April 7, Sydney to Saltair BC (uncle Bill's driveway)

We're excited about todays move up Island to the community of Saltair and a few days with my cousins and my Uncle Bill. Bill just turned 87 years young and he still lives and works on his acreage in Saltair. Unfortunately my Aunt Nancy passed away last year so Bill is by himself in the house but my cousins all go there everyday and help out or have dinner there so he is rarely sitting around alone. Just a great family atmosphere there. 
The weather would best be described as mixed, there are some clouds but the sun is out and we have had a shower this morning but not terrible. We did our morning routine and packed up and were on our way by 11.

We have to backtrack a little bit because the highway goes back to Victoria from Sidney and then north. Not very far, about 20 km and then north. We have to go over the Malahat going north but it's not too bad, they are widening the highway so there is a construction zone but being Saturday it was easy. We got to the top of the Malahat (356 meters/ 1156 ft) and noticed a fairly large viewpoint, what a view!! The sunshine really helped.

What a great view!

We got to Uncle Bills a little after 1pm. The road from the main highway to the acreage is a little narrow and windy but very doable.Getting parked with our rig on the other hand, not as easy. We had Google mapped and streetviewed our approach the night before and had planned how to get backed in to the driveway. I got out and watched all the corners and ditches while talking to Dave on my phone. This works well for us as Dave can talk handsfree from the truck. We got backed in without too much trouble, I had to stand on the road and block both lanes for a minute to get a good position for backing up but luckily there was a good break in traffic.

Tucked in with power and water

They had washed the driveway prior to our arrival, the chickens are usually loose and they poop alot! After big hugs and handshakes we did a minimal setup and went inside. Bill's pride and joy is his chickens, they roam free around the acreage and he sells the eggs so we were warned that Margaret can't be offleash until she learns not to mess with them. Perfect! Well Margaret is 13 pretty soon and is pretty good at doing what we tell her so it didn't take long before she was "one" with the chickens lol.

 Meh whatever, it's a chicken

We spent the afternoon catching up with Uncle Bill and some of my cousins. My cousin Susan and her husband Dave, Susan's son Jared (he's staying at Bill's right now) cousin Brad and his better half Carol were all there and we had some tea and later some adult beverages before Susan called us all to dinner at the big dining room table. So many memories in this house. 
Uncle Bill's house was the site of a few family reunions many years ago. The main house is quite large and built in the early 1900's originally as a stage coach stop, we think. It also served as a brothel (oh my) the post office and an Inn. Could have been a something "mile" pub like the others we have been to! Bill bought it as a family home in the 60's and has lived there ever since. There are 2 smaller houses beside the main house and one is rented out while Brad (Bill's son)lives in the other. It's good that Brad is right there to help out if needed. Memories of all the "kids" sleeping in the attic in sleeping bags and playing in the big yard are fond ones for sure. The main house has the creaky stairs with the big wooden bannister and the bedrooms upstairs all have a sloped roof on one side following the roof line. I could go on and on but let's get back to the rest of the trip. I'm sorry but I can't find a picture of the house anywhere grrr.

The other Dave, Uncle Bill,me and well Dave

April 8

Today we're putting together a plan for the few projects we want to do while we're here. Gotta earn these free meals and free range eggs! We have decided to fix up a couple water lines for the chickens, repair a table in the back yard and clean up some leaves and a pile of dirt at the end of the driveway. 

Dave & Uncle Bill discussing the height of the water line

We got a plan together and were going into Ladysmith to the Home Hardware but first we have a weiner roast in the backyard. Brad & Carol had lit a fire and the coals were ready for cooking. What a great lunch!! Good idea. By the time we got all the parts together it was already close to 4 so instead of starting a big job we decided to go inside and have a little happy hour with Dave x2, Susan and Bill. I helped Susan and we put together a stir fry with the leftovers from last night. Numm. We shared some more stories and laughs until it was time to turn in.

April 9

No rain today, yayy! We went for a little exercise and then back to the house to get crackin on some projects. First job is the water line our rig is hooked to. It's potable water for the garden boxes and the chickens but it is barely sticking out of the ground. We're raising the hose bib so Bill doesn't have to get down on one knee to swap hoses.

see the valve at ground level before

With a new valve at the base and a handy "Y" at the old valve on a well secured post it should be way easier to reach. 

New & improved, insulated too.

Next up is the table top. Bill uses this table for a variety of backyard chores and has a vice for quick fixes also. The other top was pretty old so we burned that in the firepit and installed a new top complete with the vise and a new backing board. It took some work getting the bolts for the vise off but we got it. WD40 to the rescue. 

Table complete, vise secure and sprayed with WD40

Our last job was real easy and that was just raking up a few leaves on the driveway and the piece of grass by the water line to clean that up too. We sprayed down the cement driveway when we were done so that was clean too. Remember the chickens run loose everyday and the entry carpet in our rig is starting to smell like chicken poop!

Not many leaves but it's cleaned up

It's just the three of us for supper tonight so we are making barbecue steak for supper with garlic mashed and brocoli. They grow lots of garlic right here of a few different varieties and it's great. We thoroughly enjoyed sitting chatting with Uncle Bill and enjoying a glass of wine or two after dinner. He has so many interesting stories to tell about his life as a commercial fisherman and when he was working for CN rail and how he met my Aunt Nancy and.... well you get it. We loved our time together. Another great day here in Saltair!

April 10

Bill has some errands to run and other things to do so we are driving over to Dave's cousin Holly's house for lunch at the pub. Holly lives not far away in a community called Cassidy very close to Nanaimo airport. We are moving to Rondalyn RV park Thursday which is a kilometer away from Holly and her husband Bob. We had a nice visit and a walk to Timberland pub for lunch and then back to Bills for dinner and a quiet evening.

April 11

Our last day at Uncle Bill's we got up and had a small breakfast and went for a walk. We came back to finish up all the projects and tidy up what we could. Dave and Sue came over for another visit.

Love this picture of Susan. Always a huge smile and a great laugh.

This kitchen table holds so many great memories for me. It has been surrounded by so many of the people I have loved the most in this world. Great memories!

More great times with Dave, me , Uncle Bill and Dave

After Susan and Dave left we made up a great spaghetti using Aunt Nancy's amazing home made sauce. So good!! Throw in a salad and it was another fantastic meal. Never a shortage of great food in this house. Since it was our last night Uncle Bill brought out a very nice store bought bottle of red wine. After that we brought in another from the trailer that he had enjoyed. The conversation was really flowing now. Dave and Uncle Bill found so many interests they had in common and it was tough to get a word in edge-wise! lol. With the party in full swing Uncle Bill brought out a huge jug of his homemade red all from hand picked berries on his land. So good!!

Note the big, almost empty jug on the table....ooops! Jared was helping too ;)

In case you missed Margaret in the bottom right of the above picture. Poor thing having to sleep on the floor while we had fun.

Anyway, we stayed up way past our bedtimes and are going to hate ourselves tomorrow as we are moving to our next adventure but it was so much fun none of us wanted it to end, especially Uncle Bill.