Episode 7 Part 1: The Legend of Shuswap - An RV Journey to Uncover an Amazing Character

Do they? We're in a private campground in a small mountain village near Vailmont, British Columbia near the Canadian Rockies. And I need to start this video off with a Canadian apology. I promised many of you that we are going to start to slow down, show more of the sights, more of the scenery, the campgrounds, the towns, and the people that we come across. But today is not the day to start that. The weather has been kind of lousy. Mount Robson, which is a stunning mountain, it's the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies, is a stone's throw from here. But it's just not the day to see it. It stands at about 4,000 meters, I believe, about 13,000 feet. It's just spectacular. But we're going to come back and spend more time in this area, which it deserves. So today, if you don't mind, we're going to speedily get to the Sous Schwab. I'm going to take us on this trip, which covers about 500 kilometers, so say 300 miles. It's about a five-hour drive. For us, about six. I'm going to speed it up. It's only going to be a few minutes getting to the Sous Schwab. Because when we get to the Sous Schwab, we have a special edition for you. Something spectacular is going to happen there. Well, spectacular, I mean really interesting. I think you're going to want to stay for this. But I do feel badly breezing through this area so quickly on our way to the Sous Schwab. Okay, let's get going. So as we leave Vailmont, you can see how spectacular it is. Small mountain village, greenery, mountains, wildlife. It's really an outdoor paradise. And as we drive south, you can see how the rugged nature of the mountainsides, the road washouts, which are fairly common here. Beauty after beauty. It's just really remarkable. It's kind of, in my view, a mini Banff. If you've driven the Jasper-Banff corridor, this is kind of much more peaceful and less traffic, fewer tourists. It's just beautiful. You know, there's a few rest stops along the way where we stop, but I'm not going to take you into each one of those because that'll just drive you nuts. You don't want to see what we've been eating and snacking on on this trip. But as you can see, as we start off in the mountains, and then you get to a really beautiful area that starts opening up. The geographic differences within BC are amazing. You don't have to go very far for things to change. So around the area, it starts to open up. And then you get into the farming area, you pick up the North Thompson River along this route, and Kamloops, which is the big center that we're going to be going through fairly shortly. That's where the confluence of the North Thompson and South Thompson rivers come together to form the Thompson River. So that's quite interesting. So in this part of the country, you can see how dry and arid it is. It's almost desert-like. And eventually you get to the Kamloops here, you start picking up the traffic. Now Kamloops is a very nice town. It's clean, it's modern, it's vibrant, but it's busy. There's about 90,000 to 100,000 people who live here. And again, it's kind of an outdoor paradise, but it's busy. So if you don't have business to do in Kamloops, you don't want to be going through there with your RV. It's just too hectic. So we breezed through there. We got stuck in a few parking lots that were too small for what we wanted to do. And the last thing you want to do is get stuck in a school zone when kids are getting out for lunch, because you'll be there for two days. Holy Jesus, Murphy. There's our new generation. And they're just going to keep flocking, even when the light changes. Now to me, and growing up in British Columbia, the Sous Schwab has always given off a vibe of just vacation land, happiness, boating, and so on. It's just absolutely gorgeous here in the summertime. Now people who live here will say in the wintertime, it gets a little chilly. Especially around the lake areas, the sky comes down quite low, or the clouds, I should say, come down quite low, and you can be sucked in for a long time during the winters. But it's just a gorgeous area. Now Sous Schwab Lake, where we're heading to, and we're going to stop for a while in Sorrento, which is on the lake shore. It's a huge lake. It's about 300 square kilometers. So in miles, that's about 116, 115 square miles, I believe. There's arms and inlets all over this lake. And it's a deep lake. It's about 160 meters deep in most places. That's about 530 feet, I think. So it's a pretty interesting lake. And so when we arrived there, we spent the first night in a location that we loved the