Tales from the Back of Beyond It was a fabulous camping trip during my self-made long weekend. The weather approached being too hot, but I just took my chair down to the creek and put my feet in when I overheated. We saw deer, and bears, and rabbits. We drove to the the trailhead of a track that hikes back into Alberta. We talked to several groups of people visiting the falls, one of which was a British family in a rental minivan. You've got to wonder who sent them out to drive the logging roads looking for waterfalls. we also completely shredded one of my tires and possibly wrecked the wheel as well. Funny how those sharp rocks and trees will get you when you least expect it. We were driving along when I noticed that it sounded like a helicopter was following us. Intrigued and slightly alarmed, I had the boy slow down so I could hear better, and wouldn't you know, the helicopter noise slowed down as the wheels slowed down. That required investigation. So, we stopped the car and got out, and sure enough, the rear passenger side tire was flat and had large cracks in the rubber radiating from the hub. So, we put the donught spare on and limped around at 30 on the gravel after that. on the drive home we talked about buying an all-wheel-drive subaru for our future ventures into the back of beyond. We'd put a roof rack on and chain two spare tires to it. When we arrived home, we set out to pick-your-part immediately. This experience has been the most lasting of the weekend. pick-your-part is a giant dirt lot filled with at least a thousand cars in varying degrees of dead. Each one is jacked up and sitting on tireless wheels so as to allow easy access to the underbits. When you arrive, you load all your tools in to a wheelbarrow (provided) and head through the building to the car lot in back. They make you sign a waver before they let you in and stamp your hand for good measure. Then they set you loose. You wander around looking for a car that would have the parts you need and then dig in. If you have to remove something to get to what you're looking for, just throw it on the ground, probably no one else needed it anyway. The only rules are no jacks, no body saws, and no one under 16. We had the misfortune to visit right after some rain. The grounds turn into a muddy oily mess, with large lakes around every corner. We came across one where I waited on one side with the wheelbarrow while the Boy forged ahead to do recon work. Then, once you've got all you can find, head back to the building where they check you through. For interest's sake, a tire and wheel are $18. All in all, it was a strange experience for me. However, the tire we got seems good, even if the wheel is rusty, and it's still holding air. I didn't even need to put air in it before installing. I'm hoping the old wheel is still good though, so when all the tires get replaced in the fall, I can put my hubcap back on. |