Teslin to Whitehorse

Up a bit earlier than we have been recently as we wanted to get hold of an RV tech as soon as shops opened. Art started dialing on Skype shortly after 7:30 but found that the shops didn't open until 8:30.

By 8:35 he was talking to a service manager who took all the updated info and said that he would relay it all to the tech, including the e-mail we has sent yesterday and that we should call back in an hour.

Then there was a knock at the door, it was neighbour, a mechanic, offering to help. He was able to reach under and around where Art couldn't and confirmed that the relays were working, it was probably a bad pump motor. Checking with an ohmmeter pretty much confirmed that. It was beginning to look like gathering a work party to manually push the slide in. The book says it needs about 150 pounds of push for 10 minutes. The park was emptying quickly, it would have to be in the afternoon when more rigs pulled in. Gillian mused that we'd have to buy some more beer!

9:40 Art called the RV shop back and spoke to the tech. After listening to the update he agreed that it probably was the motor. Just as he was about to hang up he said “you know, you might try hitting it with a hammer while holding in the actuator switch”.

Art went next door for the mechanic again who collected a hammer from his tool box and crawled under the rig again. Gillian inside on Art's cue pressed the bedroom slide switch; TAP went the hammer and hummmmmm went the pump and in went the slide. Cheers all round! Next thing was to try the dinette slide. It too went sliding in to place. More cheers.

We began repacking for the drive to Whitehorse, about 2 hours away. Art also had to lower one of the solar panels that he had angled towards the sun earlier in a vain attempt to increase the charging current to more than an amp—we were parked along side several large trees that shaded the panels until noon. The dogs got another walk, Trekker another swim, the car got hooked up and we were on our way by about 11:20.

Another beautiful drive; the day continued as it had started, beautifully clear and sunny.

The town of Teslin is a bit west of the RV Park and has a beautiful approach. We stopped for a few minutes for a photo opportunity and carried on. We were anxious to get to Fireweed RV and start the repair process.

The road was good for the most part, only a few well marked frost heaves, some we could avoid and some we just had to slow for and a bit of construction. Again lots of lakes, rivers and of course bridges.

Trekker was still getting himself into a state. He is really worried that another big bump or another loud noise is going to occur at any moment. We are quite sure that this is a carry over from the terrible roads of the west coast of Mexico 2 years ago. After an hour of driving we stopped to give him a 15 minute break then carried on the Whitehorse and to Fireweed RV.

We gave the shop all the info we could, part numbers were hard to find but we had phone numbers for the Winnebago dealer in Victoria and for HWH, the manufacturer of the slides and jacks. Hopefully we will get some news, preferably good news, tomorrow.

We then carried on down the road a few miles to High Country RV Park on the hill right at the east edge of the town. They had no fully serviced sites left, but possibly in a few days. We booked in for 2 nights with a promise that they would get us the first available. We have water and electricity but no sewer. They have a sani-dump that we made use of so we are good for the better part of a week if we watch our water use. They have a shower building, a laundry and wireless internet, all of which we will make use of.

We pulled into our site, just barely fit lengthwise and Art tried the stablizing/leveler jacks. They worked! He had a long think and tried the slides. They are both now out. Hope we don't need the hammer to get them back in again--or if we do, the trick works again! We tried the satellite dish again, but again too many trees.

A camper who had seen us arrive came over to speak to us—he had noticed the decal of the Mexican flag that we have on the front of the passenger side mirror. He and his wife are from the city of Leon in Guanajuato, Mexico. He was wearing a sling on one arm and told us the story:

They are on a caravan trip from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska (as far north as you can drive in Alaska) to Tierra del Fuego, the southern tip of South America. They had of course first driven up from Mexico! While north of Anchorage they blew a tire and rolled their camper van, destroying it and dislocating Pepe's shoulder!

Pepe flew back to Mexico (spending 18 hours in airports along the way) picked up another vehicle and drove back north where they met up with friend George (in the caravan) in Whitehorse! Pepe had purchased an enclosed utility trailer in Anchorage to hold all the stuff salvaged from their van and a friend had towed it to Whitehorse for them. Next they move on to Calgary and then south to Mexico and on through South America and back to Mexico. They will probably be coming through Zihuatanejo when we are there in February, or failing that they have a place in Lo de Marcos (north of Puerto Vallarta) so we will have a chance to meet them once again! This is one of the things we love so much about RVing. We meet such interesting people along the way and then continue to run into them. These fleeting meetings sometimes turn into long term friendships.

As soon as we were parked and level (and the slide out!) The dogs had a short walk and we set off to look for lunch, which was rapidly beginning to look like supper as it was now almost 4:00 PM! We found a restaurant that had been recommended to us at the RV shop and had an excellent meal—Art the Elk Stroganoff, Gillian the Cariboo Stew. And a few beer. We have found one we like, Yukon Gold. Not related to the potato of the same name, it's similar in style to an English Pale Ale. Mmmmmmmm.

Back to the RV park where we invited Pepe, his wife Patricia and their friend George to join us for a drink. It was while chatting that we heard the full story of their adventures and plans. George is originally from Montreal and is fully trilingual, spending a lot time in Mexico since the early 60's. He is also a ham radio operator so the of course that led to further discussions. Unfortunately they will be leaving in the morning.

