Pacifica to Delhi – 25 March 2022
Merced River RV was a pleasant stopping place for a week and an opportunity for Derek to get back to Victoria to attend to business. One of the dog wash machines in Victoria was having problems, he also needed to visit the warehouse in Vancouver to finish off a couple machines so we could deliver them to customers and as well visit with the builder to discuss the design of our new dog wash buildings.
It was a whirlwind trip for him. Because COVID border restrictions were still in place, he had to fit in a COVID test before leaving for Victoria and then again before returning. What a rip off these tend to be. We finally managed to find a test kit that he could buy in a pharmacy not too far from us, which he was able to administer virtually in front of a doctor – who by the way was officiating it from the Philippines. That only cost US$50. Not so lucky coming back. He had to have the test done at a special testing site in Vancouver for $175. The irony was that he returned on the 30th and two days later the requirement for testing was lifted.
In the meantime, I kept myself busy by catching up with work. We had good cellular and internet reception in the park so that was great. Jax made sure that I took him to the dog park several times a day. He would sit all day on the couch looking out of the side window which had a direct view of the dog park, and bark anytime he saw a dog there. The park was infested with ground squirrels. There were holes everywhere and you had to be careful not to accidentally step in one. These little creatures are so fast and as you walk around the park they just run across the path in front of you. Jax would spend a lot of time with his nose down the holes and would go crazy every time he saw them, practically pulling my hand off as he lunged on his leash.
Derek returned Wednesday night late. He had left his car at the airport in Fresno which was about an hour and a half away. The next day it was my birthday. After some calls with the girls, I decided to go and look for a chain (necklace) for my birthday present. Well, do you think we could find somewhere that sold jewellery? I eventually gave up and decided to buy some clothes instead. The only place I could find that had something I remotely liked was TJ Max (equivalent to Winners). We had accidentally forgotten to take out our summer clothes from our storage unit in Victoria, so it was nice to pick up some cool stuff, especially as the weather was getting much warmer. After a few hours it was time to get back to let Jax out so we didn’t have time to go out for supper and thought we would order in instead. Unfortunately that didn’t work out either as the restaurants only took orders until a certain time. So that was the end of my birthday. I think I definitely need a rain check on that one!
Our much awaited Lithium batteries and Inverter arrived but as Derek still needed some hardware as well as a few days to install, that would have to wait until the next longer stop. We are slowly starting to add more capacity over time to the RV so we are able to venture out to places where we don’t have to rely on utilities.
