Day 105

Happy Birthday Jamie, our little Supergirl!!

What a complete contrast today was to yesterday.

Glorious sunshine, clear blue skies and a welcome breeze keeping us to a perfect mid 70’s temperature.

We started off with a mad dash at 8 of the clock to the town of Branson, to get to the Branson Scenic Railroad by 9. We made it, of course, with Captain Throwing Caution To The Wind in the driving department, and boarded the train. What a nostalgic experience, especially for Marlipops.

There were two diesel engines and both were built for Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, one in 1951, and one in 1964.

This is very significant, as I will explain to my non American readers.

Marlipops’ Dad worked for many, many years for B&O Railroad, in charge of all the passenger travel. So, memories galore for the Marl, since the coaches we were in today were all old, original, restored from the 40’s and 50’s, and The Marl used to travel all over the place with her dad and the rest of her family. Apparently they used to sleep in the berths, and Melinda used to throw up a lot. The rest rooms as well as all the coaches we saw today were identical to those that Marlipops remembers, and she had a moment or two, with flashbacks.

Quite emotional.

The ride we took was a 40 mile there and back, through a couple of tunnels trip, and there was even a scenic coach, with the bubble roof so we could see ahead and behind, over the top of the other coaches. I was tempted to climb out of the window and walk along the tops, but I was not allowed.

Then, into Branson.

A pleasant little town with a Las Vegas problem.

There is a Strip, with mile after mile of clubs, and theatres and show places and food places and churches. It is a mini Vegas, without the casinos. Great for families and elderly people who like crowds and organized fun and that kind of stuff.

There was a wonderful little old fashioned candy store, with all the sweets in glass jars, and stuff like sweet cigarettes, even with the red tips, and candy lipsticks, liquorice pinwheels, and all sorts of old time candies. They even had some tiny beer bottles above the counter, which were the size of liquor miniatures. Never seen those before.

Enough said, we had lunch. Well, Marlipops had soup and a salad, I had some indescribable meat plastered with salty barbecue sauce, and fries. To make matters worse, the smiley, smarmy waitress kept asking if everything was alright, and the answer of

“ Extremely average” went straight over her head.

Anyway, we left the café and found “Dick’s Old Time 5 & 10” right next door.

We could have stayed in here all day. This was an old fashioned 5 and dime store, which was humungous. It went back and back and back, and had everything imaginable. Marbles, Pick up Stix, Plasticine, Etch a Sketch, Mr. Beard ( You remember, the face and iron filings and a hand held magnetic wand you drew a beard with the filings!!)

They had literally millions of things, that you could not find anywhere else. They even had those little cardboard dolls that you cut out the clothes for, and hung on the dolls with two little tabs. Absolutely fascinating. We bought some Pick Up Stix and some Tiddly Winks. This place was 100% nostalgia, and packed with people.

We left Branson, and went back to the coach, quickly got changed and went 100 yards to the lake, and rented a pontoon boat.

We piddled about on Table Rock Lake for a couple of hours, really cool, coz not many other boats about, a freshish breeze blowing, and sunbathing weather.

We were about to report a zippo wildlife watch but the following occurred.

Next door neighbor camper type person came out to feed the gooses, and seven ducks waddled up from the lake, and were fed as well. Then, a flock of twenty six Canada Gooses turned up to be fed, one of them chased off the ducks, and in turn, one of the gooses chased off all the Canada gooses!

Was very interesting to watch.

A really great, great day today.

Day 104

Have you ever had one of those days that just gets away from you?

We have, and it was today!!

After taking, or trying to take, pix of some lovely Red Headed Woodypeckers, we got stuck into some serious paperwork, bills and boring stuff, as it was raining all day, and while the Marlipops was doing all that, I attempted to fix the slide out room.

It has not worked since we were in Sioux Falls, when Cummins was messing around with relays and other ‘lectric stuff. So, off to the store to buy a replacement relay, and the nearest auto parts store was 10 miles away.

So, $ 3.00 later, I’m back, with a new relay. Of course, it didn’t work, coz while taking off the old one, I found some loose wires.

