Beautiful British Columbia

A huge part of our decision to sell the house and live full time in the motorhome was the people we met along the way during our Maiden Voyage. We were so motivated we came home early and within several weeks we sold everything and the house was on the market. We had an offer in 10 days and there was no turning back. So far, so good.

We've always loved British Columbia. Boating in the Gulf Islands, Vancouver Island, the Sunshine Coast, Chatterbox Falls and Desolation Sound were life changing moments for me. The landscape and the people are amazing.

While on our Arizona adventure, we met many many Canadian snowbirds. They really know how to have a good time. Our friend Dale invited us to park our motorhome in his driveway; so off to Grand Forks, BC we went. The city is located north of Spokane and just over the US/Canada border where the Kettle and Granby rivers meet. Craig, George, & Linda were there to greet us at Dale's house.

It is hot here. Today it's 35C, so we went tubing down the Kettle River.

Just two days prior a 50 year old man died jumping off the bridge. You can't fix stupid.

A few days later Merlyn and Lynn joined us in Dale's driveway with their 40 ft motorhome. It's like a mini Pirates Den reunion around here. 

Merlyn, Lynn, Tim, Craig, Dale, Yogi

Yesterday we were at Dale's other place on Christina Lake. We played on the tubes and had a few beers.

Linda and George dry camped on the Granby River with some friends of theirs. We drove up to meet with them one afternoon.

George is a great entertainer. 

It's time to move on. Our plan is to see Lake Louise and drive the Ice Field Parkway from Banff to Jasper. Tim suggested staying at a B&B so I quickly made a reservation for the first night.

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Then Dale called his nephew who lives in Jasper and he said Whoa! There is a huge forest fire going on and the highway is closed. We can't even see the mountains. So we waited a couple of days. Floated down the river again. The air temp was 41C (which converts to 102F). We return to our "toaster" home. It's a mild 94 inside so we cool it to 84 and I'm close to heaven. Ugh

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Dale called his nephew again and the smoke and ash is worse now. We'll just have to wait for another time to visit the Canadian Rockies. It's all good. We said farewell to our Canadian friends and promise to meet up at Pirates Den in the winter.

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We drive a surprisingly short distance from Grand Forks to reach the border.We are the only ones crossing. Since the Patriot Act, it seems to be more of a hassle but ultimately only the peppers & tomatoes I declared are confiscated. Now to dodge the Washington wildfires.

(Yes, there are missing pictures - this is because unfortunately I didn't take any)