Starlink

Another week has passed and we have continued the voyage home! We enjoyed a prolonged stay with Scott, Margaret and Tori, and then turned east. We broke the trip to Prince Albert into two segments, enjoying another stop at the Gold Horse Casino in Lloydminster. Once again, as we took the secondary route from Lloyd, we were troubled by the lack of cellular signal to drive our navigation and our music. The children and grandchildren have taken notice of this complaint, and generously provided for a Starlink Mini as my Birthday and Father's Day present—thanks! However, getting it has proven much more difficult than expected. A preliminary search revealed a variety of suppliers including Costco, Home Depot, Walmart... but, it turned out none of them had one is stock—they can order one for me, but it will take some weeks to arrive! Quelle surprise! It took very little additional investigation to reveal the cause—Musk is undercutting his own suppliers! (Not so much of a surprise!) So, I bought one from Starlink dot com for about $50 less, but it will take those same weeks to get delivery. Maybe someone out there has a better solution. After a full week of work (one day) on the renovations in PA, we took up an offer to fly north!

the town is named for these!

Eric/A flew us up to Stony Rapids for a weekend visit. It was lovely, and they don't have any bugs up there (okay, I was lying about the bugs!!). But, hey, the internet connection was good, so life continued! The markets continued to be troubled by the Melon Felon, but at least they're running green this month. The Blue Jays are playing a lot better, but the injury bug continues to bedevil them— they lost two more pitchers this week, but they beat both Boston and New York to move into playoff contention. The Riders played in Hamilton this evening, but they lost, so they fell out of first place. 

Erica writes, "Eric and I are both up in Stony this week and since we couldn’t make it down to PA to host Mom and Dad, we invited them up here for the weekend. We had an adventure on Saturday. We went in search of Elizabeth Falls between Black Lake and Middle Lake. We found the rapids before the falls, and discovered we should take taken a left turn to get to the falls. We drove on and reached a scary looking bridge. What we discovered is that looks can be misleading as the best option would have been to cross the bridge. Instead, I tried to turn around and got completely stuck. After several attempts, I called some contacts and waited for my rescuers to pull me out. Mom and Dad went in search of the falls while Eric and I waited. They found Middle Lake, but not the falls. We got pulled out, picked them up and returned to Stony for the Rider game. All in all, it was a fun day! Liam has been working on his teaching materials for Art Camp next week. Haaken, Greg and Kiersten continue with their regular duties." 

Erin writes, "Weather hasn’t been great lately, but today it turned around, so Kali, Elly and I hung out in our happy place.

Very Productive

My tomato plants are still dying for some reason, but are also still producing. Work is good; we’ve chosen a candidate to offer my position. She doesn’t have much experience and timing is an issue, too. If I don’t start training someone soon, I’m going to run into year end and won’t have the extra time to work with a rookie. We give three months probation, so if I don’t feel good about her I can still say no. If that happens, we won’t start looking again until after year end because that time of year is very taxing. I took Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday off—I need quiet time by myself, so I can breathe, and turn 48. ☺️" Kristian adds, "Nothing too exciting this week. We had a work bbq yesterday featuring gourmet hotdogs. Lately for walk arounds, Terry has us using a specific app where we take pictures, because some of the others were missing some damages."

Travis and Joanna are taking care of business back in Thunder Bay. Trav rescued me this week as I misplaced my pills, so he sent me my next batch. BucketDecals is getting busy. Marigold is still recovering from an ear infection, but no report back from her dermatology doctor yet. 

And that's enough for this week!

Thanks!

Another week has passed. We have begun the trip home. Our main thoughts are of thankfulness to the friends in Yellowknife who have made the central aspect of our trip so memorable. In the final analysis, there are other important aspects of this first RV trip, but the central theme remains a trip to YK to celebrate friendships and experience the nature of the area that was our home for eighteen years! It has been 31 years since we left, and ten since our last visit. You cannot know when a trip will be the last, but you have to recognize as you celebrate a 76th birthday, that such opportunities are becoming rare.