I needed a clip thingy, and of all the spares and bits and gadgets we carry, there is not a clip thingy.

So, back to the clip thingy store and another $ 3.00 later I’m back, again.

Change the clip thingy, change some wiring, pull and tug to check everything is secure and tight and all that good stuff. (My old physics teacher and headmaster, Jack Finney, during his gin sodden classes, would always insist that all connections must be tight. He was always tight, so I do remember something from school.)

Anyway, I digress.

So, with everything ready I yelled to the ‘Pops, “ Go”

Nothing happened. I rechecked everything, fuses, breakers, battery connections. Absolutely nothing.

So we have a slide out room that doesn’t.

Still, it’s better than having the room stuck in the out position.

We can live in slightly cramped conditions, just makes us be closer to each other!!

Did you get the seeds, Helen P?

Marlipops made the most gorgeous kebabs, from chicken and bacon wrapped shrimps and veggies, and I cooked ‘em on the Barbie, during a rainstorm. It was worth it, coz they were brill, served with wild rice. (If you had been thrown into boiling water, you’d be wild too!!)

We had an E mail from some woman in Montana, with a name I got from the local paper up there months ago, asking me to take her name off the blog.

I think if a name appears in a newspaper, then I should be allowed to use it as well.

Wildlife watch today was the gooses again, some Canada gooses, they were twice the price, some red headed woodypeckers and some as yet unidentified blue birds.

Day 103

We had a most relaxing two days in Mother In Law Land, doing absolutely not a lot.

Marlipops went to church this morning, (the peril needed a service) and I watched motor racing from Italy.

Very sad about Lucianno Pavarrotti.

We left at 1.30 of the afternoon pm, and headed southwest towards Springfield Missouri.

Along the way we passed through the little town of St. Clair, which had two water towers adjacent to each other, as well as being close together. Check the pic Marlipops took of them. We don’t think we want to live there if everything is labeled like that!!

Also, on our travels through the great state of Missouri, we have seen some mile markers which don’t seem to make a lot of sense.

In all other states, to our knowledge, the mile markers are every mile. In parts of Canada they are every two kilometers, and in the remoter parts every five kilometers.

In every case, the markers are only on one side of the road.

In Missouri, every two tenths of a mile, is a marker, with the number of the mile, with the decimal place, as well as the freeway number. And, these markers are on both sides of the freeway. What a complete waste of money!!!

We traveled 250 miles, and Marlipops came up trumps again with a neat little campsite, full hook ups, on Table Rock Lake. We are overlooking the marina, and we didn’t get checked in and settled until nearly dusky dark, so we’ve only got a couple of pix. The geese get fed by the campers next door, every evening, but we have not been formally introduced to them yet, so for now they are “Them Gooses”

Wildlife watch today was a dead raccoon, four dead armored Dillos, the above mentioned gooses, a squirrel who is a friend of the gooses, and a emu.

Day 102

Ah the joys of a full size, keenly sprung mattress!!

We could not sleep a wink!

But we did have the luxury of a fan above the bed, so we slept peacefully and in a cool atmosphere, without running the generator. Wonderful.

That is the good news from today.

The sad news, and we know some of you will be upset, and be sending letters of sympathy, is that Captain Cautious trimmed his chin today.

Yes, the mega bush is extinct. No more Captain Birds Eye, or David Bellamy jokes, no more trapping food for later consumption.

But, both the Marlipops and Mother of Marlipops said how gorgeous I look now, so there are some compensations.

We did not do a lot of anything this morning, cleaned the peril, posted some stuff to England and France ( look out Helen, more seeds on the way) and grocery shopped.

After lunch we chilled, showed Wilda some pix, and then Cotton and Martha Faris turned up to annoy us!!

This lovely couple have been great friends with Marlipops’ parents since Adam was a lad, and have been following our travel saga with avid interest. In fact Cotton was telling us about things we didn’t remember doing, and places we could not recall having been.

After some stimulating conversation, and sharing of memories, the Faris’ had to leave.

Then later, coz it was raining, we had a garage barbecue, thick juicy steaks, lovingly marinated by the ‘Pops and cooked slowly for 25 minutes.

