Canada

We noticed the sign ‘Drink Canada Dry’ and weren’t at first sure whether it was an advertisement or a challenge.  Whatever, after tearful goodbyes we took the short flight from Milwaukee to Toronto to be met by Annika, Ivy and Bill.  I’d better explain; Terry came to us in the UK when he was a young lad attending school close by to where we used to live.  I knew his mum Ivy from Hong Kong days when she made all the arrangements for the training courses I ran in those days.  To cut a long story short, Terry spent quite a bit of time with us over the years and sort of got incorporated into the family and became ‘another one of the kids’.  Bill?  He’s Ivy’s partner.

Terry and Annika were married about a year and a half ago.  Their first twelve months was difficult for them.  Terry lived and worked in Toronto,  Annika was in Hong Kong waiting for the necessary immigration approvals.  Happily they are together at last.  We wanted to see them and that was the main reason for the visit to Canada.  Whew!  Sorry about that but an explanation was probably necessary.

First day and Annika demonstrated just how much she had learned about her new home, guiding us through what are known as ‘the paths’ – a complex series of underground walkways linking tower blocks and shopping malls.  These provide the opportunity to move around the city avoiding what can be brutal winter weather above ground.  Fortunately Annika knew the way and we followed.  We did get above ground, visiting Yonge-Dundas Square and the nearby beautiful old town hall with its extraordinary carvings.

Of course a meeting is not complete without a meal and that night we dined royally, and although a little rusty with our chopsticks, enjoyed a terrific meal with a menu specially created by Ivy.

Toronto is probably not the first place one would think of to have a shoe museum, but it does have one, and it’s fascinating.  Including everything from the earliest foot coverings through modern day high fashion to the special needs of people living in the Arctic, it even includes shoes that once belonged to Marilyn Monroe, James Stewart and Winston Churchill.  But it was the intricate workmanship and practicality of the Inuit boots that fascinated above all else.

No visit to Toronto is complete without ascending the CN Tower and experiencing the Niagara Falls.  We did both.  The view from the top of the Tower is far reaching and spectacular.  The view straight down through the glass floor is just scary!

Niagara is simply captivating.  There’s something about moving water that is mesmerising and Niagara has more moving water than anywhere else.  There’s three waterfalls,  the largest being the Horseshoe Falls,  The American Falls abut the USA border while the Bridal Veil Falls are by comparison quite small.  We saw the falls at their most spectacular, winter thawing provided huge amounts of water, estimated at around six million cubic feet a minute.  I can’t really visualise that but it’s a heck of a lot of water that creates its own clouds.

A final dim sum meal and all too soon our visit came to an end.

The Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt was long and cramped, the food awful.  We arrived late with insufficient time to make the connection for the onward flight to Heathrow.  But we finally made it, picked up a hire car and endured the delights of the M25 to Essex.  It rained, sleeted and at times snowed.  Welcome to England we were informed.

Grandchildren and Projects

It’s lovely spending time with Leilani (3) and George (9 months) watching them play, develop and learn.  It’s also exhausting for grandparents who have been away from the full-on experience for a couple of decades.  However we survived.  Survived the whirlwind of being woken by a three year old projectile first thing in the morning.  Survived mealtimes feeding the littl’n in addition to ourselves.  Mike kept his ministrations to above the waist, Kim was involved in the more intimate areas.  A loud call of “Nye Nye, please wipe my bottom” caused an outbreak of instant deafness in Mike should Kim not be within hearing distance whilst the threat of a nappy (or diaper) change usually resulted in Mike being suddenly required to tighten a loose screw in a door.  At times it became necessary to even loosen a couple of screws in readiness.

Play times were of course fun.  A cardboard box kept them amused for three days.

A sudden late fall of snow provided a diversion from the television

A local production by the Florentine Opera Company of Jack and the Beanstalk enthralled everyone, including George who sat on Granddad’s lap throughout fascinated.

Of course, whenever Kim and Mike visit, there’s a project or two that need to be completed and this time was no exception.  Kim made and fitted five ‘Roman blinds’ (no Mike didn’t know what they were either)  which now grace the windows of the sitting room.

