Friday, May 5, 2006

May 3, 2006

May 3, 2006

Ottawa, Ontario

YEAR 2 DAY 320

 

Today was sunny and mild.

This morning after regular morning chores and preventive maintenance, I took Bo for an obedience walk, followed by another short off leash romp. Good dog, Bo. Around 10:00 A.M. we left for the first of our medical appointments, a mammogram for Joanne at Orleans Imaging. We were a bit early for the appointment, so we drove to Place d'Orleans, to make a deposit at the Bank Of Montreal. At Orleans Imaging I stayed in the truck while Joanne went in for the mammogram. I studied Lanoire's owner's manual, learning about the overhead console's trip computer functions. Wow ! When Joanne was finished, we drove to PET VALU 92, the first store we owned, to visit. The owner, Irena, whom we call Irena 92, because we sold PET VALU 92 and PET VALU 234 to women named Irena, was not there. The store looked good. We recognized the woman working in the store. She was the first employee Irena 92 hired when we sold her the store in August of 2003, so it was good to see that she obviously can retain employees. The first week she owned the store, 2 kittens were dumped on the store. HA HA HA ... we warned her about that occupational hazard, but she fell victim to it within the first week. Mickey and Midnight are now very large, very spoiled, store resident cats.

After browsing around PET VALU 92 briefly, we drove to our next medical appointment, Joanne's gynaecologist at Appletree Medical Centre. While Joanne went in to see Dr. Harrison, I walked across the street and did some truck accessory shopping at Canadian Tire. While walking across the Canadian Tire parking lot, I found a Platinum American Express card. I was going to phone American Express and advise them that I found a lost card, but I took Joanne's advice instead, and just cut it up into shreds. After my shopping, and Joanne’s examination, we drove to Southbank Dodge, to see about getting the correct owner’s manual, and maintenance / warranty manual. They had to order them. I’ll pick them up on Friday, hopefully. I bought a small bottle of touch up paint. I couldn’t find the correct Chrysler black touch up paint at Canadian Tire, so I got it at the Dodge dealer.

We drove back to the trailer at Camp Hither Hills and had a very late lunch. I napped. Joanne cleaned the inside top edge of the living room / dinette slide. I discovered a couple of weeks ago that an inch or two of the inside top edge of the slide is always under the rubber gasket, and gets very dirty. The only way to clean it is to retract the slide inwards towards the travel position, but only about a foot or so, then climb up on a chair and clean over the top edge from inside. After I napped we went outside to do some work. I hitched Lanoire to Harvey, and we measured the overall hitched length. Then we made decals for the dash board, for length, height, and width of the truck and trailer combined. Obviously we need to know height, for bridges and overhangs, etc., but we also need to know length, and sometimes width, for ferries. I repaired a folding lawn chair that popped a rivet. I applied some reflective tape that I bought today, to the top of the truck’s tool storage chest, as a reference point for backing up and lining up the truck hitch with the trailer hitch pin.

By the time we were finished with all that, it was too late to go and do some specialty shopping we had been planning to do this afternoon. We came inside, Joanne began preparing supper, and I began working on today’s journal entry and accounting. We had supper, then watched Amazing Race. While Joanne went to shower, I began to work on the batches of mail picked up at the Dickinson's on Monday. These batches are 2 months worth of mail, so there is a lot of work to be done.

DSK

May 1, 2006

May 1, 2006

Kingston to Ottawa, Ontario

YEAR 2 DAY 318

 

Today was sunny and warm.

This morning we prepared for departure and left Rideau Acres about 10:00 A.M.. We drove to Van & Truck World to have them do whatever was necessary to get the trailer brake controller working properly. They bungled around for about an hour and a half, unable to diagnose the problem. Joanne reminded me of last night's conversation, and prompted me to tell them we wanted a refund, and we were leaving. The owner and I got testy with each other, and as we were arguing, the manager came over to tell us that they had discovered the problem. A blown fuse ! A BLOWN FUSE ? ! ? Shouldn't they have been able to discover that within the first 5 minutes ? < sigh > Perhaps I should have discovered that myself, but ... the truck is so new to me that I don't even know how to operate the radio yet, let alone find the fuse panel and blown fuses.

We drove over to Cataraqui Mall. I went to the library across the street, while Joanne went inside the mall to buy some cosmetics at Shoppers Drug Mart. I got online using the library's Wi-Fi, sent and retrieved e-mail, updated my blog, retrieved bank statements, and updated investment data. By the time I walked back to the trailer in the mall parking lot across the street, Joanne had lunch ready. After lunch, I drove around an empty area of the mall parking lot, adjusting the trailer brake controller settings. When I finally had them adjusted well, we headed out of Kingston.

