The California of Canada

The revered Bald Eagle. Plentiful on Vancouver Island.

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We had been back from Nevada for exactly one month when I began writing this new blog. Most of that time was spent packing, unpacking, moving hotels and in general, living out of suitcases once again. For anyone who has endured this on a longer term basis we can tell you the novelty has begun to wear on us. There's no doubt, this has become an expensive undertaking as we see ourselves doling out money on furnished accommodation right left and centre in order to stay comfortable. 

Finding suitable furnished accommodation on the Island is not easy. Yes, you can look around on the Internet and there are some places to be found but much of that accommodation seem to be targeted at someone prepared to "make-do" with the bare essentials. We were aware that landlords spend the bare minimum in order to stay profitable. Certainly, what we saw was not what we would describe as living in relative comfort and nowhere near comparable with what we have become accustomed to in our own home.  

This has led to us resorting to short-term Hotel or Motel rooms and some resort locations which can be expensive over the long term. We now enjoy a reasonable comfort level but it is not extravagant by any means. In the end we swallowed hard, took a deep breath and went with the flow accepting the sticker shock that came with affording reasonable places to live temporarily while we wait for possession on our home.  

We resigned ourselves to doling out $2300 a month or more for anything that closely resembles an acceptable level of comfort. We suspected we would have to bite the bullet as two and a half months is a long time to wait for our home in Courtenay, British Columbia. We can't do anything about it so we just needed to suck it up and get on with it. 

What has  been fun is finding out what's around in the area we have chosen to settle in.  Courtenay is not a large city by any means, but walking and driving through the city centre we began to catch the flavour of the area.  Not too big, not too small..... in fact, just right, around 40,000 inhabitants.

We were surprised by how many shops, boutiques, restaurants and stores of all types and sizes that exist in Courtenay - more than I would ever have imagined in a city of this size so that was a good start and of course, we are still learning.

One of the nicest things about where we will be living is that although we are in a very quiet exclusive neighbourhood and location generally, Crown Isle (our subdivision) is just a two minute walk to Costco, Home Depot, a three minute drive to Superstore and a one minute walk to a small but very well equipped local shopping mall that houses a Thrifty Foods grocery store, a well equipped liquor store, a wonderful oil store where you can sample many different types of olive oils to have with pastas and salads etc. Downtown Courtenay is just a four or five minute drive away, so we have everything here we could ever want here.  

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What We Will Really Enjoy

We have also been looking around for Salmon fishing opportunities. There are many charter's offered here which I have not even tried to investigate yet but most seem to offer up charter fishing trips for around $500 for five hours. That's based on one to four people in the boat. It includes all the fishing tackle as well. 

As beginners to Salmon fishing, I am sure we have a lot to learn but I am looking forward to our first venture into the Strait of Georgia, to do some crabbing, shrimping and fishing.

This is an example of what can be caught up here.  I took this off a charter companies site.

For the fly fishermen among you, there are lots of lakes well stocked with rainbow and other species of trout. I have already obtained my fishing license for tidal waters and with the Salmon Conservation charge and sticker on the license, the total was $17.85. for a whole year for someone over the age of 65.  

One bonus break is that for residents of Canada, the licensing fee is substantially lower than it is for non residents as you can see below. I have detailed the cost of the licenses below because we have friends coming up from the US to visit this year who are definitely "going fishing" as they say. 

Licence Type & Duration	Fee: Non-Resident	Fee: Resident
Annual Licence, Adult (16-64 years of age)	$106.05	$22.05
Annual Licence, Senior (65 years of age and over)	$106.05	$11.55
Annual Licence, Juvenile (Under 16 years of age)	Free	Free
5-Day Licence	$32.55	$16.80
3-Day Licence	$19.95	$11.55
1-Day Licence	$7.35	$5.51
Salmon Conservation Stamp	$6.30	$6.30

Obtaining a license is easy but it must be done on line. It takes just five minutes and you print out the license and keep it with you at all times.

There are lots of choices for fishing charters. Prices are around the same so it's whoever you feel comfortable with and the type of boats they have that will be the deciding factor as to who you choose to go fishing with.

Ladies may want a boat with a cabin below with a head (toilet). Liane and Donna understand from our foray off the coast of Panama how important it is to have a boat with a head - (in house joke as ours did not). Having said that, many do not have this facility and what happens is that the men turn their backs and the ladies use a bucket. It's OK if you aren't shy, but for some - I am sure it could be an issue on occasion. 

