June 15
667km/415 miles
8hr 9min drive time
191.26 l/50.53 gal of gas
With the wall situation I slept really poorly. I woke up around 6am and couldn't get back to sleep. First stop this morning was a Tim Horton's. The experience pretty much framed my day. Their espresso machine was broken. I should have just turned around and went to another location but it's a bear to maneuver my extra long truck and 40 ft camper so I pressed on. I had signed up on the app and as such had several freebies as a new customer. I placed my order and scanned the app. Didn't work. The manager came over to try and she couldn't get it to work either. The language barrier didn't help as her and everyone working at the store was asian and spoke broken English. As a side note this seems to be common. I went to two other places today that was staffed entirely by asian people and none of them spoke very good English. Anyways, I was grumpy about the wall so I decided to cut my losses and skip the coffee.
First stop was a local RV repair shop. Surprisingly there was one in town. And they were open on a Saturday. He checked out the wall. His opinion is the brackets that are attached to the frame and hold the wall up are bent. They didn't look bent to me, and they are triangular in shape so should have been pretty strong despite being stamped steel. But I also do not work on these everyday. Inside you could feel a noticeable drop at the edge so his reasoning seemed plausible. His opinion is that it would not last the rough roads in Alaska and I should head back home. This was of course devastating and I had to take a moment as I was on the verge of tears. I explained to him the what and why of the trip. I started throwing out any off the wall idea to at least get us thought the trip. The only idea he thought might work would to be to lift that edge up and weld in a bracket to support the wall. Unfortunately he did not have the material needed and would be Monday before he could do anything. Seeing my desperation he suggested to keep going to Edmonton and see if any of the dealers could do something or had a suggestion.
Out of the half dozen dealers in Edmonton only one had an open service department. Luckily they were open til 4 and we rolled in about 3:45. The tech gave it a good look and he had a different assessment and thought that if I was careful and keep a watchful eye out for frost heaves and deep potholes I should be able to continue my trip. I've decided to roll the dice and I'm going to continue on. If I thought that Tim could wait another year on retirement or that Diane could be well enough I would turn back and try next year. But I have put to much work and planning into this. I'm resourceful and if I need to leave the trailer somewhere and buy a tent or stay in hotels and pick it up on the way back, then so be it. Luckily I have a 3 year structural warranty so I should be good. The dealer I bought this and the last trailer from has always done me right.
Sadly the broken wall was not my only mechanical issue of the day. Pulling into a gas station, it had a huge dip to a drain and was enough to hit the spare tire. Not an issue normally but it ruined the tire cover the girls got me. And when we finally got to the campsite I sat down and pushed out the recliner only for the entire side to practically fall off. So I had to perform a little chair surgery before dinner. At least that was easy.
After all that I needed something a tad stronger than water. I had to fill up the truck so I stopped at the liquor store and got some Canadian Gin. I'm a little more relaxed now. Of course I could have stopped at one of the pot shops in town. Not my thing though. I do find it funny that Fox Creek is nothing more than a wayside stop. It's a line of hotels, two liquor stores, two pot shops, a couple gas stations, a grocery store and a couple places to get hot food. There is a little neighbor hood about a half mile back and it has a pretty impressive Rec center. And of course this little campground.
With all the stops and the fear of having to turn around it was a long day for all of us. We were very grateful to get to the campsite and out of the truck. I will say the girls have been pretty awesome about sitting in the truck the last few days. Not that I'm super glad they watch whatever on their phones all day, but it at least keeps them occupied, They do have activity and reading books they do time to time and the scenery is getting a bit better.
I've purposely planned it so that we are in the truck no more than 6-8 hours. But they are ready for a non travel day. We have two left and then we will have 2-3 days to just chill.
Was accidentally smart and brought the air fryer. The girls just love the orange chicken I have pictured. I have not been able to find a sheet pan small enough for the oven so I cooked it in the air fryer. Turned out great. With a side of rice everyone was full and happy.
Tomorrow we will pass through Dawson City which is the official start of the ALCAN (Alaskan Canadian) highway. Summer has been asking when we can start getting souvenirs so she will be thrilled to know there will plenty of places to get "stuff". I have no planned accommodations for tomorrow, just that we will be staying in or around Buckinghorse River, BC. It will be our first time boon docking. Tomorrow should be an exciting day,
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