Second full day of work today. Yesterday rained a lot so I did wiring inside. Today started foggy, but cleared about 11 to a fabulous day. I dug 55 feet of trench for sewer line. I told Paulette I'm not just tired tonight, I'm downright weary.
When we arrived last year the flowers were starting to bloom. This year winter has barely loosened its grip. We see a little snow on the ground in a few places. Today was the first springlike day they have had here. Trees are barely budding and plants sprouting. We haven't seen a bear or moose at all since we arrived in Gustavus three days ago. Not even a track on the property. Very different from last year in that respect. Last year we saw moose almost daily for a few weeks. Moose are due to calve soon so perhaps they will show up once they have babies.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Year 1 versus Year 2
Last year was so exciting. We were pioneering, and difficulties, though expected, seldom materialized. All went smoothly except the kidney stone and finishing the roof. One had the distinct feeling the Lord was in the details. This year seems quite the opposite. We planned to take the 5er over on the ferry and learned the new dock is called a $5,000,000 mistake. It can't handle any trailer over 20 feet long. Though we have given due diligence to details months in advance almost from arriving in Juneau we have been beset by the problem of getting the rig barged over (see previous entry). Our work around is to go over tomorrow morning with only the truck, stay with friends, take all the tools and supplies we can hold, and I'll have to come back with the truck on the 16th to move the 5er and hopefully get it transported over on the 18th. We have no way of knowing whether that will truly happen, and must live in trust. My biggest fear is that we would get the rig over, and in the fall get a refusal from the barge to take it back, even though we have that agreement and a deposit in place to make it happen. I guess I'm once burned, twice shy. This has taken a lot of joy out of the project for me. We are going to plod on and see what happens. I have thought that if push comes to shove I can perhaps get the bedroom and bathroom rough operational in about four weeks. That way we can live in the crude cabin. Then push to get the other two small rooms servicable so we can accommodate guests and grandkids. I had hoped to have a more relaxed year, but we can take that route as a plan B if we need to. I prefer not to go that route because most of the hardship would be on Paulette. We pray and trust His leading and protection.
Friday, May 6, 2011
May 6,
Today has been hard. This morning the fellow who is going to transport the rig called me back. He says he can’t do us for another ten days. (I made a reservation for May 9 or sooner way back in February). I understand his need to flex a bit to maximize load and profitability. But it looks to me like he landed some more profitable jobs so is putting us off. He went so far as to tell me I can find another carrier if I want, and said if I want to reserve a date of the 18th I should give him a deposit. Paulette and I are trying a work around, but won’t be able to get the rig over until the 18th, assuming he sticks to his word given when I gave him the deposit.
Integrity comes to mind. Integrity is based on the word integer, meaning one. The idea is to be the same in dealings all the time no matter what the up or down or situation of life. Someone with integrity lives by one standard, not several.
Integrity comes to mind. Integrity is based on the word integer, meaning one. The idea is to be the same in dealings all the time no matter what the up or down or situation of life. Someone with integrity lives by one standard, not several.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Wednesday May 4
We have been rained on in Juneau ever since we arrived. Such is the rain forest. The weather is chilly too, but we had about the same last year. Nights are in the high 30's. We are waiting to hear back from the barge as to when he can take the rig over. Looks like we have a bit of down time to shop in Juneau. We will probably be here another four to five days. I purchased a pressure tank for the well yesterday, and some other construction incidentals.
Let me step back to our Canadian travels. My biggest concern was the trailer brakes. After the failure coming down the Grape Vine grade in California the last thing I wanted was trailer brake failure coming down one of the 10% grades on the Alaskan Highway. I was optimistic I had found the problem, but prudence demanded watchfulness while traversing Washington state. The brake controller never showed anything but good connection on the digital readout. The farther we drove the better I felt about the problem being solved. All across Canada and down the steep grade from White Pass into Skagway the brakes never faltered.
One of the wires coming out of the top of the magnet was installed so tight around a bracket it wore through the insulation causing a short and trailer brake failure.
A view at the top of White Pass before heading down into Skagway. The route is very curvy and descends 3200 feet in only a few miles. Pulling 23,100 pounds I didn't let our speed go over 20 mph.
Let me step back to our Canadian travels. My biggest concern was the trailer brakes. After the failure coming down the Grape Vine grade in California the last thing I wanted was trailer brake failure coming down one of the 10% grades on the Alaskan Highway. I was optimistic I had found the problem, but prudence demanded watchfulness while traversing Washington state. The brake controller never showed anything but good connection on the digital readout. The farther we drove the better I felt about the problem being solved. All across Canada and down the steep grade from White Pass into Skagway the brakes never faltered.
