Day 13, Friday, August 17, 2018 - Red River Exhibition Park, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Day 3

Calling the Troops to Dinner!

Friday, August 17, 2018 - Red River Exhibition Park, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Day 3, 0 Miles, 1,571.6 Miles for the Trip

Another day, another day talking with Verizon. At least this time it was actual talking with someone that wasn't reading answers from a script. I discovered that my "Beyond Unlimited" (how can you be beyond unlimited?) plan, that on paper offers the same coverage and data limits in Canada as it does in the US actually doesn't. Although two different help chat individuals told me to ignore the "You have used your .5GB of data, and if you want .5GB more, pay $5.00" message that arrived on my Jetpack. There really is a .5GB per day limit, even with the beyond plan for each device on the plan when in Canada or Mexico. The interesting thing about the pay more message is it tells you to say yes if you want to buy the additional data. The Jetpack has 3 buttons in the message window - "up" "down" and "delete", none of which seem to say yes...

Tony, the most knowledgeable Verizon help desk individual I talked with said this was the first time he had a Jetpack user ask how to buy more time & he tried a number of things, none of which worked. We found solutions for the iPad & iPhone, but not the Jetpack. So, I am now posting some of the pages with the iPhone, some with the Jetpack, and the rest with the iPad, using tethering on the phone & iPad. Each has a .5GB daily limit, so I can actually put the pages out, but it is a bit of a PIA.

Anyway, enough griping. It was a cool night, getting down to 50°F, but after throwing on a blanket at 4:00AM, I was comfortable. The cold morning was great since I planned to bake a blueberry pie & the oven heats up the trailer. Finished the pie around 10:00, then wandered around taking more photos. After that it was back to the trailer to relax, and wait for the Beef on a Bun dinner. Of course I took photos of that as well. Both groups are added to the Boler 50th Anniversary page. Scroll down to Friday for a link to scrollable photos.

Dinner was the Beef on a Bun with blueberry pie for dessert.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 12, Thursday, August 16, 2018 - Red River Exhibition Park, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Day 2

Thursday, August 16, 2018 - Red River Exhibition Park, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Day 2, 0 Miles, 1,571.6 Miles for the Trip

Well, I thought Verizon solved my speed problem, but it only stayed fixed for a couple of hours. Last night the connection slowed down to the point where I couldn't even load this page. Even worse, I attempted to load a group of photos of the Boler 50th using Lightroom's web page generator. Nice in that you can scroll from large image to large image without going back to he thumbnails, but very bloated cascading style sheet format. That completely froze up the works for the night.

I am posting this Friday morning, and hoping to get back on the phone with Verizon.

I did my photo presentation at 2:00, and I guess it went OK. They provided a digital projector, and the images were barely usable due to the amount of light in the corner of the tent I was in, but I hope I got across the idea of taking your camera out of the program mode for more creative images.

We had a nice wine & cheese gathering during the afternoon. An excellent smoked Gouda cheese was among the many samples provided by Bothwell Cheese.

Diner was Bubba Burgers and mixed vegetables.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 11, Wednesday, August 15, 2018 - Red River Exhibition Park, Winnipeg, Manitoba

The Most Unusual Boler So Far

Wednesday, August 15, 2018 - Red River Exhibition Park, Winnipeg, Manitoba, 31.2 Miles, 1,571.6 Miles for the Trip

We had a pleasent, but bumpy trip to the Red River Exhibition Park & The Boler 50th Rally. The loop road around Winnipeg was especially lumpy, but we are here with everything intact. We checked in without problems, and are in our sites, parked with the doors facing each other. Dry camping, and it is hot. The fan is running full speed, keeping the trailer liveable, but it is better sitting outside in the breeze, which is strong enough to make my awning automatically retreat. At least I now know that the auto feature is working!

After setting up we headed for the local Walmart to pick up a few supplies. Blueberries were on sale, so I bought enough to make a pie that we will share with some of the other trailers next door. The top cover of the blueberry containers doesn't fit all that well. Have you ever seen an entire pint of blueberries spill through the bottom of the shopping cart, onto the floor, and under the feet of a couple of shoppers? I have...

I made an early round of some of the trailers. There are enough that it will be impossible to get photos of everyone, so I'll just catch what I can. I did have to take a photo of a beautifully restored 1969 Camero convertible, since I had one when I finished up my tour in Tacoma after Viet Nam.

