Back in the U.S.A......

Have to admit it, feels good to be back in the States.  No more counting loonies and toonies, figuring the exchange rate, etc.  In Canada, practically everything you look at, you automatically compute the cost in U.S. funds. However, the price U.S. doesn’t allow for the fact that the Canadian is inflated anyway.  No doubt that we are spoiled here, the Canadians have to live with that cost of living everyday.  The only upside is that they are surrounded by some of the most beautiful country in the world.  We passed lakes and mountains that just take your breath away, and, they are practically deserted.  No crowded together vacation houses surround them.  At home, you would see 10,000 boats racing around, running in to each other.

Before we left Quesnel BC, we went to the farmer’s market downtown on Saturday.  Lots of farmers from the Octaganon Valley bring their produce there, and the fruits and vegetables are really superior to the supermarket variety.  We bought tomatoes (these have to be grown in greenhouses), bing cherries, corn, cukes, lettuce, peaches.  They had a country band playing, then a young lady, Irish dancer (with two drummers) performed.   Enjoyable break from travelling.

We headed South again on Monday, down route 97 toward Merritt where we spent the night in a City owned RV park.  Nice place, well kept, the manager was friendly.  On the way, I forgot to turn off the engine AC, and the engine overheated on one of the long pulls.  We had to stop along the road to let it cool down.  We took it easy the rest of the way to Merritt, and when we got there, I  flushed out the radiator with a hose, and an accumulation of dirt from the Alaska roads came out.  Checked the air filter, and it is in need of changing.  It can’t be taken out and cleaned (like on automobiles), but has to be replaced.  Next morning, called around, could not find the filter. Not surprised, they run about $75.00, and auto parts stoes won’t stock them.

Tuesday night we spent at the Colville Fairgrounds CG….nothing fancy, lots of dust from the horse arena across from us.  The engine seemed to running ok on the way down, no overheating.  The radiator flush seemed to help.

We decided to aim for Missoula MT on Wednesday.  This is about a 260 mile drive in good weather, but we woke up to heavy rain.  We passed thru Spokane about 10:00 in the morning, and just after we got onto I-90, a light on the dash of the MH came on, indicating that there was a problem with the battery charging system.  Pulled off the road, checked the fan belts, they were o.k.  Light was off when we started out again, then came back on.  Pulled off again, tried to call Tiffin, couldn’t get thru, called Freightliner, held for awhile, finally got one of their Techs.  He advised us to have a Freightliner dealer check it, and in the meatime, run the generator to keep the batteries charged. We drove on to Missoula without a problem, checked in to RV park just down the street from Missoula Freightliner.  Shelby and I both are fighting off colds (allergies?), so decided to get a good night’s sleep, and go to FL in the morning.

So, it’s Thursday, and that’s where we stand.  I’m going to take the car up to FL  this morning, get in line, then come back and get the MH when they can work us in.  We’re probably going to have to stay here for a couple of days, depending on the severity of the problem.  If we need a new alternator, that could be a problem finding one around here, we’ll see.

They have WIFI here, but we’re too far away (apparently), to access it.  So will take the laptop down to the rec room and hope it works there. Just learned that all of the rest areas on I-80 in Nebraska are wired for free WIFI.  Looks like a lot of areas of the country are going that way.