view, but the site was terrible. So the next morning, we got up, we relocated only a couple hundred meters to the next lake shore property. And we were coming here for two days. And we spent two weeks, that should tell you about this area. And you can see from these images, you know, we were immediately on the lake, we were lucky enough to have a boat at our disposal. And we cruised around the lake, we just from going from RVing to boating, it was just spectacular. So we, we spent some time here and had a wonderful time. But now here's the essence of today's video. We came across an amazing character. And I want to share that with you, starting right now. Okay, we're in the Shuswap area, British Columbia. One of the things that I like to do is to meet characters of the regions that we go to the areas that we go to the towns, the villages, the communities, and meet people who do things that most of us wouldn't do, or have things that most of us wouldn't have. And just to meet those characters. Well, I found one. And before we meet him, I want to show you what he's accumulated on this 16 acre piece of property that he owns, which goes down, you can see a field in the background, and then some trees. He's got all of that. And there's an old home and a trailer behind me that he rents out. He doesn't live here. But he comes every day to work on his property. Now I'm going to let him explain things. But I do know that the reason he has these things on his property throughout that you'll see, is because he wants to protect them from being discarded or junked by other people. He loves working on old boats. But as you can see, there's a lot of them and old vehicles and so on. Anyway, enough of me yakking away here. Let's just go for a walk. And I just want to do a quick overview of what he's got on this property. A lot of these boats are from the 50s and 60s. And he's very good at resurrecting whatever it might be. So this is not a challenge for him. Any one of these boats would be a project for us, right? And then a logging truck. Another cool truck closest to us. And a fire engine. Why not? An old tolly craft. Look at these classic boats. You know, and fiberglass lasts forever. We'll go inside these buildings as well. Now, this may look like a mess to you. But this was an assembly yard, an assembly building of some type. And it's just a little bit in disarray right now. Not to worry. Many of these boats I know have hold many memories for this guy. He'll explain that to you. This is a high speed Miami Vice days. And who needs a old West Alia? There's the character I'm talking about. A piece of a mini? Now this boat that's tarped is somebody else's boat. Who's just keeping it here. Look at this old crisscraft. I think that's a 1964. It's a beauty. Just waiting to be restored. Okay, another collection zone. More of the minis. And I believe this is somebody else's boat right here. I'm not a picker, but I'd love to be a picker. I tell you, this is a beauty. This is a Grenfell. And in the 60s, this was about as luxurious as you could get for a powerboat. Beautiful shape, solid mahogany. And this is an old tally craft. Looks like the boat from Jaws, doesn't it? Here's another view of the Grenfell. And this is quite interesting. This cutter that the character that we're going to meet is on, is being bought by this fellow from the cusp. And he's taking it to the cusp today by trailer. And if that's not an unusual looking boat, I don't know what is. Let's go inside the shop. That diesel engine of the truck is a little noisy. We'll come back. And again, I know it looks messy. And it is. This fellow works through all of this and does amazing things. We're just not all like me and slow, kind of anal. This fellow just goes at it. And look at this, a 1954 MGTF. Let's just carry on. There's an MGB. Let's carry on through here. Another view of the of the MGTF. It's whole. A hardtop. There's a piece of another mini. This is incredible. And look at this around here. I get so excited by this. Look at this. This mahogany boat. I believe he told me that this is from the 30s. It's monstrous. Look at the old seating. And it has three cockpits. There's one cockpit, another one here, another one in the rear with a windshield. I mean, how cool is that? Can you imagine coming up to the dock like Captain Ron and saying we're here? It's just a classic. I'm going to scan that one for you again. It's a beauty. Oh, up on the hoist, a 1964 Mustang convertible that he's working on. It never stops. Look at underneath this thing. He's doing a really nice job. OK, let's just keep at it. Oh, my goodness. This is a mold for a dune