2014 Leisure Travel Vans U24MB

2014 Leisure Travel Vans U24MB
2014 Leisure Travel Vans: Unity 24 Murphy Bed Photo from Triple E LTV Website: http://leisurevans.com

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Legless In Toronto!

Plans, What Plans?


Toronto From Welland Ontario
April 22 to 28

We arrived in Welland Ontario to the surprise of all our family as we had not updated anyone that they were on our visiting schedule!

Welland is on the "Welland Canal" system which connects the Great Lakes for commercial freighter traffic.  This is a nice community, made even nicer because our "Welland Family" is here.  

We went for a late dinner with Cousin's Rob & Cathy to the new Taris on the Water Restaurant on the Welland Canal!  

The following photos are from their FaceBook Page  we must say the food was excelled and this will be an amazing place for lunch, dinner or an appetizer and cocktail on the patio on a nice summer day!

This was the site of an old bar and was renovated over a year to the new Taris 

This is the view from the Taris Patio
This is the old Welland Canal and is now used for recreation

Taris is on the corner next to this old lift span bridge!
Beautiful Welland Canal!

Then met up with Cousin's Cindy & Pete where we stay on our visits, the best hosts who we love dearly and who open their house to all of the family every time we come to visit.

Cindy & Pete

We then had our traditional Pizza & Wings night, of course Todd & Julie know exactly where we order the party pizzas and extra, extra, extra crispy chicken wings!

Enjoying Pizza on our second night in Town.

Coco and Dutchess - Auntie Kay & Uncle Don's new charges!

We discussed our schedule and where we were going to "park" LTV Kozad; the plan was to put the unity in the laneway behind our daughter & husbands home in Toronto!

It was suggested that instead we just leave the motorhome parked in their driveway, they would drive us up to Toronto for our visit there!  Then we could return to Welland, pick up and continue on our way through Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.... then on to NewFoundland!  

So, on the 25th April off we went to Toronto and a visit with Kim & Chris and of course grandson Evan!  They put on a great lunch for all of us.


Kim serving up great smoked meat, sauerkraut and cheese sandwiches!
Oh yes, that would be Jan holding her favourite Evan!

Happy to see Gramma & Grampa!

Love You Gramma!

Nap Time!

Last Christmas Picture of daughter Kim, Chris & Evan!


Everything was going well and then took a turn for the worse as Craig's back went into crisis mode; resulting in a trip to the emergency room!  Decision was made to fly home to address once again this ongoing issue!

So on the 28th April it was off to the airport, into the wheelchair, onto the plane and home! 

Then once again, off to our hospital and recouping at home! So we may hopefully get back to Toronto and on to Nova Scotia to visit our son Andrew.  

Then it looks like the best course of action would be for us to head off back home to deal with Craig's back and unexpected but yet necessary medical appointments.

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This change of events was not totally unexpected! 

Jan had set up staging areas for us to leave our Motorhome 
in the event something like this might occur!

Life is Good!


Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Headed East Leg Three

Trying To Out Run Mother Nature!


April 20 to 22nd

Winkler MB to Welland ON
22 hours and 2200kms



As it was now noon when we left Winkler, we were not sure how far we wanted to drive today.  If it has been anything like our time in North of the Border we knew heading south was a good option to try and avoid the cold weather! 

Amazing how many trucks saw along the way, including an interesting transport carrying a bus without any suspension system down the highway!

Don't Blow Over or Take A Fast Turn!

Then on our way to the Canada/USA border, with the westerly wind once again blowing us towards the centre line it happened again!   

Back Again, two warning lights!

That darn warning light came on again!  ESP Visit Workshop!  

We looked at each other and thought, okay looks like we are headed north to Winnipeg to take care of this before we are really in trouble.

Craig called the Winnipeg Mercedes Benz Dealership and spoke with a service advisor and explained the two warnings which were flashing on our dash! 

The conversation went something like this:

Craig:  We are driving our 2014 MB 3500 chassis motorhome across Canada and we have two warning lights that came on.  One says ESP and the other is as symbol of a tire rotating!

Mercedes Benz:  Is it windy out!

C:   Yes it is really blowing.

MB: Is the steering wheel cranked to one side so you can try to keep straight!

C:  Yes, we have been fighting the wind for two days now!

MB: Don't worry about it.  Your electronic stability control is confused with the wind and how hard your steering wheel is cranked over to go straight.  No worries, once the wind dies down your system will reset itself and you are go to go!

