May 30th, 2026
After a pleasant nearly 8 hour drive, we made it the 730 km / 454 mi to Reno today. Doug had booked us a week in a suite at the Plaza Resort with a king bed, some kitchen facilities, a couch, dining table and huge bathroom. It’s an older, dated building with its own parkade but it’s clean and very close to Reno’s Riverwalk. After getting all our stuff from the car and settling in, we went for a walk along the river and checked out a few “events” we saw when driving in (not up our alley) and then returned to our room to chill.
There was a huge “strong man” type show going on and Doug took at turn at the free gripping booth:
It was much cooler here than in Vegas; it was to hit 34C / 98F in Vegas today rising back up into the low 40’s C / 100’s F as the week progressed. Here it might hit 30 in a few days but today, a comfy 22C / 72F with some big “Simpsons” clouds.
Serena and Kurt joined us after she got off work. (Her weekends are Sunday/Monday.) Kurt just quit his job about two ago and found a new one quite quickly so he’s been home doing home upkeep. He starts in a week and will work bankers hours instead of shift work and they are both pleased about this. Serena will work towards switching her days off to match his in the next couple of months.
Sunday morning, we joined them at their house where we walked over to the local pickleball courts to play a few games. Fran’s knee was hurting so Serena took the brunt of the active play for their side. It was a fun time. We headed over to the Grand Sierra Resort in the afternoon for a Fat Tuesday and a soak in the pool including lounging under a beach umbrella in the very pleasant weather.
Kurt barbecued for us that night and we watched some trivia shows preparing for trivia at a bar the next night.
Monday we started the day picking them up and driving to Carson City to the Hot Springs for a two hour soak in the pools of varying temperatures.
This was followed by picking up lunch at Port of Subs to have what we had hoped would be a picnic by the river. The park we found was near the river but not on it. We found a shelter with shade in the park, ate our lunch and then went for a walk down to the river.
We both went to our respective “homes” for a few hours before joining up for a lovely healthy dinner at Great Full Gardens before hitting the pub to play Trivia. It was supposed to start at 7 and didn’t get going until 7:30 so we only stayed for a half hour (two rounds) before leaving as Serena had to work the next day. She likes to go to bed by 8:30 as she rises at 5:15 am to work out before going to work (she has set up a gym in their second bedroom). She is in amazing shape these days and is quite inspiring; very little if any alcohol and a good routine of healthy meals.
We spent Tuesday and Wednesday on our own so as not to be in their faces too much and joined up with Serena at her soccer game (she plays in a rec league) on Thursday night. It brought us all back to the days when both kids played three times a week!
Doug did one of his marathon walks on Friday and Fran did her usual daily things adding sitting on the sun deck to read in the afternoon. Her knees are really bothering her but she’s gotta hold out until June 23rd for her next shot as she didn’t want to get it too early and spoil our summer trip.
We are monitoring the situation in Uganda regarding Ebola pretty closely and have not canceled that part of our African trip as yet. There’s still a month till our flight. We have checked with the airline and they are giving full refunds if you want to cancel due to the outbreak. The concern is not so much for being in Uganda as there are no cases outside of the capital city, Kampala, but more about not being able to enter other countries due to having been in Uganda. Our school is quite a distance from the capital and we will not be spending anytime there.
Friday we stayed the course until the evening when we took the “kids” to see “Scary Movie”. We thought we’d check out the “DFX” seating for a little extra but we’d didn’t notice much extra except a sort of table top in front of the arms with the cup holders. Kurt seemed to enjoy the movie most of the four of us; Fran was not very impressed but didn’t expect to be.
So Saturday June the 6th we hit the road to head north to Canada. Enroute to our one sight seeing stop, Doug was online and learned that Mauritius has banned entry from anyone traveling from Uganda. That was the deciding factor on whether to go or not as we were going to fly to Mauritius after visiting KEGS and a few days in Rwanda. So we’ve pulled the trigger and that night Fran chatted with Kenya Airways and confirmed again that they are giving full refunds for people who want to cancel flights to and from Uganda due to the outbreak. So we’ve applied for refunds and fingers crossed, we get it all back.
So after topping up our tank in Klamath Falls (gas was over $6 a gallon in CA and it’s almost that bad heading north) we stopped at a place we’ve wanted to visit for a few years but it’s best in Spring and our timing was always off.
