Back to Idaho

Republic, WA to Lenore, ID

(to see Laura's aunt Violet)

October 15 - October 19, 2016

We drove to Laura's aunt Violet's home in Lenore, ID, stopping in Moscow, ID along the way. Violet is 90 years old, lives on her own at their farm and takes care of 4 calves, a bunch of chickens, a rooster, a cat and a dog.  She's one independent and capable lady.  She and her husband Bill bought the farm 23 years ago after moving there from Royal City, WA.  She loves it there and clearly she has thrived while living there.  I am in awe of her.

We had a delightful visit, also seeing Laura's cousin Craig (Violet's son) and his wife Brenda while we were there.

Violet in what she calls "The Queen's chair".

Violet's post office is in Lenore, Idaho which is located on the Clearwater River down in a valley.  She actually lives in the beautiful hills way above the town.  As you drive through the area you feel like you are literally on top of the world.  You also see miles and miles and miles of rolling farmland.  If it weren't for the hills you might think you were in Kansas or Nebraska.

Some of the many fields of hay.

Looking toward the valley where the Clearwater River runs by Orofino and Lenore.
We found this area of Idaho to be incredibly beautiful.

The Clearwater River as it runs through Orofino, ID.

 

Back to Republic (can we really get away from Windows)

Kettle Falls, WA to Republic, WA

(Linux investigation, some genealogy research and I wax the motorhome!)

October 1 - October 14, 2016

The day we got back to Gold Mountain RV Park we sat down with Dave to see his Linux PC in action.  We were surprised to find it looked very similar to Windows (or Windblows as Dave calls it) aswell as to some of the features on a Mac.  It comes loaded with a FREE office type program which includes a word processor, a spreadsheet and a presentation development program.  It's also comes loaded with Firefox for internet access, along with lots of other useful programs.  We also learned that Laura's current laptop (a Dell) could probably be converted to a Linux system unless something unexpected happened.  He was less sure about my laptop (a Toshiba) since they often make some internal changes that might muck up the conversion.

Dave also told us about System76.com, a website where you can order Linux based PCs.  We checked it out and found the prices to be very reasonable. By then I knew I depended on too many Windows based programs (in particular all the programs I use for genealogy) to even think about converting. Laura was a different story. Since I do all her inputting, she really didn't need the Legacy software although it would be a plus if we could get it to run under Linux.  What to do, what to do?  Since I feel I spend a lot of time trying to help Laura with her laptop, we decided to buy a new Linux based laptop from System76 for Laura and to have Dave try and convert her old laptop to the Linux operating system.

We ordered the laptop then we waited for it to arrive.  Meanwhile I backed up Laura's old laptop so Dave could convert it to the Linux operating system.  I also worked on inputting some of the historical materials I'd already found on my ancestors into my Legacy program.

At some point I looked out and noted that the weather was perfect to do a job I'd been wanting to get done since we moved into the motorhome.  It needed to be waxed - no small task.  I decided to seize the moment.  Although the motorhome has never looked so beautiful, my arms and shoulders will never be quite the same again! What a job!  I managed to get about 2/3's of it complete before some rain blew in and sent me back inside to continue inputting my genealogical research.

When it was convenient, Dave took Laura's laptop and converted it to Linux while I watched.  All went smoothly and we now had her old laptop to play on.  I tried loading a Windows emulation program on it but something went wrong somewhere and we couldn't determine if it had actually loaded.  Next I tried to load Crossover, a software that purports to run Windows apps and games on Mac and Linux operating systems.  Dave had suggested trying it to see if Legacy would work.  That went well but the problems I had loading the emulation program caused the whole system to go sideways.  Ever patient, Dave erased everything and reloaded Linux.  By now the new laptop had arrived. Dave got it all set up for us and Laura started using it, finding it very easy to adapt to.

By now we had been in Republic for two weeks and we felt we needed to get moving again as the weather was getting colder and colder.  We wanted to stick to our original plan of being in the North in the summer and the South in the winter.

Washington's Okanogan

 Summerland, BC to Republic and Kettle Falls, WA

(sightseeing)

September 27- September 30, 2016

We didn't expect to find ourselves back in Washington state but that is where we found ourselves. Having never been in the NE part of the state we thought we should explore it a bit.  We headed south then east to the town of Republic and found it to be a charming town with lots of old original buildings and such.  We found a campsite at Gold Mountain RV Park and by happenstance Laura met a man there (Dave) who knew a lot about computers.  When she told me about him I was skeptical but I also knew I'd never hear the end of it unless I talked to the guy.  So, the next morning before we left for Kettle Falls, I hunted him up. He really did know a lot about computers - especially about getting away from Windows and Mac operating systems and switching over to a Linux operating systems which is FREE.  Free always intrigues me but my main worry was about running Legacy genealogical software.  As we drove away, my head was spinning.



Gold Mountain RV Park from the entrance.

We spent 3 days in Kettle Falls, enjoying the nice fall weather and driving over to Colville to see what it was like.  In the mean time I wrote to Legacy to see if it would run on a Linux operating system. They told me it would run in conjunction with a Windows emulator.  That news didn't warm my heart but I was still intrigued with Linux.  We decided to go back to Republic to see exactly what Dave's system looked like.



Typical Okanogan landscape.  I just love the look of it.

I especially love the rocky knobs you see all over the area.
What is it about rocks that make them so appealing?

The cool weather makes the Aspens glow.



The Eocene Stonerose Fossil Beds in Republic.
 These shale deposits have preserved many plant, fish and insect fossils from the past.
You can actually go and dig in the fossil beds yourself after you sign up at the museum.

