Good morning from Silty Slough, everyone. I slept in this morning, let the fire go out but there is little change in the indoor temperature, about 68. The outside temp changed big time overnight. I knew it would be good when I turned the porch light on and saw snow falling. It is 35 degrees warmer than last night. Plus 10 degrees now. I started a fire in the stove, turned on the burner for the coffee pot, and started this post. The women woke up had some coffee and Jess started breakfast. Bacon, scrambled eggs, home baked sourdough toast, with a glass of tomato juice for $13.75 plus tip.
Moose in the middle.Prime rib and shrimp turned out excellent.
After breakfast I made a swing by the outhouse in my pj bottoms, t shirt, and Crocks. Figured I might as well try the heater one more time since I’m out strolling around. I plugged it in and pressed the power button. No 33 error code yet, it should appear in a couple seconds. But heater lit off, no code. I guess it was too cold for the overheat sensor to operate properly yesterday. Cancel that parts order. I don’t need no stinking repair parts now.
Jess spotted a moose across the river. I took a picture. It is the tiny black dot in the center of the frame. I titled it “Moose in the middle”.
With the warmer weather I should cross some things off my to do list.
Check the generator diesel tank quantity
Replace the shock in the rear suspension on my snow go
Dig out my freight sled
Water solar batteries
Carry in wood
Treadmill
That’s all crossed off. I’ll get to them later today or tomorrow.
Maybe time to take a nap so I can stay awake until midnight New York time.
From the Silty Slough, I hope everyone has a Great New Year!!
Lunch stop near Wisconsin, Dells. Maybe closer to Camp Douglas. Kubota buckets top loaded nice. Redline Systems Hutchinson, MNThe picture says it. No caption necessary.Trophy moose sighted near my hotel in Saskatoon.Starlink Mobile
The View from the Outhouse
Greetings everyone, it’s been a few days since I have checked in, more than 270 I think. I’m writing this from the road in Edmonton, Alberta.
I had a few free days so I decided to fly to Indiana to pick up the truck and trailer that has been down there since before the Covid hoax.
The cabin addition is coming right along but that’s for another post.
Wednesday June 7
Kari took me to the airport for my 10pm departure for a six and a half hour flight to Ohare and picked up our grandson Thor arriving from Hawaii.
Thursday June 8
Arrived at O’hare on time, then waited an hour and a half for the gate. Got to baggage claim and for the first time in my flying life my bag was the first one on the belt. I may have a chance for the 1015 South Shore train to Indiana. Hopped on the Blue Line to the Washington Street station. Took the pedway to Millennium Stataion. The 1015 train left a few minutes ago so now a wait for the 1238. So for breakfast I had my first Chicago Dog that I’ve had in a long long time. Arrived at the Gary station and everyone is getting off. End of the line for now due to upgrades on the track. So it’s a bus for the last leg to Dune Park where Jim Long is waiting for me. Picked up the truck at Anderson Automotive where John had serviced all the fluids.
I type a few words and my phone completes what I’m trying to say. I typed “The View” and the phone completed the rest. Is the the artificial intelligence that has been in the news lately? And all this time I thought artificial intelligence came out of a bottle.
Friday June 9
I had planned to leave on Sunday morning, but the woman added a stop, so now I need to leave Saturday afternoon. Lots to do. On the road before 6 for a quick trip to White Pigeon, MI to a RV surplus place to get a couple spare tires for the trailer. Back to Costco for food for the trip. Boiled eggs, ham, sausage, cheese, lemon juice, ginger beer, vodka, and root beer which will be the majority of my diet for the next week and a half. Then to Home Depot for some ratchet straps and a DeWalt drill and driver set in case I need to screw things down for the trip. On to Michigan City for a couple Chicago Dogs then to Valpo to see Mark, Jess, and the granddaughters. Picked up a solar powered vent fan for the greenhouse that Amazon Prime wouldn’t ship to Alaska. A stop at Tractor Supply for a fuel transfer pump. Back to North Judson to see my friends at NAPA. Joe had some filters and parts for me. He also had a Milwaukee drill driver set that was only a little more than the DeWalt I just bought so I got one of those. Never can have too many drills. At the Longs I moved the trailer down to the shop and unloaded everything that was loose so it could be reloaded for the ride north. I’m too tired to load everything today so it is time to break out the lemon juice and have a Moscow Mule, some pizza, and a nap. Funny thing a Moscow Mule has nothing to do with Russia or mules.
Saturday June 10
Time to load up this box on wheels and get ready to hit the road. About 3 hours Jim and I had everything loaded and secured. What does one haul to Alaska you ask?
A 1974 Corvette, 2 large cookers for Jess to cook bear bait on, tools for the road, a desk that Kari’s dad made, 2 spare trailer tires, an extra spare for the truck, filters, parts, a mirror for the cabin, 4 antique sewing machine frames, and an assortment of other treasures. Air the tires, fuel the truck, get a dozen doughnuts from Fingerhut Bakery and it is about time to leave. Another quick trip to NAPA for last minute items which I promptly drove off and left in Jim’s truck. I’m really sad to go this time because I’m missing the North Judson Firemen’s Fish Fry by about 4 hours. Then it’s through downtown Chicago on to the northwest side of Milwaukee to pick up 13 garbage bags of quilting fabric for the woman. On to Madison Holiday Inn via Johnson Creek Outlets where there is a discount tool store. Disappointed that they didn’t have anything I couldn’t live without. Feeding on doughnuts and food out of my cooler today.
