Haven

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Unpacking Is a Chore

I awoke to sunshine at 6:15 this morning. I really don’t remember mornings here been so bright! I thought I might be able to go back to sleep, but was not able to. I read for a bit until the call of breakfast was too loud to ignore. Interestingly enough, I’d been up over an hour and awake for nearly two before I even thought of having coffee!

After a lazy couple of hours doing a more thorough sort of the mail, I finally dressed and started to bring things in from the truck, unpacking as I went along. I never think that I picked up much extra stuff during my travels until I found myself at a loss as to where to put everything when I get home! But I finally got things under control (nowhere near done) and was able to head to town to get groceries.

The road out to highway 2 was the best I can ever remember it being, with only one or two serious potholes, so the drive went quickly. My first stop was the carwash to fill one of my five gallon jugs with potable water. Thankfully C&C had warned me that there is no water filling at the grocery store right now since the renovations are still ongoing and that the carwash was the place to go. I was not impressed with the carwash station since it does not fill the jugs completely.

I ran a couple more errands and then went into the grocery store. It was a mess. I’m disappointed that so far all the upgrades are cosmetic. There sure isn’t any extra space! Prices were dire, but I shopped the sales and actually had something to show for my $125 (including quite a bit of meat). Kale was on sale, so I’ll be having quite a lot of that in the next week!

Back home, I was able to put together a nice lunch even with the kitchen being only half unpacked, then I headed to C&C’s to get non-potable water for doing dishes and washing myself. Charles was on his way over to my place to level Miranda, so he helped me with the water and then we headed back to Haven with Brutus in tow (he’s so shaggy he looks like a bear!).

It took quite a bit of doing, including two trips back to his house by Charles for different jacks and some tool fetching on my part, for Charles to get Miranda level for me. Even though the gravel is hard packed now, he could only lift Miranda so high before the jack would sink into the ground. He finally got her up using two jacks. She’ll stay on them for the time being, with a large log under the frame also holding some of the weight, but Charles intends to get a different type of jack and some blocks to do a more permanent job. Miranda has been unlevel for so long that it feels strange to have her level! When I moved her last year, I should have brought her west a little bit and out of the dip her left driver’s side tire is in. Live and learn…

After he was done, he graciously helped me get my swing out of the shed and set up. The weather is so unseasonably warm that I know I’ll use it all of this month as well as through June and so it’s worth setting up. Then, I offered him one of my last two Pacificos!

The beer pretty much knocked me flat, so I spent quite a bit of time in the swing, enjoying my view and the fact that I have internet in the yard now!

Then, it was time to deal with the kitchen so I could make dinner. I’m nowhere near done, but I was able to make brown rice, caramalised onions and Brussels sprouts, chicken, and gravy — even if I had about as much energy as it takes to open up a tin of beans and eat them cold! 😀 But the effort was worth it! Fortified by my yummy dinner, I did a clothes putting away blitz and then set up my office since I have a medium-sized job due Monday night that I’m hoping to start on tomorrow.

As promised yesterday, here are some pictures of the door damage. It’s hard to see because of the black on black. Charles is certain the damage was not there when he came by on the 27th and so this would mean the attempted break-in occurred while the neighbour is out on bail…

In this picture, you can see the gap between the door and the frame, as well as scratches and the torn rubber gasket. The door is bulging outwards.

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The door bulge is more visible in this one. The scratches betray the amount of effort made to get in. I’m happy to know my deadbolt and frame are that good!

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And here’s the damage to the frame:

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Finally, all the nasty haze during the day is so worth it in the evening…

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Cody, WY, to Haven

I debated this last leg of my trip over and over again, crunching all the variables. In a best case scenario, with no delays, minimal stops, and an easy border crossing, home is a mere eight hours or so from Cody. Leave early and I could get to the border before it closed at 6:00 pm and be home with daylight to spare. A very long day, but not a hard one. But if there was a delay, like construction or a particularly nasty secondary inspection, I could be miss the 6:00 pm border closing time.

I also had to decide which route to take. My options were Cody to Billings to Glasgow to Opheim to home or Cody to Billings to Miles City to Scobey to home.

Last night, I decided I would get up early today and attempt to make a run for the border. This made the second route, crossing at Scobey, the better choice because Scobey has a reasonably priced motel while Opheim doesn’t have any lodging. By choosing this route, I wouldn’t have to double back very far from the border if I got there at closing time.

That settled, I went to bed looking forward to another good night of sleep. I’ve been on quite a streak since Camp Verde. Well, I probably got two hours of fragmented sleep all night! Guess I was just too eager to be home… 🙁 I gave up on sleep around 6:15 am and spent a final half hour enjoying good internet before getting up to dress and finish packing the truck. I’d done the hard work last night, so I didn’t have much to do. By the time Vicki got up around 7:00 to double check that I had everything and hug the stuffing out of me, I was ready to go.

