as my Spring Road Trip comes to an end I take the time to reflect on the Journey's highlights
big tree
big hug!
what goes up must come down
so the most important rule when I'm traveling is to make sure I get there safely
but my trailer frame may be breaking in half right now
I always listen make sure there's nothing odd that sounds funny with the engine or a rumble
and if there is anything I'm concerned with I pull over and check
however shortly after making that statement something else did happen
well they say bad luck comes in threes flat tire
well I've got it in neutral and I've got blocks on the other side I don't know where the hole is it
was hissing when it was down but once I jacked it up it stopped so what I'm gonna have to do
there's something there but I don't hear a noise
I'm gonna see if I got some detergent in the trailer some water see if I can get some bubbles
Dr Bonners should be sudsy enough
well I've covered it with detergent
but I'm still not seeing any bubbles
I wonder if it's on the side
well I'll hook up the pump see what happens when I fill it up again
that's when a whale of a hole started to spout
well I found where the hole is it's right there I just put an awl in there so I know
where it is as soon as it dries I won't find it right dead center in the tire there's a hole there
and I have my kit my repair kit it's the same one I used in the Yukon
about two years ago maybe three years ago now
and uh the needle tool I just need to thread the needle with the patch
whatever you want to call it the Rope I guess it's a little gooey
but it's still pliable here we go
does not always work as planned but at least I have lots of this patching rope so if it
doesn't work the first time I'll have a second chance okay you can hear that hiss a little bit
get that in
it's supposed to put it about two-thirds of the way but I don't know what two-thirds is so...ok
and then pull up quickly oh boy yeah good luck with that okay let me just improvise here
ok!
[ hissing sound ]
well it didn't take I could still hear it hissing
right there see stopped but it's still going to try it a second time actually maybe what
I'll do this time is I'll try to ream it out a little first see if that does a little better
okay definitely a hole there now
I can't see
[ hissing stopped ]
ah I think I got it that time
but I believe what I have to do now
is plug that in as as much as I can get it which I did and cut off the excess
which is about like that
I'm just going to put a little bit more in
well it's not making a noise so that's a good sign
with the leak plugged I now brought the air pressure up to 35 PSI just enough to safely drive on the roads
there's no more hiss I think I got it time to let her down
I'm letting air out of the other one so they're about the same pressure 35 PSI just want them to be balanced
hopefully that'll do it on the road again fingers crossed
I guess there's a little bit of irony in my last conversation
because about an hour and a half later the uh the Jeep just started wobbling a little
bit flat tire light went on just while I was at a pull-off and sure enough flat tire so
you know that's three things that have happened to me in a short time I'm hoping bad luck only is in threes
not a fourth time and it happens to be the hottest day of the year it is 32 Celsius right now
it's hot it's super hot and when I was in Maryland and I put the air conditioning on
my engine overheated so I'm just sweating it out I'm not putting my air conditioning on
I'm just using the fan hopefully I can get where I want to go today and no more problems
fortunately for me whenever it's hot I have a knack of finding places that are cold and wet
eventually I made it to a remote Wildlife Preserve that had all the signs of a good campsite
the first sign was to keep it clean
next were practical and simple rules for camping
and my favorite no chainsaws or generators allowed this was a quiet area
if only the blue jays and jobins could read
SCREECH! [blue jay call]
{blue jay and robin birdcalls]
well it's been a week since I patched this tire let's just see how it's doing because
I've gone about 600 miles which is about a thousand kilometers so if
it's gonna leak it would uh probably show me by now so let's just tighten that on
and it says 35 PSI so there hasn't been a leak out of this at all um I don't have to do anything else
however let me just sort of tell you that I did go to a garage on my travels just to get it checked
and they were okay with the plug that I did they they found a little like a like a tiny little
bubble in another place I had them patch up but when you do your own repair do take it to a garage
afterwards just to make sure it is okay or have it done or redone professionally
so what do you need to get out of this? first of all anybody can repair a tire and always have a tire repair kit
um and when I say anybody there's no excuses! man, woman, young, old anybody can repair a tire
and you should know how to that's the important thing but if it couldn't be repaired you also have to
know how to change attire you got to know where your spare is you've got to know how to remove
it you've got to make sure you've got the Jacks and all the equipment you need to change it no excuses!
if you can't do it you at least have to have that stuff on hand so when a passerby helps
you've got all the stuff for them and you know they're doing the right thing so no excuse
tires they're real important now I'm going to put this back on again because uh I had it for
35 but for me hauling the trailer I'm going to bring it up to 45.
well okay maybe air pumps aren't allowed here either but I only used it for five minutes
then it went back to peace and quiet
while the robin cooled off with a bath
a brood of ducklings swam by
it was a group of ten and they definitely were on a mission
but what happened to Mom?
suddenly there was a frenzy did they see a predator
nope it was just their mother all was well
it was promising when I got here but now it seems the clouds of Doom have arrived
so got the awning down getting set for perhaps some nasty weather
I'm in Maine very close to the Quebec border and it's a beautiful little place it's a reserve
um it's a free camping place but in respect to the locals because this is a local fishing hole
I'm not going to give you a lot of information however if you're near the town
of Stratton and you do your research you might find something similar to this at least now oh
[ choking]
I almost broke my rules of vegetarianism there's a mosquito I just swallowed but I got it back up again!
better keep my much mouth shut for now on
okay let's try that again before I ate that mosquito I was just going to say this is my last night in a campsite before I return home
so I'm just going to relax chill out enjoy the Wilderness and not inhale any more mosquitoes
but it looks like it's starting to rain now so I got a feeling I'm gonna hang out under the awning
well now that it's raining the mosquitoes are even worse because they have the awning
to shelter them to attack me so it's nice and cool out here but I'm sick of these bugs
my last cooked meal was broccoli and cauliflower over fried noodles
after an orange sun set the lake on fire I called it a night
now after lugging this kayak around for thousands of miles on this trip was it worth it?
absolutely!
While listening to the paddles as they make ripples on the calm waters
I realize how lucky we are to still have places where you can experience the songs and sights of nature
I truly hope my viewers will also see the joy this world offers
and despite the turmoil all around us there is also a paradise waiting to be found
I hope you enjoyed this video and check out my others as well