Cindy & Sage

The central person in the comfortable operation and success of the trip is our cousin, Cindy. She took us in, housed, showered and fed us as needed throughout our time in the north. Thank you, Cindy, we owe you, we love you! Then, there are Simon & Lenore, a lifelong friendship formed during our time living there, and especially over our collaboration in developing, building and enjoying the cabin at River Lake. This summer, we refreshed all of those in an active week out at the cabin with them. We are so thankful for the relationship, and for sharing the cabin and River Lake experiences with us once again. And finally, last week there were Dave & Tram who opened new venues for us on the East Arm of Great Slave Lake. We enjoyed a great week on your boat, exploring new vistas, fishing and eating, sightseeing the beauty of another part of the North. Tram is another daughter for us, and we delighted to see her thriving in her home life. We are thankful to Dave and for Dave as he contributes to her happiness. 

We left on Tuesday morning with a plan to stop the first night at Dory Point just across the McKenzie, but the signs there said No Overnight Camping, so we carried on to Lady Evelyn Falls, and got a site for the night. Then, we completed our exit from the Northwest Territories, stopping for fuel at Meander River and planning to spend the night there. Once again, my plans proved unsatisfactory to the management—too muddy, poor cell signal... so we continued down the road to High Level where we spent the night. On Thursday continued south stopping for the night just past Peace River. My plans, continuing to work perfectly on Friday, saw us stop just north of Fox Creek. A lack of cellular coverage, and a plethora of mosquitoes caused this site to be rejected. We checked out another site near Fox Creek, but this was also rejected due to bugs. So we drove down to White Court where Wendy picked a spot at Walmart. This time it was I who found the better site at the Flying J truck stop. Finally, today, after our traditional pancake breakfast, we packed up to head down to Sherwood Park AB to stay with Scott & Margaret. But first, we dropped by Canadian Tire to pick up some supplies and to dump our tanks. After arriving here, Scott, very generously changed the oil in the RV—thank you! Our hoped for train trip to BC has been put off for another time, so we’ll spend a few days here (thank you) before heading to Prince Albert. The Riders won their game last night over Ottawa and combined with Edmonton‘s loss today, they are alone in first place. The Blue Jays traded away three of their starters, but their gameplay has not changed, although they did win today! 

Erica writes, "We are back up north in Stony Rapids/Black Lake. I’m getting ready for the auditors, so I’ve been working on the evenings. Interesting being back on this side of the audit. Liam is back in PA working on the house. He pulled up the layers of old flooring in the bathroom and found some good hardwood. Our plan is to salvage as much as we can as we expect it might be needed for patching when we get to the living room. Then, we will put down plywood in the bathroom and some other flooring yet to be determined. Liam has also been enjoying our new Yamaha 250 motorcycle. We picked it up last weekend. He recently got his license and the Vulcan’s are a bit too big for him to learn on. We still have our Honda 250 Rebel, but it’s going to need some work as it has been sitting idle for a decade." Liam has been working on renovations to the main floor bathroom in PA. He has removed fixtures, lino and salvaged some good hardwood. 

Salvage!

Erin writes, "I’m just so tired: extra long days, month end and short staffed! One of my tomato plants is dying, and I'm not 100% sure why.

Sick Tomato

One of the tomatoes on the other plant had blossom-end rot like we had before, so I added calcium. I decided to add calcium to the other plant, too, even though it didn’t have the problem. Now that’s the one that’s dying—is too much calcium a thing?! Could be the change in weather, as a couple nights got pretty chilly. It’s the plant at the end of the fence, so it doesn’t have as much protection." Kristian added, "I now have a personal trainer. We’ll be starting on the 17th." Erin has scheduled Kali for a haircut on the 25th. 

Joanna has returned from Burlington. Her mom seems to be well accommodated, and now has an ejection chair to help her get up and about. Travis took Marigold to visit a vet in Duluth who specialized in dermatology of dogs! No fresh results there yet. Rosie is off on her visit home to Vietnam. 

