5C's Que Pasa

After my walk this morning, I try and do at least 5000 steps, I sat at my desk to cool down.  Once I got my desk sorted out I called the insurance broker who had not yet checked if she could write the policy today.  She called and found out that she was clear to write and I told her we would be there shortly.  We wanted to get it done right away just in case there was another fire within 50KM later today or tomorrow.  We were relieved to have that out of the way.

Blog reader Dee made a comment yesterday about disaster insurance relative to the US.  Just to clarify, we can get home owners insurance during fires but not if there is one burning within 50KM of your address.  We have had two such fires in the last few weeks but are now clear.  As to flood insurance which here in Canada is called overland water meaning a river, creek or lake rising and coming over the land is very new here in Canada.  It was first introduced in only two provinces in 2015 and just last fall here in BC.  Being as we live on a lake it was important to get that coverage.  What most people don’t know is that it is very inexpensive.  It only cost us an additional $100.00 for the year.

We ran several errands while we were out including adding another USB flash drive to our safe box at the bank.  This one holds five years of company tax information on it.  We also added our passports as well as extra cash in the form of US dollars, pesos and euros, you can’t be too careful.  So glad that we no longer have to be concerned about being prepared.  We are ready.

Next was a trip into Kelowna to pick up my new iPhone 6.  Best Buy had a sale that ended tonight where I did not have to put any money out, just pay my $55.00 per month for two years.  The only glitch is that the package I wanted which was unlimited texting and talk Canada wide had been removed last night. Apparently all carriers change their plans often.  All I could get was $55.00 which includes 500 anytime minutes and unlimited minutes after 5PM to 7AM and on weekends and 1GB of data per month.  I really did not want data but more the unlimited talk as if I am out I want to be able to talk to Colin as much as I like.  With my car I can use hands free talk but that is okay as I don’t didn’t have a phone before today and managed without talking to him.  I have used pay phones in the past but those are almost impossible to find these days.

So I now finally have a phone with a phone number that I hope is written on the contract somewhere 🙁   I got a mini lesson, the guy just did not understand that I seriously had no idea how to operate a smartphone.  Nor does Colin, he has a flip phone Blackberry.  He quickly mentioned this and that, I would stop him and ask detailed questions and write the answers down.  Despite the very short lesson I have no idea what I am doing and have managed to get locked out of a few areas 😯   The only thing I enjoyed was playing with the various sounds.  So I have chosen one to indicate an incoming phone call, one for texts and one for voicemail.  Now I just have to figure how to call and to text never mind remember which sound is for what  🙄 Within a few hours I was ready to throw the phone in the lake.  My head was spinning and the day was not over.

I played with the phone as Colin drove us over to West Kelowna.  Traffic was extremely slow and thick.  We finally got on the bridge ( the only bridge I might add ) and saw an accident coming from the Westside to Kelowna.  As we drove we saw how backed up the traffic was.  It would take hours to get back to Kelowna.  We were on our way to pick up the RV.

Freightliner was finally done with it.  They have had it since June 26th and wanted us to pick it up ASAP as they needed the space.  So as soon as we gave them $4100.00 they gave us the keys to the RV.   Long story short, we needed a power steering pump.  It took a while for the parts to come in from the US.  You might remember that in early May when we went to pick up the RV as we were being evacuated due to the flooding and needed a place to live in, that we were charged about $3000.00 and that was for new shocks, annual maintenance ( usually 1500.00 ) and a few broken rods related to the front suspension, likely due to the Mexican roads we have driven over the many years.

However due to the bridge accident and miles and miles of backup we left the RV in the parking lot and drove somewhere close by for dinner.  We were supposed to meet the owner of a new storage lot at 6PM but that was impossible and was rescheduled to 9PM.  She wanted to wait till tomorrow but we had no place to leave the RV overnight.  I’m sure that you recall that we had to be winched out of the park’s storage lot which was and still is full of ground water.  By the way Good Sam did pay for the winching even though I only called them after the fact.  My photos did help tell them the story and there was no question that we had to act fast and were not able to call them.

So we finally got back across the lake and Colin parked the RV on the street for 30 minutes while we waited to meet the our new RV storage landlord.  Too much paperwork to deal with and it was very dark ( dusk long gone ) when it came time to park.  It is a very dusty lot and I was getting a face full of dust as I directed Colin to the spot.  Not an easy feat in the dark but we eventually did it.  We offered to re park in the daylight if she was not happy with what we had done.  We were most fortunate that she came late for us and that we only have to pay by the month.  It appears that unlike here at the park, we won’t have to pay while we are away.  Nice to catch a savings of $412.50.  That will help balance things out.

So with saving $100.00 down on the iPhone, no charge for the $10.00 Virgin SIM card and the RV storage saving of $412.50, we are ahead $522.50.  Plus by using my WestJet ( Canadian airline ) Travel MasterCard we will get close to  $62.00 deposited into our WestJet travel fund.  I have to say that the positives far outweighed the few negatives today.

No photos as the entire day was at a hectic pace.  11:50PM and I can now say that my day is complete.

Cheers!