Cobra1899's travel blogs:
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On the Road Again!
Entry 4 of 16 | show all | print this entry |
300 miles
4 days
2 gas fills
1 gale force winds
4 dreams
5 repairs
Time to head to the West Coast. But first let's recap my 4 days in Winnipeg.
I believe that everything happens for a reason. We can take the "problems" that happen in life negatively or we can take them for what they truly are...signs. The detour to Winnipeg was a "shake-down" run to allow me time to "fix" certain things on the trailer and iron out things that could have turned out worse if they had happened later. I noticed everything that went "wrong" prior to anything "major" happening.
So Friday, before the "social", was fix-it day. Or so I thought. The first item was that I had to resolve my missing license plate "problem". If I was heading back to Calgary I wouldn't have worried about it but we were crossing the border into another country and crossing a dozen or so different U.S. States. Katrine and I knew that we had lost the license plate somewhere after our last stop an hour or so west of Winnipeg. So I called a local RCMP detachment. No, no one had found it and handed it in. I decided to take a drive along the highway from Winnipeg to St Adolphe. I took the motorcycle and it was extremely windy. It was hard looking along the side of the road and staying ON the road. No license plate. I called Alberta Registries to see what I should do. They hadn't the faintest idea. They told me to try the Manitoba vehicle registration people. I called them and the guy on the phone was completely clueless. He said to talk to a local broker. I went to a local broker down the street and my "problem" was a new one to them. In the end they couldn't do anything. They recommended I report the loss to the police. We drove to the district office. The officer was very sympathetic, took the report and gave a report reference number in case we were ever stopped. Katrine and I had met my parents and my brother for lunch. We discussed my dilemma.
Something I haven't mentioned yet is that my step-daughter Rhéline was flying in from Calgary on Sunday night after work. She was coming for the family reunion. Katrine called her and told her to bring the plate off of my 5th wheel trailer. A wrong plate is better than no plate, in my mind. In Alberta, trailer plates are permanent and with private insurance the registration of vehicles is separate from the insuring of the vehicle. So technically, I could switch plates from one trailer to another without any problems. Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!
After our visit to the police we headed back to St Adolphe to get changed for the social and then meet my first wife's parents for supper. We had an hour or so to kill after supper before the social so we went shopping for some items to fix the trailer and bikes. I also needed a trailer jack so that I could remove the trailer from the truck with the motorcycle still on it. The trailer didn't come with one.
The social was quite interesting. The hall had a capacity of under 600 people but they had sold over 800 tickets. The place was jammed. As a fundraiser they have a silent auction with numerous items up for grabs. The interesting thing is that 3 or 4 people each won 2 prizes of the dozen or so. The other thing is that we personally knew these people. They were either seated at our table or had at some point in time during the evening. It was quite a coincidence. So, for a dozen prizes, we personally knew who won most of them out of 800 or so people when we only knew a total of about 50 people. Something to think about!
Saturday morning I slept in until almost 11 am. This was a first for me. I'm always awake by 5 or 6 am. My sister was about to call the paramedics...or was it the coroner. After breakfast I went for a drive with my brother in law to my nephew's place. After lunch I went for a drive to a motorcycle shop to try and find a bolt to replace the missing one on my motorcycle windshield. I took the motorcycle. The weather was horrendous. The wind was blowing very hard and it started raining. I figured I better get use to riding in crummy weather as I'm bound to hit some on my European expedition. I checked the shop's website and it said it was open until 2 PM on Saturdays. I arrive at 1h02 and the door is locked. I see some customers inside and wait for them to get let out. I tell the employee what I need. He lets me in. I get the bolt that I need. Or so I thought. The prior motorcycle owner had installed a kit to raise the windshield. The bolt in the kit was shorter than the one I lost. I buy the "wrong" bolt. Just in case.
The drive back to St Adolphe was frightening. The winds were gusting up to 80 kms/hr. It was also raining. I was getting pushed around like a rag doll riding a motorcycle. I had to fight to stay on the road. When I arrived at my sister's I was soaked and tired. And it was only a 15 minutes drive on the highway. The riding gear I bought for my European trip is suppose to be waterproof. The high winds had pushed the rain through every crevice in the clothing. It looked like I had run a marathon when I took my jacket off. My t-shirt was soaked in just those spots where you would sweat a lot.
Saturday, for supper, Elaine (my sister) had everyone over. I get gas for the truck before heading into Winnipeg after supper. Only the second fill since we left Calgary. With a 135 litre gas tank I can drive quite far. It also costs almost $200 to fill. Then Katrine and I drove to my parents to see and meet Alexis who had just arrived.
Sunday morning at breakfast Katrine and Elaine describe dreams they had. I had also had some dreams but couldn't remember them. We had all also gotten up quite often during the night to pee. My brother-in-law Alain had no dreams but got up quite often. That afternoon and for supper I visited my brother Rolly and his wife Carol. I mentioned the dream and peeing coincidences and Rolly mentioned that it was the same for him. The odd thing was that they all remembered their dreams so vividly. I have an idea what the dreams mean but haven't told anyone.
Monday was fix-it day. The jack I bought for the trailer fit quite snugly, perfectly. I bought small bungee cords to keep the rear of the bikes from jumping around. I had only screwed together the pieces of wood that held the front of the bikes. I wanted to add some bolts. Off to the store. I buy the bolts and some lock-tite to keep all the bolts from coming undone on the motorcycle windshield again. I fill up the gas tank on the motorcycle on my way back.
I've already detailed my drive to Falcon Beach. There, I pick up the license plate from Rhéline. I attach it to the trailer with bolts. The last time the plate was attached with plastic ties. The guy at the store that sold me the trailer had attached my (lost) plate that way. The reason I lost that plate was because of the rear of the bike that had fallen off the trailer had it's kickstand rubbing against the plate. Then the high winds on the drive through Saskatchewan and Manitoba must have finished the job of breaking the ties.
Time to head to the West Coast. Lessons learned. Have faith in the Universe to provide the signs required before anything major occurs.
I live a Charmed Life!
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