Craters of the Moon

We left Kamloops on Oct 12 and made our way to Vernon where we parked the trailer for a couple of nights at the Real Canadian Superstore. This was the last chance we would have this season to see my Mom and Chris’s parents so I spent Saturday afternoon visiting with my Mom while Chris was at her parents catching up on some laundry. It is always nice to spend Thanksgiving with family and Sunday everyone gathered at over Chris’s parents. We were joined by our good friend Laura from Kelowna as well as my brother Ken. Chris and Marilyn cooked up a wonderful meal of ham, scalloped potatoes, veggies and, for desert, what else but pumpkin pie.
Monday morning we pulled out and officially began our winter travels.
Our first planned stop was just south of Calgary in Okotoks, Alberta. We took Highway 1 and were a bit concerned about the weather crossing the mountains but that part of the trip was a piece of cake. We did run into a pretty heavy snow shower around Kananaskis which lasted for about 20 or 30 Kms but fortunately it was warm enough and the snow wasn’t sticking so wasn’t an issue. We pressed on and arrived in Okotoks about 6PM.   I will expand on our reasons for this stop in another entry another day.
Tuesday we pulled out and headed south. Our goal for the day was to get across the border at Coutts, AB and if possible, get as far as Great Falls, Montana. The roads and weather, with the exception of some fairly strong headwinds, were good all the way. We crossed into the states about 1PM with no issues and made it to Great Falls by mid afternoon where we parked at a WalMart. Of necessity, we crossed the border with minimal grocery supplies, especially produce, so replenished those in the store. We also met an Alberta couple who were parked beside us and spent a bit of time chatting with them. They were also on their way south for the winter and spend most of their time in Yuma. We traded contact info and may connect up with them when we are in that area later.
Wednesday was another driving day and we pushed on to Idaho Falls, ID. I-15 through this country can be a long tedious drive. It is quite high, sometimes exceeding 6,000 ft for long stretches and quite sparse. At least the road is in good shape so makes for an easy drive. We still had quite strong headwinds most of the way which is causing us to use about 20% more fuel than the norm. You could tell that they had had quite a dump of snow about a week earlier as there was a lot of it left along the shoulders in places as well as in the fields along the highway.
So far the days have been quite nice; sun and cloud mix with temperatures in the mid teens during the day but getting chilly at night. Pulling into Idaho Falls though it was getting quite warm. I saw 23C at one point and it was still in the mid teens when we went to bed.
Our goal for this first part of our trip was to make it to Twin Falls, Idaho where we were planning to meet up with some friends we had met on our first trip south 2 years ago. We also stopped here on our way home last spring. They had had a last minute change of plans so they could go on a hunting weekend with their grandson so we decided to take a couple of days and detour via the Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve. It was only a short detour and sounded interesting.
Craters of the Moon is an area in Southern Idaho that has had recent (geologically speaking) volcanic activity. It got its name in the 1920’s after a geologist of the time described it as “The surface of the moon as seen through a telescope”. There is a volcanic rift (The Great Rift) extending some 50-60 miles northwest to southeast cutting across the Snake River valley. Covering this area are large lava fields and old cinder and spatter cones. The volcanic activity started here only 15,000 years ago and was actively erupting as recently as 2,000 years ago. This area is a remnant of a magma plume or hot spot in the earths mantle that is currently under Yellowstone National Park. Scientists are fairly sure that this area will see activity again in the future.

The campground here is built amongst the lava flows. It was built quite a long time ago when RV's were quite a bit smaller. It was a bit tricky getting our big beast around some of the tight turns in the park.

This is the Google Earth shot of the Lava Flow campground. The site we had is marked with the red X.

Being we are still at about 6,000 ft, despite being sunny for the most part, it has been cool with daytime temps only around 10C or so and dropping to freezing at night. Also during the day it has been quite windy which is the norm here apparently. We spent a couple of days here at the campground but the forecast for Sunday is a change in the weather and more snow, so we will move on. Next stop Twin Falls.

