Snow Shovelling, shoeing and mobiling!

Well it snowed and snowed and snowed this week. We must have had over 100cm fall and its now up to my knees when I try to walk in it!

Friday as the internet was down due to the snow storms overnight I could not do my work so I went out and shovelled snow for 4hrs until my shoulders could take no more. I cleared about 20cm depth off the whole deck, knowing of course it will be white again tomorrow!

Saturday we decided we'd better restock the fridge in case we get cut off here. So Kat and I drove my truck to Lillooet down some very icy compact snow roads!

It took 30mins to deice and dig out the truck. Then 2hrs to drive to Lillooet cautiously as its my first real drive in this truck in snowy conditions. In fact the muddy sections with deep pot holes were much worst than the smooth ploughed swnowy roads and hitting them at speed I fish tailed all over the road! At one point a logging truck was coming towards us, the road was narrowing so as I started to move to the exposed side of the road I braked sharply to ensure I didn't go on to the narrower section too soon and suddenly the mass of snow on my truck roof fell on the windscreen and all vision was obscured as I tried to remember where the wipers switch was! Kat gasped and I had a brief moment of fear as I could not tell where the sheer drop off the side of the road was either!

We spent 2.5hrs or so in Lillooet getting a meal at Dinas the greek place, then browsing in Fields, Voltz and the pharmacy then in to Buy Low Foods to fill my trolley with lots and lots of groceries to hopefully last me 3 weeks!

On the journey back I packed my frozen food into the snow in the truck bed so it did not defrost and fortunately it took just 1.5hrs coming back as the roads had melted and I was now more confident in how to drive my truck plus I was also getting to know the road a little better now.

7hrs for grocery shopping is a record for me and not one I want to repeat too often so I hope I can make these rations last. I have to say I don't think I have ever had such a full fridge or freezer, I'm more used to popping to the corner shop to buy today's meal 30 mins before I eat it!

Sunday was a bright blue sky day so first I went snow shoeing up the mountain bike trails from the beehive. Sinking deep in this soft soft snow with almost every step, I clambered over fallen trees in quite an ungainly manner with these big tennis rackets on my feet! It was a glorious day and this was great exercise for 2hrs.

When I got back it turned out everyone had been searching for me as someone (still a mystery) had called 911 from the lodge at 9am and when the police arrived (2hrs later from Lillooet) I was the only unaccounted for person! Quite a mystery!

It was also a stark reminder that help is a long way away!

This afternoon I went snow mobiling with Ron. At first it was so tough to turn the machine around tight corners, it has quite a wide turning circle but after a while I got used to the need to lean and to prepare for a wide corner. It's amazing how easy it is to get stuck in the soft deep snow we have right now, these machines are heavy especially at slow speeds, they need to go fast and it was fun to start speeding up on them.

Another great weekend full of adventures and new experiences!