After getting back to Osoyoos, we quickly settled into a new routine that was quite different from life on the road. On May 20th, I started the day with a good climb up Anarchist Mountain, cycling 11 kilometres to the sign and gaining more than 600 metres before turning around and racing back down. June hadn’t slept well, so she decided to skip the ride.

Later, the four of us—June, Leslie and Steve—used the Mercedes and Jeep to move some of our clothes and belongings up to the condo. We rewarded ourselves afterward with pizza from Mami’s Pizza, although we weren’t quite as impressed with it this time around. The day ended with a nice sunset and a cool evening after another very hot day.

The next morning I managed to mess up my pickleball registration, so I couldn’t play. Instead, we went for a bike ride out Black Sage Road, then up to the big Home Hardware and back. We covered a little over 40 kilometres with about 300 metres of climbing.

While we were at Home Hardware, we priced out toilets, which were running between $280 and $400, and picked up some towel hooks and rings. Back at the condo, Steve and I worked on organizing the garage and making room for our things. The Harleys were tucked away in the garage along with the Mercedes, while June and Leslie concentrated on purging and organizing the closets and our belongings.

By mid-afternoon the rain started, and it turned into a thunderstorm that continued through the evening. It was a good excuse to stay inside and keep working on getting everything organized.

May 22nd was another cloudy and overcast day. I played pickleball in the morning while June went for a walk, and then we spent more time working on the condo—organizing, hanging things and figuring out where everything should go. We were slowly turning the place into our own.

The following morning I got a haircut at Mike’s Barbershop, and then we were on the road by 11:30, heading west to White Rock. June drove the motorhome while I followed in the Mercedes, and the drive over the mountains was beautiful. Unfortunately, once we reached Abbotsford, traffic nearly came to a standstill. What should have been a four-and-a-half-hour drive turned into a six-hour slog, and we didn’t reach Peace Arch until after 5:00.

Once we arrived, we headed over to Bryan and Alexis’s for dinner. Danielle was there as well, along with Wayne, Grace and Chris, so it was a good opportunity to catch up with everyone. We headed home shortly after 9:00.

On May 24th, we started the day at Kerisdale Camera in Langley, where we looked at some cameras. I ended up purchasing a lens for myself, and we also picked up a lens for Steve to use with Leslie’s camera. From there, we hit Costco and then stopped at IKEA to get some ideas for organizing the condo closets.

We then went over to Bryan and Alexis’s to collect the rest of our belongings from their crawl space and move everything into their garage. After getting all that done, we headed out for dinner with the Zehrs at Oak Park Pub.

The next morning we left Peace Arch around 9:30 and went back to Bryan and Alexis’s to pick up our remaining things. We were back on the road by 10:30, heading east toward Osoyoos.

On the way, we stopped to visit Peter and Darlene at their new place southwest of Chilliwack. They have a beautiful spot, and it was nice to see their new home before continuing on our way. We left around 1:30 and headed east, finally arriving back in Osoyoos just before 6:00.

We took the big painting up to the condo and then returned to the motorhome, where we had smoothies for dinner. After all the driving and moving, it was good to finally be back.

May 26th was what we called trading day. I started with some early-morning pickleball while June went for a walk. Then we got to work cleaning and finishing the job of emptying the motorhome.

By 1:00 we had our things out, and by 4:00 we’d moved everything into the condo. It was a big transition, officially switching from living in the motorhome to settling into the condo for the summer. For Steve and Leslie it was an even bigger transition as they were moving into our motorhome for the summer.

That evening, the four of us had sushi at our new place and played a game of Sequence. Around 10:00, Steve and Leslie headed back down to the motorhome, leaving us to spend our first night alone in the condo.

Unfortunately, neither of us slept particularly well. I had a migraine and June had some cramps, so by 8:30 the next morning we were both up and having breakfast.

We spent May 27th continuing to figure out the condo. We looked at closet organizers from IKEA and Home Hardware and visited both Home Hardware stores in town looking for hooks and checking out different closet systems. There were still plenty of things to organize and modifications to make. We also picked up some flowers from Paul’s Greenhouse for the patio, adding a little more life to the new place.

The next day was another gorgeous one in Osoyoos. I played pickleball in the open group while June cycled over to Paul’s Greenhouse. I met her there with the Jeep, and we picked up some more flowers.

Once home, we started organizing our pictures. I also went down to the motorhome, where Steve helped me repair the slide topper that had been damaged during the trip home. June worked on organizing things inside the condo while we hung up some pictures in the afternoon. Slowly, the place was starting to feel more like home.

On May 29th, we headed up to Penticton for the day. We visited Winners, End of the Roll and The Brick, looking for a carpet for the condo.

While we were there, we stopped at Ashley and found exactly what we were looking for—a perfect round carpet for the condo. We also picked up some more stickers, continuing our tradition of collecting them from our travels.

The following day I played golf at the Desert Gold course with Wes, David and Bill, while June went out for a really nice 45-kilometre bike ride.

That evening, we had Leslie and Steve over to the condo and made dinner for them.

By May 31st, we were well into our Osoyoos routine. I played pickleball with the “advanced” group that morning. It was fun, although very windy. June went for a cycle while we took care of a few more practical things around town.

We met at Home Hardware and picked up the paint we needed for the bedroom and bathroom, then went to the licence office to switch over our address. After that, we headed down to the motorhome and showed Leslie and Steve some of the things around it.

June made a few more stops, including the thrift store and Silver Sage Winery, while Wes did us a big favour and towed our trailer over to the storage lot.

That evening, Leslie and Steve brought up Sage pizza, and Heather, Wes and Oliver came over. We spent the evening together, enjoying good food and company.

June 1st, our first day officially of being in the condo as our partners were moving into our motorhome. We drove them over to Castlegar and set them up in Kootenay River RV Park for the summer. Then back home for our own sunset at our condo.

After nearly seven years of travelling, we had finally reached the point where the motorhome was no longer our full-time home for the moment. The belongings were moved, the condo was taking shape, the Harleys had a place in the garage, and the motorhome was safely tucked away. We were settling into Osoyoos for the summer—and beginning to figure out what this next chapter would look like.