A fine day for our bedroom evaporative / "swamp" cooler to die ! Joanne cooked "fried" chicken in the Sun Oven today, as tomorrow's picnic supper after delivery of a trailer. Then she cooked stromboli in the Sun Oven for tonight's supper.
A couple of weeks ago I stubbed a toe on my left foot so badly that the toe turned purple and the nail turned black. Well ... today I did the same thing to the same toe on the other foot ! < sigh >
I finished my trip planning and motel reservations for the "maybe" trailer towing job in a couple of weeks. I updated my investments summary, which I do as a weekly monitoring / analysis of how our investments are doing. I posted my weekly journal entry to my blog. We went to the swimming pool this afternoon but I didn't feel well today, so our time in the pool was just to cool down, not to exercise.
Monday ; home to Winfield to Surrey to home
Sunny and very hot, temperature 101º F / 38º C while we were driving on the Coquihalla in the afternoon.
It was a long, hot, tiring day of trailer towing, with death and destruction all around us, it seemed at times. We stopped around 9:15 PM in Hope to refill with diesel fuel for the second time today, and while we were getting refilled, a fiery, fatal crash took place on the Coquihalla Highway nearby. Then we continued eastbound towards home, on the Crowsnest Highway 3 which had just been reopened after being closed for part of the evening because a wildfire had jumped over the highway and was burning on both sides of the road. As we approached Princeton around 11 PM a double trailer semi had jackknifed, completely blocking the highway. We were able to go around it by driving onto a gravel area adjacent to the highway.
Yes, yes ... there's no doubt ... the most dangerous thing we do is highway driving ! ! !
We left home at 7:40 AM heading for Voyager RV in Winfield, about 10 km. north of the Kelowna airport. We made very good time, arriving just after 10 AM for our 10:30 AM trailer pick up. However ... Voyager RV was running late, so by the time the trailer was finished being washed, then an orientation with the new owners took about an hour, it was 11:30 AM before we could hitch up and go. Back through the traffic gridlock of Kelowna and Westbank / West Kelowna, then we turned west on the Okanagan Coquihalla Connector at Peachland headed for Merritt.
The Okanagan Coquihalla Connector is about 115 km. from Peachland to Merritt, half of it uphill, and half downhill ! With a filled freshwater tank, and two filled propane tanks, the 41 foot long fifth wheel trailer weighed about 15,000 pounds ! I set the truck's cruise control to 90 km. / hr. and up the big hill we went ! By the time we reached the Pennask Summit, the truck's engine ( coolant ) and transmission ( fluid ) were severely overheated. I had to park at the summit for awhile and allow everything to cool down.
Downhill to Merritt helped cool the truck down, then when we went to the Extra Foods Fuel Bar in Merritt to refill with diesel ... UH-OH ... no diesel ! Next available diesel would be 115 km. away in Hope. Wish me luck ! The Coquihalla from Merritt to Hope is half uphill, half downhill, like the Connector. Learning from the overheating lesson of the Connector, I set the truck's cruise control to 60 km. / hr., and limped slowly up the 50 to 60 km. long hill with flashers on, joining the big semi-trailer trucks doing the same. Lanoire handled it without overheating. Another life lesson learned ! The shoulder of the Coquihalla was littered with overheated vehicles !
We made it to Hope without running out of fuel. We refilled at Flying J ... their fuel pump electronics malfunctioning due to the heat ( over 100 degrees ), and an hour later we reached Chilliwack ... and Lower Mainland rush hour ! < sigh > It took another hour and a half of fighting rush hour traffic to get to the trailer delivery location, an RV park adjacent to the Pacific Highway border crossing in Surrey.
We arrived at the RV park at 6:15 PM, got the trailer positioned and unhitched, chatted with the new trailer's new owners about full time RV'ing / travelling ... ( not particularly feasible with a 41 foot trailer weighing 15,000 pounds, pal ! ) and left at 7 PM. About an hour later we were having a late picnic supper at a rest area near Abbotsford. We refilled with diesel again at Hope around 9:15 PM, and were back home at five minutes after midnight.
