August 12 – 20 Oy Vey!!

August 12 – 20 Oy Vey!!

We wait until 1030 Monday morning to go to the mechanic, allowing him his morning coffee and other habits.  No one is in the shop but it looks like people are at the house so we knock on the door, no answer.  Call on the phone, they hang up after 3 rings, we leave a message and leave.  We chat with the friendly, helpful RV park man Archie.  He has no suggestions but our mention of bringing the RCMPs into the picture garners a nod, our last resort.  Not wanting to go that route we wait another hour and use Carl’s phone, an unknown number to the mechanic, and sure enough, they pick up on the first ring. 

Having established that he will be at the shop and that we can stop by, we do.  There are no other mechanics.  We later learn that they all quit.  We asked, could you bring one back to finish our rig?  “Ah, no,” the “mechanic” says.  He is actually the business owner but what we quickly learn is he is really not a mechanic. 

We ask about the parts and he goes to a hoist and starts lowering the car that is on it.  Not sure what to expect, we just stand there.  When the car is down, he opens the hatch and behold, a large, unopened, box from the transmission company, our additional parts.  He opens the box, discards the packing and stares at the shiny new valve cover and solenoids.  Stares at it and mutters he does not know what to do with it but maybe he could drop our truck onto the other hoist and have it done in 4 hours.  “Will you,” Pam asks.  He shakes his head as he continues to mumble that he never got to know much about transmissions. 

At this point we say, “hey, we have ordered a freight transport with PNW, of our pickup and given that you cannot and have not, completed the warranty work and original repair we just need to get the pickup out of your shop and down the road.”  At least with this knowledge he finally had a helpful suggestion.  “Most likely your PNW shipment will take the pickup to Edmonton and then send it south with some other shipper.  The transmission shop is in Edmonton and could probably get your pickup fixed and back to the shipper.”

We ask him to please make a phone call to confirm that.  He does and we get the transmission shop contact information and leave.  PNW cannot get the pickup until Thursday, 3 days hence, so we settle in for a couple of days of down time, staying in close contact with the shipper and the transmission shop in Edmonton. 

Thursday arrives and we transfer all of our personal items including the 2 kayaks from our F150 into the rental F350.  The PNW truck arrives on schedule from Whitehorse and we watch as he skillfully loads the pickup.  He is a tad scatterbrained when it comes to the keys and his glasses so we clutch both as he finishes up.  He is a colorful fellow language wise and regales us with stories about highway patrol, inspections and other sundry topics.  Then abruptly, “story time is over, need to hit the road,” he quips, and he does.

 

We too hit the road around 5:00, itching to at least put Watson Lake a couple hours in our rearview mirror.  We thank Archie profusely as he has been a great host.  By this time, he is a little more forthcoming on the situation with that particular mechanic and has a few suggestions for us as we depart.  Pam says, “don’t take this personally but we hope to not see you for quite some time!”

We spend a quiet evening in the overflow parking lot of Liard Hot Springs.  Our neighbor indicates to us that he enjoyed watching and listening to us as Pam guided Carl into the parking spot.  “You work well together.” “46 plus years of practice.”  We then find out he is a man married for 51 years who is on his way to get his bride in Whitehorse for some camping.  They have enjoyed decades of camping and canoeing in these parts.

 

A lovely soak in the hot springs the next morning and we are channeling Willy as we are “on the road again.”  We see bison again as they forage along the highway.  

We travel longer days than our normal rhythm.  Friday’s highlights are a large band of Stone sheep and 2 young caribou.  In Tetsa we find those great cinnamon buns and specialty salami sticks that we enjoyed with granddaughter Sam on the way up.  We maneuver into space 12 at the Buckinghorse campground where we had our lunch stop, also on the way up.  We almost feel like we are on vacation again!  

We go through Hudson’s Hope instead of back through Dawson Creek.  The road is scenic country sides but has two steep, 10% grades!  We are in dam country, the Peace Canyon, Site C and WAC Bennett dams.  We stopped at the new, Site C dam overlook with Sam and had to chase deer out of the fence enclosure.  The  has started to fill and much of what we travel through today will be under water next time we are here.

 

Saturday evening, we stay in Tudyah Lake Provencial campground south of Chetwyn.  These spaces are gigantic and quiet.  Sunday finds us at Lac la Hatche Provencial Park, the “lake of the hatchet.”  This is a more typical park and thus a tad more difficult for us to find a suitable site.  We back into site #6 during a short squall.  Once set up we enjoy a much longer, thunder lightening and downpour storm.  After the storm clouds clear we hike down through the highway underpass and walk along the long, beautiful Lac la Hache lake.  

 

We filled out a review card at Tudyah Lake, indicating that we have been very impressed with the Provencial Park campgrounds, clean, well maintained, easy self-registration and affordable!  In many cases we pay $15 to $20/night.

 

The pull of home is strong at this point and the thought of Seattle traffic daunting.  We opt for something Pam hopes to never repeat, a 12 hour day to get us across the border and south of Seattle.  We eat fruit all day long and reluctantly leave a whole pint of blueberries where hopefully someone who needs them can find them.  We had not anticipated crossing the border so soon!  The border agent does not even ask about fruit as he is more concerned and confused as to why we would be in a rental pickup headed south towing a trailer.  Once we mention our pickup broke down in Canada he is a little more understanding.

We fill with diesel in Lynden, Washington ($2/gallon cheaper than BC) and continue our forced march south.  Just south of Olympia is a gem of a campground, American Heritage.  She waits up for us and gives us a nice easy to back into spot and we are set up right at dark.

By 1130 on Tuesday we are home and taking care of chores on the trailer in preparation of closing it up for the fall.  We catch up with a number of friends as they wander.  We chat with Shane at the transmission company and he indicates that our F150 will hopefully be on his Wednesday schedule.  We hope so as well.  That tells us that we might as well return the F350 rental to Vancouver, BC tomorrow.  We take nice showers in our own bathroom and set about doing other chores until our evening Taco Tuesday date with Dennis and Coral.  It is good to be home!