And that's enough for this week. 

Surprise!

We have spent the week on Great Slave Lake, yeah, actually on the lake, on a boat. Eating, sleeping, fishing, sight-seeing all accomplished from the boat—nice! The Big Lake was calling our names and thanks to Dave & Tram, we were able to head out toward the East Arm on Monday morning. It was all new experiences for us and we enjoyed it immensely. They had packed enough food to feed an army, and we ate too much of it! We feasted morning, noon and night, and feasted our eyes and experiences each day! The Big Lake is immense and this was just another part of it with beauty all its own.

The cliffs were expected, but also beyond expectation. The fishing was expected, but also surprising as we had never caught nor tasted grayling—delicious! The species of fish that we caught was also a surprise, people who come north fishing, expect to catch trout, and usually catch jackfish (Great Northern Pike, slough shark)! Our guys started off catching grayling and what a great supper they made. Then, they moved on to trout—delicious! And it wasn’t until the final day that Tram managed to catch a 15.1 pound jackfish, so that was also a surprise—albeit a delicious surprise!

Musk Ox

The most surprising thing was the arrival and presence of musk oxen! Two of them showed up at our anchor north of Utsingi Point and they stuck with us until it was time for us to leave the next day! I had never seen a musk ox in the wild and I did not expect to ever see a musk ox in the wild. It was a wonderful surprise for my birthday! The markets were also surprising as I had a good month despite the USA markets being red and the TSX only up 1.2%. The Orange War continues to rage in the Middle East and in many ways is even worse. In the world of sports, the Blue Jays seem to be on the verge of giving up on the season and are expected to be selling players here at the deadline. The Riders played the second game of the home-n-home with Edmonton and fared better this time, so each team won in the others home stadium. 

Erica wrote, "Andrew and Aura arrived Wednesday for Marina’s wedding. The festivities included a shower on Thursday, BBQ on Friday and the wedding today. They have been wonderful guests, putting up with the renovation and general craziness of the house with much grace! Liam finished his work on the vanity—he sanded it down, stained, sealed it and fixed the tap so the water flows. On Friday, he and Eric got one of the motorcycles out and Liam drove it for a bit. He has started work on the little 250 Rebel to try to get it running again after a decade of storage." 

Erin wrote, "The garden is producing!

Salad and meat and buns for supper—Kristian’s getting healthy! He went to the gym a few times, an orientation day and a couple of days on his own. He’s also setting up a meeting with a personal trainer. Kristian also got another one of those fancy meals with his workmates—appetizer, filet main course, dessert—yowsah!" 

Travis wrote, "Joanna is in Burlington assisting her mother. On Thursday, they enjoyed a luncheon cruise on the west end of Lake Ontario. Marigold’s dermatology appointment got moved up to Monday AND it is at their Duluth office, so it’ll just be a day trip for her and me. Rosie is heading to Vietnam for about 45 days."

And that's enough for this week! 

River Lake Retreat!

Another week has passed, and we find ourselves on the shore of the deepest lake in North America, Great Slave Lake. While we have spent many years here before, this week was not mundane. On Sunday we enjoyed a gathering with our longtime congregation here, but there were few people who we recognized—still, a precious time. Then, on Sunday afternoon, we began a visit with our long time friends, Simon & Lenore. Simon began some repairs on the RV. The biggest challenge was the bed and after a spate of problem-solving and a lot of adjustments, we came up with a successful solution. On Monday, after another lovely breakfast, courtesy of Cindy— thanks, we began our River Lake excursion with Simon & Lenore. It began with a tour of Robertson‘s wonderful taxidermy—must be seen to be believed.