We really have chilled here, but tomorrow we are off traveling again, as much as we hate to leave.

Wildlife watch today was the same old scrawny squirrel from yesterday.

Day 101

Day 101 ( Is this a book for dummies?)

The rest area at mile marker 104 on Interstate 70 East, Missouri, really was a rest area. Extremely quiet, and no overhead floodlights to bother us.

A very good night’s sleep, despite the rain which woke us in the middle of the night.

Then, it was off to Mother in Law country!!!

!50 miles of farmland, rolling meadows and hills, with farmers scurrying about on their combines, and haystacks everywhere. We actually noticed the fall colors had started to appear, seems a bit early.

We landed in Ballwin, St Louis at noon, and all the neighbors came out to stare at the huge behemoth parked in the road, blocking everything.

After a light lunch of turkey and grapes, it was out to the back patio and a fight to the death with some wasps.

With the aid of a step ladder, a stick and a can of bug spray, Marlipops and your fearless captain prevailed. They didn’t have a chance.

Then, luxury of luxuries, a hot, steaming, high pressure shower. I could have stayed there for hours!!

We had a pleasant dinner in an Irish Pub, fish and chips, which was good, but not on a par with those of Alaska.

Afterwards, we didn’t do much of anything, except chill and watch TV.

We will be here for a couple of days for a much needed break.

Wildlife watch today, was some squirrels and a bright green hummingbird hovering around Wilda’s back patio.

Day 100

100 days on the road…………..almost a prison sentence!!!!!

Happy Birthday John!

It’s tomorrow, but you won’t read this tonight, so tomorrow’s will be too late for today, or was it yesterday?

Anyway, you are old.

We both apologize for our recent blogs being boring, but sitting in parking lots, or on the side of the road, broked down is not exactly fascinating.

We tried to make up some lost time today, and drove 500 miles. It was all freeway, all cruise control, all flat and again, all bloody boring!!!

We left Sioux Falls after finally sorting out our bills and claims, and got on Interstate 29, and went all the way down, through Sioux City, past Omaha, Nebraska, and to Kansas City. The countryside is all farmland, but not much livestock, only the occasional cow or horse.

The highlight of the day was a flock of wild turkeys, about twenty, scampering away from the side of the road.

But overall, a non event as far as interesting stuff, in fact nothing even remotely worth exaggerating

We are off to see The Marlipops Mother!!!!

I’m sure I can get some candid pix while we are there!!!

Day 99

So, here we still are, on Cummins parking lot, in Sioux Falls. That is the bad news.

The good news is we think the problem has been fixed. The technician was knocking on our door at 7.00 am, and started out by attempting to connect to the ECM management computer for the engine. There was no voltage getting to it, so he bypassed the system, and finally found the problem, and it was a duff relay switch.

It was a $ 5.36 part, and took him 2 hours to diagnose, but he was diligent and finally found the problem. A different technician came with a new switch, (as our original guy had to go on a call out), put it in and nothing worked. We sat there for 4 hours while the shop foreman was on the phone to the coach manufacturer, trying to trouble shoot the problem. Then the original technician came back and saw immediately that the second technician had installed the new switch incorrectly!!

We had been sitting on the grass bank, reading and snoozing, totally bored out of our skulls, and we eventually agreed to stay here overnight, so we could argue with Cummins Calgary tomorrow. Turns out none of what they did was necessary, and of course we want our money back.

So, we will leave here tomorrow, to points anew.

We did not take any pix.

Wildlife watch today was some pretty butterflies, a dragonfly which hovered around us all day, and we thought was a drone alien spy thing, a fluffy white tailed rabbit, and some big silver noisy birds with U.S. Air National Guard written all over them.

Day 98

We have modified our wonderful journey yet again!

We are now going to continue on a tour of Cummins Diesel Repair facilities throughout our great nation!

We left our excellent campsite at around 10 of the clock this morning, and cruised for 3 hours at a steady 60 mph.

We had the generator going, running the roof AC units, we were singing and enjoying our own company immensely, not a care in the world.

