May 01, 2017
Inspected, home and finally insured
The title was supposed to be ‘Inspected, Insured and Home’ but it did not quite work out that way.
The view yesterday morning from our room in Golden. Yes that is the new Jeep in the foreground.
Breakfast with the hotel room appears to be the norm these days. Quite the lovely send off. It wasn’t long before the view clouded in.
We just had to take this shot in the window of a shop attached to the hotel. Love it!
Can’t remember if I mentioned some of the new wines we tried on our trip. A lovely Italian Raffino Lumina Pinot Grigio and an interesting Woodbridge Sauvignon Blanc. The liquor stores in Alberta have so many selections at such reasonable prices. We both felt like the entire trip was an eat fest, not our normal style to be eating out each meal. Certainly a fun thing to do but also most calorie laden and you know what comes with that, groan 😯
As we drove we realized that our last road trip in a car was way back in 1998 when we traveled to Cannon Beach, Oregon. This was an annual August trip that we did year after year. Suddenly we had not one but two doxies. We did travel with them by car to Cannon Beach but it was not easy and we had odd issues such as having to get pieces of wood to block the bottom of the balcony so they did not jump over. On the way back as we drove through the Seattle area we saw many RV dealerships and the idea was formed. Within a few months we had purchased our first RV, a 1999 Fleetwood Class A, 35′ Pace Arrow and our life changed. This particular trip we shared so many fun memories including where we stopped to pee Caeli as a 6 week puppy and the exact rest area and moment that she and Carmeh started to become friends and sisters.
Quite the foggy, rainy drive thru the Rockies, but we did have the very occasional glimpse of sun. The car is a marvel especially the heat system. We simply programmed our preferred temperature and we could each chose a different number. What was amazing is that we never felt a surge of heat or cold, the temperature just seemed to maintain without any blasts of air.
This Jeep has a huge panorama sun roof, which extends from the front seats to the rear seats. I was trying it out with this shot. That is the top of Colin’s head and part of the view from the back seat.
We had a lot of snow flurries along Rogers Pass. But we also made great time as all the construction zones were closed on a Sunday. Colin realized that we were getting 31 miles per gallon on the highway. Amazing.
So many more memories as we drove back such as when Carmeh back in 2014 who was very very slowly coming out of her paralysis crawled onto the dash from my lap and sat with her head on her paws and watched the scenery as we approached Vernon and Kelowna. At that time I sensed a great sadness in her and I recalled that as we drove past that area yesterday. But then we remembered her recovery and how she did get to enjoy the Isla beach for a few more years.
So our plan was to get the Jeep inspected at Canadian Tire in Vernon. When you import an out of province vehicle into BC you need to do an out of Province Inspection. Translation = $123.00 tax. Of course our 2015 vehicle passed but there was a tiny glitch. Somehow we never got the Alberta registration number so we could not get the passed inspection report. So on a Sunday afternoon we called our salesman back in Medicine Hat and he said he would have it for us first thing Monday morning. Meanwhile that meant that we could not complete our final insurance on the Jeep. We did have a binder insurance policy as well as an ‘In Transit’ registry from the province of Alberta so we were legal, but we did have to get a special permit to drive the Jeep to the insurance broker today.
Plans don’t always come together, so we came home yesterday, had a good dinner and relaxed and had a good sleep.
This morning our salesman Kris, headed to the registration office in Medicine Hat ( different rules for an Alberta sale vs an out of province sale ) and did what he had to do. He faxed his paperwork to Canadian Tire and called us to let us know that they had received it. Fortunately the mechanic that had inspected the Jeep yesterday was willing to come in today, his day off, to sign off on the final passed report. Lucky us. Next I called C Tire with the fax number of our insurance broker. Of course the fax never went thru till a few attempts and phone calls later. Soon thereafter we drove over to the insurance company with our special one day permit ( $15.00 ) ( more ICBC rules ). Thirty minutes later we were officially licensed and the Grand C ( as we have decided to call it ) was ours and now fully legal in the Province of BC 😆 If anyone in Southern Alberta, Saskatchewan or BC is looking for a great car guy, be sure to call Kris from Southland Kia @ 587 253 7666. He bent over backwards to give us great service, to feed us and to put us up in the best hotel in the city and was always there for us every step of the way and every single ( hundreds of them ) questions that we had. He is certain to give you 150% if not more. In addition to selling Kia’s they have an impressive selection of used vehicles. Hey, they had the only Grand Cherokee in all of Canada that we wanted.
Next stop was my third out of six vein treatments and then a few errands. Costco is out of stock on romaine as the California weather is affecting production 😥 So we shall just have to make do with other lettuce. Warmer weather is supposed to arrive tomorrow, we can only hope. Meanwhile I sit here with a heater behind me.
It was quite the road trip. We love the new car and are ready to start settling into our normal routine of work and work. I heard from a few neighbors today as to how they missed us walking by with the girls. We miss it also but soon I will be doing my walking solo. Colin already has new jobs on the horizon and so begins our normal routine for this time of year. Not to worry as there are many different plans on the radar.
Don’t you just love the ‘Grand C’?
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Looks like you are enjoying your new Jeep and have everything under control again.
This will be your towed car, correct? Sure is pretty.
Yes it will be both Colin’s work vehicle and our tow car.
I do like your new car. Told my husband about it and all the bells and whistles. I hope the rest of your treatments go well and the weather warms up so you can enjoy your walks. I do not post much but do love to read your blogs and see what you and Colin are up to.
Enjoy reading your blog.
I was wondering if your new Jeep can be towed, four wheels on the ground, or do you need to put it on a trailer to tow it? If you can tow it on the ground what do you have to do to disengage the transmission.
Yes this particular Jeep can be towed four wheels down. In order to tow a Jeep it has to have a neutral button. The procedure is involved but simple. It is best to contact the dealer with your serial number to confirm four wheel towing. The simple part is to start by pressing the neutral buttom and then do a series of checks as outlined in the manual. Not all Jeep models can be towed.