The Apparently Never Ending Truck Adventures

I don't think I have mentioned a thing about my truck adventures so far, but they are apparently not over.

On my last trip with the F150 and the camper into the States (just before going to South Africa) I had quite a few truck problems resulting in several trips to various garages and some significant amount of time and money (and head ache) put into it. I decided that it was really getting to the point where I didn't trust the F150 anymore and I needed to buy another truck.

I bought another truck. Now I realize that it sounds easy enough and it fits nicely into a 4 word sentence but it was a whole world of nightmares as I bought something second hand.

I put the camper on it - Right there another simple enough statement but it wasn't without some difficulties as the truck is a totally different model and the jacks were too short to put the camper into the box in one go.

The old F150 was in good enough shape when it didn't have to carry the camper, or so I thought, and I decided to keep it and use it to bop around. I had new spark plugs and U-joints put in and was ready to drive North when the transmission, the transmission transfer case etc just blew up. I sold the truck and flew North instead. It turns out that the yoke was bent and when the U-joints were changed and everything had to go back straight in the way it should be it just blew apart.... while I was at 120km/hr on the trans-Canada highway.... but honestly considering the damage it was amazingly undramatic. The only thing was that I was hurrying to get to M's ballet lesson, but in the end I didn't miss it.

By then I had gotten used to the idea of having an old beater to mess around and, possibly unwisely, I bought a very cheap old truck from somebody I know in Calgary. It's a 1991 Chev Cheyenne 2500, used to be white but all the paint is pretty much gone and it is now grey , color of the metal under the primer.
I knew there was some issues with it: it has no spare tire and no tail pipe, issues easily fixed, it seems to be stuck in 4X4 all the time, and the clutch was pretty stiff and on its way out. I had hope that I could drive it until summer with a stiff clutch, BUT..... I drove 400 kilometers (250 miles) and.......

But I was lucky, on my drive North there are several stretches with no garages:
170km/100 miles from Westlock to Slave Lake,
500km/300 miles from Slave Lake to High Level
570km/350 miles from High Level to Fort Smith
...and this happened in Westlock, just across the road from the Westlock Inn and I was able to turn into a parking lot. So there was some significant good luck factors in that otherwise bad luck event.

So I am at the Westlock Inn, hopefully just for a couple of nights.

I'm in Canada

Well, I was concerned about my second boarding pass but I seriously underestimated the amount of problem I would have with that. I had 5 hours to sort it out and it took 4 hours and 50 minutes to get it done, and even then it only gone done thanks to Air Canada who agreed to let me fly even though at that point my ticket problem was not sorted out. They felt sure that they would be able to sort it out at the end of the day, long after the plane was gone. I am SO grateful for that.

.... Mostly it is a long boring story......

I just conclude from it that I will, from there on, avoid flying with South African Airways if I can... and usually I can, it just takes to fly though Frankfurt and fly with Lufthansa instead of flying through Heathrow.

In Transit

Alright, I am inside the O R Tambo airport in Jo'burg. I have passes security and passport control. So so far so good. However I did not get my boarding pass for my second flight, the one to Canada. I gave myself time, enough time I think, but......

Sunny warm day here, th cold front is over. It is nice to leave Jo'burg on a nice day.

Comment from a Police Woman in South Africa

I am on a road trip, randomly driving across South Africa. I have to say that I have seen more police on this road trip than any previous ones here. There seem to be a lot more speed traps (hurray!!) and road blocks to check for driver's license (another big "Hurray!!").

Today I was stopped at one of those road blocks. It was a police woman (Yet another "Hurray!"). When she saw my road atlas opened on the seat next to me she asked "where are you from?".  I answered and she said "You are here alone? Where is your lover?".

Yep, "Where is your lover?" not my husband, boyfriend, sister or anything else.... my lover!!!

Quite a few answers came to mind. I can't remember exactly what I said but kept it to something like "No, I am alone".
From my experience culturally, South Africans do not get "alone" or "silence" (though I would add that San people do seem to get both "silence" and "alone" but I am not the expert), so I get that kind of comments a lot but usually not from the police. On the plus side (and yes another big "Hurray!" for that one) she never asked for a bribe, and that's always a bonus. And, for the record, yes, I have been asked for bribes by the South African police, but not on this trip. Maybe things are getting better.

Though, a few weeks back, driving home after a found raising dinner I had been to a police car blew through a stop sign without their lights on. I don't mean their flashing lights, I meant their head lights, at ten at night. And the husband of the friend I was with said: "One of the charm of South Africa is that the police is part of the problem". I don't know him nearly at all, but he does not come across as sarcastic, and this comment in particular did not sound sarcastic. So maybe things are not getting better. I don't know.

Gorgeous Weather as Expected

That is the one thing about Jo'burg: the weather is always gorgeous.

This is where I am staying right now. Then I will house-sit for a friend, then I am moving to another place etc etc.

One Small Piece of Good News

My bag actually arrived yesterday, so 24 hours after me.
I was so impressed. I have to admit that getting my bag does make life a lot easier.

