Four Months of Bliss

October 27th

It was just past noon as I glanced into the rear-view mirror of the truck as we reached the City limits on our way south again to our Nevada home.  Half expecting to see traffic behind me, all of a sudden I had a "grey moment". I had forgotten that I had just hooked up our newly purchased Cargo Trailer and so I was momentarily surprised by the image of a white vehicle bearing down upon us almost inside the truck bed in the rearview mirror, nevertheless, that would be the image for the next 2000 kilometres (around 1500 miles). I would get used to it, as it wasn't going anywhere soon.

We knew the weather was beginning to change. We had been watching the news and weather forecasts which we always do before we set off on a long journey like this.  This time, it was more important because we were towing this 12 ft by 7 foot  covered double-axle trailer and we had to cross the Monida and Malad Passes in Montana - Both of these passes are over 6000 high and if you aren't careful, snow can become your nemesis out in those wild remote places. 

We weren't about to take chances with a brand new trailer and not to be forgotten, was the fact that once we were into Idaho and Utah, much of the journey down the Interstate 15 highway is above 5000 ft so weather becomes a critical factor.

Preparing for the Trip

Two days before we left, we had helped Jason our son out as "Secret Shoppers".  It was a fun thing to do.  It meant that we had to drive around Calgary to various establishments to ask questions posing as buyers.  The objective, to test out their levels of service and product knowledge. It was fun.  We reported back and wrote the obligatory reports and sent them off.

The day before we left, I had to pick up the Trailer from the sales centre. The owner had kindly allowed me to store it there until I was ready to leave Calgary.  The trailer would hold all our worldly belongings we would move from our Nevada home back up into Canada at the end of February, once we had handed over our wonderful home to the new buyers.

At 9:00 am, I drove to the Acreage where the trailers are sold, hitched up the trailer and tested everything out.... Oh Oh, the lights don't work.  

The owner of the trailer sales centre tested everything out and hitched the trailer up to his vehicle.  Bingo, everything worked.  "Unfortunately the fault is in your truck somewhere" he said...... 

This was really not what I wanted to hear. I was leaving the following day so without further ado, I made a decision.  I  unhitched the trailer and drove our Ford F150 to the Ford Dealership in Strathmore Alberta - the nearest town from the acreage around 20 Kilometres away.

As I drove into the service bay up to the service person's desk, the lady who was booking in the vehicle asked what service I required. I explained the situation. She smiled and said "Have you a fuse in a plastic bag in the glove compartment"?  "Fuse, plastic bag, glove compartment"  I retorted. "Yes" she said, "this IS a fairly new vehicle isn't it"? "It is" I replied. 

Meekly, I leaned across the truck and opened up the glove compartment.  I winced as I glanced inside.  There, neatly lying in the compartment was a sealed plastic bag containing a blue fuse with a part number on it but no description as to where it goes or what it does. No instructions! absolutely none.  I took a deep sigh as I collected my thoughts and handed the bag to her with my hand over my brow in frustration while leaning against the steering wheel.  

Before I knew it, there was a tiny mechanic up on a ladder. I popped the hood and he popped the fuse in and smiled...... "There you go sir" he said.... "You will be OK now".  

As I drove out of the bay, the same service lady leaned over and smiled at me and said "Sir, you aren't the first and you won't be the last to have that same issue. We see it all the time".  Annoyed, I said to her "If that's the case, have you as a responsible Ford Dealership mentioned this to Ford, so they could label the fuse so we would all know what it is for"? "Not as far as I know" she replied with a large smiley face on her clock. "Well maybe you could do that in order to save hundreds of people time, worry and money in the future" I said in a sort of displeased tone as I slowly manoeuvred the vehicle out of the bay.  This situation felt like I was in a "Faulty Towers" episode with me starring as John Cleese. With a slightly damaged ego, I drove back to the acreage.

I drove in and gleefully reversed the truck in anticipation everything would work, connected the electrics and.......... NOTHING.  In a huge loud voice I said XXXX.  

