Boardman RV and Marina November 17th 2017

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This has been a summer of odd events at the Shuswap

 

Firstly, it was one of the wettest springs on record with the result that April mudslides destroyed a couple of houses down the road; another mudslide about a month later and closer to me took out two more homes and killed one occupant in the middle of the night.

Later on in July, I experienced a severe windstorm that flattened about 10 trees and dropped one onto the front of the motorhome. At the same time, the new neighbours lost an equipment building that sailed over the trees with parts reaching my shoreline. In addition, they lost an ATV and had a motorhome damaged. A second windstorm about a month later knocked down several more trees so my property resembles a war zone with uprooted stumps and downed timber all over the place.

 

Negotiations with insurers ensued as to whether cutting the tree off the coach was covered or not. In the end, ICBC agreed to cover tree cutting and tree removal (but no further than was necessary to extricate the coach and certainly not as far as my woodpile)

A bucket truck arrived and took care of the offending tree, including bucking up into fireplace lengths at no extra charge.

 

Damage was not huge but the front end cap was crunched above the splintered windshield, plus some cabinets inside were displaced or had cracked panels. Then followed a delay in getting the coach into a body shop but finally it reached the top of the list and went for repairs in late September. Delay followed delay as another concern dealt with the interior work and then yet a third place did an annual service. During this last, it was by now the first of November and our weather turned nasty with cold and snow. While checking the coach it was discovered that the rear shocks had ripped away from the frame rail on one side and bent on the other – this purportedly due to having too long a shock. The coach was parked outside at the Service Centre so water froze and cracked the pump. Anyway, it was eventually ready just before mid-November but then the Aqua–Hot heating/hot water system started to leak. I didn’t want to take the coach home as my road was a sheet of ice all the way from the highway to home, even slick for the Jeep in 4-wheel drive, so I camped out at Bruce Coach, the RV dealer who was repairing things on an almost daily basis.

 

Back at the cabin, I had also been having an interesting time. When the cold weather struck, I managed to keep my water active by running the pump full time – but then the power went out; not a normal power failure but one where a single phase on the main line separated and delivered only 240 volts into my panel. The upshot of this was that I fried the microwave when the 240V somehow made its way into the 120V breaker system. I had an electrician come out and check things for me. In addition, the power company was very good in sending a crew to replace the line. While this was happening, I fired up the trusty Honda generator (for the 6^th time this year) for lights, TV and to keep the fridge running. Of course, this development stops the water pump running and the water freezes. After about a week, the weather relents, warms up a bit and I get water again, just in time to drain the system (with help from Bryce down the road).

Finally, I was ready to go and on November 15^th had smooth sailing down to Omak in Washington State. Friendly US Customs let me through with only a cursory check in the fridge where they missed the limes that I had forgotten. The guard and I discussed fat bike tires more than we did immigration matters as he saw my 4” tires sticking out from under the cover behind the Jeep. At Omak, the tribe has added an RV Park to their Casino Parking lots so I tried it out for $22.

 

The next day, about 7 hours on bare roads to Boardman on the Columbia River, where I have booked in for two nights to replenish water, dump the tanks, have a shower etc. – also maybe take the bike for a cruise along the 5 mile paved pathway along the river. From here I will head to Portland and I-5 south, stopping at Casinos en-route as much as possible.