2005/07 Alaska and Back Again - 100 Mile House |
|||||
Thursday August 11th
It was still bright and sunny the next morning and we made good time, south through Williams Lake, where we’d camped on our first night out, nearly 5 weeks earlier. However, when we stopped for lunch, I noticed the trailer was leaning to one side. Closer inspection showed that we had broken a spring shackle. The shackles are just flat pieces of steel that join the springs to the frame, and this one had just worn away and finally broken.
 |
Cariboo Highway (100 Mile House, Chasm, Thompson Canyon) |
|---|
called around on the satellite phone and found a place to fix it in 100 Mile House, 30 miles along the highway. We crept there slowly hoping that the remaining shackles and bolts would hold together. We found Grandpa’s RV, a one man operation, and Grandpa confirmed that all the shackles were worn out. He also pointed out that the trailer frame was cracked on both sides. He suggested we camp in town and come back next morning when he’d have a welder there too to fix the frame.
We found a site at the hotel in town, and found we had an evening to kill. Luckily, 100 Mile House is a compact 
town with most of it within walking distance. We headed for Centennial Park, which turned out to be a real gem, a combination of parkland and woods, with a pretty waterfall on Bridge Creek. It was also an opportunity for John and Edna to sample some Tim Horton’s coffee and donuts.
Friday August 12th
We were up early but found that the showers were too busy, full of tenters, so we just hauled the trailer over to Grandpa’s. He showed up without the welder. I’d thought the “welder” was a machine he was going to borrow, but it was actually a person and his machine. The person decided to go fishing instead, so we weren’t going to get the frame welded this time. I had the job of backing the trailer through Grandpa’s collection of trailers and campers and into his building. The backing went OK, but I forgot to allow for the tail-end kick of the trailer when making sharp turns, and I clipped a trailer that he had in for repair. Grandpa didn’t seem too concerned.
We had a few hours to kill while he worked on the trailer, so we went back to the park and hiked up the other side of the creek, did some shopping, and patronized Tim’s place again. The donuts’ price goes down as the quantity goes up. We now had a lifetime supply of donuts on what was becoming a really hot day.
On returning to Grandpa’s we found that he had replaced all the shackles and bolts, and also found that we had one tyre that was worn out on the inside wall. We paid his reasonable price, and set off at 11.30 with just 230 miles to go to Chilliwack.