The day began with a local prophecy that "It will be hard".
Leaving our Agawa Bay campground, we hoped to reach Pancake Bay provincial park over a some very hillly terrain. The good news is...we made it to Pancake Bay. The bad news is what happened in between.
About 5 km from our morning departure, I pulled over at an old garage and we had a great time talking about our trip with Gerry and Noel (and Gerry's three lovely daughters) about our trip. I'd noticed the the EcoRocket's front left tire could use some pumping up (after fixing an EcoPod flat in the morning) and asked Gerry if we could use his air pump. Gerry took over the air operations and pumped up all three EcoRocket tires. And we were on our way again.
Well, Not 45 km late we heard an enornous explosion - like a shotgun blast - fron the rear tire and made an extreme emergency stop. Not only had the back tire inner tube exploded, but it had also snapped off 1/6th of the side of our aluminum wheel. This was very bad. While Utopia wrote out an emergency message in electrical and duct tape: "Flatbed to Soo" for passing truckers to help us out, I managed to pound the wheel rim back into place using a Robeertson screwdriver and needlenose pliers. With a patch job of cable straps and duct tape, I managed to put the wheel back together again.
We shoved off once more, hoping we could make it to Sault Ste Marie (100 km), but we heard anothe blast 10 km down the road. This time the rear EcoRocket had exploded like it was hit like a bomb. It was a write-off.
Luckily, a very kind fellow - also named Gerry - was cutting highway grass with his tractor 1/2 km down the road and said he would carry us on his flatbed trailer down the road to Pancake Bay wher we could arrange a ride to The Soo.
Well, we found out the ride to The Soo would cost 288 bucks (Gerry gave us a free lift), so here I am now, waiting foe Gerry's kind son to give me a lift into town (arriving 2230 hours) to pick up a new wheel tomorrow and travel back to the Pancake Bay provincial park where Utopia waits.
Tonight I'll likely sleep on the doorstep of the bike shop. I hope it doesn't rain.
Thanks to Skipper and Rusty for answering the emergency distress calls from the middle of nowhere!
End Ship's Log entry.
-- Major Dude
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network
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