The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Well, what a day that was...

Monday afternoon, I had called a Kal Tire franchise near Lindsey's place. They have a full service truck mechanical bay, and I had to find someone to do some work on Sherman that I wasn't prepared to do myself.

I don't mind doing the work, but I know my limits. And when I don't have the proper tools to do the job, it's better to pay the money and hand it off to someone who does.

Thing is, they wanted it there at 7:30am Tuesday morning!

I hadn't even fired up the engine yet.

Anyhow, we set the alarm for 6:30 am, and got things tidied up enough that I could drive him over there. Fortunately, it was only ten minutes away.

Here's a video of me firing Sherman up yesterday morning after he had been sitting for a year... turn up your volume!


The idea was to do a complete mechanical inspection as well as do some things that I knew needed to be done. But they would have to order some parts, and I figured they could do the inspection, order the parts, and then I could bring Sherman back on Thursday afternoon and leave him there to get the work done while we're down in southern Ontario.

So I left Sherman with the mechanic and they drove me back to Lindsey's.

One of the things I knew needed work was the drive shaft u-joints. They were starting to clunk pretty bad the last time we drove him a year ago, but I had never crawled underneath to have a look at them.

The mechanic called and suggested that we leave it there... the u-joints were in pretty bad shape! Certainly didn't need the driveshaft falling out!

So that changed our plans a little. We had been sleeping in Sherman because Lindsey's house is not very big. More convenient for us to go back up to Ruth's father's place so that's what we did yesterday evening.

But we also went to visit with my mother. We drove over there and she took us out for lunch. Went to a nearby Indian restaurant that we've been to before. Lots of food... we were stuffed! Then, we drove to downtown Ottawa and across the river to Gatineau, Quebec.

As part of the Canada 150 birthday celebrations this year, they had done up Jacques Cartier Park with a bunch of landscape sculptures. It was free to get in, but we couldn't find free parking nearby and paid the $10 CAD ($8 USD) to park.











Me and my mom!

Really well done. Amazing actually! And free! The exhibition has been open all summer and it closes on October 15th so we're glad we made it there.

Then we dropped off my mom at her place and drove back to Kal Tire to pick up some things from Sherman that we were going to need for our trip this weekend.

Sherman, up on the hoist!

He's going to be there at least until next Wednesday I think. The parts may not arrive until Friday, and then Monday is a holiday here in Canada. Oh well. They promised to look after him and he'll even be stored indoors at night. 

Then it was over to Lindsey's for supper. It was her and Justin's 8th wedding anniversary and we had bought a nice roast beef to have for dinner with them. 

After dinner, we had the hour drive up to Ruth's dad's which is where we will be until Friday morning when we head down past Toronto.

So... it was a busy day for us! Maybe tomorrow I'll talk a little about what all we're having done to Sherman.

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The Black and Decker Lithium Max vacuum has a $15 discount coupon right now!


And in Canada...





22 comments:

  1. That was a busy day, nice that you will be getting Sherman all fixed up for the journey, Enjoy your travels around southern Ontario, some beautiful countryside to explore.

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    Replies
    1. Looking forward to our visit to your part of the province. Hope we can finally get together!

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    2. Now that would really be awesome! I think you will enjoy this part on Ontario.

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  2. Wow, very cool organic sculptures. My stepson is probably moving to Ottawa in the Spring so we likely will be heading out that way in the next couple of years. I've never been to Ottawa or Montreal (or any part of Quebec) so am looking forward to it

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    Replies
    1. Ottawa is a beautiful city. Montreal doesn't thrill us, but Quebec City is worth a visit.

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  3. I strongly suspect that, had we left our motor home (which I sold in 2012, btw) sitting for a year without starting it, there would have been the click click click of a nearly dead battery....or something. It was most always a gamble whenever I went to take it out. Awesome that Sherman started up right away. Kinda too bad about the U-joints, but at least you were aware of the situation.

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    Replies
    1. I neglected to mention that I had the battery charger on it the night before. :-)

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    2. I hard wired one of these devices. It steals a small amount from your solar charged house batteries and sends it to maintain the chassis battery. Works like a charm. I could not find it on Amazon.

      https://www.rvupgradestore.com/Ultra-Trik-L-Start-p/tls-oem.htm

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    3. Looks like a great idea, thanks Croft!

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  4. What drivetrain in Sherman? GM? Got to love the old technology...fuel vapour + oxygen and a spark equals ignition!

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  5. Jacques Cartier Park is gorgeous. How much work that must have taken. I love it.
    Monday is a holiday for us too. It is Columbus day. What is yours?
    Glad Sherman started right up. Good boy.

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    Replies
    1. Canadian Thanksgiving up here in the great white north...

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    2. Now, how did this comment manage to come in 8 years ago? HAHA - must have been a computer setting off, or a glitch somewhere...

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    3. Lol, never noticed that! Good eyes, yep it must be something with the date setting on the Paul and Marsha's computer.

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  6. You mean to tell me that no one fired up Sherman or drove it during the entire year? If so, Dang, you're right ... he's never gonna let you down!

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    Replies
    1. Correct, Sherman had not moved (or been running) since early October 2016.

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  7. Replies
    1. It certainly was! We really enjoyed the beautiful displays.

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  8. We visited MosaiCanada about a month ago, from Cornwall. Well worth the parking fee.

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  9. Absolutely LOVED the pics of the Jacques Cartier Park. Wish we had time to visit. Have fun on Pelee!

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    1. Too bad you couldn't fit Ottawa into your schedule but we totally get it! We are having a fantastic time here on Pelee Island.

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