A Night to Remember

We dawdled getting out of Revelstoke the following morning, having a leisurely breakfast and showers. But by 11:15 we were on our way, and turning south toward the Okanagan Valley a short time later, as we passed Sicamous with hundreds of houseboats moored up for the season. By 13:00 we'd arrived at Vernon, Linda's home town. On the north edge of town is a nice little RV/camping park, lying along Swan Lake (although we couldn't see any swans.....just ducks), so we set up our camp there. As I prepared lunch, Linda called her cousin Janet to see if we could meet up for a visit and a chat - and got invited out for dinner that evening. It was then time to get our exercise walking the local graveyard, photographing family members at rest (Linda's family this time). The Vernon Museum has a very good display of the area's history, and also houses the archives for local newspapers and photos. Coincidentally, it is also located on the site of Linda's family home - in fact, I think I was sitting in the location of their old kitchen, while we were researching the archives! (You gotta have a bit of imagination here, as the house has been gone for over 30 years). We did manage to find a few tidbits of family history from the newspaper archives, and finished up by late afternoon. With a bit of a cleanup back at the campsite (I don't clean up very well - but I try), we were ready to go and visit cousins Janet and Henry. They made us feel quite welcome, and served us a beautiful dinner - enough, I think, for us to have brought along 6 or 7 more people. It was a night of reminiscing about growing up in the Okanagan, and stories about the Smith/Badley/Craig Family histories. Linda, Janet, and Henry all had stories and memories of the area, and Linda elicited more family information with her tree and photos flashing out from our computer. Unfortunately, we forgot to take any photos of the event, so this entry will have to remain pictureless. We even managed to find a few drams of Bushmills's, which meant that Linda had to drive home to our tent later on. I now sit at a picnic table under the willow trees, looking at the ducks swimming by on the lake, and typing up this short entry......it is Wednesday morning, so that means that yesterday was the end of another week of travelling (week 17), and hence a day of reckoning.
Last night also marked night 70 spent in the tent - the rest of the nights having been spent under a roof of some sort (friends homes, Kabins, etc). So here are the totals:
Distance Travelled: 1371.3 Km. Gas: $$258.87 Food: $ 137.53 Accommodation: $ 277.72 Other: $42.74 Total: $716.86 Close - but still over by almost $17.00 for the week! I really thought we might be able to make it this time, but the oil change for the car added a bit of extra expense and put us over - or was it one night too many in a Kabin, instead of a tent????
We will be continuing with our genealogical quest here in the Okanagan for a few days, heading down to Kelowna later today. By the weekend we should be headed back toward the coast.
After having uploaded the blog this morning, I downloaded my emails. I am very saddened to hear of the passing of my brother-in-law, Albert. He passed away quietly last night, and although he was still young (67), he had lived a very fulfilling life.