OMG!!!!!

Ready for another “DeKuiper Travel Horror Story”????!!!!!!!!

Left our place in Deer Park about noon on Wednesday- it worked out good again to hook the dogs up to the lines with only their neck lines so we didn’t have to harness and un-harness – and then they ran over the mile to the trailer in front of the snowmachine.  Very nice Canadian customs agent and she laughed when we told her that we had been asked before if we were bringing any “throwing stars” into Canada- she even knew which agent would have been the one to ask that!

Everything was going along swimmingly until we heard a weird sound like we have gone over a bump except that I hadn’t seen any bump in the road – we kept driving and pretty soon a truck races around us and then slows way down with his flashers on …………….so we stop and smell burning rubber………..and one of the trailer tires had exploded and not only gone flat but wrapped itself around the axle, rubber tread, steel bands and all!!!!!  Another truck stopped behind us on the side of the road and told us that there was a semi pull off just down the road where we could safely look at our situation. So we did in the town of Spanish – way small- smaller than Montague…………  Well we started to pull some of the tire off and jack the trailer up and found it was going to be a bigger job than we could handle so we called AAA and were told there would be a wrecker there in an hour – we got the spare out of the bottom of the trailer (which entailed moving 10 buckets of dog meat to the truck) and kept on trying to get the tire tread off with a die grinder and saws all= AAA called back (we did reflect on what a pickle we would have been in without a cell phone…..) and said we weren’t covered for a flat on the trailer- we said yes we were because we had RV coverage, and they finally agreed – then the wrecker guy said we would only be covered for changing the tire and we said if we only needed the tire changed, we would do it ourselves!!!! So he said he would come and mileage and time for putting the spare on would be covered but it would be an extra $100 !! We said come anyway – we have no choice!

So he came and between his younger strength and our tools and his pry bar they got the axle cleaned off and the spare put on!

The next morning we get up and are dropping dogs and this Animal warden/policeman stops at our trailer and asks if we know that there is a dog noise ordinance in their “metropolis” – no………….  then he sees Randy let one of the dogs off the trailer and he runs into his box in the trailer as he always does……….and did we know there is a leash law? No………………………… He ends the conversation by intimating that we are “not nice” to our dogs, I say they are actually very well cared for and he says “I am not here to debate the merits of your pastime” and thankfully leaves.

So we are on our way and we get about an hour down the road and the power steering goes out!!!!!!!! Oh no…………..oh yes!!!!!  We end up seeing a Canadian Tire store that does vehicle maintenance and sure enough they could get us in!  It was caused by one of the idler pullies going bad which then took out the serpentine belt (for which we carry a spare always now because they are difficult to find)  So that took about 3 hours sitting and waiting and then on the road again! Stopped at a Home and Hardware parking lot  where a pretty young 30 something told us she would love to have us feed our dogs there – and she came out to say hello and pet all of them!  She told us about a great truck stop where we could spend the night and not half to go through Ottawa (1,000,000 population) during the rush hour and at dark.  It was a really great place indeed and we also had a wonderful breakfast there with a very nice waitress!!!

So on the road again and we go about another hour  and are going through a quaint little town on a route that looks good on the gps – and the brakes go out!!!!!!!  We limp along a little farther into the downtown area and get parked in a store parking lot and ask a taxi driver and another guy where we could get the brake lines replaced – so we unhook from the trailer (so the the trailer wouldn’t push us ahead through intersections when we tried to slow and stop), and head for the Canadian Tire store in Hawkesbury – we get there very very carefully thru many stop signs and lights (the only way to stop was to shift into neutral and apply what little brake pressure was left)  We get there and they say that they can’t put a truck with duals on the hoist – and Randy says “you can get under it easy enough it’s way tall” and she says, nope, against the rules………………….and tells us to go to King’s Garage another 10 minutes down the road.  We get there and the mechanics are out to lunch and won’t be back for 45 minutes and then have to unload 312 semi tires!!!!!!  So now it 12 and they won’t get to us until about 2!  Well it ends up being more like 3 and we were there until 6!!!! They ended up replacing 2 sections of the lines and advised we might want to replace the rest pretty soon!!! Very nice people- we enjoyed our time as much as one can waiting 6 hours in a not-so-comfortable waiting area…………….

Back on the road again to finish what was supposed to be a 13 hour trip which evolved into 2 and ½ days!!!!!!!!!!!  Went straight to the race site and arrived at 10p.

Up this morning and began to meet and greet all of our “Quebec Family” as they filtered into the race site – Randy had a very good draw and goes out 3^rdso we will see how it goes – conditions are good with a temp of 23 degrees!