Day 21, Monday, August 29, The trip so far, 3275 miles

The trip so far is in red. Our current location is wonderful Aaron Provincial Park near Dryden Ontario, on the border of Manitoba.  Tomorrow I will head for Riding Mountain National Park in central Manitoba where we we will stay on Lake Audy, a bison reserve.  I am anxious to see how reactive Donner is among those great mammoths. If we do not make it there, we'll bivouac someplace along the way. Depending upon our timing, we may stay at Bird Hill park in Winnipeg where Sonntag and I spent a couple of hours huddled in the tent during a harrowing lightning storm back in 2000 when there was no time lapse between the lightning and the thunder.

Ed and Donner, from on the road

www.OnTheRoad.camp

Day 21, Monday, 8/29 Moving on from Sleeping Giant PP to Aaron Provincial Park in western Ontario

Another quick posting from on the road...

After a great night at  Pukaskwa, we drove the several hundred miles to Sleeping Giant Provincial Park near Thunder Bay.  On the way, we came across the only other Defender in all of Canada, accompanied by a Discovery, as we pulled out of a gas stop.  As owners of Defenders are required to do, we stopped in place, blocking the entrance to the gas station. They were three hunters from Minnesota up in Canada for some early hunting. We traded Defender stories for a few minutes.  I wanted to get the required photo, but the irate owner of the gas station made us move on.  The guy in Defender then invited Donner and me to spend the night with them in their nearby cabin in Red Rock and trade more Defender stories, but the road beckoned, and I had to make my destination 50 miles up the road that night to make up for the 10 days I lost in Quebec. Besides, they had a dog, and with Donner, since I did not yet know if that mix would work, I thought that that might be problematic, so I moved on to Sleeping Giant Provincial Park.  (Note, there's more to this story, but I will save that for a future time.)

We got into Sleeping Giant (see photo) at 8:30 and ended the day chatting with Adam and Kate from Minnesota, the state the three guys with Defender were from. Sleeping Giant must be a favorite place for Minnesota.

Today we heading for Aaron Provincial Park in western Ontario, where I have stayed on every trip through Canada. Hope to get campsite 12, the best in the camp, where we always stayed.

Ed and Donner, from on the road

www.OnTheRoad.camp

Day 20, Leaving Pukaskwa

Sorry, no time for a posting today, as we leave Pukaskwa for Sleeping Giant, 291 km distant.  Tune in tomorrow.

The Defender leaving Pukaskwa, on the road to Sleeping Giant or wherever we end up.

Ed and Donner, from on the road

www.OnTheRoad.camp

Day 20, Pukaskwa

Britta and Donner on the beach on Lake Superior. Leben loved to chase the stick thrown for him here, Erde loved to dig in the sand, Donner, aka doggy dog, as Britta liked to call him, could not get his fill of the wonderful smells.  He wouldn't dare go in the water.

By the way, it was at Pukaskwa, just across from our campsite that Erde pulled me from the tent at 5am on a snowy morning to track a bear that had just visited.  It was at that very moment that Leben became paralyzed in 2012. 

Ed and Donner, from on the road

www.OnTheRoad.camp

Day 20, Pukaskwa

Britta, a class 2 traveler, with Donner and me.  The bonding continues.  Britta and Donner slept in her tent on the right.  Times sure have changed.  

Ed and Donner, from on the road

www.OnTheRoad.camp

Day 20, Pukaskwa

The adventurous Britta, the traveler George and Donner.  Notice the bonding?

Ed and Donner, from on the road

www.OnTheRoad.camp

Dsy 19, Pukaskwa

I got to use the tablecloth for this feast.  Price of my salad..$4. Price of Donner's usual, $10.   I learned how much hamburger to but for him so I can finish my salmon and rice before he finishes his meal so I can have it all to myself.

Ed and Donner, from on the road

www.OnTheRoad.camp

Day 19, a nice place to stop on 231 on the road to Pukaskwa

Ed and Donner, from on the road

www.OnTheRoad.camp

Day 18, Donner at Fushimi

Ed and Donner, from on the road

www.OnTheRoad.camp

Day 20, August 28

Sorry that I have blogged these last few days.  Time and Internet were scarce

Just a brief note as I get on the road today. I will write more later on today when I take a break or arrive at my destination tonight. In short...

We reached for Fushimi as hoped  on Friday evening at 5 PM exactly. We got the last campsite in the camp. It was pretty pleasant, and not only because we got the last site but because it was at the end of the camp, as there were as many dogs as there were people and babies. Oh, speaking of babies,  while Donner   loves babies himself, and was fascinated by one particular baby named Ella, it seems that babies do not respect the campground rules and one in particular cried late into the night and early into the morning for almost 2 hours sleep, causing me to lose sleep and get off to a late start on Saturday morning.  There out to be a rule....enough said.

Remind me to tell you about our unsuccessful trip to Fushimi in 2012.

