Checklists

Today really didn't go as planned. Last Monday when we got the car serviced in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the Service Manager, when he reviewed the work that was done, told us that we would need new tires soon. We have been thinking about that all week and last night we decided that we should replace the tires now before we head north to more isolated places along the northeastern coast of New Brunswick and the Gaspee Peninsula.

This morning Frederick researched the size tire we needed and checked out the Michelin site, the kind of tires we wanted to replace the original Continental tires currently on the car. After looking around on the site Frederick determined that Michelin did not make the size tire we needed. We called the service department of the dealer in Rhode Island where we bought the car and sought his advice. He confirmed that Michelin did not make the size tire we needed and recommended that we go with the next best, Continental. 

We called local dealers in Charlottetown and no one had these tires in stock. We decided to try in Moncton, New Brunswick, a city about 50 miles from our next campground. After calling one dealer who told us Continental doesn't make this size any more, we found a tire dealer who was able to have four of the correct Continental tires shipped from Ontario - maybe by Friday or, at the latest, on Monday. 

So tomorrow we leave Prince Edward Island and travel to Kouchibouguac Provincial Park. We will wait to hear from the dealer if the tires arrive on Friday, or if not, we will stay another day in Kouchibouguac (we were planning on leaving on Monday). Can you believe that all this took the entire morning? 

We really didn't care that much because it was raining out and our plan to go to the Orwell Corner Historic Village wouldn't have worked out. We spent the rest of the afternoon doing chores around the Airstream. Of course, this presents a difficulty is writing the blog, so here's the best we can do. 

I went out late in the afternoon and took this picture as evidence of the rain that had fallen. There are now even more mosquitoes than before.

Here is one of the tires that needs to be replaced. They are awfully big!

One of the chores that I tackled was to up-date our checklists. Right from the very beginning we have been using check-lists to make sure that some essential task doesn't remain un-done. For the first few months we have been using the original lists and adding to them as our own systems have evolved. Today we put the changes in the computer and printed them off. Frederick then covered them in plastic for protection.

The is the list that Frederick uses every time we get ready to move.  It used to take us about an hour and a half; we are now down to under 30 minutes. 

After we are all hitched up and are ready to go, we both go over this "Walk Behind" checklist, just to make sure. 

The arrival is essentially the reverse of the departure, only this goes very fast, maybe ten to fifteen minutes.

Later this afternoon, after Frederick got a haircut, I tried once again to learn how to put a map into the blog. Once again it was frustrating. I have watched a video on how to do it and copied down all the steps but, google maps has changed and the "steps" are no longer there. 

While I was being frustrated with google maps, Frederick put on long pants and a turtleneck shirt to thwart the mosquitoes and dump the holding tanks. That job is done and we should be all set to leave tomorrow morning.