A Transplant

Saturday, July 6 - Day 18

We travelled a short distance from Saint John, NB to a small campground outside of Sussex, NB called the Lone Pine Campground. Their mailing address is Penobsquis but they are located in Cardwell...go figure.  Anyway we were going to use this as our base camp to explore the area. The campground owners Cindy and Leon Hillier were more than accommodating as we arrived on a Saturday without a reservation.  They were able to put us into an un-serviced site and Leon filled our water tank and then brought a huge generator to the site. On Sunday we were going to move to a full service site for the duration of the 3 nights we were going to spend in the area.

After we got settled we thought that we would go out and do some exploring in Fundy National Park.  Cindy had given us some detailed information about what to see and do, so we were ready to go.  As we were driving down Route 114 towards Fundy, we saw a sign pointing to a covered bridge; (Kings County, where we were camped has 16 covered bridges), so we took the dirt road leading to the bridge. About 2 kilometers down the dirt road we heard a growl and grind from the front of the truck.  I thought that perhaps we'd hit something on the road and it was caught in the running gear. I finally found a siding where we could get out and check.  Nothing caught and seemingly nothing loose or broken. We had an "oh Shit" moment when we realized that we'd left the smart phone at the trailer and had no communication with the outside world. (Did I mention that we hadn't seen a vehicle on this road in the two kilometers that we'd driven?) The truck was still drivable although it was grinding and groaning and squealing mightily, so we limped it back to the campground.

Leon tracked down one of the seasonal residents, Bryce, who is a big-rig technician. He spent about an hour looking under the truck, checking for broken bearings or broken brake shoes. He determined that it was likely the transfer case and it would be best serviced by a dealership.  We hung around the trailer the remainder of Saturday and moved the trailer onto a fully serviced site on Sunday afternoon. Isn't it always the case that your vehicle will break down far from home...I suppose that it can't really break if it is in your driveway!

Monday morning (July 8), I was on the phone trying to arrange a service appointment in Moncton; a tow through the Good Sam Emergency Roadside Assistance people and rental auto insurance through Manitoba Public Insurance.  Good Sam, had a tow truck to our camp site within the hour...Daniel, from Ralph's Service had our truck on the flat-bed trailer within a couple of minutes and we were on our way to Lounsbury Chevrolet in Moncton. While we were travelling Daniel regaled me with all kinds of information about New Brunswick from resources to tourism. The 48 kilometer trip passed very quickly and we arrived at the dealership.

Our Service Consultant was Brian LeBlanc, who phoned around to several car rental outlets looking for a vehicle for us. He finally found an available rental from Discount.  They picked me up from the dealership, I signed some papers and I was on my way back to the Lone Pine Campground in a shiny, candy-apple red, Kia Sportage. While I was out Janet had cleaned the trailer and we decided not to waste our time sitting around waiting for a call from the dealership so we drove to St. Martins to see the sea caves. We spent the afternoon waiting for a call from Brian which didn't come. Hmmm.

Tuesday Morning (July 9)- Apparently Brian had left a message yesterday afternoon when he couldn't get through on the cell phone.  They had diagnosed the problem as a faulty transfer case and a new one would cost about $3400 installed. We were basically "dead in the water" without a truck so I gave him the go ahead. They happened to have one in stock from a previous job that had been cancelled.  He told me that it should be completed by later in the afternoon - Finally some good news!  We celebrated by driving to Fundy National Park, and along the Bay of Fundy to the Hopewell Rocks at low tide. Around 4:15 I started to worry as Brian hadn't gotten a hold of me. I looked at the call log to see that there had been a number of "bounced" calls on the cell phone.  When we got the phone last month, I had set up "call blocking" on ALL area codes outside 204; it just so happens that New Brunswick is area code 506 - Duh!  I called Brian and he reported that the transfer case was not the problem after-all - they had installed it and tested the truck to find that it was still making noise, so they pulled the transmission pan and "a bunch of metal came out" - this was not good!! Oh yeah and there are no replacement transmissions in Canada. Expected delivery from the USA would be at least a week but there was a used one available from a wreck. Somewhat reluctantly we gave him the go ahead to do the transmission transplant.