Part way into the journey from Fushimi to Sleeping Giant  Provincial Park  near Thunder Bay, i came to the intersection of hiway 231, which I have been wondering about for years, so I slammed on the breaks, back up and took it. For years I have been wanting to take that route  and so I threw plans aside and took it.  And what a glorious road it was, all 150 empty miles of it without anything on it but winding road, rivers, lakes, single  train track crossings, impromptu rest stops at fantastic settings, etc. The best part of it was that it took me directly to Pukaskwa National Park, where we arrived at 4:30 and camped right next to the fantastic sites where i camped before with Leben and Erde twice

While setting up the camp, George, a traveler from Toronto, who travels with his cats, stopped by and we shared some road stories and tips.c

A special treat here was when Britta, an adventurous 28-year old from Cologne Germany, who is cycling across all of Canada alone, stopped by to pet Donner.  Well, she and Donner bonded so much, she moved her tent to my site and Donner abandoned me that night to sleep in her tent. How quickly they forget. At least he now has had his first sleep over.  By the way, I was not about to let him abandon me so fast. He slept with Britta tethered to a 15-foot leash that ended wrapped around my hand in my tent.  As for his stay at Pukaskwa! I never saw a dog take so many new smells so seriously as he did here.

Tonight we will stay at Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, a favorite camp of mine.  Tomorrow, I will stop by the Fed Ex office in Thunder Bay to retrieve some packages I had sent to me there, and then move on th western Ontario, probably Aaron Provincial Park, but who knows.  We go where the road north leads us.

More to come later with some photos. Now, time to fire up the Defender, put on the sunglasses and Beets headphones, press start for Pete Seeger's This Land is Your Land, and get back on the road.

Ed and Donner, from on the road

www.OnTheRoad.camp

Just now

Selfie while driving.

Ed and Donner, from on the road

www.OnTheRoad.camp

Day 17' August 25, Esker lake Provincial Park, near Kirkland lake, Ontario, 2276 miles

This will have to be quick as I am writing it on the road to Fushimi Provincial Park way up north in Ontario.

Wonderful ride down from Chibogamou.  Emote road that twisted, curved on turned, when it wasn't going up and down hills, sometimes when it was. Passed lakes and rivers,and crossed over single tracks railroad crossings, which is my earliest memory.

Things turned down after about 150 miles.  Discovered a medical issue that I hope will go away.  Consulted with my doctors back home and she gave me her advice.  It if continues, it threatens to be a show stopper.  We'll see.

Had to drive through quaint Val D'Or, but Donner lucked out by getting three of the biggest hamburgers he and I ever saw. I had to feed him dinner as we drive knowing that time would be tight, but he didn't mind.   We shared the buns.  Later, at camp, expecting to be fed again, he had half my can of salmon too, as usual.  At least I know now he will eat the salmon when push comes to shove.

Poor planning on my part for the day, but it worked out. The drive was more than 500 miles, more than I have ever done in a day except in 2001 when the road leading to e Alaskan Hiway was closed  due to a train accident, and we had to take a detour. 

I was heading for the provincial park at Kirkland lake, but it was actually at Esker Lake.  Fortunately, I stopped 2 miles past the road to Esker Lake and corrected my course. We arrived in the came just as dark set in and it was not fun navigating a strange camp looking for a decent camp site in the dark.  We finally got to a site by 9:30 and had everything set up by 10:30.  We were camped in total isolation deep in the camp. The only wildlife were small frogs I made sure we're all out of the way before I parked the Defender and set up he tent.  Donner was rather unnerved on the walk in the dark on a new road. He is learning that there is more to is world than that backyard in Los Angeles where he spent his first four years. His universe is rapidly expanding, as is mine.  What a magnificent travel companion he is.

Speaking of Donner. His allergy-triggered skin infection is gone completely. When I left, his head and body were blanketed with hundreds of scabs, and I cannot find one on him now.  Before we left, he scratched himself at least a couple of times a day; he had not scratched himself once on this trip.  Says a lot about the fresh air up here.  He is adjusting beautifully to this trip and is finding all of the best positions to ride in, as did all my dogs before.  Instinct, I guess.  Dogs somehow find ways of getting out of the rain and sun, and also know how to make themselves most comfortable.  I just wish he would not use my iPad as a head-rest, or my day-cooler when I want to grab a snack.

Photo of Donner and me at rest stop in Matheson Ontario by Jason. After this, we're heading to Fushimi Provincial Park, 233 miles away. Remind me to tell about about our visit there in 2011.

Ed and Donner, from on the road

www.OnTheRoad.camp

Dsy 17, Aug 27, 4pm as it is happening

Donner at a well deserved rest stop in Quebec on road to Kirkland Lakes On, we hope.  Still four hours of driving. Donner sleeps the whole trip now, until the Defender slows down, then he knows a treat or walk is coming. 

Ed and Donner, from on the road

www.OnTheRoad.camp

Fwd: Day 16, August 24, Reserve Fauinque, Chubogamou

What a magnificent day.  If I get one of these days on a 90 day trip, it would have been a success.  It started out at wonderful Camping Val Jabert, and continued with a 150-mike fantastic road with rolling hills and twisting turns and no one on it and nothing in sight but green, road, lakes and rivers.  We took a detour down a dirt road that did not seem to go anywhere we wanted so we headed back to the road.

We arrived in Chibogamau at 4:30 but I decided to head for the Route du Nord to check it out.  A cop stopped me, not because I was doing anything wrong, but because I looked suspicious.  He destined me for 45 minutes while he checked out my entire background, which, as many know, I can explain in 45 minutes. When I told him I was heading to Alaska, he told me I could not get there by way of the Route du Nord. Thanks for telling me that, I told him, but did not tell him that I could.  

After we got released from custody, we head up the Route du Nord, a very long dirt and gravel road and camped for the night at the splendid Reserve Faunique camp ground on a lake in total isolation.  A perfect 10.  

Driving up Route du Nord, implanted North to Alaska many times, because that's where we are headed, despite the cop's advice.  What he does not know is that all roads lead to Alaska.

