Wow, another 2 weeks have gone by...time for another update!
Wednesday (Jan. 6) morning we were up and out just after 8:00. Steve has to be at the hospital at 9:00 for another gastroscopy. After dropping him off, I went to do a little shopping at Walmart.
I had finished my shopping and was just about to treat myself to a latte from Starbucks when I received a call from the hospital...I could pick Steve up. Wow, that was much faster than last time! All went well and he'll have a follow up phone appointment on the 21st.
Once home, I made him lunch and then headed into Sidney to pick up a prescription...leaving Steve to relax in front of the TV watching the terrible scene unfold at the Capitol Building in Washington, DC.
Thursday (Jan. 7) and Friday (Jan. 8) were basically taken up with chores but we did manage to get into Sidney for our walks along the waterfront. Thursday was quite blustery and cool but Friday afternoon was beautiful...so much nicer walking with blue sky and sunshine!
Once we got home, we took the boat off the truck in preparation for taking it in to have the boat loader mounts repainted. These were painted a year ago last September but it didn't take long for rust to appear. With rain in the forecast over the weekend, we figured it was best to take care of that while the sun was shining. This drew a crowd of neighbours and with all the rain and stormy weather lately one of them said "Do you know something we don't know?" LOL!!
Saturday (Jan. 9) morning started out with sunshine...unfortunately it didn't last and ended up being a cloudy day...but no rain!
After lunch we met Dave, Leslie and Dave's brother, John for a walk on the Flight Path trail. Instead of just walking part of it like we did just before Christmas, we decided to walk the whole thing...9.3 kms (5.78 miles) around the Victoria airport.
It's a really nice paved pathway. John, Steve, Dave and Margaret (Les and I were ahead of them)...
Sunday (Jan. 10) was a cloudy, breezy day but we got out for a walk around the RV park in the morning.
We got a text late morning from our son, Rob...he and Conner were going to the park to fly his remote control plane again. Great...we'll meet you there! We'll take any opportunity to see our family!
Thankfully, it wasn't as windy there as it was back at the RV park, so Conner managed some good flights. He is definitely getting the hang of it!
Once home even though rain was in the forecast Steve wanted to wash the truck. It's been months since he's washed it. There's even a little moss starting to grow on the north side! He likes to always take our vehicles in clean and that way he also knows every mark on them.
Monday (Jan. 11) was a very wet, rainy start to the day. We left at 7:30 to drop the truck off. Once home, we had breakfast and showered...and then Steve spent considerable time on the phone with Dometic Customer Service. Our toilet has a slow leak coming from the foot pedal and of course it is 2 months past the warranty. Those parts are not available, so he was hoping we might be able to get a free replacement being so close to the warranty expiration date. But no luck! And of course none of the local RV stores stock toilets if we need a replacement.
We also continue to have water making its way into the trailer from the end of the big slide soaking the carpet. We had a wind warning issued mid afternoon...and it was very windy and rainy all evening and night. Steve kept vigil with a supply of kitchen paper sopping up water that was coming in. At least it wasn't gushing in...but any water leaking into an RV is not a good thing!
Tuesday (Jan. 12) morning the wind and rain finally let up. But by mid afternoon, another wind warning had been issued! Sheesh...enough wind!
We got out for a couple of laps around the RV park and then after lunch went to pick the truck up to bring it home to unload the generator, ladder and tools. Steve had totally forgotten that he'd need these things to work on the trailer...and of course, with the wind, we want to have the generator handy! They haven't started working on it yet, so we had it back within 40 minutes or so.
By late afternoon, the rain had started again and the breeze was also picking up.
Wednesday (Jan. 13) morning we were up early after a sleepless night. It had been super windy overnight with strong gusts shaking the trailer keeping us awake. They were forecasting wind gusts as high as 90+kph/56+mph. Not sure how high the winds actually got but this family made the local news when they found their canoe on their roof! Luckily there was no damage.
(Internet photo)
Luckily the wind had died down by morning and the rain had stopped. We actually had some sunshine ad blue sky...a welcome treat!
We got out for a couple of laps around the RV park and then pulled the slide in partway to see if Steve could figure out where the water was getting in. He had already fixed two previous leaks but was at a loss on this one so put a call into one of the mobile RV companies we've seen in the park.
Thursday (Jan. 14), after not hearing back from the mobile RV guy, Steve decided to give the repair another try himself. We've been getting multiple storms that have been blowing directly at the end of the slide room.