The owner of the trailer sales was trying to keep a straight face and be helpful, but it was clear, he was amused with me losing it on the lot.  A couple of other buyers shot a glance at me and continued looking at the trailer they had just purchased.

Time was ticking on and it would be dark in another couple of hours, then what would I be faced with the following morning with a long drive south and no lights on the trailer.  Not an endearing prospect by any means. 

Already miles from anywhere, I reluctantly took a chance and again drove the 20 kms back to Strathmore, with the trailer illegally attached to the truck this time.

Immediately, the mechanic came out with a puzzled look on his face.  "Have you had any work done on this vehicle recently" he asked. "Yes I replied. Three days ago I had it in for service and they changed the steering column because I was getting some warning lights coming on and the turn signals would cut out for no reason - All warranty items" I replied.  

Nodding his head, he disappeared with the truck and trailer and within five minutes, he returned smiling. "You are good to go" he said. "I have tested everything out and it is in perfect working order. You had a blown fuse that was not replaced by the previous service people in Calgary. Everything works.... and Oh, there's no charge". 

I did the walk-around and he tested the break and signal lights.  Ah! Now we are cooking I thought. Smiling and waving as I pulled away he said "Have a great trip". I bade him goodbye and a big thank you and drove home.

I pulled up in front of Carol and Ib's house where we were staying just as it was getting dark........All day to collect one damned trailer. What a waste of a day.

While I was gone, Donna had everything under control.  The bags were in the garage ready to load up and five minutes later we had loaded and locked everything up.  Time for a glass of wine, some TV and supper.  All we had to do the next day was clean up and secure the house, jump into the vehicle and go. We planned to leave Calgary at midday the following day.

The Journey South

I arrived at the South hospital at 7:50am on the date of departure for my weekly donation of blood. Returning to the house, Donna had everything closed up, locked and ready to go. One last check and we would be out of here ahead of the forecast snowfall. 

By 3:00pm we had reached the US border at Coutts Crossing, to the south of Lethbridge where we joined a very short line behind four other vehicles while waiting to be checked out and checked in by the US Border Agents. 

After a cordial conversation with the fellow at the checkpoint, he said "you're good to go sir". Donna slipped the truck into gear and off we went bidding him goodbye.  Great! now we have four months to enjoy in the Mohave Desert....Just what we had been waiting for.  We hit the open road heading south through Montana.

We refuelled at Great Falls then went onto our destination for the first night at Helena, Montana.  We had not stayed there before, but because we had left later in the day we were forced to take this course of action.  We had planned to take two nights, three days to arrive in Mesquite.  Why rush? After all, we are retired.

The journey south the following day was uneventful apart from a traffic accident on the highway at the southern end of Salt Lake City Utah where we crawled along for a half hour but after that there were no problems.  

We pulled into Mesquite on October 30th. It was 85 degrees Fahrenheit (almost 30 Celsius) when we arrived......Ah just what the doctor ordered.  The snow was closing in behind us back up in Montana with 5 - 10 inches of the white stuff forecast to fall in the next two days.  And it did.

We arrived at the house having picked up some food from Smiths Grocery Store in Mesquite and dropped off our clothing etc. Once I had unloaded, my friend and neighbour Jack and I jumped into the truck and drove to the storage lot he leases. He kindly offered me free space to store the trailer for the four months we would be in Mesquite. 

A couple of days later we were off to Las Vegas with a bunch of friends for a couple of nights. We had a fun time but like many visitors to Lost Wages (for the uninitiated among you that's a slang Canadians use for Las Vegas) we left empty handed but had fun nonetheless.  

Ann, Yours truly, Donna Gary, Roy and Karen in Las Vegas.  Others would arrive later on that evening.

Another Indian Cooking Session

We had decided that in Mid November sometime it was time for another Indian food cooking session with Donna and I as the coaches.  

