From Foremost With Love

OK, so Saturday was an interesting day, as it usually is. I stayed
overnight at Kaye's Motor Inn and worked at B & M all day. Jon, the
cool guy that signs my paychecks, was getting rid of some furniture
because they had upgraded to a slightly newer set, so just before they
were taken to Sally Land, I halted the procedings and offered to store
them at our house for the next few years... free of charge. Great deal
for him, I think.

However, by doing so, I then also consented to
driving home in the luxurious B & M cube van to get these things
home. Not a big deal, what's big is my mouth when I offered some nice
folks the chance to have me drop their new bikes off at home for them.
You know, I'd make this grand appearance, crowds would be boisterous,
and a band would welcome my entry... if they didn't live in Foremost.

Now
here's the thing, I wouldn't be getting on my way until 11:30pm
Saturday night because of a get together previously committed to and
thus not getting to Foremost until after midnight. No big deal to these
nice folks because they wouldn't be getting home til late either.
Unfortunately, Foremost was moved about 30km further east in the last
decade due to high flood waters and a flying herd of mangy mad cows, so
it took a little longer to get to my glorified destination. So imagine
my surprise when I rolled into Foremost around 1am after viewing the
most spectacular northern lights display ever to drop bikes off at our
predetermined location (their house).

Imagine my surprise, also,
when I went to pull the bikes out of the truck to find the front tire
of the husband's bike completely flat. Well fiddle-dee-dee! What am I
supposed to do about this? I'd like to wait and conduct an online poll
of what you the blog reader thinks, but I'm going to go out on my own
on this one and suggest what you all would have voted for... NOTHING! I
left the bikes and drove south of Foremost to meet up with the 501
which takes you into Milk River, figuring I'd phone him the next day to
apologize and make arrangements which in the end, I did.

What I
didn't do is plan on the truck running out of propane 15km east of Milk
River. OK, it wasn't completely out but it took 20 minutes to drive
that stretch because when a vehicle is low on propane, it doesn't just
die quickly, the pressure in the tank goes slowly and consequently, so
does the vehicle. So here I am ripping west on the 501 with the town of
Milk River in my sights (it looks beautiful from the east at night,
just for the record) at a hilariously horrendous 35km/h hoping I'll get
to within a reasonable walking distance for me to walk in the door at
6am. The last 3km were covered going 10km/h...
vrrrroooooooooooooooooooooooooooommmmmmmmm. Even more comforting was
the fact that from when I left Highway 4 to go east to Foremost, south
and then back west to Milk River, only two cars passed me going the
other way. Can you say "isolation" or "recovery operation waiting to
happen"?

Anyway, I came in the door and went to sleep. I told
Mandy the next day what had happened and where I went after she took
the van with the kids home and I drove the cube van. It should be noted
we left at the same time and she expected that I may be, at most, a
half hour behind her. I tried to fill one of the tires with air, which
never happened so I drove all of that on a set of dual axles that had
only one good tire on the right rear side. She took that news not quite
as good as you may be taking this story. If anyone needs a tissue to
dry their eyes or to go to the bathroom because they may have done or
will be in the process of peeing themselves, please... don't let me
slow you down anymore. Go, and go quickly. You know who I am talking to
when I say that. Drive safely!

Daniel