A Wendy house was requested but that proved a little ambitious give the limitations of time and tools so a compromise was reached to modify the existing climbing frame.  It seems to work and Leilani immediately moved in a selection of necessary accoutrements.

Now it’s over.  Grandchildren and family left behind, memories and photos brought with them.  During the month that they were in Milwaukee George grew five teeth, learned to crawl and to stand up unaided, and to develop the first three words of his vocabulary (Mum, Dad and car).  Leilani learned about elephants, practiced writing her name and helped to plant flowers.  A final dinner and it’s away to Toronto to catch up with some more family.

Elephants and Ponies

It’s not really clear why there are three African elephants in Indiana, nor why their names are Makia, Lovey and Lou.  That they spend part of the year in Florida, a thousand miles away, is also not clear.  But there they were, and Leilani got the job of applying oil to their toenails.  No, don’t ask why it’s necessary.  Possibly to keep their feet in good condition, possibly just cosmetic.  At least it wasn’t bright red.

So where are we?  Between the oddly-named towns of French Lick and Paoli there’s a place known as Wilstem Ranch and all six of us stayed there for four days in a timber cabin in the woods.  It was Leilani’s first experience of elephants and although a little cautious of their size, applied her nail polishing skills with gusto.  Everyone else had the opportunity to hose down or otherwise polish an elephant, after which a ‘selfie’ was, of course de rigour!

Next day the adventure continued.  This time Leilani, and mum and dad Anna and John, took to riding ponies.  John had ridden before but it was a first for Leilani and Anna, although it didn’t seem very long before they had the animals responded to their commands – or maybe the ponies just knew what to do!

Now Kim and Mike had done this horse riding business last year in outback Australia and knew that there was a price to be paid in the nether regions.  They boldly volunteered to look after the little ones while mum and dad took to the hills.  It provided and opportunity to see the bison, zebras and goats, as well as the other horses, ponies and donkeys, and of course for Granddad and Nye Nye had their grandchildren to themselves for an hour or so.

Day three found us visiting the French Lick resort, which has recently completed a $600 million refurbishment.  Originally opened in 1902 capitalising on the local mineral spas, it sported the then largest dome in the world, some 200 feet in diameter.   It’s remains impressive today.  We avoided the casino, instead taking a scenic tram ride and easing the legacy of yesterday’s horse riding in a variety of rocking chairs.  Leilani enjoyed joining in with a large group of older children playing dodgeball, a game that none of us understood but that didn’t stop Leilani who simply made up her own rules.  The older kids were quite superb in the way they managed to include her in the game while keeping the rough and tumble just clear.

Our last day came all to soon.  Crossing the state border to Kentucky we visited Churchill downs, home of the annual Kentucky State Derby and enjoyed a gigantic smokehouse meal of ribs and various other dishes unfamiliar to Kim and Mike.

The final night of our stay found us around a camp fire, a first for Leilani and George.  As the temperature dipped to not far off freezing we found the fire to be essential for our outside meal.  Not the Mike bagged a spot closest to the warmth.

Kim of course found time to take lots of photos of wild flowers.  Just for once these will not be included – perhaps in a future blog if readers demand it.  It took nearly the whole day to drive back north to Milwaukee.  Back to routine for John, Anna, Leilani and George.  Back to a pile of washing for Kim and back to a building project for Mike.

A great break and two more States added to the list of our travels.

Indulgence

Possibly the main advantage of being a grandparent, is come the end of the day you can sleep soundly knowing that night time bottles, nappy changes, tantrums and other disturbances can be left to the parents.  Conversely, grandparents are permitted to buy entirely inappropriate presents, over-excite the little ones just before bedtime and produce sweets and treats whenever they feel like it.  Mind you, they know the problems of parenthood – they were the parents a generation ago.  Is it that they are getting they own back?