We invited friends and prepared for them a Beef Curry, Saffron Rice, Veggie and Meat Samosas (hand made from scratch) Pappadams, Butter Chicken and Tandoori Chicken which Donna had marinaded for two days in the refrigerator.  

Everything tasted delicious, partly because we had re-visited Las Vegas just prior to the planned event and gone to our favourite East Indian grocery store to purchase the fresh spices such as Green Cardamon, Cumin Seeds, Turmeric, Garam Masala etc.

The real fun part was having some of the party attendees over to make the samosa pockets prior to the party.  When they came over, I made the dough for the samosas then we showed them how to feed it into a pasta machine until the dough was so thin you could see through it.  Each strip of dough was around 4 inches wide and about 5 feet long and made three samosa wrappers. Once I stopped them giggling and laughing as they tried to get a hold of these hugely long pieces of dough as the got thinner and thinner they made excellent students.  

Donna's Sister Carol and Brother-in-Law Ib from Calgary where still in Mesquite at their home just around the corner, so they and Liane, Michelle and Judee our neighbours all assisted in the manufacturing of the samosa covers.  It was fun (all helped on with a few glasses of wine).

We made the samosas one week in advance of the party then froze them. All we had to do on the day was take them out of the freezer and pop them into deep hot oil for a perfect finish.

Table is laid and ready for our guests in a few hours time.

Some of the dishes we prepared and ate

Papadams Crispy and very tasty

Freshly Made Samosas from scratch prior to freezing.

The Finished Product Meat Samosas.  We cheated, we sampled a few for our efforts the day we made them

Very Tasty and Authentic Tandoori Chicken Legs, Scored and Marinaded for two days.....delicious

An Authentic Beef Curry

Delicious Saffron Rice

The day finally arrived for the party.  We had a great time cooking the Indian food (most of which Donna and I had prepared in advance). We fed twenty eight of our friends which is a lot for an average sized American kitchen.  Everyone loved the various tastes and flavours of the different dishes and commented on how different the cuisine is from North American cuisine. You've got that right I thought.

Indian food is not a well known type of food to Americans,  mainly because there aren't that many Indian people in the US as compared say to Canada and Britain. They were never exposed to the ideas and recipes brought back from India by the Brits who formed a part of the British Raj, years before.  

Many Brits having moved to Canada brought the recipes with them. Everyone commented on two things - It was really tasty but they could not see themselves cooking it because it is so labour intensive. Very true, but we like it that much, we will continue to enjoy creating Indian dishes to the end of our days.  

Wine Tour Time For The Ladies in Santa Barbara

Three days after the Indian food, our wives all took off for a three night, four day bus tour of the wineries in Santa Barbara on the California coast.  

Jerry one of our neighbours and husband of one of the ladies on the trip (Liane also a bus driver) drove the bus to Santa Barbara. The girls visited three wineries in all and saw where one of our North American TV personalities - Oprah Winfrey purchased a farm for 100 million Dollars. Yes, that's right $100,000,000.00 (Well, you can't take it with you so why not) That's 2 years wages for her.....Piece of Cake for her I thought to myself when Donna told me about it.

Left to right Judee, Michelle and Donna enjoying some of the Vineyard's Free Samples

Empty glass, time for another! Judee, Deb and Lisa

Lisa, Liane, Michele, Donna, Deb, Judee and Cydni

US Thanksgiving - Nov 27

Venue: Sam and Carol's home for thanksgiving Dinner.  It was a pot luck, Sam and Carol providing the Turkey and other stuff and the rest of us each bringing a dish or two over.  There was so much food it was unbelievable and tasty..... Oh so tasty. There was Ham, Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, Roast Parsnips, Sweet Potato, Yams and about 15 other dishes to eat.

Sam Testing out the Turkey for Doneness 

Sam.......Who me?......Looking slightly flustered just before he rests the turkey but with about 20 pairs of  eyes watching him while they are enjoying their drinks.

