Canada

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Campbell River Visitors

I spent the afternoon with Croft and Norma catching up on everything that doesn’t get discussed on our blogs. They might be staying a second night. If so, we are going on a field trip to Camping World tomorrow. 🙂

I can’t help but marvel at the magic of this nomadic life that makes it such that you not only never know when you will next see friends, but also where you will meet again. It is a very long way from Campbell River to San Antonio, and I don’t just mean in terms of distance.

Norma wanted a Cracker Barrel dinner to celebrate their 44th wedding anniversary (wow!), so I was invited to come along (thank you!). I had the sugar cured ham for the first time (YUM) and took home a lemonade (not overly sweet and made with real lemons, a real treat!).

We had sun this afternoon again (YAY) so I made sure to unplug everything before heading over to Croft and Norma’s. I did that yesterday before going on my walk and came in almost 30AH up. I left at about 58AH down today and came home to a FULL reading. I would be frustrated with my badly working monitor if reader airmon hadn’t posted an explanation for that bizarre phenomenon. Instead, I am doing a happy dance!

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Mexican License Plates

I cannot believe I have spent so much time near Mexico and yesterday was the first time I saw a Mexico-registered vehicle on this side of the border. I saw a second one today, too.

Along the Canadian/U.S. border, I’m used to seeing tons of license plates from either side so I find it rather peculiar how few Mexican vehicles I see here. Then again, I don’t get the impression that U.S. customs is as welcoming to Mexicans in general as they are to this particular RVer…

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Thursday Morning Status Report

Good morning blogosphere! It’s a glorious day out here in Texas! The sun is shining! It was warm at 6:30 a.m.! Life on the beach is great!

(No, I have no been dipping into my secret daiquiri stash this morning. Why do you ask?)

Not that you asked for it, but here is a battery status report. I’ve been full up since the weekend. These are the kinds of readings I’ve been going to bed to for several nights now, and this is after charging computers all day, running the whole house inverter to vacuum, leaving a couple of LED lights on all evening, etc.

voltage at 12.63

voltage at 12.63

0.3 amps going out for the fridge and other systems like the propane detector

0.3 amps going out for the fridge and other systems like the propane detector

down 1.5 AH from a 144 available to me

down 1.5 AH from 144 available to me

99.5% battery capacity

99.5% battery capacity

When when I need to charge the computer after dark, I usually see the voltage fall to about 12.3 when the computer is unplugged, but then the batteries rest overnight and I get right back up to 12.5 or more in the morning, matching my battery capacity readings.

We haven’t even had full sun all week, either. Lots of white wispy clouds.

I went to bed very early last night, so I was out walking the beach very early this morning:

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I'm thinking a structure like this could be good for my property in case I ever have to leave the rig there in the winter (not with me in it!). I could wrap the sides in heavy plastic for further protection from the elements.

I’m thinking a structure like this could be good for my property in case I ever have to leave the rig there in the winter (not with me in it!). I could wrap the sides in heavy plastic for further protection from the elements.

Another style.

Another style.

I was excited to see cacti in the Okanagan, but these are much cooler!

I was excited to see cacti in the Okanagan, but these are much cooler!

Lots o' spikes.

Lots o’ spikes.

Ouch!

Ouch!

Warren Schmidt's RV!

Warren Schmidt’s RV!

Another RV shelter.

Another RV shelter.

Love this, but a bit too rich for my blood!

Love this, but a bit too rich for my blood!

More cacti.

More cacti.

The most bizarre structure on the beach.

The most bizarre structure on the beach.

There are boxes in the cubes. L says these folks come here once a year for a few weeks and add on to the place. I checked Google Maps and the last time the Google car was around here, the place was just a platform, no boxes on it. The big question is: what's with the yellow cube?

There are boxes in the cubes. L says these folks come here once a year for a few weeks and add on to the place. I checked Google Maps and the last time the Google car was around here, the place was just a platform, no boxes on it. The big question is: what’s with the yellow cube?

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Thinking About Saskatchewan

It’s hard to believe that I will be back in Canada in about 10 weeks. I don’t really want to think about that, but the fact is that I’m heading for rural territory with no idea of what services, if any, will be available to me. As things stand, I have no internet options whatsoever besides public wifi for Canada since I broke my ties with Telus. I’ve conceded that the only decent Canada-wide plan that would work for me is that offered by Bell with its Turbo Hub, so that’s what I’m looking at getting. I did email SaskTel to see what my hard wired options are and got a stock reply that had nothing to do with my question, as expected. I’d rather stick with a nationwide provider and mobile internet anyway.

When I bought my property, there was zero cell service in the village and for miles around. Now, I’m seeing coverage up to the limits of the community. This gives me hope that a booster would work. I contacted a company that puts together booster systems for folks in rural municipalities to see what they have to offer for my situation and at what cost. At this point, I’m looking at $300 for the Turbo Hub, plus about $70 a month for 10GB (remember I got FIVE GB for that price from Telus), so even if I end up forking out an extra $500 for a booster, I’m still well ahead of what it would cost to get a hard wired connection, if one is even possible.

I want to avoid landing without having a solid plan for getting online even if it takes a week or two to execute that plan. The loose ideaat this point is to get to my property and take a few days to meet the neighbours and establish a good enough relationship to determine if a summer there will be feasible. Who knows, the neighbours could end up being great and offer to sell me power, hard wired internet, water, and access to a toilet for dumping with a macerator, or they could all be horrible people who decide to run me out of town. I just won’t know till I get there.

It is encouraging to see that cell phone coverage map expand exponentially. I’m still seeing a big dead spot around my old homestead in the Gatineau Hills, but that’s no surprise. Saskatchewan is the second to last frontier in Canada (much more so than even Yukon, the NWT, or Nunavut, and just ahead of Quebec outside of the Montreal-QC City corridor)), so I’m gratified to see them moving ahead quickly, with their coverage map jumping in leaps and bounds.

I’m not looking forward to going back to Canada, but I’m slowly taking my head out of the sand about the notion of it. 🙂

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Eagerly Anticipating the Turkey

It’s T minus about an hour before I get to sit down to my first traditional US Thanksgiving feast! I have been nearly fasting since last night. 😀 This meal will definitely make up for the last one I had while in the US on their Thanksgiving!

I know we are having turkey AND ham (Virginians seem to have a thing for ham), but the sides are going to be a surprise to me. I may report back later if I haven’t fallen into a turkey-induced stupor.