Donner was treated to a formal dinner of hamburger and rice, and half my salmon and rice, served on a table cloth we reserve for special occasions.

I let Donner off the leash outside for the first time ever.  This was probably his first day of freedom outside ever. He was as obedient as any dog I had in coming when called.  It was a joy seeing him experience things for the first time. What a joy this dog is.

The road and the camps were 10s today for sure, but so too were the hospitable staff at the camps, Heidi, Joany, and Roger.  The people we meet along the way are the icing on the cake, and the cake was pretty goo to begin with.

Some photos at our camp...more to come later.

Ed and Donner, from on the road

www.OnTheRoad.camp

Day 15, August 23, camping Val Jabert, on Lac St Jean, Quebec

I decided to bypass Tadoussac and take a road to Lac St Jean I had not taken the time we drove thru here in 2011. I'm glad we did.  Nothing better than a road not taken before.

When I arrived early at Lac St Jean, I thought at first of moving on to Chibagamou, but decided against it. My rule is, don't push it.  The journey is more important than reaching any destination but home.

I asked for and got the camp site we stayed in in this splendid camp in 2011, number 146.  It opens up to a huge stone veranda that runs along the edge of a small river.  The sounds of a bubbling river, of rain on a tent, and the ocean waves crashing on the shore, all of which we will experience on this trip.

I picked up some ground sirloin steak for Donner on the way here for $7 and tried my hand at it. That he ate all of it with a cup of rice is a testament to my cooking. Sure beats $24 a day. While he dined and that, i had a my small V8 juice and little rice with a small can of salmon, but Donner got half of that for his second course.

The Defender performed splendidly today, and recharged most of my devices.  I am regaining the confidence I had in it before.

Good news to report. I found my missing fork (it was in Donner's daily food box for some reason) and also the missing red solar charger (it was under Donner's bed in the tent). I am beginning to see a pattern.

Below is a photo of our new campsite...although rain is not in the forecast, just in case, the tarp on the left covers our picnic table, and the one on the right is hung off the back of the Donner so nothing gets wet when we loading.  Donner is in his usual recliner.

Tomorrow, Chibagamou.

Ed and Donner, from on the road

www.OnTheRoad.camp

Fwd: Day 15. Tuesday, August 23, as it is happening

Originally sent at 8 this morning.

The Defender leaving the Municipal Camp at Riviere du Loup  and first in line on the ferry to San Simeon  to get off. Donner had stay in the Defender and look all the confused about it. But he had better get used to it because he'll be on one for 5 days coming back from Alaska.

This recent stop at Riviere du Loup was not planned, byt welcome, and not only to get the Defender back on the road.  I needed the rest. And Donner took advantage of the break.  And I cannot think of a better more convenient plsce to spend such a layover. Either I lucked out or my planning and judgment rule.

Today, after a brief stop in quaint Tadoussac,  we will head to Lac Saint Jean and the wonderful camp at Val Jobert where Leben and Erde and I stayed in 2011.  The weather promises to be cold there. On the way, i will keep one eye one the road, one eye on the Defender and, as always, both eyes on Donner.

Ed and Donner, from on the road

www.OnTheRoad.camp

Day 14, Minday, August 22, Riviere du Loup,

Well, the Defender is up and running, better than it was before.  Shaun check out the rear left wheel noise and discovered that four of the five nuts were loose. To say that the wheel might have come off is an understatement.  The wheel would have come off or sustained serious damage if it had not been caught.  My instinct told me to ask him to check it out and my instinct was right.  The question is, how did four lug nuts happen to become loose?  While I am told that it is possible for one to come loose if it really was not tightened fully, no one I spoke with ever heard of FOUR becoming loose.  Hmm.  I wonder if someone back in my condo knows anything about this?

 I also asked Shaun to change the oil, 1000 miles before due, so I could go another 3000 miles without losing a half day to get the vehicle serviced again.  He also pointed out that my right front outer tie rod is problematic, so I ordered one to be shipped to Thunder Bay Ontario, where I will pick it up at the Fed Ex center there and have it installed  when I get the Defender serviced in Winnipeg.

Let me tell you something, folks.  If ever your vehicle breaks down anywhere within 300 miles of Riviere du Loup in any direction, you want to have it towed to LaHey Garage here, and ask for Shaun, although his associate is just as good.  What a conscientious, capable, methodical, thinking mechanic he is.  And the owner, Keven, is the kind of proprietor of a garage you want if you ever are in need of a service on the road.  The below photo shows Shaun (left) and Keven.  I'll let you figure out which one Donner is.

I took the time today to do the laundry and replenish my dwindling food supply and, yes, I even bought a skillet for Donner's  special meals.

The Defender is all loaded but for the tent and bedding and tomorrow, we will take the 8am ferry to San Simeon on the other side of the St. Lawrence and from there head to colder Lac St Jean, and after that, even colder Chibagamou.  In addition to watching the Defender closely to regain my confidence in it, I will have to recharge all of my devices which are all down to almost no battery.

That's it for tonight.

Ed and Donner, from on the road

www.OnTheRoad.camp

Day 14, Monday, August 22, RDL day 10

Rained all last night.  Nothing like that can induce a good night's sleep.