 

This was Laura's big find.  The remains of fossilized tree branches (bottom) and fossilized wood pieces (top).

 

Summerland again!

Summerland, BC

(motorhome repair and just relaxing)

September 19 - September 26, 2016

When we returned to Summerland we had a hard time finding a campground that was still open and had space!  Our third attempt proved fruitful when we followed a sign on the highway and found a new RV campground located on top of a bluff with a 360 degree view of the entire area.  It ended up being just perfect!

The view from our campsite.  We practically had the place to ourselves.
Although it looks pretty wierd, that cloud is not from a fire or a volcano.

Some late blooming plants near our campground.

Another view from the campground.  You can see that the weather was very nicel

Once back in Summerland we had our solar charging system repaired - or at least we moved one step in the right direction.  They replaced our solar charging regulator and we hoped that would make it all function correctly.  At least the regulator's digital screen now displayed the charging rate and the battery voltage.  That was an improvement.  I'd done a lot of research on solar systems and found out they are often installed incorrectly in motorhomes.  That information does not exactly build confidence and there are quite a few variables involved, one of which is how dirty the panel is.  I decided it would be a good idea to clean the solar panel itself since we've been all kinds of weather. Laura went up on the roof to do the job and found that the panel itself wasn't terribly dirty.  She cleaned it anyway then asked me "what about the other panel?".  "What other panel?" I asked.  The small one she replied.  I drew a blank so I gave her my phone so she could take a picture.

The roof of our motorhome showing the two solar panels.

The good solar panel - all cleaned up.

The "other" solar panel!  You can see the reflection of Laura taking a picture!

Closeup of the damaged area.

Needless to say - a solar panel shouldn't look like this.  I began to wonder if it might be shorting out, possibly stealing amperage that was supposed to charge the battery. We went back to the RV place to show them this picture.  They agreed it was possible it could be causing problems but they couldn't remove the panel until the following week and suggested we could do it ourselves. I also wondered if our batteries might be compromised by being insufficiently charged for the 16 months we've been living in the motorhome. They were non-committal on that point but from what I'd read I knew it was a distinct possibility.

Instead of removing the small damaged solar panel we cut the wire from it, then capped off and taped both ends.  Since then the charging amperage has been much higher so I feel the damaged solar panel was robbing us of some of the amperage intended to charge the battery.  So...another step in the right direction.  At this point I now believe that our batteries have been compromised by insufficient charging because they drain excessively with very light use and take too long to recharge.  Our next step is to install 6 volt golf cart batteries which are designed for extended battery use.

Enough about batteries and solar panels.  Our next issue was the post office.  If you are traveling in Canada, my advice is to NEVER have anything mailed to you while you are there.  Laura needed a prescription refilled and it seemed like having it sent to Summerland would be easy and fairly quick. When it didn't arrive in the time frame we expected, she had the pharmacy track the package.  It had gone from Burlington, WA to Seattle to Kent to Los Angeles (where all western mail headed out of the country goes) to Toronto, Ontario (where all foreign mail headed into Canada goes). All we could do was to wait for the package to arrive. Once it did, we headed back to the States via the border crossing at Osoyoos, BC.

Seeing friends from Whidbey!!

Summerland, BC to Nelson, BC and back to Summerland

(to meet friends from home)

September 14 - September 18, 2016

We left Summerland and headed to Nelson, BC to meet our Whidbey Island friends Harriet and Russ.  They were on their way to Banff and beyond and since we were "in the area - i.e. BC" we agreed on Nelson as a convenient meeting place.

On our way we had to take a ferry across Upper Arrow Lake from Needles to Fauquier, BC.  It's a tiny ferry which runs on a cable from one side to the other.  There's no cabin or anywhere to go but it only takes 10 minutes or so to go across.  It's a beautiful lake and we happened to hit it on a sunny day as you can see from the pictures.

Looking North from the ferry.

Looking South from the ferry.

Nelson is a cute town with lots of interesting looking businesses and restaurants and the absolutely busiest coffee house we have ever seen.  The line was literally out the door when we arrived!  I'm not sure how they did it but they moved the line along at a quick pace and Harriet said the coffee was excellent - high praise coming from her.  Sadly - we didn't take a single picture in Nelson so I stole this one off the internet so you can see what a picturesque place it is.

Nelson is located on the west arm of Kootenay Lake in the Selkirk Mountains.
It is the home of Selkirk College

The four of us did a circle tour north from Nelson through Silverton to the old mining town of Sandon.  It was supposed to be a ghost town but people were still living there and there was a fun museum which detailed the history of the town and it's early inhabitants.

The museum, which is in pretty good shape, stands next to some derelict buildings.

 Like so many places, it initially flourished due to the efforts of one person.  The silver mining kept it going for awhile until the mines couldn't produce enough to make it profitable.

The Silversmith Powerhouse is the oldest continually-operating hydro plant in
Canada and one of the oldest of its type in the world.  It was built in 1897 to
supply power to the Silversmith mine in Sandon and it continues to supply power 
to the local inhabitants of the area as well as to a mine which still functions nearby.

From Sandon we continued around the loop to Kaslo, a very cute town located on the edge of Kootenay Lake which, from pictures we saw, used to be a very busy port town with boats hauling ore, timber and whatever else.  We didn't really see the whole town but it felt to us like one that would be fun to explore in depth.  We had an excellent lunch at the Treehouse restaurant before continuing back to Nelson.

The next morning we went our separate ways with Harriet and Russ heading on to Yoho National Park (on our recommendation) before going to Banff as we headed back to Summerland to have our solar charging system checked out.