Yet another change of plans

Regular readers will remember that we were supposed to be doing a month long house sit in Manotick during the month of October. It was cancelled last minute due to a medical problem that the host is having. 

However, the host was looking for options outside of Canada to get this medical problem resolved.

We've been busy!

Hence why the three day hiatus from writing blog posts!

Tuesday and Wednesday were Amazon Prime Big Deal Days, so we had a lot of work to do with our facebook group telling them about all the deals. And in between the deals, I was busy trying to install Igor's new furnace!

Weird clouds in the sky!

We stayed in the campground until mid afternoon. I did a couple of minor projects on Igor, while Ruth was labeling some photos. 

It was pretty chilly overnight! We tried out the old electric heater, but while it does work, it's not putting out nearly the amount of heat that a 1500 watt heater should. 

One thing we can say about the Airstream B190... there is lots of interior cupboard space!

We've got a list of minor things we want to get done to Igor this week, as well as the two major items... the new furnace, and the new refrigerator.

Most of the minor things aren't super important and we would normally just putter away at them while on our way south. However friends Bjorn and Freya arrive in Canada on the 18th, and it is them who are taking Igor south. So we would like to get as many of them done as possible before they get here.

Our most expensive campground ever!

We didn't want to overstay our welcome in the overflow parking lot at my mother's building here in Ottawa. And although it wasn't ideal, it was okay for a couple of nights.

So, what were our options? 

In for a penny, in for a pound

This is a phrase used to express someone's intention to see an undertaking through, however much time, effort, or money this entails

And that's the way we're starting to feel about Igor!

We made the decision yesterday to order yet another fancy expensive item to make our lives better.

Another project for Igor

Last night I posted our September expenses report. And I mentioned that didn't include the mechanical repairs we had done to Igor since they will go into our capital expenses which include the cost of the vehicle itself. So I wanted to tell that part of the story.

As well... we just ordered a fancy new furnace for Igor... more money!

September Expenses

We started the month of September in Nova Scotia, and ended up back in Ontario, but we were also in New Brunswick, Quebec, and Alberta! Five of Canada's provinces in one month!

We had a planned total budget of $2,396 CAD ($1.776 USD). 

A beautiful day playing tourist in our hometown

Although we've been back to our hometown area of Canada's capital city of Ottawa many times in the last five years, we can't remember the last time we actually went downtown. So with Igor tied up at the mechanical shop, we decided to head to the center of the city and see the typical tourist sites.

And, the last day of September was a gorgeous fall day.

Arrived back in Ottawa

And today is the last day of the month. October the 1st, tomorrow, was when we were supposed to be starting our one month house sit out in Manotick (a small community just south of Ottawa). Our hosts had to cancel sort of last minute because the husband is having some health problems. 

We understand that kind of thing can happen, and we're flexible. It does present some issues, but nothing we can't deal with.

Last day in Alberta

Sunday morning in Cochrane, Alberta as I write this, and this afternoon we will be flying back to Ottawa to arrive back at Igor where he is waiting at the mechanical shop parking lot.

Unfortunately, he is not quite ready for us!

More views of the Canadian Rocky Mountains

Yes, we were out hiking again yesterday. Besides seeing my sister, this was the main reason for coming. And of course the cheap airfare deal from Ottawa to Calgary return helped as well! We paid only $188 CAD ($139 USD) return per person for the flights.

And that included free beer and wine! Hard to go wrong at that price.

Almost a slot canyon hike... and a cave!

My sister Alison is a zumba instructor, and teaches a class on Thursday before noon. Ruth went with her to the class, so we didn't set off on a hike until after lunch.

Of course there are a ton of different hikes in the mountains near Cochrane, the only drawback is the minimum 45 minute drive to get to them. And of course there are many more (some very spectacular) within a two hour drive.

Gorgeous day hike above Barrier Lake

Wednesday was an absolutely beautiful day here in central Alberta, although they were calling for some strong winds in the mountains. We had been planning a ridge hike, but with the strong winds we changed our plans and instead hiked up the Prairie View Lookoff Trail to Yates Mountain and up to the Barrier Lake Fire Lookout.

