Mossleigh, AB

Tuesday - We are here at Aspen Crossing RV Park near Mossleigh, AB, for one more night and will head south tomorrow for Montana. I've been going through the refrigerator and pantry to try and identify what needs to be tossed before crossing the border. There is a surprisingly long list of items that are restricted.

There is a lot of rain in the forecast for the rest of the week. I packed up the clam after drying it out. At the suggestion of friends, I inverted the clam to dry out the bottom parts. It worked pretty well. 

Wednesday - We decided to stay here for a couple more days since heavy rain is forcasted for most of today and tomorrow. The next place was a first-come, first-served campground, so no reservations. It's convenient to stay here for a couple more days.

The refrigerator/freezer/pantry clean out continues. Trying to use up what we have instead of getting more groceries and trying to find places to put them. Space is much more limited in the class C.

Last night at 10:01pm MDT, I sent my Winlink check-in on 40m using the RMS in Las Vegas, NV. The connection was pretty noisy but the message still sent. I initially tried the RMS in eastern Oregon but there was a lot of intermittent noise. Possibly from the storms.

Thursday - It dropped into the high 40s (°F) last night. Time to start heading south. 

I signed up for the morning test session but the potential candidate didn’t finish the paperwork nor pay the fee so no test. 

I packed the HF radio and antenna yesterday so I just used the telnet interface to check for a confirmation email. Very quick and easy but not really in the spirit of radio-email. 

We have been right at the edge of all the rain for most of the morning. And with the cooler temperatures, we have been going through the propane. We are under ¼ tank for the first time on the trip. I think that the Petro Canada station in Vulcan sells propane and that will be on our way south tomorrow morning. 

Mossleigh, AB

Saturday - The music festival and the crowds it brought are noisy. The group next to us in the rv park were going at it until after midnight. I think it’s a group of five or six RVs. I could hear the music from the festival stage from our site. It was loud enough to turn into noise for me. But that’s just me I’m sure it was just fine. 

We went to the tavern with friends for pizza. It was decent. The crust wasn’t too thick. 

Monday - The weekend had several RV repairs needing done. We thought the kitchen sink had a clog since the water wasn’t draining. It turned out that I had forgotten to open the gate valve for the grey tank. I had already disassembled parts of the kitchen so I need a larger channel lock style pliers to tighten the plumbing. 

The plastic flange the toilet mounts to broke. It turned out to be an easy temporary fix as the flange had two more mounts 90° away. So loosen the broken flange, turn 90° and screw into place. Permanent fix is a metal, two-piece flange. Readily available on Amazon.

We got more rain this evening. At least there wasn’t any hail! We had hail a few nights ago. Friends, who are leaving tomorrow, wanted to fill their truck with diesel, so we went to Vulcan. While we were there, we stopped at a hardware store to pick up the larger channel lock pliers. The plumbing drain pipes are now tightened. 

Mossleigh, AB

Wednesday - This morning, I needed a few things from the grocery store that I probably should have picked up in Cranbrook, BC, as there was both a Safeway and a Walmart in that town. I drove 20 minutes south to the small town of Vulcan (as in Star Trek). It was a decent small-town market, much larger than a Dollar General. We are meeting up with friends this afternoon, and I am making some potato salad for the potluck.

Thursday - A couple of minor repair projects completed today. I moved the door latch up around ⅛” (with a file!), which allowed the latch to catch without needing to slam the door. We’ll see how long this fix lasts. The windshield cover had a cut in the middle. I remembered that I had some clear Gorilla tape in a storage bin. Hopefully this fix lasts for a while. 

I also dug out all six of the DeWalt batteries and charged them. The inflator gets used frequently to air up the tires when the temperature goes from hot to cool, which has happened often on this trip.

Friday - It looks like the Winlink Wednesday email worked as I showed up on the participant map at around the correct location. 

It is relatively cool for this time of year. I wasn’t sure how much wind we would have, so I didn’t initially set up the clam shelter. But it needed to dry out, so I set it up. It’s a good thing that I set it up, as the floor was also damp. It's a nice place to do the testing from as long as it isn't too hot. At 2:15, it's 74°F, which is borderline too warm.

There is a music festival scheduled to start this evening and run all day tomorrow. I hope it isn't too loud, but it does mean that the RV park may fill up.

Cranbrook, BC

Monday - We crossed the border into Canada today. It was a longer wait than “usual” but we were only asked a couple of questions. The road had a lot of twists and turns and tomorrow we cross the Canadian Rockies. Our destination is Aspen Crossing RV Park east of Calgary, AB. 

We are at a small RV park in Cranbrook and had dinner at an Indian restaurant near the park. It was pretty tasty food and a nice change.