This past weekend we stayed at an inn for Alysha’s staff Christmas Party. In our rush to leave, Edward forgot to bring along his thick winter boots and a pair of gloves. Thinking it wasn’t worth turning around for, as the inn was only ½ hour out of town anyways, we kept on driving. When night fell, the conditions got real nasty: thick snow, poor visibility, no map, opera playing on the CBC, etc. Luckily, we arrived safely.
The next day had clear, partly cloudy, skies, with dramatic sunlight ripping over the surrounding mountains and lake. As we were leaving, we heard an odd thumping. We pulled over to find our back passenger-side tire had a frozen divot. The tire had actually frozen flat. Unsure of this oddity, we called our travelling partners, Niki and Land, to take a look.
After a few minutes in the cold, it was clear that Edward was in no shape to change a tire. His hand had started bleeding and his fingers were to numb to open the band-aid package. Alysha tried to treat him with a frozen alcohol swab. The band-aid was also too cold to stick.
Thankfully, Land took the helm of changing the tire. Alysha and Niki played travel scrabble in their truck, and Edward took pictures to document the event, apologising for making Land do all the work. “No problem,” he replied. “It’s good practice for the Fulda Challenge.” (Incidentally, Land has been selected to represent Team Yukon to compete in this year’s Fulda Challenge, the full explanation of which will have to be saved for a future entry. Least to say, it’s a very unusual attraction for German Tourists. For now, you can check out their website here).
The moral of the entry is, as Land graciously imparted, “If you are going to travel on the highway, you have to be prepared to travel off the highway.”
