Home Sweet Home!

We got home last night after stopping at the glass store to set up an appointment to have the windshield replaced. I found out that I had taken the $500 glass deductible option on my insurance coverage so that will be another significant expense! Our maintenance costs have been very high for this trip but the motorhome is pretty much in "as new" condition after five thousand miles of Mexican roads.

The house is in good shape and was left spotless by our house sitter. It was a very bad winter here and there was a small leak in the roof caused when an ice dam formed around the eves on the back and the water was forced back under the roofing. It resulted in a water stain on the computer room ceiling and down one wall. The ceiling will have to be repainted and the walls painted after removing the decades old wallpaper off the room. It is a job that should have been done years ago anyway. I also have two shopping bags of mail to go through!

I will be winding the Blog down for now until we decide where and when we are going for this coming winter. Thanks for taking the trip with me, I have enjoyed telling you all about it!

Spokane, WA to Port Angeles, WA

We decided to drive to Port Angeles to catch the ferry to Vancouver Island. We have always had good luck going this way and have never been hassled for having a little too much booze on board. The lady inside my GPS did not want us to go that way and argued with us for a long time until I settled the argument by turning her off.

We got a late start from Spokane (11:00 AM) and burned up a lot of highway before arriving at the Seven Cedars Casino near Port Angeles. This is a nice casino and has an area for RVs to park. I put $2 in a penny machine and promptly won $15! Don’t worry, it didn’t last very long, I soon donated it back. Norma did a little worse, quickly losing her only remaining USA $20 bill and then losing the one she “borrowed” from me. We retired to the bar and watched a Ron White video. That guy is so funny!

We slept in a little and then started listing our purchases over the six months. We were allowed $750 each and were actually about $50 over. We had too much booze (again!) but just decided to be honest and hope for the best.

We caught the 2:00 PM ferry to Victoria and then arrived at Customs. We told him how much we spent and then he asked how much liquor we had on board. I told him we had a liquor cupboard with about ten bottles in it, all with varying amounts in them but no unopened bottles except one bottle of wine. He just laughed and said, “welcome home”.

We drove up the Malahat to our son’s place where he welcomed us home with a very expensive bottle of Single Malt which we sampled. It was a nice homecoming but I miss the Mexico sunshine!

Butte, MT to Spokane, WA

As we were leaving Butte this morning, we noticed a muffler shop and went in to have a sagging exhaust pipe fixed. This was a souvenir from tope #867. They welded the broken joint and added a hanger to prevent it from happening again. After putting the spare on the rear aluminum duals last night the now empty rim would not fit in the hanger under the MH as it has to have a tire attached. The muffler shop is also a tire store and happened to have a used Michelin the same size as ours. It was in good shape and since it will only serve as a spare so we had it mounted and tucked away under the rig. Another $107 and the job jar is getting empty.

Back on I-90 we came to a construction zone where they had closed one side of the highway and turned the other side into two way traffic. As we were driving along an overloaded dump truck came towards us and shed part of it’s load just as it passed. We are now the proud owners of two big new cracks in the windshield! We will need a new windshield and what do we do about the ten year Mexico permit stuck to the inside of the windshield? Will this never end?

There are a couple of problems with the motorhome that have to be fixed. The toilet valve leaks the odd time and has to be replaced and the slide needs adjusting and the seals checked. In the downpour in Dodge City the slide leaked badly and we had to bring it in. We did not bring it in however before the “wood” inside trim (particle board) got damp and swelled up. This will have to be replaced with real wood when we get home. It is a pretty simple job with the fancy new saw my son bought me last year. I suspect we might be packing too much weight in the bins under the slide. It will make Norma happy when they tell her this. Not! We arrived in Spokane too late to talk to one of the repair places in town so we pulled into the Wal Mart for the night and will phone some places at 8:00 to see if we can get in.