Back in Kamloops for a few days

I don't have a lot to relate this time. After leaving Princeton last Monday, we headed to Savona and Steelhead Provincial Park. We have been there several times in the past, most recently in August on our way back from 150 Mile House.
Unlike Princeton, the weather there wasn't too bad. A bit windy but at least no rain and not so cold. We stayed there for 5 days, during one of which we made a day trip into Kamloops to take care of some business.
Yesterday we pulled up stakes at Steelhead and headed into town. After stopping to dump our holding tanks, we continued on to the KMAS flying field. I was a bit concerned about getting our new trailer up the hill and parked as there is a pretty sharp corner at the bottom of a pretty steep hill. We never had a problem with the old trailer and as it turned out it wasn't much of an issue with this one either. We got up the hill and parked without a problem. The biggest issue was getting turned around.

This shot was taken today (Sunday) which turned out to a perfect flying day.

We plan to be here through to Wednesday and then move down to the Kamloops Tournament Ranch where the High Country Flyers are hosting their last fun fly of the year.

Princeton Jet Rally and winter is just around the corner

As I mentioned in my last entry, I had finished the install of our new inverter. I am happy to say that after using it for a few days here in Princeton, it seems to be working quite well. We have been camped out at the Princeton Airport while attending the fall jet rally. The inverter has been performing quite well. It will allow us to use most of our 120 volt appliances while operating solely on battery power.  Of course we still need to use the generator to recharge the batteries but I am hoping to resolve that issue soon.
My goal is to add about 1600 watts of solar panels to the trailer along with 4 new lithium technology batteries. This should allow us to operate almost completely green. The only time we might need to run the generator is in the event of several days of overcast skies. I am hoping to order these items in the next day or two and will install them during our winter travels.
I should add that the weather here in Princeton over the last couple of days has been very unseasonable. We arrived in Princeton on Monday and spent the first couple of nights at Rivers Edge Campground. This is a nice small campground right on the Similkameen river. The weather for these couple of days was quite pleasant albeit a bit windy at times. On Wednesday we moved up to the airport and set up at our usual spot near the runway. I got everything ready for the rally which starts on Thursday. Later in the day on Wednesday several others arrived as well.
Thursday, the weather started changing. We got a fair bit of flying in but through the day, the temperature started dropping and the wind came up. Thursday night was a bit chilly and this continued into Friday. The sun did come out for a while and a number of pilots did get some flying in but in the evening the temperature dropped again and the wind continued to blow.

Friday night got quite cold and rainy and by Saturday morning was down to only +5C or so. Also on the nearby hills was some of that white stuff! I don't think I have seen snow on the local hills in September here in a long time. I can't wait til we head south!
Not much flying happened on Saturday as it was cold and windy most of the day. Around 4 though the wind dropped off for a bit so I dragged the Elan out and put in a flight. One benefit with jet turbines is that in the cold moist air, they develop quite a bit more power than they do in warmer drier air. The plane flew great. Shortly afterward though, the wind came back and things got cold again.

This was the 20th anniversary of this event and as a celebration we did a pig roast and pot luck supper. Delicious!

We plan to stay here through tomorrow and head back to Kamloops on Monday. We have a couple of appointments in town to take care of before we can head south.

Time for another catch up

The last 2 weeks have been, depending on your point of view, either pretty quiet or kinda busy.
After packing up at Sandy Point we headed back to Kamloops and the Silver Sage RV park. We have 2 weeks here where I have some planned work to do on the trailer. I am starting to get things in order for our mid October departure for points south. We also needed to access our seacan to recover a few items we had stored away.

One of the things I needed to do was give it a much needed bath. It hadn't been washed since we picked it up in Edmonton back in June and was pretty dirty. That took about 2 hours but the truck got a wash too.
Last Sunday, we headed to Vernon for a couple of days, leaving the trailer in Kamloops. Chris was flying down to Nanaimo with her Mom and Sister to visit her niece for a week. We stayed with Chris's parents Monday and Tuesday then took Chris and her mom to airport in Kelowna. After that I made my way back to Kamloops and the waiting trailer.
One of the key items I had on my list was the installation of a skid plate under the frame at the rear. Reading some of the Grand Design forums on-line, some owners have managed to snag the bottom lip of the rear wall on either the ground or an object and actually wound up ripping the entire back wall loose! I didn't want that happening to us especially as we do go off road a bit when down south. One preventative solution is to attach a steel plate between the rear two frame cross members and extend it to just behind the back wall. Hopefully that should provide enough protection so that if the bottom does drag it won't cause any serious damage. Dragos Spring & Welding in Kamloops did the work and by the look of it did a good clean job.

Here is a before picture showing that it would be quite easy to snag the back end.