What a great week we had! It’s not easy living in such close quarters with someone, but she makes it very easy. Thanks again, Vicki!

I left the campground around 7:30 and went to a gas station for fuel and coffee since the more obvious coffee choices (McDonald’s and Starbucks) were in the wrong direction. The coffee I got was absolutely fine. Vicki and I did pizza again last night, so I had my leftovers to munch on today and didn’t need any breakfast — or lunch. 🙂

And so, I pushed northeast to Billings, then got on the Interstate, eager to reach Miles City as that would be the start of familiar territory. The miles passed uneventfully and sometimes I even caught a clear station on the radio. It was good driving weather, a little overcast, so the truck was comfortable.

In this direction, Miles City was the end of civilisation as I would start to push on into a few tiny towns with dozens of miles of open prairie between them. I made a pit stop in Circle and then turned onto highway 13 to Scobey just before Wolf Point when…

I hit the wall. Well, the wall was a train. A train several miles long that was not budging and would not budge for hours, blocking the way north.

There was quite a lineup forming, but I also saw people turning some distance before the crossing onto a gravel road. I explored this road with my GPS and saw that it led to a railroad crossing about 10KM away where I could take highway 2 and come back to highway 13. Most of that 20KM detour was on gravel and it took me almost 30 minutes, but it was completely worth it!

Right there at the corner of 2 and 13 is the first sign telling me that my journey across the US is almost over: “Canada – 62 miles.”

I pulled over in Scobey to fill the gas tank one last time and then pushed on for my final 14 miles in the US, dreading the border crossing. Many of you know I was spoiling for a fight. The number of times I get pulled over for secondary inspection is unacceptable considering the fact that I have never made a false declaration or otherwise given CBSA any concrete reason to red flag me. I was fully ready to file a complaint after having my truck emptied for the umpteenth time for absolutely no reason.

Needless to say, I was not ready for an official who remembered me and started with, “Hey, welcome home! Your truck made it!”

Ah, life in a small town… Cross at the same place often enough and things get easier…

I still had to give a very thorough declaration, but I was not physically searched. This was fine and I am pleased that I had my first truly easy crossing in a very long time. It infuriates me that so many resources are wasted on me when I know RVers who come back with contraband or who flat out lie in their declarations and barely get boarded. But, anyway, I was cleared quickly today. WOOHOO!

It was then a very potholey final hour to home. Work crews were out in full force patching and so the roads will be smooth again very soon.

In the final stretch from Willow Bunch, it was wonderful to get to that rise where I see the hamlet spread out before me and then drive down into it. Home!!! 🙂

I wish I could say that all was well at Haven, but that was not the case. 🙁 One of my neighbours went on a bender over the winter and broke into everyone’s homes looking for booze, cigarettes, and valuables. Charles did a check of my place and thought everything was okay, but he didn’t see that an attempt was made to pry my front door open. There is considerable damage, but the deadbolt held and still works. I would need a new door frame and door, but I doubt that’s going to happen. I called the RCMP’s non-emergency number and left a message. When the constable in charge of this case gets back to me, I will be pressing charges. My insurance status is a little dodgy right now and even if it weren’t, moving Miranda to a repair place to get a new door isn’t an option. I will probably try to hammer the door back into shape and then apply some black spray paint to the scratched areas. I’ll have pictures tomorrow for those who want to give me suggestions on how to deal with the issue. 😉

Even though I’m annoyed by this, it really isn’t a huge deal in the grand scheme of things and my buildings were secure so I’m not as upset as some of you may thing I am. I quickly detarped, hooked up power, started the fridge, and connected the internet. The latter was so easy thanks to my new booster setup! Everything so far is good except that Miranda is not level (Charles will help me deal with that once and for all tomorrow) and that the hydrant where I get water hasn’t been turned on yet so I can’t test my water system. Spring has sprung early, so there is a chance I can get the hydrant turned on next week instead of waiting till the middle of the month.

I then hauled in a few boxes before calling C&C to let them know I’d landed, and was invited for supper! Oh, bless these lovely people!

I made my bed (two toppers and a heated mattress pad sound like heaven right now!) and put together some things so I could have a shower there. I then headed over to catch up (including giving their dog Brutus lots of hugs and kisses — it’s so lovely to be missed!). I opened all my mail and had nothing urgent, just a tax form for when I get around to filing my return and a small cheque that is hopefully still good.

We had a lovely late dinner (with good avocado in the salad!), I enjoyed a shower (Caroline had wondered why I’d brought my suitcase, LOL), and then I headed home in a rapidly chilling evening.

It’s very smokey because Alberta is on fire, but otherwise, conditions are excellent for May, even too much so. The area is desperate for rain and there is worry of fires starting here… Even so, I’m the wrong person to ask to do a rain dance!