We arrived at the trailhead at 10:00am

If I had to do it all over again, I would become a helicopter pilot!

We had decided to put off the more strenuous hikes for a day and so my sister Alison had planned us an easy walking route around the town of Cochrane.

Cochrane is one of the fastest growing towns in Canada with a current population of around 37,000. For perspective, twenty years ago it was only 14,000.

Arrived in Calgary

We dropped off Igor at a mechanic shop yesterday after lunch. He runs well, but idles a little rough on start up. Also, there is an odd chugging sound in between some gear shifts (and it's intermittent, to make diagnosis all the more difficult) but two different mechanics have said they think it's a misfire.

I had a quick look at the spark plugs, and they honestly look like they've never been changed. 

Another great weekend away with the boys.

With near perfect weather in the books, I completed yet another weekend away with my guy friends. I think we figured out that was the 13th annual. I missed a few gatherings in the early years because Ruth and I were traveling, but I decided several years ago that I would not miss another one. Just too much fun with these guys, we all value our long friendship and the older we get, the faster that time seems to go by.

Two more of them are retiring next year, so we've pretty much decided that our next annual guys weekend away will be an international trip. Some of the discussion revolved around Mexico, so we'll see what happens.

A major change of plans.

At the end of our last update, we had overnighted at the Quebec/Ontario border just east of Hawkesbury. We crossed at Hawkesbury, headed to Ingleside to pick up our son's car, and then to Ottawa where we had a 2:00pm meeting with Gretchen and her three cats.

While I am at my annual guy's weekend away, Ruth will be housesitting for Gretchen.

Quebec City is very photogenic!

It's taken us two weeks to do this drive between Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley, and the city of Ottawa... and we still felt rushed. There is so much to see along the way, and one of those places is the historic city of Quebec City.

We had been to Quebec City before, but it was way back in 2008. At the time, we had our dog Whiskey with us and we had parked our motorhome Sherman across the river in Levis, and taken the ferry across to explore the city.

Arrived in Quebec City

The campground was quiet. There's a reason we normally choose the September/October time frame to return to Canada. The kids are back in school, the weather is perfect, and the bug season is generally over.

We did our laundry on Monday morning before leaving the campground, but we were still on the road by 10:15am or so, headed southwest along the north shore of the St. Lawrence River towards Quebec City.

Lots of nice scenery along this route, and the trees are starting to show some color.

Igor's first paid camping spot

We were in need of showers and laundry. Yes, Igor does have a shower, but it's a bit cramped. It works if you have to, but it's not ideal. So if there is somewhere else that is convenient, we prefer that.

And in the town of Tadoussac, there was a listing for showers ($1 for five minutes) and a laundry at a municipal park near the marina. Sounds good to us!

Last minute ferry ride!

We were up and on the road at 6:00am Saturday morning!

Why up so early? Well, we knew that we wanted to take the ferry from Matane that goes across to the north shore of the St. Lawrence River. We've done the south shore drive several times, but have never been on the north shore.

17 km (10.5 mile) hike in Gaspesie National Park

We drove about 30 kms (18 miles) north to get to the visitors center at Gaspesie National Park. 

Just an FYI... Quebec's "national" parks are actually provincial parks. They are NOT run by Parks Canada, and Canada's national parks passes do not work here. 

Waterfalls, and a view, and another great overnight spot!

 We got up at 6:00am, and went for a hike!

We had been parked overnight at the back entrance trailhead for the Mount Carleton hike above the town of Carleton Sur Mer. That's a fairly long hike, and I had some computer work to do yesterday morning, but we figured we had time for the shorter hike to Grand Sault Falls.

Views over Campbellton, then back into the province of Quebec

We said goodbye to Denis and Marjolaine just before 10:00am Wednesday morning. Really enjoyed our stay with them! Thanks, and hope to see you again someday!

