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.

Friday, September 14, 2018

Repairs done, and back in Canada!

We spent yesterday morning at the mechanic shop in Oroville, Washington. Arrived at 9:00am, and they went right to work changing Sherman's right lower ball joint and control arm assembly. We stayed in the waiting room for the entire 3 hours it took to perform the operation.

The patient came though it all successfully, but he still needs a wheel alignment.

We stopped by the lakeside park and had some lunch, and then filled Sherman's water tank with the available potable water faucet. Next stop was the gas station right at the border crossing where they had fuel for $3.30 USD per gallon ($1.15 CAD per liter).

With Sherman filled to the rim, we shouldn't need to put any more expensive Canadian gas in him. This full tank should get us through the balance of our time in British Columbia, and we can put more fuel in again when we get back into the U.S. in mid October.

With that done, we headed to the border.

The officer asked the standard questions, and we answered everything truthfully including the $1,250 CAD we spent on Sherman. But, $800 of that was in labor, and they didn't seem interested in that. We also told them how we had 11 liters of wine with us, and 17 cans of beer.

They told us they had to charge us the duty on the alcohol, and that Sherman was flagged by the computer for a random inspection.

We pulled off to the side and went indoors.

Two officers went out to Sherman, but were back inside within 5 minutes. The female one called us up to the cash and after all was said and done we had to pay a further $27.15 CAD ($21 USD) on the booze. The invoice breakdown said they charged us for 8 liters of wine (we are allowed 1.5 liters each duty free)... $5.04 was duty, $1.23 was GST, and $20.88 was Provincial Liquor Markup Fee.

Or put simply, profit.

Oh well... we knew there was a chance that we would have to pay, and we're still slightly ahead of where we would have been had we just purchased in Canada. Besides, she forgot to include the 17 cans of beer! When I asked what part of the breakdown was for the beer, she looked up and said "oh... I forgot about that" and laughed saying we got some cheap beer. Nice.

There was no extra charge for any of Sherman's mechanical repairs.

With that done, we were back in Canada.

Ruth wanted to see a nearby attraction called Spotted Lake, so we took a small detour to stop in there.

The Osoyoos Lake Valley on the Canadian side.

Spotted Lake.

A better view of Spotted Lake.

Normally, at this time of year the water is lower and the spots are the only part showing. You can see more here... http://travel.spotcoolstuff.com/canada/osoyoos-bc/spotted-lake-klikuk

Heading back down to the valley.

Lots of orchards and vineyards here!

Our next stop was to meet a reader of this blog. You know him in the comments section as Carwash Scott!

Scott knew we were coming through this area, and wanted to thank us because he enjoys reading about our daily adventures! He owns a carwash and propane fill station in the town of Oliver, and had offered to fill up Sherman's propane tank for us!

Kevin and Scott filling Sherman's propane.

Not only that, but he invited us to park for the night in behind the carwash, with full access to his super fast wifi!

Thanks for looking after us Scott!

Then, our Cabri friends Jan and Marnett came to pick us up. They are staying at a local RV park for a month and invited us over for a glass of wine (or two!).

Kevin, Jan, and Marnett.

Lots of fun getting caught up on Cabri stuff, and we had an enjoyable afternoon and evening. Thanks for having us over!

Now, we need to get moving every day. We're actually behind schedule (not that we really had one) due to our unexpected 9 days in the U.S.. So we're going to have to change our route a little bit.

We had originally planned on going up and over to Squamish, north of Vancouver. But that's not going to happen now. Instead, we're going up through Kelowna to Vernon, then over to Kamloops, then south to Hope and then White Rock area where Sherman will be left at friends Bernd and Angelika while we go back to Ontario for almost three weeks.

Sherman's route over the next 10 days.

We have an appointment with a shop in Kelown to do Sherman's alignment on Tuesday morning.

Today, we're going to meet the campground managers at the Twin Lakes Golf Course and RV Park where we've been invited to stay as guests for a night!

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And in Canada...





16 comments:

  1. Hey no problem! Not the most scenic or quiet overnight spot but it worked. It was nice to meet you two and say thank you for publishing such a great travel blog. My morning read for many years. Hope that you have a great day and enjoy your time in Oliver.

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    1. It worked out just fine for us Scott. Thank you so much for everything you did for us. We are sorry we didn't have more time to explore your lovely little town of Oliver or more time to spend chatting with you.

      We hope that the next time we meet it will be somewhere on the road, perhaps even in Mexico. Take care and don't work too hard. :-)

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  2. What campsite where Jan, and Marnett staying at. We maybe coming down there in the next week or so..It looks nice.

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    1. They are at the Gallagher Lake Resort. It used to be a KOA... http://www.parkbridge.com/en-ca/rv-cottages/gallagher-lake

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  3. Let us know if you are around long enough to visit. We are back in White Rock on Sun Sept 16th. Of course, we do have to head back to work but let us know if we can see you.

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    1. We should be in your neighbourhood somewhere around the 22nd or 23rd of September. We will get in contact with you when we have a better idea. It would be lovely to meet up with you both again. :-)

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  4. Nice to get Sherman back together and on the road again,, Crossing the border best to tell them exactly what you have, sometimes we pay tax and duty, sometimes not. keep enjoying the journey.

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    1. Yes, it is nice to have him back on the road all fixed up. To us, that is the only way to cross the borders, it just isn't worth taking any chances. We knew we were over on our wine and we were totally prepared to pay, so it wasn't a surprised when we had too. We are still ahead money wise even with the taxes and duty, than if we had purchased the wine here.

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  5. So... it appears gas is no cheaper really... We are in Mb and gas is around $1.15 -$1.20 @ Costco.. glad you got your parts installed FINALLY and now for the alignment..

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    1. It depends on where you are. In this area, we saved 15 to 18 cents a liter, and when you're buying 200 liters that's a significant difference.

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  6. We would love to meet up with you if/when you cross the border and pass through Bellingham, WA if you can fit it into your plans! We're still hopeful for a RV Mexico trip next winter once we're fully retired. Also, would love to know your itinerary for this winter's Mexico trip. We will be down there for 2-3 weeks mid Feb to March and would love to see where you guys might be then. We're still planning, but will likely be in the state of Guanajuato and probably Oaxaca too.

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    1. Hi Mona, it would be great to meet up with you when we pass through Bellingham. It wouldn't be until after mid October though. So please feel free to contact us as we get closer to that date and then we can try to work something out. We can discuss our Mexico trip then and see if we may possibly cross paths down there as well. Sounds like you will have a nice visit to Mexico, we love both of those areas.

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    2. Sounds great, Ruth. I hope we don't miss you. We will be in Montana October 13-21. I'll keep watching your posts!

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    3. We might miss you then! :-( We will be crossing the border probably on the Oct. 18th and headed to Bellingham. We have someone else to see there but I doubt that we will stay more that a couple of days before heading on, but you never know with us things could change.

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  7. Did your gentleman ever get his bird back?

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    1. No, unfortunately he didn't. :-( He waited around the park for about 6 days, we had spotted Boid a number of times but couldn't coax him into his cage. George left his information at the park so that if anyone should be able to capture Boid then they can contact him and he said he would return to pick him up no matter where he is in the country.

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