#36 Jun 2014 SIX Months and Loving It!

June 13, 2014

Yes, we have been living the full time RV lifestyle for 6 months today!

This lifestyle is everything we hoped for and more. It has been a perfect transition from work to retirement. We were not at home to be reminded about work. We met new people and shared new experiences. We avoided winter.

We have very little housekeeping to do. I am slowly rearranging cupboards and remembering where to find stuff. We continue to get rid of “stuff” we don’t need in this lifestyle.

Our motorhome is now 6 years old so there is normal maintenance which gives Ralph manly satisfaction. He is learning more about the unit and feeling comfortable with its performance.

We have had precious time to visit family and friends.

My challenge is getting mobile in the morning. I am not a morning person and it’s such a luxury to not hear the alarm, however, we still need to take advantage of daylight hours to be tourists.

Ralph’s challenge is learning to find a chore on his list while he waits for me to get ready for the day and finish my morning chores.

Our challenge is settling down to really plan our next destination. It is very easy to say we will do such and such when we don’t have a map or brochures in front of us. We have been very fortunate that we have always been able to stop at the parks we have chosen.

In the Calgary area we have stayed in Cochrane at Bow RiversEdge Campground. We highly recommend the park for the well laid out sites and spectacular prairie sunsets.

In Calgary a very big highlight for us was watching our granddaughter’s Musical Theatre dance recital at the Jack Singer Concert Hall. They performed “Hard Knock Life” from “Annie”. They were great and had lots of fun.

All of the dances were short, varied and very well choreographed. Three hours flew by and we were impressed with the finale and awards.

As we came out of the recital a dramatic lightning and thunderstorm captured our attention. In the pouring rain Dave guided us around downtown to view this Giant Head. The same firm created the Giant Raindrop at Vancouver’s new Convention Centre, the Giant Sparrow in Downtown Vancouver and the brand new Ice Walk at the Columbia Icefields. Amazing creativity.

I took this photo of the Raindrop in Vancouver in December but many people don’t know where or what it is. This may help.

In High River we had a great visit with Neil and Nancy then a very in depth tour of the flood damage. There is so much repatriation to be completed. This house is a shell with nothing on the back, river side. Look through the basement windows.

Look closely at the muddy, yellow high water line on this house.

This washed out sidewalk is a small example of the power of water.

The black line in this photo is the new berm between the homes and the water still sitting in the field.

Trish and Fars old home was in the flood plain so they had built a new one in what was supposed to be a safe area. The flood came from a completely unexpected direction. Their old home did not flood but their new basement flooded 5 ½ feet – nearly to the top of the patio support. The pressure of the water broke the window in the craft room and pushed a big screen TV through the door and across the family room.

On our way to Canmore we explored the historic McDougall Church. The story of Morley and the church is explained with well placed signage.

The nearby horses fit into the story very well.

We lived in Canmore from 1973 to 1978. Main street is the only area we now recognize including the Settlers Cabin. It opened when we were there and was the first boutique shop in town.

We intended to view flood damage but were so caught up exploring the new areas that we ran out of time.

Everywhere we go, there is always more to see and we look forward to many years of exploring with this RV lifestyle.

This post was ready to upload to the internet this morning. The internet must be having a full moon, Friday the 13th because it was so slow I washed the dishes between each photo upload. We hope you had a good Friday!