It was looking like a really nice day, and we had a plan to climb Campbellton's Sugarloaf Mountain before heading across the border into Quebec.

Well that was a good day!

This area around Campbellton is really nice. We were really enjoying our time with Denis and Marjolaine, and they said we were welcome to stay another night so that they could take the time to properly show us around the area.

Denis has had a hobby of building hand made cedar strip canoes that are easier to navigate the shallow waters of the nearby Restigouche River. And he offered to take us for a boat ride on the river!

We met two sets of blog followers yesterday!

Ruth had been in touch with a lady from the FB group Senior Nomads. Cynthia and her husband Tom are from Arizona, and have been full time travelers for only four months. They've got a cottage rented for a month up here in Dalhousie, New Brunswick which was right along our route, so we made a plan to meet up.

Dalhousie is a town of 3,200 located very close to the border of Quebec, just below the Gaspe Peninsula.

Miramichi was okay, but unimpressed with Bathurst

The rain had stopped overnight and it was starting out to be a nice day. We hadn't had a walk around town the day before due to the rain, so we went for a walk before heading out of Miramichi.

Our new Lifesaver RV Water Filter System

Yesterday was a rain day! Before the heavy rain started, we drove about 92 kms (57 miles) from Cap Lumiere Beach to the Miramichi area where we found a library and a laundromat and just waited out the rain. 

We didn't do very much yesterday, so today I'm going to tell you about our new water filter... the Lifesaver Cube!

Canada's only bilingual province

We hung out using the winery WiFi until about 10:00am, then set off heading north along the east coast of New Brunswick.

Pretty slow going because the secondary roads aren't in great condition, but we're in no rush anyhow so quite happy to plod along.

Welcome to New Brunswick!

I had some internet work to do yesterday morning, so we got up and drove right away, at 6:30am. But we had a stop to make first! There was a nearby waterfall I wanted to see, so we got some exercise with an early morning hike to Drysdale Falls.

Another great day exploring, and another perfect overnight spot.

We slept great at our overnight spot at Tennecape Wharf. And no, we didn't float away at high tide!

I did get up to go to the bathroom at about 3:00am, an hour after high tide, and I looked out the window to see the water about 8 meters (30') away, so no problem!

But by the time we got up, it was back to low tide again, so we left Igor there and went for a morning walk along the shoreline.

Fantastic overnight spot for our first night back on the road!

We had originally tried to leave Lindsey's before lunch, but then she had to go out in the morning and wouldn't be back until 11:30am, so we hung around. And then when she did get back, we decided we might as well have lunch, and then go. 

And then, we decided I needed a haircut, so Ruth got that done as well using some of Lindsey's equipment.

We think we're ready to go!

It's been a fun and productive month here at our daughter's place in Nova Scotia. We spent a lot of time with the family, and got a lot done to Igor!

And we were sure lucky with the weather. Very little rain, and temperatures between 20C to 28C (68F to 82F). Couldn't have asked for much better.

Finished Igor's bed, and took Sadie out for some birthday treats!

There was some rain in the forecast so I didn't get the fourth and final window done in Igor the motorhome. Instead, it was time to complete the upper bed!

First, I had to install the mattress underlay which prevents condensation and potential mold growth under the mattress by providing air flow.

August Expenses

We were a little over budget for August, but only because the budget wasn't accurate to begin with. I had forgotten to include anticipated expenses to celebrate our grandchildren's birthdays. We normally aren't able to do that when the actual event occurs, so we do it at the next available time. Which was in August!

Anyhow, not a bad month, considering we're in a very expensive country.

How much did it cost to restore our Airstream B-190 motorhome? The final tally...

When we bought this motorhome at the end of June, we knew it needed some work. But, due to that fact, we got it for what we thought was a good price at the time. Given what I know now (hindsight is always 20/20!) I think we may have actually overpaid by a little bit. 

Still, I think you'll see by the end of this exercise that we actually did okay!