Wednesday (July 10) - Off to the Hopewell Rocks to see them at high tide this morning. Tides here are amazingly high.  Will blog them in another post. At 1:15, I phoned Brian for an update.  The new tranny had arrived and it would not be until tomorrow before it was installed and fully road-tested.

Thursday (July 11) - Our campsite that we were in had been reserved for someone else for tonight and they arrived at exactly their check-in time at 1:00 pm. We had made arrangements for someone to come out and move our trailer to another site, but they got hung-up and wouldn't be there till around 2:00 pm. We decided that I would go and get our truck which had been tested and deemed fit for duty. By the time I returned from Moncton the trailer had been moved for the final night in Lone Pine Campground. The truck seems to be OK but we'll give it the true test when we hook up the trailer and head for Prince Edward Island on Friday.

The transplanted tranny has a 90 day guarantee – more than enough time for us to get home.

Right now we are debating whether or not we will forgo the crossing to Newfoundland.   Extremely disappointing for both Janet and myself, but maybe we will try a Bread & Breakfast trip to the “Rock” another year.

The Shakers

Tuesday, June 25 – Day 7

North of Concord, NH is the Canterbury Shaker Village.  The Shakers were a Christian religious sect that existed in the 1800’s in central states.  They were originally a Quaker group, but were prone to speaking loudly or dancing about during religious services.  Hence the name Shakers. Their communities were mostly self sufficient, creating many herbal remedies and medicines that they would sell to the outside world. 

The picture above is their meeting house. They would line up in this field the men on the north or east and the women on the south or west. They would use the separate entrances and would sit on opposite sides of the building.  Their ceremonial dances took on such defined steps that pegs and markers were put onto the floor where certain actions would be done. 

The The buildings were basically unadorned but sturdily built and functional.  All buildings, drawers, doors and clothes were labeled and a master list was kept so that at any time you would know where something is located. The Shakers were the first to develop a circular saw and also developed the Shaker-style cabinetry that we know today.

 

                                                                             This row of trees goes from the main road up to the meeting house on both sides forming almost a full canopy.  A new tree was planted each time a new child came to the village.  Indeed all the children in the colony came from outside whether as an orphan or due to financial hardship of the parents.  Some were from single-parent families.  The Shakers themselves were celibate – they did not marry and recognized the opposite sex as brother or sister.  I suppose this didn’t go over big with a lot of people and by the mid-1900’s the Shakers were headed for extinction.

The Hamptons and Concord, Maine

Monday, June 24 – Day 6

Anyone who has watched Seinfeld is probably familiar with the Hamptons. I had assumed that it was an affluent, resort area – I was only partially right. The Hamptons consist of a number of towns in southeast New Hampshire. There is Hampton Falls, Hampton Beach, North Hampton, Hampton Landing and North Hampton Centre.  It is a resort area with all the trappings of a resort area…Bed & Breakfasts, bars, antique shops, restaurants, bars,  inns, motels, galleries, boutiques and throw in a few more bars…

When we arrived yesterday we read that the International Sand Sculpting Championship was being held this weekend at Hampton Beach so we decided to head down there to check out the sand sculptures.  What a mistake – Wall to wall traffic and wall to wall people.  And only one route out!  Follow the traffic! We were caught in this traffic for close to two hours.  But we had a ringside seat for a street fight...

After all of the excitement of last night we were happy to be on the road and heading north along quieter country roads towards the state capital of Concord, NH. 

Our route took us past numerous antique stores; usually converted barns or garages. The road twisted and turned like a roller and was lined with giant maple trees.  A typical back country road in New England.  We arrived at the Circle 9 Campground just after 10 AM.  We got the trailer set up and had a quick bite to eat and we were off to see the State Capital building.

The New Hampshire State Capital Building is the oldest legislative building in the United States where the legislature still meets. It was Built in 1819, from locally quarried granite and is topped with a gold leaf dome.  Immediately upon entering the main hall you see the campaign flags of many of the New Hampshire National Guard units dating back to the early 1800’s. Some of the flags are no more than a few pieces of cloth adhered to a flag pole.  Some were carried into battle at Gettysburg during the Civil War and others were carried ashore in the Pacific campaign of World War 2.

