On The Road... Again

  Well, here it is, our last day in Vancouver. Tomorrow morning we hit the road again in search of more adventures, having wrung quite a few out of the Lower Mainland. There's lots of ground to cover so let's get started.

  Tuesday night I was reading my news feed and saw the wildfires were closing in on Yellowknife. My thoughts ran to our dear friends, Bryan and Sheila, and how they were coping, so I reached out with a text to Bryan. It turned out they were in the midst of planning their evacuation, expecting the territorial government to issue the order very soon.

  YK is a small community and Bryan had been working with many people helping them "firesmart" their properties, removing trash, clearing brush and installing sprinklers to help with fire suppression should the worst come to pass. He promised to keep us posted on their plans and we wished them luck.

  Wednesday evening Penny, Makita and I headed to Vancouver's Spanish Banks Beach. We hadn't been to any decent sand beaches while here and this one was supposed to be worth a visit.

  I had read that that evening was supposed to be an excellent opportunity to view the bioluminescence display due to what's called a "minimoon", a special new moon that occurs infrequently. Spanish Banks was supposed to be the best local location to see it. We hung around until full dark but, nothing. It was a beautiful evening so we didn't mind and we did get some pics but no blue glowy things.

  That morning brought news that the Yellowknife wildfires fires were within seventeen kilometers of the city and the government issued the evacuation order. Bryan and Sheila  packed up their truck and trailer and beat feet Thursday morning, driving off into a cell phone dead zone amid a long line of vehicles snaking their way south through thick smoke and ash.

  I spent Thursday monitoring cabinradio.ca for updates and checking my phone for messages from the intrepid travelers who reached safety in northern Alberta that evening. It's all pretty scary stuff and no one knows when they'll be able to return. As of this writing the fires are expected to move closer to the city on Sunday as warm, windy weather returns after two days of cool and damp conditions.

  Today we're cleaning and packing as our homeowners return tonight. We'll be heading out first thing tomorrow, which means saying goodbye to Makita. She has been a joy to take care of this past month and we'll both miss her although we won't miss the piles of hair she sheds.  We both agree we would happily have a dog like her if we decided to be dog owners again.

  On this leg of the trip we're heading to Revelstoke to visit Larry, golf buddy and skier extraordinaire. Along the way we're stopping in Kamloops to play some golf and we'll likely skirt wildfires that are burning to the south and east of town.

  After visiting with Larry our plans are unsettled. We planned to stop for a few days in Calgary, visiting Bryan at their condo. Now, due to the evacuation, they may be using it to shelter friends and family who escaped. We'll find out in the next day or two where it all stands.

  We've also booked another house sit for the second half of November, in Sarasota, FL, so our year is pretty much set now. After visiting Calgary we head to Montgomery, MN for two and a half weeks, then home by Sept. 15. In mid-October we take off three weeks in Mobile, AL, followed by two weeks in Sarasota and home early December. Next year? Stay tuned.