C:  Thank you so much...

MB:  Your Welcome Sir, Enjoy your trip!

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And once again we headed south towards Chicago to try and outrun this weather!  

Crossing the border into the USA at the Pembina/Emerson crossing went smoothly.  Since we have been issued our Nexus Cards we have found travel much easier; in airports, crossing into the USA and re-entering Canada.  We were "boarded" by the US Border Official and he checked out our Unity and sent us on our way!

So, we kept heading south and thankfully the wind changed to a northerly and we were now getting a push instead of blowing directly against the side of the Unity!  Much better now driving, lucky Jan as we head south through North Dakota!  

Also our mileage became even better on these flat interstate roads, maybe it was the tail wind also says Jan, but in any event we were averaging 19mpg and  at times getting upwards to 22mpg.  Can't complain at all.

Finally the weather, still windy, changed and the sun came out when we were in Fergus Falls, Minnesota.


Finally by the time we reached Fergus Falls, the weather started to change!

Fergus Falls, Minnesota
See the flags flying straight!

This is a nice rest stop at Fergus Falls just off the Interstate!

In 1870 the town site was purchased for just over $100.00 

We continued on to spend the night in Monticello, Minnesota where we found a camp ground finally open!  We had experienced the pleasure of April travel where  almost if not all campgrounds, both private, provincial, state, municipal, etc, etc, were closed until May 15th.

Luckily the only campground we could find open was located right on the mighty Mississippi River!  Amazing!  It was called River Terrace Park Campground.

We have an app on our iPad called Allstays Camp & RV

For us this has been a great resource, the app does not require wifi nor cellular data to search for a place to stay, and you can locate yourself on the map.  My only want is that I wish you could input directions on the map to follow to the next campground.  

Great Camp Site On The Banks Of The Mississippi River!

We departed the next morning for Chicago!  We were hoping to find a place to stay somewhere before we reached those busy freeways.  This would allow us a rest before tackling the heavy traffic of Chicago.

And once again those strong winds, snow flurries and cold weather were with us!


This was one of those Extra, Extra Large Flags which was flying straight out!

More snow flurries along the way to Chicago

Nice Scenery south of Monticello, MN

Some interesting water towers along the way!

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We drove from Monticello through Minneapolis - Saint Paul following the I-94 and I-90 through Chicago.  Having no idea what to expect, as we have never driven this way before, we did though know it was going to be busy!  

We had scheduled our drive to either stop before Chicago to avoid the afternoon rush hour but that would put us the next day through the busy morning traffic!

So Jan, the Pilot, told Craig the Navigator to set a course: "Take us through Chicago as late as you can!"  We thought it may be wise to hit the 7:00pm traffic versus the 8:00am morning rush!


Once again the wind has picked up!
On our way to Chicago!

 Chicago Traffic, notice the semi-trailer ahead of us!
Will comment on that later!
 

Nice Buildings Along The Way!

And the Rush Begins!  But this was late at approx. 6:30pm.

We knew there would be tolls along some of the Interstate and State highways, but we were a little awed to see 5 lane traffic, bumper to bumper, split into 8 lanes; with the far right being the "Cash Only" lanes.  

These were the lanes Jan had to get to so that we could pay our toll and continue on.  This was not too bad, until we now saw another two or four lanes merging into our 8 lanes which now required these 12 lanes to merge back down to 5 lanes!  Interesting.....

We experienced 6 toll booths and paid twenty (20) some dollars in tolls along the way.  The traffic was bumper to bumper and crawling along; amazing skill on our Pilot's behalf to maneuver us through this mess!

Jan did so amazingly well, in fact remember that semi-trailer we were following carrying the concrete slabs pictured above!  Well, in the slow moving, packed and merging traffic, the semi decided to change lanes.  The slow moving traffic kept him from getting all the way into his lane; no problem my driver says as  the back end of the trailer was still in our lane a good couple of feet!

My Pilot Jan, decides she wants to get past him but without intruding too much into the next lane! After all that might be a tad rude!  

So she sneaks skillfully by the semi trailer's ass end!  Just missing, did I say just, like by three inches, passing the corner of the trailer by our  passenger side mirror!  Meanwhile the Navigator is saying, politely I must add; "stop".... "Stop".... STOP!! Our body, behind us, is wider than this cab!"  