The New Hampshire, House of Representatives, has 400 members.  The third largest assembly of elected representatives in the world; exceeded in size by only the US House of Representatives and the English Parliament.  You would think that this would be a heavy financial burden for such a small state.  (Population about 1.4 million.)  Well each representative is paid $200 / year.  The tax payers get good value here!  Actually there is no state income tax in New Hampshire…no sales tax either.  They do have a business tax which the business owners are glad to pay…they get business from the surrounding states and Canada.  Gas is only $3.69 per gallon, but Paul told us that if you look around you can find it as low as $3.63.  The state also gets revenue from liquor sales as they have a monopoly on the booze…except beer and wine.  I love this state!

We had parked our truck at a meter on a street adjacent to the Legislature and we had about 1/2 hour of time left before we would be ticketed.  Janet went back to the truck to plug the meter and to cool off in the shade of a birch tree; while I went around the adjoining streets to look at the buildings. Returning to the truck I saw Janet sitting on a retaining wall talking to a Parking Enforcement officer.  We learned that his name was Paul Garland and he was really good about pointing out some features of the buildings and where to get the best shots.  He also was kind enough to take a picture of us in front of the Capital Building.  What a great good-will ambassador for the city of Concord and for the state of New Hampshire.  And best of all…we didn’t get a ticket!

A couple of other quick facts:  The State motto which is displayed on their licence plates is “ Live free or Die” – born in the days of the American Revolution.  Christa McAuliffe, the first teacher/astronaut, who tragically died when the space shuttle Challenger exploded was from Concord.

On the Road Again

We finally have the fifth wheel tires turning again.  We have been talking about doing the east coast for a number of years and now we are finally making it happen.

Wednesday, June 19 – Day 1

  We left Winnipeg just after  0900 with sunny skies and a light wind (an RV’ers delight).  After crossing the border we stopped in Pembina, North Dakota to fill our auxiliary fuel tank – diesel is $ 4.00 / gallon.  We followed I-29 to Fargo, ND and then turned east onto I-94.  The terrain is gently rolling and is a welcome change from the pancake flat prairies. The checker topped grain silos also add interest to the scenery.  The recent rains have really helped the “greening up” of the corn crops. 

We made a detour into Fergus Falls, MN to purchase some groceries at the Wal-Mart.  A detour indeed – our cashier was feeling particularly chatty and spent a great deal of time telling us about how she managed to polish off a full box of Skinny Cow chocolates by herself in one sitting.  It appeared to us that she accomplished this feat on a regular basis.

Sauk Centre is one of those names that you see on the green directional information boards that you pass on your way to somewhere else.  We pulled into their municipal campground for the night. The campground is called Sinclair Lewis Campground after the author; one of the town’s native sons. (I had confused him with Lewis Carol, who wrote Alice in Wonderland – but Sinclair Lewis won the Nobel Prize in Literature for his novel Babbitt.)  

The campground is located beside a small lake which is surrounded by cottages/homes.  It also adjoins City Park.  Janet and I strolled through the park where every, Wednesday summer  evening they have entertainment in the outdoor band stand.  Tonight happened to be a country and western duo.  While we were listening to the music I noticed off to the side that a city policeman was “horsing around'” with three young boys.  Oh, the life of a small town officer!

What a delightful little town. It still retains a number of older Victorian style buildings including the boyhood home of Sinclair Lewis. There is a museum dedicated to him which unfortunately was closed by the time we found it.  The locals say that the  Palmer House Hotel in the downtown core is said to be haunted but as with so many apparitions it may be the result of too many spirits.

 

Thursday, June 20 - Day 2

We got an early start today hoping to bypass Minneapolis after the morning rush.  What a breeze.  The last time that we had been to Minneapolis was in 1996 with the boys on our Disney adventure.  It was as easy getting around the city then as it was today.  The directional signs are numerous and clear in their directions. 

I suppose that being “prairie people” that we are really impressed by the size and by the numbers of  deciduous trees we pass on the roads in Minnesota and Wisconsin.  I expect that we will see more of them as we continue eastward.

