Hiccups

To paraphrase Shakespeare, the course of true adventure never did run smooth.  Yes, there must be hiccups (hiccoughs?) along the way.  And when you have almost 10,000 miles on the road, it’s madness not to expect them.

Relieved that they survived the Dempster highway north and south without problems, the tires nonetheless took a beating…

We wisely got some new ones in Whitehorse before venturing further….

(If the wheel looks a little naked, it’s because a couple of hubcaps were “appropriated” during our extended stay in Whitehorse…..  We didn’t even notice until the tire store guy pointed it out.)

All thankfully was well until we reached the outer reaches of Yellowknife.  There,  sections of severely undulating road surface caused by permafrost finally took its toll on a wheel bearing…… causing the entire wheel assembly to disintegrate, including the axle!!

We dragged the trailer into town on 3 wheels (with sparks issuing from the dragging section!) and were directed to an auto repair store, where thankfully the proprietor, Ken, was still around.  He allowed us to spend the night on his property and promised to address the problem in the morning….

We spent several days exploring the history and beauty of Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories – and we were not quite prepared to be so charmed by the former and dazzled by the latter….. but that will be the subject of the next post.

In the meantime, we secured accommodations at different venues, including a b&b where Henry expended some energy helping the owner Lisa with some improvements….

Lisa gave us a Chinese good-luck token to help us on the way!

So far it hasn’t worked so well.  Further tragedy ensued – while on a flight-seeing trip over the Great Slave Lake, Henry missjudged the force of the prop blast of a 450 hp De Havilland  Beaver float plane. His cell phone was ripped off its lanyard when he stuck it out the window for a better shot ….. to disappear into the 8th deepest lake in the world!

Wheel structure repaired, we bid farewell to Ken and his wife Emmeline….

 … and set off from Yellowknife toward the province of Alberta.  A pedestrian frantically signaled us less than 1/4 mile from the repair shop….. Smoke was pouring from under the trailer!  The repair had not held; the tire was rubbing against the trailer frame about to burst into flame!!

Alas, a new axle must be ordered and installed…… and we return to town to wait (more or less patiently) for a few more days.

Worse things could happen……

But this beautiful double rainbow encourages us that the worst is over…..

Next post will show the fun parts of our stay here!