Back in Ottawa

Despite the fact that Saskatchewan is now officially home, we still feel like we're coming back home when we arrive in Ottawa. We lived most of our lives in Ottawa, and brought up our kids here, and still have lots of family here... so we enjoy coming back for a visit to see all of our family and friends once or twice a year.

On Monday, we drove from Toronto up to Ottawa, with a detour to Sandbanks Provincial Park. Unfortunately we did not visit the park itself!

September Expenses

Well, here's our September expense report. Grand total for the month was $2,735 CAD ($2,150 USD). Not bad, especially when you consider that we spent yet another $1,000 on motorhome repairs.

But on a year to date basis for the first nine months, we're way higher than normal because of the now $8,200 CAD ($6,500 USD) that we have spent on repairs and maintenance this year.

Into the big city of Toronto

We had a late breakfast with Ruth's family in Guelph yesterday morning. Didn't get any photos. Just a greasy spoon breakfast, but we left with our stomachs full and we didn't need any lunch.

From Guelph, we headed into downtown Toronto.

Busy couple of days!

Well, a little catching up to do today as we missed doing a blog post yesterday. That hasn't happened for a long time!

When the alarm went off yesterday morning at 6:30am, we proceeded to fall right back to sleep because the AirBnb where we are staying has a third occupant in the room beside us who was not very quiet!

Always love to get a great deal!

Went out for a 9 km (5.6 mile) walk yesterday before lunch. Took us an hour and a half, so we had a pretty decent pace going.

Not that scenic though... just went through a few neighborhoods here in Hamilton, Ontario, and then up on the escarpment that gave us some views, although the views weren't that spectacular!

Younger next year

Well, we got caught up on our sleep, and really didn't do much of anything else yesterday. I had already got my exercise for the day when I walked from the airport to the car rental place. I did exactly 4 kms (2.5 miles) in 36 minutes so I was moving at a pretty fast pace!

When we were visiting my uncle in Prince George last month, he gave me a book to read. He's 73 years old, and in pretty good shape. They do lots of hiking, biking, and kayaking.

Made it to Ontario

Another nice day yesterday in Crescent Beach, British Columbia.

Just hung around and chatted for the morning, and Ruth did a bunch of laundry and got the fridge cleaned and made some enchiladas for lunch for the four of us.

While she was doing all of that, I was cleaning Sherman's awning.

Beautiful day in Crescent Beach

Gorgeous fall day yesterday. High of about 18C (65F) and beautiful sunshine.

Went for a walk before lunch yesterday just to explore the area. Crescent Beach used to be an area where Vancouverites would have summer cottages, but as the greater city expanded, it is now full of expensive homes itself as many of the cottage properties have been removed and big pricey homes have been put in.

Fun times at the big RV Show

We said goodbye to longtime friends Cory and Elaine. We've known them 11 years and yet we've only spent time together twice! But getting together is almost like we do so on a much more regular basis. Lots of laughs, and I'm sure we'll be seeing them again sooner than 11 years from now!

We hit the road, heading towards Vancouver, and the big Abbotsford RV show.

Future travel plans

Yesterday was the first time in a long time that we did not take any photos! That's because it poured with rain pretty much the whole day. Once in the afternoon it stopped for a few minutes, and Ruth and I decided to go for a walk and get some exercise. We went into the motorhome to get our jackets on, and it started spitting again. We thought we would wait it out a few minutes, but it just got heavier, and heavier.

I went to have a nap instead!

In true "Kevin and Ruth" style, we found a cheaper way

Said goodbye to our new friends Alison and Richard at about 10:30am. Richard had actually left for work at 7:00am, so it was only Alison and the dog, Roxy left behind.

We left Savona, and had a short drive to Cache Creek where we would then head south towards Hope, British Columbia... about a 232 km (144 mile) drive.

Lots of people to visit in this area!

As we were saying goodbye to Lorraine and David, she suggested that we stop in at the O'Keefe Ranch where David was doing some work. It was along our way anyhow and we were certainly curious about what he was building there.

He had told us about the short term contract he was completing there... constructing the popular "Field of Screams" haunted corn maze in time for the Halloween season!

Finally, Sherman's repairs are complete!

We arrived at the Kal Tire store at the north end of Vernon at around 9:00am. When it was my turn at the front counter, I pointed back at the motorhome and explained that I'm trying to get a front wheel alignment. The guy took a glance over towards Sherman and said "it won't fit on our alignment rack."

I walked out of the office and past the service bays. And as I walked past the bays with the wheel alignment machines I thought to myself "why won't it fit??"

So I returned to the office to ask the question.

This is becoming a frustrating problem.

So at 8:00am yesterday, we arrived at the place in Kelowna where we had an appointment for Sherman's wheel alignment. They took one look at him and said "oh, sorry, we can't do an alignment on that... the heads don't stick out far enough from the wheels".

And I knew exactly what they meant... some laser wheel alignment machines have heads that mount onto the front wheels, and because Sherman's wheels are inset from the body, they wouldn't be able to read the laser properly.

So that was a waste of time.

Kelowna is definitely a bike friendly city

We had an early lunch and set off for a bike ride. Actually, the plan was a combination bike  and hike, but when we got to the top of the hill the burnt trees from recent forest fires didn't look that enticing for a great hiking experience, so we headed back down the hill and used some of the many bike trails in Kelowna area.

It's definitely a bicycle friendly city.

The big city...

With a population of around 130,000 people, Kelowna obviously isn't that big of a city. But it's the biggest city that we've been around since we skirted around the Edmonton area at the end of May. And it's pretty busy, and there seems to be a lot of traffic. But I guess that's the case with any city, isn't it?

I guess we've been out in the countryside for too long!

Just another great day living and traveling in a motorhome

Woke up here at Twin Lakes Golf and RV Resort and had pretty much decided to stay another day. There's a short hike up the hill behind the park that we wanted to do, and the back roads here are great for cycling. In keeping with our desire to stay active, it seemed like a good spot to spend a day.

Plus, we didn't really want to be in Kelowna until this afternoon, and staying here would mean we didn't have to look for another spot to stay along the way. Besides, Kelowna is only 88 kms (55 miles) away.