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Winnipeg to Fernley, Day 1: Another Plan B
Aug. 1st, 2023 09:02 pmWith all of the issues about the minivan and the stored boxes, and with us being so tired coming off the train, we slept in this morning. The good part about that was that we slept through the morning's rain that would have made repacking the Astro messy and difficult. The bad part was that we were behind schedule all day long. Also, last night, Lisa realized that she could not account for an expensive electronic part, that being the wireless microphone that she uses for recording video.
This morning, we went out to go through the van to see if we could find the microphone. That's when we discovered that we'd forgotten that the rear door leaks, and there was a bunch of water pooled on top of a Bankers' box in which we'd stored several computers. Fortunately, above the computers were plastic bags and extra shirts, and thus the computers stayed dry. (We ended up throwing the box away, but nothing in it took any harm.)
When we had everything packed, Lisa took the wheel and tried to start the van: nothing! However, the symptoms were the same as the failure at Idaho Falls, so she had the tools now to clean the battery terminals, and once again, things worked after doing that so there was only a minor delay.
Lisa thought that maybe we left the microphone at our friend's house, so instead of heading straight west to our intended destination of Regina, we headed south and checked: nothing. Also, the minivan has been making unwanted rattling sounds. We did find one loose connection (the engine air intake from the air filter hadn't been properly replaced), but that didn't fix it. Worse, we then had the Service Engine Soon light come on. Lisa poked around, but could find nothing wrong. We know how to read the codes, but it would require unloading almost everything in the van to get at the documentation that we have to do so. So we're crossing our fingers and continuing onward.
After many accumulated delays, we finally found ourselves on the Trans-Canada Highway, refueled at the Flying J on the edge of Winnipeg, and headed west. The air conditioning works, which makes the trip more pleasant, but to our annoyance, the fan comes and goes. Also, the van is not performing as it should, and thus we're keeping our speed to not more than about 100 kph, so we can't make the progress that we wanted.
At one point, we saw a familiar site from an unfamiliar angle as the TCH paralleled the main CN trans-continental main line.
( Hello, Old Friend )
As we continued west, Lisa continued to review where that microphone might have gone. When we stopped for lunch at the A&W in Portage la Prairie, she had a new look and discovered that she'd put it inside of another box when we were packing things to be stored in Winnipeg. That was a big relief, as the microphone is quite expensive and might be difficult to replace. Combined with the lunch (I think A&W tastes better in Canada than in the USA), we were in better spirits as we continued driving.
Despite the good news of finding the missing microphone, both Lisa and I were tired and as we neared Brandon around 5 PM, both of us were growing concerned that getting to Regina tonight would be dangerous for both of us. If we were going to make changes, it would have to be done very soon. We stopped at the Petro-Canada truck stop, swapped drivers so that I could call IHG, and, with the help of the clerk at the truck stop who pointed us toward the Brandon Holiday Inn Express, Lisa set off for that hotel while I saw about changing reservations.
Although we were technically past the time when we should have been able to change the reservation at Regina, the IHG agent was able to do the following:
1. Make a reservation at the Brandon Holiday Inn Express for tonight.
2. Change the reservation for Regina SK to arrive tomorrow night (this did cost $10 more, but did not mean forfeiting the entire reservation).
3. Change the reservation for Lethbridge AB to arrive one day later.
So this turned out to be our travel today:
That's less than half what we'd planned. In retrospect, it probably would have been better if we'd just stayed in Winnipeg today and slept most of the day. But we are where we are.
( Unexpected Rail Shot )
While moving in to the hotel, I realized that I'd lost my set of keys. Lisa has a set (she'd been driving most of the day anyway), and I have a spare set, but I did not losing keys. After moving in, we went back to the van and poked around, and to my relief, I found that I'd dropped them into one of the cup holders in the module between the front seats that Lisa built for us years ago. Then, as we headed back into the hotel, the front desk staff intercepted me and handed my my tote bag, which I'd left in the lobby when we checked in.
With all of the lost items found, I got my computer online and proceeded to rebook all of the rest of our hotel reservations for the remainder of the trip. With one exception, every change resulted in either no change to the cost or a reduction, particularly in overpriced Kalispell. On the other hand, for some reason, Elko got much more expensive; so much so that I changed from purchasing the night to using some of my IHG points. These changes used up the one slack day I had in my schedule, but I think it had to be done.
