Kayaking in Duckweed soup
My return to Canada started with a stop in Lethbridge to visit some old friends. I returned to Calgary with a bunch of small fixes planned. I had a list of things to do in the next few weeks to enhance my future adventures. I was getting a motorcycle, a folding kayak, and an upgraded solar setup. Those things would allow me to explore my surroundings further, and be more independent of power while I was at it. But it was not to be a quick round of take my money and give me my stuff. These post COVID times have supply chain issues up the wazoo, nothing was going to be easy.
On further thought, there was one thing that was easy, that would be the folding kayak. All of a sudden “made in the USA” with locally sourced parts was worth gold and getting one of these puppies ordered and delivered was the easiest thing I did all summer. But more on that later.
I start with ordering stuff and setting up appointments, first being the motorcycle carrier I was putting on the front of the motorhome. I had done my calculations and figured a light motorcycle would not overtax the front suspension. Two weeks of waiting later, I had a top notch rack from Versahaul installed. I had decided I wanted to make sure the rack was going to work out before ordering the motorcycle, so two weeks into my stay I head over to Jack Carter Powersports and throw down my deposit on a 2023 Honda Grom. Now the long wait starts, best estimate: 3 months to get my bike.
“Old” (2020) vent
New roof vent
Despite being a 2020 build, my RV already had a broken roof vent. That is an easy fix, and since the vents are standard, also an easy buy. Really, the most difficult part of the job was removing the vent cover. It is all glued down with flex seal, so I had to get under there with a putty knife and work my way around it until it came loose, without breaking it! I was shocked how badly damaged the old vent door was. This thing is only two years old, and has been protected by a cover the whole time! I can only hope the replacement is more durable.
Filter at 30K
Another minor item on the maintenance list was an oil change and lube job. While the air filter was not yet at its recommended mileage to change, I changed that after seeing how dirty it was already. I had not done an oil change since my Honda Civic days, but I do have some basic car mechanical skills. I could wish for easier access on the Ford chassis. The oil cooler is right beside the filter, making changing the oil filter a pain as you have to get at it just right. You also make a mess, as oil dripping out from the filter tends to hit the components in the way. Part of why service is so expensive these days is that vehicles are not designed to be serviced easily. Greasing up the ball joints was a bigger pain even. Some were easy to access, some were difficult. One was impossible, at least not without a gun that has a flexible hose or 90 degree turn to get around the parts that were in the way of me applying my gun. But I got that done later, borrowing another gun to grease the one offending nipple. While I save a bit of money doing these basic maintenance items, the bigger issue is I don’t have to take my RV to a shop, which can be a bigger pain than taking your car in to be serviced.
All the service money I saved paid for a new camping chair
Not every shop can handle an RV, you usually need a shop that does heavy duty vehicles. Like everything else, getting a service appointment takes time too. I just prefer to do it myself on my own time, without all the hassle of taking it in, I’m not even saving myself much time paying someone for it anyways. I’m just happy I’m comfortable with a wrench for basic car stuff at least. If you want to learn how to perform a few basic mechanical maintenance items, what I did would be a good start.
There were some side adventures as well. I toured my old hood in Calgary, visiting my old schools. This is the greenhouse for Forest Lawn Highschool, only one in town so far as I know. I took both levels of horticulture in high school. I could have started working in a commercial greenhouse straight out of school, but the money isn’t good – I liked working with plants, but not at minimum wage.
I visited Bigelow Reservoir with a friend one day while staying in Didsbury. It is a nice day use park. Too bad, it would have made a nice boondocking spot.
Dogs not to scale, much closer than windmills
There were some cool old buildings falling down I got some pictures of too. Windmills and dogs were photographed for scale. Actually, not to scale – the dogs are still at least one quarter the distance the windmills are.
It’s no good paddling in the grass, but you get the idea.
The folding kayak showed up and I set it up. They claim you can set this thing up in two minutes, but I’d say more like ten if you’re trying to remember how everything folds. 
You can see folded, it is not very big. It actually sits at the foot of my bed folded up in the RV. Once you have done it a few times, it is not hard to unfold and turn into a boat. Getting it back into compact folded form can be difficult in the cold – best to lay it in the sun if you can.
First outing at La la Biche
The timing of the kayak showing up was great – I was heading to Lac la Biche for the July long weekend, perfect time to try it out. I was fortunate that the lake was calm. Lac la Biche is quite large and a bunch of waves would definitely have kept me off the water. The kayak performs great from my limited experience. I’ve only been kayaking once before in a regular rental kayak. But it is good enough for me, the wide middle give it stability for fishing. I may not glide through the water as fast, but the skeg does help a lot in keeping me tracking straight.
Pike from Ironwood
I even managed to catch fish from the kayak later on in a visit to Ironwood lake. This boat will definitely be great in the smaller lakes. I just can’t go travelling long distances on the big lakes. There must be some sacrifice for the portability of this thing. I can sling it on my back and haul it short distances even. I’m looking forward to using it more!
So that is pretty much my first month back in Canada for the summer. You can see I’m catching up to the fall, when I am writing this now. I’ll continue my summer story next time, including what part of the solar upgrade I managed. In the meanwhile, I’ll leave you with a picture of one of many great sunsets I saw while in Lac la Biche.
