September 24, 2010 by Rae

No Resolution

Miranda started up fine and performed normally and optimally to the repair shop, Elite Auto Service. They spent about a half hour scanning the rig to see what trouble codes came up:

P0118: ECT circuit high input
P0743: TCC system electrical fault
P1290: cylinder head temp sensor low input

They said that there was one part, the name of which escapes me, which might need to be replaced, but the rig performed normally for them and they felt there was no sense throwing parts at a problem they couldn’t see. I was advised to go for a long drive, see if the problem recurred, and, if so, under what circumstances. They did not clear the check engine light, but gave me the list of codes so that the next time someone looks at Miranda they won’t have to start from scratch.

I left feeling a bit bummed that there’s still quite likely a problem, but very pleased with the service. I was there a half hour and was not charged!

Since I was feeling uncertain about the rig and had also just found out I could have my spot in Osoyoos for $15 a night plus tax (Full hookups! Pool!) I decided to just head for Miranda’s fall mooring.

I drove the 150km or so to Osoyoos and had one stall when I had to come to a pretty sudden stop at the bottom of a hill in Summerland when a light went straight to green from red. But Miranda started back up normally. The drive was otherwise 100% normal. I’ve spent enough time in this thing to recognize an odd sound or behaviour and there was nothing.

So, ironically enough, mechanical troubles saved me money on this trip. Well, so long as they don’t end up being ‘something’ after all. 🙂

September 23, 2010 by Rae

Urban Dry Camping Has Its Pluses

My computer battery ran out of juice mid-afternoon. I was going to recharge it with the house battery since it’s sunny out and the solar panel compensates for the computer’s draw. Then, I realised that there’s a Starbucks across the parking lot. I bought a Venti-sized drink to give myself as much legitimate time as possible at the café and stayed forty-five minutes, long enough to buy me 3.5 hours of computer time. I pulled this same trick earlier this summer when I was camping in Whitehorse and needed a place to plug in my camera.

I didn’t even use their wi-fi; my aircard is just so speedy down here. I need to start watching my bandwidth usage now that I can stream video and download at warp speed!

(I do have to say that surrounded by netbooks and 13″ laptops, I came to realise just how big a 17″ model is!)

September 23, 2010 by Rae

Location, Location, Location

Wanting to have as little manoeuvring to do as possible tomorrow morning, I Googled directions to the repair place so I could go check it out and figure out ahead of time the best place to unhook the car.

The address of the repair place, Elite Auto, is 2655 Enterprise. I stepped out of the rig, looked at the nearest street sign, did a double take, and then looked at the address of the nearest building. 2958 Enterprise. I’m literally two blocks away and one street light away! Enterprise seems to be a busy road and rather narrow, so I’m glad I scoped out the place since I now know I’ll need to use the entrance to the business next to the repair place so as to best position myself to unhook the car. So long as there aren’t any cars around me tomorrow, getting out of Walmart should be easy.

One odd thing that came out of yesterday is that it was my second best gas mileage day to date (with the best being on the drive between Brandon and Regina; ie. flat prairie with the wind at my back where I hit 12MPG). I did nearly 750 kilometres on the tank yesterday and I’m still not in the red, but the gas gauge is right next to it. That tells me I have about 40 litres of fuel in the tank, putting my MPG at a 11, which I think is probably amazing for a huge vehicle towing through mountains.

I don’t want to go into the repair shop being so low on fuel, but neither do I want to go fuel up; the fewer times I need to stop, the better. So, I bought a 20L jerry can and will fill up Miranda manually. One can should bring her up to about a quarter full (60L on board total, out of a total 200L), which is a respectable amount, and more than enough to get me to Osoyoos. I haven’t decided yet where my 20L tank is going to live. I have a 5L one mounted to the motorhome ladder, but the 20L tank isn’t going to fit. I think it’ll end up in the kayak!

Today, I’m just chilling out a home and getting some work done. I got quite a bit of interior damage yesterday from all the bumps and sudden stalls, so I need to prioritize what I should work on first. For example, the retaining rods in my bookcase ripped right out, so they need to be glued back into place and putty applied to the tears to make them less apparent. I also lost my shower door; the top pin jumped out of the hole and then the door bounced off the bottom pin! The door has quite a dent near the top, but otherwise seems okay, and I need to find a way to secure that top pin! Besides that, I had a lot of things fall out of cabinets and make messes, so I need to clean up. Thankfully, there doesn’t seem to be anything major I need to deal with.

September 23, 2010 by Rae

At Walmart’s Mercy

People shop early in Kelowna! By the time I got up at 8, manoeuvring out of the parking lot would have been a real challenge. I popped the hood and saw nothing amiss, then started Miranda. She purred and idled beautifully, but I didn’t try to put her in D and move out of the spot.

