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.

Tchesinkut / To-Sink-It

The name for this fun fly came from the lake where it started many years ago; Tchesinkut Lake. Since then the event has been at a couple of locations but about 20 years ago settled on Burns Lake at the property of Dave and Verna Hopper. They have a gorgeous piece of property right on the lake and over the years have developed it into the perfect park like setting that also happens to be a great place to fly float planes.
We have been coming here for about 14 years now and consider this to be one of the must attend events of the year.
We arrived later than usual as Dave and Verna were hosting a group of kids from one of the local church groups and the property was in use until Sunday. We pulled in about 1PM or so and had to wait til 3 or 4 before we could get set up. It was a bit different this year what with the bigger trailer. We had to move to a different spot as our usual one would have been too small and not level enough for the new rig. No worries though as we were set up in no time.
The weather for the first few days wasn't the greatest with a fair bit of rain early in the week but did slowly get better and by the time the weekend rolled around, had become quite nice.
By Thursday afternoon most of the regulars had arrived and lots of flying was happening.
Dave tends to be a very busy guy and this year was no different. One problem is that he frequently doesn't have an airplane ready to go. I tend to step in and do what I can to try and get one of his birds airworthy for the weekend. This year was no different, I think I spent 10 - 15 hours working on his new cub.
What with the weather and just being busy, I didn't get a chance to take any pictures but here are a few from previous years.

Monday morning we packed up, said our good byes and were off headed for Edmonton. We had an appointment for Wednesday morning at Woody's to get a bit of warranty work done on the trailer. I will share all the details of that and another fun fly in the next post.  Stay tuned!