Injectors Delivered but Not Installed (Day 5 of the Setback)

Yes, the injectors made it!  Unfortunately, the mechanics are all tied up until tomorrow at 0800, so we’re here for yet another night at Wal*Mart, St. Albert, (usually) Sunny Alberta…

I think this was pretty much our “make or break” day.  Any possibility of leisurely making the goal (Prudhoe Bay and the Arctic Ocean and Denali N.P.) and getting back to the ferry on time are likely gone now.  We did leave 2 days early, but we’ve eaten up Saturday through Wednesday at this point and with luck (which we’re not having at the moment) we’ll get out of Edmonton around 1400 Thursday.  That means we can’t make Mt. Robson Provincial Park on time that night, so we’ll have to stop somewhere along 16, on the way to Jasper, technically delaying us another day.  As best we can tell, our only option now is to scrub the mission, even if the fuel mileage is up to normal after the repair.  There’s just no way to make it work, and get the one dog-friendly ferry available home.

What a disappointment.  I’ve been building these campers for almost a decade now - more if you count the first Unimog 404 I started in 1998, then sold in 1999.  I’ve been dreaming of this trip for quite some time.  I always believe in the reward at the END of the work.  Instant gratification should be avoided.  Dad taught me that, along with alternative cost analysis.  Save your money and buy a car.  Don’t buy a car and pay for it long after the novelty is gone.  (In fact, you’ll often find you don’t even want to spend your money on something AFTER you have saved for it, when you see the alternatives!)  Now I’m second-guessing this concept.  Nah, not really…  I’ll never change.  The easy route is seldom the most rewarding.

Anyway, with every new day, there are new things to cheer us up…

1) Last night, our shower sump quit pumping, after the third work session.  I showered and Anna noticed water running out from under the camper.  It had dumped a couple gallons into the under-body box it’s located in.  This device is the third type I’ve used in these campers, and its job is to pump waste water from the shower into the holding tank.  The sump’s impeller has evidently decided to come off the motor shaft, because the motor runs but no water pumps.  (Maybe I’ll look into that today…)

2) The dog decided to destroy Anna’s sleeping bag this morning.  Digger dog is back.  Great.  He must be too cooped up and getting stressed out.

3) My debit card has stopped working.  I purposefully told my bank that I’d be in Alberta, British Columbia, and Alaska for a month and they supposedly cleared it for those locations.  Now, I can’t get money from any ATM or use my cards at registers.  Transaction Denied.  And what’s better yet, my bank says they have no record of any denials so can’t help.  Sweet!  We have half a tank of fuel, and about CA$35 left. At least the fridge and freezers are still mostly full.

 Oh well.  Life could be worse, I guess.  Or problems are pretty petty.  We have a wonderful home, and get to “go camping” every day without a yard light in sight, and no other people for miles.  Wanna paint something outside with methyl-ethyl-badshit?  Spray it.  Wanna build a root cellar, or put up a radio tower?  Fire up the backhoe, call the ready-mix plant.  Wanna light off some .308s at rocks or cans, at 0-dark-thirty?  Blast away.  It’s home, and it’s rare.  We love it.  Currently, we miss it.  We see more wildlife in the morning at our home than we’ve seen on this trip so far.

To put things in perspective, yesterday Anna and I met a really nice guy up here, who approached us at Safeway when he liked the camper and approved of the Palin sticker on the back.  He even found us again at Wal*Mart this morning.  He’s a California transplant, and he and his wife did missionary work in Taiwan for a big part of their lives.  His wife of 48 years (3 kids, 23 or 24 grandkids) is in hospital here in St. Albert.  She’s never been sick before, so this is new for them.  If you’re of the mind, please put Dick’s wife Carolyn in your prayers.

 I’m going to eat.  Anna’s made me some wonderful sandwiches with turkey and that Old Cheese my father in law just brought over.  Fantastic!  And our Wal*Mart parking lot meals are great too with Anna in the galley.  Here’s last night…

 Can’t complain about that, anyway…  The meals and companionship are spot on.  Let’s just hope Anna doesn’t start diggin’ up the seats!

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