East on Hwy. 401 to Hwy. 416, north on Hwy. 416 to Manotick, then east on Hwy. 8 to Hwy. 31 / Bank Street. A mile north on Bank Street into Ottawa, and we were at Camp Hither Hills. We registered, got set up in our site, and unhitched Lanoire from Harvey. I breathed a huge sigh of relief. I felt relaxed for the first time in about a month. We survived Dee-Dee. We have the new truck. We're in Ottawa in time for our medical appointments. Everything's going to be okay. In 10 days we're heading for Newfoundland ! Yippee !

We took Bo for an obedience training session. He did well, so we decided to allow him off leash for awhile in this nearly empty campground. He disappeared into the bushes, and after about 10 seconds I called him. He came out of the bushes ... soaking wet, from the middle of his body forward. Like he tripped and fell face first into a creek. I looked beyond the bushes. Yup ... a creek ! Guess he fell in ! Way to go, Bo !

I phoned our friend Erbon. He confirmed that our expected mail had arrived. I drove Joanne to a grocery store, then went to pick up the mail at the Dickinson's. I chatted with Erbon and Lorraine for a few minutes, then returned to the grocery store to join Joanne. We finished the grocery shopping, then filled up with diesel on our way back to Camp Hither Hills. The first diesel fill for Lanoire. My, what a thirsty truck !

I barbecued "Danno mushroom cheese burgers" while Joanne prepared a fresh Greek salad. The Loeb we shopped at today had fresh baking and nice vegetables. I sat outside in a lawn chair while I barbecued, enjoying the warm evening, feeling relaxed and content ... finally. After supper we watched a bit of TV, and I worked on today's accounting and journal entry.

DSK

May 2, 2006

May 2, 2006

Ottawa, Ontario

YEAR 2 DAY 319

 

Today was windy, overcast and mild.

This morning I got up early to walk Bo, but then decided to go back to sleep. It's been awhile since I've been stress free enough to feel like sleeping in. When I finally got my day started, I made myself a large mug of café au lait, then wrote an e-mail to the Bank Of Montreal in Kenora, Ontario about their screw up of a deposit I mailed from Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia about a month ago. I put Teddy outside in his nylon kennel, and Bo on his tie out, then went to work on the truck. I tidied up the fifth wheel wiring, both in the truck box where the connector is mounted, and under the rear bumper where the wiring is spliced into the factory 7 pin connector mounted in the rear bumper. Then I tidied up the wiring out the back of the trailer brake controller, and under the dash. I installed split cable cover over the wiring and connections, routed the cable neatly, and tied it in place with cable ties. When I was finished, I thought now the job looks like it’s been done by a professional. Upon reflection I realized, no, now it looks like it’s been done by an amateur who gives a damn. When the “professionals” do wiring on a vehicle, it looks like something a 5 year old would do.

I coached Joanne in the idiosyncrasies of Lanoire, which are quite different than Dee-Dee’s, and off she went for her fist solo outing with Lanoire. She went to Farm Boy for produce, and Giant Tiger for some miscellaneous supplies. Farm Boy is a local small chain of greengrocers, and Giant Tiger is a local small chain of discount department stores. It’s somewhat nice to be “home” and know where to shop, and what to expect. I reviewed the instructions for my colonoscopy next Monday < sigh >. Preparations begin a week in advance of the procedure. I started today’s journal entry. I got the printer out of the "basement pass through" storage area of the trailer, and printed all the banking and investment documents I had downloaded yesterday while at Kingston's library. I reconciled both the Canadian dollar and U.S. dollar bank accounts. I took Bo for an obedience training session. He did very well. I rewarded him with an off leash romp. He's becoming more and more trustworthy off leash. Good dog, Bo.

When Joanne returned from her shopping, we had lunch. She said that she found Lanoireeasier to drive than Dee-Dee. I'm a bit surprised, because Lanoire is higher and longer than Dee-Dee. After lunch I went outside and worked on lowering the fifth wheel hitch head. When I hitched Harvey to Lanoire for the first time, in Kingston, Harvey sat a bit tilted, front high and back low, because Lanoire is higher than Dee-Dee. I lowered the fifth wheel hitch head one notch, about an inch. If that's not low enough, I'll have to make adjustments to the hitch king pin box on the trailer. The fifth wheel hitch head in the truck is now at its lowest position.