Kim and Mike don’t see their grandchildren too often.  It’s sixteen or so hours flying time and a huge time difference so Skype generally provides a poor substitute.  But now they are in Milwaukee, they make the most of their time with Leilani, age 3 and George, eight months.  Within hours of them arriving George had started to crawl and Kim lost no time in joining him on the floor

Leilani likes to help and soon showed her prowess with the broom clearing up after George’s dinner time.

Speaking of meals, George enjoys leading the fashion in wearing his meals almost as much as he does eating them.  At eight months the whole concept of eating is taken very seriously.

Easter Sunday and about 300 small children under 4 arrived for the Easter egg hunt.  Actually there were only about eight of them but it seemed like 300!  Industrial quantities of small plastic eggs had been scattered around the garden and with whoops of delight the toddlers set off with their baskets to retrieve their fair share of the hoard.  Not all eggs contained chocolate.  In the interest of parent sanity some were filled with small bags of sweets that could be rationed as appropriate while others contained small toys, possibly to divert attention from the chocolate. 

For the parents, lunch and drinks provided a welcome diversion before supervising of the younger ones and their food.  How the kids managed to eat anything after all that chocolate was nothing short of amazing.  Hopefully all of them retained their input!

To avoid confusion, Kim is known as Nye Nye, which is Chinese for Grandma, a spurious link to the past – Kim and Mike were married on Hong Kong.  Mum Anna and Dad John both have demanding careers and as Easter week is a holiday at kindy, Granddad and Nye Nye were left in charge for Monday and Tuesday.  Granddad aged visibly!

Tomorrow we’re all away to Indiana to spend a few days on a farm.  How we get on will be the subject of the next blog.  Until then, this is a tired but happy Granddad signing off.

The Empire Builder

An Amtrak train known as the Empire Builder starts in Seattle, progresses north towards the Canadian border then turns east before gently edging south finishing in Chicago.  The journey of some 2,000 miles takes two days and two nights, passing through six States and three time zones. 

We’ve travelled by train across America twice before and enjoy this relaxed form of transportation.  Views from the window can be spectacular, especially when crossing the mountain range that follows the western seaboard.  Slowly climbing upwards through the dense pine forests amongst snow covered mountain peaks in Washington State, the railroad tracks cling to cuttings blasted from rock, cross icy cold melt water streams tumbling over rocks, traverse iron trellis bridges and pass through pitch black tunnels. 

It’s difficult to tear one’s gaze from the window but breakfast is announced and the first decision of the new day is what to eat for breakfast in the dining car.  Over breakfast we cross the border into Idaho but apart from a small sign there’s little else to distinguish the change.

We pass through the tiny settlement (one hotel and a few houses) of Essex in Montana before descending to undulating countryside to make a late morning stop at Havre, where we briefly depart the warmth of the train for some fresh air. 

On we travel through the seemingly endless farmland of North Dakota and Minnesota.  The train rumbles on, the scenery changes little and we are lulled into a state of sleepy euphoria until it’s time for dinner.  The dining car serves up an excellent steak and despite our claimed good intentions we both succumb to strawberry shortcake desert.  Then it’s back to our cabin for another rest before turning in for the night.

Next morning, as we cross the border into Wisconsin, the landscape becomes greener and dairy cattle are spotted from the windows.  The train stops at Milwaukee which is a bonus for us as we can ‘detrain’ as we are informed by the conductor, rather than going the entire way to Chicago.  Anna and new grandson George are there to meet us and suddenly the journey is done and we are delighted to arrive. 

Later, Granddaughter Leilani is collected from Kindy and there’s quite a bit of excitement about presents brought from Australia.  We’re here for a month and plan to enjoy it.

Across the Pacific

I’d not planned on writing a blog for this trip.  For a start we’re not in Vin Rouge our Land Rover and secondly, we’re not in Australia.  But I received a number of requests about writing one even before we left so here we go with the unintended blog.