 When I first started these road trips, I absolutely loathed setting up or breaking camp in the rain, sometimes hard, cold rain.  Now, while I don't exactly look forward to it, it's all the same to me.  The key is to do it in a way so that nothing, including my dogs, gets wet.  Donner must feel the same way because as soon as we got back from our walk this morning and the rain started again, he went right for the tent.  When I poked my head inside a bit later, he was sound asleep, on my bed, not his, probably thinking, this sure beats being chained up in that Los Angeles back yard.

While I await the word from Shaun on the Defender, I decided to stay close to the camp today.  I had originally planned to hike the 4 miles to the grocery store and restock my diminishing food cache as I am now down to 3 from the original 11.  I also planned to buy a skillet and a some raw hamburger  to bring down the cost of Donner's.

Breaking news. Shaun just called. The Defender is ready.  He also investigated the rear left noise issue.  Only one of the nuts holding the wheel to the vehicle was tightened. The others were loose.  In other words, the wheel might have come off at some point.  Hmmm. Let me think about how that might have happened back home. 

Photo below.  My office in the rain. Donner is asleep in the tent.

Ed and Donner, from on the road

www.OnTheRoad.camp

Day 13, Sunday, August 21, pm, RDL

Donner and I ventured off into the RDL wilds today on our hunt for some grub down at the local canteen. While there, we chatted amicably for a while with two charming young ladies from Québec City, Veronique and Rosalie, who I am sure were more charmed by Donner then by my recitation of all of my road trips. If they read this and will send me their address, I will send them their well deserved patches for this trip or what was supposed to be this trip.

Fortunately, the canteen had not run out of hamburgers yet and you'll see in the photo the sum and substance of Dinner's dinner, four large hamburgers stacked high. No kibbles for this dog, he is saying. He did not get to eat them until back to camp where I mixed it with some rice. His meal, now a daily thing, cost $24, whereas mine, a vegan salad shown in another photo, cost five. You can see where my priorities are on this trip.

When I returned to the camp to make dinner, I discovered that my fork was missing. Most people wouldn't notice that a fork was missing until they had fewer forks than there were people living regularly in their homes. While I swear that I never lost fork in my life, I now bet when I get home and take an inventory I'll probably have fewer forks than the 12 that were with the set when I bought it many years ago. I just don't know it because I have not reached the tipping point yet.  In any event, I searched everywhere for that fork and cannot find it and there are not a lot of places to check. The options are: that chipmunk took it, I accidentally tossed it out the trash, or some person in need of a cheap fork  just happened to wander into my campsite when I was gone and removed it. Regardless, I have three extra forks in my supply container on the top of my roof rack which I will retrieve tomorrow. And it should be obvious that I'm really not interested in the lost fork as much as I am the fact that I have now lost a fork, the charging cradle for Donner's radio collar,  a solar recharging device, and the camera, when on all my prior seven trips I can only remember losing a pewter wine glass and a spoon. I just hope that the missing things stay with these things and do not move on to such things as my passport, or even Donner. But, as you probably noticed, I am prepared if he goes lost, except for the radio collar, which will be useless after the charge runs out. 

I spent some time today refining my options for my next decision point Tuesday morning. I am running low on battery support so instead of describing it, I'll attach a photo of the sketch I made of it.  Do not mistake it for the wiring diagram of the Defender.

Ed and Donner, from on the road

www.OnTheRoad.camp

My decision tree for Tuesday and beyond.

http://ontheroadannex.blogspot.ca/2016/08/131my-decision-tree-for-august-23.html

Donner hoping this $24 meal is for him

Donner, back at the camp, hard at work on his meal. He left six grains of rice and ate six of the buns. I got two buns, but passed up on the six grains of rice.My five dollar nature salad. I did add a quarter of a small can of tuna fish. Donner, after snubbing his tuna and rice meal last week, had the rest of the can as a final course for his meal.

http://ontheroadannex.blogspot.ca/2016/08/133-donner-at-work-on-his-hamburger-and.html

My five dollar vegan salad

http://ontheroadannex.blogspot.ca/2016/08/132-my-five-dollar-vegan-salad.html

Ed and Donner, from on the road

www.OnTheRoad.camp

P.S. It took me one hour and 20% battery to send this. Sometimes, Canadian coms  lets me send four images, sometimes one. From now on, I will send one in any one message and link the rest to my annex. Sorry about that. 

Day 13, August 21, RDL #9

It's quite a beautiful day here at RDL, providing me with plenty of opportunity to think about my options, although my thinking may be a little foggy since I got very little sleep due to some loud band music that started playing at midnight and went on until three.  It was not clear if it was coming from another camper or an in-town concert, but it did not matter.  That's the second night of a disturbed sleep I had here, the first being from the two women camped next to me in my previous site who started belting down the wine at 3pm and continued until midnight.  Now you know why "solitude" is one of the four attractions for me on these trips. I would rather sleep among bears and wolves than inebriated or musically-inclined humans.

Getting back to my options, here's my plan.

If the Defender is not ready to go by Monday, I will have to decide whether to wait it out here or have it towed on Tuesday to the Land Rover dealer in Québec City, 120 miles to the south.  It all depends on Shaun's confidence that he will solve the problem.  I am confident he will.

If it is towed to Québec, I will drop it off there with all my gear at the Land River dealer and take a taxi to the airport, where I will rent a car from Hertz, return to the Land Rover dealer to retrieve my gear, and then drive to Camping Canadian and American on route 138 in Saint Augustin de Desmaures, where I will bide by time until the next decision point. 

If the Defender is on the road soon and I have confidence in it for the rest of the trip, I will get on my way as described below

If it appears that the Defender will not be ready anytime soon, I will leave my gear either in the defender or in storage, take Donner to a vet for a certification to fly,  buy a kennel for him, return to the airport, return home, buy a new vehicle, eventually return to Québec to pick up my gear and the Defender, put the Defender up for sale there, camp there till it sells, and after it does, do some camping on the way home in a number of the state, provincial and national parks in the east.

In any event, it appears that Defender has seen its last long road trip. It has served me well for 23 years and seven of these long road trips, but I think it is time to retire it. It was a fantastic vehicle, and it is unfortunate that they do not make them anymore, but since I am not mechanically inclined, it is better in the hands of someone else who does not prefer long road trips. 

Assuming that the Defender is ready and that I am confident it can take what we can salvage of the original trip, here are the schedule constraints I'm faced with.

With the original trip, which had me leaving on June 23, there were six discretionary loops built into the trip, Labrador, Bay James, Chibagamou-Fushimi, Inuvik, Prudhoe Bay and Denali. By the time we got on the road on August 9th, Inuvik was out, and so was Labrador. Bay James was still a little a possibility, but as soon as the Defender broke down, it no longer was.

If the Defender is not on the road by Tuesday the 23rd, the Prudhoe Bay Alaska loop is probably out, unless I want to sacrifice one or two days at Denali.

If we are not back on the road by Friday the 27th, we will not be able to make the first day of our Denali Drive, and if it is not on the road by the 30th, Denali will be out entirely, so why drive all the way to Alaska just to make the ferry at Skagway on September 25th, although I just might do that to experience some of the camps and towns I northern British Columbia and  the Yukon. 

If the Defender Is not ready to go by next Friday the 27th, the Chibagamou-Fushimi Provincial Park circuit will be out because the campsites will all closing up there on September 1.

Regardless of when the Defender is ready, if I have no confidence it can make the rest of the trip, I will turn it south and head for home by way of the number of campgrounds along the way, taking my time getting home. And then sell it back home.

Planning completed, on our busy agenda for this beautiful day are the following: learn how to operate the satellite phone because I fear I might need it on this trip if we continue with the Defender;  read a few more pages of one of the two books I brought along, the New York Times's The Stone Reader, a collection of 133 essays on modern ethics, perhaps one essay for each night we might be here at RDL or in Quebec; write in the journal; and most important, hunt for dinner and treats with Donner.

By the way, for the mathematically gifted among my readers, the average amount of free time in minutes I have on these trips is easily measured by the formula P/30/D*60, where P equals the number pages read so far and D equals the day number.  I am on page 7 of The Stone Reader, so you do the math.

In the meantime, mysterious things continue to happen. I brought along three battery rechargers, including a red solar recharged device which I left out on the picnic table yesterday when we went for our hunt. Well, it seems that I searched everywhere and that is not to be found. The probability of my having misplaced it or lost it is as close to zero as it can get. Perhaps one of the chipmunks around the campsite walked off with it.

The below photos are of our new campsite 62A here at Riviere du Loup  and the narrow steps leading to it.  I hope you can appreciate the variety in the photos from here as much as I do. Perhaps later I'll send photos of our dinner courses.

Ed and Donner, from on the road

www.OnTheRoad.camp

Ed and Donner, from off the road

www.OnTheRoad.camp

Donner

On this journey, if there's one thing I can count on at every rest stop, campsite or walk with Donner, it's people admiring or commenting about him. Here's his story. 

About Donner

After my beloved, 14-year old German shepherd, Erde, died in October 2015, I decided to wait a few months before I brought a new dog into my life, probably another German shepherd, my sixth.

Early one Friday morning, three weeks after Erde died, as I was preparing to leave for the train from Washington, D.C., for a few days of plays and operas in New York City, I anxiously looked at my Facebook page to find out the fate of a hapless German shepherd named Thunder, a four-year old unneutered male who had been surrendered to a high-kill shelter four days earlier. His sad face and story had caught me in the gut. He was 25 pounds underweight, had been an outside dog through several owners his entire four years, chained alone in back yards, was never obedience-, house- or leash- trained, and was sick, the reasons why he had not been adopted, and probably stood little chance of being so.  His time in the crowded shelter was up that night.  

After watching part of Thunder’s Facebook video, tears welled up in my eyes. I looked at the tickets I held in my hand for the shows in New York and asked myself, how can I possibly go to New York to enjoy myself knowing that this dog might be dead tonight?  I answered my question quickly -   I could not. I tossed the tickets for New York aside, got a ride to the airport, and bought a one-way ticket to Los Angeles, 3000 miles away. In L.A., I rented a van and headed straight for Thunder's shelter, not knowing what I would find there.  

Thirty minutes after I arrived at the shelter, a few hours before his time was supposed to be up, Thunder, renamed Donner, which means “thunder” in German, was on his way to not only a new name, but a new life.  So was I.

After hanging out in Los Angeles for several days, training and bonding with Donner, and having him treated by a vet so we could fly home (although I was prepared to drive the 3000 miles if we had to), we arrived back in D.C.  I quickly discovered that Donner had no idea what a ball was for, or what to do with a treat. His first meal at home, he backed away from the bowl of good dog food I put out for him, looking up at me in fright as if saying, this could not possibly be for me. When I took him swimming for the first time, he hadn't a clue how to get into the water or what to do once in, but his instincts kicked in quickly.  When he got his first glance at a TV set, he was bewildered, but then when some animals appeared on the screen, he ran into the room behind the TV set to find them or tried to leap up on the table in front of the TV to get to them. Now, he looks forward to all those things and more, as if saying to himself, I am a good dog; I deserve this.  