We made it to the southern part of Wisconsin today and pulled off the road for the night at a small town called Edgerton, just off Interstate-39/90, south of Madison, Wisconsin.  The Hidden Valley RV Resort is just a few minutes from the interstate and is a very well maintained campground.  My only complaint is their lack of Wi-Fi.  During our 2009 trip to Alaska I had whined about the same thing – five years later the campground owners still haven’t gotten it!  Most people today have even more wireless devices, yet the owners still refuse to keep up with the times.  That is the last rant for this trip!  (About Wi-Fi anyway!)

 

Friday, June 21 – Day 3

“Hell has been described as a pocket edition of Chicago.”
Ashley Montagu

That just about sums up my opinion of Chicago as well.  We had departed Wisconsin around 8:00 hoping to get around Chicago quickly. Wrong!  About 20 miles outside of the Chicago city limits we ran into 35 miles of interstate construction. 45 miles per hour in two narrow lanes.  And the worst thing about it – we had to pay a toll.  But as I knew that was just the start of the toll booths – it took 6 stops and $18.60 to get through the “windy city”.

We got onto Interstate 90 just east of Chicago and we passed through the northern part of Indiana.  The only notable thing here is Elkhart, IN the home to most of the Recreational Vehicle manufacturers in North America. The roads were poor – many as bad as in Winnipeg!  The entrance and exit ramps were bumper to bumper.  The tolls through Indianapolis were $24.70.  Please do not tell the Provincial Government about Toll Roads – they’ll would likely put the money into general revenues and the roads still won’t get fixed!

Through the Buckeye State of Ohio, we stayed on Interstate 90 and decided to camp for the night just east of Toledo in the sleepy burg of Perrysburg.  Not too much going on here so we retired early.

Saturday, June 22 – Day 4

The alarm clock woke us bright and early at 6:30 AM.  As I was putting on the coffee I looked out to see that the people from across the road were already outside having their coffee and headed for the showers.  I thought, “What stamina, they were out partying around the camp fire well after we had gone to bed”.  The day was bright and warm as we got into the truck and were pulling out at 9:00 AM.  WHAT???  I had set the alarm using Central Time – we had lost an hour coming into the Eastern Time zone on Day 3.  Duh!

We continued around Cleveland, Ohio and then went through Pennsylvania  along Interstate 90 which roughly follows the south shore of Lake Erie.  We only got a couple of glimpses of the lake though.  As we crossed into New York state headed towards Buffalo, we noticed numerous vineyards along the highway.  The grape vines are just starting to bloom with white flowers.  I didn’t know that there was such a large wine producing area here.

After getting around Buffalo, NY, we continued eastward on Interstate 90 to the little town of Phelps, NY about 100 miles west of Syracuse, NY.  We stayed at the Cheerful Valley Campground in the “Finger Lakes” region of New York State.  The campground was crowded with families out for the weekend.  There is a huge playground for the kids and there is a creek that runs through the property with giant weeping willows cascading over the banks. A beautiful campground just far enough off the beaten track.

Sunday, June 22 – Day 5

Another travel day…we seem to be averaging between 350 and 400 miles per day.  A far cry from the 500 mile days when we used to vacation with the boys. I suppose everything slows down as you age.  Just after Syracuse we started to get into the Adirondack mountains of upper New York state.  We passed several locks of the Erie Canal and saw some quaint old buildings from the roadway.  We crossed the Hudson River in Albany, NY and we were soon into Massachusetts, but not before having paid $34 for the use of the roads – which by the way, were very good.

  Just after crossing into Massachusetts we passed the turnoff to Stockbridge.  For anyone who has heard the anti-war song, Alice’s Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie, you may remember that Guthrie was arrested in Stockbridge.  Just a detour.

Speaking of detours.  Traffic was wild on the Massachusetts Turnpike, heading towards Boston after the weekend. We had taken Interstate 495, which was supposed to be a quick route around Boston.  Now imagine taking three lanes of Interstate traffic and funneling them into a single lane…it takes 30 minutes to go 3 miles.  We crossed into New Hampshire at about 4:00 PM.  A few more miles down the road and we were in the resort town of Hampton Falls.