And the after photo

They also reinforced those little triangular bumpers as well
The other major project I needed to complete was finishing up my inverter install. The inverter is the device that gives us 110 volt power to run things like the TV, microwave, coffee maker, etc. when we don't have a shore power connection. The inverter converts our 12 volt battery power to the 110 volt AC power.
To connect it up I had to splice in and extend some of the power wires from the midships compartment to the front where the inverter is as well as make up some new heavy battery cables. All told that took about 2 full days with me scrunched into some pretty small spaces at times. At some point in the future I want to move all that gear into the midships area so I also spent some time tidying up the rats nest of wires that Grand Design left in there to make more room for that.
But it is all done for now and seems to be working well. We will know for sure later this week when we are camped at the Princeton airport for the Fall Jet Rally.
I also had a few other small projects that I was able to take care of as well.
Sunday morning I packed up the trailer and headed for Kelowna to pick Chris up at the airport. After that we carried on to Princeton where we will spend a few nights at Rivers Edge Campground before heading up to the airport on Wednesday.

One other thing I did was to add my 2017 travel log and mapping to this blog. If you are reading this via a subscribed email, you can access the log entries and mapping on the blog site, http://robandchristravels.blogspot.com.

More fun fly's

After our return from Anacortes on Tuesday, Aug 27, we made our way to Vernon and the Vernon RC Aeromodellers Larry Christensen Memorial Fun Fly. This event has been running for almost 20 years, always around the Labour Day long weekend. Like some others in the area, it started as a weekend event and has evolved into an almost week long event. We had arrived a bit later in the day so set up basic camp Tuesday evening and left the rest for Wednesday.
I got my airplane put together and one flight in but for the most part we just kicked back, relaxed and visited with other modelling friends also camped at the field.

My 1/3 scale (12' wingspan) Piper Super Cub

Thursday we had to make a trip to Kamloops as we had a couple of meetings to attend and some chores to do in town. One of the meetings was at the Royal Bank as we had applied for a US VISA card. We wanted a VISA as we have on occasion, while in the states, wanted to shop at Costco and other than cash, they only take VISA. We had made the application in Vernon but this process also involves an interview with a client adviser. Vernon didn't have one available so we had booked an appointment with one in Kamloops. We had thought the interview would only take 20 minutes or so but it wound up taking almost 2 hours! Part of this however was due to some computer issues that the RBC adviser was having. Finally around 3PM we were done. As neither of us had had lunch yet, we stopped on the way out of town for a nice Japanese meal at Sushi Valley in Valleyview.
Thursday was Chris's Moms birthday but since we weren't in Vernon, Friday afternoon we had them, our friend Laura from Kelowna, and my Mom over for dinner. We were also joined by friends and fellow flyer Bob Scheer and his wife Wilma.
Saturday, brought more flying and in the afternoon and evening a fairly impressive thunderstorm which fortunately passed us by off to the East.

A lineup of e-Flight Carbon Cubs

Darren Muntaks P-38 Lightning

Darren's Apache? turbine powered helicopter

Sunday was pretty much the same but as we were leaving Monday morning, in the afternoon I started pulling stuff apart and packing up. One project I did get accomplished was the physical install of the new inverter we had picked up down south. I hope to get it fully hooked up when we have a couple of weeks of downtime in Kamloops after the SLAM Fall Classic which we headed to on Monday.
We were on the road heading to Salmon Arm by 9AM or so. Sandy Point at Salmon Arm is only about a 45 minute drive so we arrived in good time. We got signed in and parked in our new spot for this trip in fairly short order. We have been coming here for this and the spring event for the last 15 years or so and over the last number of years, Sandy Point has been increasing the percentage of seasonal sites they have. It seems, no sooner do we find a site we like, within a year or two, they convert it to a seasonal. Since we bought the Cameo a few years back, we have also been restricted to only certain sites that can take larger rigs. This year was even worse as our previous favorite site was again turned into a seasonal. We had scoped out an alternate with the idea of a bigger trailer and this fall we managed to shoehorn the new rig into it. I'm not sure they would have allowed it during the summer as we do hang over the road a wee bit and over the back border a foot or two but this time of year things are a bit more relaxed.
One thing about Sandy Point is they do not allow dogs! So, unfortunately while we are here, we have to take Maya to a sitter for the week. We have found a lady in Chase that looks after her. She has 2 small dogs of her own and although she works during the day, the dogs have the run of the house and even a doggie door to get out into the back yard.
Monday afternoon, our friends Paul and Joan from Eatonville, Wa arrived. They had the site right behind us booked. Once again, I got the airplanes put together and the flying commenced.