Nursing Donner back to good health to rid him of his respiratory infection was not an easy chore, but one I welcomed and nowhere near the tasks I faced each day managing two paralyzed, wheel-chair bound German shepherds in the past, Sonntag from 1998-2001 and Leben from 2012-2014.  In addition to the medications, I installed a powerful humidifier in my bedroom and sat with him three times a day for 30 minutes each in my bathroom, which I converted into a eucalyptus-drenched steam room. On top of that, it was discovered that he had an allergy, probably for his whole life, that caused him to itch all over.  Within weeks, both of these inflictions were completely eliminated or brought under control.

Months later, Donner, fully recovered from his serious respiratory infection, neutered, well-trained, and 25 pounds heavier, embarked with me on a 117-day 16,000-mile road camping trip from D.C. to the edge of Labrador, across all of Canada to the Arctic in Alaska and Denali National Park, down through the Yukon and the West Coast to Yosemite National Park, and then home again.  Every day on that trip I imagined that the one thought always on his mind was, this sure beats being chained in that Los Angeles back yard.  Or maybe it was, I am a good dog, I deserve this.

Donner most certainly is a good dog, and he does deserve these things, and much more, as do all the dogs nervously pacing in animal shelters waiting to be rescued. 

I have gotten joy from all my dogs.  But the extra joy I get each and every day from adopting a rescued dog is something I never imagined.

You can watch the Facebook video about then-Thunder, now Donner that tugged at my heart strings and made me toss away my tickets for some New York shows and fly 3000 miles on the spur of the moment to rescue him (click here) . 

Photos below:

Top - My first view of Thunder on my Facebook page (in the shelter)

Middle: Thunder's mug shot in the shelter

Bottom: Thunder, later renamed Donner, with me just two minutes after I rescued him. What a happy dog he was, we both were.

Ed

 

Ed

Day 12, Saturday, August 20, day 8 of bivouac at RDL

I cannot write much today because the iPad is not charging well and electricity to recharge my devices is difficult to come by here and the iPad is not the top priority on my recharging list.

Well, my three decision points yesterday came and went. For better or for worse, we are still be bivouacked here at our RDL. The new distributor arrived at 1:30 yesterday and Shaun worked  until 8 PM last night to get the Defender firing again but without success. Whatever happened on August 13 when the Defender stalled apparently cascaded and took other things with it, or vice versa. After the Defender would not fire with the new distributor Shaun pointed out that my new recently installed precision spark plugs were shot, so new ones were installed, but the Defender still did not fire. Fortunately, I had the entire Defender workshop manual with me and Shaun and his associate studied it carefully. Although they are not sure at this point, they believe that the engine's timing is on the wrong side and the psi compression of seven the eight cylinders is below the specs of 150. Also, he thinks that one or more of the rings may be shot. So it appears that we are here indefinitely. Shaun however is 100% confident that he will get the Defender up and  running again, and I share his confidence. If I have to, I will get a new engine installed.

Here are my options:

1- wait it out here until the Defender is up and running.

2- have the vehicle towed to the Land Rover dealer  in Québec City 120 miles distant and camp out there until the Defender is running.

3- have  the Defender towed home for $4200 and call it quits for this trip.

4- Sell the Defender here, buy a new vehicle, and salvage what I can of the trip.

As of now, all four of these options are still up for grabs.

Assuming that the Defender is up and running again, I decided to get the wheel noise that I am experiencing checked out and fixed instead of taking an additional risk on the remainder of the trip, wherever it takes us. It will delay the trip another day or so, but I really have no choice at this time.

Assuming the Defender is up and running, I have at two decisions I have to make.

First, do I have the confidence that the Defender can do the rest of the trip. It is 23 years old and although I have maintained it extremely well, with a 23-year-old vehicle anything can go wrong at any time. Right now I have little confidence that I can make the rest of the as planned or scaled back in it. Perhaps that will change.

Second, assuming I do have the confidence to make the rest of the trip in the Defender, what did this delay due to schedule? If I am on the road by Wednesday, I have 22 days to make it to Denali by September 15th. Unfortunately, as of Wednesday, I will have only 22 days left. This means that the Labrador, Bay James, Inuvik, and Prudhoe Bay loops will have to be jettisoned and saved for a future trip. No big deal.

While I wish that there were some other circumstances involved with this layover here at RDL, we are making the most of it. For instance, there are at least 17 things to do each day, it is allowing me to get fully rested for the rest of whatever trip there is left, and I am experiencing what it's like to stay in one place for more than just a few days, which was one of my original goals for this trip.

As for our extended time here at RDL, we are hanging out at our new cozy campsite  most of the time. Fortunately, the sun is shining, but the weather here is turning chilly. For instance, last night, it felt as if the temperature was in the high 40s, that's Fahrenheit. And since Chibagamou is almost 500 miles farther north, it will get much colder as soon as we get on the road, which means the campgrounds up there will be closed after September 1, posing a logistic problem for us since I do not camp in hotels well.

 

As for Donner, he is making the most of it, as you can see from the photo below. He loves his new dog house so much, I just might set it up in a room at home after we get back. In fact, I just might do that for my sake also. I once saw a Sean Connery movie where someone actually did that. But I will either have to get a bigger tent or a shorter cot. 