We pulled over for gas at a very RV friendly service station, did not make the mistake of turning off the engine, (coz we knew it would not re - start) and continued on our merry way.

By 5.00 pm local time, we had moved into the central time zone, we were only 6 miles from Sioux Falls South Dakota, having blasted 350 miles under our belts.

By 5.01 local time we were still 6 miles from Sioux Falls, and stayed there for 4 hours.

Yes, our wonderful friends at Cummins Calgary, who fixed our engine last week, obviously didn’t.

We broke down in the middle of a construction zone with the exact same symptoms of last week.

We were not happy campers.

To compound our pissedoffness, we called the local Cummins dealer, who told us that only one tow company in the area could accommodate our rig, and this information was duly passed on to AAA. They then spent the next 4 hours looking for a tow company who could tow us, only to finally call us back and inform us that the company we had told them of 4 hours previously were on their way!!

Anyway, this tow company, Ace Towing was brilliant. The owner himself showed up with his helper, and accomplished in less than an hour what the Canadian bozo from last week took nearly 4 hours to do. Very impressed with their professionalism.

So, we are now parked at Cummins Sioux Falls, where the night manager’s first question was concern for our well being by asking us if we wanted to sleep in the coach on their parking lot. So, first impressions are positive, and hopefully our optimism will be justified in the morrow.

Despite these negative minor set backs, we are both still having a blast, and our relationship has actually got stronger. There ain’t nothing we can’t conquer.

Wildlife watch today………………some crazy, inconsiderate truck driver type people, driving far too close to the white line we were 6 inches away from, and not a cop in sight, again, to see if we had a problem.

Day 97

Another first for your two super heros.

The campsite has a train track running right alongside, and for the first time ever we were not woken by a train blowing it’s hooter at some unearthly hour!

We stayed up all night just to not hear it!

We did some laundry and chores. Well Marlipops did, The Captain sat and made sure no one stole the coach.

We then went to the Badlands.

First, we stopped at Wall. This town, 70 miles from our campsite, is supposebly world famous for it’s drug store, and free iced water. Of course, Me and the Pops obviously don’t belong to this world, coz we had never heard of it.

It was a nothing town back in the depression, which was the nineteen twenties and thirties era, (not when the Wolves lost ten in a row,) and a couple bought the local drug store and decided to give free iced water to thirsty travelers. The Mount Rushmore sculptures were being built at the time and they reasoned that when they were finished a lot of tourists would be in the area. They were not wrong. The town of Wall is now a wall to wall tourist trap. It does have one thing that made it to the top of Captain Cautious’ s***t list, the absolute worst fish and chips in the world. Garbage. I took one bite and threw them away.

So, we left quickly, and took the 35 mile scenic drive along the Badlands loop. This area is the first US National Park, so designated millions of years ago by some president, and is very pleasant.

It was named Badlands by some early French explorers or trappers, who said it was a bad land to travel through, meaning the terrain was difficult to traverse. Once again, we wondered why there had been a problem, since we followed all the signs and roads, without getting lost once.

A mini Grand Canyon is the best way to describe this area, compact, but varying vastly in color and texture. There are sharp jagged rocks and hills, and smaller rounded hillocks, and all changing color due to strata levels, yellows, reds, greens and pinks. Certain areas look as though the colors have been painted on.

There is one flat plateau called Hay Butte. This is several acres big, and years ago homesteaders used it for grass. However, the slopes up to it are so steep that grazing animals could not get up. The homesteaders dismantled a grass harvesting machine every year, took it up to the meadow on top in pieces, reassembled it, cut the grass, then brought everything down by pulley. Very ingenious.

There is a herd of bison, though we only saw one close up, an old male scratching his underside on a thick wooden post.

There are millions of prairie dogs, in and out of their burrows, unfortunately not too scared of humans.

We were also warned about the many rattlesnakes which inhabit this area, especially near the prairie dog towns, but despite our best efforts, we did not see one.

We saw quite a few big horn sheeps. These were wiped out or became extinct a long time ago, so were re introduced to the park, together with the bison, and are slowly making a come back. They all wear electronic collars for tracking purposes, which is a bit sad.

