April 11, 2005

April 11, 2005

Tillamook, Oregon

DAY 297

 

Today was cold and raining again. The last few days have been like this, and the next few days are forecast to be the same. And it looks like we're stuck here for the rest of the week waiting for the transmission to be rebuilt.

This morning we went grocery shopping. I had arranged to catch a ride into town with the RV park's manager when he makes his regular Monday morning run into town to buy groceries.

This afternoon, we took Bo for an obedience training session during a lull in the rain. At 3:00 P.M. I phoned the repair shop, as pre-arranged. They had removed the transmission from the truck, and disassembled it to diagnose the problem. Suffice to say that the transmission needs to be rebuilt, due to wear and tear, and heat. They were just in the process of determining costs, and asked me to call back at 4:30. I've been phoning them, instead of them phoning me. If I phone them, it's a local call on my cell phone. If they phone me, the call routes a couple of thousand miles to Winnipeg, which they pay for, then routes a couple of thousand miles back to me, which I pay for. When I called back at 4:30, we discussed a number of options about how to proceed. The one that seemed to make the most sense to me was to have them rebuild the transmission, using upgraded heavy duty components, in consideration of the heavy duty demands placed on the transmission by towing Harvey, especially up and down mountains. The cost will be U.S.$2300. At current exchange rates, that's between $2800 and $2900 Canadian. I'm really dismayed ! And it likely won't be ready until Friday. We're due back in Canada on Friday !

I'm also having a problem getting online to retrieve e-mail and update my blog. This park has no modem access, and I can't get a digital signal on the cell phone, just a weak analog signal. I'm going to the repair shop tomorrow morning to see the worn transmission components for myself. Maybe I can persuade them to let me have access to a phone jack in their office, to connect the computer.

DSK