Prequel

The preparations for our ‘Cross Canada’ expedition were not nearly as onerous as our prior snowbirding journey. I guess you could call us ‘experienced’ now. So our motorhome (AKA Maggie) was serviced and warranty deficiencies were completed; our Honda CRV tow unit is sporting new Michelins (courtesy of a Costco cash card presented to Fernie on his retirement) and was fully tuned up. The only things to pack were clothes, food, cameras and electronic items.


The weekend prior to leaving was spent washing and waxing until Maggie gleamed like a crystal in the sunshine. A little clarification is needed here – I didn’t partake in this cleaning binge – after all, it’s Fernie’s favourite hobby and I wouldn’t encroach on his territory.

The day before – clothes were packed, electronics ready and waiting to go in last minute – we turned on the propane to start the fridge and the xxxxxxxx fridge ignited but wouldn’t stay lit. After numerous attempts and reading and re-reading the manual, we gave up. We had just had the propane monitor replaced by Fraserway under warranty and had the tank filled so we surmised that ‘they’ had done something?? because we’d never had a problem with the fridge before. Several phone calls to their service department and we finally spoke to a service rep. We followed his instructions implicitly but still no success. The service rep couldn’t understand it. The only thing left to do was to take it back in for repair – but this was late Saturday afternoon and we’d planned on leaving Sunday morning.
“Oh well” we told each other
“Let’s not stress about it – if we can’t take these pesky problems in stride, we shouldn’t own a motorhome.”
“We’ll delay our trip and bring it in 7:30 Monday morning” we told Fraserway.
“…..on our way out of town” we continued, wanting to make them understand the urgency.