It was time to leave Kootenay Lake. The nights were getting darn cold with the rain ending and the clearing skies. Additionally, I had a new unwelcome body guest – Henry the hemorrhoid. I had also taken on an unwelcome RV guest, Big Blacky, the large black mouse that I heard rattling around in my RV while trying to get to sleep one evening. Of prime importance, I only had two more sleeps until I had to be on Vancouver Island!
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My first full day on Kootenay Lake dawned misty and grey, but no rain! I’ll take it at this time of the year, the wet season has begun here and anything “not raining” is a win for weather. It will be a good day for a hike. I have several sources, of maps, even some old school paper map books of the area. I have found something interesting in my “Backroad Mapbook”. We will use that for the first hike to go on. But the bridge I need to cross to to get to my destination is supposed to be out. Will I be able to get there?
My time at Edwards Lake was done, but my drive to Kootenay Lake would not take that long. I could sneak in one more morning walk to Loon Lake before the drive to Kootenay Lake.
I get up with the beginnings of the light to see some morning red sky. I manage to get a picture of that before it fades away to grey a few minutes later. My furnace kills the chill, but I don’t crank it anymore than I need – power is limited to one battery for now and it is looking to be a cloudy day. There will not be much solar recharge and I want at least one more night at this awesome spot.
Driving out of Lethbridge is one thing, but driving out of Alberta when you know you will not be back again for at least six months is a strange thing. Goodbye blue skies, open prairies, but also goodbye hick attitudes in the country, dick trucks and fake cowboy culture. BC beckoned beyond the mountains rising before me – time to explore and try out my first camping for real this time.
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The afternoon of October 19th in Lethbridge is wonderful for the last half of October – sunny skies, better than tenish degrees Celsius, and barely a breeze to cool you. What a perfect time to take a walk to Henderson Lake Park.
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My trip down to Lethbridge was calm. As in, no buffeting winds on the highway, which is always a possibility going down highway 2. These winds can blow over rigs of the semi type, and possibly the RV type when really strong. Thus I appreciated not having to lean into the wind while driving while I am still a newbie for RV driving experience. Staying with friends meant some touring, of which today was a drive and then walk around downtown Lethbridge.
I was back in Calgary after two days of decompress at a campground. It was time to finally sort out my moving mess into garbage, take, and store. The garbage was mostly taken care of, but I needed to work on what I was going to take with me for the next six months.
Getting out of the house into the RV in a rush had left me with unfinished business in Calgary. So, after one night north out of town visiting a friend, I was driving back in for one such task, taking care of the property surrounding my garage I was camping in. Grass must be cut. Lawn mower must be put away for the winter. After that, I’d have a few days to myself and it would be off to my first real camping in the RV!
I surveyed the mess below me from my bed in the RV – everything I needed to make coffee was somewhere in this pile, or randomly stuffed in a cupboard. But coffee being a high priority item in packing had at least gotten a prominent spot in the cupboard, and I could find a cup of some sort to decant into.
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