Then, we headed out to the cabin on River Lake. Our week there involved daily excursions, organized by the cruise director (Lenore), a wide variety of games, and excellent dining experiences! it was an amazing week all around: amazing setting, amazing experiences, amazing people! On Friday afternoon, we returned to the city and began preparations for our next experience. We are looking forward to heading out on the big lake. But not before Simon helped me with two more repairs to the RV: the backup camera, and the stairs. Today, we took it easy with a tour of the museum at Giant Mine and of the diamond centre. This evening we visited with Randy & Leslie, and Dave & Lee. The world has carried on badly without us, and the markets have followed suit. The USA indices remain red for the month, and there are not many trading days left. The Blue Jays continue their floundering ways, but primed me with false encouragement by playing a good game today. The Riders faltered late, and dropped their game against Edmonton on a last second field goal.

Erica wrote: “Eric flew back on Monday and worked at CFS, got the motorcycles licensed and started cleaning the house for guests. Erica arrived back on Friday and promptly drove to Saskatoon to pickup the neighbours from the airport. Liam is heading back up this weekend, and Andrew & Aura are supposed to be here next week… however their plans include a train ride through BC and this week's train was cancelled. We are joining our friend Mark for music this Sunday and our choices will be honouring Brian Doerksen, Canadian singer/songwriter who passed away on July 21st.”

Kristian reports that he helped out with the weekly burger barbeque at work—good work if you can get it! Erin got Kristian a membership at the YWCA, so he also took a gym orientation to learn the various machines. Erin enjoyed a quiet week at work and a beautiful day in the backyard today.

Joanna’s mom fell and broke the end of her fibula, so that is not good. Joanna plans to head down there next week. The health concerns remain for Marigold and that is a worry as well. Thankfully, the forest fire situation has eased.

And that’s enough for this week.

Way up north!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. Things are not going well there as forest fires rage across the northwest and many are losing homes and businesses. So far, the main damage in Thunder Bay is the smoke, and even though we are far from there, we have great concern for our family and friends back home. Our first night this week was in Manning as we enjoyed the sights around Peace River and, after a short drive, the museum in Manning. It was a voluminous display including the almost mythical 15 30 tractor. 

The 15 30

Then on Monday, we drove up to High Level and checked out the museum there. We stayed on the parking lot of the visitor centre.

Camping on Great Slave!

On Tuesday, we finally reached the Northwest Territories. They offered showers at the information centre and I found the seven minutes for a loonie was lots. We parked for the night in a gravel pit just short of the two waterfalls on the Hay River, that is Alexandra and Louise Falls. The gorge has been eroding around those falls, so most of the walkways were closed. Wednesday featured the short drive into Hay River, I think it was the first trip there for mom, although she remembers going in briefly when we were on our way to Fort Smith one summer. Anyway, we got the full dose of it this time. Mom did laundry, then we toured around looking for a nice spot for the evening/night and we found a beauty right on the big lake, on a nice sandy beach. Some of the sand away from the water gets soft—that’s where I got stuck! Fortunately, I have a small hydraulic jack and I was able to get some relief so we could close the steps, then a generous neighbour came by with his truck and a tow rope and pulled us free—yay! On Thursday, we continued the tour including Lady Evelyn Falls, the crossing of the Mackenzie, and settled for the night on the shore of the river in Providence.

Bison

Friday saw us driving through herds of bison to the newly developed Territorial campgrounds on the North Arm of Great Slave. This was our first time paying for a campsite, but we did enjoy having electricity without running the generator. Saturday, after the usual pancake breakfast, we drove into Yellowknife and enjoyed the reunion with cousin Cindy, who is hosting us to conclude the week—thanks Cindy—great week for sure! Otherwise, the world continues its troubled way; the Orange War continues to rage in the Middle East and the economies of the world continue to suffer as a result. Only the TSX is in the green for the month. MLB was off for the All-Star break; the Blue Jays have now returned to action, but are not playing any better! Riders have the week off, but are in a good position in the Western Conference. 

