Thursday, April 9, 2020

Out of our 2 week isolation

Not a long post this time as we haven't done much for the last 2 weeks!
After arriving in Vernon 2 weeks ago, I talked to the owner of the Mobil station beside Superstore where we were parked. He was gracious enough to allow us to hang out here for our mandatory 2 week isolation period.
We had stocked up on most of the provisions we needed before crossing the border so had most of the necessities to last us. The only thing that we would likely need would be propane.
The first few days the weather was quite nice so we didn't use a lot but last week, it turned downright chilly. We wound up burning through our 3 30 pounders a lot faster than planned. I did have to break isolation once to go get the tanks filled but made sure I kept a good distance between myself and anyone else.
One day, about half way into our 2 week period, at 6AM, I was taking Maya out for her morning business and I watched an 18 wheeler pull into the lot and drive past our truck. He proceeded into the corner of the lot and I guess he decided he couldn't make it around the corner so started to back up. I was a ways away at the time and could only watch as he proceeded to back right into the front of our truck! Luckily he was only going very slow so didn't do too much damage but still managed to destroy part of the upper grill, the lower grill, dented the hood and possibly damaged the transmission cooler. Fortunately it is still drive-able and other than getting the initial insurance claim started there isn't much we can do until we get out of isolation.
Other than a few times a day to take Maya out to do her thing, we didn't do a lot except watch TV. One thing I did get done though is a write up on our new solar power system. If you are interested you can read all about it here.
We came out of formal isolation last Saturday so the first thing we did was hit Walmart and Superstore to refresh the fridge and pantry. I was pretty happy to see most people observing proper social distancing.
We needed to hang around Vernon for a few days after that as my Mom turned 100 years young yesterday, Wednesday, April 8, and we had to be here for that. What an amazing lady!


The facility she lives in has locked it down very tight to protect the residents which means none of them can leave and no-one from outside is allowed in. All staff are also masked and gowned when working with the residents.
Chris and I along with my brother Ken and Chris's parents stayed out in the parking lot and Mom was able to join us on their second floor patio. We shared some cake and conversation for an hour or so before it started to get chilly and we called it an afternoon.
Tomorrow we head for Kamloops. We have a spot booked at Silver Sage campground. We had originally booked it for 2 weeks as we had planned to head to Okotoks for our summer camp hosting gig. We got word today that the park was only going to open with a skeleton crew so we wouldn't be needed until the end of May at the earliest. So we have extended our stay for the month.