[A/S] TWIMC - BC; Kaslo

["Sandy Noyes" <boojum@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Folks,

Today I have learned the downside of Kaslo: it rains here.  That may
not mean much to most of you folks but to me, after 18 years of living
in the Bay Area of California, it means "not good."  I awoke to a light
rain this morning.  It had been raining for most of the night.  I
peeked outside for a look when I got up at 6:00 and it is rainy, misty
and looking coolish out there.  The kind of weather that makes you wish
for a Franklin or better woodstove, a chair beside it and a good book
or someone to play gin rummy with.

That is not what is on my plate to day, though.  The rotors on my front
disk brakes are warped.  I think that they are too warped to safely
pull the trailer so I am trying to get them fixed before I leave for
Abbottsford.  I had planned on having them done there.  No one in Kaslo
is able to machine the rotors on the truck and the one shop able to
work on them does not want the option as the are ABS brakes with all
sorts of little delicate problems built in.  I drove to Nelson
yesterday in the hopes that a jammed up shop would take me but no such
luck.  A 90 mile round trip for nothing.  The Ford dealer, who can
machine the rotors on the truck is working a half shift today,
Saturday, and said to call him at 9:00 or 10:00 to see if he could
squeeze me in.  I will call closer to 9:00.  If he cannot take me I
will have to go down on Tuesday which means I do not leave until
Wednesday which puts me in the shop in Abbottsford on Thursday for an
additional transmission oil cooler and some other work.

Fortunately I am not on a strict schedule.  A few days more in the
Kootenay region of BC is not a real problem.  I have told some people
on the that I am able to hook into the Ethernet in the local public
library which allows me to cruise the Internet just as if I had dialed
up my ISP.  Because the server in this little rural library is not
quite configured right I cannot send mail but I can receive mail,
download files, and cruise the 'net just as I could ordinarily. 
Because this library has a modem hookup my connect speed is about what
it would be through normal dialup.  But in a larger library the hookup
would be faster.  What a find this has been!  Those 10› a minute 800
number connects for AOL are a thing of the past except here in Kaslo. 
As I cannot send mail through the Ethernet in the library I have to go
to a local computer store which charges me hookup time on their phone
line so I can dial an 800 number.   I don't like it, but that's life. 
Life is not always as we like it.

California will be a stay to visit and meet with friends, sell the
house and attend to some personal business.  Then on south to Mexico
for the winter.  The land where time stands still.  I spent three
months there last winter.  When it came time to leave it seemed that
the entire stay had only been a week or two.  Mexico where I go has
friends there to visit and meet with in a close-knit and friendly
gringo community.  The local folks are quite pleasant and both local
and gringo work on keeping it that way.  It is in Baja where prices are
higher than on the mainland and it is remote and does not look like
what you think of when you think "Mexico."  No ladies in the colored
full skirts, men in sarapes and sombreros, earthenware jug displays or
silver artisans.  Baja is rural; very rural.  Suits me fine.

So, folks, from currently rainy Kaslo I bid you all a fine day.  Wish
me luck in the brakes department.  If I have to do the 90 mile round
trip to Nelson the brakes will be bad only one way, and that is a plus.
 I hope this Saturday is a good one for all of you.

L8R 


BTW -  In case you are complaining about your weather where you are the
Peace River Country in northern BC and Alberta has snow.  It had so
much snow that they had a whiteout Friday and drivers were warned not
to drive.  Warned not to drive in an area of the world where heavy snow
is common.  So, I will stop whining about the rain in Kaslo and you all
can reflect on any bad weather you might be having.

Happy Trails.