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....
http://ontheroadannex.blogspot.ca/2016/08/101-extent-of-insect-and-wildlife-here.htmlOur guest for lunch...
A local attraction...it was really quite nice..
Our new campsite, until we have to move again tomorrow...
For the curious, our well-equipped kitchen for the next 80 days...
http://ontheroadannex.blogspot.ca/2016/08/104-out-kitchen-containers-contentsall.html
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.
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