Home, settled in, and trying to catch up.

Thanks to all that followed along during our trip to Montana and Back.
Shawn, Kerry, Patrick and Taxi

More Of New Brunswick

First a stop at Tim Horton's for Coffee





Draining out the mucky water

Tracadie New Brunswick

Well if you think you know where these places are but you really aren't sure then maybe it is time to brush up on the geography. We are in a campground on a beach that looks out on the water of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. we have seen amazing scenery in every part of two countries and we have met interesting people all along the way. Shawn

Pierre Gauthier

A family gathering of landrover enthusiasts that takes in New Brunswick or Quebec each year. An idea brought about by Pierre Gauthier before his passing a few years back. We have been at Tracadie New Brunswick for such an event since Sunday night.

We have been off-roading and we have checked out a traditional Acadian Village. Today we are spending a day at the Campground washing our clothes, our dog, and our truck before we move on tomorrow morning.

Montreal

Can you see a Rover and a Boler?
Trapped in the alley by Construction workers. Eventually they left and I turned the Boler around by hand for an early exit Sunday.

















Taxi taking a break from Travel. She didn't need to be tied up. She doesn't go further than 50' from that Rover.







We got lost because I didn't write down the directions properly but eventually we found our friends house and got some rest. Tomorrow we head out again for Ontario briefly then off to the Maritimes. Couldn't handle much of the City life but it is intriguing for a short while. Thanks to John and Audrey for the use of the house. Shawn


Kerry prepping for an early departure.

Sturgeon Falls

We caught hell as soon as we pulled in to the campground cause our dog was on the beach (we were within 20'of the water and didn't see the sign behind the trees.
The next morning Taxi and I thought.... what the hell..... when we were invaded by a gaggle of DUCKS!....the sign says animals are forbidden from the beach area.
If we were sticking around that beach we would have to bring in some descrimination lawyers.




We arrived just outside of North Bay Ontario at a campground that was a bit possessed by summertime residents that didn't seem to care for over night visitors. It almost seemed like old farts that were a little bored saw some fresh meat in their little Villa. So stay away from the Rock Garden Campground in Sturgeon Falls....at least until some of the grouchy old Bastards quick taking up residence there. (example: throwing the ball for Taxi in a park like setting...grouchy fart walks by and Taxi sniffs his little dogs nose before going back to playing ball. Grouchy fart says Taxi has to be on a leash. I said "I will put Taxi back on her leash as soon as we are done playing ball." He gets huffy and says " we will see about that!" Grouchy storms off toward the office.....Never saw him again but I am sure he did a bit of fumming since I didn't obey his command.
Now we did meet a family that is very nice. We sat around their campfire and got aquainted. We enjoyed the beer, hotdogs and the company, so thanks to them for turning a rather annoying arrival into a nice evening.check out the search engine they operate http://www.iconxs.com/index.html They have a new way of running searches.....who knows maybe it is the next Google. Shawn

Wawa, Ontario

Indian word for goose - and they have some pretty big ones on display here in Wawa! Picture may follow but we are too lazy tonight.
It's been a good trip. Relief from the hotter than Hades temperatures of the last few days (that had us wilting by noon time). Today we drove largely along Lake Superior which provided us with some much needed and greatly appreciated fog. We also pinned a towel over the back window to keep Taxi a bit cooler.
Saw my first black bear today and got so excited that I fumbled with the camera until the bear got tired of posing on the side of the road and retired into the wilderness. Better luck next time!
Tomorrow should get us at least to Sudbury but we are in no rush really. Just need to be back for a night shift on the 7th. Meanwhile it's just nice to have no specific Agenda other than slowly heading east. Life is good, eh!
Chiao, Kerry

Atikokan

Traveled from Yorkton SK to just beyond Winnipeg yesterday. The heat was a killer and still is today. We didn't have any troubles after I got some tire work done on the Boler. Today we are in Atikokan Ontario... an old iron ore mining town that is struggling to keep alive since mining was shut down in 1980. We will continue down highway 11 Tomorrow.

Jinxed Tire

An hour or two before this tire was shreaded I was thinking..."can't believe that tire made it this far." Jinxed it I guess.

Yorkton This Evening

The switch in Calgary



































A '49 Ford with 4wd and a diesel.
(basically the body was set on an old dodge Ram and the wheel base even worked)














I have forgotten the year of this Plymouth..... already, but this was a sweet ride and pulled a cool Boler.








They gave out a few awards......guess which one we recieved.

















Left macklin early this fine Sunday morning. Traveled through farm country which is always a treat for me. The unfortunate part is we found all of rough roads in Saskatchewan. Flivver didn't mind the rough roads but the Bolers axle seemed to sag a bit more from the beating. I may swap the axle in Winnipeg if I find the one I want. We stopped In Yorkton for the night. All three of us are hot and miserable. We have a good campsite with wireless and showers just across the way. I reckon we'll find a new tire tomorrow and head on in to Manitoba. Shawn

Bolers everywhere!!!!!