One of the wires coming out of the top of the magnet was installed so tight around a bracket it wore through the insulation causing a short and trailer brake failure.
A view at the top of White Pass before heading down into Skagway. The route is very curvy and descends 3200 feet in only a few miles. Pulling 23,100 pounds I didn't let our speed go over 20 mph.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Monday, May 2
This is a quick post to let those of you who wonder what became of us know we are alive and well. Campgrounds across Canada were not open yet, and thus no internet access to post.
Last Wednesday we looked at a British Columbia Road site located by Sheepish and realized upper western Canada had three days of good weather forecast ahead, with decent road conditions. So Thursday morning we hit the road, drove north across Washington State, entered Canada without any customs problems, and proceeded another 200 miles north before stopping for the first night. That was the only open campground we found for the 1500 mile trek across upper Canada. Everything north was unopened because the ground was still frozen and thus no water to the campsites. They seemed to not have emerged from winter yet. We traveled with only a few gallons of water to reduce weight, but managed to do fine pulling into turnouts to spend the night. There was almost no traffic on the AlCan Hwy, and a LOT more snow bordering the road than last year. Despite the good weather forecast we got snowed on twice, sleeted on once, and hailed on once. Both snows the buildup on the road worried me, but about the time I figured we should pull over the roads cleared well enough to continue. It was a comfort having chains along for both the truck and trailer, even though I didn't use them. The rig shows the effects of driving through snow and slush. The truck and trailer were both filthy with road grime. The second morning temps were in the 22-23 degree range when we hit the road. After 3.5 long days we pulled over the top of famous White Pass and dropped into Skagway, Alaska on Sunday morning. The pass is justly named. From mountaintop to horizon white snow is everywhere. The first two campgrounds in Skagway were also closed due to frozen ground. The third, down near the ocean, apparently had a slightly more marine influence and thus had running water, though the office was closed. We backed into a space for the night. About four o'clock a truck pulled up to the office and noticed my note on the door. He turned out to be the manager. We were the only folks in the whole campground, though he did have one other RV'er from the Yukon a few days earlier and another showed up the next day. We managed to move our ferry reservation up, which was originally for May 6, to Monday May 2. We boarded the ferry about 5:30 PM, and after several delays off-loaded into Juneau-Auke Bay about 3:45 in the morning. After a mostly sleepless night we were both heavy-eyed. We caught about four hours sleep in our usual campground in Mendenhall Valley. The owner treats us with fantastic care, was glad to see us, and greeted us both with hugs. There is obviously more to the trip across Canada, and I will try to post better details with pictures asap. Just wanted to let you know we are ok.
Last Wednesday we looked at a British Columbia Road site located by Sheepish and realized upper western Canada had three days of good weather forecast ahead, with decent road conditions. So Thursday morning we hit the road, drove north across Washington State, entered Canada without any customs problems, and proceeded another 200 miles north before stopping for the first night. That was the only open campground we found for the 1500 mile trek across upper Canada. Everything north was unopened because the ground was still frozen and thus no water to the campsites. They seemed to not have emerged from winter yet. We traveled with only a few gallons of water to reduce weight, but managed to do fine pulling into turnouts to spend the night. There was almost no traffic on the AlCan Hwy, and a LOT more snow bordering the road than last year. Despite the good weather forecast we got snowed on twice, sleeted on once, and hailed on once. Both snows the buildup on the road worried me, but about the time I figured we should pull over the roads cleared well enough to continue. It was a comfort having chains along for both the truck and trailer, even though I didn't use them. The rig shows the effects of driving through snow and slush. The truck and trailer were both filthy with road grime. The second morning temps were in the 22-23 degree range when we hit the road. After 3.5 long days we pulled over the top of famous White Pass and dropped into Skagway, Alaska on Sunday morning. The pass is justly named. From mountaintop to horizon white snow is everywhere. The first two campgrounds in Skagway were also closed due to frozen ground. The third, down near the ocean, apparently had a slightly more marine influence and thus had running water, though the office was closed. We backed into a space for the night. About four o'clock a truck pulled up to the office and noticed my note on the door. He turned out to be the manager. We were the only folks in the whole campground, though he did have one other RV'er from the Yukon a few days earlier and another showed up the next day. We managed to move our ferry reservation up, which was originally for May 6, to Monday May 2. We boarded the ferry about 5:30 PM, and after several delays off-loaded into Juneau-Auke Bay about 3:45 in the morning. After a mostly sleepless night we were both heavy-eyed. We caught about four hours sleep in our usual campground in Mendenhall Valley. The owner treats us with fantastic care, was glad to see us, and greeted us both with hugs. There is obviously more to the trip across Canada, and I will try to post better details with pictures asap. Just wanted to let you know we are ok.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Tuesday April 26
First, Costco replaced my glass frames at no charge. They happened to have one identical frame in stock. That was a blessing.
