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.

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Long day yesterday

Was up at 4:30am yesterday morning to take Lindsey and the kids to Regina airport for their flight back to Nova Scotia.

We've been getting a lot of rain the last few days and the hill leading out of the campground gets pretty muddy. I was a little worried about the ability of the little blue car and it's driver to get us up the hill!

There was a little bit of spinning of the tires, but we made it. Then we had  to do 24 kms (15 miles) of sloppy dirt roads to get to the highway. What we put the little blue car through sometimes! But he always rises to the challenge and gets us where we need to go.

In need of a bath!

Dropped off Lindsey and the kids at the airport and did some running around on the western edge of Regina. Went to the Home Depot and got them to cut some pieces of 2x3 lumber for the sides of the box of the old truck here that I'm fixing up for the campground. And stopped at an auto parts store for a piece of gas line that was leaking.

Pretty boring drive across the prairies from here to Regina.

About 300 kms (185 miles) each way.

Made it back to the park around 2:15pm. Tired, and no ambition to do any work so I went and had a nap. Awoke feeling a bit more refreshed and went up to the shop to putter around on the old truck. 

There had been no brakes at all. The pedal went right to the floor. So the other day we had put some brake fluid in it and bled the brakes. I was amazed that the bleeder valves weren't seized up on the 50 year old truck! A lot of crap came out like there was water in the lines. No apparent leaks though, and we got the pressure up, so we'll see what happens. 

Got the oil and filter changed. Looked like it hadn't been done for years. Black as can be, and too liquidy. Strange.

Fired it up, and took it for a spin around the park! It actually runs really good, but she's a bit of a smoker. A little blue comes out the tailpipe until it warms up. Maybe have to put some STP oil treatment in it.

So today I'll build the box on the back. Trying to do things inexpensively, using mostly materials we've got around the shop. So it may not look great but it'll be serviceable and that's what counts. In fact, we had a budget of around $1,000 to get her back in working condition and it looks like we're going to be able to do it for under $200! Money well spent.

I'll show you pictures tomorrow.

Had an interesting phone call the other morning from the Saskatchewan Water Security Agency. They're the ones who look after the water level of the lake here. Apparently the huge amount of rain they've had in southern Alberta is making it's way to our area and they've had to unexpectedly open the dam again to prepare for the inflow. They said that coupled with the spring runoff from the Rocky Mountains the inflow is going to rise from the current 600 cu meters per second to at least 2,000 cubic meters per second by this weekend. The water in the lake could rise very quickly and they were warning us.

So it will be interesting to see what happens there.

Heard back from Lindsey that they arrived in Nova Scotia on schedule. Only one problem. Air Canada lost Sadie's car seat! They said "oh, we'll deliver it right to your house tomorrow".  Lindsey says "Great. How do you want me to get Sadie home right now though?"

Good question.

They gave her a brand new car seat! Apparently they keep these in stock for emergencies like this. They're not allowed to give out used ones due to safety reasons. Bonus! Sadie's old car seat was only good to 25 lbs so they were going to have to buy a new one soon anyhow. This one is good to 65 lbs. Thanks Air Canada!

Here's today's header photo, our favorite picture from the month of January 2009. We had been in Chiapas, Mexico and visited the ruins at Palenque. 

We've visited a lot of ruins sites in Mexico, but Palenque is by far our favorite!


22 comments:

  1. Good deal on the truck so far, amazing what you can do with those older vehicles, so easy to fix compared to the newer ones today.

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    1. Older vehicles aren't definitely easier to work on as long as they aren't a pile of rust!

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  2. Maybe you can add some more upgrading for the old truck since you are so way under budget. Boy that sounds like a VERY long day. Hope you'll take pictures of the lake before and after. That would be an amazing thing to see. Although I hate that sort of manipulation of the natural environment.

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    1. I think Kevin will hold off on that, the summer has only just begun and he may need some of the money for further repairs as we season moves on. There is always next year to add to it if necessary.

      Yes we will try to get before and after shots of the water.

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  3. Yes, take multiple pix of the rising lake level from the exact same place and make an animated GIF time lapse!

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    1. Sorry Dugg, there won't be any time lapse photos, it would use up too much of our bandwith to upload it but we will take pictures.

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  4. You will for certain be hired for next season if you keep saving management money like that. Good for you. I wonder what would have happened if Lindsay hadn't asked 'what now', I doubt they would have offered her the new seat.

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    1. I think as long as Lindsey doesn't have the car seat they would have to give her one. It would be against the law for her to drive without one and they were the ones that lost it so it is their responsibility to provide her with one. I just thought they would have lent it to her and swapped it around once they delivered her's back to her but that apparently isn't the case, they just gave it to her.

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  5. Good job on the old truck, blue smoke before it warms up usually means oil leaking on the cylinders, valve stem seals the most likely source.
    Reading Ruth's post yesterday, she did a great job with it.
    I read your blog daily but very seldom comment unless I feel I can contribute some little thing.
    Mickey

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    1. Yes, I'm almost certain it's valve stem seals. Not sure it's worth my while to do that job for the amount that we're going to use the truck. I'll keep it in mind though!

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  6. More on oil leak and how to repair it if you choose. Video is younger vehicle but process is the same.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob_4-F-m1FI

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  7. Cool truck! Can't believe it started right up. Funny though, when you showed me what was under the hood. Not much! Maybe that's why it was so easy to start!

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    1. Kevin had fiddled with it a couple of weeks ago to get it going but when he started it up this time around it fired right up. There is definitely something to say about the saying "Keep it simple stupid". The more add ons, the more trouble.

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  8. Nice to see Air Canada "buck up"! Usually you get a useless voucher or some thing. Hopefully the word "service" is making a comebck.

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    1. It was nice to see them come through like that but I also think they had to because they lost the car seat and Lindsey couldn't go anywhere in a car without it by law. I think this problem must come up occasionally because they did have some on hand. To be honest we can't really say anything bad about Air Canada lately as we haven't had any issues with them over the last few years so maybe their service level is coming back.

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  9. Wow. I'm kind of shocked that Air Canada stepped up like that. Nice going on the truck situation. If it's down to just "spark and gas", it makes it heaps easier to get old beasties up and running again. Of course, having some brakes is always a good thing. :)

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    1. We think Air Canada it trying to improve their image!

      Yep, it is certainly a lot easier working on these old vehicles. Let's hope those brakes keep on working now.

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  10. A blog about a very old truck and a very new car seat....interesting.

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    1. While we are working at the campground for the summer you just never know what we are going to talk about. :-)

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  11. They sure don't make 'em like they used to. Easy to work on without all the computer controlled stuff.

    Nice deal for the car seat. Sometimes, things really do work out for the best!

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    1. Yep, you can say that again!

      Yeah, once Lindsey knew she was getting a new car seat, she was a happy camper, or should that be traveler!

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