravel track that leads there that is fine for biking, and then it turns into a horse path. We tried biking the horse path, but it was too bumpy from all the horse hoof prints, so we went back to the main paved road.

The main paved road leads down to a gravel parking area beside Lake Koocanusa. There was one car parked there. I was ahead of Ruth by a little bit, and I pulled right up to the edge looking down on the shore. She saw me quickly back away from the edge, and as she got closer, she said "what's the matter, is there nothing worth taking a photo of?"

To which I replied "well, yes actually... there kind of is!"

There was a naked woman sunbathing on the shore!

The nude sunbather was just to the left of those trees.

No, I didn't get a photo for you.

No wonder those guys were fishing close to the shore!

It's a pretty area.

We rode on to Lake Sophie.

Another pretty area!


I tried to take a self timer shot, but it was too far to run back to Ruth and I almost didn't make it!
Funny look on my face. I think I was saying "I don't think I made it!"

When we made it back for lunch, another RV had pulled in an got set up. The truck disappeared and then came back with a full box load of firewood. Not just normal firewood, but huge pieces of logs!


These guys are planning on having a big fire.

We were afraid things were going to be noisy that night, but after they dumped the logs, they never came back. Even this morning, there were no people around.

This is becoming a problem in free Forest Service campgrounds. There is normally a 16 day stay limit, but people will come in and get themselves set up early in the week and then not come back until the weekend. Not very fair. Some sites, we have seen signs that say the site has to be occupied the first night, and then you aren't allowed to leave it vacant for more than 24 hours after that. But not all of them.

Bob and Denise showed up again! We weren't sure if they were going to because they planned on crossing first thing this morning. But they did, and we had one last happy hour together.

During happy hour, the people with the motorhomes fired up a big 6.5 KW Construction Generator. 

A LOUD one. I don't know how people can stand listening to that stuff drone on for hours. Ruth and I went for a short walk after supper, then I went over to ask how long they were going to be needing the electricity.

The haggard looking women was outside and she said "You'll have to ask the old man". Classy.

So I went and knocked on the door and he came out and I asked him. He said "oh, at least two more hours". I said "that's fine, we'll move".

And that's the problem with what we do at some of these free overnight spots. We totally realize that he is completely within his rights to run his generator, right through the night if he so wishes.

And that's why we like having a house with wheels. We knew there was another spot up by the equestrian parking that also would be fine (and much quieter!) for the night.

Dusk at Lake Koocanusa.

Bob and Denise crossed the border at around 7am this morning. We will see them again in August or September in Ontario.

Today, we start to head south and east!

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15 comments:

  1. The jerk probably ran the noisy 6500W generator just to power a 100W TV 🙄
    And don't get me started on people who save empty campsites. Here in Flag some rigs are there all summer long!

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    1. Lol, I wouldn't doubt that that was the case but I bet that they had the huge generator to run the air conditioner when they needed it though. Rather than just sitting outside in the shade like we would do.

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  2. 6500W is absurd! I have a tiny Honda 1000W for emergencies that's vary quiet plus if I had to use it for a bit I put it behind a tree or something to block the sound which is minimal. Solar Rocks!

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    1. Yep, we think it is absurd too! Those little Honda ones are very quiet. I would expect that the guy wants a big one to run an air conditioner when needed though. For us when it is really hot out, we just run a 12 volt fan and we also now have a USB rechargeable fan that works great and we sit outside in the shade.

      We love our solar! :-)

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  3. Even when we would dry camp at Mosport (race track for the rest of you) I would check with our closest neighbours as to when the best time would be to run the generator. Mind you, there was one time when they were happy happy that we had a generator, as a trailer with slideouts had allowed their batteries to run down and couldn't get their slide back in. Never hurts to be kind. I tend to get "evil thoughts" when I hear a generator running. You're far more tolerant than me.

