Thursday, July 28, 2016 (Diamond Grove RV Park, Spruce Grove, AB)

Thursday morning we were up and out by 9:00. The first thing on our "to do" list was to fuel up the truck with diesel. Yesterday as we were approaching the RV Park, Steve experienced a loss of power momentarily and we were wondering what that was all about...hopefully it doesn't happen again. Well, on our way to the Shell station it did again...we basically limped the final short distance to the pumps. Steve doesn't usually let the tanks get below a quarter full, but this time he had decided to go all of the way to Spruce Grove to fill up rather than stop in Edson. Perhaps a mistake, even though we were still above the red on the gauge there was only about 26 litres (6 gallons) of diesel left in the tanks. After fueling up, we parked away from the pumps and went on-line to find the closest Isuzu truck dealer. As it turned out, we didn't need it (today), the truck ran fine after that.

The next thing on our list was to go to the local Honda dealer to have our generator looked at. Steve had disassembled either end of the generator looking for the source of a vibrating kinda knocking sound and was unable to find anything loose. Thinking it may be a noisy valve or piston we had stopped using it. So we plugged Riverside Honda and Ski-Doo into our GPS and were off. The place is huge...and by the time we found the correct service area, we were told that it would be 3 weeks before they'd be able to have a look at it. Well, that's not going to work! So we went to "plan b"...a shop called Eddy's Small Engine Repair.
But before we left, Steve took pictures of these cool vehicles....Polaris Slingshots...

We had no problem finding Eddy's Small Engine Repair...but when Eddy listened to the generator, he couldn't hear the same noise as Steve did...it sounded okay to him. Steve said just wait, it will get louder. After disassembling the exhaust and filter side of the generator and determining the noise wasn't from that end he put it back together. Steve said the noise appears to be coming from the other end. Eddy eventually discovered that if he tipped the generator slightly by grabbing the handle the noise disappeared. Everything was tight so it remained a mystery as to why there is a knocking noise from vibration. So that's good, it's not a noisy valve or piston and it cost us $20 for him to tell us that...okay, then. Apparently Steve told Eddy he'll just have me hold the generator in that position while it's running. :-) With the generator loaded back into the truck, we were off to our next stop.

We parked at Kal Tire's Yellowhead location that deals with heavy duty trucks, and Steve went into the shop to talk to them. Our front tires are aging out and are showing signs of cracking, as well as some old unusual wear patterns from when we had to have our worn out shocks replaced a year and a half ago in Quartzsite. Next thing I knew, a couple of fellows were out with him checking the tires...and then back into the shop they went. A little while later Steve came out and told me we were getting two new front tires...along with a front and rear alignment and they could do it now. Apparently the Michelin 12R22 series of tire that came on the front were not a highway tire but a city tire and were too heavy a rating for our kind of driving. They recommended a brand new 11R22 X Line Energy series that just came out and it would be cheaper and a better ride. Alrighty then $$$$! Five years ago we had stopped at a Kal Tire in Castlegar, BC to have a trailer tire patched that Steve had temporarily fixed with our ATV tire repair kit. When it came time to pay the bill it read $0.00! They just told Steve to keep them in mind the next time we needed tires. Now that's good customer service, so here we are!

There wasn't much in the way of restaurants or shopping in the area...with the exception of a Costco across the street. So that is where we went, had lunch and then wandered around a bit. After that, we spent the rest of the afternoon in Kal Tire's customer waiting area...waiting!

$2200 poorer, new tires, alignments, and a noticeably smoother ride, we headed home...where we relaxed outside with our chairs set up to watch yet another thunderstorm. That free flat repair certainly paid off for Kal Tire!

We initially thought this little dog was pulling his owner around...but he's on a hover board. Wow...he's good, such balance!

Pretty ominous clouds...

Well....that was our first busy day here in Edmonton. Tomorrow we will move a short distance to another community on the outskirts of Edmonton called St. Albert....where we will spend the week.