First order of business was to see how Walmart would feel about my staying a day and second night here if I had to, and then to find some help. No sense wasting time here if they were going to make me move on.

Walmart required some groveling, writing a letter to management, leaving a note on my dash, and promising to spend oodles of money here. I wish I could have actually spoken to management and laid out my case: why make me move to an RV park when the garage I found is literally only a couple of blocks away?

The first place I called this morning was the Ford dealership. They couldn’t accommodate a 31′ motorhome. I’m learning to not take no for an answer and pushed the lady to refer me to someone else, which she did.

I called these other folks and gave only the bare bones story to secure an appointment. They can see me at 8AM tomorrow, which is perfect since it’ll enable me to manoeuvre out of the Walmart parking lot before it’s choked with cars.

The man I spoke to asked for a bit more of the story and told me I surely have one of three problems, all of which are at the top of my list, too: leaky or loose hose, clogged fuel intake, clogged air filter. If it’s a best case scenario, which is that there is no actual problem except a sensor that needs to be reset, I’m looking at $73 bucks with tax. Otherwise, I’m probably looking at a $122 job with tax. Worst case scenarios aren’t even worth considering at this point.

He told me “There’s no reason to panic, this is likely something minor!” and I had to smile since I haven’t been panicking. I know enough about the causes for a check engine light to not be worried about a super costly repair. I’m just still pissed off that this had to happen in the middle of nowhere in some of the most beautiful country I have ever seen!!!

Once I have had Miranda looked at and know that I can hit the road, I will decide if I’m moving to the RV park early or not, provided they can accommodate me.

September 22, 2010 by Rae

The Icefields Parkway

The Icefields Parkway is considered to be one of, if not the most, beautiful drives in the world. National Geographic considers it one of the drives of a lifetime. I did my homework on this road! I researched grades, RV-worthiness, facilities, etc. and knew exactly what I was getting into as I headed south from Jasper towards Banff.

Except for one section after the Columbia Icefield, there are no major grades on the parkway, just a lot of small steep sections that could fool you into complacency and wear down your brakes. One of the things I quickly established was that I would not be able to stop as much as I would have liked for two reasons:

1) many rest stops and attractions were close-ended and too small to turn around with a toad;
2) they were at the bottom of hills and would require too much brake jamming to stop at.

I stopped whenever I felt I could safely do so and took long breaks to give both the brakes and the engine a chance for a rest, too.

The parkway starts off lined with trees and rimmed with jagged snowy peaks and then gradually climbs up to the Columbia Icefield where you can see the Athabasca glacier. I stopped at the centre there to see the exhibits, but was not tempted by a pricey trip up the glacier.

The Icefield is located about halfway and the day had been going so, so well. I could have driven up the glacier to a view point, but decided the grade was too steep and that if I made it up, I probably wouldn’t make it down. I was playing it safe.

So, I finally let myself relax and that was that. I’m not sure if I did something wrong going down that big grade, but I got my fill of mountain passes for a lifetime.

My picture gallery ends just after the Icefield. My mind was not on photography after that. 🙁

This plaque about David Thompson is significant to me. It says that he died at Longueuil, which is practically my hometown. I did not know this. It just goes to show how French Canada goes out of its way to squash down the English side of Canadian history.

look at where those clouds are!

perfect place to stop for lunch!

I love how these folks were sitting on their chairs, enjoying their picnic!

approaching Columbia Ice Fields

Athabasca Glacier

I don’t think I’ve seen one of these in two years!

Do you want to know… where are the toilets. Seriously. Personally, that wasn’t my first question upon arriving at the Ice Fields Centre!

staircase up to the Ice Fields Centre

with a camera zoom like that, who needs binoculars?

the glacier recedes annually a distance that is roughly equal to the width of a post card!

this memo states that the exhibits haven’t been updated since 1996, but they are working on updates

this double-sided sign used to stand a the border between Banff & Jasper national parks

I made a note of this plaque because of the ‘water-melon snow algae’, which I saw a lot of on the Chilkoot

old Bombardier snow machine that took tourists up the glacier

a perfect example of why people have silly stereotypes about Canada

I almost missed this nice little addition to the display, seen from the floor above the information centre

this plaque reads that the edge of the glacier was right there in 1843. I’m guesstimating, but it looked to me like the glacier receded at least 1km since then

hardy glacial plants

one last attempt to capture the majesty I now had to flee…

A Life By Design

"Sometimes in life, we reach to a right place by departing from a wrong port with a wrong ship!" ~ Mehmet Murat Ildan

RVing

No Resolution

Urban Dry Camping Has Its Pluses

Location, Location, Location

At Walmart’s Mercy

The Icefields Parkway