I got up early to get to work on our little tire problem. I grabbed the coffee pot and headed out. 20C is the high for today with clouds and a chance of rain. The weather on this trip has been the exact opposite of Cape Cod. I’ve had my coat on most of the time. It’s a good thing Guylaine talked me into bringing it.
I gathered up all the tools I was going to need, waited as long as I could to make sure everyone slept, then I jacked up the trailer, took the wheel off and put some levellers under the wheel and jacked up the stabilizers. I loaded the two tires in the caddy and headed for Canadian Tire. The tire I took off the trailer is bulging on both sidewalls right across from each other.
Canadian Tire couldn’t help me. The trailer takes an ST205/75D/14. All they had was an R14, and they only had 1. He told me to go to a tire place right down the road. I went and they told me that they also only had R14 and that the only difference was that the radial only had 6 plys on the sidewalls and the D14’s had 8. Other then that, same tire. Same weight rating, everything. There wasn’t a lot of tire places in town, and I really didn’t have any options, so I told them to go ahead. I showed them the tires and just like Ryan, they told me the tires had either hit a curb (inside and outside?) or they were defective. I asked them how much air they were supposed to have, and they said 50 lbs, which is what I had. I thought it was 50 max and that maybe they should be running a little less, but they said it is 50. I told them I’d be back around 10:00 to pick them up. It cost me about $220, but I did manage to save about $20 with my CAA discount.
I went back to the trailer and everyone was up. William got $10 bucks from the tooth fairy, even though I don’t think she’s going to like what she’s going to have to go through to get it back. (It may already be in one of the holding tanks on the trailer). It seems everyone went to bed a little too late last night as the kids are liked caged animals. Of course, no one is helping us pack up the trailer, or even doing anything to help themselves like get dressed or brush their teeth. Guylaine grabbed a shower while I got them all breakfast.
At about 11:00 Alex, William and I went to pick up the new tires. I can’t say I had any problems or that they were rude to me, but I just didn’t feel like they wanted to help me at all. Not like the rest of the people I’ve met here in the Maritimes.
I got back to the trailer and got the tire on the drivers side. I can’t change the spare because the trailer is parked beside a cement pad. Guylaine really liked the pad. It kept the ground at the door of the trailer clean and level. But, I would have had to jack the trailer up too high to clear the pad and get the tire off, so we decided to do it on the way. The spare is the same make as the two defective tires and we aren’t taking any chances. I’ll probably even get the spare changed when we get back just to be safe.
We finished packing up the trailer and were on the road by 12:00. Not as early as I had planned, but that was before we had the tire trouble, so I actually thought that wasn’t bad considering. Guylaine bought some homemade jam from the store at the campground when she went to checkout. We’ll see how that goes tomorrow.
We drove for a while. Not a heck of a lot off of the highway. We couldn’t find a Tim’s or a gas station or anything. Finally we saw a sign for a rest area so we pulled off. We found what looked like a carpool lot right at the side of the highway, so rather then keep driving we just pulled over. We were going to be eating in the trailer anyways. I changed the tire on the trailer while Guylaine got lunch ready. I had Sam and Alex help me so they could try to learn how to do it. As we were changing it, some older guy and his dog drove up and parked 10 feet from our back door, even though it was a huge parking lot and there was only one other car parked there. Then he just sat there. After a while he left. He knew we were out there. He wasn’t looking at us. He didn’t try talking to us. Nothing. Really weird.
We were excited to get to the Casno Causeway and cross over into the island. We stopped quickly at the visitors centre and I ran in quickly by myself to grab some info on what there is to do here. We took the 105 instead of the more scenic, but longer and more hilly 19. I regretted not taking the 19 as the 105 was not scenic at all. The highway was good until we got to Whycocomagh, then we followed the signs for Cheticamp to this small little road. We should have stayed on the 105. The smaller highway joined the 19 in Margeree harbor and the spectacular views started almost immediately. The whole coastline looks like a postcard. The dark clouds overhead and light from the setting sun gave a really dramatic effect on the coast. I was so busy looking that I almost missed the sign showing the turn for the campsite.
Now I’ve been looking at this campsite on line for almost a year, but Guylaine and I are trying something different. We haven’t had a single reservation yet. We’re staying at all the campsites we wanted, but only calling ahead as we were driving. This time, I lost the number, so we decided to just show up and see what happened. I was a little nervous. The lady at the desk said the guy she was serving right before me was looking for the same thing. We were looking for 3 nights and she could only give us 2, but told me to check with her Friday am because a lot of people were cancelling because of the weather. We’ll see what happens.
I got set up pretty quickly. Guylaine took the kids to the park and by the time she came back I had hooked everything up, folded down the beds and even taken out the carpet and set up the awning and patio lights. Alex and Katrina went to the park while Xavier, William and Sam helped me cook burgers. They took turns flipping them. Xavier thinks he’s Spongebob now. Guylaine prepared everything else inside, and we ate a little earlier then we thought. The kids all had a quick shower, then we had a little fire (only three pieces of wood.) then off to bed. The only internet here is at the store/office, so I posted a quick blog from the phone, then wrote this one on Word. Guylaine and I went to bed early too. Busy day tomorrow.
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