Tuesday is our 42nd anniversary. The day wasn't all that rainy so I got under the 5er and tried to sort out the brake problem. Everything, including the controller readout, was now totally normal. I couldn't duplicate the problem. That bummed me because of the risk of future failure. Murphy's law hinted the problem would surface again at the worst possible moment. Working on tracing wiring on one brake I notice the tire tread was separating. The tires had all looked fine at every stop on the way north. When I pulled the wheel off I noticed the tread on the next two tires didn't look right either. Those two were in early stages of separation. The result is three new trailer tires, an unexpected $450 expense. A verse crossed my mind. "Where goods increase they increase that eat them." How true.
I pulled the wheels to take them to a tire shop. I had been reluctant to pull a brake drum in the rain for fear of getting a bearing wet and/or dirty. But while a wheel was off and only a light drizzle fell I decided to pull the brake drum and see if I could notice anything in the actual electric brakes that looked suspicious. Sure enough. I found a wire with the insulation worn through where it touched a moving arm. The wear was not significant, but enough to show a bit of wire which would short out the brakes when it contacted the brake arm. I happily re-routed the wire and am optimistic that will fix the intermittent problem. Earlier I was bummed about the additional tire costs. After finding the worn wire I became grateful for the additional tire problems because they helped me find the probable cause for the brake failure. Tires are cheaper than a wreck. My prayer has been that any problems would surface now rather than on the remote stretches of the Alaskan Hwy. Thus no murmuring. It is now 8:20 PM and time to try to locate the anniversary card I bought for Paulette. I somehow misplaced it in the events of the past two days, and hers to me is sitting as yet unopened under my nose.
Tuesday is our 42nd anniversary. The day wasn't all that rainy so I got under the 5er and tried to sort out the brake problem. Everything, including the controller readout, was now totally normal. I couldn't duplicate the problem. That bummed me because of the risk of future failure. Murphy's law hinted the problem would surface again at the worst possible moment. Working on tracing wiring on one brake I notice the tire tread was separating. The tires had all looked fine at every stop on the way north. When I pulled the wheel off I noticed the tread on the next two tires didn't look right either. Those two were in early stages of separation. The result is three new trailer tires, an unexpected $450 expense. A verse crossed my mind. "Where goods increase they increase that eat them." How true.
I pulled the wheels to take them to a tire shop. I had been reluctant to pull a brake drum in the rain for fear of getting a bearing wet and/or dirty. But while a wheel was off and only a light drizzle fell I decided to pull the brake drum and see if I could notice anything in the actual electric brakes that looked suspicious. Sure enough. I found a wire with the insulation worn through where it touched a moving arm. The wear was not significant, but enough to show a bit of wire which would short out the brakes when it contacted the brake arm. I happily re-routed the wire and am optimistic that will fix the intermittent problem. Earlier I was bummed about the additional tire costs. After finding the worn wire I became grateful for the additional tire problems because they helped me find the probable cause for the brake failure. Tires are cheaper than a wreck. My prayer has been that any problems would surface now rather than on the remote stretches of the Alaskan Hwy. Thus no murmuring. It is now 8:20 PM and time to try to locate the anniversary card I bought for Paulette. I somehow misplaced it in the events of the past two days, and hers to me is sitting as yet unopened under my nose.
More Adventure Than We Expected
We are on the road and in Portland Oregon for a few days. A few problems materialized during our travel. On the way down the grapevine my trailer brakes failed. They would work about half way (according to the controller read-out) and then give up completely. Fortunately the brakes on the truck and a downshift kept speed under control. I was thinking the body shop removed the bed to do some body work where I crunched the cab, and perhaps didn't get some wiring hooked up solidly. I switched to the other connector socket on the truck and the problem seemed to clean up. Then, after leaving Dennis and Cathy the same thing happened again, only this time I got a SH on the readout, which I took to mean "short." I lost all braking on the trailer at that point. After two hours in a rest area troubleshooting and realizing the problem wasn't in the truck wiring I isolated the short on one axle and disconnected those two brakes. We proceeded to Portland on the remaining four trailer brakes. We took Hwy 97 to 58 to avoid all the up and down of the mountains on I-5. We did fine with four trailer brakes. Now I need to troubleshoot which wheel has the short and fix the problem (I now suspect a worn magnet?) before we head north again. Quite a bit of rain in Portland so I will wait a day or two and see if conditions improve before pulling the wheel apart. I am grateful it happened here instead of in the wilds of Canada where no parts are apt be available. I'd hate to be on any of those 10% grades without every brake working.