That’s all I have the energy for tonight! I’m going into town in the morning to get some groceries (I did a shop at Walmart in Cody yesterday, but need meat and veg) and then I’ll keep unpacking until Charles comes to help me with my leveling issue.

HOME! 😀

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News From Home

Just got this from my friend and neighbour Caroline at Haven:

Hi Rae,

I know how you love food so I thought that I’d tempt your taste buds by telling you about my latest experiment.  Montreal Smoked Meat.  I love the stuff and can’t buy it here very often (almost never).  On Smoking Meat Forums, I requested a recipe and received several – one that swears that its as good as Schwartz’s or Smoke Meat Pete’s. I paid $50.00 CND for the brisket at Mitch’s Meats and then go totally hosed at Co-op for the 125 grams of coriander ($25.86). Put the rub on the meat and flipped it twice a day for 10 days. Washed it, soaked it for 3 hours, patted it dry, put on another rub of coriander and coarse black pepper for 24 hours. Today it is in the smoker.  Maple smoke at 250F for 4 hours, then in the oven for another 5 hours.  Tomorrow, I will steam it for 3 hours and serve it on fresh rye bread with mustard.

All of my previous experiments have turned out well.  The cured & smoked pork chops are heavenly.

I don’t know if you check our weather here, but we have had a silly mild winter.  Its headed into the teens again today and I fear that the plum tree will bloom and be frosted again, hence no fruit.

We started our summer supply of wine, have 180 bottles in various stages of fermentation.

If you wish, you can share this with your blog readers,  some may be interested in Haven.

Miss you

Love Charles & Caroline

Is anyone else drooling? Caroline is am amazing cook and she makes everything from scratch. Charles hunts and butchers a lot of their meat and most of the rest comes from Mitch’s Meats, a butcher with high quality products, not the crap you get at supermarkets. She didn’t say it in the email, but I’m pretty sure she made the rye bread herself because you can’t get decent rye bread out west. Being a Montreal gal, I’m drooling. You just can’t get decent smoked meat outside of Montreal, although I did have some that passable enough for a desperate person right here in Mazatlán last year!

The news on the weather is really good. I am going to keep monitoring as it means I may be able to get home early this year. With the impending trip to Europe, I just don’t want to spend a lot of money in the U.S. this spring and made be willing to do a cannonball run north similar to the one I did going south so I can land and make some money ahead of jetting off.

As for wine, I imagine I’ll have time for a few nights of rolling down the street to home quite tipsy after a delicious dinner! 😀

I love these updates as I find that they ground me. No matter how much I’m planning to be on the move, they remind me that when I get tired, I have a place to land.

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A Lovely Send Off

Yesterday was my big packing and cleaning day starting at 2:00 p.m. I had quite the list to get through, but it came together very, very quickly. I couldn’t believe that I was doing the winterizing chores so late in October in a tee-shirt! It really was a blessing.

Around 4:30, I headed over to C&C’s to drop off keys and a letter for the bank in case Caroline needs to deposit cheques for me. One glass of wine turned into… well, I rather lost count, as well as an invitation to stay for supper! I had closed up the kitchen and was going to nibble on nuts, cheese, and fruit so I was very grateful! We had pork ribs, something I’ve never had outside of a restaurant, and dang were they good, so moist and flavourful! She also dressed up some tinned sweet corn with feta, something I will have to do one day. We also had rice and tomatoes fresh from the garden, in late October! Normally, we don’t do dessert, but she had made an almond extract flavoured pastry, something I go gaga for, so she wanted me to try it. Yum!

I got in around 8:30 and promptly went to bed. Unfortunately, I was wide awake at 2:30! I only managed to doze until about 5:45, a very disappointing night ahead of a full day.

It was very, very, very dark out for me to finalize some chores and I only had one of the world’s most expensive flashlights to help me (my iPhone!) as I took down the booster antenna, took a final power reading, and put away the power cord. Thankfully, it really wasn’t that cold. Again, what a blessing! I was ready to go around 6:50.

Charles was going hunting this morning, so Caroline told me to stop in on my way out to get coffee since there would be lots left from his early morning cup, a much appreciated gesture that meant I didn’t have to wait till I got to Coronach. It also meant that I could have a wash and clean my teeth with hot running water instead of the icy stuff I’d left myself in a bowl before shutting down the water! I thought Caroline was sound asleep, but she emailed later to say that she flashed her bedroom lights at me as I drove off!

