Monday and Tuesday, November 25 and 26, 2019 (Coquitlam, BC)

After 8 months on Vancouver Island, it is time to leave! We were looking forward to this day...my knee replacement surgery delayed us by...well...we should have been leaving basically around the date of my surgery, so we are 7 weeks late heading south!

We pulled out of Oceanside RV Resort at 9:30...after big hugs and goodbyes to Andy and Tami. We arrived at the Swartz Bay Ferry Terminal (BC Ferries) in plenty of time for the 11:00 a.m. sailing.
Last time our rig sat here in the ferry lineup was June 26, 2010, the day after we retired and started our new adventure...wow, hard to believe that was nine and a half years ago! Even though it was a short drive the rig hasn't moved in months so Steve is doing a check of the rig...
We had an uneventful ferry ride to the lower mainland (greater Vancouver area) and headed out to Vancouver Axle and Frame in Surrey to drop the trailer off. We are going to have our annual bearing, brake and suspension check one. The newest leaf spring (1 year) continues to have a slight twist in it even though Steve straightened it just before we left Campbell River last summer.

Once that was done, we decided to head over to Goldkey Isuzu since we were fairly close. Steve had called the service rep, Dave, last week to order an extra clamp and turbo hose for the truck...just "in case". We've had the turbo hose blow off twice and split once since 2013. Turned out they had sent the wrong one...oh well, it was a good idea!

It was just after 3:00 when we arrived at Chris and Angela's. Of course, Chris was at work, but Angela was home and in addition to Issac, was babysitting another little guy...as a favour for a friend. Both boys were napping when we arrived but it wasn't long before both were up. Mom came and picked up Ethan, leaving us to have fun with Issac. He has grown so much...and is walking now...and of course, loves helping mom in the kitchen LOL!

 Grampa and Issac...
For dinner tonight, we had a great feast of Chinese food...delivered just after Chris got home...
Issac's first birthday is next Monday, but since we won't be here, we had our own early celebration. Issac opening his gift from Gramma and Grampa...a whole array of cloth books...
 And he even seemed pretty happy with some new clothes!
 Birthday cake time! Good job on the decorating, Angela!
A quick pose with Gramma and Grampa...
We were all packed Tuesday morning waiting for a phone call from Van Axle saying our trailer was ready...but at 10:30, after hearing nothing, Steve gave them a call. Apparently the reason that leaf spring kept twisting was that it was 1 1/2" too short! Obviously the mobile tech that we had used when the leaf spring failed last fall as we were leaving Catalina State Park in Tuscon made the one he had fit to get us back on the road without informing us it was shorter.

Later that day Van Axle called to say that whoever serviced our bearings last overloaded them with grease blowing the seals so we now have grease in our brakes. They said they can clean up the drums but the brakes will need replacing. Thank you Duncan RV Repair in Elkhart, Indiana!
Geez we hate paying for others incompetence!

Angela officially returns to work next Monday but had been asked to come in today, so she and Issac left at 7:30 this morning with Chris. He would drop her off, then drop Issac off at Angela's parents before going to work. So Steve and I had a very quiet day...Steve watching a bunch of shows on Netflix while I sat on the laptop, looking up options for our trip south. The whole area is being hit with a cold snap and with very low overnight temperatures, we will need electrical hookups to run the furnace and heaters. We are not winterized and do not want to end up with frozen water lines.

Chris and Angela were going for dinner at Angela's parents place, and Lucy and Luigi wanted to see us so invited us too. Unfortunately, we hadn't expected to still be here so Chris hadn't left the key to his car for us to use...and there was no way we could drive our beast to the area in Burnaby where they lived, so Luigi came out to pick us up. Awesome, thanks Luigi!

We enjoyed a great dinner and wonderful evening...unfortunately no pictures of Lucy and Luigi! Drats! But we did get a nice family picture of Angela, Chris and Issac...
We had heard from Van Axle earlier this afternoon that the trailer was ready and we could pick it up after 3:00. But our plan after picking it up was to head directly to the border...with it getting dark so early now, we wouldn't have gotten all that far and not wanting to drive at night, they said we could pick it up first thing in the morning. Perfect...we'll get an early start and get further south than originally thought.


8 comments:

  1. Hopefully your suspension is finally fixed this time.

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  2. An unexpected delay but rather safe than sorry!

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  3. A good thing you took the time to take the trailer to someone that knew what they were doing. From what they found it should make you sleep better while on the road. I don't trust the RV dealers with the trailer running gear. I take it to a specialty truck and trailer dealer. Yep, I pay more but so far they haven't let me down.
    Safe travels!

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    1. I agree. Another issue we’ve had is many RV dealers refuse to book you for any work if you didn’t buy your rig from them.

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  4. "On the road again, just can't wait to get " you know how it goes from there lol. Look how big Isaac is already and walking too of course, a year flies by. That spring being short by that much had to be hard to even install. I agree with Dave above, the spring shops are the way to go. Cheers guys.

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  5. Mom and Dad may regret the walking! Should have taken a photo, Van Axle laid the springs together and it was very evident that there was a significant difference.

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