Willy’s Past week of un-excitement…..Sort of.

I was going to title it…”Willy got lucky”but I didn’t want to give anybody the wrong idea..More of that later.First off I have changed locations but wanted to go back and show some final shots taken around Tunkwa this past week.It was one of those days that I thought I should get off my aging backside and walk around a bit with my camera since its been considering applying for unemployment benefits,as it sat in the corner staring at me.

A flutterby on a flower for starters….and an example of a nice unoccupied camping area on a lake full of fat rainbow trout on a warm day in July…..Who says all the campgrounds are full in July/August.And at $16.00 a day,with a paved road all the way to the park entrance,leaving about one mile of good gravel.

All of this with a city of about 100,000 just an hour or less away.(Kamloops)It goes to show that with so many nice camping spots in this general area,it really thins out the population of people looking for a nice lakeside spot.

 

And below the waterfall that drops down about 30 feet into Leighton Lake from Tunkwa Lake,with more camping on the far side of Leighton.This shot taken up on the bluff above Leighton, at Tunkwa lake’s level.

And finally a young family of ducks on the point where I stood back in 1980 when Mount St. Helens blew.I’ll never forget that day and the sound that roared across this highland valley so many miles away.

So!….After a week here at Tunkwa,I decided that a day trip back home was in order so I took off early on Monday morning for the 3 hour drive down to Chilliwack first, where I had a visit with my wife in the nursing home.I don't know how much she gets out of my visits,if anything as she doesn't communicate beyond an occasional yes or no and greets me with a blank stare, as there really isn’t any personality left with her brain damage,although she will laugh if I tell a funny or at least smile.I stopped trying to figure her out years ago when I was still looking after her. After some Chinese lunch at the mall food fair and some grocery shopping,I headed across the river to my home park,45 minutes drive away,where I checked the house,got the mail, did some watering then headed back up the highway to Merritt…..Geeze! gas was cheaper than Chilliwack by one cent.I arrived back in camp at Tunkwa around 5:30PM hot and tired.

Early next morning,yesterday,I packed up and headed out with the trailer in tow,back down to Merritt,leaving behind the sunny, cooler, almost 4000ft level and trading it for the 2000ft,much warmer desert climate of the Nicola Valley.

I headed northeast about 22Km’s(13 miles) to Monck Provincial Park on the shores of Nicola Lake.This is a popular summer park for holidaying families and I figured if I had any chance to get a spot without reservations,that Tues. might be the day,and mid morning the other factor as I noticed several rigs coming out as I approached.I have my favorite spots in this 120 campsite park,but the chances of getting one was slim to none but worth a try.I approached the nice lady at the entrance building with my list of fav’s and low and behold,”I GOT LUCKY”as my 2nd choice had just been vacated.This is very lucky because there are mostly reserve-able sites,and very few first come sites.

So Here I am right on the lakeside.I prefer more open sites for my solar panels and satellite dish,along with a nice breeze off the water.

There is a nice paved road through,so no dust problems as there is a lot of traffic with the campers driving back and forth to the boat launch and beach area all day.

Its nicely spaced(below) as you can see my next door neighbor is a fair distance away.The 2nd shot looking across the lake in the evening with the sun on the far hills.This area is mostly sagebrush and ponderosa pine.The pine beetle kill has been mostly halted at the edge of the park with the addition of traps.Quite a contrast to the hillside above which is mostly made up of dead pine trees.

A little zoom shot across the lake last night,looking at what seems to be a private park at Quilchena,with the greenery of the golf course contrasting with the dry hills.

 

The old Highway 5 between Merritt and Kamloops runs down that side behind the trees.

So here I am for awhile in a spot that I like and missed last year, and this is my first time blogging from this spot.The days are warm,in the 80’s and the nights are certainly warmer than at Tunkwa’s elevation,and the lake is warm for swimming… and the beer is cold……What else do I need?

