Well here we are in what is rapidly becoming the end of September. We have been busy around Dogpound North with a bunch of stuff that I won't bore you with here, but rest assured I have been putting the miles on the last month or so. We spent a few days up around the Buffalo Creek Ranch and then down to the J4 at Alliance for a visit with some friends. Once that was all done we figured we probably need to head west and spend some time with our friends on the Island. We took three days to get there, time slows us all I guess. But we did stop for a visit with my cousin, Wally, in Chilliwack, overnighted in North Vancouver and caught up with Heather's world travels before jumping on the boat to find a spot to hole up in on a beach south of Nanaimo. We had a great time visiting with old friends John & Gina Odo. Brenda and them have been friends for a long time beginning in what is a fondly remembered misspent youth.

And we even managed to fit in a lunch with Croft a blogger/RV'er who calls Campbell River home, and Don and Angela Ritter some folks we usually see in Yuma, Arizona where they hole up during the gray months of a Vancouver Island winter.

Then it was time to head back through the Rockies to our Alberta home. It is a beautiful drive this time of year, but unlike the drive out we only lingered a little on the way back so it was just a day and a half affair. Since getting back we have been busy, the trailer is in Red Deer getting a new Goosebox installed, and I have been running the roads between Rocky (Lacey) and Chestermere (Becky) getting in some visiting and helping them with a couple of things along the way. Today Brenda is hard at it turning our apple harvest into pie filling that will be much appreciated sometime this winter. Me, I am just sitting here supervising that operation and contemplating heading south in a few weeks.

Getting Ready

Well despite my good intentions here it is almost 2 and 1/2 months since my last journal entry. When last I wrote we were heading to Vancouver Island to visit our good friends John and Gina, and planning on visiting with Renè and Jeanette along the way. All that went according to Hoyle and we had a great visit with them all. We went to dinner at Fort Langley with Renè and Jeanette and then once we were back at their place we headed over towards the ferry terminal. We originally planned to just roll up to the locked gates and spend the night right there, but along the way we came across a Bass Pro Shop in Twassen and decided that looked like a better spot to hole up for the night. We were on the early ferry the

She fits and didn't actually take up the whole ferry

next morning so were pulling into John & Gina place around 9ish. Our rig was a tight fit, but with some help from our new neighbours, and rolling across their lawns we made it into our spot at the Resort on the Lake near Westwood Lake. It is a nice place with friendly folks and some great walking trails that Maya and Max just loved down by the lake.

We spent a great ten days hanging out here, picked a few berries, told a few stories, shared some laughs and met Brenda's long time online friend Angela and her husband Don, RV'ers who spend their summers on the Island and their winters in Arizona.

Then it was back to Dogpound North, but first we had to navigate the forest fires that BC has had going on all summer.

Fires along the Trans-Canada Highway just east of the Rogers Pass

I snuck out one day to see our nephew riding a bull up at Sundre. It was a learning experience for Justin as just after this shot the bull won the battle and drug him around the arena a bit before he got loose.

Early September is birthday time for the Tomasir kids so we headed in to spend a little time with Kash and Everly at their birthday bash. A good time was had by all and Grandma got some snuggles in, tell the truth so did I but there were no camera's spying on me.

Kash and Grandma

Everly and Grandma

 The rest of September was taken up just fiddling around here at Dogpound North, got a little road work done, fill in some sunken spots around our fire pit and closed up the big burning pit we used to get rid of our old barn. Then it was time to take our rig up to Allandale to get a few warranty things looked after. One of our solar panels must have taken a direct hit from a meteorite or something as it was shattered, so that was replaced under warranty as well. Allandale did a pretty good job, but Heartland the manufacturer of our Road Warrior is pretty slow getting parts out to their dealers so it was there a lot longer than was the plan.

Dry Island Provincial Park along the Red Deer River

Last weekend Lacey and Clayton brought the girls down to have one last visit with us before we head south for the winter so it was great to see them one last time as well.

Alle

Ella and Alle monkeying around

We got the rig back today and other than the 50 mph winds that blew me home from Red Deer that went well. Tomorrow we start loading it for our southern migration, so we are hoping to be south of the Medicine Line and looking for warmer climes pretty soon.

Sunset over Dogpound North last night