Jan knew exactly what she was doing, her subconscious must have remembered when we were test driving Class A motorhomes, you know the nimble 36' ones!  The salesperson told her: "all you have to do is make sure you clear your mirrors, the rest will follow no problem!"

Drove like a professional she did! Not even close she said!

Semi Trailer now three cars ahead, ready to move over to the next lane!

 Your Welcome!
We thought this was interesting signage!

Chicago Skyline!  Beautiful....

Relaxed Pilot Maneuvering Through Hectic Traffic!
Job Well Done.

We drove right past the Stadium where the Chicago White Sox  play!

U.S. Cellular Field - Home of the White Sox

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By the time we drove through Chicago both of us were pretty exhausted; it had been a long day and now our challenge was finding a place to "camp" for the night!  

We were checking our Allstar's Camping App, as well as our AAA camping books and could not find anything that was open at this time of year.  We did find one municipal park which indicated it was open, so off the interstate we went.  Well it wasn't open, now it was dark out and getting late! 

Craig had noticed a McDonald's close to the interstate exit which was being used by about 18 trucks for overnight parking.  There was an area across from the trucks with enough room for us to park without intruding on their turning radius!

So into McDonalds Craig went to ask if we could stay the night with the big rigs!  Not a problem they said, just park out of the way in the back! 

Where we stayed the night NE of Chicago
Also where we had breakfast the next morning.. .nothing beats an Egg McMuffin!

We had a good sleep, the weather had warmed and it now was about 6 to 8 degrees Celsius.  More trucks came and went during the night but that was not a problem.  

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Now we were on the final day of Leg 3, up through Lansing and Flint Michigan headed for the Port Huron/Sarnia Canada/USA Border Crossing.

This section of highway is heavy with truck traffic going in both directions!


Interesting Truck Traffic - lots of large single tire axles!


We had used the Sarnia ON Border crossing when travelling east a few years ago in our car.  All we could remember was huge line-ups of traffic trying to enter the USA and were a little concerned about how this was going to be coming through with our Unity!

And just like going through Chicago there was another toll to be paid.  The bridge that one must cross to enter/exit the USA/Canada costs you!  But not bad, it was only $3.00 and can be paid in either Canadian or US Funds.  If the Navigator ie. Craig, had been doing his job he would have had his Canadian Loonies handy instead of paying with US Green Backs!


Coming up to the border crossing to Canada

Of course, construction was happening!
We experienced this the entire time since we entered the USA!
Infrastructure Projects - a good thing!


One thing we did note driving through Illinois and Michigan was the amount of industry dedicated to the automobile industry!  Amazing and unfortunately we did not get any pictures of the huge assembly plants, both Chrysler and GM that we passed along the way.

We ended this leg of the journey in Welland, Ontario where we have relatives.  

We would be spending three nights before our the next leg, which is to be up through Toronto to visit our daughter, her husband and our first grandchild before driving on to Halifax, Nova Scotia!

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Craig's back has been behaving amazingly well with no real issues!  No doubt "relaxing" in the Navigator's seat was a good choice for this trip!

The Unity's seats are very comfortable and as we did not get a chance to install aftermarket heated seat pads, Craig picked up an inexpensive "heated seat cushion" which worked amazingly well.  Priced at $49.99 we picked it up on sale for $19.99.  Heath Heating Cushion from Canadian Tire.




Actually this works so well that you have to use the low setting as the high gets too hot!



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Monday, April 20, 2015

Headed East Leg Two

Yorkton SK to Winkler MB


Home of Triple E - Leisure Travel Vans

April 19 - 20, 2015

Yorkton to Winkler in just under 5 hours and 479 kilometers


Yorkton SK to Winkler MB


We were off from Yorkton in some windy and blustery weather.  The temperature was sitting just above zero celsius but the sun was shining, at least for a while!

On our way, we found that we would be passing through, or at least close enough to, Gladstone, MB.  It just happens that our son Andrew's girlfriend Zoe is from Gladstone having been raised on their farm which has been in the family for generations.

So it was a side trip to their "farm" where Zoe grew up raising 150 head of cattle and working 1500 acres in grain ~ well maybe Zoe's Dad Garry did that work!  LOL

Manitoba Range Road enroute to the farm!

Getting closer, road changed from packed gravel to more mud than gravel!

Entrance to Zoe's Place.  Got to love your GPS!

What a nice home!