When we pulled into D&C's near Sacramento Dennis told me he thought a rear tire looked paunchy. I pulled out a gauge and sure enough, it was well down in pressure. I found a screw in the tread. We plugged it and saved that tire. Otherwise I might not have noticed until the tire came apart. Chinese trailer tires are junk, but the only one available today, so I walk around the truck and trailer at every stop to check for tread separation. I guess I should start kicking tires too.
When I reached up to adjust my glasses an ear piece fell off. I bought these frames at Costco so I could get them fixed anywere there is a Costco. I'm thinking the frame is unfixable. No screws came out. Looks like a joint where the ear piece glues together failed. I tried some JB weld at Dennis and Cathy's but it didn't hold.
I rolled across two different truck scales in Oregon. The first result showed 23,200 lbs.; The second 23,000. In spite of all my weight preparation we are about 800 lbs heavier than my home calculations. That means I have to leave some things behind in Portland because I need to pick up 700 lbs of windows here. Therefore 685 lbs of doors, soffit, and water softener went under the shed at E's.
Suffice it to say the trip so far has been an adventure of the unexpected. Gratefully I'm handy at fixing most things myself.
I ordered new tires for pick up here in Portland. The original equipment tires on the truck now have 95,000 miles on them (!) and probably have enough tread to make the round trip, but I don't want to risk tire problems on the Alaskan Hwy where towns can be 350 miles apart.
When we pulled into D&C's near Sacramento Dennis told me he thought a rear tire looked paunchy. I pulled out a gauge and sure enough, it was well down in pressure. I found a screw in the tread. We plugged it and saved that tire. Otherwise I might not have noticed until the tire came apart. Chinese trailer tires are junk, but the only one available today, so I walk around the truck and trailer at every stop to check for tread separation. I guess I should start kicking tires too.
When I reached up to adjust my glasses an ear piece fell off. I bought these frames at Costco so I could get them fixed anywere there is a Costco. I'm thinking the frame is unfixable. No screws came out. Looks like a joint where the ear piece glues together failed. I tried some JB weld at Dennis and Cathy's but it didn't hold.
I rolled across two different truck scales in Oregon. The first result showed 23,200 lbs.; The second 23,000. In spite of all my weight preparation we are about 800 lbs heavier than my home calculations. That means I have to leave some things behind in Portland because I need to pick up 700 lbs of windows here. Therefore 685 lbs of doors, soffit, and water softener went under the shed at E's.
Suffice it to say the trip so far has been an adventure of the unexpected. Gratefully I'm handy at fixing most things myself.
I ordered new tires for pick up here in Portland. The original equipment tires on the truck now have 95,000 miles on them (!) and probably have enough tread to make the round trip, but I don't want to risk tire problems on the Alaskan Hwy where towns can be 350 miles apart.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
36 Hours and Counting
Above are pictures of the back of the 5th wheel trailer pretty much packed to go. Note that I did get the two Kayaks loaded for Sherrie Jo to enjoy.☺ Our construction task this summer was to side the exterior to protect the cabin from weather. But a glitch in the amount of time needed to order siding nixed that. Instead we will
go with Plan B and focus on porch, plumbing, electrical, insulation, and some drywall. The goal is to get utilities operational in the cabin, and bedroom, bath, and laundry functional so we can live in the cabin in 2012. Next summer we will hopefully do the exterior siding.
The pictures don't look like the trailer has as much material as last year, but the back 16 feet contains washer, drier, refrigerator, freezer, seven windows, water heater, water softener, stove, six doors, a toilet, a dehumidifier, stair banister and ballisters, and just about every supply I can think of to complete the plumbing and electrical. Oh, and much to Paulette's delight she is taking her sewing machine! I still have to squeeze her bicycle in there somewhere. We are only slightly less heavy than last year. That makes me a little uneasy, but I was uneasy about the weight last year too and we did fine. We will be cautious, take our time, and by the grace of God hopefully not experience any breakdowns.
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