MONDAY 29 August
I got up at 6:45 AM, put out food and water for the cat, and then went out to check/adjust tire pressures on the F-150. It was foggy outside and the sun, though up, had not yet cut through the fog, which meant all of the tires were at the same ambient temperature. It also made for a lovely scene, which I captured with the camera on my phone.
Sunrise through the fog as seen from our site at Elm River RV Park in Glenholme/Debert/Cochrane, Nova Scotia (the Park comes up under all three cities, depending on what we source we are using).
My phone reported 56 deg (F), while the display in the truck showed 52 deg (F). The truck displayed 41 psi for both front tires, 46 psi L/R, and 45 psi R/R. When I checked the tires with my digital tire pressure gauge, both front tires read 40.5 psi and the rear tires read 44.5 psi. I reset the front tires to 40.0 psi and the rear tires to 43.0 psi, using my digital tire pressure gauge. I checked the F-150 display, but the readings had not changed. I wasn’t sure how long that would take, and I didn’t want to wait to find out. The trailer tires all indicated 73 psi, except the L/F which indicated 72 psi, so basically all the same within the accuracy of the valve-stem sensors. I stayed outside long enough to take a few photos before I came back in, made my 1st cup of coffee, and opened my laptop computer to finish/post the blog entry for the last two days. With that done, I returned to my Pic-a-Pix nonogram puzzle I had started last night. Juniper-the-cat lay down next to me on the sofa, which is always nice..
Our truck and trailer in the morning fog on site 9 at the Elm River RV Park near Masstown in Nova Scotia.
Breakfast was the last of the molasses bread (toasted) and banana. After breakfast, we both took showers, which added enough water to the gray water tank for it to flush well when emptied. Once I was dressed, I drove to the Masstown Market and bought two more bottles of the Black Tower Rivaner wine. I liked it that much and will have to look for it when we get home. I got back to the RV Park at 10:25 AM and continued working on my nonogram puzzle until 11 AM.
Today was another travel day for us. Our destination was the Halifax West KOA on Hwy-1 in Upper Sackville, Nova Scotia. It was only a 117 km (~73 mi) trip and our navigation devices said it would take about 1 hour and 8 minutes. Check-in time was 2 PM, so we were in no hurry to break camp, and had a leisurely morning. I had checked with Lucy, the campground manager, yesterday about a late departure. There was no one booked to come into our site today, and she said we could leave whenever.
We targeted a 12:30 PM departure, as it always takes us a bit longer than the estimated travel time and we wanted to be at the KOA as close to 2 PM as possible. This will be a 5-night stop, with lots to see and do, so we were anxious to get there and get setup. While I was at the Market, Linda called the Halifax West KOA to see if we could check in before 2 PM. They told her it might be possible as they had rigs trickling out, but call back at noon to be sure.
We began preparing for travel at 11 AM. I put my computer and iPad away and then started the outside tasks with dumping the waste tanks. I got the sewer hose out but did not get it connected to the outlet on the trailer correctly, so we had a minor black tank leak. I quickly shut the dump valve and re-connected the hose properly. (I think that was the first time I have done that since we started RVing in 2005.) I got out the gray rinse hose that we use to flush the black tank, hosed everything down, and diluted what was on the ground. I finished dumping the black tank, ran the tank flush for a few minutes, shut it off, and let the tank finish draining before closing the dump valve. I then dumped the grey tank. I rinsed the sewer hose off, inside and out, and then we put everything away.
Disconnecting and storing the fresh water system as next. With that done, I put the stinger in the F-150 receive r and carefully backed the truck up to align the stinger with the 3P hitch on the trailer. I only had to go back and forth four times to get it perfectly aligned, which was actually really good. (Sometimes it takes many more iterations than that.) The actual hitch-up went perfectly, and in short order we had everything connected, the tire chocks removed and stored, the weight-distribution jacks set, the tongue jack raised, and the jack stand put away.
We had everything ready to go, except the cat and the shorepower, by 12:15 PM. Linda moved the cat to the truck while I disconnected the power and stored the Hughes Power Watchdog EPO and the cord. We pulled out of our site at 12:30 PM and took Hwy-4 back east to Hwy-104 (The T-CH) EAST. Halifax was south and west of us, but the ONLY road to there is Hwy-102, which branches off the T-CH at Truro, some 13 km (~8 mi) east of the Elm River RV Park.
The weather was very nice, with temperature in the mid-70s (F), scattered clouds, no chance of rain. Hwy-102 was a 4-lane divided limited access road, which made for an easy drive. It was also posted at 110 km/hr max, so I set the cruise control at 65 mph (~105 km/hr). That was just enough faster than 100 km/hr (~61 mph) for the transmission to shift up into 9th gear and the engine rpm to drop to 1,700. (We still only averaged a little over 10 mpg as the terrain continued to be hilly, but we enjoyed moving right along and not holding up traffic.) At Sackville, we turned NW on Hwy-101 and eventually exited at Upper Sackville onto Hwy-1 and backtracked SE to the Halifax West KOA. We pulled up to the registration office at 1:45 PM.
It took about 10 minutes for Linda to get us registered, and a few minutes more to drive through the RV Park. The park is carved out of forest and reminded us in some ways of a state park. Many of the sites were back-ins with trees on three sides and were generally spacious. Our site (E07) was the 30A, full hookup, pull-through we had reserved (one of only 13 pull-through sites in the Park). We pulled into the site at 2 PM (W3W=”immigration.trousers.regionally”).
I got the trailer lined up behind the truck on the first try and then Linda went in the trailer, turned on the LevelMatePro+ and linked it to the app on my phone. I was able to position the trailer so it was level side-to-side, so we chocked it and proceeded to un-hitch. We had everything set up and ready use before 3 PM, and included deploying all three of the awnings.
I wanted to relax for a few minutes and finished my Pic-a-Pix puzzle. Went then for a leisurely stroll around the RV Park and located the dumpster and the laundry/shower/bathroom building near the office. They only had a couple of washers and a couple of dryers; not much for a campground this size.
Back at the trailer we sat outside around 5 PM and had a glass of the Black Tower Rivaner wine, a rare treat on our grand tour of Eastern Canada.
Bruce sitting in front of our Airstream enjoying a glass of wine while using his iPad. (Photo by Linda.)
I called Chuck-the-builder. He got my e-mail and had the CertainTeed Hunter Green roof shingles on order. He sent an e-mail with the door quotes today, after I had checked my e-mail while we were still at Elm River RV Park. We saw the prices, but no information about what the impact was on the bottom line.
Linda heated up the remaining plant-based meatballs and added them to the left-over pasta for dinner. We both had a second, small glass of the Black Tower Rivaner white wine. After dinner, a brief text message from our son indicated that everyone had a great first day back of school. Mads “loved” her new teacher and Sadie “hit the ground running.” Linda read (as usual) and worked on the blog post and photos (as usual) before working a few puzzles. A colorful sunset appeared somewhat quickly, and only lasted about 15 minutes, so I grabbed a few shots with my phone.
Sunset as seen from our site (E07) at the Halifax West KOA in Upper Sackville, Nova Scotia.
Before turning in for the night, we spent some time planning our sightseeing for tomorrow. The forecast is for very nice weather, so we plan to visit Peggy’s Cove (famous lighthouse) and Luneburg (quaint seaside town).
The “beauty shot” as the sun sets behind our travel trailer at the Halifax West KOA in Nova Scotia
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