WESTERN CANADA PLEASURE-WAY RV CLUB NEWSLETTER Nov 2012 Website: http://wcpwrv.weebly.com NEW MEMBERS ROMEDER, Sunita -. Sunita joins us from Vancouver. I received an email from Sunita asking if I knew anyone with a PW Traverse. I forwarded her email to the only member we had who owned one and Fran helped her decide to buy the Traverse and she loves it. MURLEY, George & Jean - Have joined us from Vancouver Island. DYKE, Dave & Val - Another new member from Vancouver Island. We are off in the beginning of Dec for 3 months, heading for Arizona for Christmas with our son, then off to southern part of Arizona and California. If any one else is down there, send us an e-mail and maybe we can have a cool one. WHITBREAD, David & Margo Join us from Victoria, BC. We purchased our Pleasure-Way, through a private sale, in Chilliwack in September of this year after finally defining how we liked to camp. We have previously owned an older 5 th wheel, a used camper and a brand new 5 th wheel. Unfortunately, we owned all of these vehicles in the span of one year. Our defining moment, our aha moment, was when we realized how we liked to camp. We realized that we went to a campsite, set up and then left in our vehicle to explore the area. We realized that the experience for us was in getting to the site, rather than being at the site. We love to explore new roads and new areas. We believe we now have the best unit on the road that meets our needs. We have not been on any camping experiences yet however, we re looking forward to our adventures next year! As we both work full time our camping trips are quite often limited to weekends however, we re hoping to take a few longer journeys. Our goal is to travel across Canada. Hopefully that goal will be achieved one of these Pleasure-Way days! In the meantime you ll know it s us when you hear the phrase, I wonder where that road goes to? 1
TRAVELS Ian & Polly Sutherland - Wish we were South right now. We are heading to Hawaii in a couple of weeks and then we ll be back for Christmas...after which we will be heading south in the PW for a couple of months. We have no plan other than finding sunshine and warm weather. I expect we will spend some time near Palm Springs because we like it there and then possibly travel east though Yuma to???...maybe over to South Padre Island and San Antonio, Texas depending on time...we ll make it up as we go, the Pleasure Way. Hope we all get together again soon. Powell River was so much fun. Any further interest in the Yukon? Ray & Leah Bradford - Ray and I loved our road trip from Nanaimo to Newfoundland last summer. The weather was terrific, the people were friendly everywhere we went and the van was a joy to drive and live in. We decided to come back to Nanaimo by way of the States. It took us nearly 4 months and we spent every night in our 2007 Pleasure Way van because it is so comfortable. A real highlight for us was attending the large RV show in Hershey, Pennsylvania as well as the Pleasure Way Rendezvous at the Hershey Campground with the Eastern Pleasure Way Club. Lots of fun and lovely people. We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Best Wishes in the New Year. Claude & Jeannette from Prince Albert, Sask did some cruising through Alberta in their 1998 Dodge this summer. Claude has sent us some pictures of his unit with his Honda scooter on the back. 2
Check out the back window, seeing as I am over 65 it is my Senior Toy Hauler. Claude TAKING FOOD ACROSS THE BORDER Jim Dickson A recent trip across the border into Washington State has us rethinking the food we stock in our PW cupboards and fridge. Having crossed the border several times in past years and having dog food and eggs confiscated we have gotten pretty confident as to what is acceptable to take across and what is not. Since prices are cheaper in the US, we tend to buy our food and beverages once we cross the border. While I am not going to get into the details of what is acceptable (and it does depend on who the border guard is and if they have had a good night s sleep) I will let you try to figure that out from the following website. https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/82. Concerning dog food. We had been told in previous trips by border agents that we need to have proof that the pet food was made in the USA. Canadian manufactured dog food, canned or dry, is not acceptable. No problem, we buy Purina and keep the bag which shows it is USA made. This time the nice US border guard not only asked where the pet food was made but if it contained lamb. Lamb, being a very popular ingredient, could well have been included. However, she checked the list of ingredients and said it was OK. Knowing that fruit and vegetables from 3