You cannot fish for Salmon with barbed hooks here. The Wildlife and Fisheries authorities have the right to ask you to pull in your line and woe betide you if you are fishing with a barbed hook or without a license.  All barbs must be removed or filed right down before the hooks can be used as they are typically sold with barbs although I am told you can now buy hooks without barbs now.  

There's more about this later but take a look at what can be caught in this Salmon Highway. Salmon Fishing Charter 

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Obtaining the Basics

We have ordered some furniture - a sofa, love seat and two chairs, a TV, speakers and some gorgeous Amish furniture consisting of a dining room table plus six chairs. The rest will have to come slowly when we see the deals appear. 

We would both really like to buy another Induction stove with double ovens which has the bread proofing feature but they are very elusive and costly.  The closest we have come is at Sears but the price tag is up there at almost $4,000 so "patience is a virtue" as they say and on a fixed income one has to be careful with ones funds.

Eventually we were able to find a place to hunker down close to where we will be living that offered monthly rates. They could only handle us for one month as the rest of the time they were fully booked. We managed (only just) to get a one bedroom villa suite which had covered parking for two for $2300 for the month. 

We enjoyed our month in Courtenay. It gave us time to have the customary walk past our home each day to ensure it had not moved. A side benefit of this was that inevitably we would meet some of the neighbours, so we could introduce ourselves. It makes it so much easier if you already know someone in the area on move-in day. We now know about 20 people close by now.

Moving On

We departed Courtenay Apr 22nd for a resort in Parksville called Beach Acres. It's about an hours drive south of Courtenay. It's also a nice town - a little too small for us at around 17,000 people and missing some of the big box stores such as Costco, Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes etc. 

We are staying in an attached unit overlooking the Strait of Georgia. We have access to the hot tub, swimming pool, sauna and a restaurant. The cost of the new place was a little over $2000 a month. Again it was OK, not super-comfortable furniture but certainly bearable.  

This second move was good for two reasons.  First it gave us a change for a month. Second, it gave us an opportunity to catch up with Donna's cousin Barbara and her husband Earl who live in Parksville.

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Birthday Time

Celebrating Donna's cousin Barbara's husband Earl's 81st. Birthday

While we were there, Earl had his 81st birthday so we could not let that go without at least having supper together. We enjoyed having them over and schmoozing about the past and the future. We learned lots about what goes on in and around the area and hopefully short-circuited the learning curve on Parksville.  

Birds Alive

We are inundated with Hummingbirds. The lady next door who owns her unit has a feeder out and the birds come and go all day long until the last realms of light disappear. For small birds, they drink a lot of nectar. We have been filling the feeder every day as she only comes occasionally.   

These gorgeous birds buzz around us all day long from dawn to dusk

We have had deer right outside the patio door, maybe ten or 15 feet away from the patio which is nice.

We Miss Our Barbie

One thing we were missing was a BBQ.  We saw a very well put together Stainless steel table top version at Costco. It was reasonably priced so we purchased one. Now we can enjoy BBQ dishes on our patio watching the tide flow and ebb twice daily.

A Costco purchase - $129

It sometimes gets difficult to stay occupied when one does not have somewhere to potter about like you would in your own home but we have settled in now, and will take some drives out of town.

Last week we drove up to Tofino on the Pacific Rim in Pacific Rim National Park. Tofino is a fishing village out on the west coast of Vancouver Island accessed via Sproat Lake and the Pacific Rim Highway. 

Bamfield is another place we were advised to go to. Accessed via a couple of logging roads so we may leave Bamfield for another day. The locals say the charters from this small community are numerous. 

One can go out on a local fishing charter from either Tofino or Bamfield for the larger Halibut, caught a fair distance off shore (30 - 80 kms offshore). Maybe we will attempt that at a later date once we have our sea legs.  

At the time of writing this piece, it is May 12 - 7 days after Albertans went to the polls. This is not a political blog so I won't comment on the outcome. Good luck with your choice Albertans. Just four more years before you decide if you made a mistake or chose wisely. We will have to wait and see.  

Two days ago, it was Mother's Day in North America.  Donna very unselfishly suggested I take a Salmon Fishing Charter. She did not have to say it twice. I had hooked up with a fellow by the name of Steve through Facebook. There was a link to his charter service Island Pursuits Fishing Charters earlier on in this blog.