buggy. That's on his list of things to do. And look at this old Volkswagen. I believe he sold this to somebody and he needs to finish off a few things before turning it over to her. It's being painted. I'm not sure the year of this. Those of you who know about these vehicles can tell me another wooden boat and this boat. He told me an old timer was going to throw it away and he wanted to protect it. So he took it on and he's doing some work on it. I just find this overwhelming because any one of these projects would take me my lifetime to finish off. But he chips away at them bit by bit and you bump into an Airstream. So I think this is again, I don't know the the age of this. Those of you who know about Airstreams will be able to tell me the number up here is 1329. He's doing work on this Airstream lanyard. So why not have an Airstream amongst your collection and another old wooden boat. Look at this. Look at this row of old engines. Incredible. And then a train set. Two train sets. And he showed me what he did, what he's been doing to this. He's been making the mountains and he's put all this together in his spare time. And he's an old guy like me. And here's this Airstream. You know, the skin looks in really good shape. Oh, and then I want to show you something else. He's very skilled at carpentry. He's just messy. He's got all these old things lying around. He's really skilled with carpentry, mechanics, just about anything. He'll fix anything. This is his upholstery shop. Can you imagine doing inventory? Oh, my goodness. And then look, more outboards. Look at this collection. Old Seagull outboards. I'm so honoured that he would let me film all of this. This is where he does his upholstery work. So when he finds something, he wants to get a boat going or a vehicle, he comes up here and he sews himself. Work in progress. OK, coming down these stairs, you get another look at the Airstream, a more complete look. It's in beautiful shape on the outside. I can see why he's restoring the inside. OK, we're back at the entrance to another old section of the building. Look at this old gas pump. Wow. And just when you think there can't be anything more interesting, you walk into this room and he's got stuff everywhere. And then you look up and you see the hardtop for a 56 Ford Thunderbird. And why not have a hydroplane in your collection? What? Let's look at this. There's a story behind this, I know, and he'll tell you about it. The world's fastest milkman. This boat is from the 60s. Look at it. It's pristine. And all this old stuff that is part of his life, part of his collection. Look at this Ford Thunderbird. There's a story behind this that I'll tell you about. Mikaela and I almost bought this car two days ago. The timing just wasn't right. But my goodness, I mean, we may live to regret it, but it's in lovely shape. Got the Continental kit on it. 312 V8. Anyway, look at this really nice Volkswagen. Oh, gosh. Pianos, organs, furniture. And this hydroplane just blows me away. It's wood, completely made of wood. Let's see underneath. Oh, the light's not right. But this is the mahogany. It's absolutely beautiful. I remember as a kid growing up watching the hydroplane races on Lake Union in Washington State. Being a Canadian. Whoa, sorry, I dropped a sombrero. Oh, dear me. I should wear this. Sorry, going back to being a kid again, watching those hydroplane races on Lake Union, Miss Bardell and so on. I tell you, brings back memories. And then look at this. I have no idea what this is. It's a it's an old car. Looks like it's all there. Wow. All this stuff inside of this. Oh, my goodness. Now, he told me this is the original upholstery. I think it's a car from Bonnie and Clyde. Could be. No, the upholstery would look different. Wow. Spoke wheels. Well, I know nothing about these old cars. I know some of you will be amazed at that. And I don't know who she is. She's lovely. Scooter. Typewriters. Oh, and look at this old wooden boat. It never stops. Wow. OK, I'm a picker. I got to become a picker. Amazing stuff. And he told me the story about this blue and white boat. He bought an old boat that's up on the picture right there. Those are his two daughters. He bought this boat for them and said, OK, now it's yours. You fix it and all the pictures beneath the picture of the boat are his daughters spending time refurbishing this boat. And now he's tucked it away in his little museum here. His daughters are grown. This is an electric scooter, an old jukebox. He said, what is this? He told me that somebody's coming over to to fix it. Let me just try to lift this up. Look at this old photograph. Oh, my goodness. As