Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Houston, BC - What Happens in Houston - Stays in Houston

Up at 6:00, at the Pacific Truck Service Center by 6:55 to meet with Kevin and James to schedule work on our RV. Hallejulah ! ! ! They can get us in today - how soon can we be down here? 1 hour. Luckily, Gary’s already got the fan blades and fan motor cinched in so that they won’t rattle around while we’re driving and break something else.


I forgot to put this picture in yesterday. He got kinda dirty while he was under the engine working on the fan.
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And, we hurried back to the RV, I worked inside, Gary worked outside, we paid for our 2 days and we were off. It’s DOWNHILL all the way and we got to the shop, drove inside to an empty bay, met the tech, Wade, and he’s working. ALREADY, can you believe it?

We had our computers and headed upstairs where they had their lunch room - and here’s the best part - COOKIES ! ! ! Shortbread cookies, Oreos, and some huge maple leaf-shaped, maple-filled cookies. The filling must be 1/4” thick.
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They’ve set it up for truckers who come in with trucks to be serviced. They told us that some truckers plan their stops with this place in mind. All new with refrigerator, microwave, lots of cabinets, huge tables with chairs, satellite TV, lounge chairs and a bathroom with a shower. And, good wi-fi. If you have to be in the shop, this is the one to be in. Little Houston. Who would have thought?
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We set up, grabbed a cup of coffee a cookie and we were set. I, of course, worked out a new schedule for travel, now places to stay, etc. At 10:00 sharp, the room filled with 8 mechanics for their morning break. Most have lived in Houston all their lives, some have moved in from big cities and love the small town life.
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It’s 1:00 and the mechanic just came in and told us he was done. It really was only 4 bolts that he had to drill out and replace. In the end he thinks it was under-engineered and suggests we get some bigger bolts than were originally in the engine. He would have put in some bigger bolts but doesn’t have them here.

Gary is now putting the motorhome back together - he had to open up the bedroom and take off the engine panels from the floor in the bedroom and the closet. When he gets back, we’re out of here.

BTW - have you noticed something is missing. Something that we didn’t realized we had missed until about 8:30 at night after we had eaten dinner. We missed breakfast. We didn’t even eat lunch until 3:00 when we left the shop. How in the world did we miss breakfast? We’ve never done that. I’m surprised we weren’t hearing stomach rumblings.
Luckily we had those cookies.

We were so lucky:

        simple problem: 4 bolts that had come out, been sheared off or were stuck in the holes - took 4 hours to fix

        nice town with friendly people

        a diesel engine service yard right in town with a good mechanic

        very pretty little RV campground to stay in

        oh, yeah, a nice restaurant for breakfast

We couldn’t have planned this better. It might have happened in Fraser Canyon with its 2-lane curvy, winding highway, it might have happened 200 miles into the Cassiar Highway where you can go a hundred miles and not see anyone.

But it happened in Houston.

On the road again with no major problems.

We turned north on the Cassiar Highway. I’ve got my Milepost in my lap as we drive.
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Then the clouds swirled in and are hanging heavy over the mountains.
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And, sure enough, rain comes.20160524-IMG_3600-2-2016-05-24-10-05.jpg
We drove 19 miles and we’re here in a Rest Stop, parked under one sign that says; ‘NO CAMPING OR OVERNIGHT PARKING’ and another that says: ‘PLEASE LIMIT YOUR STAY TO 8 HOURS.’
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I hope the bears don’t see us here. Let’s see: 35’ long, 12’ tall, red, black and silver RV. Nope, we’re pretty well hidden behind this sapling. Note the sun glinting off the roof of the RV. It’s about 8:00 pm.
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