So, been a busy few months, moving, school, new house… etc etc etc (lots of excuses to not get out) – but the stress builds up AND I just need to get out.  So this was adventure 2, we headed out to Effingham lake. A large lake only accessible form the North by snowmobile / ATV trails – right up the alley of the Rover.

Have to say that the off-road adventures in Ontario are much different from Colorado 🙂 BUT still a great time none the less…  The trails are fun, lots to do and see.  AND man the colours and the lakes – wow!!

Today was a success….from the point of view that I got to get out enjoy the outdoors, time with my family 😀 and the Rover was it’s normal Rover self… 😀  Had the chance to stop by the lake short for lunch and just explore a bit, what a great area…  we also enjoyed a meal thanks to the Jetboil 😉

Amazing times!  Here is to future adventures….

 

Weekend fun with Ryan, we got the Rover out to do Rover things… 😀  I have been yearning to get out and hit a trail, although at the same time, I know it won’t be what I enjoyed in Colorado (frankly nowhere else in the world measures up), BUT Ontario and its plethora of lakes and forests has lots to offer.

I took the opportunity to head out with my youngest (Ryan) to explore Puzzle Lake Provincial Park.  And I have to say we were not disappointed.

The area is an outdoorsmen’s heaven… there is no shortage of small lakes, trails and fishing spots.  Oh and there are tons of primitive camping locations!!  Absolutely beautiful.  On our outing, we found an old farm-house to explore plus we made it to the lake – which had several campsites and a canoe launch.  AND the views were nice…

So the drive… as this is the start of fall the leaves were getting ready to turn and fall… which made for some nice scenery along the drive.  And along the trail too.

The trail.. .the Rovery bits… 😉  Well it was not as challenging as some of the other trails we’ve done, however it was not a fire road either.  I would rate it as a 2 out of 5 only because of the water.  There was a significant amount of water and this added some level of ‘stress’ as each spot had to be surveyed to ensure it was passable.  Some were considerably deep too…

Overall the road / drive and scenery added up to a great day!  If you are in the area of Kingston / Ottawa I would recommend taking a drive out this way.  Even bring your kayak or canoe and BBQ make a day or weekend of the trip.

I know we will be back here again!!

So… as I have already said the Rover is Canadian!!  😀  But I wanted to shout out to a few locals and Ottawatonians that helped get the Rover here…

• Diesel Rover
• Madeley Automotive

There were some difficulties with the MTO and the decisions made by the inspecting tech, but that is a difficult thing to pin down.  The Rover was picked up for a couple of things as I described before… but in my ‘laymens’ mind only one item was necessary.  AND the others were not.  Either way it is done!!

First of thank you to @Adam Chappell and the guys at Diesel Rover… they were quick to repair an issue I had and made my life easy!!  I would highly recommend this shop and Adam to any Rover owner.  I would not hesitate to go here again.

Second was Madeley Automotive – where Brian and his team were amazing!!  They did what had to be done and know how to treat my Rover and customers.  The work they did was exacty what I needed and very good work.  I will be frequenting this shop as needed, for future Rover needs.  Oh and they are local, so I can easily access the shop!

Despite a rough MTO safety, the experience brought me to these 2 great shops!!  I am glad I met both Adam and Brian.

We are still setting up the house, but the Rover now has a clean bill of health and is being ‘welcomed’ in to the fold here in Canada…  NOW we have to find places to explore.  🙂

So here we are getting the Rover ready for its Canadian citizenship ;).  I was not too worried, had a couple of issues that I thought might be trouble…  guess I should have worried more.

My list from the inspection…

• Lights out (marker, brake, etc)
• Tires have slices in side wall (thank you Colorado Rockies)
• Steering knuckle touching the passenger tire sidewall
• Rear Radius arms bushings cracked and worn

Well, SHOCKED and DISMAYED… especially because my new tires are now garbage 😦 also was not expecting the thousands of dollars that needed to be spent.  Est. bill with this was approx 2 – 3 thousand.

 

So my Rover training kicked in… I can do this.  😀

I ordered the bushings from LR Parts in the UK, 8 Euro per bushing, not too bad and shipping was 25.00 CDN.  So good start.  Parts arrived… well looks like I messed up the order or they did… either way didn’t have the right parts.  😦  Off to the computer again… ordered the correct bushings.

But I had already removed the radius arms, so… off the shop to have the bushings I did have, pressed in – **trouble ahead**.  The bushings were ‘difficult’ to press out according to the shop, 200.00 to have 4 bushings pressed out – HOLLY COW!!  And I have 2 more to do when the new ones arrive…. eek!

Next issue… the steering knuckle on passengers side.

So it with some discussion on the forums (love the Rover community, lots of great ppl with experience / knowledge they are willing to share)… the consensus is that the knuckle is bent.  SO in order to pass the safety I have to fix this – first choice is to use wheel adapters.  Which I happen to have.  BUT these adapters were cheap and ‘wobble’ at medium speed (not happy). Next thought… tires are too wide – on to get new tires.  1400.00 later… tadda! new tires on aaaannnnddd

 

better – sorta AND I lost 1″ of tire height 😦  BUT still not right.  Now with some more discussion with Lincoln from Albuquerque, the thought is the knuckle must be out of whack…. I’m going to have to get some quotes for the labor to replace the knuckle. BUT I have the part (thank you Ebay) and only 60.00 with shipping.

I’ll keep more information coming as the saga continues….