SilvrT

you mean ... Puc the Pig SLAYER LOL

@cowpuc ... just checked the map and you're only about 5 hrs south of Sault Ste Marie, Ontario so ........ maybe a side trip is in order eh!

@cowpuc We're leaving here beginning of August heading for the Maritime provinces ... then heading to Florida around end of Sep. Parking our butts there for the winter, then it's off to NM and AZ before heading back up here around mid April 2018. Doesn't look like we'll make it up your neck 'o the woods this time around but we plan to head back to th US again in the fall of 2018. However, considering your location and where we are heading, it's possible we can dip down there en-route to Eastern Canada. I'll put some thought to that. Would love to hook up with y'all.

And don' fergit dem Hot Dogs!

It's a deal! I'll be doing a regular "blog" on Facebook which anyone can follow (I think) .... https://www.facebook.com/RickAndNinaYerex/ Plus, don't be surprised if ya see a truck (aptly dubbed "The Green Gobbler" coz it's green and gobbles gas) & 5th wheel rollin into yer driveway one day!

Geeeesh you folks eat some weird stuff ... I hope when I'm down south I can find me some REAL food! :stickpoke:

Were you rolling with the traffic flow or stopped?

Here's a good example of rules changing over the years. When I got my D/L way back in 1964, I was taught that "passing someone on the road shoulder was illegal". I asked Nina about this and that's what she recalls also. Here's today's rule ... When a white solid line separates the through lane from the road shoulder, drivers are not permitted to pass other traffic on the right. Where no such white solid line exists, separating through traffic from the road shoulder, all traffic is legally permitted to pass on the right, if obstructed or delayed by a left turning vehicle, provided it does not leave the normal paved portion of the road. It is legal but unsafe, except at a greatly reduced speed. Did you know this? I didn't. Did you also know that, although not a safe practise, it is NOT illegal to change lanes in an intersection? I didn't. I always thought it was illegal. This information is taken from drive.ca

As I recall, the white line was, at least at one time, put there as a marker so that people knew where the front tires should either STOP AT or before. So, if your front wheels are stopped before the white line, are you behind the white line? That said, and as I've said above, things change over time and only education AND re-testing can sometimes correct what a person thought was correct. I agree; however, when already in the LEFT lane and moving over to the LEFT TURN lane .... what are you checking for? If there was anything or anyone there, you would have seen it/them as you passed by. Besides, with my huge truck mirrors and huge convex truck mirrors, I can see pretty much anything that is either beside me or behind me and by the time I'm moving over to that left turn lane, I've already ensured it's clear to do so without shoulder checking. Now, if I was stopped in traffic, I might then left shoulder check. Now, if I'm gonna merge from the right lane to the left lane THEN I either do a left shoulder check OR, I'll monitor the traffic via my mirrors for a ways before merging and only move over when I'm certain it's clear. When I know for a FACT it's clear, I see no reason to shoulder check.

No need to be "sorry" if you don't agree. That's your right and I don't fault you for that; however, .... During testing (or re-testing for that matter), education precludes a test. We have to renew our D/L every 5 years. I firmly believe everyone should have to be "re-educated" at that time or at least every 10 years. And that is followed by a road test to ensure the "education" they received is put into practise. I've felt this way for the better part of 40 years and I'll always feel that way. Like me, drivers develop "bad habits" over the years. All one has to do is observe other drivers under various conditions to know that. Additionally, there are many people coming into our country from other places and some of those places have virtually NO "rules of the road". Those people bring with them driving habits that just don't apply here. Sure, they can go get a BC license but that isn't sufficient to break them of their habits. Once they've passed their test, they will slowly fall back into many of those "driving habits" that just don't conform to what is correct here. I'm not disputing anyone's feelings about education but let's face it, as the old saying goes, "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink", which means you can throw as much education you want at people but it doesn't ensure they will put it into practise. Just take a look at the drug problem today. The "powers that be" keep saying education is what is needed so they go gung-ho on it but is it working? The statistics seem to show not. Where the education of that is working is with all the people who are trying to deal with the suppression of the problem and those who have to provide support to those who are taking the drugs. Take smoking as another example. How many years of education has it taken to get people to stop? Was education the only thing... NO. They taxed and taxed and taxed tobacco. Then they slowly prevented smokers from smoking in various places where today, one can hardly smoke anywhere in public anymore. And there are all kinds of guvmint supported "stop smoking" programs. So how does that relate to driver re-testing you wonder? Well think about it. Education wasn't working all by itself so people had to conform to "rules". Now here's another reason why people should be re-tested. Eyesight. When you go to get a D/L, your eye sight is tested. If a person is never re-tested, how does anyone know that after 10, 20, or even 50 years a person's eyesight hasn't diminished to a point where driving without corrective lenses is putting them and others in danger. I could probably go on and on about this because as it's obvious, I am quite adamant about it, but I'll stop here.