I left the house in Parksville at 7:am.  Steve charters out of Comox Marina right where we will live eventually and a one hour drive from Parksville.  

On the way to Comox, I passed by some road-kill, small deer on the side of the road.  The first one was covered in Bald Eagles each ripping at the fresh meat constantly taunted by Ravens and Seagulls as they devoured their new find. As I drove up, the Eagles all flew off. I waited for them to return but I was on a time constraint so I left before they came back.  

No sooner had I driven a half kilometre down the road, another Bald Eagle was hacking at another dead animal by the side of the road. This one also flew away, but I stopped for a couple of minutes. Not long after I had switched off the engine, a huge red headed Vulture appeared.

I clicked away and then placed the truck into drive and off I went to meet up with Steve at the Comox Marina.

Steve was there preparing his boat.  I introduced myself and we loaded up. Another fellow Lee was told by his wife to go fishing. He also jumped at the chance and booked a spot so, after brief introductions at the boat we jumped in and Steve navigated it out of the slipway.

It took us about 20 minutes to reach the fishing grounds. All of a sudden Steve throttled back on the powerful outboard and we drifted to a stop. There were other boats around too.

It was a cool and windy ride out - made cooler with the speed of the boat but now Steve jumped into action and within a couple of minutes, the down-riggers were rigged and the Cannonballs were taking our lines down to around 260 ft below us.  We would trawl slowly along until we found the fish.

It was a little slow at first because a whole school of Orca's (Killer Wales) swam by and presumably spooked the Salmon.  It was almost 2 hours of watching the rods then wham! one was on. I reeled in the first fish which was a really nice Chinook or Spring Salmon weighing I guess around 13 lb.  We caught several more fish measuring just under the twenty four and a half inch minimum size limit so we put them back and they all swam away unharmed by the barbless hooks. 

Salmon are a fun fish to catch.  Below is my first ever Salmon..... Truly a great feeling.

The Thrill of My First Catch of Salmon

We Caught Our Limit On This Trip

Yours Truly Very Happy With My First Day Out With Steve.
We will Definitely Do This Again.

Limit - 2 per person Must be over 24.5 inches long minimum.
Most of These Exceeded That By Far

All I can say to all our friends and relatives who may come to visit, You must let me take you to Steve at Island Pursuit Sport Fishing. He's a nice guy who is very patient with beginners like me. I would highly recommend him. If you want to go out and you are visiting us, I can book him with advanced warning subject to the weather, tides (both of which are critical factors) and of course Steve's availability.

Time is now moving right along. One week on Friday we depart Parksville and head back to Calgary to pick up some of our last possessions. Then we take the final drive for a while back to the island to take possession of our home - just 22 days from now.  

We are trying to make the most of our time here so as we don't get bored sitting around waiting. We have had Donna's cousin over for supper and visited back and forth. 

Yesterday, we took both of the Salmon over to their home, filleted one and cut the second into steaks for the freezer. We will pick them up upon our return to the island.

We all enjoyed a great supper last night.  I baked some fresh bread. Donna baked some cinnamon buns. We roasted Corn in the oven and Earl cooked one of the fillets on his BBQ.  We had a fresh salad with it all and Barbara, baked plumb crisp which I was too full to eat.      

We will have a very busy six days back in Calgary, shredding some of our company documents we no longer have to keep (those older than seven years) and pack the rest of them into the truck for the journey back out to the Island. 

We have arranged to have supper with some of our friends Dave Murray and Graham Mayne and his wife Heather while we are back there. We also have some shopping errands to run while we are in Calgary so it will be a busy time.

We will depart Calgary on May 30, arriving back on the Island and in Courtenay the following day - two days before we take possession of our home. That will also be a busy time as I have the Cargo trailer (still packed from when we left Mesquite over two months ago) which has been stored in a secure storage area. We did go and check on it a few days ago and everything seemed just fine.  

I will have to unpack the trailer then drive it 90 kms back to Nanaimo where I will go to a second storage facility to pick up a second run of stuff, re-pack the trailer and then head back to Courtenay.  

All this would not be possible without some sort of help. That having been said, we are lucky to have a helping hand in the form of Marty and Linda Douglas - also retirees we know well who also moved from Calgary to the Island. 

