If you have any knowledge of modern and mechanized pig raising or having dairy cows, the waste system at the campground is very similar. You pull your RV onto a grate covered trough. You turn on water in the trough which carries the waste away and open your RV's tanks to empty them. Once the waste has been dumped, you use a hose with a nozzle to wash down the grate. Turn off the water flush system and drive away. Very easy and convenient to use.
We are following our GPS out of town. At a red light it catches my eye. The CEL (check engine light) is on! Crap (which we just got rid of!!)!! I pull over into a large, empty parking lot and smugly get out my scan reader. I plug it into the diagnostic port under the dashboard of the pickup and turn on the reader. It shows that the pickup is throwing an error code, but does not go any farther with its diagnosis. I try several times and even resort to my last trick. I read the manual. But I am doing everything correctly and in the correct sequence. By this time poor Peggy on her birthday is sweating bullets!
I start up the pickup and rev the engine. It sounds fine. We gingerly pull out of the parking lot and merge with traffic. No difference in its performance. We get out of town and are able to cruise at highway speeds without any problem. I theorize that it must be a bad glow plug which helps diesel engines start when it is cold. Since the engine is running fine we continue on, and even find that it is getting the same mileage as it typically does.
We make our way out of Saskatchewan and into Manitoba. We are now back in the CDTZ! It was on about May 10 since we had our clocks set to this zone.
Highway 16 finally joins with CA Highway #1, the TransCanada Highway. For what some might consider a highly touted highway, long sections of the TransCanada Highway are in terrible condition for a 4 lane highway spanning the country. There are sections that are in very good condition.
By early afternoon we come to Winnipeg and all of its traffic. However, they have a bypass which takes us around the west and south of the metro area. We soon come to Highway 75 which takes us south to the CA/USA border.
At the border we get in the appropriate line for a rig our size. There are a couple of vehicles ahead of us, but they get waved through in a timely fashion. Our turn!
So, long story short, we get pulled off to the side to get inspected. I believe it is because of Peggy's guilty looks when answering questions to authorities. Anyway, the inspection of our camper was the most lame thing I've ever seen. The border cop opened the refrigerator door, pulled open the crisper drawer, then opened a couple of kitchen cabinets and said, "You're fine." Guess they have to justify their pay somehow.
We are now in North Dakota and we make good time. Of course a person should make good time as the land is as flat as a pancake! I felt like we were climbing a mountain pass when we went up and over and railroad viaduct!
Peggy keeps asking me if I'm getting tired, and I really wasn't so we kept heading south on I-29. She is looking ahead in our Woodall's Campground Book seeing what is ahead for a place to stop for the night. But I am motivated to make it within 1 mile of the ND/SD border, because there is a casino south of the town of Hankinson, ND.
We make it there and for $10 have a cement pad to park the trailer and have full hookups. We have traveled 578 miles for the day, and I propose to Peggy that since it is her birthday, I take her out to eat...at the casino. It didn't take much urging on my part to convince her. She had a large walleye fillet and I had a steak.
By now it is around 9:00. That plus a full stomach and I am tired. We go back to the trailer and immediately hit the sack.
No comments:
Post a Comment