I have to say I had a minor panic attack before I pulled away, wondering what the heck I had forgotten. This is what happens when you are too organized and everything happens so smoothly! 😀

It was still pitch dark as I drove out of the hamlet, so I didn’t get a final view of my beloved hills. The sun started to rise as I left Willow Bunch and it was light when I reached Coronach, the last stop before the border, around 7:45. I went in to get another coffee and it was free! How lovely! Then, I had to kill a few minutes until SaskTel opened at 8:00, so I switched out the currency in my wallet. I finally got through to SaskTel so I could ‘suspend’ my service for three months. All that means is that I get switched to their cheapest plan for that time, but it still saves me $150 over the winter.

It was finally time to go to the border. I had perhaps a one minute wait to get to speak to an officer. Then, I had a super easy interview:

Where do you live?

Did you come from there?

Do you own this truck?

Where are you going? Wow! Do you work there? Oh, good for you!

Where do you cross? Do you always cross there?

How long will it take you to get to Nogales?

What do you have in the back of your truck? (I don’t think they even opened it!)

Do you have any fruit?

Do you have any firearms for self-protection?

Do you have any medical marijuana?

Drive safe and good luck!

I always feel so welcome into the U.S. Nice work, Border Patrol!

It wasn’t even 8:30 by this point, so I told the GPS to take me to Devils Tower, Wyoming, and I was finally truly on my way!

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T Minus 24ish Hours

I leave for Mexico about this time tomorrow!

Because the border doesn’t open till 8:00, there’s really no point heading out before 6:30 at the absolute earliest. That will give me time to grab a coffee in Coronach and do a final email check before I call SaskTel to suspend my service because I plan to pack away the coffee supplies and antenna tonight. I really don’t want to have anything more to do tomorrow than wrestle the mattress topper into its carrying case and get dressed.

The weather this month has truly been a blessing. I cannot believe that I’ll be winterizing the rig on October 22nd in tee-shirt weather!!! And we’ve only had a couple of nights just barely below freezing, and none recently. I’m sleeping in shorts, a tee-shirt, no socks, covered with just a duvet, and only running one electric heater! The weather all the way to Nogales looks clear, too.

Because I’ve been working with a firm departure deadline, good weather, and several lists, departure is going so frighteningly smoothly that I keep thinking I forgot something! But that’s impossible… I’ve been making lists since last year’s rather messy departure!

One of today’s big projects is thawing and cleaning the fridge. I did really well with food management this year compared to last year. All I have left are some mustard and relish that C&C might be interested in. Otherwise, everything else can either come to Mexico with me, or there’s so little left that there is no point in donating it. I’ve also managed to eat healthily all the way through the last week. I do have some cheese left, but I should be able to get through it.

Soon as work is done for the day, I’ll go out and start winterizing my water system. At some point, I need to get keys to  C&C. That’s another thing I did much better on this year. Last year, I didn’t realise until the last second that I only had one house key, so I had to take the big RV key with me to MX so I could come in through the cab this spring. I had a spare house key cut a couple of weeks ago and made a complete set of keys for C&C — outbuildings, RV house door, power box, and mail, then one for myself (minus the mail, of which I only have one) to have handy when I get home. The only keys going to Mexico with me are the two truck keys and the house key.

The truck is nearly all packed and that’s also a huge difference from last year. For one thing, I’m not bringing the cot, so I could really fill up the truck bed instead of the cab. I have also used a lot more bins and boxes, rather than bags, and I have almost no loose items. That will make the border crossing emptyings a lot easier.

My itinerary to Nogales isn’t firm. I just need to be there by Monday afternoon and, thanks to priceline.com, have secured there what promises to be excellent accommodation at a bargain price. My budget isn’t super tight, so having narrowed down that expense and knowing roughly what I’ll be paying for hotels in Mexico, I’m not going to stress out too much about finding super cheap accommodation Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I’ll be happy if I can find for 70USD or less, but landing somewhere comfortable and secure after a very long day of driving will be a bigger priority.

Depending on how the border crossing goes tomorrow, I’d like to swing by Devil’s Tower. This isn’t how I had wanted to see it, just a quick drive-by very late in the day with no time for a hike, but the weather will be good, so it’s time. Then, on to Gillette for the night. Saturday, I have some shopping to do and the stores I need are south of Denver and in Colorado Springs. So it’ll be an early morning to get past Denver around lunchtime. Then, on to Walsenburg since I know there is a good and inexpensive motel there.

Sunday, I’m hoping John will be available for a late breakfast in Santa Fe, then I’d like to get to Deming(ish). That will give me four hours to Nogales on Monday, giving me time to do a final shop at the Walmart in Benson. I’ll be working very, very, very early while in Nogales, so it’s not a bad thing that I’ll land completely wiped and ready to drop on Monday afternoon!

Since I’ll be driving for the next four days and will have WiFi at the hotel in Nogales, I’ve decided not to buy a U.S. SIM card for my phone. So updates will be limited by the connectivity I find on the road. I’ll check in on Facebook when I can.