Marty and Linda live in Nanaimo so it's really convenient. Donna has known these guys for around 40+ years. They kindly offered to assist us in the move as there is no way Donna could lift some of the items we have to move.  

Do We Or Do We Not? - That Is The Question

After much consideration we have decided to re-instate our Real Estate Broker's Licenses. This would be done in Alberta. We will then immediately transfer our licenses to British Columbia which we can do without having to re-qualify or re-sit all the exams as they are very involved.  

It was a decision made easier by what is called the Reciprocity Agreement - This agreement takes the viewpoint that if you are a Realtor in one Province, you are a Realtor® in other Provinces across Canada (except Quebec and maybe couple of other Provinces). 

We have worked too long and hard to earn the Broker Qualification to give it up. As an example, In Calgary, there are only around 260 Brokers licensed at the Calgary Real Estate Board but there are over 5000 Realtor® members of the Board. 

Many Realtors attempt the Broker's courses and the exams and a lot fail. The cost of the course modules runs into the thousands of dollars which would be wasted if we let our licenses go right now so we are planning to keep the qualification for another couple of years at least to provide us with more time to consider whether to let our Broker licenses finally go or keep them.

Another reason is that we have friends that may be moving out to the Island so just in case, we will be ready to service their needs and the needs of other Realtors who would like to refer clients to someone out on the Island. 

Make no mistake, hundreds if not thousands of Calgary couples are relocating to the Island. We have met many since we arrived doing the same thing as us. Some are still working but buying up properties now for later on when they do retire.   

All this does not mean we are giving up retirement. It just means that by doing it this way, we have a couple more years in which to make the decision of cancelling our Broker's Licenses without rushing into it.       

Well, it is time to draw a close on this blog so that's it for now.  The next months are going to be for moving in, familiarising ourselves with the area and making the most of our new found home.

We know that many fun times are ahead and we both look forward to sending out our next blog when the time is right. 

.............../ And the Adventure continues. 

A New Beginning - On Vancouver Island, British Columbia

Christmas 2014

Christmas has come and gone and to many it was just another Christmas to put under ones belt. For us however, it was a more special time this year as this would be the last Christmas we would celebrate with our wonderful American friends for some time. It is likely that this year we will spend Christmas either in our new home on Vancouver Island or somewhere on our travels. Where, remains to be seen.  

Where to Now

This blog will cover information about our new intended destination and the run-up to our arrival there. Some of the information is meant for our overseas readers and American neighbours and friends who may not be that familiar with where we are headed or with the geography of the area.  

A large number of our friends from Mesquite have told us they will visit us at over the course of the next year or so we thought it important to say something about it here.

Vancouver Island is the largest Island on the west coast of North America. It is almost twice the size of Hawaii - 451 kilometres (282 miles) long. It covers 32,136 square kilometres (12,408 square miles) and is larger than many people imagine. 

Much of the island is untamed wilderness – home to cougar, wolves, bear, deer, elk and eagles. The surrounding Ocean has a myriad of creatures including whales, dolphins, otters, seals, salmon and many other animals too numerous to mention here.

Unlike the eastern side, the western side of the island is sparsely populated and consists of rugged fjords, temperate rain forests and mountainous terrain. The Island is best known around the world for The Pacific Rim National Park, the famous West Coast Trail - a challenge to even seasoned hikers and of course, the unbelievably beautiful Buchart Gardens, all truly great places to visit when holidaymakers come across from the mainland.  

There are few roads. Many of the coastal villages are only accessible by sea or air. The only highway running the length of the island connects the main cities and towns on the more populated eastern side of the Island. 

If you were to drive from Port Hardy, the northernmost town, to Victoria at the southern tip it's a full day´s drive through or past lush farmland and forests, through quaint villages and towns with names as varied and as interesting as their history. Some place names have a First Nations´ origins such as Nanaimo pronounced "Naneyemo" and Qualicum, while others like Juan de Fuca and Victoria speak of a Spanish and English past. 

Victoria, although it is located on the island is the capital of Canada's westernmost Province of British Columbia even though most of the Province of British Columbia (B.C.) is located on the mainland.  

I believe Nanaimo (one city we are looking at) has roughly 80,000 people, whereas the population of Comox/Courtenay (our other alternative destination) is nearer to 40,000, about double that of Mesquite.  

