Month: May 2013

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Haven

It’s been a quiet day. I had about four hours of transcription to do, so I just powered through in order to be able to spend the afternoon out here in the field doing online stuff, including shopping for an amplifier. When I get home shortly, I look forward to making a giant batch of pita and falafel. I think I’ve had enough of adventure for a bit. 🙂

I walked around my property this morning and gasped at all the ruts I’ve made with Miranda and the truck. I thought, “Wow, someone is going to be really upset with me!” And then it finally hit me. This land on which I’m parked is mine. If I don’t care about ruts, no one else will. It is still completely surreal to me that I am a landowner. Sure, it’s nothing special, just a small boxed lot with no real view in a decrepit village, but it’s mine.

And it might not be what I would have wanted, but it’s what I need. And that’s key when you have limited means of making such purchases. Yes, a big open tract of prairie would have been lovely, but can you imagine the wind out there? What about driving to and onto the lot? I have decent paved roads into the village and a proper entrance onto my property. And if I do decide to bring in utilities, it’s not going to be complicated. It’s low maintenance, has low property taxes, and, for being out in the middle of nowhere, is well situated. It was a sensible purchase.

Now that I’ve spent a couple of days parked there, I know it’s going to work out just fine as an RV pad once I figure out the logistics of getting water in and trash out. Minor details.

I’m naming my property Haven, mostly in the sense of “an inlet providing shelter for ships or boats; a harbor”, but also in the sense of “a place of safety or refuge”, after yet another planet from the movie Serenity. And don’t anybody tell me it’s weird to have one planet parking on another; okay? This is my ‘Verse and it has its own logic. 🙂

Even nomads need a safe harbour. I’m glad I found mine.

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One Fleeting Bar

This afternoon, my Mifi beeped, indicating that it had locked onto a cell signal! It was much too weak to get online, but this told me that it would definitely be worth investing into a booster/amplifier! I have a lot of research to do and the budget limits me to what I can find on Amazon that is shippable to Canada. So getting a booster definitely won’t happen quickly, but it’s good to know the option is there.

As for Bell’s new and improved cell service and speeds? I am in field in the middle of nowhere, or just about, and I am currently experiencing the fast download speeds I have EVER experienced, and that includes with a hard wired connection. It’s not holding steady, but I just saw more than 1MBS! In San Antonio, I wasn’t able to download a 100MB file through my tethered phone, but I just downloaded a 400MB file through my Bell Mifi 2 in just a couple of minutes! HOLY MOLY!

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A Second’s Night Sleep On My Property

If I hadn’t see all of three people in the last sixteen hours or so (none of whom seemed the least bit curious about me) and if there wasn’t one guy who drives his big diesel truck too fast, I would swear that I live in a ghost village. The sounds last night were not unlike the sounds at my old homestead, birds and coyotes mostly. Very peaceful.

I am disappointed that I did not sleep well though. Too many numbers dancing in my head.  Thankfully, I am still working steadily and do have money coming in, but it’s not enough. I need a really big juicy contract to land in my lap. I’m at the point where enough comes in to pay the bills, but with nothing leftover for when calamity strikes repeatedly. I have had A LOT of help in the last few weeks, without which I would never have made it here (thank you again to everyone!) and which I thought was going to give me measure of peace of mind while I got settled here. This last blowout completely f***** me over. 🙁

Anyway, it’s a beautiful cold morning here on the prairie, but it’s warm in the sun in my truck. It sucks to have to drive 3.5KM to get online, but there is a big difference between driving to a public wifi location and driving to a quite turnout where you can use your own connection (which is FAST, wow!). I feel relaxed and that I can do what I need to do. This is going to be a double-edged sword for me. On the one hand, I am more productive when getting online is difficult. On the other, I need the internet to get and sometimes do work.

None of the Bell devices can take an antenna, even if I could get one high enough to get a signal (unlikely). I am going to call them and see what they have to say for themselves considering the village is most definitely dark blue on their coverage map. Of course, being Bell, they are difficult to reach. I miss Verizon.

As promised, some pictures:

The lot next to mine looks really wild, junky, and deserted, which makes me feel better about my lot being neglected last summer. I would like to rake up the leaves and trim some trees, but am loathe to invest in any tools until I can afford to put a small shed on the lot. Even better, I’d like to meet a neighbour who would be willing to rent tools, including a lawn mower, but considering how little of an impact my arrival made yesterday, I’m starting to doubt I’ll get to know anyone that well. For a mower, I’d like a little non-powered push type like I had at my house. But that kind of a purchase won’t happen until I can put a lockable storage building on the lot. I checked Canadian Tire and there are some small sheds available for under $500. I am going to keep my eye on the classifieds. I’d also like some pavers to use as a foundation.