Tuesday ; Happy 57th Birthday to my brother Russell
Hot, thick smoke, ash falling from sky. A nearby wildfire flared up and grew large overnight. Keremeos and Cawston are on evacuation alert.
Joanne and Ozzie, both tired from yesterday's trailer delivery job, slept late. I don't understand, I did about 98 % of the work, Joanne did about 2 %, Ozzie did none. HA HA HA ! I got caught up on work not done yesterday, like writing yesterday's journal entry and doing yesterday's credit card accounting. I unloaded trailer towing equipment and supplies from the truck. I phoned a client to confirm whether or not they will require me to transport one of their trailers from Saskatoon to Vancouver in two weeks. She was unable to provide me with an answer ... yet. I did trailer towing job accounting. We went to the swimming pool and did cardiac exercises.
Joanne did online shopping for a room evaporative ( swamp ) cooler. Our current swamp cooler in the bedroom has given up the ghost. She found one in Penticton that looks promising. We'll see it tomorrow.
Wednesday ; Penticton
Sunny, very hot, some smoke haze.
We spent the day in Penticton running errands. That included me having an appointment with my new family doctor, and ... purchasing a near new evaporative
( swamp ) cooler for our bedroom. Time to "retire" the old swamp cooler that we bought five years ago for twenty bucks at a yard sale. The one we bought today is a 2017 or 2016 model with all the electronic bells and whistles. The old one is sort of the Model T version of swamp coolers. I'm tired of the endless quest to find replacement drive belts for it, which it consumes at the rate of about two per summer season. The only place
I have succeeded in finding replacement drive belts for it is at an industrial supply business in Yuma, Arizona. And since we were not there last winter ... I have run out of spare drive belts.
We left home at 11 AM and were back home at 7 PM.
Thursday ; Sunny and hot, windy.
A somewhat lazy day of puttering around with routine household chores.
I contemplated going fishing but ... too windy.
Friday ; Cloudy, windy, very warm.
This morning the RV dealership that hired me to deliver a trailer earlier this week hired me again to do another delivery next week, this time to Vancouver Island. And so the "maybe" long distance trailer delivery job next week for another client becomes the "definitely not" long distance trailer delivery job. And so ends the short lived relationship with that client who has "ghosted" me regarding that job.
After an early ( for us ) lunch we headed into Keremeos. While I went for a haircut and beard trim Joanne refilled our five gallon water jug and shopped for produce. After she picked me up at the hair stylist place I went to the pharmacy and she went to the credit union to get coinage. After we returned home I napped briefly then we went to the swimming pool and did aquatic cardiac exercises.
In the evening I cancelled the five motel reservations I had made for the "definitely not" long distance trailer delivery job, and made a motel reservation and multiple ferry reservations to and from Vancouver Island.
Saturday ; Mostly sunny, very warm, smoky in the evening.
This morning I used my multi-meter to test the 120 volt AC to 12 volt DC converters for our two vehicle fridges, one in the truck and one in the minivan. HA HA HA ... our third vehicle fridge is in OB, our SUV in Yuma. One of the converters seemed to malfunction recently, and today I proved that. One converter was producing fourteen volts DC ... correct ... and the other was producing two volts DC. PHHHHT ... into the garbage that one went !
We did some gardening. Joanne harvested lettuce, then culled out old, overgrown lettuce. I culled out all the peas, no longer producing. I replanted a variety of lettuce, and some cilantro. We gave Ozzie a bath. Joanne did laundry. I contemplated going fishing in the afternoon, but it was windy at that time, and some ugly clouds were rolling in.
In the evening I purchased our winter travel medical insurance, a more complicated
( and expensive ! ) process each year, it seems.
DSK
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