We found an RV repair place in the morning that took us right in. The leak problem in the slide dated back to the manufacturing process. They cut the upper rubber seal an inch too short so rather that cutting a new one, they simply left a half inch at each end with no seal. The rig has never been subjected to such a downpour with the slide open so it has not leaked until now. They fixed it with the addition of a couple of pieces of rubber. This repair has yet to be put to a serious test but I have noticed a breeze that came from the slide when I am driving is no longer there. Maybe this is a positive sign...

The toilet problem is also fixed. It was a bad valve and the cost to fix it would have been $235 USA and the cost to replace the entire toilet was only $279 so for the extra $40 we got a new toilet.

Money Grows On Trees!

At least I hope it does right now! We developed a problem with the dolly tires that has only gotten worse with the sustained highway speeds (60 mph) we have been able to do since we crossed the border. Both tires were “scalloped” for some unknown reason even though they had less than 10,000 miles on them. I stopped at a tire store and was told they were ruined, probably from being out of balance and had to be replaced. I also had them put the spare on one of the outside rear wheels where I had clopped a curb in Mexico and cut the tire. It did not seem badly damaged and did not bulge so I let it go. When I showed it to the tire guy here in Butte, Montana he told me it was only a matter of time before it would burst and probably damage the siding on the MH. So, two new trailer tires and one tire change later I was out another $170 USA. At least there is no sales tax in Montana.

When I had the lube and oil done they noticed a sag in the exhaust pipe that needs a hanger so I am watching for a muffler shop now.

The toilet in the motorhome has a faulty valve that allows it to keep running and overflowing once in a while so I will have to get that fixed as well. It might be cheaper to just replace the toilet. We shall see.

Gas is slowly increasing in price as we move north. When we crossed the border it was $1.85, then $1.95 and now it is $2.05.

Sheridan, WY to Butte, MT

Today was another long day of Interstate driving. Long and boring with nothing to see. We passed a couple of places I would have liked to explore further like Custer’s Battlefield and Virginia City but we have to keep pressing on as we have to be back in Canada on the 24th. Canadians can only stay out of the country for six months less a day every year or we risk losing our free medical coverage. It is a small price to pay but it makes me keep my foot on the gas to get home in time.

I have to have someone take a look at the dolly tires.  They are developing a strange wear pattern, maybe the alignment is out after hitting half a million topes in Mexico.

Tonight will be another Wal Mart night. It is still quite cold at night (2 – 3 degrees F.) here but warms up to almost 80 in the daytime. With the fancy new TV in the bedroom I can cover up with the big quilt and watch Bones. Life is good!

Denver, CO to Sheridan, WY

Last night I asked Wal Mart if they did oil changes on motorhomes and was told they did. I had put almost 5000 miles on the Tioga in Mexico and another 1000 so far in the States so it was due. I pulled into the oversize bay promptly at eight this morning. The basic lube and oil for a MH is $50 including synthetic blend oil and a filter. They also installed a new air filter after showing me the old one with it’s collection of bugs, dirt, leaves, butterflies, rocks and grease so I paid just under $70 for everything after tax. Not too bad. After all was said and done our “free” night in the Wal Mart parking lot cost us almost $500 after a trip to the grocery store and last night’s new TV set.

We got away by nine and headed north to meet I-90 which we will follow to the coast. Gas is still (just) under $2.00 USA per gallon so that is nice. It was a long drive but the road was good to very good. There was some snow at the sides but the surface was clean and dry all the way to Sheridan, WY. We are in another Wal Mart and I am looking at a Burger King out front where I believe they have free WIFI. If you get this tonight it means I was successful. We drove about 500 miles today so I will be heading to bed to read and fall asleep soon. It has been a long day.

P.S. They do indeed have free WIFI so I ordered a coffee so it did not look like I was taking advantage of them. "Seniors" coffee is on sale for $0.27! Where can you get a coffee for twenty-seven cents? Not even Mexico!