Still, they look quite chic.

An early evening, during which Captain Chef prepared a delish pork tenderloin on the Barbie. It had been marinating all day in one of the Pops’ concoctions, was cooked with some mega stuffed mushyrooms, again delectfully prepared by Marlipops, and was scrummy!!!

Wildlife watch today : Bison, Big horn sheeps, lots of deer, mule and prongyhorns, prairie dogs, all sorts of birds and a cat.

Day 96

The coach started first time this morning, as we were confident it would. Like everyone else, it needs a good nights rest after traveling over 400 miles.

Off we went, 170 miles from our weigh station rest stop to Rapid City, South Dakota.

The journey was some of the bleakest, prettiest we have seen. Miles and miles of prairie, interspersed with rolling fields of wheat. The prairie had millions of cows of all shapes and sizes, some were even the same grey as the scrub, so they were camouflaged!!

There was quite a strong cross wind blowing, with lots of tumbleweeds flying across the road.

And, at several places, in no sensible place or pattern, there were miles of triangular shaped fences. We thought they might be snow barriers, but they started and stopped for no apparent reason.

They reckon up here there are more cows than people, by a factor of about four to one. Well, there are more deer than cows, so that’s a lot of deer, dear.

We saw pronghorns, mule deer, partridges, hawks and chippymonks.

The prairie, we found out, is actually known as high plains, as in High Plains Drifter, starring Clint the Eastwood.

We went past a place called The Center of the Nation, but had absolutely no idea what it meant.

Marlipops came up trumps yet again with our campsite. It is called Three Flags, and is ½ mile off exit 51 on Interstate 90, and is perfect.

We are right in the foothills of The Black Hills, South Dakota.

Marlipops is fed up of me imitating Doris Day…”Take me back to the Black Hills”

She said she wished they would take me somewhere!!

Anyway, we have booked in here for two nights.

We got here around 11.30, hooked up everything, then off in the peril to see Crazy Horse.

A tribute to the original Indians of the nation is being built, along the lines of Mount Rushmore, and is a statue of Crazy Horse, on a horse. The only trouble is that it is nowhere near finished, the sculptor died 20 years ago, they keep running out of money, so it may never get finished.

See pic.

Next, we went for a steam train ride through the hills, from Hill City, see we are famous, to Keystone, where the kops are, and back again.

It is a 10 mile ride over tracks laid by gold and other stuff miners, over 100 years ago.

There are a gazillion fallow deer, and trillions of wild turkeys, both running around together, none of them seem to be fazed by the train.

The Black Hills are different from the Rockies, they seem closer together, and have Ponderosa Pine everywhere, which seem to grow straight out of the rocks.

The ride takes us over the same road 14 times, and I’m sure we saw the same car 14 times.

In my next job, I am going to be a train waver.

The folks whose houses are near the tracks come running out every time the train goes by, and stand there like windmills, their arms flailing around.

Apparently they do this all summer long.

Why do people have to wave at trains and boats for that matter?

Get a life!!!

Then, on to Mount Rushmore.

Before we got there, we saw another rainbow, as well as a weird cloud pattern. No rainbows for years, then two in a few days. Just like English buses.

Also, there were a couple of mountain goats eating the decorative shrubs off the median wall, in the parking lot.

The sculpted mountain is impressive, but not as big as we thought, maybe coz we were not right underneath it.

After it got dark, they did a big screen show, about the birth of the nation, etc, then sang the national anthem, and lit up the sculpture, very gradually.

It was done very slowly, and just white light, not lasers or any glitzy stuff which would have ruined the dignity of the place. Full marks for tastefulness. Well done and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

A worthwhile trip, and a lot fitted in to the day.

Wildlife watch today: Pronghorn antelope, partridge, mule deer, hawks, sheeps, dux, various cows, fallow deer, turkeys, and chippymonk things.

We also saw some yellow bellied birds, but we have not identified them yet. Watch this space.

Day 95

White Rabbits and good morning everyone!!!

