Leaving Peace River, Alberta for Cranbrook, British Columbia

 Heading South for the Winter. Cranbrook, BC

Being the first summer in our RV we were able to set up our little home on wheels for the warmer weather but we figured out that minus 20 Deg C weather was not an ideal first winter for us so I took a 6 month sabbatical from working in northern Alberta so we packed up and headed south, well as far south as COVID would allow. We were originally going to stay on Vancouver Island for it's mild winters. We made a few stops along the way, as we had a few days to get to Cranbrook. It would also mean a stop for a few days at one of the bigger RV parks on the outskirts of Edmonton, Alberta.

Dimond Grove RV Park, is about 6 hours south of Peace River. it's one of those RV parks where your average rig is worth around $250.000 plus. We were greeted by a grumpy RV attendant who guided us into our site and explained ad nauseum about how to back our RV a difficult 30 feet and DON"T DRIVE ON THE GRASS!!! Seriously this guy was as condescending as hell. I figured that this asshole was just used to assisting overly cautious, over cashed retirees reverse the kids inheritance into it's spot. 

The RV site rules were somewhat draconian such as all wood for firepit's and BBQ's had to be bought from the site otherwise "fire privilege's would be rescinded. Other RV park rules were standard as you would expect, such as animals on a lead etc.     

Service with a frown

The site on a daily fee was $50.00 per night, which is the most expensive way to pay for a site but as we were there for three nights it was our only option. RVer's stay at this park. It's open all year around, just don't bring your own fire wood.

Our time in Edmonton allowed us to catchup with friends and Raewyn's family. We left for Lethbridge, AB and encountered 100Km winds which managed to partially remove some of the plastic fender. Like I said, these RV's break. I was surprised as the crosswinds didn't seem to push the RV around. We did notice that the fuel consumption did increase considerably. 

We left Edmonton for Lethbridge to stay with friends then on to Cranbrook, BC where we are going to stay for the winter.

 

Life in the Peace River region of Alberta

 Welcome to Peace River, Alberta

For the duration of our stay in the Peace region allowed us to take stock of the new RV and our new way of life as three days prior we were living in a house in Oliver, BC. Raewyn, was in the process of going back to fulltime study in business & HR management. I was working within the oil and gas sector in the Peace Region. I had already been working fir the same company for two years prior and was fly in and fly out back to Oliver.

When we arrived in Peace River, Alberta the temperatures dropped to below freezing but was a few degrees over by mid morning so our non-insulated water hose for the RV supply would partially  freeze.

As previously mentioned we were over loaded while transporting the RV over the Rockies from Oliver, we needed to continue to go through our stuff to see what we really need and can do without. For the interim and to preserve our sanity we rented a small storage unit through Rendez-Vous RV park. While the reader might think "out of site out of mind" it still allowed us some space to go through stuff over the next 6 months. One benefit of COVID was that the holiday season for Northern Alberta was relatively quiet, particularly as roads crossing into the Territories were closed for the season.

The bulk of guests at the RV park were employed within the energy sector or working in construction twinning the bridge across the Peace River and various projects around the region. Due to the extremes in climate most construction happens in the warmer months. 

Yep, people live in RV's in -40 Deg C

During our time we were hoping to take some time out to travel and explore the local area unfortunately due to the COVID restrictions that were inplace at the time and my workload traveling the area was fairly restricted. 

High Level, Alberta

We did get to relocate to High Level, Alberta which is about 3 hours North from Peace River, Alberta for a few weeks which was made easier with the bulk of our stuff in our storage unit. What can I tell you about High Level? It's a town in the middle of nowhere, it's about as far north as you can grow wheat even for that it's pretty marginal as the summer season is so short. The main income is from oil and gas and forestry with some tourism mainly hunting and fishing. Any further north and it's mainly tundra and muskeg.

How to constructively break stuff

We were soon to discover how easy it is to break stuff in the RV. Cabinets and fittings are fairly fragile not to mention keep an eye out when opening and closing slides particularly in the kitchen and under the bed as where there seems to be alot of unused space. It's amazing how well a slide can crush pots and pans!

While you can store kitchen stuff there don't close that slide!

We learnt early on on that before you open and close slides be sure to check that cupboard doors, and that crush spaces are clear of obstacles as not only do they get damaged they can cause damage to the slides themselves.

For all of the wood grained paneling there isn't a large mount that is actually made out of wood. it's mostly MDF with a plastic coating. This generally means that fixtures and fittings fall off or can be damaged through general use and while the RV is being towed down the road.

As someone said its like a house in a tornado/earthquake for the duration of the trip.

There is a reason for the materials used in the construction of an RV that is weight. The RV has to be built to be within the weight that the axles are rated to and ofcourse the towing capacity of the vehicle and license restrictions that may apply. A basic tool kit and some items such as screws, plumbing fittings and glue will come in handy. Most of the repairs we have had to do since we bought the 5th wheel have been fairly basic such as replacing broken plumbing fittings due to a few cold and frosty mornings, remounting cabinet doors and anything else likely to fall off.