PROBLEM$

I may have mentioned a few days ago that our motorhome was losing power on hills.  Yesterday, after talking it over with several of the other guys in our group, I decided that the problem was the turbocharger.  On the 185-mile drive to St. John’s today it had not magically healed itself and on long grades the best I could manage was 25 mph.  Something had to be done.  After we arrived at the Pippy Park RV Campground about noon I Googled (yes! We have Wi-Fi here) and found Toromont CAT Power Systems that just so happened to be less than 4 miles from the RV park.  I called them and explained my problem.  I was a bit surprised when they told me to bring it right over and they would take a look at it.  I drove the motorhome over there while Carol Ann followed in the car in case we had to leave the motorhome.  They took the coach right in when I got there and had Kevin connect a diagnostics computer to the ECM (Engine Control Module) and run a diagnostics check.  After about 30 minutes, Kevin and Eddy (Eddy had joined Kevin by this time) announced that it was not the turbocharger.  It was a bad #6 fuel injector (one of six injectors in the engine).  I had been running on 5 cylinders instead of 6.  They checked their inventory and found that they did have one in stock, which was very fortunate; otherwise it would have to be flown in from Ontario.  They told me that the last motorhome they had worked on stayed for 23 days.  I asked if he meant in Newfoundland for 23 days.  No, he replied.  The motorhome was in the shop for 23 days!  That did not sound good at all.  However, I was told to have it back to them by 8:30AM and they would get right on it and hope to complete the job in 4 or 5 hours.  We are supposed to leave the campground at 8:45AM for a bus tour of Halifax that should be over around 1:00PM.  We are hoping we can drop the motorhome off and still have time to catch the tour.  Then when the tour ends perhaps the motorhome will be ready for us.  Of course, there could be a problem with our 3 cats because the mechanic will have to access the engine through the bedroom floor!  We’ll just have to shut the cats, their litter box, and blankets in the bathroom and hope that they won’t be too traumatized.  Even though I expect the job to cost me at least $1,500 I am relieved to know what the problem is and that it should be repaired in a day.  We will be in St. John’s for 4 days so we should be OK.

On the drive from Bonavista to St. John’s we passed through a Moose Detection Zone with the yellow lights flashing to indicate that a moose was on the highway.  We slowed down and looked but never saw the moose.  As a matter of fact, we have not seen a moose this entire trip.  We see signs everywhere cautioning us about moose, even signs showing how many auto-moose collisions there have been this year so far.  But, no moose in sight.  Maybe it is just as well.

All but the first 60 miles today was on the Trans-Canada Highway 1 (TCH 1), which is a good highway with plenty of passing lanes.  It is similar to an Interstate highway in the US as it is limited access and bypasses most urban areas.  All that you may see of some towns is its name on an exit sign.  One such exit sign that we saw today was for the town of Dildo.  I’m not sure how it got the name.  Maybe from the same place as the Dildo Run Provincial Park that we passed a few days ago.  I also saw an advertisement for a restaurant in Dildo.  I don’t remember the name of the restaurant, however, the sign read “Dildo – Get Stuffed at xxxx Restaurant.”

I just remembered something from Labrador that I forgot to mention when we were there.  While on the tour bus, the driver pointed out a utility pole beside the highway.  It had an osprey (some kind of bird) nest on top of it.  The driver told us that about 8 years ago an osprey began nesting there.  During the 2nd or 3rd year (I don’t remember exactly) the osprey managed to create a short-circuit of some kind and the pole caught on fire.  The osprey successfully moved the young from the nest but nobody knew where they went.  The fire was extinguished and a new pole was erected.  The next spring the osprey was back again building her nest.  She managed to raise her young without any mishaps that year so before the next spring came around the power company erected another new pole, moved the wires from the “osprey’s pole” to the new pole, and let her have her own pole.  It is just standing there with no wires on it and the osprey has been returning to the same pole every spring since then.  I just thought that was a nice story.