Our site, #194

The weather all week has been just about perfect. We did have a storm come through Thursday night that brought thunder, lightning, wind and rain. The lightning show was one of the most spectacular I have seen in a long, long time! I had gone down to the beach to watch it when the wind came up. I wound up helping the Salmon Arm club hold down and dismantle their big tarp sun and rain shelter to stop it blowing away. All the while while lightning was arcing all around us. I have to admit, I was feeling a bit nervous hanging onto that steel framework.
Lots more flying over the last couple of days but tonight I get to take everything apart once again and get ready to head back to Kamloops.

Coulson Flying Tankers Hawaii Mars Martin Mars flying boat

AT-802F Air Tractor 'Fire Boss' fire fighter

Just part of the beach lineup

Just around 8:30 tonight as I write this, another major thunderstorm is right over our heads! We are seeing lightning every few seconds with some within a quarter mile of us. Flash to thunder of only a second or 2. At least it is raining pretty good so hopefully that will keep the fires at bay. This is some of the most intense lightning I can recall in a long, long time.

This is the current weather radar of the storm at 9PM. We are right smack dab in the middle.

Time for a catch up

On my last entry we were at the Kamloops Tournament Ranch for another fun fly. That all went well and once finished there we headed back North. This time to 150 Mile House where there is a Grand Design dealer, Chemo RV, that we had heard good things about. I think I mentioned we weren't overly happy with the service at Woody's in Edmonton so we thought we would give Chemo a shot at fixing our fridge issues as well as a new problem that had come up with our hydraulic leveling jacks.
We had made an appointment for Tuesday so after packing up on Monday, headed off arriving at Chemo mid afternoon. After checking in, and explaining we were full timers, they said we could park and stay in their back lot. They even allowed us to plug in so we had power to boot!
Tuesday, they were able to get an early start on our fridge problem and unlike Woody's, who said we would have to empty it out so they could work on it, the tech at Chemo got right to it. Within an hour or so he had it fixed. He was also able to confirm my diagnosis of the leveler issue as an undersized circuit breaker. Unfortunately they didn't have the proper parts to repair that one though. We can however order one from Grand Design and they will send it out.
All in all, we were quite pleased with the service we received, even though we hadn't purchased our rig there. If necessary, we wouldn't hesitate to go back.
After finishing up at Chemo, we headed back south as we needed to be in Kelowna for a special dinner with a friend on Friday and Vernon for my brothers 60th birthday.
Along the way we stopped for a couple of days in Savona at Steelhead Provincial Park. This is a small park on Kamloops Lake right where the lake flows into the Thompson River. They have a number of powered sites and we were able to get one. We have stayed here in the past and enjoyed our time.
Thursday we carried on and made it to Vernon where we parked for one night at the Real Canadian Superstore and were able to spend a few hours with Chris's parents. Friday we headed to Kelowna and again were able to park for the night at their Real Canadian Superstore.
Our friend in Kelowna had just recently earned her doctorate and Friday night she, and along with her family and a group of friends gathered at Moxie's and celebrated her achievement. After way to much food, we waddled back to the trailer and turned in for the night.
Saturday, we left the trailer in Kelowna and drove back to Vernon and celebrated my brothers 60th with a picnic in Polson Park. The weather couldn't have been nicer and we all had a great time.
A while back I had ordered an inverter and a couple of other parts to begin rebuilding our solar and battery system in the new trailer. The inverter I really wanted wasn't going to be available until sometime in October so we settled on a slightly less but still very capable unit. It was shipped a few days ago and had arrived at our US mail agent in Sumas, Wa. We had it shipped there to get around the ridiculous brokerage and trans border fees we would have had to pay if we had had it shipped to a Canadian address.
So, after pulling out of Kelowna Saturday afternoon, we headed for the coast and crossed over at Sumas. After stopping for dinner in Bellingham we carried on and finally after a long day, wound up stopping for the night at WalMart in Mt. Vernon. Sunday, we did a wee bit of shopping then headed over to the Swinomish Casino RV Park where we are staying a couple of nights.
Today, Monday, we did some exploring around Anacortes and stopped for lunch along the 'historic' La Conner waterfront. The weather was perfect so we found a nice place where we could sit outside and both enjoyed a fish and chips lunch.

