1 Week until launch

This weekend is filled with checking out all of our camping gear, getting things squared away.  Most of our gear is in hard plastic bins that both protect the contents and can act as furniture if needed.  They also prevent prying eyes if anyone bothers looking through the windows of the truck.

Big bulky things like the EZ up and the tent would just lay loose on top of the bins.  The goal is to keep anything that can absorb water or shouldnt get wet from coming in contact with the bed liner where water can collect.  We have a collection of watertight bags that will handle pillows, bedding, towels and the sleeping bags.
It will be an interesting load in the first time; perhaps a dry run is in order especially of the big bins.   naaaaa
 

The Joy of Home Ownership

Part 2,654 in the series.

But of course, this is the time when both the water heater needs to be replaced and the boiler has some extensive plumbing work to perform.

The floods of Memorial Day weekend killed our 23 year old water heater since the completely functional sump pump was turned off and left about 8" of water in the basement.  The water heater's burner is only 6" off the floor- you can do the math.  For a few weeks we tried using the domestic hot water connection off the furnace but found the hot water flow too inconsistent for things like showers so a new water heater was scheduled and installed.  However, while the domestic hot water was in use, we discovered that an old repair to our boiler's main heating supply line was deteriorating to the point it had to be addressed and quickly before it failed, flooding the basement yet again.

Some awesome plumbers handled the work and after a few hours of their labor over two visits we have the situation handled for the next 50 years or so.

2 week count down

We're in the final prep stages of this trip.  Amazon has delivered a bucket of dehydrated meals that we'll weave in on the days where there are no local grocers or limited choices.    More of a just in case than staples, besides, they'll be good for 20 years so we're set for the impending dark ages.

Replaced the batteries in the Spot Tracker [see link].

Securing Canadian cash ahead of the trip has turned out to be quite an adventure in and of itself.  A stop by the AAA revealed they require either cash [who carries cash?] or a debit card to exchange moneys.   So it's off to the bank to get cash and a replacement ATM card that is an actual debit card.  Then the return back to AAA to order the Canadian cash.

sigh.

Ranger Ready

Prepping the truck.

Since we plan to tent camp most of this trip, making the cargo area of the truck secure was paramount.  Originally, we were going to get a three piece hard top bed cover; that became a 3 section soft top bed cover due to the costs and the cover is really a deterrent more than security.

several weeks of scouring craigslist resulted in very few options and new was upwards of $250
Tri-fold Cover

but there were used caps; lots of choices actually.  Our Isuzu and Dakota both had a cap, so why not. 
York even has a used cap and bed cover dealer so you dont have to pay for a new one and dont have to worry about craigslist "quality".    However, with a little patience sometimes you can find a rough gem on CL.   It needed new pneumatic arms and the keys were missing of course, but for under $30 both were addressed.


We figured we could easily invest $50 to $75 to have it painted since it did not match the blue of our truck and the existing paint was kind of rough.    Sadly, no body shop would even return my call to give me an estimate on painting a cap.  So with a couple of rattle cans of Rustoleum High Gloss White and 400 grit wet dry sandpaper plus a couple days of Bondo spot filler work, the re-painting commenced.  After the rattle cans were depleted, it was obvious that a real air sprayer was needed as every stroke of paint was visible due to the nature of using rattle cans on large surfaces.  $15 worth of High Gloss White automotive paint and several hours of being patient [not a strong point], the refreshed cap was mounted back to the truck.

Honestly, it came out much better than expected considering the last time Rick painted a car was in 1976.

More Research

After multiple trips to the library we wound up spending a small fortune on reference materials from Amazon as well as obtaining the 2018 official travel guide.  By far the most viewed book so far is the back country guide, which reminds us of the ADC/Delorme Gazetteers and book maps.

early research

A trip to the internet and the local library resulted in a few checked out books and two purchases, so far, from Amazon.