Toketee Falls is southwest of Bend, Oregon and east of the I5 and the photos we’d seen looked lovely. It was a bit of a detour off path but worth it. There is a small parking lot and a short 10-15 minute to an overlook:
It was a nice stretch of the legs; Fran’s knees felt pretty good before the hike, but she suffered a lot after as the trail is over roots and rocks and about 200 up and down steps.
We made it to Roseburg, OR for the night and went out for some really good pizza recommended by the hotel. Ole Soul Pizza – remember that, if you are in the area.
That night we used our credit card points and rebooked our flights out of JFK for July 4th; this time direct to Mauritius. We have decided to visit the islands nearby (Reunion and Rodrigues) before our already booked week on the main island of Mauritius. We’ll spend some time in the next few days making the plans and booking hotels/cars etc. for that part.
Sunday, we were up early anyway and hit the road to go towards Seattle. The Camry has been a joy to drive and today we actually hit 3.5 liters per 100 km or 29 km per liter / 67.3 mpg! Much of the drive was freeway and not as scenic as our drive up from Reno but we expected that as we’ve done this part of the country many times.
Doug found us a hotel in Kent, just south of Seattle and we checked in, went for walks and then went next door for dinner at the bar where they served all day breakfast. Naturally, the skies were grey and there were on and off sprinkles – welcome to the Pacific Northwest!
Monday morning, Doug heard from the dealer, that the MSO document we need to register the car in SD had been mailed on June 2nd to our agent in SD – but no one had emailed it to us as we had asked! So we asked him to do so, sent it off to our agent, and after one more document she needed she was able to advise of the amount of taxes we would owe.
Doug had an appointment with his usual ocularist to discuss whether he felt a new prosthetic eye was needed (the one in the Philippines had said no) but the wait was very long despite having an appointment and he gave up. He’s pretty sure the guy will say “yes” you do as it benefits him so Doug has decided to try again while we’re in Johannesburg in August.
We stopped for some groceries at Walmart only to discover it was closed today! We went a few blocks away and found a Fred Meyer and got a few things to take up to Canada with us.
We began the drive up to to the border, stopping at a post office to get the money orders required to pay the vehicle taxes, put all the original documents together and sent it to our agent, priority post. She should receive it by Thursday and should have received the original MSO by that time and attend to the registration for us. We are going to use the same plates that we had on the Tundra so that saves her mailing them to us in Nevada. Once she tells us it has been registered, we can swap out the OK plates for SD plates.
We stopped once last time at Costco to top off the tank and headed to the border where before crossing we hit the duty free for some beer and a bottle of “Jack” for a friend of ours (Canada is no longer importing alcohol from the US due to tariffs) and joined the “traffic crawl” on the TransCanada Highway to get up to North Vancouver. It actually cleared out pretty quickly in our direction and we were at Fran’s sister’s apartment by 4:30. It was quite cool here at barely 14C / 57F and we had to shut all the windows and used blankets to sleep that night.
Tuesday, we awoke to continued grey skies with on and off rain in the morning, a bit of clearing and warming up to 23C / 73F in the afternoon with showers again at night. Doug went off to a dentist to see about some tooth pain, had an implant tightened and learned he needed a root canal but not urgently. So we might wait till we are somewhere where that is cheaper. After that he went to join his university buddy, Pete, for lunch down on the Lonsdale quay.
Vancouver is one of the host cities for the World Cup 2026 and you can see the “futbol fever” around town.
Tickets are WAY out of our price range so attending is not our our agenda.
As Sandra’s apartment does not have internet and Fran didn’t want to use up all her data up (she gets 2GB a day in Canada), she went over to the library for a couple of hours to do some research on the islands around Mauritius which we have decided to visit in lieu of Uganda and Rwanda. She found a good guide, took some notes and then decided to order a used cheap version of it from Amazon which should arrive by the time we get home on the 20th.
Doug got back around 3:30 and at 4 we were off to our good friends, Chris & Irene for dinner and cards after dessert. It’s always nice to catch up with them and they love playing cards as much as we do so it was a fun evening. While they only live a few long blocks away, we had driven then for two reasons: Fran’s knees are worse at night and rain was threatening and did start about a half hour before we left their place.
Wednesday, we went over to the library together and sussed out what we both wanted to see and do on our now free two weeks in Africa before grabbing the car and picking up Josh from the SeaBus terminal. He’d flown in this morning to join us on Saturday for the family gathering.
