Kastle's Journey: September 2014 - Harmon Lake East, Kelowna, Fort Langley

September 2014th - Harmon Lake (Merritt)

Home Sweet Home.

Harmon Lake East Recreation Site

We decided to go to Harmon Lake East as there is cell coverage. The road in was quite washboardy... so did not want to travel any further. There are even more cows here than at Peter Hope Lake!! Yup we are surrounded. The white ones are bulls. Woke up to 3 degrees C. this morning and lots of fog. As soon as it was 7am, I turned on the generator so I could get the heat going strong.

Yup, there they are guarding the outhouse.

While sitting in my chair I heard a little splashing so turned around and imagine my surprise to see 5 bulls right behind me! One is just out of the picture to the left.

All snuggled in with the comforts of home ... cell phone, internet and satellite TV!

Another beautiful spot on the lake, just what I ordered up from Ray before starting out this summer.

September 10 - Fall is here!

The past couple of mornings have been really clear and cold at 0 degrees C. Monday, the rain began in the afternoon and it rained most of the nigh. It cleared about 3am when the thermometer dipped. Fortunately, we are all snug and warm under our goosedown duvet! The temp inside went down to 11C. The weather for the next 5 days is forecast to be quite warm so we will stay a few more days before we move back into Merritt for full hook-ups. This is the first "winter" boondocking we have been able to try for any length of time to work the bugs out before we go down south to the desert. The battery and solar system seem to be holding their own. We only start the generator at about 8am for an hour or so to bring them back up after the furnace warms us up in the morning.

First ice on the car of the season and hopefully the last .. burrrrrr.

Mist on the lake every morning.

These bushes were totally green two days ago!

Ice on the picnic table.

With all of the snow starting in the north and in Alberta, winter may be coming soon. We will start our southern winter trip mid-October ... hopefully the snow will hold off during the trip down until we are in Arizona!

September 11th - Drive to Kelowna

Yesterday it was really cold and windy, so we decided to take a drive to Kelowna, an hour down the highway. With me driving, Ray was able to sit back and enjoy the views, snapping pictures along the way. Ray grew up in Kelowna for his teenage years and was very interested in all of the growth.

First glimpse of Okanagan Lake

Driving into Westbank. The houses on the hill were not there 8 years ago.

The new bridge into downtown Kelowna

View from the bridge looking towards the new development on the west side of Kelowna.

There goes our "Walmart Greeter" again visitng.

Lovely walk along Hot Sands Beach.

If Kristi and Jason ended up in Kelowna we would not mind living here!

All the land where these condos rose from, Ray remembers as a teenager it being a CN Rail yard.

The beach across from the condos on the wetlands walk.

The Ogopogo overlooking Lake Okanagan.

More displays on the waterfront.

More Kelowna Pictures

Downtown Bernard Street

After a lovely walk with Freya along the waterfront, drooling over the views and condos right on the water, it's off to lunch at Kelly O'Brien's Irish Pub that overlooks the city park and waterfront. We left Freya in the car at the park under the trees with the windows open, so she could watch a bunch of kids playing volleyball.

After lunch it was back on the road to camp. It was still cold and windy when we arrived back but finally by 5pm the wind quit and we were able to have a nice campfire for a couple of hours. By 7:30 the temps had dipped to 4C, so it was back in the coach for the evening. This was the coldest night yet. -3.5 degrees at 6am. I kept the rear furnace set to 11C all night and it came on every half an hour for about 5 minutes. The batteries were at 85% at 6am, so everything worked pretty good for such cold temps. The weather report is that the temps should be rising for the next 5 days or so ... here's hoping otherwise any more freezing mornings we will go back into town and plug in!

Coming back down the connector towards Merritt.

September 14th - Last Days at Harmon Lake

Well, the last couple of days of "boondocking" are coming to an end. It has been a great summer. The weather for the most part was sunny and warm with very little precipitation. Ray thoroughly enjoyed being able to fish again, even though it is only for short periods of time. He took his little floaty boat down the road on Friday to Upper Second Lake to try there. He was unlucky, but the other two guys were catching fish like crazy, so obviously Ray had the wrong set up!

Upper Second Lake

Saturday afternoon for his last fishing expedition of the season, he launched at our campsite and managed to catch a 16" trout that he released. Yeah Ray. Nice to see the smile on his face.

Ready to go.

Last fish of the season.

Freya has been really sore the past few days, I expect from running after her stick on the gravel road. We have tried to keep her calm and in the warm sun as it has been a little chilly in the wind.

The only spot in the campsite with sun in the late afternoon.

The clouds look like they have been painted in the sky. Monday morning we leave for downtown Merritt to plug in and do laundry etc.

September 24th - Back at Fort Langley

Arrived back in Fort Langley on Monday. Spent the day yesterday arranging all of our appointments around the doctors appointments that we have to go to the island for. ... dog to vet, car and coach servicing appointments. It will be a busy three weeks! :) Our friends Diane and Steve invited us for dinner upon arrival on Monday. It was great not to have to worry about dinner after the drive from Merritt. Thanks guys.

A lovely afternoon before the rain comes later in the night.

September 30th - First Truck Centre Langley BC

Took the coach in yesterday morning early for servicing the generator and changing the air filter on the diesel motor. What an incredibly long day and terrible for Ray's back. We did however have a great lunch at the Big Ridge Brewing Company with our friends Diane and Steve Colibaba.

First Truck Service did not seem to be too rushed at any point, we ended up staying in their parking lot overnight so they could finish up this morning! Oh well ... back to our campsite where ,fortunately, we left all of our outside stuff so it was not too hard to hook back up. We are slowly getting all of our "must do's" done before heading to the states. Garrett nicely came and washed the coach for us last weekend to get rid of the summer's road dust not to mention the cow poop Payment breakfast, lunch and dinner with the appropriate beverages. Thanks a bunch Garrett.