Willy Blizzard’s third summer of touring is coming to an end, replete with memories of meeting amazing people and partaking astonishing sights and scenes. Our trusty Class C motorhome, the 31 year old truck-with-a-carburator, was our home on wheels. It functions as our cargo bay, our kitchen, sleeping quarters, mobile office and green room. With generous helpings of thick gooey motor oil, the rumbling beast safely delivered us to gigs in Alberta and B.C. from the Rockies to the Okanagan, Prince George, Vancouver Island, as well as metro-Vancouver.
One of our favourite adventures took place at our gig in Penticton’s beautiful Dream Cafe. That celebrated music venue is in the old downtown core, near a stream that empties into Okanagan Lake. Unbelievably, in an adjacent park there is a massive osprey nest, complete with chicks. What a privilege to witness the mother’s hunting prowess rewarded with a victorious delivery of fish for her nestlings.
An odd spot was the time our bass player, Andrea, decided to wash her hair in Monte Lake outside Kamloops. In the water close to shore, she realized too late that she was in the company of a dead fish, as well as a piece of rusting iron from industry gone by. In her anguish, she then lost one of her water shoes. There it was, floating on the surface, increasingly out of reach. Rather than risk an accident, Andrea just gave up on the lost shoe.
But the slipper was not gone forever. It was rescued by another swimmer of the canine variety. The old dog obeyed its master’s call to “Fetch” and sure enough, Rover caught up to the lost slipper and delivered it as an offering at Andrea’s naked foot.
Not only that, her hair turned out great!