I don't know how well I'm going to be able to post photos and web pages. While the tower is about 50' from my trailer, I have 4 bars & -86dBm on the Bell network, the data rate is too slow to use a speed test, and it took over 1/2 an hour to load 26 photos, including one that I had to reload after we got back from shopping that took 4 tries. I tried connecting to Verizon to see why I am getting an ad to buy .5GB slices of high speed data when they both told me & texted me that my US limits applied to use here in Canada. I even chatted with a Verizon rep at 6:00AM this morning (about the only time the internet was moving at all) and he confirmed that I had full coverage. Right now I have been watching the Verizon home page trying to load for the last 15 minutes.

I finally contacted Verizon chat using my iPhone, and after 2 hours "chatting" with Miguel for 2 hours, got switched to the secont tier help. Not sure what they did, but I now have usable service.

We went to the opening ceremonies, and wandered around looking at more trailers during the early evening. More photos will eventually appear on a page dedicated to the Boler Rally, but not until I have time to put it together. I hope to get one together later tonight.

Dinner was a wrap at a food truck. Too hot to cook, at least that ws our excuse.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 10, Tuesday, August 14, 2018 - The Arrowhead RV Park, Ile Des Chenemb, Manitoba

Site 19

Tuesday, August 14, 2018 - The Arrowhead RV Park, Ile Des Chenemb, Manitoba, 141.2 Miles, 1,540.4 Miles for the Trip

We took our time getting out of the campground since we only had around 150 miles to our next stop. All of the drive was on secondary roads in both the US & Canada. We stopped to top off the gas tanks in Warroad, and crossed the border at the Sprague crossing on MN 133. No problems with the crossing and no wait.

We are in sites 18 & 19, pulled in in the opposite directions so we face each other. The doors don't line up since they are fairly short pull through sites and we didn't unhook. Fairly level - I only needed an Anderson under one wheel for about a 1/2" gain on one side. I needed a long hose to reach the water, but my regular power cord just made it to the pedestal. The sites are full hookups on gravel for $38.12 Canadian ($29.02 US), including $3.00 for fairly slow WiFi.

Speaking of communication, my Verizon Jetpack & phone are working fine, but no connection on my AT&T phone even though Anne's AT&T iPhone is connecting fine. Her plan is charging $.35 per minute, while mine is suppose to be free. I guess free only works on paper, not in real life. I did try restarting the phone, turning on international roaming, etc, but it is dead.

I finally got annoyed enough to call AT&T technical support.  The automated system told me I had a minute wait, so 11 minutes later I ended up on the phone with John. Between the two of us, we determined that my SIM card in the iPhone 10, which was switched form my previous iPhone 5 was defective and had to be replaced to work in Canada.  Unfortunately, the nearest AT&T store in Canada is in Toronto.  While I could make a run back to the US, I will just have to rely on my Verizon devices, which are functioning fine.  He was willing to FedEx a new SIM, but I won't really have an address when at the rally.  So, a stop at a AT&T store will be in the future, unfortunately, after we leave Canada.

Anne was not able to connect to my Verizon Jetpack because of the distance, so I fired up my WiFi repeating system that I usually use for distant WiFi stations, connected it to my Verizon Jetpack 12" away, and provided a stronger signal for Anne. A bit silly since the repeater (a Ubiquiti-Nanostation) will reach out & connect with another WiFi system a mile away, but it works.

Dinner was a pasta & chicken dish Anne created, along with applesauce.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 9, Monday, August 13, 2018 - Lake of the Woods Campground, Baudette MN, Day 2

The Clementson Rapids

Monday, August 13, 2018 - Lake of the Woods Campground, Baudette MN, Day 2, 0 Miles, 1,399.2 Miles for the Trip

A warm night, and too much light from a nearby streetlight to see any of the meteor shower. We hung around for much of the morning doing nothing, then headed to Clementson, MN about 6 miles east of Baudette to see the Clementson Rapids, a feature in a pamphlet Anne found, that was noted as being very "photographic". Well, maybe when there is a bit more water in the creek, but not too exciting today. Still, I took a couple of photos with the iPhone 10, the rest at today's LakeshoreImages page.

On the way back we stopped at Baudette for the last of our US shopping for a week.

Back at the campground we sat out and read, slapping biting flies. Eventually, both Don & I got out our Harbor Freight electric fly zappers and had a blast zapping them. We must have killed hundreds, but they kept coming. The even got even during dinner, biting us on the legs under the picnic table where it was impossible to swat or zap them.

Dinner was baby back ribs, some corn on the cob dropped off by a local gardener (along with a couple of very nice tomatoes and a pepper), a salad, and pirogies.

Until Tomorrow -