Hope your day was better than ours!!

We left Havre Wal Mart at around 10 this morning, and drove for 4 ½ hours non stop, at a steady 65 miles per hour, on wonderfully smooth and very often straight for miles roads.

Brilliant.

We then stopped for gas, in Wolf Point, Montana, and made the dreadful mistake of turning off the engine. It seems that our four day stint with Cummins Calgary was a complete waste of time, and we are back to square one, yet again. The engine would not start.

So, on the phone to Cummins of Calgary, Billings, and all other Cummins dealers within 400 miles. Not one of them wanted to help, coz it is Saturday afternoon, a holiday weekend, and you’ll have to get in touch with the offices when they open……….on Tuesday.

We were slightly ticked off.

Wolf Point really is in the middle of nowhere, rolling farms of wheat as far as the eye can see.

However, the people here have hearts of gold.

Marlipops went into the local auto parts store to ask if there was a diesel mechanic around, and two guys overheard, and came to the coach to help. They got on the phone to some of their friends, and another guy dropped what he was doing and came by to help. They impressed us immensely with their complete openness. After the usual “where are you headed to”, that was it. They didn’t ask about our origins, or other stuff, like most folk do, they just tried to help two travelers in distress. Very, very honest and genuine people.

Of course, everything they and we tried did not work, and it was 2 and 1/2 hours later, when the engine fired up. We think there is an electronic problem which either overheats something, or shuts down something for a set period.

After that we drove for another 5 hours for a total mileage of 450 today, which considering the trials and tribulations wasn’t too bad.

The scenery was very samey, just like yesterday, but still incredibly beautiful, with yellow fields, which weren’t supposed to be yellow, but needed rain, as told to us by the guys mentioned above, who have 4000 acres of yellow.!!

We are parked at a weigh station parking lot in North Dakota, but only 12 miles north of South Dakota!

I forgot to mention in yesterday’s travelog about a little town we passed while still in Canada. It was a ½ horse town, that’s how small it was, but had a Lancaster Museum, consisting of a couple of US jet fighters outside a building, which housed a real second world war RAF Lancaster Bomber!!

Fascinating!!

As I proudly said to the Marlipops, this is what WE used to bomb THEIR chip shops!!!!

( Some of you will get it)

Wildlife watch today was some pronghorn antelopes, deer, and a owl, and three dead porkypines.

Sorry, no pix today.

Day 94

Happy Birthday Karen!!!!!

After another uneventful night in Calgary, we went back to Cummins at dawn, and demanded an explanation as to the exorbitant costs, which we felt were totally unjustified, and of course we got fobbed off with a bunch of BS.

However, this matter is not yet over, coz later in the day we had starting problems, so we called Cummins Calgary, and told them we would be going to a proper Cummins dealer, in the US, and any charges for fixing our problem would be back charged to them.

So, off down the road and out of Calgary and Canada as quickly as possible. The southern part of Alberta is flat, open and surprisingly pretty. It is all prairie land, rolling wheat fields, and this time of year the harvest is in full swing, with combines creating clouds of yellow dust all over the place.

We went through the town of Lethbridge, which has a humungous iron bridge over a gorge or river or something, and then we went past the best named town so far:

Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump.

Back in the olden days, Indians used to stampede buffalo over a 1000 ft cliff, thus killing them quickly, and saving money on arrows.

But, this town was not named for that. Apparently some “brave” (get it?) Indian decided to stand at the bottom of the cliff and watch the entertainment. He got hit by a passing buffalo, and was enshrined in glory for ever more as the head that got smashed in.

We got to the border, and were asked the usual questions and then they wanted to know if we had any meat on board, so we said yes, just normal grocery items.

We were made to pull over, and were taken into the customs office, and told to fill out a customs declaration form. Meanwhile, two customs officers inspected our fridge and confiscated the steak, kidney, liver and limes we had.

“National Security”

“If we let you take Canadian steak into the country, the terrorists have won!!!”

Such crap. Anyway, it was only about $20.00 worth of stuff, so we smiled and said have a nice day.

