Unretired
Well we found ourselves back in Alberta at the end of March. My old company asked me whether or not I wanted to give them a hand with some Community Consultation back up in Dease Lake. I thought what the heck a little bit of work won’t hurt anything. Kind of keep my hand in. Well it turned into a little more than a little bit; I’ve been averaging around 25 days a month on the road. It is interesting work and the folks around Dease Lake are great. Not to mention that it is some of the most beautiful country I have ever had the good fortune to be in. Not to bad to be out of town a lot while the weather is cold, and Lord knows we have had a cold spring in Cremona, but once the heat starts the grass growing it kind of gets away on you if you’re not there every few days to hack it down. I’ll certainly have to change that next year if I have another opportunity to get a few days of work in. Brenda and her brother Brent have been doing a great job keeping up though this summer.
The other thing that gets missed is the trips to the mountains with our horses. We have a brand new, last year, Arctic Fox camper and a new horse trailer sitting in the Quonset hut just waiting to head west but I guess it is unlikely to happen this year. Well next year for sure!!
You might ask, “why would a relatively sane (my assessment) guy who is financially capable of retiring take on what looks an awful lot like a full time job.” Well, other than the aforementioned interesting work and great people there is a method to my madness. On August 11, Brenda and I ordered a brand spanking new 2009 Fleetwood Discovery 40X coach. It is loaded with all the things we dreamt about having last winter and will make our trips even more exciting and comfortable. I am thinking what this coach doesn’t have, we really don’t need. In fact we probably don’t really need many of the things, like the 40” HDTV, which it has as standard equipment. It is supposed to be delivered in mid-October and that should give us a week or so to get it packed and then we are heading west to do some visiting at the coast, before heading back across the medicine line and looking for warmer climes. Our intention this year is to stay in the south west portion of the US, with a possibility of heading over to south Texas if the weather is not warm enough in Arizona.
I am keeping this blog thing off the subject of work for the most part and as that is a big part of my job right now the entries should be quite brief until we start on our next adventure in late October. But I can’t resist uploading a few pictures from the Dease Lake / Cassiar area. There is an abundance of wildlife in this country from the smallest chipmunks and squirrels up to the moose, grizzly bear and wolf and every thing in between. If you ever get a chance to travel up this way you must travel the Cassiar Highway (BC #37). There is lots of misinformation out there on the condition of the road but it is no where near as bad as most reports would have you believe. It leaves the Alaska Highway just west of Watson Lake in the Yukon and runs approximately 750 kilometres south to Kitwanga on the Yellowhead Highway (#16). There is about 20 kilometres of rough pavement just south of the Alaska Highway and then it is pretty good down to near Dease Lake. There is about 20 kilometres along the lake that is very good gravel/dirt road and other than getting a little dirty, if it is raining when you come through, you will have no problems along there. As for the 500 kilometres south of Dease Lake it is all paved except for about 5 kilometres as you cross the Stikine River. In fact south of an airstrip at the Burrage River it is newly paved in the last few years and smooth sailing. Good as any road anywhere, except for the wildlife that can be found all over it.
Well we found ourselves back in Alberta at the end of March. My old company asked me whether or not I wanted to give them a hand with some Community Consultation back up in Dease Lake. I thought what the heck a little bit of work won’t hurt anything. Kind of keep my hand in. Well it turned into a little more than a little bit; I’ve been averaging around 25 days a month on the road. It is interesting work and the folks around Dease Lake are great. Not to mention that it is some of the most beautiful country I have ever had the good fortune to be in. Not to bad to be out of town a lot while the weather is cold, and Lord knows we have had a cold spring in Cremona, but once the heat starts the grass growing it kind of gets away on you if you’re not there every few days to hack it down. I’ll certainly have to change that next year if I have another opportunity to get a few days of work in. Brenda and her brother Brent have been doing a great job keeping up though this summer.
The other thing that gets missed is the trips to the mountains with our horses. We have a brand new, last year, Arctic Fox camper and a new horse trailer sitting in the Quonset hut just waiting to head west but I guess it is unlikely to happen this year. Well next year for sure!!
You might ask, “why would a relatively sane (my assessment) guy who is financially capable of retiring take on what looks an awful lot like a full time job.” Well, other than the aforementioned interesting work and great people there is a method to my madness. On August 11, Brenda and I ordered a brand spanking new 2009 Fleetwood Discovery 40X coach. It is loaded with all the things we dreamt about having last winter and will make our trips even more exciting and comfortable. I am thinking what this coach doesn’t have, we really don’t need. In fact we probably don’t really need many of the things, like the 40” HDTV, which it has as standard equipment. It is supposed to be delivered in mid-October and that should give us a week or so to get it packed and then we are heading west to do some visiting at the coast, before heading back across the medicine line and looking for warmer climes. Our intention this year is to stay in the south west portion of the US, with a possibility of heading over to south Texas if the weather is not warm enough in Arizona.
I am keeping this blog thing off the subject of work for the most part and as that is a big part of my job right now the entries should be quite brief until we start on our next adventure in late October. But I can’t resist uploading a few pictures from the Dease Lake / Cassiar area. There is an abundance of wildlife in this country from the smallest chipmunks and squirrels up to the moose, grizzly bear and wolf and every thing in between. If you ever get a chance to travel up this way you must travel the Cassiar Highway (BC #37). There is lots of misinformation out there on the condition of the road but it is no where near as bad as most reports would have you believe. It leaves the Alaska Highway just west of Watson Lake in the Yukon and runs approximately 750 kilometres south to Kitwanga on the Yellowhead Highway (#16). There is about 20 kilometres of rough pavement just south of the Alaska Highway and then it is pretty good down to near Dease Lake. There is about 20 kilometres along the lake that is very good gravel/dirt road and other than getting a little dirty, if it is raining when you come through, you will have no problems along there. As for the 500 kilometres south of Dease Lake it is all paved except for about 5 kilometres as you cross the Stikine River. In fact south of an airstrip at the Burrage River it is newly paved in the last few years and smooth sailing. Good as any road anywhere, except for the wildlife that can be found all over it.
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