Erica writes, “Liam arrived back in PA on Sunday night. His plan—work on the upstairs bathroom. We have a number of little projects including repainting. I sent him back for several different sample pots of paint until we found one we all agreed upon. He finished most of the projects and headed back south on Friday. This weekend, he is taking motorcycle lessons. Eric is up north and I joined him on Wednesday. It’s been a busy week.”

Erin has reported of progress in the garden. The tomatoes are developing nicely, 

Looking good!

and onions and chives are growing like weeds. Beans, peas and peppers are developing. Strawberries are a failure so far! Kristian reported finding a dead bird at work. Apparently, it had crashed into the window...

Sigh!

Travis and Joanna are struggling with smoke-filled skies in Thunder Bay. It is a disheartening situation for sure, but the government is spending their energy trying to excuse themselves from blame. They need some substantial rain sans thunder and lighning to douse the fires without starting new ones! Updating the family, Travis notes, "Gemma has completed more than 1/2 of the requirements of being the primary “baby catching” as a midwife. Andrew is just finishing up his 6th straight 12-hour shift as a nurse (so he’s only working 1/2 days)." They are also concerned over their first Pomeranian, Jasmine's health, so we hope they find a solution to that! 

And that's enough for this week. 

Flyin'

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. We started the week on the shore of Lake Wascana, living at Erin and Kristian’s. They always host us so well, and I continued to suffer with my cough/cold, so, we delayed our departure another day, and finally took off on Tuesday. We drove through our old hometown of Earl Grey after lunching with Garnet & Debbie in Southey—thanks! We planned to spend the night at the Lions Campground in Lanigan. But, it was full, full of water, full of mosquitos, and full of campers—surprising! We drove on to a previous point I had seen near Plunkett to boondock; it was lovely! On Wednesday, we continued up #2 to Prince Albert where we plugged in for the night at Eric & Erica’s place. They were both up at Stony Rapids, so we did not visit much! On Thursday, we continued to Lloydminster where we boondocked at the Gold Horse casino. They were very welcoming, and even let Wendy win some money from the VLTs. We toured the Lloyd Museum, and Wendy delighted to find an important artifact of civilization—she believes it's an early Kirby!

Granny and the Vac!

On Friday, we moved on to Athabasca, and today got as far as Peace River—just flyin’ I tell ya! There was a time when Wendy drove Dauphin-YK in one run—crazier times for sure! Global politics continue to suffer in the Orange chaos. The war has flared up again in the Middle East, and things have returned to the unsettled phase. The world of sports is seeing the finals of the World Cup and of Wimbledon, but we don't get TV coverage here in the RV. The Riders are thriving in football, and the Jays are doing a bit better lately. We hope they come back from the All-Star break in a winning mode!

Eric writes, "Eric and Erica have been back up in Stony this week working up there. Erica had to head home early to deal with things in Prince Albert for a few days so our schedules don’t match, but we will see each other for a few days at a time. While we were away, we had some company pull their RV into our yard. Liam is planning to be back and forth to PA this summer to do some work finishing the bathrooms. We have not heard from Haaken or Greg/Kiersten this week so hopefully all is well."

Erin and Kristian have been relieved of their hosting duties of Grandma and Grandpa, but have taken on the care and feeding of Kali! Is that a good trade?! Erin has been paying attention to the World Cup, but now that Belgium fell in the quarater-finals, she may have to reconsider the Jays—thankfully, they are playing a bit better. Kristian is assisting at a wedding today of his youth leader at church. Nice recognition, buddy! 

Travis and Joanna celebrated their 17th Anniversary this week—congrats! McCains Deep and Delicious for the win! Otherwise, they always have the four dogs looking for attention, and a regular dose of work. 

The four grand-dogs!

And that's enough for this flight! 

Love!

