Good times with family...3 weeks and counting.

(Photo: Kheeta, a beautiful blue heeler, determined that I will play fetch with her. How can you say no to that face?)

August long weekend is wrapping up here in central Alberta, and I am more thankful for this weekend than usual. Every year, a wonderful lady named Jean hosts 40-50 people for the entire weekend and on Saturday we have a corn roast. She provides the corn, we provide everything else.

Photo was borrowed from HERE. I forgot to take photos of the corn. It's the exact same though.

For those of you who have never participated in a corn roast, you take cobs of corn and soak them in water without shucking them, and then grill them, still without shucking them. The silk and leaves are left on the ear and they hold in the water, so when you grill them, you are actually steaming the corn. Its delicious!

I have an old hippy uncle and an amazing aunt who live in BC and they drive the 9 hours every year, hauling their 5th wheel, for the corn roast. It's the one time a year we see them. Not that we can't drive to their house, but it's amazing how you can put something like that off, being 'too busy' until, surprise! it's the August long weekend again.

My boy William (plaid trunks) and his cousins. They lived in the water this weekend.

Cal and Pat (my aunt and uncle) set up their 5'er on the lawn of Jean's house (did I mention her home is lakefront property?), and my family flocks to it like homing pigeons. It's become the event of the summer, and a small family reunion. This year, as I said, was extra special, since we will be moving 300km (186miles) north in 3 weeks. It was part family reunion, part farewell party.

Everyone at the corn roast had questions about what we were doing, naturally, but my Uncle Cal had advice. It was well received, as we have no real idea what we are doing. Cal and Pat spent one winter living in their RV in southern BC, so they have some experience. Uncle Cal admits that a southern BC winter is balmy compared to what we will face, but his advice is helpful none the less:

1. Wrap your water hose with heat tape and then slide it through a tube of weeping tile. This will keep the lines from freezing....or at least it does in BC.

2. Don't let your black and grey waters trickle into the dump. Keep your levers closed until 3/4 full and then open them up. This creates a rush of fluids and forces everything out, otherwise some 'solids' may not get flushed through and you'll get a clog. Also, when it's -20ºC/0ºF (or -40ºC/-40ºF <gulp>) the trickle will freeze, where the rush of fluid won't. We can also try to wait for a warmer day to 'let'er fly' so to speak.

3. Find someone who has wintered up north in a RV and pick their brain. They will be able to tell you everything you need to know.

For the most part, people I've talked to about us living in the RV full time have two concerns, the size of the space we will occupy, and the weather. I'm not concerned about the space, but I am definitely concerned about the weather. Our 5'er arrives in less than 3 weeks now, but we ordered it with double paned windows, heated compartments, thicker walls, etc. It's the 'whiteout package' offered by Keystone. This should make all the difference in the world. I hope. If anyone wants to see what we will be living in, you can see the floor plans and photos on the dealers website HERE. Once we actually have the RV, I'll post a video or some photos of it and how we set everything up.