Motorhome is back! A quick visit to Vancouver August 8 - 15

Tuesday and it's time to get our motorhome back onto our driveway. We headed out to Sidney Airport area at 8 am. After not getting a call back last week, we're unsure if it's ready to go as promised. Turned out that Josh expected us. After nine weeks, the work is done except for new material for the slide toppers and big awning. Originally, we asked them to replace the window awnings, but they didn't have any matching material on hand and with the usual broken supply chain who knew when an order would arrive. What they did have is black fabric for the slide toppers and big awning only. Ray told BMT to go ahead with the black material a month ago but stupidly they lost that communication. Josh says they can do everything today, so we waited. 

We figured it's a good time to call up our friends Malc and Kathy. Fortunately, we managed to hook up with them for lunch at the Waddling Dog Pub, a short way up the highway from us. Unfortunately, I forgot to take any pictures. Here is one of theirs. lol

After saying goodbye, we went for a stroll on the Sidney Waterfront. 

My shirt matches the flowers lol

We were back at BMT Fleet Maintenance around 2'oclock and began our wait. Turned out that they were only able to do two of the four slide toppers and didn't touch the big awning while we waited until 5 pm..... Now they are going to come up to Lake Cowichan to finish the job a week from now as a thankyou for us putting up with all their miscommunication. All the other work we asked for and more is done, including Ray's wonky side mirror and new slide rubber for the rear slides. We gave them quite the list, but the main item is the leak in the roof which is taken care of. BMTconstructed an aluminum support and welded it into the roof structure and placed new insulation. All the fittings on the roof have all been resealed to prevent any leaking, especially our solar panels which they said were mounted poorly. They also installed a new satellite dish. The leak came from the old satellite dish installation that was done badly and created the dip in the roof.  All fixed now. All wiring issues dealt with, TV, stereo and the three heat pumps all function properly. They replaced a bent leveler hydraulic shaft. What a relief. They also fixed Rays' scratches and dents repainted. Looks like a new rig. With having a full-service shop we had our motor and generator serviced too.  Now we're ready for our next excursion to the USA starting September 15th.

We are happy with the quality of their work. Our problem is that they are horrible to get ahold of, to find out what is going on and no one calls you back, including one of the owners ....They seem to be better this week???? 

After a very long day we arrived home at 7 pm. We just drove straight in the driveway and will worry about backing it in properly tomorrow. It'd just started to sprinkle. Glad to be parked before the roads were wet and dirtying up the coach.

It rained overnight, but the sun came out for a few hours in the morning, This enabled me to start putting stuff back in the cupboards. I was given some "magic scratch" stuff to try on our wood trim inside the MH. Boy did it work great. You can hardly see the scratches in the wood. I did the forward cabin today and will do more after it is parked with the slides open. Now the inside looks new too. At noon the showers began so I closed up the rig and that's it for today out there.

Thursday we were out the door early at 7:45 am to attend our dental appointments. A cloudy start to the day. The sun came out briefly in Duncan. After our appointments and a bit of shopping we decided on an early lunch at Brunch on Third. Delicious. Ray ordered their Nook and Cranny, a Belgian waffle with sauteed peaches, butter & grand marnier sauce, vanilla ice cream & icing sugar

One happy camper!

I ordered their Cluck, Buttermilk battered chicken thigh, house slaw, swiss and basil aioli.

Back home for a relaxing afternoon. It clouded up all afternoon until about 5 pm.

Friday we spent the morning puttering and getting stuff back into the MH. Then we moved it back to the correct side of the driveway. Ray went to move the utility trailer out of the way and right where he placed his hand on the front of the trailer's lip, is a wasp's nest we didn't know about! He ran like a mad person into the house with 3 wasp stings, 2 on his arm and one under his chin. I ran the other way as they were all chasing him. Ray went for our wasp bomb spray and took care of that really quick. There must have been a whole cup of dead wasps within minutes after spraying. I got Ray to take some benydrl as a precaution. Good thing this wasn't Kristi as she is deathly allergic to them and one close to the throat like that is very dangerous.

Ray trying out his new chair ... it fits :)

Saturday and Sunday we just hung out enjoying the lake. Monday morning we were out the door very early to catch the 7:45 am ferry out of Duke Point to Tsawwassen. My aunt is in hospital for 5 weeks and doesn't look like she is getting out soon. She suffers from really poor kidney function and her aortic heart valve is leaking pretty good.  It was important to me to visit her before we left on our winter vacation.

We arrived at my Uncle Ken's at 11 am, where we're staying overnight. We took him out for lunch at his favourite pub, John B's in Coquitlam, then headed to the hospital to visit Norma for a couple of hours. Uncle Ken's not very mobile so we dropped him off at the entrance, got a wheel chair and went up to her room.

Ray with his (very messy) Salmon Burger. Ken and I shared a Seafood Clubhouse.

Norma is looking pretty good and being well taken care of at Eagleridge Hospital.

Ken is managing being on his own for breakfast and lunch but either Gord or Pam, or both are there every evening to cook him dinner and take him to the hospital for a short visit. This sure is hard on my cousins with no end in sight. They both work full-time as well. I don't envy them and the decisions that have to be made going forward.

Fortunately my cousin Pam lives in the house next door to Ken and Norma and can get there quickly if there is a problem. Pam cooked up a great meal of barbecued shish kabobs and corn with grilled veggies. 

We've had many family meals at this table since I was very little.

Ray, Ken, Gord and his wife Susana.

We all had a nice visit and at 9 everyone headed out and we all went to bed. A long day for us. Thank goodness Ken and Norma put in A/C last year so it was comfortable to sleep.

Tuesday morning we were out the door early again, to catch the ferry back to the island. It;s another hot day. Sure was windy going across the strait, almost got blown away walking to and from the car. We ended up being right in front and spent the trip sitting in the car. Here's the view out our window.

Back home by 1:30 and straight down to the dock to swim. The temps went to about 38C today. We went swimming every 20 minutes to stay cool.

That was our week. Not very exciting. :) One more month and we will leave for our winter adventures.