On the road again…

Well, I finally left Fairbanks and am back on the road. It was a hassle being at the new Ice Alaska site with only electric, no water, sewer or WiFi. I had to run down to my favorite bar 2-3 times a week to check my em’s, do my banking, and the like. Since my laptop is so slow, I never attempted to update my blog. Sorry about that.

Anyway, a friend and I left FB on Sept. 16th, 2011. He had planned on flying down to Spokane, had a cat he wanted to take (it saved his life by waking him in his smoke filled bedroom a few months before) and since the cat is skittish he feared for it in the hold of a jet plane. Kenny also had a medical emergency at home as his father is having problems so although I had to push my departure date up a couple weeks, the $400 he paid me for the ride made it an easy choice for me. Plus I saved him over $600 for the move since he would have had to pay for his & the cats trip & to ship his belongings back home.  Then, although he doesn’t have a current drivers license, he also didn’t have a DUI on his record either or any accidents so I let him drive quite a bit. This made the trip 3 days from FB to Oroville, Washington whereas it took me 5 days to get to FB from there the last time I did the trip alone.

Being the passenger allowed me to take a bunch of pictures and after dropping Kenny off in Spokane, and after a two night stay at Fish Trap Lake RV park to reminisce about my friend Maria (who lost her life to brain cancer a few years back), I arrived in Walla Walla on Sept. 22nd early in the afternoon. That evening I took my kids out for dinner and a few drinks. But I forgot my camera in a karaoke bar late and on the way home decided that the bar would hold it for me. I didn’t know the name of the bar so couldn’t look up their phone number. Checking with them the next day turned up nothing. I’m hoping one of my daughters friends picked it up and saved it for me. If not, I’ll have to go camera hunting soon.

I’ve seldom lost anything of import over the years and I do need a new camera anyway so I’m not to torn up about it, except the 100 or so pictures that were on the memory chip. Bummer.

The road in Canada was as brutal as usual and just after we crossed the border, I smelled smoke in the drivers seat. Couldn’t find anything and it would come and go. A few miles later I noticed that the ‘Park’ light on the dash was lit. You can’t really see it well while you’re driving because the top of the steering wheel blocks the idiot lights. The smell was burning brake pads and the smell was suctioned up to the front of the RV. Anyway, after noticing that, and discovering I could get it to disengage if I downshifted on hills, the brake pads burnt out enough that it wasn’t impeding travel so we pressed on with the idiot light on all the time. We were miles and miles from any services when it happened, and Canada is so expensive I just ignored it while on the trip. Kenny’s brother looked the rig over for me in Spokane and found that the parking brake pads were indeed totally gone and gave me some advice on what caused it & required repairs, but until I can get it fixed, I have to drop one of my landing pads (hydraulic, so it’s easy) whenever I try to park so the rig won’t roll.

Then while he was under the rig checking that out, he noticed that the passenger side axle coming out of the differential was leaking oil past the seal. He thought I could get another 3,000 miles out of it, which means I could get it down to Mexico to one of the great mechanicos down there. Probably cost me $300 whereas it would cost $1600 or so in the good ol’ USA. I had some 80W90 gear oil with me since I’d spotted a wet spot there myself a few days before. This time I topped it off while I was under there checking. It took 16oz out of the 24oz bottle but I hope that the beating the rig took in Canada made most of that leak out and the better roads down here will let me get a few thousand more miles. I’ll be checking it often until I can do something about it.

I officially retire Feb. 5th, 2012 and my SS will kick in, plus I can dip into my 401k without that huge tax (30%). Then I can relax a bit and really do some adventurous travel. I expect to buy a newer rig in April or May…I’m not rich so I’ll have to look for a real bargain. But I will be able to afford payments. Just finding the right rig will take some time tho.  I plan on making a trip over to the east coast, maybe all the way to Florida too. Should take me a year, dodging hot or bad weather. This winter, I think I have just enough money to make it down to the SW. Then if I can find a caravan, down into Mexico. I don’t think I’ll try that trip (like I’ve done numerous times in the past) without being in a caravan. Too dangerous to travel alone down there. Mazatlan is one of my favorite places. And it’s only a 1 & 1/2 day drive down from the border. There I can get the rig all spruced up and repaired prior to selling it in 2012. Got my fingers and toes crossed that all goes well and I don’t have any breakdowns before I get there. If my finances won’t allow that, I’ll probably spend the winter at my brothers place in Rosamond, California…if he’ll allow it. Unfortunely, he lives on a steep hill…and I don’t have a working parking brake now. But I’ve parked it a block away for a couple months at a time before without neighbors complaining so I might be able to do that again. That would take the financial pressure off. Fuel is so expensive these days that I have to be careful about all my expenses. If all goes well, I should get to Feb. with nothing more then a depleted savings account and a large VISA card balance.

Anyway, right now, Sept. 26th, (oh, it’s my friend Annie’s birthday today! Happy B’day Annie! I left you a surprise B’day present at the Big I. Ask Brenna.), I’m at an RV park in Walla Walla enjoying the sunshine and visits with relatives. Got to visit with the sister and BIL yesterday as well as watch the Seahawks win their game, then watch the season openers of my favorite cartoons on Fox too. Life is good.

Talk to you all soon. I hope to have pictures for the next post.