Vancouver, B.C's largest city is separated from Vancouver Island by the Strait of Georgia, linked via Horseshoe Bay and the Horseshoe Bay BC Ferries terminal in West Vancouver, approximately an hour and a half ferry ride from the Island.

Like much of the Coastal Pacific Northwest, Nanaimo experiences a temperate climate with mild, rainy winters and cool, dry summers. Heavy snowfall can occasionally occur during winter but it is rare - not quite like Mesquite, but better than Calgary, Alberta and the Prairie Provinces in general.  

The rain is something I will personally have to get used to. If it is too wet in the winter, we will plan to head south over that period of time.  Panama is still very definitely on the books for one place and so of course it our Australia trip.

Our objective in moving to the Island is to rid ourselves of the big city life, cold winters, snow, a faster pace, higher prices, crime and all the other trailing issues that comes with big city living.  

We hope to travel and enjoy an overall more leisurely pace in our latter years. Hopefully this move will serve our needs. As you know, we had set our hearts on Panama, but when push came to shove for one reason or another (grossly inflated real estate prices and the uncertainty about a country we knew little about), we chose to back away until we had more time to review our situation and do our due diligence more thoroughly. 

The other destination we will be checking out is the area of Comox and Courtney - about an hour north of Nanaimo but a city with reputedly some big box stores such as home depot and Costco and other facilities one would expect to find in a larger city.  Unlike Nanaimo, we have been told Comox/Courtenay area also has some retirement (+55) communities in among it. 

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Overwintering in Nevada

January arrived and so did the colder weather where we had minus temperatures in late December and early January but compared to Canada, this was chicken feed at - 3C. I still wore shorts and a T shirt for our daily walks around the area.  

Packing Time

We were leaving the majority of the furniture and artwork as the western theme would not suit our new surroundings so we did not have that much to pack but we started slowly and would take a couple of weeks to complete the task.   

Donna did not believe our stuff would all fit into our new 7' X 12' x 8' enclosed cargo trailer we had purchased in Calgary.  I was slightly more optimistic. We would have to see who was correct when we pack it on Feb 22nd. 

By mid January the days were beginning to grow noticeably longer.  The sun was setting behind the Flat Top Mesa about 20 minutes later than it was in December so we could now enjoy a little more time in our south yard taking in our last days and weeks among the our palm trees, Cactus and our treasured desert plants albeit with the patio heater on during the evenings to stave off the chill when the desert sun goes down.  

We had a quickie visit to Las Vegas in early January and arrived back in Mesquite to temperatures in the high 60's.  But of course, winter had just begun so we weren't out of the woods yet. The eastern states were being pounded with snow, some over seven feet deep while we were enjoying comparatively warm temperatures.


As we drove back from Las Vegas Jan 6th, we both sat in silence as the truck ate up the 78 miles to Mesquite. It was strange because we both knew what the other person was thinking without mentioning a word.  

How can we possibly say goodbye to all of these wonderful friends? We had all been buddies for over six years.  We all moved in at the same time and helped each other find our way in this quaint City of Mesquite.

Our friends have been such a large part of our lives here. They are like family to us. This was going to be an extremely difficult time for us both. I lost a lot of sleep over it, but eventually i knew it would have to be done. The goodbyes would have to be said but we would see them again so it wasn't all bad. 

More Packing

We had some packing to do and a friend and neighbour from down the street answered our Facebook request for spare packing boxes. He turned up with 20 good sized packing boxes adding that he could get as many more as we wanted and all totally free. We were very grateful.

We packed in slow time as we were expecting some friends (Mike and Shauna) to arrive from Calgary February 12th, so we could not pack absolutely everything nor did we want too. We had decided to take our time and do it right to minimise breakages.

January 12. - Fog Day 

On this day the strangest thing happened. I awoke around 7:35 am. As is normal, I closed the bedroom door quietly behind me so as not to awaken Donna who was still sleeping soundly. 

As I entered the living room, I glanced at the weather station - 90% humidity! Wow, time for a new weather centre I thought but then as I pulled back the blinds to the patio door I noticed that everything outside was soaked and the fog was so thick, I could hardly see the house next door. In all the years we have owned this home, we have never seen anything as strange - especially as our home is in the Mohave Desert, one of the driest places in the world.