That night Fran’s good friend, Gaye, picked her up and they joined three of their other friends from their working days in the early 80’s. Every time we come to town Fran gathers them together for a catch up dinner. Sandy, Deb and Linda joined them and a good gab session and dinner was had by all. Sadly Pam and Dina could not make it
While she was out, Doug and Josh went our for pizza and beer and then watched a movie at Sandra’s. We were all up before 7 on Thursday to catch the ferry to Vancouver Island. Seems nowadays it’s not worth it to just drive up and get onboard and from our experience last year, we had booked sailings a couple of months ago. As we drove up to the terminal, the sign said “bookings only” for the ferry we wanted so that worked out. This ferry route is especially busy as it’s the closest to Vancouver.
Upon disembarking and a quick stop at Costco for Kraft peanut butter to take home, we did something that every trip to the island requires: a stop at Billy Gruff Creamery at “Goats on the Roof” in Coombs. So it was ice cream for breakfast and a box of six donuts to go. We headed down island to Victoria stopping at the Vic General Hospital. Our nephew, Blake, had had a fall several days ago and will not be able to make the family gathering on Saturday; we have not seen him in several years so we visited with him for about an hour. Hopefully, his infection clears up soon and he will be able to go home.
We arrived at Doug’s brother D’Arcy’s around 3:30 and got settled in. His girlfriend, Jess, his daughters, Emma and Sophie, Emma’s boyfriend Kyle, all joined us for dinner. D’Arcy made tuna steaks which we very good (unlike the ones we had in the Philippines) and it was nice to catch up.
Mid-morning Friday, the three of us drove over to Sooke to go to Fran’s dad’s bench on Whiffin Spit – it was pretty darn foggy! We then had a nostalgic lunch at Mom’s Cafe – this is where Doug and Fran used to go for lunch every Sunday when Doug took his break from the grocery store job before we moved to Vancouver back in 1981! It’s still has the same charm and great breakfast meals.
On the drive home, we showed Josh where we used to live back in the day in Sooke and were back at D’Arcy’s by 2ish.
That evening D’Arcy had plans so the three of us went into the city to Pinahalla to play some pinball and enjoy some beer and pizza.
Whenever we come to Victoria in the spring/early summer, D’Arcy’s rhubarb patch is ready and Fran makes rhubarb tarts for him. So Saturday morning, after picking up a few ingredients, her and Josh got to work.
Saturday was the day of the family gathering we’d driven up here for. We are saying goodbye to Doug’s mom who passed away last year, her second husband, Bill who passed in 2016, her third husband who passed in 2013 and Doug’s niece, Samantha who passed away in 2015 (car crash). Doug’s sister, Dana arranged this gathering so all the ashes could be spread at the same time and a BBQ potluck dinner was organized, all at Esquimalt Lagoon.
Everyone showed up between 3 and 5 and Josh volunteered to do the grilling. A few people were missing from the family (Serena, our nieces Eva Maria, Chantelle, our nephew Jordan (they had a celebration of life on the other side of their family to attend up island) and Doug’s Uncle and his family, our step niece Kimeesha and our step nephew, Jarrell but overall a good turnout considering everyone has their own busy schedules.
After all our bellies were full, it was time for the main event. Dana had four packages of ashes ready for us to all take turns spreading and quietly contemplating our lost ones. Our niece Samantha and her grandfather (Doug’s stepfather) were spread first at a tree next to our picnic site. (This makes it an easy place to find going forward.). Then we walked across the spit to spread their mother and her third husband, Doug at the edge of the lagoon.
After the latter, we gathered for a group shot which D’Arcy took.
We returned to D’Arcy’s and then around 9, Fran drove Josh to the Victoria International Airport for his red eye back to Toronto.
Sunday, after Doug’s run, we had our monthly KEGS meeting, Doug had lunch with a college buddy and we (along with D’Arcy) went to Byron & Sharon’s for a BBQ’d ribs dinner where Doug’s best man, Randy joined us for a lovely early dinner along with a friend of Sharon’s.
Forgot to take pics.
We were back at D’Arcy’s by 6ish and at which point, shortly after, Doug’s niece, Chantelle and her husband, Brad, joined us for a couple of drinks. We’d not seen them since 2014 when we began overlanding! And again, we forgot to take pics!
We crashed early and were up at 4:20 am on Monday to make our reserved ferry back to the mainland at 6am. We continued our stay at Fran’s sister’s and after unpacking the car, Doug went to have lunch with another college friend in the city, while Fran took a nap. Her knees have been quite sore this past two weeks and she’s not sleeping well. Countdown to her cortisone shot on the 23rd!