Dodge City, KS to Denver, CO

I felt better heading out this morning after getting directions. The radio and TV were broadcasting dire warnings of Interstate Highway closures and I did not want to get stranded at the side of the road. The route we got was a good one. There was lots of snow at the side of the road where the snowplough had deposited it in the morning but the road was clean and dry all the way. We arrived in Denver just as the afternoon rush hour was beginning to form so we took the new toll Expressway. We pulled on it and hit a toll booth which charged us $7.50 USA ($2.50 plus $2.50 for each additional axle). I thought that was a little high as we were only going less than twenty miles on it but what the heck, I was avoiding the freeway madhouse through town.

We just got up to speed when we saw a sign informing us that the next toll booth was in 3 1/2 miles! We stopped and paid another $7.50 and asked the guy how many more there were between there and our exit on I-25. “One more”, he said, so it cost us $21.50 USA total. Worse than Mexico!

We drove another fifty miles north of Denver and found a Wal Mart to boondock in. Whoever said boondocking in Wal Mart is free should follow us for a day. Somewhere in Mexico the little TV in the bedroom developed a problem and refused to accept a signal from the 75 ohm TV cable input on the back. We had to hook it up to StarChoice with the two audio/video jacks. Now that we were in the states and using cable and off air signals, we had a problem. Wal Mart had a very nice Sharp 19 inch LCD, Digital HDTV on sale for only $198 so I had to buy one. The old TV went into the dumpster and the new one is beautiful! It found three off air digital high definition stations and the picture is Chrystal clear! Sweet!

Help From Escapees

I put out a call for help in finding the best (hopefully snow-free) route home on Escapees, a forum I am a member on, and got some advice from Mike, who lives near Dodge City. Mike says:

"Your best bet is to go west on US 400/50 to Lamar, then go north on US 287 to Limon. At Limon get on I70 to Denver and get on I270 north to I25. Stay on I25 to Buffalo Wyoming where I25 merges with I90. Stay on I90..."

This is what I will do. It saves going through Salt Lake City where my GPS wanted to send me. This means I will miss having coffee with Heidi, an old high school friend. Maybe next year Heidi.

Denver Dilema

To get home from Dodge City we have to go through Denver, CO. There is no easy way around it without getting into worse weather. Right now it is snowing in Denver with a couple of feet expected by tomorrow morning. Denver is about 600 KM away, a full day's drive. The Denver weather is supposed to improve by noon tomorrow and then warm up rapidly after that. All this means we should stay put here in Dodge City and leave early tomorrow (Saturday) morning to hit Denver late in the day when the roads have been cleared and it is warming up. It is raining in Dodge with no sign of it ending so it is going to be a wet drive.

After Denver is Salt Lake City which is also known to have snow in April. My friend Les is in SLC now and is having fun in the snow. SLC is next, after Denver. Traveling is a very scientific process.

I wish I was doing what Steve Cotton is doing right now and driving to Mexico. He is retired and moving lock, stock and barrel from Oregon to Mexico. Not a bad life! Better than trying to find a way through Denver in the snow.

Dodge City

Dodge City was the Wild West! It was the point where the huge cattle drives from Texas met with the Santa Fe Railroad. It was at this point where George M. Hoover, a Canadian, dropped the tailgate of his wagon full of liquor to become the first saloon in what was to become Dodge City. The town was very wild by nature because it was here where Texas cowboys mixed with railroad men, farmers and the prostitutes, gamblers and gunfighters who were attracted to the area because of the huge amounts of money changing hands and being spent. This was the Wild West!

Many infamous characters of the Old West assembled in Dodge, some of them at times working on both sides of the law at the same time. Here is a painting of many of them who formed the “Dodge City Peace Commission”:

They are: Back Row (L to R) - W.H. Harris, Luke Short, Bat Masterson (another Canadian). Front Row (L to R) - Charlie Bassett, Wyatt Earp, Frank McLain and Neal Brown.

Front Street has been rebuilt after being torn down by Dodge City in the 70’s in the name of Urban Renewal and The Longbranch is again open serving ice cold beer and Sarsparilla to thirsty travelers.

The Longbranch and Front Street.

Black Jack, first resident of Dodge City’s Boot Hill:

Just plain, good advice!