One of the 17 things I am taking time to do during this bivouac is to write in my journal. Since a friend asked the process i used to set out our original itinerary, I wrote down my thoughts in that regard and at some point in the future when I have enough time and battery left I will record a posting of my thoughts in that regard, which ran to almost 4 pages of notes. (I will also muse about other like why these trips are not fun until they are over, and the 17 things to do during a bivouac.) The short answer is that I set my original course just as a Garmin device does, by using preferences, of which I have 12, based on three key variables, the destination, the road itself, and the timing. But the actual route is flexible, depending upon such things as what happens when your vehicle breaks down on the road.)

There is good news to report today.  I discovered the charging cable for my Nikon camera in a "unknown cables" pouch I tossed into my electronics bag just in case. Also, I discovered the reason why my iPad was not charging very well, and so was able to write more today than I expected to.

That's it for now. It is time for Donner and me to go hunting for  dinner, i.e., his four hamburgers from the nearby canteen, my nature salad, and his daily glace (ice cream) treat.

Ed and Donner, from on the road

www.OnTheRoad.camp

Fwd: Day 11, August 19, Riviere du Loup ...Decisions, decisions, decisions 12:45 p.m.

Well, decision point 1 came and went and no word on the distributor delivery. But they did say it is on the truck for delivery, but without saying where from.

In the meantime, we have moved our gear to a nice new camp site in lovely downtown Camping Municipal in Riviere du Loup and will hold off setting up camp until 3 or 4, for decision point 2.

Here's a photo of some of the gear all packed up and either ready to go again or get unpacked. Donner is off under a tree, the coolest place in the site, probably wondering when we will visit the Glace Shoppe . Smart dog.

Ed and Donner, from on the road

www.OnTheRoad.camp

Begin forwarded message:

From: Ed Mulrenin <edmulrenin@gmail.com>
Date: August 19, 2016 at 11:36:04 AM GMT-4
To: OnTheRoad.Camp
Subject: Day 11, August 19, Riviere du Loup ...Decisions, decisions, decisions

My new distributor arrived at the Fed Ex facility in Quebec yesterday after clearing customs 18 hours after it was shipped. And there it has sat for 26 hours.  I think what they must do is hold the packages until the last minute to meet the promised delivery time (no later than 5pm today) and then rush it out the door to meet the deadline.  The truth is, I never got a rush Fed Ex delivery much before the deadline. But often after.

I must vacate my current camp site by noon so I am packed up and ready to either get on the road or move to another site for one day, three days or indefinitely if the problem is not only the distributor.

1- If the delivery is made by noon, 30 minutes from now, I will move my gear to the camp entrance and hope that the distributor is the only problem.  If it is not, I will move to a new site and camp here indefinitely.

2- if  the delivery is not made by noon, I will move to  new site here, but not set up camp until 4pm, hoping that the Defender is ready to go and I can still make the last ferry across the St Lawrence by 6pm.

3- if I am confident the Defender will not be ready by 4pm, I will send you new photos of my campsite here for tonight or until Monday or indefinitely.

In the meantime, here's a new photo of how Donner passes the time here when he is not hunting for dogs or ice cream.  As you can see, he is all packed up and ready to go with his pack full of treats.

<image1.JPG>

Ed and Donner, from on the road

www.OnTheRoad.camp

Day 11, August 19, Riviere du Loup ...Decisions, decisions, decisions

My new distributor arrived at the Fed Ex facility in Quebec yesterday after clearing customs 18 hours after it was shipped. And there it has sat for 26 hours.  I think what they must do is hold the packages until the last minute to meet the promised delivery time (no later than 5pm today) and then rush it out the door to meet the deadline.  The truth is, I never got a rush Fed Ex delivery much before the deadline. But often after.

I must vacate my current camp site by noon so I am packed up and ready to either get on the road or move to another site for one day, three days or indefinitely if the problem is not only the distributor.

1- If the delivery is made by noon, 30 minutes from now, I will move my gear to the camp entrance and hope that the distributor is the only problem.  If it is not, I will move to a new site and camp here indefinitely.

2- if  the delivery is not made by noon, I will move to  new site here, but not set up camp until 4pm, hoping that the Defender is ready to go and I can still make the last ferry across the St Lawrence by 6pm.

3- if I am confident the Defender will not be ready by 4pm, I will send you new photos of my campsite here for tonight or until Monday or indefinitely.

In the meantime, here's a new photo of how Donner passes the time here when he is not hunting for dogs or ice cream.  As you can see, he is all packed up and ready to go with his pack full of treats.

Ed and Donner, from on the road

www.OnTheRoad.camp

The trip so far (in red), Day 6-11, 1458 miles (50 by tow)

http://ontheroadannex.blogspot.ca/2016/08/the-trip-so-far-in-red-day-6-1458-miles.html

Ed and Donner, from on the road

www.OnTheRoad.camp

Day 10, August 18, Thursday, still at Riviere du Loup waiting, hoping, thinking, planning, blogging

We have one more day to go before we find out the fate of the Defender. The FedEx rush shipment from Rover's North in Vermont with my new distributor in it is due to be delivered to the garage no later than 5 PM on Friday.

 If indeed the distributor is the problem, or the only problem, and good luck starts to come my way, it will be delivered long before 5 and I will be on the 6:00 pm ferry to Tadoussac. 

 If it is delivered later, but before 5 o'clock when the garage closes, Shaun told me they will stay till the work is done, in which case, I will be on my way to Toudassac Saturday. 

