Remember the tire blowout by Eckville?
So we still have the trashed tire on the trailer, hanging where the spare used to be. As we were heading back to Edson, it seemed logical to go to Rocky Mountain House to get a new tire, so off we went. When I stopped to dump the tanks in Rocky, I noticed the left front trailer tire was looking a bit low. We went to Sobey's to get some food for our hungry tummies and after eating, I looked and the tire was now completely flat. ugh.
I unhooked the trailer there in the parking lot, and drove over to Kal-Tire to get an airtank to put some air in it so we could go over and get it patched. After hooking up again, and getting everyone in and buckled up, I wrestled with the tire and air tank, and managed to get about 40 pounds in it. Enough to make it across town.
We drove over to Kal-Tire, and they had a look. The factory tires were pretty much shot. The right rear was in shards over the highway, the right front was replaced in June in Lloydminster, the left front was half bald and flat, and the left rear was bald and cupped but not flat.
The tire guy said it would be wisest to buy three new tires to match the new radial we had on the one wheel. Sounded like the best bet to me, since I had two tires go in the last 100km. They pulled all three tires off, put my spare on the wheel that was somewhat bent from the blowout, and went looking for 3 new radials.
They didn't find any. The tire size I needed were on backorder.
We called ahead to Drayton Valley, and they had 5 tires in stock, so we put 3 of them on hold. They patched the leaking tire, and sold me a used radial that was not the right size but would "work" to get me to Drayton. 2 hours and 50 bucks, and we were back on the road, off to Drayton.
When we pulled in to Kal-Tire in Rocky they had the order in the computer, and I pulled around back to get the tires put on. 40 minutes later, while I was in the front of the building, a young tire guy came up to Tanya with one of the caps from the wheels. He told her they forgot to put it on, but it would take half an hour to put it on... so (I guess he figured she'd just say okay, well forget it then) She said he should talk to me. He came to me in the tire "showroom" and told me they forgot to put a cap on, "Do you want it?"....
Duh. Of course not. Cuz nothing looks nicer than a trailer with 3 matching wheels and one ugly one. Kinda like wearing different coloured socks on each foot - a fashion statement. Actually, I said "that would be nice"... They even had Caleb saying, well Dad and I could put it on when we get home.
Nothing like paying 300 bucks for some new tires, and then having to jack up the trailer, and pull a wheel to put it back together when you get home.
They fixed it. It didn't even take half a hour.
It was quite the trek home, but we make it, and now we have 4 radials with tread and everything on the trailer. We're Stylin'!
Once home, we bathed Palmer, Liam, Dagmar and Elowyn (two separate tubs of water, that was missisipi muddy by the time they got out.) Nothing like a week at the farm to create dirty bath water.
We're home for a couple days, to do wash, and celebrate Mom's birthday on the 13th, and then back to central alberta. We still have Ethan and Kennedy at Whitesides that we'll have to get back some time.
Life in the fast lane... who needs it! It's too hard on the tires!
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