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Jan 16 - Jeep Club Trip into the Wilderness

Brother-in-Law Ib called me Jan 15th and invited me to accompany him on a trip into the interior with the Mesquite Jeep Club of which he was a member. I jumped at the opportunity.

It was going to be a long day.  Donna and I were both up at 6:00 am. I was heading out with Ib and some other friends on a trip towards the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. 

Donna on the other hand was preparing to go to the slot tournament and have breakfast with all her girlfriends as they did every Thursday.  

Ib and I, along with 12 other Jeeps travelled by road out through Hurricane, Utah then stopped so that some of the more seasoned enthusiasts could "air down" as they call it (they let about 25% of the air out of the tires in their Jeeps, so they handle the rocks, riverbeds and ups and downs more easily). This was indeed a grand display of these Jeeps.  They are very good at surmounting obstacles.

All the Jeeps pulled up on the Bureau of Land Management Lands heading towards the wilderness area close to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

We drove through some really nice Canyons

Jerry our Neighbour, with his  newly purchased Older Jeep just brought from a Nanaimo Resident who also has a home here in Mesquite.

We travelled along tracks, through river beds and over boulders.  It was fun

The group leader - a lady giving us the low-down on the Mines out here in the back country

At the trails end, we came across around 15 wild  horses.  They were magnificent in the wilderness.

It was a fun time. At the end of the journey while the rest were "airing up" with their portable air pumps, we would head for home. The sun was shining, I had some good photo ops. on the way home and a good day was had by all.

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Jan 21 - National Association of Home Builders Show.

Our next trip away would follow eight days later when we would return to Las Vegas. Jeff, (Donna's son) managed to secure us tickets to the huge International Home Builders Show there. 

This is a 3 day event which takes place not only at the Convention Centre but also at various venues around Las Vegas.  There is free transportation to take attendees from one venue to the next. This is a very well organised show attended by thousands of people every day.

The show promised to have every conceivable gadget, new idea about home building and lots of other stuff like furniture, cooking equipment, kitchenware and all the latest apps and gadgets one could conceivably ever want for the home and we would not be disappointed.

This was timely, because within two months, we would be on the hunt for a home in Nanaimo or Courtenay/Comox. If we could not find what we wanted, we have decided to buy a lot and build so, armed with all the new ideas this would be a great help to us.

Our other option was to find a home in a lower price range and renovate it from the bottom up, so this show would serve us well one way or another.

We now understand why they say it's the largest builders and home expo show in the world. With the show behind us, we headed back to Mesquite. Thank you so much Jeff for obtaining the tickets for us.  We really appreciated it.

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Superbowl Approaching

A couple of days later, we watched the Western final on our TV of the NFL in their bid for a place in the Superbowl. It was between the Green Bay Packers and the Seattle Seahawks. I have never seen such an exciting game. We were on our feet in the last quarter right down to the final whistle.  

Superbowl Final - Feb 1

The final was spent at Sam and Carol's home in Mesquite.  About 40 of us gathered and as is customary, everyone brought along a dish and their own drinks.  We had a great time.

Unfortunately the defending Champions (our team) would be denied the coveted prize through a reckless decision and a god awful throw in the last seconds of the final of the Superbowl...... Oh well, it's just a game right?

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The Flat Top Mesa

..mesa |ˈmāsə| noun

an isolated flat-topped hill with steep sides, found in landscapes with horizontal strata.  ORIGINmid18th cent.: Spanish, literally ‘table,’ from Latin mensa .
By early February, the temperatures were climbing so we took some time to take one more visit on the top of Flat Top Mesa at the rear of our home. This table-top area is a haven for tortoises. It is remote and virtually untouched.  We invited Donna's sister and brother-law and another couple of great friends Liane and Jerry (the couple who had joined us for five weeks in Panama) to come along for the ride. 

Our daily weather forecasts were calling for mid 70's temperatures, but we could see that we would easily surpass that and we did, reaching the mid 80's on many occasions. It was a gorgeous day, with not a breath of wind. We all packed a lunch , loaded it into our cooler and set off up to the top of the mesa.  We left around 11:00 am starting up the steep track that leads to the top.

Arriving on the top the views of the Virgin River Valley were fantastic.  We could see for miles.

Looking at our homes way below

The landscape is very rugged and unique in the Mojave Desert. Only places that are very dry have landscapes like this. When the rains do arrive, they come with vengeance and because of the hard topping to the landscape, there is nowhere for the water to go so it carves out rivers and wears down the sides of the mountain, eventually undermining the tops which eventually over millions of years, falls away.

Eventually these flat tops will become pointed and then the whole area will become flat again and the process will restart.

Left to Right, Liane, Jerry, Donna, me, Carol and Ib

Our truck up on top of the Mesa

Tortoises live on top.  They survive the 115 F degree temperatures here as they never drink.  They get all the water they need from the plants they eat.  You are not allowed to even touch a tortoise here as if you do, you will frighten them and they will pee.  If they pee the size of a US Quarter, they will become dehydrated and die. That's how finely balanced their bodies are.

There are some spectacular sights up here.  Point of interest.  for those who have seen lots of the US.  We often hear about A Butte.  It's in many a name.  Well, a Butte is taller than it is wide.  A Mesa is wider than it is tall

Resplendent orange and yellow rock formations adorn these ranges.

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February 11th. Possession Day on our home.

Possession day on our home arrived.  We met Mike and Kathy the new owners, did a complete walkthrough with them, handed over the keys to the house, took them to the places they would need to register with for power and water etc, took lunch up at the 1880's Grill and bid them goodbye as they left Mesquite and headed back to Colorado.

Mike and Kathy had kindly agreed to allow us to remain in the house until Feb 25th, the day we would depart for Canada.  

Our visitors from Calgary arrived the next day right on time. We picked them up at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas.  They arrived at the brand new Terminal 3 - a very impressive building.  One that would substantially reduce the number of people at the older terminal building.

We loaded their suitcases onto the truck and headed out.  We had decided to drive back through Henderson, enjoy a leisurely lunch then take the north road running besides Lake Mead eventually arriving at The Valley of Fire State Park.  

This area is devastatingly beautiful, and even better, a group of six families (our neighbours) happened to be camping in their trailers and RVs there.  We popped in for an hour. We were greeted in true American spirit, offered some munchies and a drink then we headed on to Mesquite.

The following day, we decided to take Mike and Shauna out to Zion National Park - a gorgeous place to visit.  We had been there before and so knew they would enjoy it.  

It was just an hour and a half drive from our home. Before you knew it we were driving through some gorgeous countryside with high imposing mountain peaks on either side of the valley. Nature at it's best.  

Donna, Shauna and Mike tailgating as they call it here, enjoying lunch at the side of the road

On Valentines Day, the four of us jumped into the truck and headed back to Las Vegas. We had an enjoyable two days in "lost wages" (Las Vegas) then at 6:30am we dropped Mike and Shauna off at the airport for their flight back to Calgary.  We would actually arrived back home in Mesquite before they even took off.

Full steam ahead with the packing now. We took down our precious wall hangings, pictures, packed clothes, vases, some computers and almost everything we would not need over the course of the final eight days.  

We could finish packing up in under a couple of hours but we still have some time here so it's still a slow time approach.

As we close another chapter of our lives and draw to a close, a wonderful six years we have had here in Nevada, we can honestly say, it has been a blast!  

We have made so many dear friends here - more than we ever could have wished for. We will truly miss them but we will return.  Of that there is no doubt. It's a promise, but for now, onwards and upwards.  Life must go on. 

And so it is with that in mind, we turn our attention to the journey home to Canada.  It's going to be a three day drive with the trailer, stopping overnight in Idaho Falls, Idaho, and Great Falls Montana before arriving at the Canadian border on day three.

We do not anticipate bad weather but, it's still eight days away so we aren't holding our breath as everyone who lives in western Canada and the western United States knows - the snows in Utah, Idaho and Montana can come quickly and very heavy.

We will be in Calgary just ten days. Then we will hitch up our trailer again and head out to British Columbia and a new life on Vancouver Island. We hope we can find a really attractive home fairly quickly. I am not that patient so wish us luck!  

Our next blog will hopefully be from the Island once we have settled. We will be sure to include pictures and maybe even outline what's on the cards next once we catch our breath and have time to think it.  

........... and so the adventure continues. 

Me and my wonderful wife Donna enjoying a great day out up on top of the Flat Top Mesa behind our home.

So now, it's back to Canada 

Then to pastures new - British Columbia.  Here we come!

© Copyright by Ken Carter 2015.