Tuesday was laundry day—three washers full! Art also washed the very dirty car, or at least hosed it down. More like “a lick and a promise” as his mother used to say. After returning to the laundry to check in with Gillian he returned to the car to head of the the RV shop. As he was getting back into the tracker a fellow approached him, asking if he had jumper cables. His towed vehicle wouldn't start. Art agreed and wished he had a photo of our little red tracker jump-starting big yellow hummer! The owner introduced himself as "I'm Rich--but not wealthy"!

Art drove back to Fireweed RV in the semi clean vehicle to check on the status of the parts search and also to give them Gillian's cell phone number as Art's had no service here in Whitehorse. They had not yet heard from HWH, the slide system manufacturer and said they would call as soon as there was something report.

The rest of the day was spent just poking about, grocery and booze shopping, interneting and visiting. Back at the campground the big yellow hummer pulled up in front. They had come to say thanks again, so we invited them in for a drink and a visit. He introduced himself as “I'm Rich. . .not wealthy”. We spent a very pleasant hour or so chatting about our various rv experiences.

That night as we were getting ready for bed the water in the storage tank ran out! It was raining, Art almost in bed so we decided it could wait until morning. We had a couple of litres on hand in a cotainer that would see us through our ablutions tonight and in the morning.

Wednesday morning we woke up to a sound that had us wondering for a moment then Art exclaimed “it's your cell phone”! Gillian flew out of bed to grab the phone from the dash but it had already gone to voice mail. There was a voice mail—the RV shop asking us to please call as soon as possible. Art made the call, to be told that the numbers provided to HWH were not the right ones. He had explicit directions of what to look for and where. On the top of the grease and dirt covered hydraulic oil tank there should be a lable with the correct numbers.

The rain which had continued to pour down most of the night had not let up, so Art, dressed in his old work pants and a t shirt that wouldn't be missed, armed with a can of solvent and a handfull of paper towels, went out to look. After much scrubbing he found a not-black bit that with a little more work proved to once have been white. The numbers were still visible, though dim. Carefully copied down they were relayed by phone to Fireweed RV who assured us that they would call HWH right away.

The next job was to connect the water hose and fill the water tank. This is usually a simple chore but the bin where the hose was stored was very close to a tree and with the slide in the extended position the bin door would not open fully. Bumbling and grunting and complaining Art managed to get the hose out and connected and water running into the tank which quickly filled.

Back in the motorhome, again clean and dry, Art had just finished breakfast when the RV Park manager knocked on the door to say that he had a fully serviced site for us. As there was a line up for spaces—there had been half a dozen rigs parked in the over-flow over night and more rigs were already arriving--we knew we needed to get moved quickly as someone was surely waiting to get into our present space.

Still raining! Quickly packing things up so they wouldn't fall, doing the dishes, disconnecting the water hose and power, all in a bit of a rush, the cruicial moment arrived: Would the slides come in? Art started the engine to let the air start building for the brakes and suspension and to make sure the pump motor had full voltage available. A push of the buttons and the slides came in! The dogs were hustled into the car which Gillian drove to our new spot while Art followed in the rig.

We we soon parked, the jacks came down and the slides went out! Power, water, sewer and cable TV were quickly connected. Next was to test the internet. We had a good signal right from the rig! How about the Starchoice satellite? There were a lot of tall trees, but a clear space in front of us—worth a try. We pushed the appropriate buttons and the dish came up, went round and round and up and down for about five minutes before we gave up and shut the system down. Oh well, we'll have to make do with cable. Nothing like roughing it!

Since we had a good connection and it was still raining Art carried on catching up on internet stuff and somewhere along the way realised that our regular telus webmail was functioning properly again. Hope this is a permanent cure!

The rain was tapering off to a drizzle, and since we had forgotten to buy bread on yesterday's grocery shopping trip we had to go out for lunch! We both had a wish for fish and chips so returned to the Rib and Salmon. Art started with a bowl of halibut chowder which was wonderful. No complaints about the halibut and chips that followed either.

Full to bursting we set off on a search for good bread and found a bakery that had a few loaves left. Art purchased a loaf of “Alaskan Bread” even though he had no idea what it was going to be like and off we went. Gillian was in a search for grain free dog food and recommendations for an off-leash dog walking area, preferably fenced. She found the both and dropping Art, who was beginning to mumble things about the temperature and damp, back at the RV Park and took the dogs out for a run.

Back at the motorhome Art turned up the heat, filled a hot water bottle for his sore legs, and turned on the lap top only to find that the influx of new arrivals had apparently blocked the wireless signal. He picked up an old Science Fiction novel he was re-reading and passed the time reading and snoozing until Gillian and the dogs returned.

Thursday, rain on and off most of the night and morning, so it looks like a day for the museums and maybe check out the possibility of a brewery tour. Still no internet by 11:00 AM. Guess we were lucky yesterday. They have a nice computer room in the office building so it's not such a big deal. Though mostly overcast the sun in trying, we'll just have to wait and see. Art says it's not good enough to take the bike to town yet. Hopefully soon. Both he and the bike could use the outing!

It's hard to go to bed at a reasonable time here, these two photos were taken at midnight!

Art later mentioned the internet problem in the office and was told there should be no problem connecting from our space, there is an antenna very close by. Someone had turned the breaker off!

Continued next post.