The town of Macklin fed us breakfast and in exchange we had the option of donating to the Macklin swimming pool fund. Today is an open house of sorts. People just going around looking at other Bolers. Tonight we have a pot-luck Kerry is making Macaroni salad. Tomorrow we will head off for Saskatoon. Shawn

Macklin Saskatchewan

Made it to the Prarie Egg Gathering in Macklin. Already met a few nice people this afternoon. It is still hot but should start cooling off soon.
Patrick made his flight and is now looking after things at home along with his sister. Bummer....I had to do all of the preventive maintenance checks and services.......but I am getting fed real well by Kerry......... amongst other things.
Went through Drumheller yesterday afternoon. We felt like prunes by the time we got to or campsite at Coronation Alberta. The cool thing about Coronation is the tea comes right out of the faucet or at least looks like it does. Didn't taste like tea though.
I will update on the egg gathering tomorrow.....Promise. Shawn

Miles Covered Through Montana to Calgary

It was 2645 miles to Glendive Montana......Then we traveled 1253 miles in Montana.......Then 230 from Coutts/Sweetgrass to Calgary. That doesn't include the run around miles.
The total comes to 4128 miles(6643km).

Kerry Makes Calgary

Well Kerry was fogged in on the coast of BC so she was late getting in to Calgary but we picked her up without a hitch and parking was free. Now tomorrow Patrick flies out early in the morning. He will take the shuttle from the motel and has arranged for a friend to pick him up in Halifax.
I cleaned the Boler after the morning rain shower. Patrick put some more goop on the Nemesis valve cover. We are optimistic that we have finally solved the problem. Everything is dusted and Flivver is ready for the second half of the trip.
Tomorrow we head off to Saskatchewan for the Prarie egg gathering.

Windmills and powerlines

Did you ever hear anyone argue that harnessing wind power with windmills is unsightly. Yet they seem to forget windmills seem to have more grace (old or new) than all of those damn power lines.





Or maybe it is all closer to art than we thought.

Shawn

Blunders

Seems most of the blunders on the trip have been mine.

The 1st day out I tried to tighten up the drivers mirror. I got to aggressive....the next thing I know I am purchasing a replacement for $20 at Canadian Tire. (should have waited to break it 'til I was in Montana where the same mirror cost $10 and no tax)

When we replaced the valve cover gasket (1st time) I was gentle for the first day, but I overtightened it the next day and created a bigger leak.

In Maine I nuked the little conversion box for trailer lights when I thought I could charge the Boler's battery on the same circuit as the converter battery was being charged on.

I wired up some fourway flashers at camp in the Belt mountains, but I crossed a wire and had 4-ways going everytime I turned the blinkers on. (Rusty Laughed his ass off after following me around town. Hey.... His son helped me!!!)

On the road yesterday the truck died suddenly. I coasted off the road and checked things over under the hood. I immediately saw the problem. A wire fell off the coil, I put it back on and we got down the road........for abou 1Km. I was sick immediately, knowing that I had put the wire on wrong. I immediately was sick as I though "oh no, I fried the coil" Patrick said don't you remember the last time this happened it was something in the module. He was right of course and we had an extra module for the electronic ignition, but not a coil. 20 minutes later we were back on the road.

I must add the Oil filter that I pinched cause I thought it was too close to the motor mount. Patrick asked if that was a good idea...guess not. It was just a pinhole leak so I swapped it out the next day.

Patrick has had a few goofs, but I only seem to remember mine. Shawn

PS.......Don't forget that stupid wrench that held on for about 700 miles before I removed it.

Taxi Panic

Patrick is snoozing and I am getting a load of laundry done. Once it quits raining I hope to get the bedding in the Boler cleaned. I have some dusting to do to. I opened the one drawer in the Boler and discovered about an inch of dust. Kerry won't be impressed with that.
Slipped Taxi out the window to go to the bathroom this morning, that was a mistake. It started to pour large drops and thunder immediately she headed off South. I called her, she came back and headed North. By this time Patrick was up and we both called her. To our relief she turned around and made a beeline for the window. Think we'll try that whole potty thing again when the rain lets up.

Catching Up

We are now in Calgary after spending the weekend in Billings.
We arrived in Billings around 11am after leaving early from our Cheadle Camp. Like everywhere else we have been, Ron and Pattie(uncle and aunt) took us in. (Despite my lackadaisical attempts at keeping in touch between visits.) We watched two movies Saturday afternoon, which meant I took two naps. and another after we went to the Outback for supper. (next time I'm buying) That meant another nap. We hid out in Ron's basement cause the heat outside was unbearable........and he has a real cool home theatre. (You don't even have to go upstairs for snacks cause he has a little kitchen right handy.)
Sunday I had a visit with an old friend from highschool. We talked about life and kids and stuff at a coffee shop for about 3.5 hrs. Val is the first person I have talked from Highschool for over 20 years. Kerry and I will stop and say hello to Val and Ted on our November visit.
Patrick hung out and watched movies in the cool basement then we went to Brian and Beth's for some good company and great Pizza in the evening.
Monday we left in the early hours for Great Falls and points beyond. We picked up oil changing stuff and a set of speakers. Then we went out to Vaughn to utilize Rusty's drive way to do some maintenance.
Changed the oil in Flivver, swapped speakers (hoping we can hear these speakers better over the wind), put in better valve cover gasket and Patrick did some reupolstering. After being fed by Joleen and Rusty and being entertained by Colby. We said goodbye to everyone in Vaughn and headed off toward the sweetgrass and the border.

We arrived at 1 in the morning just past Lethbridge then took off again for Calgary at 630. We checked in this afternoon and rested. Snuck Taxi through the window. Tomorrow Kerry flies in from Port Hardy and Thursday Patrick flies home to look after lawns and what not. Tomorrow I will catch everybody up a little more on the ups and downs of this incredible trip. Shawn