Everything was going according to plan.  We were packed ready on time (probably for the first time ever), the taxi picked us up with no delay, check in went smoothly, we had time for checking out the duty free shop at Brisbane International and even for a leisurely coffee before the flight was called.  The flight to Los Angeles left on time and apart from the lack of legroom in QANTAS cattle class, we happily settled in to watching some movies and tried to doze for the next thirteen hours.  Our noise cancelling headphones, although not completely effective, do reduce considerably the background noise from the four engines that propel the 747 along at a ground speed approaching 500 kph.  We were happy to disembark at LAX and collect our luggage from the carousel ready for border protection checks and the onward domestic flight to Seattle.  Another three hours of flying and almost 30 hours without sleep and we again waited at another carousel for our baggage.  And it didn’t appear.  Only then did we discover that QANTAS had not provided us with the baggage check numbers.  Twenty four hours and a great many telephone calls later, we were once again reunited with the missing bags that had taken a side trip to San Francisco.  Ah, the joys of international travel.

A good night’s sleep and our bodily time clocks were some way towards catching up, or should that be falling behind.  Crossing the International Date Line means that one flies into the night, to greet the morning of the previous day.  In fact, arriving four hours in advance of leaving time.  I’m beginning to agree with the old Flanders and Swann opinion that ‘if God had meant us to fly, he would never have given us the railways!’ 

We wanted to make as much use of the time available to us in Seattle so after a quick check in at the hotel, it was hot foot to the Chihuly Glass and Garden museum.  Kim was keen to see the extraordinary and colourful artistic structures of glass, some under cover, many outside in the gardens.  We even saw a blob of molten glass moulded and blown into a delicate and elegant ribbed tumbler shape.

The displays was impressive to say the least.  Most were head height, some were three or even four times that size.  It was difficult to believe that they were actually made of coloured glass.

With just sufficient time before night fell, we made it to the top of the Space Needle, built for the 1962 World Fair.  At that time it was the tallest structure around.  Now it’s a bit dwarfed by tower blocks, but the view from the top is great.

Reasonably bright and early next morning found us at the Boeing factory where the larger jets are built.  These start off costing from $280 million and go up to about $350 million.  We couldn’t make up our minds which to go for so didn’t place an order. 

The building is huge, the largest by volume in the world.  Seeing a row of jumbo jets under construction looking like overgrown toys is rather mind blowing.  The scale of everything is staggering.

Our day finished with a trip underground.  In its early days Seattle was flooded regularly by high tides mixed with, let’s be polite and call it ‘waste’.  Finally the city father decided to raise the whole place some 30 feet which has left some parts accessible.  Early history of course is fascinating and brings to life tales of the ‘wild west’.  Mostly our guide seemed to be concerned with toilets and brothels.  Educating.

Knackered, we hit the sack.

Wednesday we mostly walked, taking in the sights, sounds and smells of the Pike Place Markets and harbour.  Interesting.  They do seem to have their own names for some vegetables.

Late afternoon and we should have boarded the train.  However, a mud slip had closed the track and so the first part of the journey took place on a bus.  It’s now late evening.  Our cabin on the train has been converted for sleeping and so I’ll finish here.  G’night all.

Vin Rouge is getting some TLC

Have you ever tried to replace the ball joint at the bottom of the steering drop arm?  It seems easy enough.  Clean off the gunk, drop out the old, pop in the new.  Job done.  Except that it doesn’t work like that.  The steering on Vin Rouge was getting a bit iffy on the last leg of our trip and, as usual after extended travelling, I made up a list of those jobs that needed doing together with modifications and improvements I thought might be a good idea.

Top of the list was the front end, all to be done together.  The bumper came off easily enough, as did the spotlights, ‘A’ bar, steering guard, radiator and all the pipes.  It was then that it became obvious that the steering damper was not in the best of health and the ball joint was playing host to quite a large amount of the Northern Territory. 