Canada are a no-no, we stock up with canned and dry foods and leave them in the cupboard. This time we were asked if we had rice. Yes, rice, depending on country of origin is now banned. But without the package you won t know where it originated. Apparently we passed the test and were sent on our way. By the way, the web site doesn t tell you the acceptable countries for rice. In summary, new items added to list of banned foods were rice and food (people or pet) with lamb. Of course beef, poultry and dairy products, canned or not, are banned. Amazingly, I can buy all of the items prohibited from entering the US and bring them across into Canada as groceries. No questions, no problem. Visit the web site I mentioned above before your next trip across the border and I am sure you will find out something new. For our American friends coming to Canada, visit the Canadian Border Services site to see what is acceptable. http://www.cbsa.gc.ca. RALLY Donna Vater sent a suggestion for a group get together. Why not try Waterton Lake National Park in southern Alberta, extremely beautiful and popular park with cook houses, lots of walking trails, beautiful scenery and reasonably prices. We stayed there in September and we loved the park. In the spring we will have to start to think of places to get together. If this is some place others are interested in, just let me know. YUKON George Bull Hello all you who want to travel to the Yukon and Alaska members. As some are aware - a trip to the Yukon and Alaska was discussed at the Powell River meeting. Also it was asked if we would organize and lead the pack. Well we have had some sickness in the family here and it is sort of over and we should be back on the road in no time. I would like to return to Alaska for sure as we did enjoy it all. As for a leader you just don t need one. Travel in a group when you can and stay at certain destinations so the pack knows were most will be each night. Members can join and leave the tour anytime they want and that way it is free to come and go and see whatever you want. Now, I will collate all the info for the trip and get it out to those interested. Therefore, if you really want to take the trip meaning you are serious - send me your names and I will collect it all and develop a plan and pass it onto those who want to go. If you are not interested please do not send me your name as I must plan for the ones going to attend. Also we will discuss what everyone would like to see and where everyone wants to go. The trip as a whole will take approximately six to eight weeks. As I said, anyone can join or leave anytime. Time for leaving will be up to the majority vote. Place to gather will also be up to the majority vote. This can be a wonderful trip and very enjoyable as well. We went alone last time and really liked the freedom to come and go as we pleased. So enough said by me. Get your names into me and I will do all I can to help out. Now, to convince Rosemarie to come along as well. She likes destinations south, me too in the winter. Happy Trails DEPARTURES - We have had a few members who have sold their PW s and decided on other means of traveling or to just put their feet up at home. Even some decided on changing their RV to something bigger, but we still like to keep in touch with these people as we have become 4
friends. We will be keeping in touch with these friends and who knows they may just happen to be at one of the campgrounds where we are meeting. One such couple sent us and email today. For your next PW newsletter, I was thinking you may want to put in a blurb about Esther and I departing the PW club. It is with certain regrets we are pulling away from a great club you and George began and ran so smoothly over the past 5 or- so years. We always looked forward to receiving your member lists and newsletters, with accompanying pictures. And most certainly we ll miss the rally s that were organized. The last rally in Powell River was very enjoyable and we met so many neat couples with their PW s. Of course, we are still owners of a PW, until Voyager RV sells ours, but come April, we will no longer be honourable Pleasure Way people. In your newsletter, you may mention what and why we re leaving the fold, and if anyone is interested in a good used PW Plateau RV, it can be found on www.voyagerrv.ca website. This will not mean we re leaving all the good friends we have met, just that next time we re together, we ll be in a different RV. We ll always be looking for any PW s in campgrounds that we will be traveling to and hopefully we ll recognize the club logo on the windows. So, please express our Happy Trails to everyone until we meet again. George and Rosemarie will always be our great friends. John & Esther Barker 5