The Bird

When we arrived at Bentsen Palm RV Resort, we were told that a very rare bird had made it’s home in the park.  The “black vented oriole”  is a native to central America and is not usually seen this far north.  The weather immediately turned cool, overcast and rainy so we didn’t have an opportunity to get out and search for the bird.  The park offered a “Birding 101”  program, taught by Les Hall, a resident birder, which I decided to attend.  Just before the session, I asked Les about this famous bird.  He described it as a typical oriole, with bright orange under-side and a black upper.  The wings are all black, with no bars.  The distinguishing feature is the vent, which is all black.

Les told me that this sighting was so rare that news of it was spreading over the internet on various birding web sites.  Les pointed out a gentleman in a yellow rain-suit and binoculars, standing in the drizzle looking for the elusive one.  He told me that this dedicated birder from Chicago, caught a flight to San Antonio, where he rented a car and drove almost three hundred miles to the park just to see the bird.  “I’m not that dedicated!”, Les said.

During the last few weeks during our walks in the park, we saw an endless stream of birders coming into the park.  It got so bad that the management had to lock the access gates and requested all birders to report to the main office for directions. Yesterday, after our walk we had stopped at the library located in the clubhouse, to pick up some books.  As we were leaving a number of the birders were getting extremely excited with their cameras and binoculars focused on the surrounding trees.   And there it was.  The Holy Grail of Birds, (exaggeration) the black vented oriole.   One guy with his 2 foot long lens seemed to be getting some excellent pictures with the bird turning  upside down around the red flowers.  So, Janet and I, got to experience a bird that many birders may never see.

Here is a You Tube video showing the acrobatics of the black vented oriole.

“Shivers to Sunburn”

The people around here must be really put-off with us.  When we arrived one week ago the weather was a beautiful, sunny 8O degrees Fahrenheit.  This past week the daytime high temperatures were around 46 degrees while the lows approached the freezing mark of 32 degrees Fahrenheit.  The bad weather seemed to be following us, as we headed south and seemed to catch up with us last week.  We spent most of our time in the trailer shivering with the heat on.  We went through a full tank of propane in that week, where during a regular season that is ALL that we would use.  Then on Sunday, the weather broke and we were able to finally get over to the park for a bike ride and we were also finally able to get the trailer washed.  We have had a couple of nice days back to back which is nice.

We found out that the Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State park had just re-opened in the last week or so.  Apparently, last June or July a dam was opened somewhere on the Mexican side of the border, unbeknownst to the Americans.  It caused considerable damage to the park infrastructure and it had been mostly closed since then.  On our bike ride we could see one of the “resacas” (an oxbow lake, as it is known to most Canadians) was still full compared to when we had seen it last year.  Many of the farms adjoining the Rio Grande, on both sides of the border where wiped out due to the flooding.  They found a single bob-cat as a casualty of the floods in the park.

As I sit outside, I can see a Border Patrol helicopter patrolling the length of the levee separating us from the park and the Rio Grande river less than a mile away.  We attended a session last Tuesday with a representative from the US Border Patrol.  The Mexican drug cartels have been busy trying to smuggle illegal drugs into the US.  They are quite creative in how they try to get the drugs over the border.  One picture showed a semi-trailer of sod, with an area hollowed out in the center holding thousands of pounds of marijuana.  Another picture showed palm tree where the root ball had been cut out to stash the dope.

The temperature topped out at 88 degrees here today.  We had read the news report today and Thompson, MB (where David is currently doing his current stint with Hydro) was a bone chilling –37C with a wind chill of –44C.  (Thompson was tied with Hall Beach, Nunavut Territory for the coldest place on the planet!)  Meanwhile, Kevin had to celebrate his 24th. birthday alone in Winnipeg, where we understand it was only –33C this morning.  Guess I can’t complain about a little sunburn!

Texas Bound

The alarm clock went off at 06:00 am and we hit the floor running.  We wanted to cross the border before 10:00.   We had the trailer hitched up and ready to pull out of the storage compound in Sanford at 8:25.  Ahead of schedule so far. 

Merging into the traffic on highway 3, we encountered our first problem.  The truck wasn’t able to go past 40 km per hour.  I pulled over and tried to get it going again but to no avail.   With the four way flashers on we were able to get the trailer to the Oak Bluff recreation centre where we unhitched it and made the beleaguered trip down the perimeter highway to Birchwood Motors. We limped the truck into the service bay just when we were supposed to be crossing the border.  They told us that fuel filter  was clogged with gelled diesel fuel and would need to be changed.  By 11:30 the job was completed and we were relieved of a chunk of cash.  Back out to Oak Bluff, we hooked up the trailer for the second time.  We pulled into the border crossing just before 13:00 and breezed through in a record 14 minutes.

