IIDD, July 8th

Hi Brenda Louise:

You are certainly a true member of The Sisterhood! Poor Wally will be devastated to return to find his wardrobe pared to the bone! Whatever will he do without all the broken appliances and bits of used furniture? You are one hard-hearted woman, let me tell you!!!

Had a fab time wine tasting. Here is link to see some of snaps from the Okanagan weekend!

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150249378700857.318528.679205856&l=b85aa89353

Furthermore, you, Dear Reader, are one of the very first to receive the opening of The Orofino Diaries:

The Orofino Diaries, July 8th-10th, 20111:

Day 1, Friday, July 8th:

Left Vancouver at 1:30pm even though Sarge and Flamin’ had given me nothing but grief, the night before, claiming I was sole reason, on past excursions, that we were always late leaving, about being ready to hit the road by 11:30am. We, (Uppity Californians, Donna Florida and Vinnie the Baker, Cora Lee and I, Il Conduttore/Patrizio), were packed and ready to roll, considerable luggage, (bags of foodstuffs, suitcase after suitcase filled with the shoes of The Sisterhood), assembled at the appointed time BUT had to wait for the chauffeur to arrive. Once Sarge called, 12:20pm, to inform us that he was finally en route, from downtown, (Heavy Duty, Industrial Strength Kerfufflage with car rental), to Harbour Terrace, we muled everything into parkade to await the arrival of the Krankoid. When the flustered, discombobulated New Glaswegian finally appeared, he parked in the lot outside the garage door, instead of driving into parkade next to our gypsy midden of possessions, eliciting more groans and sighs of frustration from the already testy Twisted Sisters, necessitating yet more haulage to the car. As Sarge strode past us, headed to The Cave to retrieve his own luggage, he barked that the car was open and that we should proceed with the loading, thereof. Of course, the car wasn’t unlocked so we had to twiddle our thumbs and shake our weary heads until a red-faced, as opposed to red serged, Sarge, resurfaced, spluttering lame excuses for his inexcusable oversight. Of course, all of us were far too, too polite to say anything about all the inconvenience we had endured, (I, for one, could have gone on a 72K ride, mirroring my distance of the day before, had I known we wouldn’t be leaving until after 1:00pm, per esempio, Dear Reader. However, being the tolerant, understanding, forgiving individual that I am, I bit my tongue, reigned in my fiery Iro-Ukrainian temper and kept my peace!), so we stowed the gear and clambered aboard.

Once making for Flamin’s workplace, Vancouver Coastal Health’s Addictions Centre on Great Northern Way, a few blocke east of Main, Sarge informed us that he would not explain the reason for the delay until his beloved spouse was in the car as he did not wish to re-live the hellish trauma he had so recently undergone at Budget Rent a Car. Once we collected Flamin’, (who was, by the way, doing a fairly good impersonation of a hooker on the stroll), Sarge began his sad tale of woe, lies and deception and we learned, as we made our way to the highway, about the events which conspired to threaten to prevent us from tasting in the Similkameen. Unbeknownst to me, the Scheming Sutherlands had not arranged to take possession of the car until noon, in the first place, a cheap, underhanded, lack of trust ploy to ensure that I did not keep them waiting if it was understood that stated departure time was an hour or so earlier that actual departure time. At any rate, when Sarge arrived at the car rental office, about twenty minutes early, he was told, initially, that the vehicle was just about to be washed. He told chap behind desk that he didn’t wish the car washed and simply wanted to go. One lie followed another, Sarge eventually peeling back the onion skin layers of obfuscation and bare faced to deceit to discover that vehicle in question had been sent for servicing to Budget’s garage at the airport and wouldn’t be back until close to 1:00pm. By this time, Sarge was on the boil, and made it quite clear that he was not a happy camper, letting the manager know that being given the runaround, being lied to, over and over again, was the worst possible way to treat customers and a more than sure way to lose repeat business. In all the many years that Sarge has had reason to use a rental vehicle, for either business or pleasure, he has always chosen Budget. Never again, after this fiasco!

Just need to find time to fill in all the blanks! As I mentioned, above, weekend was a blast with the added delight of seeing Grand Fondo. Friend, Ted Benson, was actually in race and we saw him at dinner on Saturday night. His bike, (low end Giant for $2,100), weighed about as much as my odometer! We were staying in Summerland and route went right past our hotel, Summerland Waterfront Resort and Spa, so we saw him after first 20K or so, on Sunday morning. When we left, (we were headed to Tinhorn Creek for lunch), we followed much of route, in reverse, so actually saw leader, all by himself, about 3 hours after start at 7:00am in Penticton, heading towards end of the 160K course. Next three or four riders were fairly close together but probably five minutes or so back. Quite exciting to see the first cluster/peleton, about 20-30 minutes back. From driving route, most of grueling part, we surmised, is last 60K, from south of Oliver, steady climb and then up some very, very punishing hills near Fairview Cellars/Fairview Mountain Golf Club, and along a back road, (I believe it runs through Marron Valley but I could well be wrong about this.), which connects to Highway 97 and thence into Penticton. Once back on highway, it is reasonably "easy" compared to earlier climbs. Quite cloudy so not blistering heat. A couple of years ago I rode from Naramata to Oliver so have probably covered about a third of course. Need to scope rest of route, ride it in pieces probably, however. Of course Sarge and Flamin' are all for entering next year. I'm interested and am thinking quite seriously about doing so. Only thing that saved me from Whistler Grand Fondo in September is that no more entries are being accepted! Whew!!! Saved by the bell!

Cora Lee and I watched another recorded MI5 episode last night. From sounds of it, series continues, as we need to learn more about Lucas and his past, let alone what part Beth really plays. Quite exciting, really.

Fondestos and Cheers, Patrizio!