Replacing the damper took a mere ten minutes.  Two coffees were required to consider how to break out the steering joint and the combined efforts of wedge, hammer and blowlamp did the trick.  Cleaning up was messy, but necessary, which naturally moved on to fitting the new ball joint.  Popping in the ball and loosely connecting it to the drop arm was simple.  That left the small matter of the spring and a circular plate, held in place by a circlip.  Now I’m sure that Land Rover sell a special (probably very expensive) tool for the job but I didn’t have one.  Attempt one using a couple of G cramps resulted in failure and flying springs.  Attempt two with a single G cramp and a couple of metal tubes met with similar results.  I thought I’d try a different approach with attempt three and used a jack.  All that happened was the Land Rover was raised.  That’s a seriously powerful spring in there!  Attempt four was delayed whilst more coffee was consumed.  A couple of metal plates together with a couple of bolts that should compress the spring was the general idea.  Wrong.  The makeshift tool simply bent.  However, the idea did seem to have some merit so the makeshift tool was remade using thicker metal reinforced with pieces of Australian Ironwood.

Attempt five - success.  With everything clamped up nicely the circlip slipped into place with ease.  Shame it took nearly all day.  Happily the new radiator with all its attachments, and the new front bumper with all its attachments went together easily.  The next job is to cut off the whole rear end of the chassis and weld in a new piece.  Seems easy enough . . . .

With the front looking respectable and the inside now more or less free of red dust it’s time to tackle the back end.  Vin Rouge spent its early years in the UK and suffered from the salting of roads during the British winters.  The result was an infestation of rust worm in the back end of the chassis.

Early one morning the delivery courier arrived struggling with an ungainly and heavy chunk of steel that masquerades as a heavy duty rear cross member.  In theory this is easy to fit as it comes with all the attachments.  All that’s needed is to cut the two longitudinal chassis rails and weld in the new piece.  Of course it doesn’t work quite like that.  But first it’s the application of two coats of RustGuard for added protection and leave it in the sun for a couple of days to harden off. 

Preparation started with the application of liberal quantities of WD40 to every nut and bolt.  After a week of this twice daily treatment nearly all of the bolts could be loosened and so the long-range fuel tank was drained and removed, the spare wheel carrier and towing gear taken off, the batteries disconnected, all the cables pulled back out of the way and the rear wheels removed to provide working space.  Day one passed reasonably uneventfully.

Fortunately, youngest son Alex has a friend who owns and is extremely competent using his plasma cutter and MIG welder, so come the weekend we got to work.  The last few bolts came out and the plasma cutter was employed to cut though the first chassis rail.  No problems.  Must be time for coffee.  The second rail has the added complexity that the main cable harness runs inside it (how do they build the thing like that?) and so it was necessary to cut the chassis rail behind the harness, then insert some heat protection before cutting the second rail to match the first.

After some rough trimming and cleaning of the exposed metal we were in a position to trial-fit the new part, except that it didn’t fit.  Land Rover’s precision to the nearest quarter inch was clearly in vogues and so various bits had to be removed from the new piece before we could finally get it into place.  Cue break for more coffee and some sandwiches.

Our very own pyrotechnic display soon had the back end looking tidy and the new rear cross member was bolted into place and spot welded.  That cable harness was giving some cause for concern as it would be hidden behind the place where the welding would take place.  We’d used a couple of rolls of electrical tape as sacrificial protection so far but felt that a something a little more substantial would be needed – just in case.  The solution was found in a length of bamboo cut and split lengthways then taped around the cable harness.  It worked!  Celebrate with more coffee.

Welding took time.  First a section on one side of the chassis was welded and while that cooled a section on the other side was done.  After that it was a matter of welding back the bits we had to cut off to make everything fit.  Come the end of the day, the chassis was whole again.  Cue for beer – we’d had enough coffee.

Next morning a trial-fit of the fuel tank revealed that it didn’t, so modifications were required to the fixing brackets and that completed the cutting and welding. 

Three coats of RustGuard later and the underside was beginning to look as it should.  It was time to reinstall the fuel tank.  It did go back – eventually – after a lot of pushing and shoving, accompanied by a steady stream of invectives.  Cables were connected and much to my amazement, everything worked.

Several coats of protective wax/oil stuff was sprayed inside and outside the chassis, after which the wheels went back on, new mudflaps were fitted and the job was done. 

Waking up the following morning I had rather en empty feeling.  There was nothing more to do on Vin Rouge.  At least until the next time.