June 28th 2016 - Jail Break!!! and the Cranbrook Railway Museum

June 27th - Shop Time

The coach went into the shop at 8:30 am this morning as the parts were arriving a little later in the morning and they were going to fix the generator support angle iron and check the exhaust pipe for the generator while waiting. Parts were installed and we got the coach back temporarily for the night so we could go to a plug in site and dump.

We found space at the Fort Steel RV Resort, 18 km up the highway. The towing caused damage to the front frame holding up the generator and the generator's exhaust pipe. This was discovered when the technician wanted access to the computer port to check out the A/C which is accessed in the generator compartment. He discovered the drawer would not slide open. Good thing it was discovered as we would have blindly carried on. Also the exhaust pipe was pinched and split, so we might have had trouble down the line with the generator. We will have to go after BCAA for this charge and they will have to go after the tow company. Hopefully this works out. (Turns out the towing company refused to pay and claimed Freightliner caused all the damage.  ICBC didn't do their job and Ray had many angry calls with them before they turned the file over to an investigator.  The towing company went so far as to repaint the towing hitch so they could tell ICBC the orange paint left on our fiberglass wasn't there.  The ICBC investigator finally found the towing company at fault as I told her I could drive around at Freightliner so why would they need to tow me.  The towing company are sure assholes! 

 Unfortunately, Freightliner had to outsource the exhaust pipe and the dummies bent up the new pipe the wrong way after taking their measurements, so we have to go back for a couple more hours tomorrow before we are good to leave. Freightliner is also having some difficulty with our extended warranty people, so hopefully all will come out to our benefit in the end or it will cost us more $$$. The service manager believes that insurance companies play like this in hopes that we just throw our hands up.

One of 3 cracks in the fiberglass front cap.

Ray and I spent a couple of hours this morning while the coach was in the shop, touring the Railway Museum in Cranbrook for something to do before it got hot out, as Freya stayed in the car. Wow, it sure is nice to see all of the old train cars. They have several cars completely refurbished to 1929 standards and even a 1907 wood train set with four cars. Two of the cars were recovered from being used as cabins on a lake in Michigan so they were in much better condition.

Cranbrook Train Museum

Model Train Display

Here are some pictures of the 1907 Soo-Spokane Wooden Train Set.

The next pictures are of the 1929 First Class Trans Canada Train Set. They had the interpretive one that isn't refurbished and one set which is refurbished with original pieces. Because in the 1940's they were all refurbished with lead paint because the old varnish did not last and it had to be done 3 to 4 times yearly in the 30's so they finally painted all that glorious wood. Lots of work stripping it and bringing it back to it's natural beauty. It is all Honduran Mahogany.

This piece was found in a chicken coop!

The handcrafted inlays are beautiful.

The rest of the day we spent at a park a short distance from the shop under the trees throwing the ball for Freya and buying some KFC for lunch. Ray even rested on the grass on his back. We finally got the coach back at 5 pm and headed out to Fort Steele.  A lovely RV Park and it is bloody fantastic to have 50 amp service as it is 33 degrees outside, not to mention dumping after two weeks on the road. Last night the temperature did not start dropping until 9:30 pm and it was still 20 outside at 11:30 pm. Looking forward for AC all night!

We also heard from our daughter Kristi today, who went to visit Ray's mom this morning and take her to a scheduled doctor's appointment before heading over to the island. She opens up her new OB/GYN practice on Monday in Nanaimo so cannot stay. Mum was feeling poorly yesterday, but did not want to go to the hospital as she had the appointment today. Kristi took her to the appointment and Mum was sent by ambulance to the hospital with acute renal failure and dehydration. She had not been drinking anything yesterday as she was feeling poorly and it just made her other problems much worse. After giving her a liter of fluids, she's feeling much better so they sent her back home. Fortunately she has a friend in her building who checks up on her otherwise they probably would not have let her come home today. But she is very stubborn 92 year old, so who knows. 

The doctor is now going to start the process of Mum going into assisted living, which she would like. Hopefully this does not take too long. The earliest we could head back to Vancouver is Friday morning and it would take us 2 days. So we will see how she does tomorrow. She really wishes just to "wake up dead" at this point, often talking about that she is ready to go. Mum told Ray for us to stay the course and continue with our plans and that she is fine but you never know, so we are at another crossroads as to what to do. Coming back and finding a place to stay would also pose a problem with the summer and lack of RV sites available. Fortunately my Dad has settled in well with his caregiver Larny and they both are doing fine. They also have the help of his nurse and good friend, Bev.

We were hoping to visit Fort Steele Historic Town tomorrow but since the coach goes back in and we could only get a site here for 2 days only ?????? don't know.