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To Blog Or Not to Blog……That is the Question?

Its been over 4 months now since my last post and every day since,I have been lurking in Bloggersville,keeping tabs on what my blogging friends are up to,but staying out of sight and off the comments section of those blogs,which really is NOT my thing because commenting every day is harder for me then just doing a blog.I guess I’m selfish,I like receiving them but dislike giving them as its hard for me to come up with something to say without being wishy washy and too condescending.I guess not giving out compliments is one of my failing points….At least that’s what the wife always told me.

This past 4 months has been fairly uneventful with one exception and that being the passing of my 92 year old mother last May.I was her main go to person for all her personal needs for the past 11 years since dad died,and at times it was stressful dealing with some of the service people that she required,and of course, not forgetting the govt. dealings.Coming back from down south every spring meant that there would be a build up of problems waiting for me to have to deal with.I don’t have mail forwarded,so the fun begins on the first day back,like this year when her income tax got screwed up and she was owing the govt. over $2000.And this notice came by mail just after I headed south,so I ended up facing interest charges too.As it turned out after several frustrating days of running around and making umpteen phone calls,got it resolved to her getting money back,which I really knew all along.

As much as I really miss mom,there is some sense of relief that a weight has been lifted from these aging shoulders.Things are a lot simpler for dealing with my wife’s affairs as she sits in another nursing home not far from where my mother was.

There is just my younger sister Ellen and I left now and we had a special day in June when she came over from Vancouver Island and we travelled together up to the Princeton area of B.C. to scatter the ashes of both our mother and father together.I have been holding on to dad’s ashes for the past 11 years just to do this.It was a plan hatched many years ago on one of our camping trips with the folks.We sat around the campfire discussing when this day would come and they wanted to be scattered in an area above the town of Princeton which was their home for many years back in the 50’s.

Ellen and I found it so developed now with private property that we had to go almost to the end of the Copper Mountain rd. to find a seclude spot that was just right and that we agreed would be a spot that they would have liked.So here it is.

We finished up with this little photo-op,hugged each other,then came to mind that famous saying of Humphrey Bogart………..ITS JUST YOU AND ME KID!…….shed a tear and left.

So!…….Back to the header question…..Nothing blog-able has been happening, as I lead a fairly hum drum life most of the time…I don't socialize much,if at all,keeping to my self most of the time.Even when I’m out RVing,I tend to be that way as many of you who met me last winter can attest to.

Just the fact that I did have quite an interesting trip above the Arctic Circle last year at this time,and then my Mexico trip this past winter which was full of adventure and misadventure,this gave me lots of blogging fodder.That trip picked up quite a readership to the blog as I went from ant invasions to killer bee attacks and then getting stranded in the bowls of southern Mexico with 2 broken axles on the trailer.Then all the follow up problems related to that.I couldn’t even dream up that story as fiction,let alone fact.

So what I’m getting to is the fact that I just don’t have enough interesting fodder in my every day life to put out a daily blog,so what I will attempt is a once in awhile entry when something I want to talk about comes to mind.I have a few rants on deck that I will get to in time also.

I guess a good example of what I’m trying to say is the fact that right now I’m travelling with my RV,but because I’m a creature of habit,I usually end up in the same places over and over again and I like to only blog about these once.

I’m presently at Tunkwa Lake Provincial Park here in B.C. at almost exactly the same time as last year,in the same site and with the same weather.I’ll throw in some pictures,but they will look just like the photo’s from last year if you go back through my archives.So you see what I mean?

This is such a quiet spot,hardly anyone here as most of the sites are empty.

Its mostly a fisherman's spot and I don't know how the fishing is,as I gave that up years ago.I used to fish this spot like crazy about 30 years ago.In fact when Mount St Helens blew,I was standing here fishing when I heard the sonic boom of the eruption all the way up here,which is over 500 miles as the crow fly's.

So there you have it,who knows,maybe today's start will get the juices flowing again.

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