Sunday June 11
Heading north up US12 to Wisconsin Dells. Stopped for fuel when walking around the big rig I saw a screw in the trailer tire. Checked the pressure and it was only down slightly. I aired it up and decided to head on to the next rest stop and change it. I didn’t want people watching the old guy changing it at the gas station. Just when I pulled in the rest stop it started to rain. I googled “tire repair near me”. It’s Sunday and everyone is closed except one guy about 6 miles behind me. I called and he said to bring it down. 8 miles to next exit make a U and 14 miles back. He plugged it and said $20. I thought that was an awful lot so I gave him $30. On to Hudson, Wisconsin and a stop at Fleet Farm where I got a canner and jar lids for the woman. I fuel up here and headed around the north side of Minneapolis to St Cloud Holiday Inn. Cory’s uncle and aunt met me to give me some things to take to him, a table saw, Arctic Cat parts, and other treasures. They also had Arctic Cat parts they had picked up for me.
Monday June 12
This morning I’m headed 50 miles south to Redline Systems in Hutchinson, MN to pick up a quick attach bucket, a rock bucket, and a set of quick attach forks for the Kubota. We loaded them on top of the fuel tank and travel box in the bed of the pickup. Hope customs doesn’t want to look in the travel box. Matt the owner wanted to know what else I was hauling to Alaska. I told him a Corvette. What year? 74. It isn’t red is it? Yes. Do you want to sell it? Do you want to be named co-respondent in a divorce case? I could load you up with buckets to sell in Alaska. Next trip. Off to Devils Lake, North Dakota. I could see the tallest structure in North America a TV tower north of Fargo. Most days you can’t see it from I-29 and I was surprised with the haze from the fires in Canada. It doesn’t look that tall from 15 or 20 miles away. Al and I drove by it on one trip. It looks very tall from the base. Up to Grand Forks and a fuel stop. On to Devils Lake on US 2 I saw a couple billboards and a semi advertising “Home of Economy” tools and hardware. As I rolled into Devels Lake there it was Home of Economy, I had to stop. I was barely in the door and my phone rang, the woman on the wire. Where are you? I figured it would be easier to tell her I was in a strip club than a tool store but I fessed up. “Put the tools down. Step away from the register”. I’ve had interventions like this before. I did find a better pump than I bought at Tractor Supply for $70 cheaper and should have bought it but didn’t.
Tired of eating out of the cooler so I found a steakhouse with a large parking lot for the big rig and had a nice meal.
Tuesday June 13
I was on the road by 630 headed to the next Home of Economy in Minot. The woman won’t be up this early in Alaska. Bought the items that I left in Jim’s truck. It’s about 80 miles or so to the border at Portal. 6 or 8 questions at customs. How long in Canada. Where do you live. Any alcohol. Yes. Any tobacco, firearms, ammo, canibus. No. $10,000 or more in cash? Are you kidding. What’s the black thing in the pickup bed? Kubota buckets and a nuclear reactor. Ok, have a nice day. Up the road to Moose Jaw and an early finish for the day.
Wednesday June 14
Another early start. I saw a Starlink antenna like I have at the cabin mounted in the back of an oilfield pickup in the hotel parking lot. Wonder if it works on the move.
I ate my last Fingerhut doughnut this morning on the way to Saskatoon where the traffic was bad, delayed a total of 7 minutes. Doughnut was a little crunchy but ok. Waste not, want not. Stopped in North Battleford with the fuel low light on. No problem. It’s time to start using out of the hundred gallon tank. Hooked it up to the truck battery, no workey. I knew I should have bought that other pump at the tool store. I wiggled the wires and it is ok. Glad the syphon hose is in the yellow box that is under 600 pounds of Kubota buckets.
Stop at Lethal Sports in Lloydminster Alberta to pick up a part for the Prowler. One of the few places in the world they had one.
Across Canada they have cardlock fueling points operated by various oil companies. The fuel is cheaper and accessible 24/7. One is UFA, United Farmers of Alberta. I tried to get a card from them years ago. Didn’t happen so I forgot about it. I saw UFA prices listed on the GasBuddy app so I decided to pull into the one at Vermillion. I told the lady there I needed a card. She said easy peasy, took my info to enter in the computer and said that a card would be in the mail. She also said if I wanted to fuel today I could use one of their cards if I would return it. Worked great. I can’t believe that I’m getting a card now that I’m in the Autumn of my Alcan trips. Maybe I will have to start hauling and selling Redline buckets.
It was raining when I got to the Holiday Inn at Edmonton Airport. I normally don’t come this way. Usually take the backroads and completely bypass the city. Too many cars. My brother Ed is flying up from California to join me for the rest of the adventure.
I didn’t feel like making another trip to the truck in the rain so I opted to have a steak salad at the hotel restaurant. Plenty of time to forage from the cooler the next 3or 4 days.
The View from the Outhouse 