When I was growing up in Metro Vancouver, every summer my family would embark on road trips. We’d get up to Barkerville, over to Fort Steele, and we even drove the Bella Coola Highway in the 1990s (and got the “I survived the Bella Coola Highaway” postcard to commemorate the feat.

Getting prepared for a road trip always started with the car; washer fluid, a full tank of gas, snacks of course, and checking the tire pressure on the family vehicle. Now, when I go on road trips of my own, I go through the same check-list.

For drivers heading out on road trips, under-inflation could spell sloppy handling and poor fuel economy at best, and the possibility of blowouts at worst. As warm weather and the open road beckons, Kal Tire is reminding Canadians to use more than just your eyes to check tire inflation.

How to Check Tire Pressure

Here are 5 simple steps you can take to check your tire pressure:

STEP 1. FIND THE RECOMMENDED PRESSURE FOR YOUR TIRES
Here are some of the places where you can find the manufacturer’s recommended tire pressure:

• On a sticker on the driver’s side door jam
• In your owner’s manual
• The trunk lid, the console or on the fuel door
• The number you find might look something like ‘35 PSI’ (pounds per square inch), and it indicates the minimum amount of air pressure needed to support the weight of your vehicle.

It’s very important that you do not use the ‘MAX PSI’ listed on the sidewall of the tire. This is the maximum pressure, not the optimum or recommended pressure.

STEP 2. CHECK AT THE RIGHT TIME
The ideal time to check your tires is when they’re cold, either first thing in the morning or after the vehicle has been parked for a few hours, in the shade if possible. If your tires are warm from driving, you’ll get a less accurate reading.

STEP 3. USE A RELIABLE GAUGE TO CHECK YOUR TIRE PRESSURE

• Remove the valve cap on the tire.
• Press the tire gauge onto the valve. (If you’re using a stick gauge, make sure you’re using the open end, not the side that releases air).
• Wait for the pressure reading on the screen. (On a stick gauge, wait until the white plastic stick stops moving; on a dial gauge, wait for the needle to stop).

STEP 4. INFLATE TIRES AS NEEDED
Now that you have your reading, you can compare it to the manufacturer’s recommended tire pressure. Add just enough to achieve the recommended air pressure. If you’ve added too much, push on the metal stem in the center of the valve to release air. Check the reading again and repeat if necessary. Don’t forget to put the valve cap back on the tire!

Note: If your tires are seriously under-inflated (25% or more), do not drive on them to fill up with air.

STEP 5. REMEMBER YOUR SPARE
Last but not least, after you check and inflate all four of your tires, do the same for your spare to ensure it’s ready to perform in the event of a flat tire.

Transport Canada warns drivers that even if tires “look fine, they could be underinflated by as much as 20 per cent.” And it turns out a lot of Canadians could be experiencing that safety risk: In a study referenced by Transport Canada, “50 per cent of vehicles on the road in Canada have at least one tire that is either over or under-inflated by more than 10 per cent. In fact, 10 per cent of all vehicles surveyed had at least one tire under-inflated by 20 per cent.”

Due to today’s technology, it’s harder than ever to spot a low-pressure tire just by looking at it. Tire pressure monitoring systems warn drivers about under-inflation but typically not until tire pressure is 25% below recommended levels – this is a dangerous level when risks of blowouts and accidents become higher.

The best course of action is to monitor tire pressure throughout the year – not just ahead of the next road trip or when your monitoring system blinks. Kal Tire recommends checking at the outset of every trip, but it’s also good to get in the habit of checking once a month or even every time you fill up with gas.

If you ever want a second opinion or expert help checking your air pressure or inflating your tires, visit a Kal Tire location near you. They’ll gladly measure your pressure and fill your tires with air for free!

Learn more by connecting with Kal Tire on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Celebrate talented youth at the Surrey Youth Showcase – the City of Surrey’s largest annual youth event series. The Youth Events Squad captures what youth want to see at these events with a theme and help to bring that vision to life. 2018 themes are Basketball, Dance, Cooking and Art.

Surrey Youth Showcase Basketball Tournament

Where: Guildford Recreation Centre (15105 105 Ave)
When: Saturday, May 5, 2018 12:00pm to 7:00pm
Admission: Register your team online here »

Compete in this 5-on-5 youth basketball tournament for juniors (ages 13-15) and seniors (ages 15-18) at the Guildford Recreation Centre. More than $2,000 worth of prizes is up for grabs: MVPs, best sportsmanship, 1st place team, and runner up for each division.

Surrey Youth Showcase

The Surrey Youth Showcase Basketball Tournament is a part of BC Youth Week. Miss604 is a proud media sponsor of BC Youth Week and the Surrey Youth Showcase series.

Follow along on Twitter and Facebook for more information.

Early Music Vancouver (“EMV”), in collaboration with the Vancouver Opera Festival and the Pacific Baroque Orchestra (“PBO”), presents Russian White Nights – Opera Arias from 18th Century St. Petersburg at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts on May 6th.

Joined by Music Director Alexander Weimann and the PBO, soprano Karina Gauvin performs a unique programme of virtually unknown opera arias from 18th century St. Petersburg, a period when the ruling Czars and Empresses of Russia spent lavishly on transforming the City into a great modern European cultural capital.

Russian White Nights

When: Sunday, May 6, 2018 3:00pm (Pre-concert talk at 2:15pm)
Where: Chan Centre for the Performing Arts (UBC, 6265 Crescent Road)
Tickets: Available online now from just $18!

