roadquill1

Woodburn, OR, March 12, 2013

Greetings dear family and friends!
We left home 12 days ago, but have just spent the night in Woodburn, OR. This is in response to those who have asked, “Where are you?” No, we have not had any vehicle problems – we had a 4 day visit with family in Walnut Grove, and then we drove to Kamloops to join in the cheering section with the families of the Wellington Sr. Secondary Girls basketball at the Provincial AA championships. Both of our nieces – Montana and Olivia Mjaaland – played on this team, and Wellington eventually won the Bronze medal after losing only one game to the highly favoured Holy Cross Christian School from Surrey. We were so proud of the way the girls played, and eventually, the cheering squad even one an award for the most spirited support! Cool!

(An aside: private schools with the ability to draw and recruit students from anywhere on the planet should not be competing in a Provincial Championship with public schools that can only enlist students from their catchment area! Just my personal opinion, after seeing the size and skill levels displayed by some players from private schools which predominate in the Provincial rankings. Apparently, they also have their own final tournament.)

Our trip back to Walnut Grove after the final game on Saturday was beautiful, with clear blue skies, and dry roads on the Coquihalla. It was a 3 hour run with little traffic. On Sunday morning, we arose to the new Daylight Savings time, and as we drove, I listened to the beep, beep, beep, beeping of Sandy’s watch as she spent many minutes and long kilometres trying to reset it to the current time. (It still reads as a 24 hour time, and neither of us can correct it.) We crossed the border at the Truck Crossing for a smooth sail down I-5 to Woodburn. We are now officially on the road again! It was a 6 hawk day! (They are probably red-tails, or sharp-shinned hawks, but bird identification at 120 km per hour is a trifle tricky!)

On the issue of “getting older and wiser”…not so much! When we arrived last night we had to de-winterize the camper to get rid of the antifreeze in the water lines, and to stock up with water. Winterburn RV seemed to be a good place for this. We hooked up everything, cleared our tanks and lines, plugged in the tv cable, – and almost everything worked! Two exceptions:
1. Water from the pump area leaked all over the floor of the camper, but Sandy is Mrs. Efficient at making it go away;
2. When we turned on the hot water heater, it momentarily flashed, then ceased to work. That was that! (“Flipping the switch on and off won’t fix it, Tony!”)

The night was chilly, but the furnace works fine.

8:00 a.m. March 11
Moments ago, while I constructed my notes to you, Sandy busied herself with tidying, and reading manuals. Finally….”Did you re-open the hot-water tank isolation valve?” Yoiks! (That’s not exactly the word I used! I had NOT! I can hear you old time RV-ers out there tsk, tsking!) Okay, it is now opened. Although it hasn’t been said yet, I am pretty sure that I can sense a silent “You’re stupid!” being held back rather kindly!

However, we must have burned a fuse or kicked a breaker that I cannot locate since the system is still non-functional. I hope that we will have good news to report after the RV places open at 8:30.

Much love and best wishes to all – with special thoughts for the student and teacher Spring-Breakers who are heading for the breakers off Maui, or other vacation spots, and to my nonagenarian mother who is now getting ready to move into a new residence in Langford!

Tony, the Quill, and Sandy, the Quilter

P.S. As we began to pack up, I decided to check the hot water tank outlet at the back of the camper. Under the dust and grime was a black rubber pad with the word “Reset” stamped into the rubber. I had a final “Aha” moment as I pushed it and tried the heater button again. It worked!! Thank heavens I didn’t go into an RV service and have to see the “You’re stupid!” behind the eyes of some junior mechanic! So we are off, knowing that, for the moment at least, I am “NOT so stupid!”