Before I get too carried away with the current news I will finish up on the trip to Haines.....
Our trip would take us up new roads the Stewart / Cassiar or highway 37, which is a right turn off highway 16 (The Yellowhead) at Kitwanga BC. This highway pretty much follows parallel to the Alcan highway but west next to the Alaskan Panhandle.
The first leg to Kitwanga was not new to either Larry or myself, but once we turned north and passed the turn to Stewart ( A place we visited in our old job working for Glenncoe )it would be all new.
The trip up to this point was uneventful, the weather decent but not very warm and it was obvious, that May can still be the start of spring in some parts of BC. The excitement of this trip began at the edge of the unknown. I was driving on the first leg on highway 37 and was jocking the camera for a picture of the historic turn to the north when the truck did something unusual it almost stalled out... Larry reacted with alarm first at what he supposed was my poor driving skills and then to the scene of smoke pouring from the trailer wheels !!!!
What the hell.... I was stunned when I looked in the mirrors to see the same smoke! I stopped just shy of the corner and was completely at a loss as to what was happening or what to do. Fortunately Larry knew what to do to start with and that was to get water to the wheels and fast! Steam rose and the temprature of the drums cooled. Sigh of releif, we were't going to blow today, well okay catch fire and then blow....
The problem a broken brake pod/pig. Out here in the middle of no where it was obvious we needed to disable that brake to continue. Now this is a job that can be done but Larry had yet to try the theory out. It took a moment or two to get off the road and into some snow of course. Might as well be wet and cold if you have to work under a trailer! But with not too much effort we managed, well Larry managed to get the job done. The plan now was to get the brake fixed in Watson Lake or Whitehorse.
I do have wonderful pictures of this trip and I was about to start adding them when I realized through an amazing mix up I have probably lost all the photos I took on that trip. All I have left are thumb nails stuck in a program and I can't use them or print them or anything! RATS
In shock I think I will close for today and begin again another day. ;(