If it is delivered after 5 pm, I will not be on the road until Monday.

If the distributor is not the only problem, I may be here for some time longer.

Regardless, I still have the noisy wheel issue to deal with sometime.  

Incidentally, when I found out yesterday that the distributor was indeed the offensive part, I was thrilled that I just happened to have a spare distributor in my garage container on the roof rack. But after Shaun checked that out, what was in the distributor box was nothing more than the casing for a distributor. Why I was handed a distributor casing to take in my spare parts container I will never know. I can tell you that for my next road trip, I will take a new distributor, a fuel pump, water pump, ignition coil, a starter, and various other components that are likely to fail and difficult and/or time-consuming to get. I don't know why I didn't do that this year. However, I would not have bought a new distributor anyone, thinking I had whole one.

Before I got word from Shaun that the distributor was indeed the problem, I ordered a new one from Rovers North just in case  to be shipped to the garage.  Fortunately, I just made the 3 pm deadline for FedEx shipments that day. Had I not, my departure would have been delayed. As it turned out, Shaun called later with the news and that it would be difficult to get a distributor soon, but I gave him the good news that one was already on its way.

When I checked into this camp last Saturday, the young woman at the reception desk wrote a note in the logbook that they would check with me first before making other reservations for my campsite. Yesterday, after I got the news from Shaun  at the garage about the distributor, I immediately went down to the reception office to sign up for next several days. Jacques, the regular daytime attendant, told me that despite my right of first refusal, he had just reserved my campsite for someone else for the rest of the week but I could have campsite 81A just down the road, but that was reserved starting on Friday so I would have to move again way in the back of the campground to what is called the rustic camping, and I do mean rustic. I politely mentioned to Jacques  that I was supposed to have the right of first refusal for extending my stay at the campsite I was in, but he sternly told me that they do not do that. So much for five stars for hospitality here. Regardless, I obeyed and it took me three hours to pack up and move everything and then unload it and reset up the camp in 81A, which is a better site that 78A. But it's not as if I had a full schedule for the day planned anyway. My hope is that by Friday evening before I have to set up camp at that rustic camping area that the Defender, Donner and I will be on the road, but I will move my things there on Friday just in case it is not and I have to stay for another several days here. But not a minute has been wasted here on planning, organizing and preparing for the rest of the trip.

Over the last several years I thought that at some point I would retire from these long road trips where we move on every day, and thought about spending a week or even two weeks and one camp and then move onto another. But after experiencing that pattern this week, I am not too sure I want to do that quite yet. Although I probably could not have asked for a better setup to be stranded in now, with garages, a restaurant, an ice cream shop, a dentist, and other amenities close nearby.

As I mentioned in an earlier posting, a dental crown fell off the other evening as I dined on some hard rice and watered-down mushroom soup. I found a dentist in town and had planned to walk there but decided at the last minute to take a taxi, and thank goodness that I did since it was more than 4 miles each way and the temperature today a hot 70. The good doctor agreed to see me today at 11:30, and when I got there they refused to let  Donne  sit leashed on the shaded porch. They relegated him to the rear treeless parking lot where I double leashed him for what I thought would be 10 minutes but turned out to be an hour and a half. But after having withstood 90 minutes in the sun, he was amply treated to a couple of hamburgers and his daily ice cream treat at the Glace Shoppe near the entrance of the camp after the taxi dropped us off. I hope he forgave me. But my crown is now back on.

In a sense, this unplanned respite here is probably a good thing. It certainly was good from the standpoint of the Defender, breaking down here rather than in some remote location farther north. But also for me and for Donner. For me, I was exhausted by the time I got on the road, and then further exhausted myself during the first three days in hot weather. I can say now that I am well rested, which is how I should have been before I left. For the next trip, I am going to make sure that I do not walk out the door until I have gotten at least two good nights' sleep before I leave. As for Donner, I think this break took away some of the shock of the change in his living habits that he experienced the first three days, and gave him time to resign himself to his new life, which she has no idea how long will continue. 

As for Donner's eating habits, I finally figured out how to feed him without wasting any food after having to eat for breakfast yesterday a whole bowl of pink salmon  and rice meant for him, which he left untouched. I will feed him  only in the evening.  I will make a big bowl of salmon and rice and give him a spoonful.  If he leaves it untouched, salmon and rice will be on my menu that night.  If he eats one spoonful, then two, then three, he gets the rest except for the last spoonful, which I will eat myself with my V8 juice and packaged soup.  If he eats the whole bowl, he gets a can of salmon without the rice for his second course. A win-win-win situation all around.

Some photos....

Our guest for lunch...

http://ontheroadannex.blogspot.ca/2016/08/101-extent-of-insect-and-wildlife-here.html

The gear I had to move from one campsite to another...thanks to Jacques's hospitality...

http://ontheroadannex.blogspot.ca/2016/08/102-all-gear-we-had-to-move-from-one.html

A local attraction...it was really quite nice..

http://ontheroadannex.blogspot.ca/2016/08/103-local-attraction-overlooking-st.html

Our new campsite, until we have to move again tomorrow...

http://ontheroadannex.blogspot.ca/2016/08/105-our-campsite-81a-at-camping.html

For the curious, our well-equipped kitchen for the next 80 days...
http://ontheroadannex.blogspot.ca/2016/08/104-out-kitchen-containers-contentsall.html

Ed and Donner On the Road 

P.S. Needless to say, please do not expect such long postings once we are back on the road.