I'm There

Alright, I am in South Africa but unfortunately my bag isn't!
I am still hopeful that it may catch up to me in the next few days but just the same I can't help but wish I hadn't packed my favourite pair of pants etc.

It is not a train wreck, I never pack anything I cannot be totally without in my checked in luggage.

As expected my cell phone number had expired so I have a new phone number. So far for some reason I haven't been able to call Canada with my new cell phone number. Right now it is 3:00am here so I have to wait but tomorrow I will make sure that international calls are not blocked.

More Buffaloes

I don't need to mention again that I like buffaloes.

I went somewhere where you get to feed them. The big guy came right to me and ate out of my hand... as did some females before he arrived. He would grab the hay pellets with his tongue just like a giraffe. That was pretty neat. You can see his blue tongue below.

I enjoyed every minute of it and I didn't want to leave.

The question I mostly get about this post is: what are you feeding them. I was feeding them grass/hay pellets. Obviously they like them.

Another Brief Stop in Albuquerque

I stopped briefly in Albuquerque again, mostly to do a bit grocery shopping, and I manage to take the time to hike to the small volcanoes which are part of Petroglyph National Park.

Holbrook - Arizona, Meteor Crater and Gallup

I just downloaded pictures from my camera and realized how much I actually have done in the last little bit.

I spent a while in Holbrook, Arizona, and did day trips from it.
The first two pictures below are photo of Holbrook itself

And those are from the surroundings of Holbrook 

A Navajo hogan, below.

I also went to Meteor Crater. Mostly I went there because I wasn't far from it and because years ago, the only other time I was there, I could not afford the entrance fee. So this time I wanted to see it.

 This is what the area around the crater looks like. Beautiful settings really.

Then I went to Canyon De Chelly, a fantastic place.

Spent sometime in Gallup. And my big discovery there was the Saturday morning market on 9th street North. I highly recommend the visit. I ate some really good Lamb done in Navajo style and really got a better sense of the Four Corner people than anywhere else. I wish I had taken photos of the people but I don't like taking pictures of people, it feels somewhat disrespectful.

Salt River Canyon

The highlight of that part of the trip for me was Salt River Canyon. It was the worst and the best drive of this tip so far (though Colorado and its snow storms, both ways now, is coming pretty close second on the worst drive competition).
The first thing is of course that the cabin is by the Salt River (and the Slave River), so that made it special to me. The other thing about this drive is had I planned at all I would have realized that the roads were going to be too twisty and too steep to drive comfortably with the camper. But since it was a last minute turn off the most obvious route it ended up being a surprise....worth it though.

I promise you the photos do not do it justice. There was about 2,000 feet of elevation difference between the top of the canyon and the base. There was miles of 6% gradient, and 6% is a lot steeper than it sounds.

 See what I mean? this is the road I took going down.

The canyon looks a lot deeper than this is real life.

You can sort of see it in this photo... the day was overcast so the grey light does not help.

Some guy offered to take my picture, and since it was Salt River I thought it would be nice.

Organ Cacti and Some California Poppies

The next day I saw awesome looking organ cacti.

The first one I saw was at Pima's post office and I stopped to tak a photo not realizing that the rest of the day I would see many more.

There was gradually more and more by the side of the road, and then there was a forest of them on the side of a hill.... and no more, none at all after that hill.

This time of year the desert also had spots covered in California Poppies. Orange is my favourite colour so obviously I love California Poppies

Roper Lake State Park, Arizona

In the end I was quite happy about my missed turns since the little bit of driving and camping I did in Arizona was great. In fact this is where I had the only hot day I had over the entire trip. That was the day I stayed at Roper Lake State Park. A great spot and the lake attracts a lot of birds which was great.

You can see the camper in the distance on the photo below. I really a great camping spot.

 After a hot day, them mountains to the west (which had snow at the top) got rain and in them morning I could see that they also had a bit more snow. And eventually the rain reached us and it rained most of the night

Brief Stop in Las Cruces, New Mexico

I spent some time in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

I went to the Saturday morning farmers market.

Which happens to be right by a great second hand bookstore (CAOS...is their name) right on Main street.

And this is my favourite grocery store in Las Cruces. They have great fresh products at a good price and a deli counter/restaurant type thing with excellent Mexican food ... at least from my non initiated point of view)

Then I drove west intending to possibly end up at City of Rock State Park...but somehow I missed my turn TWICE. Well, once I missed it because I was at the time looking for a bank and passed the turn in the process, and once the signs somehow died out and sent me back on the interstate so I took it as fate not wanting me to go there,  and this is why I usually travel without plans. Anyway, I ended up in Arizona.

Internet and/or computer are difficult today that this will have to be for another post another day.

Brief Stop in Santa Fe, New Mexico

I passed the border near Glacier National Park and the first thing I saw was this statue by the side of the road.

I saw some buffaloes and of course stopped to take photos.

I stopped a Little Bighorn National Park

And now I am in Santa Fe.

Lots of good art in Santa Fe.