Heading out on Tuesday!

I spent the day on Wednesday putting the window I had removed back together. All four of Igor's RV windows needed to be refurbished. The channels and tracks were all full of 31 years worth of gunk and had never been maintained. This causes the drain outlets to become blocked, and the windows start to leak.

It doesn't appear that they have ever leaked from the actual seal around the frames themselves. 

The parts have arrived!

The last major project on Igor is the RV windows. 

When we bought him, the exterior hadn't been washed in probably two years or more, and the windows were the same. The rubber seals had shrunk over time, and the drain channels were all gunked up and there was green stuff growing in them! 

Searching for fossils and another motorhome renovation complete!

All work and no play is no good, so we decided to take Cameron and his friend Chandler to Blue Beach for some fossil hunting. 

Blue Beach is a rocky shale beach where there have been numerous fossil finds in the rock. There is even a fossil museum at the location.

Always fun to get together with fellow travelers!

At some point in time, someone had installed a cyclone rotating sewer vent on Igor's roof. And these products actually work very well. But this one was in sad condition, and the installation hadn't been done very well in the first place.

Also, since we now have a diverter toilet and no black holding tank, we didn't have the need for a fancy vent cap. 

The rest of our time here in Canada

We are going to be in Canada until November 1st. A total of four months, which is the longest we have been here since the summer of 2018 when we drove up to the Arctic Ocean. 

So, what do we have planned for the balance of our time here?

Still waiting for a couple of things

When we had Bundy and Joyce, our RV in Australia, one of the things that was a problem was the lack of air space between the mattress and the bed frame. And because we were there in cooler weather, that caused a problem with condensation caused by our body heat when sleeping.

And our first motorhome Sherman did not have any kind of spacer either.

The biggest catch of the day!

We were on the road at 6:30am yesterday morning, headed for the popular coastal tourist town of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia where we had an 8:00am reservation to go deep sea fishing with Lunenburg Ocean Adventures.

Arrived at 7:30am to find it spitting with rain. And in the process of making sure grandson Cameron had everything he needed, Ruth realized that she had forgotten her own raincoat!

A frustrating problem solved...

Normally I do blog posts first thing in the morning. But on Wednesday the 21st we will be on the road very early, heading for the coastal town of Lunenburg where we are getting on a boat and going deep sea fishing for four hours or so.

This will be grandson Cameron's belated 13th birthday present from us.

Building the upper bed assembly

Our son in law Justin is a woodworker and construction guy, so he has all the necessary skills and tools to do this job. It's actually not a difficult job, and I could have done the whole thing myself. But what would take me a few hours, would probably take him thirty minutes!

And, most of his tools are in his van or at his current jobsite. So we managed to corner him on a Sunday to get this done!

Very pleased with the end result!

Back on Igor's roof yesterday! First part of the day was cleaning all the glue and residue from where the air conditioner had been installed. Then finished switching the air conditioner wiring over from 120 volt to 12 volt so that I could use the same wiring for the Maxxair fan.

Once again, more complicated than expected

Yesterday morning I got into taking off the roof air conditioning unit with the intention of replacing it with a Maxxair powered vent. 

The first problem is actually separating the unit from the roof itself. The air conditioning unit itself is fairly heavy... it probably weighs about a hundred pounds. So the second problem is actually getting it off the roof!

Another RV renovation update

I completed the solar installation, and moved on to the DC-DC charger. This is a piece of electronic equipment that enables the lithium batteries to be charged at a high rate of current while the vehicle is being driven. 

But to handle that high current, and the distance between the engine battery and the house batteries, I had to use fairly heavy 6 gauge cable. And run it the distance between the two.

Igor's new electrical system is almost finished!

Because we like being self sufficient, solar electricity is a "must have" for us when it comes to RV'ing. And we've done it for so long now that we're aware of our electrical needs.

I had bought a 200 watt RV solar kit that includes two 100 watt solar panels, all the wiring, mounting brackets, and charge controller. It was on sale at the time.