So, we wandered on and are spending the night on Wal Mart parking lot, in Havre, Montana, about 120 miles east of Shelby.

We did see some wildlife today.

Two jackrabbits, a bunch of quail, and lots of sheeps.

Day 93

Hopefully our last day in Calgary, Canada.

After a quite uneventful night on Cummins parking lot, we were in their office bright and early at 7.30, fully expecting to be given the run around again. However, we actually got some response, and the coach was finally examined.

We were told the existing fuel filters were the wrong sort for the engine, so they needed to be changed.

OK

We were told that one of the connections to one filter was the wrong type and needed to be replaced.

OK

We were then told that “the plumbing” for the fuel system was wrong, should never have been built this way, and we didn’t really need both fuel filters.

OK

We were then told that they had discovered the fuel lift pump was not working, and needed to be replaced.

OK

Then, after taking off the old lift pump, they told us that they had been mistaken, and the plumbing in fact was correct.

OK

So, after spending all morning here, we finally left around noonish, to finally continue our journey towards somewhere, anywhere else.

Not OK

100 yards down the road, coach engine stopped, exactly the same symptoms as before, but with us having just paid over $ 1000.00 to have it fixed by the “experts”.

We spent the next two hours sitting on the grass at the side of the road, watching the clouds, snoozing, eating ham sandwiches and gently sipping from a bottle of water, while the mobile mechanic worked on the coach.

Finally, the coach was running and we went back to Cummins, where we sat for another couple of hours while they finally figured out that the fuel filters had not been bled properly, and it was quite possible that we did not in fact need the lift pump replacement after all. Of course, by this time, the service foreman had left for the day, so we were asked to go back in the morning!

We will be there at 7.30, demanding a partial refund, since we have no confidence that any of their diagnoses were correct.

We drove two blocks away, and parked next to an empty lot, in the heart of the industrial area of Calgary.

This is a good tip for any potential RVers out there, boondocking and generator running in industrial areas is OK, all office staff have usually gone home, so you won’t be disturbed.

No wildlife today, sorry.

Day 92

So we awoke to the delicate sounds of a motel cleaning crew vacuuming the corridors!!

We partook of the continental breakfast and then gently wandered over to Cummins Diesel to check on the coach.

As expected, nothing had been done, so we politely discussed our situation with the Service Foreman, who was, again politely, worse than useless.

He told us that they could probably look at the engine “this afternoon” and that we would be telephoned and kept updated.

So, with all day in front of us, we went across the city to Guarantee RV dealers, and bought some latches to replace those broken during the rough road trip out of Alaska.

The staff at this dealership are extremely helpful and friendly. They obviously went to a different charm school than the Cummins employees!!

We had a pleasant lunch at the little local airport café, and then ,with no phone call from Cummins, we decided to do what all 50 year old lovers do, we went to the movies!

What was neat were the automatic ticket machines, no waiting in line to talk to a speaker in a piece of glass, in front of some bored looking, pimply faced adolescent with an attitude.

We saw The Bourne Ultimatum, excellent finale to the trilogy, full of action and suspense, very good.

We then drove back to Cummins, because, as anticipated, we had received no phone call, and when we got here, the Service Foreman had already left for the day.

The night foreman is a study in negativity, and we think he wrote that best selling book, “ How To Cover Your Ass 101”.

So the upshot was that we drove the coach onto the front parking lot of Cummins Diesel, and spent the night there.

So, not exactly the most exciting report of the journey, but we have to take the bad with the good.

Calgary is a quite large, very clean, flat and suburban city. Bland just about sums it up.

It has hosted the Winter Olympics (we think) and has a very impressive place called Olympic Park, with toboggan runs and ski lifts and a massive ski jump complex. Of course, there is not much snow about at the moment, in fact with temperatures in the high 70’s, there is no snow at all, so despite our pleading and begging, we were not allowed to do the ski jump or anything.

The province of Alberta is very green conscious, which is extremely refreshing. No pun intended.

Wildlife watch was non existent today.

New beer watch was Rebel Ale, Grasshopper, and Kokanee. All of these are local Alberta brews, and were excellent.