Doug saw that we’d received our airline refunds today so that was very good news.
That night we thought we’d partake of a world cup soccer party; there was no game in Vancouver but at various places around the metro area, they are holding viewing parties. One such place was The Shipyards down at the Lonsdale Quay not too far from us. We caught the bus down the hill to the waterfront around 5:15, found a spot to sit along the outside of what in winter is an ice rink and had a beer awaiting the start of the Argentina v Algeria game on the big screen (game was in Kansas City). Shortly before the start of he game, Doug went to get some Triple O burgers from a food truck and we watched the first half of the game. It was 1-0 at half time and as we were both tired we left. We saw at home that the game ended 3-0 with Messi getting a hat trick!
Wednesday, we cleaned up the apartment, did laundry and Doug went for a root canal. Sandra showed up around noon and left for her afternoon job and Fran finished up things before Doug got back for lunch. We packed up and headed over to our friends, Therese and Pat’s for dinner and an overnight stay.
Sandra joined us after work for a visit before she caught the ferry back to Gibsons.
Always SO nice to catch up with them and enjoy a great meal. Therese’s dad had landed in hospital that morning due to shortness of breath and she and Fran went over for a short visit after dinner. He’s 95 and still living on his own in a house so it’s quite amazing. Roy was tired but in good spirits.
Thursday morning after a short morning visit with them, we hit the road to head home around 7:30 making it out of Vancouver area with no issues. We had the intention of making the drive over 3 days. Due to the earlier start than originally thought, and the lack of hotels enroute, we drove till 4 that day in time to catch the second half of the Canada v Qatar World Cup Match being played in Vancouver (first game was in Toronto that was a draw against Bosnia). We heard the first half of the match on the radio in the car as we currently have a free limited time subscription to Sirius with our new car. We found a bar in Baker City, had some nachos and beer/cider and cheered on our team. It was a bittersweet win with a serious injury to Kone in the second half, with Qatar down two players due to red cards; game ended in 6-0 win for Canada. Jonathan David got a hat trick! This was an historic moment in many ways for Canada!
Friday morning we were up early and hit the road by 6:20 and it was a pretty easy drive with little to no traffic and again, due to lack of hotels on this remote route through eastern NV decided to just push and get home which we did by 6:30.
That gave us another day to finish up Africa planning and get ready for our eleven week summer trip. Doug had a final PT session on Monday, Fran got her cortisone shot on Tuesday.
Wednesday, we awoke to a little bit of sprinkling rain before we caught out flight(s) to Buffalo to spend just over a week with Josh and the grandkids before heading to Africa. First flight from Vegas to Chicago, left on time, landed early. During our flight we caught the first half of the Canada v Switzerland, game and during our layover, watched the sad ending of a 2-1 loss. But hey, they have made it out of the first round – a feat never achieved by the Canadian Men’s Team – so kudos! Now they go off to LA for the second group of matches which is a knock out round against South Africa (who also had never made it to the second round before).
The second flight to Buffalo was delayed due to a small maintenance issue as well as a late pilot. Then the thunderstorms started after we finally pulled away from the gate and it was over two hours before we took off; they kept trying to reroute us around the storm with 5 false starts!
We made it around midnight, took an Uber to pick up our Honda and packages that we had delivered here and then spent the night in a hotel to leave the drive to Josh’s till the next day in the rain – sometimes it really came down too but by about 2/3 of the way, it began to lessen with sunny patches. While we leave 42C / 108F in Vegas, it was barely 20C / 70F here!
This past month we received excellent news from the director of KEGS:
As of June 8, 2026, the Kitojo Empowered Girls School is officially registered and classified by the state! This means the school can now continue to operate indefinitely and, most importantly, with security—without the risk of arbitrary closure or personal liability for the director.
The bureaucratic hurdles that Lucky Asiimwe had to overcome were enormous. After passing through all the administrative levels that had to review and approve the application, it was finally assessed – and approved – by the national education authority in Kampala!
During this process, which took several years, a great many requirements had to be met: The construction of permanent classrooms, washrooms, a dining and assembly hall, the fencing of the school grounds, and only recently the construction of the nursery and administrative building could only be realized thanks to the help of so many people.
On behalf of Lucky and the entire school community, a huge thank you to all donors for their generous support, without which this success would not have been possible!
There will still be plenty to do, even though this milestone has now been reached. The running of this operation continues and funds are always needed. Please let us know if you are able to help out.