Now I need to get back into a semi-working schedule. I have to work some half-days the rest of this week and on Monday. At least tomorrow, we only have the second half of our originally scheduled first day's trip to complete. I hope Lisa, who is likely to do most of the driving, is able to get extra sleep while I'm working tomorrow morning. I also hope the minivan holds together.
This morning, we went out to go through the van to see if we could find the microphone. That's when we discovered that we'd forgotten that the rear door leaks, and there was a bunch of water pooled on top of a Bankers' box in which we'd stored several computers. Fortunately, above the computers were plastic bags and extra shirts, and thus the computers stayed dry. (We ended up throwing the box away, but nothing in it took any harm.)
When we had everything packed, Lisa took the wheel and tried to start the van: nothing! However, the symptoms were the same as the failure at Idaho Falls, so she had the tools now to clean the battery terminals, and once again, things worked after doing that so there was only a minor delay.
Lisa thought that maybe we left the microphone at our friend's house, so instead of heading straight west to our intended destination of Regina, we headed south and checked: nothing. Also, the minivan has been making unwanted rattling sounds. We did find one loose connection (the engine air intake from the air filter hadn't been properly replaced), but that didn't fix it. Worse, we then had the Service Engine Soon light come on. Lisa poked around, but could find nothing wrong. We know how to read the codes, but it would require unloading almost everything in the van to get at the documentation that we have to do so. So we're crossing our fingers and continuing onward.
After many accumulated delays, we finally found ourselves on the Trans-Canada Highway, refueled at the Flying J on the edge of Winnipeg, and headed west. The air conditioning works, which makes the trip more pleasant, but to our annoyance, the fan comes and goes. Also, the van is not performing as it should, and thus we're keeping our speed to not more than about 100 kph, so we can't make the progress that we wanted.
At one point, we saw a familiar site from an unfamiliar angle as the TCH paralleled the main CN trans-continental main line.
( Hello, Old Friend )
As we continued west, Lisa continued to review where that microphone might have gone. When we stopped for lunch at the A&W in Portage la Prairie, she had a new look and discovered that she'd put it inside of another box when we were packing things to be stored in Winnipeg. That was a big relief, as the microphone is quite expensive and might be difficult to replace. Combined with the lunch (I think A&W tastes better in Canada than in the USA), we were in better spirits as we continued driving.
Despite the good news of finding the missing microphone, both Lisa and I were tired and as we neared Brandon around 5 PM, both of us were growing concerned that getting to Regina tonight would be dangerous for both of us. If we were going to make changes, it would have to be done very soon. We stopped at the Petro-Canada truck stop, swapped drivers so that I could call IHG, and, with the help of the clerk at the truck stop who pointed us toward the Brandon Holiday Inn Express, Lisa set off for that hotel while I saw about changing reservations.
Although we were technically past the time when we should have been able to change the reservation at Regina, the IHG agent was able to do the following:
1. Make a reservation at the Brandon Holiday Inn Express for tonight.
2. Change the reservation for Regina SK to arrive tomorrow night (this did cost $10 more, but did not mean forfeiting the entire reservation).
3. Change the reservation for Lethbridge AB to arrive one day later.
So this turned out to be our travel today:
That's less than half what we'd planned. In retrospect, it probably would have been better if we'd just stayed in Winnipeg today and slept most of the day. But we are where we are.
( Unexpected Rail Shot )
While moving in to the hotel, I realized that I'd lost my set of keys. Lisa has a set (she'd been driving most of the day anyway), and I have a spare set, but I did not losing keys. After moving in, we went back to the van and poked around, and to my relief, I found that I'd dropped them into one of the cup holders in the module between the front seats that Lisa built for us years ago. Then, as we headed back into the hotel, the front desk staff intercepted me and handed my my tote bag, which I'd left in the lobby when we checked in.
With all of the lost items found, I got my computer online and proceeded to rebook all of the rest of our hotel reservations for the remainder of the trip. With one exception, every change resulted in either no change to the cost or a reduction, particularly in overpriced Kalispell. On the other hand, for some reason, Elko got much more expensive; so much so that I changed from purchasing the night to using some of my IHG points. These changes used up the one slack day I had in my schedule, but I think it had to be done.
Now I need to get back into a semi-working schedule. I have to work some half-days the rest of this week and on Monday. At least tomorrow, we only have the second half of our originally scheduled first day's trip to complete. I hope Lisa, who is likely to do most of the driving, is able to get extra sleep while I'm working tomorrow morning. I also hope the minivan holds together.