Relaxing in Mesquite

At the time of writing, it is Dec. 18th. Tomorrow is my eldest son Jason's 41st birthday and our next door neighbours birthday too. We will be going to supper with our neighbours to celebrate her birthday and of course give a call back home to wish Jason a Happy Birthday.

Over the past few weeks, it has been a fun and relaxing time.  Donna and I invested in a Fit Bit each while we were in Calgary. This sits on your body and records the number of steps you walk every day - a kind of incentive to get out and exercise. We have set a goal of 10,000 steps a day or about four miles of walking.  By and large, we have kept to it unless we were too busy.  Sometimes we walk slightly less but often we walk further.  One day, while alone I walked ten miles or 23,000 steps which was a good long walk which left me feeling none the worse for my exercise.  

The weather is still shorts and T shirt time with the occasional sleeveless vest so we can walk daily.  It is still around 58 - 60 degrees F every day so it is pleasant. Many of our friends here all have a Fitbit so we all see how far the other has walked as we are all connected as friends through facebook. What a great incentive to get out and take some exercise.

As Christmas approaches, I see some snow on the hills above.  It won't last for very long. It is confined to the mountains but on Christmas Day, irrespective of the weather, we will seat eleven for Christmas Dinner.  We love to put on Christmas Dinner each year.  It's a lot of work, but our friends will join us and everyone will bring dishes to lessen the load on us. 

We are going to roast the Turkey on our Traeger Smoker BBQ this year. We have had a dry run with a stuffed Chicken and it tasted wonderful.  Something different, It's a new Challenge. 

At the end of February we will return to Canada. We will stay in Calgary for ten days, then it's off to Vancouver Island to Nanaimo, British Columbia to find a place to buy or we will build new again and make our home base for the remaining years.  

It will be somewhere we can return to from our next adventures. Where that will be we aren't sure of yet.  It could be back to Panama to get our Pensionado Visas for permanent residency or it could be:

A Year In Australia

One year to circumnavigate this fascinating country.  What a thought and an adventure that would be. We have tentatively planned to Arrive in Sydney, travel up to Gold Coast then Brisbane, along the Great Barrier Reef to Townsville in north eastern Queensland, then on northwards to Cairns. From there, we would journey west along the Gulf of Carpentaria up to the Tropics and Darwin along the beaches of the Timor Sea then southwest across the Great Sandy Desert to the Indian Ocean then south to Perth, Western Australia.  From there we would travel east along the southern coast and The Great Australian Bight to the southern centre of the Country then due north into the interior to Ayers Rock, Uluru and Alice Springs crossing the McDonald Range of mountains.  

Once there we would turn south and head to Mungo National Park then onto Adelaide, Melbourne and Canberra finally finishing the journey back in Sydney.

We are also hoping that funds permitting, we could go to the North and South Islands of New Zealand.  Maybe also visit Fiji, Tahiti and the Cook Islands and even Singapore on our way back. This is a big undertaking, not without considerable expense in terms of flights, travel and health insurance so we will have to fill the coffers before we finally decide that it's a go.  But that's the idea for now.

This journey of a lifetime will take some time to plan and prepare for.  We hope to house-sit our way around Australia.  House-sitting requires that sometimes you watch someone's home and maybe look after their pets while they are travelling in return for free accommodation.  It's a win win for everyone.  

We have registered with a company that facilitates house sitters. We have already been offered a three month stay in Queensland but had to turn it down as it conflicts with the timetable for our immediate intentions which is to seek out a home on Vancouver Island first so we can furnish it and establish a home base. We may then rent it out fully furnished to offset some of the costs of our travels. On the other hand, we may not.  

So, for those that have been pestering me for the answer as to where next since the last blog, now you know :-)  

Well that's all for now.  Donna and I would like to wish all the readers of our blog, especially our family and friends across the miles and across the oceans, a very Merry Christmas and an eventful, safe, prosperous and wonderful 2015.

God bless you all and peace be with everyone.