you work your way around, it's just overwhelming. Beautiful canoe. And then I'm looking at a sewing machine, a Singer sewing machine. I look up and it's a hovercraft. I mean, why not have a hovercraft in your collection? And it's a working hovercraft. I'm just going to back up a bit so you can see it in its entirety. It's a really cool boat. He showed me a video of him using it on Shushwap Lake. And with, I guess, people found it too noisy. He would scream in and go across the and then back out again. It's noisy and blows sand all over people. And he had people yelling at him and some were clapping. And I don't think he wants to drive it anymore. And look at this Western Flyer motorized bike. OK, OK. And recently, up until about a year ago, he owned a company that built dock systems. He sold over 400 docks on Shushwap Lake. Now, Shushwap Lake is a big lake. And you can see in the left hand corner of this frame that Kiki, floating Kiki, he built those for people so that they could just bob around on the lake and have relax and have parties. This is an information board about his company that he owned that he sold. And the company is still in the Shushwap area. He built fiberglass docks and they were all constructed in this building just through those doors. And he also sold 1400 convertible tops for these GMCs. I think they were GMC little cars, CarTops.com. You know, he did really well. And he said he shipped them worldwide. Here's the hard top for the 56 Thunderbird. And I think I just walked by something over here that I shouldn't. Look at this. Look at this thing. This is what he used to promote his Copper Dock, Copper Island Dock Systems. Oh, my goodness. And there's an old Honda 350. Okay, let's see what else we have. Okay, let's go outside. I want to show you another area. Okay, we go past the Westphalia. So he sells some of these things and others he just wants to keep. He'd sell the Westphalia. Here's the Donzie hull that I showed you earlier. That's from Miami Vice days. And he's going to stick a windshield on that. I think the Ford V8 engine that we just passed. I don't know whether that was a 302 or what it was. I think that's going in this Donzie hull. And now we did look in here, didn't we? Okay, sorry, we did look in here. I just, one of my favorite boats is this Chris Craft. 1964 Chris Craft. That to me is just a classic. Okay, let's wander through. Oh, here's what I want to show you. Look at this old putt putt. I can't get through there. Okay, this putt putt. This is, he wants to fix this up fairly quickly and get it into the lake. There's the stern of the Donzie hull. Very fast boat. I love little wreck of a Suzuki that he uses to jockey trailers around. Just hilarious. Bumpers falling off, but you know, it's workable. He's got, he's got the hitch on the front and he can maneuver these things like crazy. He's very skilled at moving boats around. Oh, and he dug this out the other day. It's been buried for a few years. It's a 2005 smart car, Cabriolet. So he wants to keep that. He thinks he might drive this around for the summer because his other vehicle is a huge Dodge Ram and an old Ford Bronco. This is an old master craft, a ski boat. And he's, somebody's giving him $1,500, I think for the summer for him to loan it to them so that they could water ski. So he's going to haul that back to the lake. And why not have an RV in your collection? He told me that he, not too long ago, took his daughters to Arizona in this RV. Well, I say not too long ago, his daughters, I believe, are in their late thirties, but it's a really cool RV. Let's just go inside this. With this being an RV channel, I think we can't bypass the chance to look at this vehicle. It's pretty dark. It's dark in here, but you know, it's, it's in pretty good shape. Now you gotta love old things to appreciate all of this, right? Many of you will look at this and say, ah, I'm going out to buy a new Tiffin or whatever it is. But you know, if you're, if you like old stuff and you want to keep it alive, then this guy will talk your, your heart away. Makes sense. But you know what I mean? That was a double, double burst. Okay. Oh boy. Okay. Let's go see if we can find this guy. Cause he's the star of the show. There he is. Hey Richard. Are you going to have a few minutes later on to talk to us about your crazy life here, but you got to get this. Ah, okay. All right. Is this a boat or an RV? There goes Rick. It's really sad Bill. That's the coolest boat in town. 1870 Cargill Cutter. So do I have to call you Richard? No, Rick's fine. I should take off my hat, right? Yeah, you should. They're going to be able to see you.