Leslie – Saturday, May 15, 2010
Each time we depart a campground, we run through a checklist of safety items. Perhaps the most important item on that list is to perform a “test pull”. After we have hitched the 5th wheel up to the truck, with the wheel chocks still in place, we raise the front landing legs of the trailer about 1 inch and set the trailer legs and attempt to pull forward. The idea is to prove that the trailer is firmly hitched to the truck (if it was not firmly attached, the trailer would pull out of the hitch). This morning, when we attempted the test pull, Robert reported that the trailer didn’t have any brakes! Oh NO! That could be a truck controller problem, a truck to trailer connection problem, or a trailer brake problem. Robert and Stan spent over an hour trying various tests and possible solutions with no good results. Ultimately we decided that our big truck has sufficient stopping power on its own (with proper gear downshifting). We set off for Chetwynd with careful attention to our gauges. As is our practice, Robert drove until lunch, and I drove after lunch. He drove the flat river plains; I drove the mountain pass. Snowflake performed perfectly.
The drive north was both beautiful and eventful – in a positive way. We’re now in remote British Columbia. We observed a warning that the next fuel station would be in 125 km (91 miles).
We’re out in the middle of no where – and it shows. The views are stunning. We’ve driven miles and miles (I guess technically kilometers and kilometers) and seen no one.
Today was a great introductory animal sighting day. I saw two black bear. (Stan & Connie saw my two bear plus a Mama bear with three cubs.) We’re driving in the lead. If I’m not driving, when I see an animal I grab both my camera and the CB to call Connie. Here’s our second bear. Stan commented that the bear wasn’t very friendly; he didn’t stay around to pose for pictures.
I promise much better bear pictures later in our travels. (If you can’t wait, go back to July 6-8, 2008.)
We ended the day at Chetwynd, BC, the Chain Saw Capital of the World (or so they say). I snapped this picture as we entered our campground.
I’ll give you the whole story on the chain saw sculptures as we visit them tomorrow.
Lastly, we had an incredibly successful techno evening! Those of you who know us know that we are both techno-geeks. When we are traveling in interesting places, we try to post every day. To achieve that we spend many hours searching for public libraries, etc. in remote locations. In the past, most especially during our 2008 Alaskan trip, we have been frustrated by campground WIFI signals that were too weak to reach our site. In February we bought a WIFI amplifier that was supposed to help us access campground WIFI signals. HARK! This evening was the first time we needed the device and it actually worked as advertised. We were able to connect the WIFI amplifier to our router and both of us could connect to the campground WIFI when previously the signal was too weak. We are happy campers!