Tomorrow we make our way back to Vernon and another fun fly at the Vernon club. The same location we were at back in the middle of July.

One other note; if you are viewing this blog on the web (robandchristravels.blogspot.com), you may have noticed a small inset map along the right side border. This map indicates the locations we have stopped during our travels. I have recently switched to a different mapping product and can now also add some route information.
If you click on the little square box on the left side of the map, it will open it in a new full screen window. You can also click on any of the location markers to see where and when we were at that spot. You can also zoom in or out using the wheel on your mouse. Finally, if you click on the little 'stacked plates' icon, you can select or deselect the different years of our travels to eliminate some of the clutter.  Give it a try.

Edmonton ERCS Fun Fly and Airshow

Since my last entry we traveled to Edmonton as we had an appointment to get some warranty work done on the trailer. During our first month we had found a few things that we needed taken care of so I put a list together and ranked the items in order of importance. Our appointment was for Wed morning at 8AM so we had everything ready, or so we thought. At the appointed time we checked in and went over the list with the service department who then did a walk around. I guess to check for any pre-existing damage. All seemed fine so Chris and I left as we had some errands to run in town. We returned about 3:30 to find them still working on the trailer so we hung out in the waiting area til about 4:30 when they said they were done.
We then went over the work they had done. Despite telling them the priority list, they had knocked off all the low priority items and hadn't done anything with the important stuff.
The two highest priority items were the black tank flush which wasn't working and the fridge doors which don't seal properly. The excuse for not working on the black tank was that they claimed we hadn't emptied it because the gauge showed it was still full. The gauges on black and grey tanks are notorious for not working and we had told them it was empty. As for the fridge, they said they couldn't do anything if it was still full. It would have been nice if they would have told us about that up front!
They offered to continue working on it the next day but we decided to wait and rebooked it for the following Monday as we wanted to take in the Edmonton Radio Control Societies (ERCS) fun fly and airshow running through the weekend so off we went.
We arrived at the ERCS field Wed. evening and got ourselves set up. Our friends Bob and Sherrie Wonitoy were already there and were able to show us the facility. I have to say, they have one of the nicest RC flying sites I have seen. They have 2 very well manicured grass runways so wind direction isn't an issue and no obstacles to worry about. They have power for charging batteries and a really nice fire pit for evening gatherings.

Bob Wonitoy doing a masterful job as Emcee. Just the right mix of information, history and stand up comedy.

I got a few flights in Thursday and Friday and then Saturday morning it was all about getting ready for the airshow. The ERCS does this every year. They put on a show for the public and only ask for a donation to the local food bank as admission. They had all types of acts from control line to gliders to warbirds to jets. I put in a flight with my Elan about 2PM in the afternoon. All in all they had over a hundred guests for the day. 

I should also add that I had woken up with a bit of a scratchy throat that morning as well.

Sunday, we packed up and headed back to Woody's to get the trailer ready for the follow up appointment Monday morning. My scratchy throat was now a sore throat and moving into my head. It looks like I have come down with a head cold!

For this visit we decided we would only have them work on the black tank flush as, while not ideal, we can manage the fridge issue for now. We gave them the trailer Monday morning and went off to do some more shopping and errands. We were done by noon so basically just hung around for the rest of the afternoon until about 3 when they said they were done. They were able to get the black tank flush done this time. 

Once done at Woody's we decided to hit the road and head south towards Calgary. The hope was to make it to Canmore or Kananaskis by the end of the day. We were able to make Kananaskis and spent the night at the Stony Nakoda Resort and Casino. 

Tuesday we carried on and made it to Vernon where we needed to pick up our mail and do some laundry as well as a visit with Chris's parents. I wanted to visit my Mom as well but didn't want to chance giving her my cold so made do with a facetime visit.

Wed. we headed for Kamloops and another fun fly. This time the High Country Flyers Big Bird event at the Kamloops Tournament Ranch.

My friend Dave Volker was playing with a new camera that tracks a small electronic tag. We strapped it on my big Super Cub and I did a flight. It actually turned out pretty good. Once I get a chance to edit it a bit and have some more bandwidth, I will try and get it posted.