The Jello had other ideas…..and it’s okay

When we last met I signed off with a cliff hanger of sorts……Tom’s Amana refrigerator was not working properly, and he was going into Calgary Wednesday morning in hopes of obtaining the necessary parts to repair the run capacitor, and a couple of relays on the compressor.

Our written in Jello plans called for us to drive 175 miles (approximately) up to the Columbia Icefields between Lake Louise and Jasper on Wednesday.  Of course, our stay here at Bow Rivers Edge was at an end as of Wednesday, and since the park was booked solid, we had to move on no matter what we decided to do about the malfunctioning refer.  We decided that instead of driving up to the Icefields where there were even fewer services of the kind needed to fix Tom’s Amana we would move 30 miles northwest of Calgary to Beaver Dam Golf and RV Resort still within striking distance of Calgary.  First, though, Tom needed to drive 20 minutes into Calgary to get the “rebuild” kit, then return to build a platform to move the Amana out of its cubby hole, which is about 18” off the floor.

While Tom was in Calgary those of us left behind began to get ready to move by 1 pm.  I decided it was time again to check the air pressure on my tires.  I know you know what’s coming, right?  It’s the “Hockwald way”……a job that should take 15 minutes max ends up taking a hour.  The two right rear dualies checked out and I moved up the right front tire….the air pressure checked out there too, but when I removed the pressure gauge the air continued to escape from the Schraeder valve, and I was unable to unstick it……hmmmmm…..well I do have extra Schraeder valves on board so I put the cap back on to slow the leak, got out my 20 ton bottle jack to place under the frame to keep the rim off the ground should I be unsuccessful in inserting the new valve.  In order to do this you must unscrew the old valve with a special tool, and then, hopefully, while 110 psi of air escapes through the valve stem you attempt to insert the new valve and screw it in all while keeping the tire from completely deflating.

The "special tool" above with shortened prongs, and the new valve below.....

Of course, I do have the special tool needed to unscrew the old Schraeder valve, but…..there is always the “but” right?…….the tool had to be modified (see picture) by cutting off part of two prongs protruding from each side of the device so it would fit into the space where my valve was.  It took a few minutes to accomplish this task but I succeeded.   Now it was time to unscrew the old valve and insert the new one…….as it turns out it took less than 60 seconds to remove the old valve, and with just a little difficulty insert the new one and screw it into place while working against 110 psi of air coming out…..success!!!

By the time I finished with the other 7 tires Tom had returned, with his parts, and had constructed the platform for the Amana……..it was now time to unplug and head out north.   The plan was to drive 30 minutes north, set up again at the new park, then work on fixing Tom’s Amana refer.

 Beaver Dam Golf and RV Resort is located in the middle of “nowhere”…….in the middle of thousands of acres of farmland…..this is the last place you would expect to find a golf course, let alone an RV park, but, frankly, it is beautiful!  Kind of nice to be out in the country again…..we are backed up to one of the golf course fairways.  For the first time since Florida we had to drop the trailer…..sure, we have unhooked it a few times to check the hitch, and put some grease on the ball, but this is the first time I have had to physically drop it in a different location from where the coach is parked.

 There's the fairway of the 18th hole

You can see the trailer "way over there"

After taking some time to set up Forest and I headed over to Tom’s coach to help him remove the Amana so he could access the compressor and replace the bad parts……..now, of course, we are going to talk about the “McCloud way”, which is not much different than the “Hockwald way”, except Tom is way smarter than I.  Nevertheless, we were able to remove the Amana placing it on the platform and then move it sideways a couple of feet to so we could access the compressor at the rear of the refer.  The technician had assurred Tom that these parts would work, BUT…..and there is always a “BUT”…..as it turns out Tom’s Amana is one of a small percentage of Amana’s that has a compressor made by a different manufacturer……and, of course, this rebuild kit would not work on that compressor……so, now it, the Jello, is indicating that we will be here at Beaver Creek for at least one additional day……it’s okay, we are with friends, and the location is hardly something to shed tears over, but Lake Louise, Banff, Jasper and the Icefields will have to wait a couple more days.

Around 7:30 we convened at Tom and Darlene’s coach to eat a delicious stew Darlene and TLE had prepared, and watch a Blue

Ray DVD of the movie “John Carter” in 3-D.  TLE and I had seen this movie back in Houma, LA back in March of 2012, but enjoyed seeing it a second time…..I think I actually liked it better this time around….maybe it was the “3-D”.

By the time the movie was finished it was almost 10 pm…..but still very light….the sun was just setting on the western horizon…..

Thanks for stopping by!