We spent what was left of the afternoon installing the dually tire valve extenders. Surprisingly, I did not have to remove Lanoire's rear wheels to install the valve extenders. I could actually squeeze my fingers through the slots in the wheels. Lanoire seems to be a more "user friendly" to work on than Dee-Dee was. After the valve extenders were installed, we took Bo for a "drivey", looking for a service station with an air hose. I adjusted the tire air pressures in all 7 tires. Lanoire is now ready to tow Harvey to Newfoundland ! We drove to a convenience store that we had been told had a water refill station, to refill 5 water jugs. Why is it so difficult to find water refill stations in Canada ? ! ? And why does it cost $1.00 a gallon here, when it costs 15¢ in the desert in Arizona ? ! ?

We returned to the trailer at Camp Hither Hills, and I barbecued turkey sausage for supper. Joanne bought some meats and cheeses that we haven't seen in a long time. Water is cheaper and more readily available in the U.S., but Canada's grocery stores have better selections and more varieties of breads, baking, deli meats, cheeses, and meats. While I barbecued I did today's accounting. Joanne dug the printer out of storage ( again ) and I printed our medical history summaries, for our upcoming doctors' appointments.

We had supper. I spent the evening working on updating my investment files, and watching TV.

DSK

Monday, May 1, 2006

April 30, 2006

April 30, 2006

Kingston, Ontario

YEAR 2 DAY 317

 

Today was sunny and warm.

This morning I tested the smoke alarm, which I do monthly. I did Sunday's regular preventive maintenance, then removed an empty propane tank for refilling. We drove to a nearby service station that had an air hose, and I adjusted the air pressure in Lanoire's front and spare tires. I can't adjust the air pressure in the rear tires until I install the dually valve extenders. I'm a bit concerned about towing Harvey to Ottawa with underinflated rear tires on the truck. We drove across the street to another service station, and refilled the propane tank. One station had air, the other had propane. We returned to Rideau Acres, and paid for 1 more night. I connected Lanoire to Harvey, to check something on the trailer brake controller. Right ... it doesn't work ! I played around with the truck radio for awhile. How can a truck radio be that complicated ? ! ?

We had lunch. I napped. When I got up, we went to Wal-Mart to buy groceries and supplies. When we returned to Rideau Acres, I installed the new floor mats I bought, and discarded the factory floor mats. If the floor in your vehicle is carpet, and you want floor mats to protect the carpet, why would you make the floor mats out of carpet ? ! ? I bought rubber floor mats, appropriate for a big truck. Joanne helped me hitch Lanoire to Harvey for the first time. I had a lot of difficulty. I don't have the reference points that I had on Dee-Dee's fifth wheel tailgate. When I lower Lanoire's factory tailgate, I'm backing up blindly towards Harvey's hitch king pin. I'm going to have to figure out some reference points and markings. For now, I put a piece of duct tape on the Rubbermaid tote to help me line up Lanoire's hitch with Harvey's hitch king pin.

Just before supper, we took Bo for an obedience training walk. He started out so badly, I walked away in disgust, leaving Joanne to continue. She had him "stop" and "sit" frequently, and repeatedly, until he got focused. Once focused, he did well. I'll have to take Joanne's word for it. I did today's accounting. We had supper. We went for a walk. I'm stressed from too many weeks of truck troubles. My anxiety level is too high. We talked as we walked, and Joanne helped me get my anxiety level down a bit, and formulate a strategy for tomorrow. Wiring a trailer brake controller is well within my capability. I've done it before. Wiring a 7 pin trailer electrical connector is well within my capability. I've done it before. If Van & Truck World can't solve the problem within an hour, we're leaving. I'd rather do the work myself, properly, than let some 20 year old moron start cutting the factory wiring in the truck.

Joyce Malley phoned, to thank us for the gift we left for her and Brian at their store. We gave them a cookbook authored by 2 women who are full time RV travellers. They wrote a cookbook that is one travel story and recipe per page. They are members of the Escapees RV Club, like us, and have travelled to many of the same places that we have been to in the last 2 years. When we were having dinner at the Malley's on Thursday, Joyce commented that "you can never have too many cookbooks". That comment inspired the choice of gift. We hope the "travelling ladies" cookbook will remind them of us.

Joanne gave me a manicure. Thank you, my love. We read for awhile before going to bed early.