We had a great visit with Garry & Cathy and friend Donna.  Interestingly we have not even met Zoe, so this was a bit of a twist getting to meet the potential in-laws first!  Zoe's parent's jokingly asked if we were there to check out the gene pool!  We had a great time, even though it was calving season and they were expecting two of their "cows" to deliver at any time.

By far one of the highlights of our trip...  thanks so much Garry & Cathy and Donna!
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So after a great lunch of fresh homemade spinach soup, pasta salad and buns we left Gladstone and headed to Winkler.

By now we were fighting cross winds, which were very strong and Jan was fighting the wheel to keep LTV Kozad in our lane and from going off the highway!   Literally the wheel was turned 45 degrees toward the centre line to keep the Unity going straight in our lane!

Not quite at the 45 degrees but definitely not driving straigth!

So we are driving along (Jan) and Craig is navigating (sight seeing) when all of a sudden two warning lights and messages start to flash on the dash!  

Oh, Oh!  Visit Work Shop!  Doesn't sound good!


So out comes the Mercedes manual and Craig starts to look up the warning lights.  There is a mention of low battery power affecting the rear stability sensors so we start unplugging the rechargers for cell phones, iPad and the 12V electric seat heater for Craig's back.  

We were not far from Winkler so decided to keep going into town, by the time we drove around town and found a place to park the lights reset themselves and warning cleared.  Hmm, maybe unplugging those electrical 12V draws may have worked?  More later....


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Once again there is an amazing amount of beauty to be seen along the way!


One of Jan's favourite sights - solitary trees along hi-ways and bi-ways!

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We arrived into Winkler early enough, before dark, so that we had a chance to drive around and view the Triple E/LTV facilities as well as some of the town.

Winkler, Manitoba Home of Leisure Travel Vans!

Plant A Triple E - now only producing LTV Products

One of the "holding pens"
Mercedes Benz Sprinter 3500 DRW Cut-a-way Chassis

Customer parking for the service department at LTV
There is where overnight parking is available
with power and water hook-ups
LTV Kozad is parked for the night!

The weather was not too bad when we rolled in to Winkler and settled down for the night.  We put the slide out on our Murphy Bed Unity, put the furnace on and turned on our low voltage electric heated mattress pad.  Cozy for the night with the temperature predicted to drop to minus 4 Celsius. 

We slept well but woke up to the furnace cycling on and off and it was a wee bit nippy inside our motorhome!  Craig checked the furnace and it appeared that the burner was not lighting and therefore maybe no propane was getting to the furnace.  

The propane tank was filled up the day before we left home and still read 95% full,  so Craig checked to see if any propane was flowing to the cooktop!  You guessed it nothing coming through....  

Well luckily, what better place to be sitting than the service centre at Leisure Travel Van in Winkler Manitoba.  So in to the service department we went, surprisingly open at 7:45am in the morning!  

We were treated excellent, they sent a technician to our Unity - who found out "yes, there is no propane getting into the coach"!

So, up went the murphy bed, in went the slide, out we went and away LTV Kozad went into the Customer Service Centre.

We awoke to -4 Celsius and snow flurries!

Snow?

Customer Service where our Unity was taken for repairs!


LTV has a nice lounge area to wait while your unit is being serviced.  Comfortable chairs and sofa, television, computer and Triple E Brochures from all their product line over the years!

Our Unity had an issue with the propane regulator, apparently LTV had a batch of regulators which could be problematic!  So they swapped it out with the new stock which they have had no issues todate.

Interestingly though, while our Unity was in the Service Bay, the power went out.  A transformer on a nearby power pole blew and the large electric bay doors, along with everything, was now not working.

So, we had to wait till the power company changed out the transformer before the Unity could be let out!  Just our luck... ha, ha!
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You may have wondered how LTV transports their finished products to you,  the customers!  Two "Vans" are loaded onto a truck and delivered to the dealership(s) where they have been ordered.  There are no miles/kms driven on your motorhome before it arrives at the dealership!  


Nice touch Leisure Travel Vans!

Two LTV Unitys heading out for delivery!
Looks like a U24MB and a U24TB or maybe IB?

It was now approximately 12 noon by the time our Unity was delivered back to us so we could continue on our way!  The propane was working as it should be and we were ready to head south on the next leg of our journey!

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But before we stopped Jan had to run into the store... unfortunately the weather had turned nasty!


Who said April was a good month to go camping across the country!

As we left Winkler the snow had changed to rain!

We will now be headed south, trying to out run the bitter cold, snow and wind!