I still have no idea what I’d have to do to get water on the lot, but with power lines running right over it, I think that getting electrical will be fairly straightforward. I checked out the Saskatchewan power site and they say it’s a two-step process. The first is to get a pole to your property and the next is to install a metre. I imagine I’d still need a pole, but that it would be way cheaper to install one where there are lines than it would be to bring lines in. Later this summer, I will ask for quote as there is no obligation for doing so.

But, really, power is my last concern. What I really need water. There is a hydrant on the corner which gives me the impression we are on ‘city’ not well water, but I need to confirm that as that would actually surprise me considering just how far out in the middle of nowhere we are. Sewer is not a concern since I can go for ages as long as I can leave my grey valve open.

I also need to call the municipality on Monday to see if I am eligible for Tuesday morning trash collection. My property taxes were only $19 last year, so I won’t be put upon if they say no. If that’s the case, then I’ll need to find the dump. Because of the cat litter, I do generate quite a bit of trash and can’t let it pile up. If am eligible for trash collection, then I need a garbage can, which, again, I can’t get till I have a place to store it. 🙂

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Wow, Bell Has Hired a Helpful Customer Service Rep!

I just got off the phone with, or, rather, my connection was disconnected from, Bell Mobility. I got a very helpful person who agreed that I should have coverage and was sad to inform me that there were no plans for more towers in the area. That said, we should have coverage but don’t because of topography, so the info is being sent to the technical team to see if a tower could be added in the valley to make the coverage map match with reality.

When the original Mifi came out, you could not get a booster for them. That is no longer the case with the Mifi 2! The thing is that an antenna is booster, not a signal creator. If you have zero bars, a booster isn’t going to help. Croft commented that I should try to get my device on the roof and see if that changes anything. I had the same thought last night! I’m heading home shortly and will get on the roof before I go back to work.

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Minot to My Property

I’m glad I hung out this morning because I got a call from Sheree at GCR Tire Centers about my service call yesterday and that I wanted to dispute the $100 service call fee I hadn’t been told about. I said that if I had known the bill was going to be that high, I would have likely left the motorhome, gone to Minot in the toad to pick up a used tire, and then followed a service truck back.

She was very understanding and said she would speak to her manager then get back to me. She did so very quickly and told me she could take $50 off the bill since they had sold me the tire at cost (!). Good enough! I recommend GCR Tires for mobile tire repair in the Minot area. They got to me FAST and got me back on the road in no time at all.

I left Minot at about 9:00. I had about a quarter tank of fuel left so I decided to wait till Kenmare to tank up (60KM) so as to arrive in Canada with as much U.S. fuel as possible.

That first part of the day SUCKED. It was just soooooooooooooooooo windy. And, spoiler alert, the rest of the day’s driving was like that, too. 🙁

I was surprised that the folks at the Kenmare gas station (the one right on the highway) let me gas up without prepaying.

From there, it was about a half hour to the border.

The Portal crossing really confused me. There was a sign saying commercial vehicles thataway to an area with no overhang. The non-commercial lanes were under an overhang marked with a 12′ clearance, but in front of that was another sign saying that the clearance was just 10′ 5″ (I need 11′ 3″). The obvious thing was to get in the commercial lane, but I know better than to presume in such situations! I waited at the junction until a lady came out of a booth and waved me over to the commercial lane.

She was really nice! She asked me how long I’d been gone, how much I had to declare, where I’d gone (nodding when I mentioned the Mexico trip, so I obviously pre-empted her on that), and the usual questions about booze, firearms, and tobacco. She then asked me to park so that someone could look inside and confirm there was no one with me. This was, of course, a reasonable request, but her tone really made me okay with the search as it felt like routine, not suspicion.

Would you believe that my secondary inspection guy looked like the secondary inspection guy who interrogated me at Coutts? Just a mini version of him, shorter and less muscly.

He started by asking me a few questions about my trip, why I went to the U.S., why I stayed as long as I did, how I supported myself, and how I met the friends I visited along the way. His tone was neutral and I didn’t know yet how the inspection was going to go. He then asked me to go to the rig with him because of Neelix.

I knew I was clear the minute we stepped outside because he handed me my passport.

The two times I had a difficult crossing, my passport was held until the very end. Last night, I Googled what my rights are reentering Canada and basically you have NO charter rights until you are detained, at which point you have the right to remain silent and get counsel. What being ‘detained’ means is fuzzy. For me, the line is crossed when I lose control of my passport.

As we walked, I brought up the subject of food, and his, “We really don’t care about that” made me realise that I have never been asked about food coming back into Canada! Yes, there are rules, but it’s at the bottom of their priority list. Dang, I should have smuggled in more cheese!

He asked me if I wanted to go grab Neelix and I suggested instead that I just guard the door. He thought that was a good idea. He continued to ask his questions as he poked through the rig and I made a mistake, not telling him that all the renovations were done in Canada (they are worried about mods being made to hide drugs). This wasn’t a huge deal, but I wish I had thought to tell him.