Ever since I can remember, the white line is where your front wheels should stop at. With that, most vehicles will not be into the cross walk ... but no, "common practise" has changed apparently coz now the front of your vehicle should be at or behind that white line. The white line is always somewhat back from the crosswalk line. This is just one very small reason I feel every driver should be re-tested every so often. Rules change slightly over time, new things come into play. For example, they never had "roundabouts" back when I got my D/L ... it's no wonder so many folks have no idea what they should do when they get into one. This "exercise" has made me see just how "bad" most every other driver actually is as I'm now noticing those "infractions" as well as all the others. I even got dinged for not doing a left shoulder check when moving left into a left turn lane from a left through lane. I mean, some old lady might have come whizzing up the median in her rocking chair ....

YUP, those are mine too, among many others!

The problem with most "left foot brakers" is they rest their foot on the brake pedal and inadvertently activate the brake lights and it drives those behind them crazy coz they think the person is braking. This causes all kinds of problems. Hopefully you're not one of those.

IMO, everyone who is a new driver should be required to learn on a standard shift. How else will they learn that the left foot is not for braking!! In Canada you must have an air brake endorsement to drive anything with air brakes. Been that way for as long as I can remember. However, no special license is required to drive a 45 ft motorhome without air brakes and that is ridiculous IMO. Manufacturers are putting more and more air over hydraulic brake systems into the big class A motorhomes these days as you don't need any special licensing for that. There's really something wrong with our system when both the government and the manufacturers make it that easy for any average joe with a basic D/L to operate these rigs. Years ago I managed truck rental co. All our 5 ton moving vans were standard shift with 2-speed rear axle. Every renter got a "driving test" by me after a bit of instruction and if I felt they couldn't handle the truck or the shifting or both, they were refused or they would have to pay extra for a qualified driver.

I thought that too coz each time you take a road test, you pay a fee, in this case it's $50 even if you don't pass. So my thinking was "it's a money grab" but then I found out I don't pay anything coz I'm over 65. When I do pass, it only costs $17.

Yes, Nina & I have kids ...She has twin daughters who are now 33 from her second marriage, a son who is now 44 from her first and I have a son who is 48 from my first wife. Unfortunately I spilled the beans on facebook but none of them have said anything.... YET.

To a degree, you're right ... but I still feel the guy was being pikky.

In BC, Canada a basic license is a class 5. To tow a travel trailer that weighs over 4600 Kg you need a code 7 endorsement. It's much the same as a class 3 which is for a single axle commercial truck/trailer combo. There is no special class or endorsement to drive a 40+ foot motorhome .... go figure ???

Bad DRIVING habits that is..... Went for my road test today to get the D/L endorsement to haul an RV trailer weighing over 4600 Kg. It involves a pre-trip inspection (which I aced) and a road test (which I failed miserably). Well, not exactly that bad and I do think the guy was being a bit "pikky". Here's where I blew it.... Made a couple turns using only one hand instead of two. (all the other what seemed like 50 or 60 were fine) Stopped on or slightly past the white strip a couple times ... should have stopped before it. (for 50 years I understood that that was where your front tires should stop at, or before) I was sometimes either too far left or right in the lane while driving straight. I guess bumps, surface irregularities, side wind, and so on should have no effect on steering. I entered the freeway before the merge lane ended and apparently wasn't fully up to freeway speed. Didn't seem to matter that there was NO traffic and I was only 10 km/h under and accelerating at the time. We were approaching a turn to the right on a 4 lane roadway within the city. Things beyond the corner were blocked by buildings. I was in the left lane. He said "at the next set of lights, turn right" Those lights were just around the corner a ways. So I changed into the right hand lane and that's when I saw the "road work ahead" sign. I had no idea where exactly that road work was other than it was "ahead" somewhere. As we started to go around the corner, there it was, smack dab in the right lane so I checked my mirrors and moved back into the left lane, got past the road work and moved back to the right lane to make the turn coz the intersection was right there. I got docked for that. I should not have changed lanes n the beginning. I think he set me up for that one. Guess I'd best "shape up" before I re-test!! At least I didn't run over anybody as I was making a turn, didn't knock over any signs or jump any curbs. After taking that test and failing it and having observed so many other drivers and their "bad habits" to put it mildly, it makes me wonder how the h3LL those people are even allowed to have a D/L in the first place. It also makes me wonder why, why, why there is no mandatory re-testing throughout the life of a driver with a basic class license or for that matter, any other class that doesn't have mandator re-testing.

OMG puc!! I near peed myself watching your vid ... you ROCK!

Black coz it makes yer silver whiskas stand out and look good ...

pretty good fuel economy for that boat!

My son turns 48 in Nov. I keep tellin him he's gonna be bald just like me when he reaches 55 .... can't understand why he doesn't wanna believe that LOL (course, I'm just razzin him) But yeah, the years sure fly by and before ya know it, your kids are as old as you think you are!

If the situation was right and we lived close, I'd take thos wing back chairs in the blink of an eye. In our case, we're already in a "downsizing" mode as we prepare to become gypsies travelling the country in our RV. There won't be much left for the kids to deal with. Lucky them huh!

Boy has this thread jumped all over the place!! It's gone from the price of things in Canada vs USA to health insurance to old age pension and now we're getting beers and cigs .... well, at least we're finally onto the right subject! :beer: