Well Day 1 was not exactly a success.  At all.  Except that we did make it through the first Custom crossing and are now traveling in the United States.  The Border Guards looked over our list for quite a while and waived us through without even looking in the trailer.   So the thing I was most worried about was a breeze.  Everything else about today was a tornado.

Yesterday Grant took the trailer in for a good checkup – he got the axles greased and the tires checked and all was ready to go.  We left home early and the first stop was to gas up in Regina.  That’s when a good samaritan pointed out that we had a flat tire on the trailer.   Dang.  Off we went back to the tire shop to get a new tire – no big deal, only one hour behind schedule.  We drove out of town and after about an hour Grant thought the trailer felt a bit weird so we pulled over and WHAT?   We have another flat tire.  The brand new one that we just bought an hour ago.  So we pull over on to a side dirt road, take all the suitcases out to get at the tire jack, take off the tire and head back to Regina to get another new tire.  Okay so now we’re 3 hours behind schedule.  We can handle that.

After our successful pass through the border crossing, we were high fiving as we headed into the little town of Plentywood, Montana.  As we pulled into the first gas station, Grant and I both noticed something weird rolling by – wait, what? it’s our TIRE – rolling past us and coming to rest right beside the door of the gas station.   Obviously the tire guy had not tightened the bolts and now there were no bolts left and the rim was wrecked.  Well the good news is that there is a tire shop right across street – the bad news is that it is just about to close and won’t be open tomorrow.  Okay, but there’s more good news because there is another tire shop in town just down the street – nope it’s more bad news because when we arrive they are in the middle of a power outage.  The whole block.  Not sure when they’ll have power back.  Maybe tomorrow. Maybe.

So we’re spending our first night of this grand adventure 100 miles from home in the Sherwood Inn in Plentywood, Montana with 3 tires on our trailer.  We decided to go out and see if there is anything to see or do in Plentywood but the only businesses open were the Liquor Store and the Ammunition Shop.  Welcome to Montana where you can always find guns and beer but can’t be sure about power.  We settled for a pizza at Fergies.

Apparently we’re not the only Canadians who have been stranded in this town

Did find some Montana Rider Pride though

So now we are many, many hours behind schedule and my earlier blog about learning to trust is surely being tested!  When we texted our Mexican guy Ramses to tell him our arrival date was shifting, he told us “Don’t worry, be happy – everything will be okay.”  Which reminded my why I really love Mexican people and why we’re doing this craziness!

Tomorrow will be a better day – on the road again!  Maybe…..