Karina Gauvin. Photo by Michael Slobodian

Featuring works premiered between the years of 1736 and 1787, the composers represented in this programme are far from household names: Araia, Berezovsky, Bortniansky, Fomin, and Dall’Oglio. While these composers themselves are relatively unfamiliar, their operatic creations go far beyond scholarly interest and represent a unique and beguiling amalgam of established Baroque and Classical convention with a distinctive Russian influence.

The arias will be given voice by Canada’s very own superstar soprano in baroque and classical operatic repertoire, Karina Gauvin. She has impressed audiences and critics the world over with her luscious timbre, profound musicality, and wide vocal range. The Globe and Mail calls her “one of the dream sopranos of our time.” A regular collaborator with conductors as diverse as Nagano, Nézet-Séguin, Bichkov, Norrington, Hogwood, Rilling, Labadie, Rousset, Curtis, and Haim, Gauvin is one of the most respected sopranos of her generation.

Gauvin will perform alongside the PBO who have expanded to late classical proportions (25 musicians), under the musical direction of its Artistic Director Alexander Weimann. Recognized as one of Canada’s most exciting and innovative ensembles performing “early music for modern ears,” PBO brings the music of the past up to date by performing with cutting-edge style and enthusiasm.

Enter to Win a Date Night Out

One lucky Miss604 reader can win a pair of tickets to see Russian White Nights and Nuba Restaurant in Kitsilano has offered up a $75 gift card for dinner!

Consistently named one of the top restaurants in Vancouver, Nuba serves Lebanese comfort food that is in harmony and rhythm with modern times. Nuba’s healthy and fresh philosophy is always a crowd-pleaser, regardless of dietary restrictions. Visit them at one of their four unique locations in Gastown, Mount Pleasant, Yaletown or Kitsilano.

Here’s how you can enter to win this date night prize:

• Leave a comment on this post (1 entry)
• Click below to get another entry by posting on Twitter:

[clickToTweet tweet=”RT to enter to win a date night out! Tickets for @earlymusicvan Russian White Nights at @ChanCentre + dinner at @nubatown http://ow.ly/gWll30jL4fU” quote=” Click to enter via Twitter” theme=”style6″]

I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Friday, May 4, 2018.

Follow Early Music Vancouver on Twitter and Facebook, as well as The Chan Centre on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for more information about upcoming shows.

Update The winner is Sanaz!

After returning from an overseas trip I was checking one of my favourite local news sites – the Vancouver Courier – to read about what I have missed over the past week around town and I found that they had published the results of their 2018 Stars of Vancouver. There in bold print was my name, sitting at #1 in the Local Blogger category. THANK YOU!

Runners up in the blogger category are Frances Bula and Erin Ireland – both incredible women who are leaders in their industry, and my go-tos for urban issues and local food trends respectively.

Stars of Vancouver 2018

Here are a few of the other winners honoured as Stars of Vancouver:

Want to know who has the best burger, brunch or coffee? View the full list of winner in this week’s Vancouver Courier, or online here »

I need to thank the Vancouver Courier for continuing to add a blogger category to their awards list, and I especially need to thank every voter, reader, and supported that has been reading Miss604 over the last 14 years. This is my 8th #1 blogger award, and 30th award for blogging. For something that started out as a hobby, I’m ever so grateful that I have been able to build a career out of what I love. To those who read, like, comment, and share my content, THANK YOU!

The 14th annual Surrey International Children’s Festival inspires young hearts and minds to greater possibilities, and celebrates our rich and diverse cultural heritage through performing and visual arts experiences. Join in the fun May 24-26, 2018 at Bear Creek Park and the Surrey Arts Centre.

Surrey International Children’s Festival

Where: Surrey Arts Centre and Bear Creek Park (13750 88 Ave)
When: May 24-26, 2018
Tickets: Access to the site is free, as well as participation in Saturday’s parade. However most performances and activities are ticketed. Read about Saturday Full Day Passes ($12-$15) and more pass options here »

This year’s festival theme is Play. Create. Do. The Surrey International Children’s Festival is investigating simple everyday play. Ticketed performances incorporate Tetris, a physical dance performance from the Netherlands where the dancers investigate how their bodies relate to each other as they move in space.

Plastique from Quebec creates an entire world out of plastic bags and the relationship between two garbage bag puppets. Baking Time, a co-presentation between the UK’s Oily Cart company & North Vancouver’s Presentation House, celebrates cooking in the kitchen and the joy of seeing utensils come to life. Hula-hoops, clay, face paint, and simple imaginative play will be the theme of the many art activities on site.

There are 5 performance venues which will feature national and international performers:

• 3 venues inside the Arts Centre (Main Stage Theatre, Studio Theatre and Lily Pad Stage)
• 2 venues in Bear Creek Park (Leap Frog Stage and Community Spirit Stage)
• There are hands-on arts activities inside tents, and roving performances throughout the park.

Thursday, May 24, 2018 9:00am to 2:30pm
Come celebrate First Nations’ culture during our opening ceremony (including traditional blessings with songs and dances) and be the first ones to experience our 2017 site activities… haven’t had the time to do all of them? You’re welcome back: each arts activity wristband is valid all 3 days! Awesome, isn’t it?

Friday, May 25, 2018 9:00am to 2:30pm
It’s time to experiment the Francophone way! Chantez et dansez and learn new skills at our francophone performances and workshops, laugh with our bilingual roving performers and be amazed by our bilingual Community Spirit Stage performances. Faites partie du party: fun is all around!!

Saturday, May 26, 2018 10:30am to 7:30pm
After enjoying the Festival with your class, come back on Saturday with your family and be part of the action during our Festival Procession. Also, check out the performers & art activities that day!

View the full schedule here »

Follow the Surrey International Children’s Festival on Facebook and Twitter for more info.

Miss604 is a proud sponsor of the Surrey International Children’s Festival