It's been a very busy summer, with our son's wedding, our daughter buying and renovating a house, so, other than our traditional Solstice run to Riding Mountain, we have not been on the road. As our travelling style has changed, from wandering about, to longer stays in one location, after a prolonged search, we reluctantly moved from our wonderful Class C Bigfoot, to a Class A Winnebago Brave.
After "yard-camping" a few nights, we decided we needed some practice with the hookups of the new thing, so we headed over to Selkirk Park for a night. There we found - "we have no sewer hookups, the septic truck comes around once a week, we have no fresh water hookups, there's fresh water available at the sewage drop"; they did have electrical, so we decided to stay the night anyways. Nancy & Kirk did bag a rare aquatic Pokemon on their walk along the Red River dike.
We started our official shake-down cruise, driving out to Sioux Narrows, on Lake of the Woods, to visit our La Peñita/Kelowna friends. After a great steak BBQ, a beverage or two, and a lot of visiting, we settled in for the night. The next morning, Nancy, Ken & Dave went out fishing, seeking the wily Pickerel, while Kirk, Toby aka Stinky, and I lounged on the deck, enjoying the view.
The fishermen returned triumphant, not a surprise, given Dave's experience fishing Lake of the Woods.
There then occured a deep and detailed discussion of filleting methodology, complete with demonstrations. No superiority for either method was obvious, nor claimed.
And then, it was time for a fish fry, where far too much Pickerel was eaten. In the evening, we enjoyed catching up with the summer's activities, solving world problems, and trying to plan out a warm, hopefully Mexican winter.
Sunday was the final day for "Bassing for Cash", Sioux Narrow's Bass tournament. In the later afternoon, we went down to the dock to watch 123 very well equipped boats come in to weigh their catch. (the latest in gear, which I hadn't seen before, is a pair of 4 foot "goalposts" on the boat transom, which telescope down to anchor the boat, in as deep as 30 feet of water). The event ran like a well-oiled machine, with tens of blue-shirted volunteers everywhere.
Monday morning was time to start the journey home. Many thanks to Dave for his hospitality at his marvellous cottage on Lake of the Woods, to Helen for all the fine food, and to Ken & Lorrie for all of the great times we have had together.
The Brave ran like a clock, through the rain, the construction slaloms, and finessing it into Dave's yard. The extra room really is amazing, seems more like an apartment than an RV.
The Brave ran like a clock, through the rain, the construction slaloms, and finessing it into Dave's yard. The extra room really is amazing, seems more like an apartment than an RV.