DSK

April 28, 2006

April 28, 2006

Kingston, Ontario

YEAR 2 DAY 315

 

Today was sunny and cool.

This morning I got a very early start, heading out at 8:00 A.M. for Van & Truck World. I stopped at Canadian Tire on the way, and got a refund on one of yesterday's purchases on which I changed my mind. I arrived at Van & Truck World just a few minutes before they opened at 9:00 A.M.. I discussed with them the finer details of where I wanted the brake controller and hitch wiring mounted, then left to walk about a mile to the library. On the way I stopped at a Dodge dealer. The owner's and maintenance manuals that were in Lanoire were in French. Belleville Dodge gave me new owner's and maintenance manuals, but they were the wrong ones, for gasoline engines. I phoned them yesterday when I discovered that, and they told me to go to a Dodge dealer in Kingston or Ottawa, get the correct manuals, and they would pay. The Kingston Dodge dealer did not have the correct manuals. I'll try Ottawa.

At the library, I found a quiet desk in the corner of the basement, and set up the laptop. I did yesterday's accounting and journal entry. I deleted all of the records related to Dee-Dee, and set up new ones for Lanoire. Dee-Dee is gone, I threw out all her paperwork files yesterday, I deleted all her computer files today, now all that will be left of that ******* piece of crap is the cold night sweats and nightmares. HA HA HA ! Last night while we were looking at our travel photos, Brian commented on what a good looking truck Dee-Dee was in some of our photos. Yeah ... just the like the Northern Pikes' hit tune of the 80's. "She ain't pretty, she just looks that way". HA HA HA HA HA !

I got online using the library's Wi-Fi system, sent and retrieved e-mail, updated my blog, and surfed for winter WorkCamping jobs. I've had no responses to my applications for a WorkCamping job at Pinery Provincial Park in Ontario for September and October, Falcon State Park in Texas for January to March, and Guide Dogs Of The Desert in California for December to April. I hate when organizations are neither professional nor courteous enough to respond to applications. I went across the street to Cataraqui Mall and had lunch in the food court. I returned to the library and started today's journal entry.

At 3:00 I left the library and walked back to Van & Truck World. When I arrived at 3:30, they were not yet finishedthe hitch installation, they had not installed the tool / storage chest, the fifth wheel wiring, the brake controller, or the step tubes. AND ... the step tubes were "on their way". What do you mean "on their way" ? ! ? The step tubes were in stock the other day. Oh ... they made a mistake ! I expressed my displeasure. I wonder if it's possible to find an automotive service facility that does what they say they're going to do, when they say they 're going to do it, at the price they've quoted, with competent workmanship ? ! ? < sigh >

They had more difficulty installing the fifth wheel hitch than they had anticipated. They ran into some unexpected problems with the wiring of the trailer brake controller. They finally finished the work at 6:20 P.M., 20 minutes after the shop had closed for the day. The manager treated me fairly when he prepared the bill. However, when I got back to Rideau Acres and began inspecting the work, I found the trailer brake controller mounting bracket was installed upside down, there was a mounting screw missing, there was an improperly reinstalled mounting screw in one of the dually mud flaps which they had to remove, etc.. I'm rarely satisfied with the competency and proficiency of young men working as automotive "service technicians / installers".

Joanne made a nice pot roast for supper. After dinner, I did today's accounting and finished this journal entry.

DSK

April 29, 2006

April 29, 2006

Kingston, Ontario

YEAR 2 DAY 316

 

Today was sunny and mild.

This morning I realized that I left my wiring diagram for a trailer 7 way electrical connector at Van & Truck World. I phoned them to verify that they had it. I told them I would be in later to retrieve it. I went outside to work on the new truck. I started by rerouting the trailer brake controller wiring underneath the dash. The rocket scientists at Van & Truck World had routed the trailer brake controller wiring so that it interfered with the hood release cable. I removed the small "front" fender flaps that Lanoire's original owner had installed on the front side of the dually hips. When I first saw them, I thought they were a good idea, but after driving the truck for a couple of days I realized that these small "front" fender flaps mounted on the front of the dually hips rub against the tires at highway speeds. I removed and discarded them, then reinstalled the mounting screws to keep water out of the insides of the fenders. Next I removed and repositioned the fifth wheel 7 pin wiring connector that Van & Truck World had installed on the inside of the truck box on the driver's side front. I didn't like the positioning of it, so I relocated it. Then I had to lower the spare tire and replace it correctly. Van & Truck World had removed it to work under the truck, then reinstalled it incorrectly < sigh >. I installed door edge guard moulding I purchased the other day.

We had lunch. I connected the truck to the trailer, to check the functionality of the 7 pin electrical connector, and the brake controller. The fifth wheel wiring ( 7 pin ) connector seemed to work okay, except for one tail light on the trailer. I checked and replaced the bulb, and everything worked fine. I guess when Dee-Dee's tail light circuit board malfunctioned, it sent an electrical surge through the trailer tail light and blew the bulb. I tested the brake controller. To make a long story short, it didn't work. I phoned Van & Truck World, discussed it with them, and made an appointment with them for Monday morning. I'm not very pleased with their workmanship. Is it not possible to get good quality automotive service ? ! ? We were planning to leave Kingston tomorrow morning, for Ottawa. Now we're not going to be able to depart for Ottawa until Monday afternoon at the earliest !

I reloaded everything into the tool / storage chest. I reloaded the Rubbermaid tote into the truck. I tried to reattach it into position with double sided foam tape, but it didn't work because of the ridges of the new truck's bed liner. I installed the rest of the "stuff" into the truck box including the waste tote, a trailer spare tire, my "hot rocks" from Princeton, B.C., and the 5 pieces of firewood from Jasper, Alberta that have travelled all around North America. HA HA HA ! I came inside, changed clothes and washed up. We drove to Canadian Tire. We bought a new Rubbermaid tote, some mounting hardware, and some other supplies. We drove to Van & Truck World to pick up my electrical connector wiring diagram. They were closed already < sigh >. We drove to the Malley's PET VALU store, and dropped off a gift for Brian and Joyce, to express our appreciation for their hospitality.

We returned to the trailer at Rideau Acres. I began to work on installing the new Rubbermaid tote by drilling through it, the bed liner, and the floor of the truck bed, then installing large screws and washers. We took Bo for an obedience walk, and romp. Almost every day now we allow him a few minutes off leash. We can finally trust him to romp around off leash, then return when called. Good boy, Bo. It's been a long journey to get to this point.

While Joanne prepared supper, I did today's accounting. We had supper. I worked on today's journal entry while Joanne washed supper dishes. I bought a newspaper today, for the first time in many weeks. I spent the late part of the evening reading the newspaper.

DSK

Friday, April 28, 2006

April 27, 2006

April 27, 2006

Kingston & Belleville, Ontario

YEAR 2 DAY 314

 

Good riddance, Dee-Dee ! ! !

Bonjour, Lanoire !

Today was sunny and cold.

This morning we headed out at 9:00 A.M. for Belleville, west on Hwy. 401. We arrived at Belleville Dodge at 10:00 A.M. Even before going inside I phoned Village Insurance in Lorette and had them begin working on transferring our registration and insurance from Dee-Dee to the new truck. Inside the dealership we did all the paperwork and business matters, and were driving away in the new truck at 11:30 A.M. WOO-HOO ! ! ! Both Village Insurance and Belleville Dodge dealt with everything promptly and professionally. Thank you to both of them.

On the drive back to Kingston, we discussed what to call the new truck, if anything. We kicked around a few ideas, but Joanne came up with the best suggestion. The new truck was originally from Montreal. Joanne named her La Noire, French for "The Black One". Lanoire ( la nwhar ) it is !

Back at Rideau Acres I spent the entire afternoon admiring and familiarizing myself with Lanoire. I found a few scratches on the front of the truck, probably from rough tow truck handling when she was being repossessed. I think tow truck drivers are the scum of society, followed closely by transmission repairmen. Joanne spent the entire afternoon trying to figure out where to put back everything we had taken out of the cab of Dee-Dee. Gee, we carry an awful lot of stuff in the truck, because of our travelling lifestyle. As I often do, I got so caught up in what I was doing, I forgot to change clothes when I started crawling around underneath the truck, checking things out. Joanne wasn't very pleased when she noticed that I had grease smudged all along the arm of one of my newest, and nicest shirts. OOOPS !

At 5:00 P.M. we left to go for dinner at the home of our friends, Brian and Joyce Malley. On our way we stopped at Canadian Tire and I bought some truck accessories. I love shopping for new vehicle "toys". We had a lovely dinner with Brian and Joyce, then a long evening of viewing my travel photos. We always enjoy visiting with the Malleys. Thank you, Brian and Joyce, for a lovely dinner.

We arrived back at the trailer at Rideau Acres quite late, so I left the accounting and journal entry for tomorrow.

DSK