56 years!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown, while we have travelled westward and are found on the shore of Lake Wascana in the middle of the rain-soaked prairies. We are trying to follow the Three Rule—drive no more than 3 hours a day; arrive by 3pm; stay up to 3 days. On Sunday morning, we enjoyed a fine breakfast with the Knutsons and an uplifting assembly with the local congregation. Then, we resumed our journey west. This time, we were trying to drive at 90 km/h, to see how that worked out. We stopped in Brandon for coffee with Charlie and Bonnie, a nice time for sure. Then, we continued to Elkhorn to visit with Bill and Angie, that was also an encouraging time. We accepted their invitation to spend the night, and enjoyed a wonderful breakfast of oatmeal porridge prepared by Bill. They were off early to Brandon to commence the next phase of his treatments. We continued West, driving through my childhood haunts of Fairlight and Wawota and stopping in to see the new camp buildings at Clearview. We found where Bernard and Alicia were camping and enjoyed some wonderful coffee that Alicia had prepared and which matched her description! Then, we drove up to Kennedy where we visited with Ray and Ellen along with Heather and Sydney. And finally, we caught up with Dave and Heather out at their camp and enjoyed a good time of conversation, games, and supper. We retired to the RV for the night and woke in time to have a sumptuous breakfast. Fatefully, that was our last good decision of the day. Wendy was determined that the road to Regina passed through Weyburn. I explained that the path to Weyburn passed through Kisbey. We were both wrong! The road to Kisbey was blocked and led to many kilometres of orienteering, through the back roads, through the MUDDY back roads! Several U-turns later and a many mud holes later, we found another grid road heading down to Forget that allowed us to get to the highway and then onto Weyburn. We enjoyed lunch with Kresten and Star and their kids and a tour of their new house. Then, we were finally able to complete the trip to Regina. we have spent the rest of this week parked in Erin‘s parking lot and enjoying the comfort of her air-conditioned home. Taking into account the muddy roads and driving against prevailing winds, we found no particular difference in fuel usage, but we will keep experimenting! We had a few small projects here, but now we are ready to continue the trip toward Yellowknife. Wendy and I have each picked up a cold, so we were able to bark at each other for our 56th anniversary today! We haven’t decided exactly when we will head north yet, but the plan is for Monday. Otherwise, the world continues its troubled ways, the Orange War flares up from time to time, and the economic situation becomes more dire. The world of sports is profoundly focused on the World Cup, but I still have time to follow the Jays and the Riders both of whom won yesterday, but then the Jays got slaughtered today! 

Erica writes, "Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! We enjoyed a week at the cabin—a place we rented on Emma Lake with our friends, Guido and Tina. It rained for most of the week, but we had some moments to get out on the boat and do some fishing. Of course, the best day was Saturday, our last day! It makes me wonder at the luxury of my youth where we spent most of the summer at a cabin. If we wanted to do that now, we would need another high paying job to pay for it. Economics has definitely changed in the last 35 years. Liam has been with us all week and we have had a few minutes here and there to discuss our house renovations. We had planned to finish up the kitchen this summer, but with Eric's and my new jobs taking us out of town and a few other expenses, we have decided to scale down our plans for this summer, and wait until next summer to finish the kitchen. This summer will be focused on finishing up the two bathrooms and a few other small projects. Eric is preaching this Sunday and all three of us are playing on the worship team. Then, Eric and I return to the north on Monday."

We arrived at Erin and Kristian's place on Tuesday. We all celebrated Canada Day on Wednesday, then they were back to work. I was able to get the downstairs sink working properly—it was plugged with something, but Wendy's Norwex descaler made overnight work of that.

Egg Chair/Trellis Area

Then, I turned to work on the back patio area. I got the flower boxes ready to go, and repaired the trellis. Erin bought new plants, and she planted those, and I laid out the irrigation system. Looks like she is set for another growing/harvesting season. She has already been picking peas, and I see some tomatoes and strawberries ripening. 

Travis and Joanna are managing their own store back in Thunder Bay. They also took care of sending me a package with my compression stockings that I had left behind. Thanks! I did notice leg issues while driving without it, even though we're not putting in long days following the Three Rule! They also take responsibility for tracking us down when we fail to update everyone on our daily activity. Hey, someone has to take responsibility! 

And that's enough for this week.