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    1. If you run the generator while the cars are racing you would probably never even hear the generator running. I bet back then solar wasn't so much of a thing as it is now.

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  4. You guys are lucky the US is not doing what Canada is. Non citizens caught wasting time in transit to their home country are fined. They fined several Americans on their way to Alaska for sightseeing. $1200 each. Not sure if they were in RV's. They are being a lot stricter here.

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    1. The big difference with us is that the USA didn't have a quarantine in place when we crossed. Some of the separate States did and when those quarantines were in place we would not enter into those States until the quarantine was removed. Plus we don't go and eat out or do anything else that has us around people other than the necessities, like getting food, gas and going to dump our black and greys tanks and fill with fresh water and we have only been doing those things when absolutely necessary. Otherwise we keep totally to ourselves. If we had been given a time limit to cross from one border to the other we would have followed the directive.

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  5. We used to attend a festival in Texas, where the first thing people would unload was a big generator and four or five gas cans. The only time they would shut off the generators was to refill the gas. I noticed that many of the fifth wheel trailers they liked had almost no windows, so the AC had to be run constantly.

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    1. That just would have driven us nuts! I think that at festivals they should have a huge section that is generator free and placed well away the the generator crowd.

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  6. "People set up early in the week and then don't come back until the weekend." Sounds like an opportunity to hook up and steal a trailer...

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    1. I believe that there are special locking mechanisms that you can buy and install to stop that from happening and I would almost guarantee that these trailers would have them installed.

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  7. Just remember that crossing into Canada is a one way trip, so don't do it until you are prepared to stay. From what you've posted you weren't planning on goingn anywhere in your RV after getting home anyway. Some are predicting it will stay closed until Spring. We can only travel in province starting today. You can still fly. I booked tickets to Mexico in early November on the assumption the border will still be closed. Westjet has a deal til the end of this month where you can change or cancel without penalty, and if you cancel you can apply the money for the following 36 months. That is not a risk to me. If it turns out I can drive, I will just cancel. BTW a Mexican article yesterday said they think the Oxford Vaccine will be ready by October. That one is promising and they are already producing it ahead of time on the assumption it will work. They think it may only protect for about a year, but that works for me. I suspect countries like Mexico will license it for use a lot faster than Canada.

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    1. We are totally aware of that Paul. You know that we do our research and that would be why we aren't crossing until end of July/beginning of August, we can't stay in the US forever either.

      As for the border not opening up until next spring that is all speculation and we hate speculation.

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  8. Yeah, but it's being talked about a lot. My neigbour went to visit family in California yesterday in their RV, but they have both US & Canadian passports. They still got permission ahead of time. A little scared but they stocked it up with enough supplies to get them there with only fuel stops, so they should be fine. The situation in the US is getting worse, not better, which is why I've hedged my bets and booked a flight. We are now trying to decide if we can run caravans next season and its more in doubt for French ones as they are all Canadian. Gabriele is more optimistic about it than I am. He is at least having a lawyer write up a special release form. Of course the situation Mexico is a big concern as well, although they are quite lax in allowing people across their border southbound. If they run they will look far different to lower the chance of issues. Without getting too political, IMO the situation in the US depends a lot on regime change and of course the availability of a vaccine. In Yakima, WA, the infection rate is an unbelievable 26% and they have run out of hospital beds this morning. Americans are going to be barred from Europe by the looks of it. Not Canadians. I suspect the US will take chances with any vaccine. They did that with polio and an Asian flu in the 1950's. The polio one caused issues at first due to a bad batch, the Asian flu one in the 50's worked. There may be no choice but to take chances. I can't see things getting back to normal until there is a vaccine or easy treatment which makes it non fatal. I find the speculation that vitamin D deficiency is a big a factor. I thought that did not make sense until I found out that dark skinned people do not produce it from sunlight very easily. That is easy to fix, if so. Anyway in an RV you are pretty isolated, just stay out of cities, which I know you do anyway.

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