(Steve here) It appears that with the winds the rain is getting past the exterior rubber seals and the interior wall seal that butts up against the slide room on one end. After trying to locate a replacement seal from all three RV suppliers (we can order it in) I ended up getting a roll of weather stripping from the building supplier.
In the photo below on the left is the new black weather strip that will butt up against the old dirty looking seal on the wall. I had previously applied Pro Flex Sealant to either side of the metal strip with screws and that fixed those two leaks. I noticed that there was a raised area running the length of the metal strip and feared that it was water. There was only one way to find out which I hated doing... making a tiny slit in the rubber roof. No water appeared so it seems to be air bubbles. Well that's better than water but I wonder what's up with that?! I patched it with Eternabond Tape I also added sealant to the inside vertical corners of the slide room.
(We've since had light rain and no wind with no water intrusion so time will tell if it's a fix)
Friday (Jan. 15) was a beautiful sunny, warm day! I went into Sidney in the morning to pick up a few groceries. While I was gone, Steve changed the valve on the toilet.
(Steve here) After talking to Dometic the other day and getting nowhere I talked to the owner at Peden's RV where we bought our rig. He said if the water leak appears to be clear it may only be the valve. Our original toilet was a Thetford which I hated because you had to remove the toilet to replace the ball seal. We replaced it in 2018 with the Dometic 310. Any of the 300 series allows you to clean/replace that seal in seconds without removing the toilet. But holey crap...$79 plus tax for the valve!!! They give me 10% off because we bought our rig there but still...it's $46 CND at Amazon!
The valve had a couple of tiny cracks at the red arrow. Notice the upper and lower push tabs...
After lunch, we met our friend Rob (this time Nancy wasn't available to join us) at Horth Hill Regional Park for a hike.
Steve and Rob...
Saturday (Jan. 16)...and we're back to clouds! Oh well, the sun was nice while it lasted! We got out for a couple of laps around the RV park. We try to get our daily walks in!
After lunch Steve headed outside to install a new Kohree LED light over the door...it ended up taking him much longer than expected.
(Steve here). I really like this light as it's extremely bright so I don't have to wear a cap light when barbequing. It comes with a clear and amber lens. What I don't like about this light is even though it's physically the same size as the one I replaced the 4 mounting holes don't match so I had to drill 3 new holes. The springs for the marrets came separate and wouldn't stay in so of course I had several trips up and down the ladder, then the search was on in the gravel. The screws that came with the light were larger than the mounting holes so had to be forced. And I thought the most difficult part of this job was going to be removing the silicone sealant. Have I mentioned before how much I hate silicone!!!
Here's a picture of my beautiful Amaryllis! I've never grown one before and was amazed at how quickly they grow...wish I had taken a picture of it daily! It ended up with 5 flowers (the sixth didn't open because I woke up Tuesday morning to find the whole plant had fallen on the floor...top-heavy, I guess). It sure was pretty though! Thanks Tami...I love it!
Not much happened Sunday (Jan. 17). We woke to clear blue sky which was nice. After a couple of laps around the RV park, I did laundry while Steve did some odds and ends.
After lunch we went out for a drive...just for a change of scenery on a weekend!
Monday (Jan. 18) morning we met Dave and Leslie at a parking lot in Colwood so they could follow us out to East Sooke Regional Park. A new adventure today...we're going for a hike in a park we've never been to! As you can see, it is a huge park with a lot of trails...
Even though the trail was listed as moderate it was no walk in the park. We dodged mud and water puddles, scrambled up and down over rock and tree roots. But the scenery was spectacular making it all worthwhile. We'll let the pictures speak for themselves...
Closeup of Race Rocks Lighthouse (1860) on that tiny island in the distance behind us in the above photo...
Closeup of the seal. Not sure what the badly worn one is at the bottom right...
Heron...
As noted above, we hiked to just before the Beechey Head lookout...at that point, we didn't have enough "steam" to make the big scramble up on the rocks to the lookout. Deciding, instead to return another day and hike a different trail to that lookout. So at this point, we headed inland...
We were back at the cars just over 3 hours later...after 6 km (3.75 miles) Another great day exploring with great friends!
Tuesday (Jan. 19) we slept in...if you call 6:25 sleeping in! But when we are normally up by 6:00 at the latest, it is sleeping in for us!
We were treated to a beautiful sunrise...
With the forecast of wind in the afternoon, we decided to drive into Sidney and do our walk on the waterfront.
After lunch, I went back into Sidney to run a bunch of errands...leaving Steve to work on picture editing for this blog.
Once he was done, it was over to me to get to work on putting our blog "together"!
And there you go...update done!