Interstate I-29 was in surprisingly good shape despite the huge snow storm that they had experienced just one week before.  Driving conditions were great until just north of Watertown, SD, when darkness fell and we were enveloped by a heavy fog. We crept into Watertown, driving at a top speed of 70 km per hour.  We checked into the Quality Inn; fuelled at the Shell station next door; and grabbed a couple of burgers at the neighbouring McDonalds.

Friday morning we were packing the truck in a snow storm.  We were back on the Interstate by 07:30, and again travelling at a snail’s pace.  As we continued toward Sioux Falls, we saw several vehicles in the ditch, one of which rested in the median upside-down.  Further down the road we noticed a fifth wheel trailer that was in the ditch and broken apart like a peeled banana.  Crossing into Iowa the snow stopped and we continued under cloudy skies through Lincoln,  Nebraska.  We ended our second day in the city of Salina, Kansas.

The sun was just rising as we started out on Saturday morning.  It seems like this area has escaped the cold and snow of the prairies.  There is a thin layer of ice on some of the streams but no snow accumulations on the ground.  It was a a beautiful day for driving, with the temperature rising to about 11 Celsius, by noon.  US 81 turns into Interstate I35 just south of Wichita, Kansas and continues through Oklahoma and into Texas.  We stopped at the Texas State Visitor Information Centre, to stretch our legs.  I also wanted to start the fridge as the temperature was now around 18 Celsius.  I extended the slide room to get at the fridge controls.  After the fridge was started and adjusted I pushed the button to retract the slide room.  Nothing.  The hydraulic pump made some noise, but couldn’t generate enough pressure to bring the slides back in.  A minor problem I thought, as I could pick up a part at the Camping World store in Mission and just close and open the slide in the interim with my drill and flex cable.  The flex cable worked to operate the pump for about 30 seconds until it stopped working. So much for cheap Princess Auto tools!!   I tried fitting the hex head into a drill extension.  It was just a bit too large to fit the drill extension.  No problem – I had a hammer.   I managed to chip the pavement driving the bit into the extension but it went in far enough so that it would operate the pump – VERY SLOWLY.  After about 5 minutes the slide room was retracted back into the trailer.  We were finally on the road again.  We drove around Forth Worth and made it to Waco, where we stayed for the night.  Inexplicably, the slides worked  - extending without any cursing or swearing.  After unhitching we went in search of a few groceries as we had not done any grocery shopping since we left.  As soon as we merged onto the interstate we found ourselves in a major traffic jam. Emergency vehicles were travelling along the median and the frontage roads so we kind of figured this was something big.   A number of vehicles ahead of us were crossing the shoulder and onto the frontage road so we followed suit.  An hour and half later as we returned, we noticed that all the interstate traffic had been re-routed onto the frontage road and the cleanup of the wreckage had begun.  Car parts were spread across all five lanes and extended for several hundred feet.  The traffic moves so fast and seemingly so erratically, I’m surprised that we haven’t seen more of these accidents on our travels.  After a quick bite to eat we fell into bed, exhausted.

Sunday - We awoke to a pouring rain and found ourselves hooking up in the rain.   We were both soaked when we finally pulled out of the campground.  And the rain didn’t stop till we got to Austin.  We took the long way around San Antonio and finally got onto Hwy 281 south towards some nicer weather.  We could have made it to our campsite in Mission, but it would have been late and we knew that the office would be closed; so we stopped in Edinburgh, just north of McAllen, TX.  The temperature was about 75 Fahrenheit.

Monday morning and we were definitely in the sun-belt.  We arrived at Bentsen Palm RV Resort just after 11:00.  By the time we got parked in our site and met every neighbour within shouting distance it was after 13:00.  All we wanted to do was get into our shorts and t-shirts, as the temperature was already hitting 80 degrees.  We spent the rest of the day organizing the trailer and shopping for groceries.