Alberta for Christmas??!! Really??!!

The gods conspired against us me to prevent a full snowbird winter again this year, and we had to go back north for a month or so.  We headed for Overton on December 4th and hung out for a day up on the mesa, loading the Jeep with Christmas presents (and what warm clothes we had with us) and organizing the motorhome (defrosting the freezer, etc.).  Wendy had her heart set on cleaning, until I convinced her that she'd probably have to deal with 1/4 inch of desert inside the coach when she got back anyway.

We thought we'd give storing in Overton a shot this year, since it makes the trip 1/2 day shorter than starting from Quartzsite like we did last year.  And since this year we were going via Vanderhoof BC for a stopover to see my mom, a 1/2 day saved is a 1/2 day earned.  Anyway, after tucking Tussy away at the storage yard next to a well-travelled reefer to keep her company we headed north on December 6th.

 

It didn't take long before the foreshadowing started:

And I couldn't shake the feeling that we were headed in the wrong direction.  

At one point I was concerned that the route we chose might be impassable!

But unfortunately we were able to continue.  

We met some interesting characters along the way.  

While the scenery along the road turned from a beautiful tan and green to a depressing white and grey.  

  

Soon even the asphalt itself had the life bleached out of it.  

Along the way we stopped off for the night at Wells NV, Kennewick WA, and Vernon BC before arriving at Vanderhoof on December 9th.  Three nights in hotels, sleeping on too hard or too soft beds that who knows how many disgusting people had slept and done who-knows-what-else in definitely made us miss having our own clean comfortable bed everywhere we go.  But on the bright side, Wendy got pretty good at using Expedia on the fly AND we loaded up with enough "free" soap and shampoo to make Bella happy.  

We spent a week at Jack and Kathy's (thanks guys) visiting my mom at the hospital, then whooshed it down highway 16 to my daughter's house in Edmonton.  Not too many pictures taken in Vanderhoof, but here are a couple of my everybody's buddy Hoover and my kitchen helper Blaze.  

OK, now I KNOW the gods have a sense of humour... albeit a cruel, sadistic one.  After basking in relatively half decent winter temperatures in the minus 10 to 15 C range for a few days the thermometer plummeted to minus infinity on Christmas Eve and stayed down until New Years Day.  Oh well, Arizona's chilly too.  Might have to put on a jacket in the evening.

Despite the temps we managed to get out and enjoy some Christmas lights.  I can't help but contrast these with Lake Havasu in the last post though.  

However, making it almost worth the trip north in the minus 1000 degree temperatures and suffering the frostbites, frozen fingers and numb head (although Wendy says I have this all the time) we did get to spend some time with some of the best most interesting grandkids in the world.  

And even to welcome one more little urchin to the tribe.  Happy birthday Sophie!  

Hope everyone had as good a Christmas and New Year as we did!  OK, now it's time to start scheming a way to get back to the desert... 

Quartzsite

Fortunately it didn't take too long to warm up and dry out once we landed on Plomosa Road again.  We secured a spot on the outskirts of the 14 day area and set up for some relaxation.

One of the first orders of business was to drag everything out of the basement and check for mouse evidence and dampness, and since everything was out already I decided to set it up and use it.  We wound up doing a lot of the cooking outside since it was still a tad warm in the desert in mid November, and we even brought the bedroom TV outside.  Great way to watch a hockey game, or whatever!

The next couple weeks were devoted pretty much entirely to chillaxing, enjoying the warm weather, and rediscovering the lovely scenery.  

Oh, yeah, and keeping up with life's normal chores like laundry and such.  Come January this parking lot will be packed and all the machines in use.  Right now you can have your pick of parking spots and washing machines.  Almost makes you want to do MORE laundry.  Almost, not quite.  

There were no phenominal sales on turkeys or hams for Thanksgiving, so we decided to pull a pork roast out of the freezer and dutch it along with butternut squash and a lovely no-bake cheesecake for desert.  Yummy! 

I also managed to get the boat out on Lake Havasu a couple times to chase those wily Bass, but they still manage to elude me.  Oh well, nice days on the water anyway.  

There were usually several other boats within sight, and I witnessed nobody bringing in anything scaly and floppy, so maybe nobody was having luck?  Or is that wishful thinking?  

Finally, we went up to Lake Havasu City for the Boat Parade of Lights on December 1st.  Now that's MY idea of watching a Christmas parade: in shorts and sandals from a lawnchair on the beach!  

Vancouver Island, Langley, and south!

After Strathcona Dam we started working our way back down island, stopping over at Garry and Anne's in Comox for a few days.  Garry took me out fishing for a day, but did I think to bring a camera?  No. Didn't have any luck with the salmon but we caught a few prawns and they set us up with some salmon, halibut, and prawns for the trip south.  Thanks guys!

Next stop was down to Bowser, where we spent a couple weeks in Ted and Joan's driveway and had a great visit with Ted and Joan and also with Don and Kim and family.

Finally on October 30th we headed off the island to spend a few days at Tanya and Eric's (and Brianna and Sam's) place in Langley.  Enough time had almost (but not quite) passed to get over the sticker shock of the ferry ride over in September.  

Yep, after a couple days in Langley, winter caught up with us again!  Time to point the nose south, and make tracks.  BTW, thanks Tanya and Eric for the hospitality!  

By Longview WA, the snow had pretty much turned to rain so we stopped overnight at the friendly WalMart (46.12073, -122.93089).  

By Northern California winter had changed to fall again, so we stopped for a couple of nights at the Rolling Hills Casino in Corning CA (39.872024, -122.203441).  Park in the full-service campground for $35/night, or park with the trucks for free.  Finally got a chance to crank up the satellite dish and catch a hockey game again... everything was great except the score.  

After a couple days at the casino, we debated whether to wander slowly through California, sightseeing along the way, or head straight for the desert.  We both felt like we needed a dose of higher temps / lower humidity, so... 

Stopped for supper and a nap at Tulare Rest Area (36.10895, -119.32469) and then overnight at Boron Rest Area (35.008621, -117.719570).  California rules are max 8 hours stay... probably not enforced but why push it?  Then off to the desert.  

Aaahhh!