We talked about work and money and whatnot and his tone was 100% American: curious and open-minded, not suspicious. SO REFRESHING. He asked to look in the cab of the motorhome and then asked me one more time about any mods or repairs made to the vehicles. I told him what I had told the lady, about the throttle cable and the three blowouts (all tires declared), and then he told me I was clear, to be safe on the road, and to have a nice day.

Not anywhere near the easiest border crossing of my life, but that’s two good ones coming back into Canada in a row and I think I will be A LOT less stressed next year.

I’m just surprised that I wasn’t sent to the cashier. Between new batteries, a watering system, several tires, glasses, a computer hard drive, and all the goodies I bought this winter with Amazon gift certificates, I was WELL over my limit. And, yes, I declare everything. I can do basic math and know roughly how much I’ll be asked to pony up. Last month, some morons imported an RV at the same crossing, underdeclared the purchase value by about $13,000 to save about $300 in taxes… and had to pay $9,000 in penalties to get their rig back. Stupid!

From the border, it was a quick drive to Estevan. It was only 11:00 (I had gained an hour) and super windy out. It seemed stupid to hang out at Walmart when another 3.5 hours or so of driving would get me to my property. I grabbed lunch and then figured out where The Source store is located. It was just 1KM away, but I’d been to the mall before and knew it was barely walkable from the Walmart. So I just drove out there and, thankfully, found a place to park.

I went into the mall, found The Source, and was greeted by Joel. I told him I wanted a Turbo stick. The only Bell product they had in stock was a Mifi 2. I really didn’t care what the device is as long as a) it has the flex plan that starts at $10 and gives you up to 15GB for $100 and b) it doesn’t need 120V power to run. Joel made several calls to make sure that the Mifi 2 was eligible for the plan and then he got it up and running for me and we tested it on my Macbook Pro. What I like about it is that it’s like a wifi router, so I can connect my computers, iPad, and iPod Touch to it all at once. The stick would have been $0 down for a two-year commitment and the Mifi 2 was $50, with  no activation fee. Good enough. The device has an 11-hour lithium battery that can be recharged through the computer (like I charge my phone) and it also comes with a wall wart.

From Estevan, it was another windy hour to Weyburn, where I planned to refuel. Halfway there, I glanced in a side mirror to see the plastic wheel well cover over the driver’s side rear dually snap loose and fly away! CRAP! Thankfully, I saw this happen, it didn’t hit anyone, and it happened at the first place I could pull over in about 40KM! I parked and then walked the side of the road until I found the part. It is really banged up, but I can likely effect a decent repair. Anything will look better than no cover at all! I’ll have pictures of that later.

There was a gas station right at the junction of 13 and 39 that looked like easy access, but I had to make a sharp turn into the pumps and I really didn’t think the toad was going to get clear without damage when I pulled out. I inched my way out of there and discovered that I really do know how to handle my rig because I was able to effect the necessary corrections to not only get the toad clear but also still make a very tight turn away from the pumps. A guy coming out of the c-store actually complimented me on my driving skills!

I think the GPS has the wrong speed limit programed for highway 13 because it always way overestimates how long it will take to get to my property. My ETA was 6:00 and I got there at just past 5:00. The drive in was scenic beyond description. In terms of wintering options, it would have made so much more sense to buy land in B.C. (never mind that I will never be able to afford to live there, much less buy property), but I so much prefer the landscapes and climate here (sunny hot dry summers, sunny cold dry winters). This is the land of my dreams and I am so lucky to own a piece of it.

I unhooked and made many failed attempts at backing Miranda into the lot. There is the beginning of a driveway entrance where the curb drops and it took several passes to finally get lined up with the entrance and backed in. The ground was SOFT and I completely failed at getting onto levelers, with my rear tires now in pretty deep. Dang. 🙁 But the front ones are on cement, so I am optimistic that I will be able to get out of there once the ground firms up a bit. For one thing, I’d like to be much further back.

As I suspected, the village is too low in the valley to get a cell signal! 🙁 So no internet at home. 🙁 🙁 🙁 I only have to go 1KM to get a signal and 3.5KM total to get to a spot where I can pull over safely. So I will head here once or twice a day to do online stuff. I’m going to make the back of the truck comfortable for hanging out so that I can do what I need to do without feeling too put upon. I just don’t like not being more reachable. I’ll figure out how to make this work. At least, the Mifi 2 is FAST. I came up here tonight to download some files for work to do over the weekend and thought I’d be here for hours trying to download stuff. Nope. So that almost makes up for no signal at home.

I’m wiped. I’m in work mode for the next bit, so the blog will be quieter than it has been. I’ll check in with pictures at some point tomorrow.